Chapter 4: Route 1

"Could... you... guys... stop... running?"

How did my friends have so much energy? Both Chris and Aaron had their pokémon partners out and were running alongside them, and had been doing so for the past ten minutes. I, however, had been struggling to keep up with them and tepig, who was a few feet ahead of me.

"'Pig?" said tepig, stopping to wait for me. Aaron and Chris did so as well.

"Sorry, Phoenix!" Aaron said. "We were just so excited to start our journeys, we forgot you're not great at running."

"I'm perfectly fine at running, I just can't breathe after a while, that's all!" I huffed, grateful for the break anyhow.

Yeah, maybe I wasn't the most... fit person in the world. I'd meant to start jogging and getting in shape after I found out about this whole pokémon thing, but I just... never got around to it. Besides, why run when sleeping is a perfectly viable option?

"Yeah, sorry Pheo. We'll try to go slower from now on, okay?" said Chris, apologetic. He always walked really fast in general, so he was used to being asked to slow down.

"Fine," I said, still not any less unhappy about my weakness situation.

Tepig seemed unhappy as well, having been thoroughly enjoying its run along with my friends.

"Tell you what, tepig, you can go on ahead of us, okay?" I said, not wanting my partner to be annoyed with me. "Just don't run into any trouble, and if you do, make sure to find us."

"Tepig!" it squealed, and promptly bolted off ahead of us.

Meanwhile, oshawott and snivy seemed content to stay with their trainers. Oshawott loved having Aaron croon and fawn over it, while snivy just seemed... prissy. It apparently thought of Chris as less than itself, and rode on his shoulders like a prince.

Oy, vey...

"Hey, Chris, are you comfortable with snivy riding on your shoulders like that?" I asked.

"Yeah, totally! It really likes it, too," he responded, petting snivy's head.

"Vee," it said happily.

However, as soon as Chris stopped petting it, it nudged his shoulder until he started petting again. This continued for another ten or fifteen minutes (Chris getting tired of petting, snivy poking and nudging Chris, him petting again) until Chris finally got fed up with his partner's behavior.

"Alright, snivy, I'm not petting you anymore, okay? I know you like it, but this is just stupid."

"Snivy!" it said, indignant, but this time Chris didn't budge, not even when snivy bit his ear.

"Ow! Cut it out!" he cried, prying his "partner" off him. "What the hell is your problem?"

Snivy, evidently, didn't like being talked to like this. It crossed its little leaf-like arms over its chest and stuck its nose up, refusing to be talked down to.

"Snivy, c'mon, you're kinda being a jerk," I interjected, feeling like maybe I should step in at this point.

"Yeah," said Aaron, having watched the spectacle closely. "Chris is your partner, you should really be nicer to him."

"Oshawah," said oshawott, agreeing with Aaron.

Before snivy could respond, however, there was a noise from up ahead.

"TEPIG!" cried my partner, dashing back to us at full speed and hitting Chris and snivy, knocking them over. While those two were on the ground, tepig leaped into my arms and began squealing animatedly.

"What is it, tepig?" I asked.

"Krow! Krow! Krow!"

It was coming from where tepig had come from.

"... Tepig, what did you do?"

Just then, a flock of bird pokémon- murkrow- made itself visible from where the krow-ing came from, and I got my answer.

Well, this was going to be just fantastic, wasn't it?

I looked down at tepig, then at my friends.

"You guys ready?"

Chris nodded.

Aaron said "Yeah," looking and sounding the least ready she had ever probably looked or sounded in her life.

Together, oshawott, snivy, and tepig leaped away from their trainers and faced the murkrow, who were almost upon us.

Chris immediately assumed the lead. "Alright, wait until they get close, snivy. Use tackle as much as you can."

"Vee."

"Tepig," I said, "stand your ground, and wait for the murkrow to get close enough to tackle! Try and aim. You don't have to knock them out, just drive them off!"

"Tepig!"

"Do the same, oshawott! Spread out and get as many as you can!" shouted Aaron.

"Oshawott!"

All at once, the murkrow were upon us and our partners began their assault. Tepig did its best to aim, and got several murkrow to turn tail. Oshawott tried to spread its attack, and managed to pick off a few more. This was far from enough, however, and snivy had still not attacked. Only a few had left.

"Snivy, now! Use tackle!" commanded Chris.

But snivy didn't move.

"Snivy, what're you doing? I said use tackle!"

It stood there, clearly paying close attention to everything besides Chris. Perhaps it thought it had better judgement than him, and was still waiting to attack.

Waiting, however, proved to be snivy's downfall. It tried to tackle too late, and was pounced on by several murkrow.

"Tepig! Help snivy and use tackle on those murkrow!"

"Tepig!" it yelled, running headlong into the hoard and scaring away those murkrow. Snivy got up and tried to keep fighting with the others, but it was no good; it had attacked too late, and now all they could do was try to keep the murkrow from pecking anyone to death, and snivy could barely do a thing. I tried to think of a plan, but came up empty.

Just then, a dark figure leaped out from the bushes and slammed into a murkrow, scratching it viciously. After seeing their comrade attacked like this, several tried to leave.

I heard a voice from where the creature had come. "Zorua, use pursuit!"

The zorua- for apparently that was what it was- leaped and tackled the murkrow before they left.

The same voice resounded another command: "Now, leer at the others and scratch them!"

The zorua stared daggers into the remaining murkrow, making them falter, and unleashed its claws, again attacking them mercilessly. Those who remained flew off as fast as they could.

Another figure darted from the bushes, apparently the zorua's trainer. "Good job, zorua!"

As the pokémon responded with its pride, I noticed who the trainer was. Could it be? Black, short hair, round glasses, upturned eyes... it had to be!

"Jade!" I exclaimed, relieved and overjoyed to be seeing my friend. I ran over and hugged her, and she hugged back.

"Hey, Phoenix! Good to see you!" she laughed. "This is my partner, zorua!" she explained, gesturing to the pokémon. It nodded its fox-like head in response.

"Woah, a zorua?!" said Chris, bewildered. "How'd you find it?"

"Oh, uh, it's a funny story..."

"It's fantastic! Thanks so much for helping us out! We were dead meat back there," said Aaron. Our pokémon sounded their agreement.

"Yeah, seriously, we can't thank you enough," I said.

"Oh, it was nothing," said Jade.

"I'm still curious, though. How'd you meet zorua?" asked Chris, eager to get to the point.

"Well..." Jade thought for a moment. "How about this; if you guys let me come with you, I'll tell you how I met zorua!"

"Deal!" I said immediately.

Party member gained! Party members: 4.

When the others didn't oppose, Jade seemed relieved. "Okay, awesome. It's getting kinda dark, so how about I tell you after we set up camp?"

"Sounds good to me!" said Aaron. I nodded.

"Uh... camp?" said Chris sheepishly.

"Uh... yeah?" I said, mocking him. "You did bring camping supplies, right?"

"... Yes?"

I sighed.

"Chris, you dumbass," said Jade.

"It's okay. You can sleep in my tent," amended Aaron.

"I have a better idea," I said. "How about Chris uses my tent and I sleep with you in your tent?" I couldn't stand the thought of Chris sharing a tent with anyone. Plus, I didn't think he'd want to.

"Yeah, okay!" said Aaron. Everyone else agreed.

"Then it's settled. Let's set up camp!"