Chapter 3
Sometimes having a team at your back was a bonus, other times it was a drag. A team had to share, share the workload, share the excitement, share the danger and often share the spoils. A wise man said "There is no 'I' in team" a smart arse replied "There is no 'U' in team either, but there is an 'M' and an 'E'!". Cory had noticed the downside of team-mates when Stephanie had begun her battle with the Nidoran, staying with his companions would involve a dispute about who's turn it was to battle or catch a pokemon. So he split before it was over and wandered down the trail and into the forest.
The forest was dense and dark, though it was still more of a cool dark than an ominous one and Cory actually felt at ease among the trees, the place had a definite calming effect on him. He took a long pull on his cigarette and coughed it tastes foul! He butted it against a tree and stomped the ashes out then took a deep breath of the delicious forest air delicious? That's not right, smoking had ruined his taste buds some two years ago. Cory leaned against a tree and breathed deeply, there was no denying it. The air was sweet and full of taste. Cory stepped away from the tree and walked deeper into the forest, searching the area for pokemon. This proved more difficult than he first imagined, thinking quickly he called out Racer the Pidgey.
The bird materialised and chirped "Pi, Pi, Gi!" then spotted Cory and swooped him before landing on a branch and promptly turning its back on him. Cory ranted at the bird for a few moments, only stopping to pick up a rock and hurl it at the stubborn Pidgey. The bird tilted to the side and the rock flew past and into the bushes. Cory gritted his teeth and looked around for something else to throw when a roar caught his attention.
The pink monster charged into the small clearing and spotted Cory, it immediately lowered its head and pointed its venomous horn at him. Cory gulped as he noticed the bruise just in front of the pokemon's enormous pink ears "Oh crap...Racer! I'm in trouble!" Cory pleaded with the bird for help as he evaded the poisonous pink monster, but the flying pokemon merely sat on its branch and trilled merrily at him. Cory cursed it and leapt for the branch, just as the male Nidoran launched itself at him.
Cory flew high and the pink monster sailed underneath, squawking in surprise as it crashed into the tree that Racer was perched in. Cory hit the ground and took in the situation in a moment. He quickly reached back and pulled a poke-ball from his pack's buttoned side pocket and enlarged it, Racer eyed him mockingly from its branch and chirped as if to say "Yeah right" Cory grinned up at it "Mock all you want, but you're about to be replaced!" he threw the poke-ball and stilled as it drew in the pink monster, confining it within its red and white walls. The ball rocked violently as the Nidoran struggled and both Racer and Cory watched it quietly, finally the rocking stopped and the light dimmed, then disappeared altogether with a loud PING!
"Ah HA!" Shouted Cory, he walked over and grabbed the poke-ball then spun around to point it at Racer "Now who's useless Bird-brain? Looks like you no are no longer needed...or maybe you'd like to battle me, we'll see who caused our loss to Ben and his Rattata"
…...
Ben sneezed.
Then glared at the Mankey that was giving Stephanie's Caterpie a right spanking, she had to find a way of beating this mangy monkey down before she ran out of poke-balls or Freebie ran out of strength to keep fighting it. Freebie was quick, but the Mankey was a fighting type and had the reflexes to avoid the bug's attacks and counter with power that Freebie simply couldn't match. Ben watched as the Mankey swayed gently on its toes, watching a panting Freebie cautiously. Ben knew Stephanie's pokemon couldn't take much more of a pounding, Freebie was running on guts and pride.
Stephanie gazed about the battle-zone they had fought across so far and a plan formed in her head as her eyes fell over the tree stumps, roots and bushes that littered the dense forest floor "Freebie, into the bush. GO!" the Caterpie responded quickly and leapt for the bushes, the Mankey stood stunned for a moment then charged forwards itself "Freebie, string-shot NOW!" a white thread shot from under the bush and tripped the Mankey over, the pig-monkey monster rolled but found its feet and launched itself into the bush, thrashing to find the bug monster, Ben cried out, but Freebie had caught onto the plan quickly and responded to Stephanie's command by launching himself from the tree branch he had hidden on, slamming the distracted monkey to the ground then disappearing into the bushes again. The Mankey went berserk and raced around the clearing attacking everything in sight, then sped up a tree to take in the situation.
Angry eyes fell on Ben and he realised that the monkey monster recognised him as a cause of its suffering, the Mankey crouched and leapt at the teenager. Stephanie sprung the trap by yelling out to Freebie who flew from a height that even surprised her and slammed the monkey monster into the ground hard. Stephanie enlarged the poke-ball she had been holding and took aim at the monster as it rolled over, unconscious, she sent the ball spinning at the Monkey's head and tensed as the monster fought the confines of the ball and finally grew still. Ben sighed "That wasn't fair, Pest and I found that Mankey and you know it".
Stephanie grinned at him "Snooze you loose buddy"
Ben frowned and held up his hand to show the Caterpie string that wrapped around his hand and prevented him from pulling any of his poke-balls off his belt "Does this look like a pillow to you?"
Stephanie smiled softly "I guess that's why Cory took off, to avoid competition with us for wild pokemon...do you think we should part ways as well?" she looked up at Ben quizically, her golden eyes boring into his green ones.
Ben tilted his head, then shook it "Nah, I think we should set up camp first. A sort of base of operations and meet back at the end of each day...one of us might find that numbskull Cory while we're looking for pokemon, just make sure it's not a Cubone before you drag it back to camp" the two shared a laugh before they went about setting up a base camp.
…...
Cory felt his stomach growl, but ignored it as he watched his male Nidoran 'Dumbo' look up at the Spearow that had evaded his last tackle. The problem with birds was their ability to fly, but he had overcome that difficulty when he showed his Pidgey 'Racer' that respected was indeed something he should be, sadly he had put his staring pokemon into a faint in doing so. Dumbo pawed the ground, ready to showcase his little trick for the bird pokemon. Cory was surprised at how easily the Nidoran had taken to partnering with him probably because I beat him myself rather than battling him with a pokemon or being presented with him like I was with Racer... the present demanded attention, as did his pokemon "Now Dum!" the Nidoran charged away from the tree and launched itself at a sapling or small bush, it really didn't matter what it was since it did the same thing as the last one. Dumbo's weight bowed the tip of the plant nearly to the ground before his momentum was stilled and fired back. As he catapulted through the air Dumbo used his ears as rudders to modify his course and zero in on the Spearow. The bird squawked in surprise moments before the pink monster collected it from its branch in a direct hit, the two hit the ground and Dumbo rolled away, making sure to rough the Spearow up as it did so.
Cory pushed the button to enlarge the poke-ball in his hand and threw it at the Spearow, then watched tensely as the bird attempted to fight free of the ball. Finally the ball lay still and Cory collected it off the ground. Two new pokemon! His stomach chose that moment to remind him that he was in fact starving. Cory opened his bag and looked inside, but found nothing but his clothes, sleeping-bag and cigarettes. He reached for the packet instinctively, but despite knowing they would take the edge off his hunger he paused. They had tasted so foul only a few hours ago and he was surprised at how little he had desired them since, so he turned a slow circle in search of something resembling a trail, but found nothing.
Cory sat down for a moment at the base of a tree while he decided what to do next...the thought hit him like a sledgehammer Climb, duh! Cory stood and turned to face the tree, it had a thick trunk that disappeared into the canopy surely from the top of that I'll be able to see the cliff we came down Cory jumped and grabbed a low branch, then hauled himself up to it and stopped to rest. From that point though the branches were closer together and climbing was easy, Cory reached the top and gazed about, the cliffs wrapped around the valley and naturally all looked the same, but something fluorescent caught his eye and he focused on that...is that Ben's sleeping bag?
…...
Ben looked about the camp and grinned. They had a nice little hole in the cliff wall that was easily big enough to accommodate all three trainers, with some extra room to move about in if rain got them stuck for a while. It wasn't quite big enough to house any pokemon though and Ben was determined to nab one before the day was through. Ben looked up at his sleeping bag and hoped Cory would spot it soon.
Ben waved to Stephanie and walked out into the dense forest, the little Rattata ran about, but didn't stray far from him, maybe the two of them were developing a bit of a friendship, the little rogue still bit him if he patted it though. The two of them rustled bushes and poked about, but finding pokemon was surprisingly hard in the little valley, it wasn't exactly crawling with them, or maybe they just hadn't travelled far enough into the area...either way, Ben could not leave without catching a pokemon first.
…...
Hours passed, the shadows lengthened, day became early, then late evening and nothing showed up, Ben growled, Ben's stomach growled back, Pest growled at the two of them, then a fourth growl made itself heard. Ben froze, so did Pest, and the two of them watched in dismay as their first pokemon encounter stalked towards them. This monster was orange or red with a blonde furred tail and mane, it was notably bigger than Pest, but still much smaller than Ben who cursed himself for not paying better attention in pokemon identification class. He knew it was a canine looking monster, but it wasn't Growlithe or Vulpix, it certainly wasn't an Arcanine or Nine-tails. Ben tensed and watched the monster, which eyed him back...suspiciously? Warily? One thing was certain though, it was a pokemon, and he was going to catch it. Ben enlarged a poke-ball and yelled to his Rattata "Pest, TACKLE!"
A wave of fire shot over Ben and Pest and they both fainted.
Reviews are love as the saying goes, on that kind of note can anyone guess what Ben has found, other than a really bad day?