Author's Note: Yay, it didn't take me a month to update this time! lol. Like I said, I am trying to be better about that. I'm working on a new Metroid story now though so I'm alternating between updating each of them. Anyway, there's a bit more adventure in this chapter and I hope you guys enjoy! :)
Chapter 4: All Through the Night
The warm daylight faded as night set in the little forest. Eevee and his friends met at their spot in the woods at sundown as planned and set out in the direction of the mysterious Stone Town. They started out at a quick pace, almost running at times as they tried to put distance between themselves and their families before anyone could notice they were missing. They were well away from their neck of the woods by the time the sun disappeared completely and the stars became visible in the pitch-dark night sky.
As the waning moon cast its soft silver light over the long, winding road before them, the four friends slowed their pace to a walk. They knew it would be a long time before they came across the village Flareon had told her son about, and they did not want to burn themselves out so early on in the trip. They walked for most of the night, barely stopping to rest. Only once did they pause to gather and enjoy some berries from nearby bushes, and then they went straight back to their journey.
The road they traveled was well worn by people and Pokémon traveling along it through the years. It was dusty and unpaved, and similar forests lined its edges. After a while, however, they found that the forests came to an end and the dirt path continued on through what appeared to be a vast hilly field. It made them a bit nervous to travel through such an open area because it would provide them with nowhere to hide should they chance upon a trainer, but the night was young and they were full of energy so they continued on. They figured they would come across another forest eventually and could hide there if they saw a trainer.
But the hilly field did not end for miles, and the path meandered up and down the sides of the hills. The upward inclines were not much at first, but after a while the four little Pokémon began to tire out. As the first rays of orange sunlight began to peak over the horizon, they were exhausted and plodding along at a snail's pace. When they finally reached the end of the field, they were all but ready to collapse, but much to their chagrin, there was no forest on the other side. Instead, there was a small mountain surrounded by a dry, rocky area. The only place to hide was behind the large boulders that punctuated the landscape, but they did not provide much cover.
"Hey, Eevee," Charmander called a few minutes into their trek across the rocky terrain, "you think maybe we could sit and rest for a while? We've been traveling all night, and I don't know how much farther we have to go, but I'm tired."
The puppy Pokémon's ears twitched. His instincts told him to continue on, but even he was dragging his paws at this point. "That's not a bad idea, Char. What do you guys think?"
Bulbasaur yawned as she gazed out over the boulders. "You don't have to ask me twice." Without bothering to coordinate with her friends, the dinosaur Pokémon sauntered casually off the trail and hid herself behind one of the large rocks.
Squirtle stared at her as she wandered off. "Seems like kind of a dangerous place to stop. We really should try to find somewhere with more cover…"
"Oh come on," Charmander said, stretching and yawning as he picked out his own boulder to hide behind. "We've been traveling all night and haven't come across a single trainer. Maybe they don't come this way that often."
"I don't know," the turtle continued hesitantly, but the lizard had walked off just as Bulbasaur had and disappeared behind one of the many stones.
"Don't worry, Squirtle," Eevee said, stifling a yawn. "We're just gonna rest a few minutes. None of us will fall asleep. If a trainer does come by, we'll stay really quiet, and we can always run away. We should be fine."
"Er…" Squirtle hesitated, but after a while, he relented. He was just as tired as everyone else. "Okay, I guess so."
Despite what Eevee had said, as soon as all four of the little Pokémon had found their hiding places, they fell deep asleep. They slept for a few hours as the sun rose higher and higher into the sky. Morning had nearly faded into noon by the time Eevee's ear twitched.
The fluffy Pokémon could hear something, but he was not sure what. Something told him to wake up, however, and his eyes barely snapped open in time to see what was rushing at him.
"Cubone!" A human voice called from not far away, "use bone club!"
"CUBONE!" the ground Pokémon yelled as it rushed at Eevee.
The puppy Pokémon barely had time to dodge before the cubone swung its bone club where he had been previously.
"Guys, wake up!" Eevee shouted as he got into a pouncing position ready to face the cubone. He launched into a quick attack but the other Pokémon dodged, pivoted, and retaliated with a headbutt. Eevee didn't have time to move as the headbutt slammed him full force and threw him back several feet. He tumbled to the ground and laid there, dazed for a moment as he stared at the approaching cubone.
However, the one he should have been watching was the trainer, because no sooner was Eevee on the ground than the human female threw a red and white pokéball at the little Pokémon. Eevee only noticed the pokéball as it was coming at him, and he did not have time to dodge out of the way.
However, something fast and green quickly whipped the pokéball out of the air, causing it to fall to the ground, open and useless. Eevee looked up to see Bulbasaur standing between him and the cubone, her vines out and ready for battle.
"All right!" the human girl yelled. "A bulbasaur! We're just finding all the best Pokémon today, eh Cubone?"
But Bulbasaur was not excited as she stared down the ground Pokémon, waiting for him to make a move. They stood locked in a glaring stalemate for a few moments before Cubone quickly made a move. Charging forward once more, he had his bone club attack ready for Bulbasaur. But unlike Eevee, the plant Pokémon did not try to dodge. Instead, she stood her ground, and as Cubone rushed at her, she lashed out one of her vines, whipping it forward with lightning speed as she used it to grab the bone club and pull it straight out of Cubone's hand.
"Cubone!" the Pokémon yelled as Bulbasaur's other vine whipped out and stuck the ground Pokémon. As he fell backwards, the grass type finished him off with a tackle attack.
"Ah!" the trainer gasped, pulling a pokéball from her belt. "Cubone, return!" A red light shot out of the ball and enveloped the fainted cubone as he disappeared back into the pokéball. "Sorry about that, Cubone, but I am not letting these Pokémon get away!" Grabbing another pokéball, she threw it toward where Eevee now stood beside Bulbasaur. "Go, Charmeleon!"
As the pokéball opened, a red light emerged and formed into a charmeleon. The red fiery Pokémon towered over Bulbasaur and Eevee as they slowly backed away from it.
"Th-that's a charmeleon!" Bulbasaur stammered, her eyes wide. "That's the evolved form of Charmander!"
Eevee knew what she meant. As a grass type Pokémon, Bulbasaur would be weak against Charmeleon. He stepped in front of her as she continued to back away. He was about to try a tackle attack when suddenly he saw something that made him grin. A stream of bubbles was headed straight for Charmeleon as Squirtle and Charmander appeared, rushing to their friends' rescue.
"Bubble!" Squirtle yelled as he used the water attack against the large fire Pokémon. Even Bulbasaur felt herself relax knowing how strong water attacks were against fire Pokémon.
But Charmeleon simply scoffed at Squirtle's attack, brushing the little bubbles away with one swipe of his razor sharp claws. "Pathetic," the fire Pokémon said, in a deep gravely voice. "If bubble is the only attack you know, you should just quit while you're ahead."
"Oh my gosh!" the trainer squeed triumphantly, unable to comprehend what the Pokémon were saying to one another. "Even more new friends to catch! This is so exciting!"
Squirtle stared at the tall fire Pokémon, his expression angry and determined. "That's not all I've got! Take this! Water gun!"
The tiny turtle Pokémon took a deep breath, and for the tiniest second a look of concern flashed through Charmeleon's eyes. The epic moment was short lived, however, because no sooner did the stream of water begin to shoot from Squirtle's mouth then it trickled off, all of it falling flat and missing Charmeleon by nearly a yard. Squirtle looked up in embarrassment as everyone stared at him.
"Is that all?" Charmeleon said in his deep voice. "This battle is as good as over." Sucking in a burst of air, he opened his mouth wide and yelled "Flamethrower!" A mighty blast of fire rushed from him, heading straight toward Squirtle and Charmander, but the big Pokémon faltered when something hit him hard from behind.
"Guys, run!" Eevee called to his friends as he jumped away from Charmeleon after landing a tackle straight into his back. The puppy Pokémon got into pouncing position and readied himself for a quick attack as Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle scampered away. They knew Eevee was the fastest runner, likely the only one who could outrun Charmeleon, and he was buying them time before he made his own escape.
"You'll regret that, runt," Charmeleon said as he set his full focus on Eevee and sucked in another breath of air. "Flamethrower!"
The flames shot out at Eevee but the little Pokémon used his agility and dodged the blasts. As Charmeleon changed directions, Eevee kept dodging the blasts, but as the battlefield began to heat up, he was not sure how much longer he could keep it up for.
"We've almost got him, Charmeleon!" the trainer called as Eevee was tiring out. "Finish him with a fire blast!"
"Char!" the fire Pokémon growled ominously as a ball of fire began to form in his mouth.
Eevee was so tired he was panting heavily and knew he would not be able to escape the powerful attack. As the fire blast shot forward, he braced himself for the impact, but it never came. Instead, he felt something rope-like wrap around him and pull him out of the way up the blast. As Charmeleon's attack exploded against a rock, Eevee looked up to see Bulbasaur had rescued him with her vine whip.
"We've gotta run, Eevee!" she yelled as she turned tail and fled.
The fluffy Pokémon followed her, having no trouble keeping up. He knew Bulbasaur was not a very fast runner thanks to the massive bulb on her back.
"Follow them, Charmeleon!" the trainer yelled as the fire Pokémon began to pursue them. Squirtle and Charmander were farther ahead, but Charmeleon was gaining on Eevee and Bulbasaur quickly. Eevee knew he could easily outrun Charmeleon, but that would mean leaving Bulbasaur behind, and she would not hold up to the fiery attacks. He needed a plan.
As they got closer to the foot of the small mountain, Eevee noticed little cliffs not unlike the ones they had rescued Charmander from earlier. Not far ahead, there was one cliff that looked like it had a tree growing out of it. Squirtle and Charmander were so far ahead that he could no longer see where they went, but he had an idea.
"Bulbasaur," he called, "see that tree up there on that cliff?"
"Y-yeah," the plant Pokémon called as she struggled to get her stocky legs to run despite her large body.
"Do you think you can use your vines to grab onto that tree and pull yourself up?" the fluffy Pokémon asked as they got closer to it.
Bulbasaur looked up at the tree and somehow managed to pick up her pace as she ran toward it. "Never done anything like that before, but I can try!"
With a look of fierce determination, the plant Pokémon ran for the cliff with the tree, and as soon as she was in range, she whipped out her vines as far as she could and wrapped them around the tree. Then, with all the strength she could muster, she jumped toward it, pulling herself as hard as she could with her vines, but she knew as soon as she tried that she would never reach it.
She almost got discouraged until she felt something ram into her from below, sending her flying a few feet higher into the air, just enough so that she had the momentum she need to pull herself toward the tree and land on the platform.
"I did it!" she yelled as she looked down at Eevee who had tackled her from below. The puppy Pokémon grinned as he looked back at the approaching Charmeleon and scampered away. No longer having to keep pace with Bulbasaur, he was able to easily outrun the Charmeleon until he was out of sight.
As Charmeleon and his trainer stared up in frustration at Bulbasaur on the cliff and out of their reach, they looked defeated. Looking around one last time for the other three Pokémon, the trainer eventually sighed and gave up.
"Charmeleon, return," she said dully as she pointed the pokéball at him and he disappeared into it. "I guess I should have known better than to get my hopes up about catching four rare Pokémon in one day." Sadly, she turned around and left.
Bulbasaur breathed a sigh of relief as she flopped down onto her belly and watched the trainer walk away. She almost felt bad for her in a way, knowing how excited Pikachu and her trainer got every time they caught a new Pokémon. It must have been difficult to miss out on four at once. But she also knew she didn't want to be captured and have to leave her family, not at this point anyway.
After a while of waiting to be sure the trainer was really gone, Bulbasaur wrapped her vines back around the tree and lowered herself gently to the ground. She was ready to start looking for her scattered friends so they could continue on their quest.