Chapter 7:
You Can't Choose Your Family

To anyone that had the misfortune of being around the immediate vicinity of that small area of Viridian Forest, they would have been greeted by the sounds of blood-curdling screams that seemed to reverberate off every tree that surrounded the young woman that was making them. The screams were that frightened and terrified that you would be forgiven for thinking someone was being murdered, and in the depths of a dark, mysterious and foreboding forest, that would be the last thing any reasonable person would like to hear.

"Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" Ivy stopped screaming just long enough to squeal frantically, her arms now flailing around uselessly as the Bug Pokemon crawled further and further up her shoulder.

"Hold still, Ivy," Sebastian appealed, trying to get close enough to the screaming girl to help her. When she eventually did still a little, he then attempted to loosen the Weedle from Ivy's shoulder, but the Pokemon stubbornly clung on to the young woman. He sighed, and backed away almost immediately, ignoring Ivy's demands for him to get the Weedle off her. Instead he turned to Jack. "Well, Jack. We should kill two Pidgey with one stone. Use Phoenix to knock out that Weedle. That way, he'll get some battling experience and Ivy can get her first Pokemon."

"I never said I wanted a Weedle!"

"Shut up, and do as you're told, Ivy," Jack said with a wicked grin, pulling out Phoenix's Pokeball. "Phoenix, let's go! Use Tackle attack on the Weedle!"

The Weedle took fright as soon as the young Pidgey appeared on the scene, and dove from Ivy's shoulder to the ground in the hope of escape. But Phoenix was faster, nailing the larva Pokemon straight in the gut. The Pokemon flew back a couple paces, but then steadied itself on its pink feet, looking as if it had barely felt the hit. "Weedle!" it called angrily, before suddenly shooting forward a barrage of sharp stingers that flew straight towards the aloft Pidgey.

"Poison Sting!" Sebastian called warily. "Watch out, that can be nasty!"

However, Jack was already ahead of that. "Come on, Phoenix, dodge it!"

"Pidgey-Pidgey!" Phoenix called as it sailed effortlessly above the incoming attack.

"Good work!" Jack called. "Another Tackle now, go!"

Phoenix's attack was another direct hit, but the Weedle seemed to be impossibly tough, and wasn't giving up. It shot another quick Poison Sting in Phoenix's direction, the baby bird only just able to pull itself up out of the way this time. Jack cursed to himself, lamenting his Pokemon's lack of any other moves than just Tackle. He gave the order anyway, and the bird once again delivered a powerful attack. However, once again, the Weedle was still hanging on.

"That's a tough one," Sebastian said admiringly.

"Either that or his Pidgey is just really weak," Robert deadpanned.

Jack was attempting to ignore the cousins, or at the very least filter out their conversation and focus only on the battle happening in front of him. However, the insult to his Pidgey wasn't helping matters. "Come on Phoenix, hang in there! Tackle again!"

But the baby Pidgey was tiring, and subsequently, its next attack wasn't fast enough. The Weedle took advantage of Phoenix's growing exhaustion, and fired a well aimed Poison Sting that hit the bird square in the face. Jack's heart leapt to his mouth as Phoenix crashed to the ground, the stingers embedded in his plumage. "Phoenix!"

The baby bird gathered itself, shaking its feathers to rid itself of the stingers. Thankfully, although injured from the attack, Poison hadn't set in and Jack, Sebastian and even Ivy found themselves sighing with relief. With a flap of its wings, the bird pushed off into the air again. But this time, with a difference.

No sooner had the little bird become airborne; Phoenix began flapping his wings rapidly. As he did so he somehow managed to kick up gusts of wind, thick with particles of dust and sand throughout them. The winds swept towards the Weedle, encompassing it, swallowing it up in a thick cloud. The Weedle, caught up in the winds, couldn't move, and had its eyes squeezed firmly shut from the winds that were thick with sand particles.

"Is that a Gust attack?" Ivy gasped.

"No, no, it's a Sand Attack," Jack said, unable to hide the beaming, excited grin on his face. "But it means Gust isn't far behind! Now, quick, Phoenix! While it's struggling, use a final Tackle attack! And make it count!"

It was over. The final Tackle was too much for the larva Pokemon to take, and it wobbled ominously on its feet for a few seconds, before collapsing, completely unconscious. Jack fought the urge to punch the air and quickly turned to Ivy.

"Now, Ivy, go! Throw a Pokeball!"

Ivy protested at once. "But I still don't want a Weedle!"

"Just take what you can get for now, Ivy!" Jack said, in an almost exasperated tone. "You need a Pokemon! And this Weedle is pretty strong; you could do a lot with it!"

"All right, all right!" She relented, forcefully yanking a Pokeball from her bag. She threw it hard, perhaps harder than she had intended to, and it bounced off the unconscious Pokemon's head, before sucking it in and sealing it inside. Ivy's heart thudded hard against her chest, as the Pokeball twitched back and forward erratically. Despite all common sense, Ivy still found herself irrationally hoping that the Weedle would somehow burst free from the ball. But of course, that didn't happen. The ball dinged, and became motionless, the Weedle trapped inside.

Ivy let out a shaky breath. She, Ivy McKenzie had caught a Weedle.

"Nice one, Ivy," Jack cheered, making the stoic, thoughtful young woman jump at his enthusiastic voice. As he congratulated Ivy, Phoenix came to settle on his shoulder, demanding his attention immediately "And you were brilliant, Phoenix! You learned Sand-Attack!"

"Pidgey-Pidgey!" Phoenix trilled happily at the praise from its trainer.

Ivy still hadn't moved towards the stationary Pokeball sitting only a few feet away from her. She physically couldn't move her limbs. Shock and disbelief at her capture had rooted her entirely to the spot. Sebastian noticed this, and quickly approached the apprehensive young woman. Jack was too preoccupied with Phoenix to notice, and Robert was completely disinterested, so it fell on Sebastian's shoulders to try and talk her around.

"That's a strong Weedle you've got there," He told her, planting a firm reassuring hand on her shoulder. She twitched at the touch, but said nothing. Sebastian frowned a little, before trying a different tactic. "I don't imagine it'll be long before it evolves into a Kakuna. And then a Beedrill after that. That Weedle will make a strong Beedrill, if you train it right."

Ivy made a noncommittal noise.

"Just give it a try," Sebastian said, drawing in a little closer to the young woman. "Trying isn't always the first step towards failure, you know? You'd be amazed what you could achieve if you put a little effort into it," he said those words with a peculiar weight to them, like they meant something important to him, before pulling away. The touch of his hand echoed in her shoulder long after he drew away, and Ivy found herself inexplicably wishing he could have left his hand there a little longer.

"Come on, let's get moving," Sebastian instructed a few moments later, after getting Robert and Jack's attention "We've got a lot of ground to cover."

With little other choice, Ivy crossed the slippery leaves and picked up the idle Pokeball. She held the cool metal of the ball in her hands, barely able to believe a Pokemon now lay in there. Her Pokemon…

"Ivy, come on!" Jack called, startling the young woman who hadn't realised she had been dawdling.

At her summons, Ivy quickly stowed the Pokeball away and ran after the three men, the Pokeball feeling like it was burning a hole in the pocket of her cardigan. She tried to ignore the feeling of the Pokeball bouncing against her legs as they continued picking their way across the hazardous terrain of Viridian Forest. They moved quickly and in muffled silence, stopping only to sweep away the occasional low hanging branch, or shoo away the odd Pokemon that dared to get a little too close.

Viridian Forest was unusually quiet, Sebastian thought to himself as he led his cousin and his two travelling partners confidently through the spiralling and winding trails of the dense, dark forest. He knew this forest like the back of his hand, having travelled back and forward through it all his life, and he had never seen it so devoid of life before, both Pokemon and aspiring trainers alike. He cast casual glances behind him at his travelling companions now and again. Ivy looked a little downtrodden, there was what appeared to be a well-practiced serious look on Jack's face, and his cousin looked downright bored, as he always did. He sighed. Sometimes he wondered if he was the only normal person left in the world…

The party progressed further through into Viridian Forest, following Sebastian's expert lead, and after only an hour of travelling emerged at the edge of Viridian City. Jack and Ivy were both exhausted, but Jack was too proud to say so, and since Ivy was making a conscious effort to stop complaining, also stayed quiet. However, as the four trainers eventually emerged from the darkness of Viridian Forest and as the outline of the city rose up from the horizon, they immediately ran into trouble.

And the last person Ivy expected to see.

A fierce Pokemon battle was erupting in front of one of the many houses hinging on the outskirts of Viridian City. Ivy's attention went straight past the young boy with the Sandshrew and instead focused in a mixture of horror and surprise on the lean figure of a young teenage girl with spiky brown hair cropped short and with a particularly vicious looking Mankey hopping madly around her feet. The girl stood with her legs spread apart and arms crossed, eyes narrowed and her head held high in the sheer epitome of confidence, as she instructed her Pokemon with a calm, self-assured air. "Mankey, use Low Kick!"

No sooner had the words left its trainer's mouth, the manic-looking Pokemon suddenly sprung forward on its strong legs, bouncing straight towards the terrified mouse Pokemon.

"Sandshrew, Defence Curl!" The panicked young boy attempted to ensure some kind of protection against the move, but it was useless against the sheer strength of the Fighting Pokemon. The Mankey's attack was so powerful that it uprooted the Sandshrew from the ground, even despite its best efforts to ball itself up and protect itself, and sent it flying through the air, only to crash to the ground seconds later. It didn't get up again.

"Looks like I win," the brunette said happily, stopping to pat her Mankey on the head. Immediately its expression softened, almost to what looked like a smile, and it bounced around her feet like an enthusiastic Growlithe.

The young boy's lip quivered dangerously, but he strode up to the brunette, handed her over a modest pile of notes and coins, turned on his heel, recalled his Sandshrew and calmly walked away, leaving the brunette and the Mankey alone. Ivy's heart plummeted down to somewhere in her stomach. "There's no way…" she murmured softly.

"There's no way what?" Sebastian asked, confused.

The voices behind her suddenly alerted the young brunette to the presence of the four young adults, and she whipped around to investigate. For a second, her face betrayed no emotion, but then, it contorted fiercely. Ivy winced as the young brunette's face became a sheer picture of anger. Without warning, the teenager stormed up to Ivy, and stuck an accusing finger firmly in the older girl's chest.

"What are you doing here?" the younger girl demanded.

While Jack, Robert and Sebastian returned a stunned silence at the display, Ivy managed a weak smile in the face of the angered girl. "I could ask the same for you,"

"Training." The younger girl quipped. "Something that you could probably stand to do. I heard you haven't even caught a Pokemon yet,"

"I have actually," Ivy retorted snippily, pulling out the Pokeball that now contained her newly captured Weedle. She waved it in the young brunette's face, unable to keep a satisfied smirk from her face.

"How do I know that's not empty?" the teenager challenged Ivy.

"Uh…" Ivy retracted the Pokeball slowly, apprehension building.

"Open it, then. Let me see what's in it."

Ivy flushed furiously, before stowing away the Pokeball. "No."

"That's cos there's nothing in there, isn't it?"

"Excuse me," Sebastian could bear the suspense no longer, and suddenly cut in, effortlessly integrating himself into the conversation. "But who are you?"

The young brunette blinked in surprise at the appearance of the cool, sophisticated red-head that suddenly entered her vision. She was flummoxed only momentarily though, and quickly gathered herself again. "The name's Michaela. Michaela McKenzie." She added, heaping purpose onto her last name.

"McKenzie, huh?" Sebastian murmured, nodding his head, making the connection almost immediately. He looked from Ivy to Michaela, marvelling at the almost scary similarities in their looks and kicking himself for not noticing them prior to this.

"Ivy's little sister. The Pokemon trainer…" Jack thought to himself, eyeing the tomboyish brunette rudely invading her older sister's personal space. He then turned his gaze on the Mankey still at her feet slightly nervously.

"Yeah, this is my little sister…" Ivy said with a noticeably forced smile. "Michaela, this is Sebastian Rhodes, and his cousin Robert Rhodes. And this is Jack—"

"Jack Hartman," the fifteen year old interrupted smoothly, pointedly settling her eyes on the young teacher-in-training. "Yes, I know all about Jack Hartman, Ivy."

Jack grimaced. He really didn't like the insinuations in that statement.

"You're gonna have to do better than just one Pokemon, Ivy." Michaela said with a fierce nod. "Have you even trained the Pokemon yet?"

"I just caught it an hour ago…" Ivy mumbled, her words running into an incomprehensible mess.

"Pardon?" Michaela asked, cocking her hand around her ear.

"I only caught it an hour ago." Ivy said, this time louder, her cheeks flushing a brilliant red. She couldn't even look her younger sister in the eye.

Michaela spluttered with laughter at her sister's embarrassment. "You idiot. And I was going to challenge you to a Pokemon battle as well,"

"With that thing?" Ivy cast a nervous glance at the Mankey that had taken out the last trainer's Sandshrew so easily.

"Well, maybe not with Mankey. He's beaten a lot of other trainers since I came through Viridian Forest." Michaela said proudly. "He's a bit tired."

"That explains why we didn't see any other trainers in Viridian Forest, then." Sebastian thought to himself, eying the Mankey for himself. It still looked quite young to him, but he couldn't deny it was a strong looking specimen.

"I have other Pokemon I could use to take you on," Michaela said with a smirk, pulling back the folds of her cardigan to reveal a belt with five gleaming Pokeballs swinging from her hips. "And they're all really strong,"

Robert rolled his eyes to himself, but mercifully stayed quiet.

"How long have you been a trainer, Michaela?" Sebastian asked. His tone of voice however held no traces of the conversational tone it normally did.

"Three months, ever since I turned fifteen." Michaela said, nodding her head proudly.

"Three months, huh?" Sebastian said, one eyebrow twitching slightly. "So, you pretty much think you know all there is to know about Pokemon training?"

Michaela looked a little insulted. "Well, I'd like to think I knew a fair bit!"

"Hmm." Robert said, standoffishly, coming to stand by his cousin. "Try being trainers for ten years. Perhaps then you can try boasting. People might actually be impressed by it,"

Ivy winced. Michaela by nature was a hot-headed girl, and she normally never took to being openly mocked or ridiculed, and this time was no exception. Ivy watched as her younger sister's thin, angular face twisted in violent rage. Even the Mankey at her feet picked up on her anger, and its fur began to bristle. Micheale suddenly lunged for a Pokeball tucked away at the back of her belt, and brought it up. "Yeah? You wanna try me?"

"Michaela!" Ivy gasped as her sister suddenly rounded on Robert. "Are you insane? Robert's been a trainer for ten years! There's no way you can beat him!"

Sebastian was shaking his head. Jack looked uncharacteristically worried as he approached Ivy and an angered Michaela. Robert however looked totally calm and collected as the raging girl in front of him, angrily waving her Pokeball at him.

"You really want to challenge a trainer with ten years experience?" Robert asked coolly.

Michaela nodded firmly.

"Even if you're sure you're gonna lose?"

"Who says I'm gonna lose!" Michaela hissed.

"All common sense does." Robert said, with an airy shrug. "All right. I'll battle you. Shall we have a one-on-one?"

"You're on!" Michaela said, quickly recalling her Mankey.

"Robert, you are an idiot." Sebastian said, shaking his head.

"So is my sister," Ivy said through fiercely gritted teeth. "I know she's a hothead, but I would have thought she'd have a little more sense than this."

"Robert's just as bad, he should know better than to take on a rookie," Sebastian said with an angry sigh. "He just can't say no to a challenge,"

Ivy sighed exasperated.

"Family, huh?" Sebastian shot Ivy a knowing look.

"Tell me about it," Ivy said with a short smile.

At that point, the battle got underway. Michaela, with as much force as she could muster hurled the Pokeball she was holding. She overbalanced, and almost stumbled as she threw the ball forward, and Ivy had to bite back a laugh. The Pokeball burst open, revealing a small pink, dopey looking Pokemon that yawned comically as soon as it appeared.

"A Slowpoke, huh?" Ivy heard Sebastian murmur from next to her. "Interesting choice,"

Ivy, who knew next to nothing about the Pokemon that her sister had just released, merely nodded and exchanged a glance with Jack, who looked just as taken aback as she felt. Robert however stood calmly at the opposite end of the battlefield. Then, all of a sudden, his hand flew to his belt and with a flash, had produced a Pokeball, seemingly from nowhere. It all happened so fast that neither Ivy nor Jack caught the motion, and were flummoxed when the young man was suddenly holding onto a Pokeball.

"I wonder what Pokemon he's going to use against that Slowpoke," Sebastian thought to himself, mentally cycling through the Pokemon he knew, or at the very least suspected, his cousin was carrying. It was a question both Ivy and Jack were puzzling over too, but a fiercely determined Michaela wasn't even bothered.

Well, not until Robert casually let the Pokeball he was holding drop to the ground, revealing Michaela and Slowpoke's opponent. No sooner had he seen the Pokemon his cousin had chosen, Sebastian mentally sunk his head into his hands.

"Vile! Vileplume!"

"You've got to be kidding me…" Ivy said in awe.

"He's not…?" Jack was shocked.

"He's using a Vileplume…?" horror had permeated Michaela's voice as she stared down her opponent.

"He's an idiot," Sebastian deadpanned.

Ivy studied her sister's reactions intently as Michaela suddenly drew herself back up to her full height and crossed her arms firmly. "No matter!" she called out, her voice wavering only slightly. "I can still win!"

Ivy shook her head. Sometimes her sister took false bravado just that step too far.

"You sure you still want to do this?" Robert asked, as his nonchalantly calm Vileplume shifted from foot to foot in the face of the Slowpoke.

Yes!" Michaela cried out with a fierce nod.

"Very well then," Robert said, looking down at his Pokemon. "Vileplume, get ready."

"Vile!"

Robert swept his hand across the battlefield. "The first move is yours."

Ivy wholly expected her sister to deny the opportunity for the first move, claim she didn't need it to win, but she sprung into action straight away. "Slowpoke, start off the battle with a Confusion!"

"Slooow!"

Slowpoke summoned the necessary energy for the attack, and fired a weak telekinetic shock at the overgrown plant Pokemon. Ivy was shocked when Robert said or did nothing, simply stood his ground, as did the Vileplume. The attack hit Robert's Pokemon head on, but the Pokemon barely even flinched as the attack struck.

"…what?" Michaela said in shock as the Vileplume shook itself slightly, looking no different from before the attack had even hit. The dopey look even slipped off the Slowpoke's face to be replaced with one that Ivy swore was worry.

"You call that an attack?" Robert asked sceptically, one eyebrow raised. His voice was oddly calm, betraying no emotion, or even changing slightly in pitch or tempo. "We'll show you what a real attack is. Vileplume, use Mega Drain!"

The plant Pokemon struck before Ivy even detected its movement. If it was difficult for a human to pick up on its movement, it was impossible for the dopey Slowpoke to notice. The Vileplume struck with the powerful draining move, almost immediately sapping the entirety of the Slowpoke's energy. However, at its master's orders to stop, it leapt back, leaving an almost unconscious Slowpoke teetering uncertainly on its feet.

"Slowpoke! Can you attack?" Michaela cried.

"Slooow…" the Pokemon said wearily, its eyes lidded and its whole body shaking.

"Are you serious?" Robert asked, frowning deeply as he looked at the Pokemon. "I asked Vileplume to stop because I didn't want him to hurt your Slowpoke too much. But it's obvious it can't attack. Look at it. It can barely stand."

Ivy could tell by the look on her younger sister's face that Michaela knew that what Robert was saying was true, but certainly didn't want to succumb to it. Michaela's hands clenched into tight firsts, and a deep, angry frown was eroding her normally pale and pretty face. "Slowpoke, come on! Attack!"

"No," Robert said firmly. "Your Pokemon can't attack. You've lost. If you force your Pokemon to attack now, that's abuse."

"What?" Michaela cried, recoiling back sharply, her eyes widening.

"Forcing a Pokemon that can barely stand to attack is abuse," Robert said firmly, pulling out a Pokeball and recalling his Vileplume. "I'm not going to stand here and argue with you. And I'm certainly not going to put that Slowpoke out of its misery either, because that will be cruel. I think you need to reassess what you think being a Pokemon trainer is all about, Michaela McKenzie. You're no more experienced or fit to preach about being experienced than that sister of yours," he cast a meaningful look in Ivy's direction before turning on his heel and stalking off in the direction of Viridian City.

"Oh no…" Sebastian groaned, before calling after his cousin and giving frantic chase.

Jack cast a look at the McKenzie siblings, then back at the disappearing Rhodes cousins, before deciding he was likely to cause less damage following them instead of hanging around making it awkward for the siblings. He pursued them straight away, leaving the two young women alone.

Michaela dejectedly recalled her Slowpoke, murmuring words of apology into the red capsule, before minimizing it and stowing it away. She then turned her back on her sister. However, contrary to what Ivy had wholly expected, the fifteen year old remained where she was, instead of running off.

For a long painful moment of silence, Ivy didn't know what to say or do. She didn't even know if she should say or do anything. Her relationship with her younger sister wasn't brilliant, as was the case with her older sister and to an extent, her younger brother, but with Michaela it was particularly strained and tense. However, Ivy still couldn't ignore the sight of her younger sister in distress, and so began approaching her warily.

"Michaela?" Ivy whispered, as she took those first tentative steps forward.

"Leave me alone." Michaela said thickly.

"No, I won't leave you alone," Ivy said firmly. "You're my sister, I—"

"I don't need you looking out for me all the time," Michaela rounded on her sister, tears stinging at her eyes. "I'm fifteen years old and I'm a better Pokemon trainer than you! So I don't need a babysitter!"

"I never said you needed a babysitter," Ivy said, approaching her younger sister, suddenly aware of the scary fact that Michaela, four years her junior, was now actually taller than her. She swallowed and carried on. "But you need your sister right now." She surmised. And then she wrapped her arms around her younger sister, bringing her into the first hug the siblings had shared in almost two years. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. Robert's a bit… hot-headed like that…"

Michaela said nothing. Her shoulders were shaking, and Ivy detected a slight wetness form on her shoulder where her sister's face was currently pressed against. She hugged her Michaela closer, murmuring what little words of comfort she knew how to give.

The two siblings stayed like that for quite some time, until Michaela eventually calmed down, and pulled away from her older sister, her face reddening. Ivy wasn't sure if it was caused from the upset, or the embarrassment the tough young hothead felt for breaking down in front of her. A fond smile crept across Ivy's face. Her sister wasn't that bad of a girl, after all. It was nice to know she hid a heart and emotions under that tough, tomboyish exterior.

"Come on," Ivy said, threading her hand through her younger sister's and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "We better go get back to the boys."

Michaela looked a little nervous, her dull grey eyes widening with alarm.

"They're not bad people, really." Ivy managed to muster up a smile. "Jack is fantastic, Sebastian is lovely, and Robert is just…" she paused, unable to come up with a suitable way to describe him. "Robert is just Robert," she eventually surmised.

"Robert and Sebastian are really tough trainers, aren't they?" Michaela asked softly, as the sisters began the short scenic walk up to Viridian City.

"Yeah…" Ivy nodded. "Jack and I are really lucky we ran into them. The two of us only have a Pidgey and a Weedle between us. There's no way we could do anything without some proper trainers looking after us."

Michaela had to fight to bite back a laugh at what her older sister had just said, but she was feeling strangely at peace with Ivy and didn't particularly want to ruin it. Michaela's quick temper had always ensured a struggle to get on with her three siblings, especially the ditzy airheaded Ivy, but this was a welcome change for the fifteen year old. She looked up at her older sister, her mind ticking over. "How strong do you think Robert and Sebastian really are?"

"I don't know," Ivy said truthfully, as the grassy surroundings began to slowly melt into the familiar grey stone of city life once again. "I've only seen two of Sebastian's Pokemon, and only one of Robert's. But Sebastian is supposed to be having a rematch with the Viridian City Gym Leader…"

"Seriously?" Michaela gasped.

"Seriously."

"I've gotta see that!" Michaela cried enthusiastically. "Oh, Ivy, please can I see it?"

"W-well, that's not really my decision!" Ivy said truthfully. "I'm not even sure spectators are allowed to watch. I'm not even sure Sebastian would like people watching him…"

Michaela looked a little dejected.

"I'll ask him though," Ivy shot her little sister a wink.

Michaela smiled. "Thanks, sis."

"No problem," Ivy replied with a smile. "Now, come on, we better catch up to them. I need to go to the Pokemon centre. My Weedle needs healing…" she added, with a humourless laugh, still not used to tacking on a possessive particle to "Weedle" just yet.

"Yeah, my Pokemon need healing too after Viridian Forest and that battle with Robert…" Michaela said thoughtfully. Then seconds later, a wide grin spread across her face. "Hey! Maybe after I get my Pokemon healed I can challenge you?"

"No chance!" Ivy said with a genuine laugh this time. "You're too strong for me, I think! Maybe try Jack? He wants to try training his Pidgey?"

"Maybe," Michaela said, genuinely considering it, much to Ivy's amusement. "Do you think he'll be much of a challenge?"

Ivy didn't even have to think about it. "Probably not."

Michaela let out a burst of laughter, the thin cropped spikes of her hair bobbing along with her. "Better not let him hear that! You're so mean to say that!"

"Hey, he's mean to me all the time; it makes a change me being mean to him."

Michaela just shook her head, at a loss of what to say.

"Now come on, let's go." Ivy insisted, tugging on her sister. "Stop dawdling."

"Jeez," Michalea said with a smile. "You're starting to get even bossier than Lily-Mae… that's a frightening thought," she then remarked to herself.

However, despite her initial reluctance, she followed her older sister happily enough straight into the modest city of Viridian, where, after a short search, the two girls were reunited with Jack and the Rhodes cousins outside the Pokemon Centre. However, the three men weren't alone.

Even Ivy, who knew next to nothing about the world of Pokemon, couldn't fail to recognise the man engaged in casual conversation with a laughing Sebastian, a nonchalant Robert and a highly shocked Jack.

Viridian City's Gym Leader himself. The expert Pokemon trainer, rumoured to be the toughest Gym Leader in all of Kanto and Johto, a man that some thought was near Elite Four level, and one of the most respected and well known figures in the world of Pokemon training. A man that was known throughout the entirety of Kanto by one name only.

Blue.

Author's Note

Even though I know quite a bit happens in this chapter, I still feel like nothing of importance actually happens here...

But, Ivy caught her first Pokemon, that's something right? And there is the introduction of Michaela McKenzie, who may or may not end up being a central character. I'm not sure yet...

I know these past chapters have been kinda filler-y, but after the next couple chapters, we'll get into the proper "going around Kanto looking for the list Pokemon" part of the story.

So, big thanks to my readers and my reviewers.

Special thanks go to MasterFreezeman, Sniper Mudkip, WildCroconaw, Shadow Serenity 57, TCO BlackRoses and Sunbean. I really love getting your reviews, guys, they mean a heck of a lot to this author that's currently struggling a bit with writer's block and self-esteem stuff. *shot*

So, please read and review if you can!