A/N: Last time on The Pokemon Journey of a Lifetime Steve and Sammy split with John and Phil to travel through Viridian Forest. Steve caught a Weedle named Wesley, who saved Sammy and Aria from Beedrill. On the other side of the forest, John is locked in a fierce battle with Phil. We join them now.


"Go Kakuna!"

I withdrew Bruce and sent out my man Phoenix. "Use Tackle!" Phoenix commando rushed the Kakuna, and Phil shrugged it off. "Harden." The Kakuna steeled itself for the hit and the bird Pokemon glanced off.

Hmm. I thought. That strategy wouldn't work. I'd think of something else. Presently the Kakuna was using Poison sting.

"Dodge the stingers! Fly up!" Phoenix obeyed.

"Kakuna, keep going!" The Kakuna continued to spray the poisonous stingers at the Pidgey, who valiantly tried to dodge the spikes. He was doing a good job until one hit on his wing. Phoenix spiraled downward to the forest floor.

"Phoenix! Pull up!" I screamed desperately. He continued his downward plummet, moving faster and faster. If he hit the ground it would be over. 5 feet, 4 feet, at about 3 feet he pulled up (finally) and almost scraped the ground with his talons. "Now Sand Attack!"

The Bird Pokemon flapped his wings hard and beat up some dirt on the ground. Soon a large cloud of sand obscured the whole battlefield.

"Poison sting! Wide spread!" yelled Phil. "Kuna!" The golden bug spewed spikes all around, but as they were so widespread, they were easily dodged due to Phoenix's speed and the sand covering.

"Go in for the Tackle!" I yelled as Phil called String Shot. The sticky string almost collided with Phoenix but he swerved at the last second and avoided it. Unfortunately that meant he had to go for a glancing blow. He ricocheted off Kakuna's hard skin and rebounded back out of the sand cloud.

I was relentless. "Tackle again!" This time Phoenix got him from behind and scored a critical hit. Kakuna wobbled for a minute and then fell with a weak "Kuna..."

"Damn!" I heard Phil say under his breath. He regained his composure and held out a hand to me. "A good match, John."

I brought out my two Pokemon and healed them. Phil did the same.

Then I said, "Ok, whos ready for some hardcore training?"

Phoenix shook his head and Bruce crossed his arms.

"Why?" I asked, bewildered. Bruce mimed eating, and I understood. I reached into my backpack and pulled out two cans of Pokemon Food (extra chunky beef flavor) and put them down. Phil did the same, and all four Pokemon dug in immediately.

As the Pokemon were eating I caught up with Phil.

"So how long have you been a trainer?" he asked.

"3 days now. What about you?"

"Oh, a couple weeks. I caught Kakuna here as my starter, and then you saw me catch Caterpie."

"I see. So are you going to challenge the Gym in Pewter City? That's where my friends and I are headed. I suppose you could come with us if you wanted to. How bout it?"

"Well, I don't know. I like it here is Viridian Forest, and there are so many bug types, too."

"I see where you're coming from. Anyway, give it some thought. But I'm challenging the Gym, and I need to train.


Steve POV

We had been training for 15 minutes now, and Arrow and Aria were doing quite well. Wesley, on the other hand, wouldn't do a thing I said.

"Nice job Arrow!" I congratulated as he took down his fourth Weedle in 10 minutes. "Look Wesley, you aren't going to get any stronger if you don't train." The Bug type turned his head away. I threw up my arms in disgust. This had been the third time I had tried to convince Wesley to train, and it had been the third time I had came away frustrated.

"Listen, you stinkin' Weedle. You can sulk all you want, but sulking isn't gonna make you a Beedrill. Why don't you stay right at that tree and watch. You can join us if you want." I scolded. I turned my attention back to Arrow, who was shaking up a Caterpie.

"Arrow, now Wrap him up! Thunder Wave! Keep holding him! Yes!" Arrow had KO'd his 5th Caterpie this session. Aria had similar numbers. Sweaty and tired, I walked back to where I had left Wesley. But there was no Weedle waiting for me.

"This was the tree, wasn't it, Sammy?"

"Yeah, here's my tent bag. This is definitely it." Sammy said. Aria augmented it with a "Bulba!"

"Well, I see no Wesley. He must have ran off. I should have known that would happen. He didn't seem to like me very much." I sat down at the base of the tree and sighed.

"Well, aren't you going to look for him?" Sammy asked. "He can't have gone far. And anyway, this is near where you caught him. I bet his nest is around here and he'll go back there."

"There are thousands of Weedle in this forest. We'll never find the right one."

"Suit yourself. I'm going to look."

"Fine! If you really insist!"

We searched around a bit until we heard the characteristic buzzing of what could only be Beedrill. Arrow, who was sleeping around my shoulder, immediately was alert. We rushed around the nearest tree, Pokemon at the ready, when we saw two Beedrill picking on a Weedle. Now I knew Beedrill were not normally cannibalistic, and are usually protective of their young. So something shifty was definitely going on here. The Weedle was being harassed again and again by powerful fury swipes, and it seemed close to fainting. The bug looked at me with pleading eyes, and it seemed to say, "Help me."

I decided it was time for action. "Arrow, Thunder Wave!" I called. Arrow pulsed out electricity which struck the Bug types and they immediately stopped attacking the helpless Weedle and turned their attention to the Dragon type. They rushed with Fury Swipes.

"Dodge it, Arrow!" After a succesful dodge, Aria pulled off a successful leech seed, and the Beedrill retreated for another strike. They rushed again, this time with Poison Sting. But one twitched and fell to the ground. On the ground, it twitched again and sparks flew from it. Arrow managed to get out of the way, but the still active Beedrill pulled an ultimate audible and struck Aria. The Bulbasaur took some damage, but then the Beedrill that was still on the ground trying to get up twitched madly, and Bulbasaur gained some health back due to the leech seed.

Seeing its fallen comrade, the remaining Beedrill hissed and flew away. Quickly Sammy and I rushed to the badly injured Weedle. It was lying on its back, bloody and delirious. I took it, use a potion on its worst wounds and bandaged it up as best I could. I put the small creature in my backpack and said, "Well, we should get going. This thing will die if we don't get it to a Pokemon Center, and quick.

Sammy locked eyes with me and we started on the path to Pewter City.


John POV

"Bruce, Bubble, Now!" That was the 3rd Caterpie he had taken down in 5 minutes and he was going ham. He had learned Bubble and Phoenix was close to learning Gust. It was a great session.

Presently Phil came running up holding a green Pokemon that looked a lot like Kakuna. "My Caterpie evolved! Check it out!"

It was immoble, like his teammate. I wondered what Phil saw in these Pokemon. "Cool!" I lied. Bugs were not my thing. I turned back to my training. "Phoenix, Sand Attack!" I yelled. "Now Tackle!" The latest Weedle was down for the count. My Pokemon were dead tired though, so I let them travel on my shoulder as we walked.

While we were walking we diverged back to the main path. As we meandered down the path, we heard feet behind us. We turned around to see two Neo-Rocket privates running behind us. They noticed the Squirtle on my shoulder and stopped immediately.

"We came for Beedrill," said a private. He was wearing the same blue and gold uniform we saw at the contest hall. He also had many freckles on his face.

"But a Squirtle will please the General just as much!" said the other. He had bright orange hair and the same uniform as his compatriot.

"Hand over the Squirtle or we'll knock you out!"

"Never!" I replied.

"Go! Rattata!" said Freckles.

"Get 'em, Zubat!" said Orange hair

I scanned Zubat with my Pokedex. Zubat, the Bat Pokemon. It does not need eyes, because it emits ultrasonic waves to check its surroundings while it flies.

"Want to take them, Phil?" I asked. Phil nodded. I sent out Phoenix and Phil chose Kakuna.

"Hah!" said Orange Hair. "These are the weakest Pokemon I've ever seen! Zubat, Leech Life!"

"Dodge, Kakuna, and Poison Sting!"

"Phoenix! Tackle, now! On Rattata."

These 3 orders were said almost simultaniously. Needles flew as Leech Life and Poison Sting collided. Zubat was hit multiple times but had no effect, as Zubat was a Poison type. But Phoenix collided with Tackle and knocked back Rattata. Now the Rattata charged with a Tackle. I countered with Sand Attack, and obscured Rattata's line. Kakuna had used String Shot on Zubat, and he was down for the moment, with a tangled wing.

The Rattata had rushed out of the cloud of sand and seemed very confused. I sensed an opportunity to end the fight, or at least take down the Rattata. "Phoenix, can you give me your biggest Gust yet?" I asked.

"Piii-" He warmed up for the attack. "GEEEEYYY!" With a mighty flap of his small wings, he procured a torrent of air so powerful that it knocked the purple Pokemon off his feet and nailed him against a tree. The side wind caught the Zubat too, and sent him tumbling as well. The Rattata was down for the count, so it was now a two on one battle.

Kakuna fired a string shot at the wounded Zubat, and I sent Phoenix in with a vicious Tackle. Within seconds, the privates' Pokemon were unable to battle.

"W-well!" said Orange Hair. "W-We'll be l-leaving now!" he stammered.

The two privates hightailed it back the way they had come, and we were alone again. It was 4:00 in the afternoon, and we started to look for a good place to camp.


A/N: Well, this has been my most exciting chapter yet! With a missing Weedle to an injured Weedle (coincidence?) to another Neo-Rocket attack, much has happened in this chapter. Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion to the missing Weedle!

Wesley: "Review, guys, so I'm found sooner!"