Pokemon 101

Season 1-Kanto

Chapter 10-Rematch in Viridian Forest

The trio finally came to a halt, peeking out of a pair of bushes into a clearing where, true to Sneasel's claim, Zack and Hayden were currently sitting. The former was going through Demitri's Pokedex, the Pidgey still on its shoulder, preening itself. "There they are," Anne mumbled lowly. "Let's go, now!"

"Ah ah ah, not so fast," Ranoku responded, pulling her back down as she went to stand up. "We need to catch them by surprise."

Demitri glanced at Ranoku, murmuring, "How do you propose we do that...?"

"Don't doubt his skills!" Anne hissed back, turning back to Ranoku. "What do we need?"

The teen fell silent for a moment, rubbing his chin in thought. "Hm, lemme think..."

Several moments passed in silence, Demitri's eye twitching. "Any day now..."

More time passed. Demitri finally sighed irritably, mumbling, "Look, if you're not going to do something, then I-"

"Got it," Ranoku suddenly remarked, dragging Demitri back down. "I've got a plan. A good one, too."

During this time, Zack and Hayden continued to sit in the clearing, the younger boy occasionally swinging his legs over the side of the boulder he was sitting on. "Are you done yet, Zack? I wanna get moving..."

"In a minute," Zack mumbled flatly, waving his hand around. "This thing's pretty cool! Why didn't old man Oak give one to me?"

"'Cause he's mean," Hayden responded with a slight pout. "That's all I can think of."

Zack shrugged slightly, just in time to hear a loud bursting sound and a bright flash of light from nearby; coincidentally, the bushes that Demitri, Anne, and Ranoku were hiding behind. Both boys blinked, Hayden mumbling, "Wh-what was that?"

"The unmistakable sound of a Poke Ball being activated," Zack mumbled, narrowing his gaze. "Those guys must've thought they could get the jump on me, eh? Well that won't work."

During this time, the screen of Demitri's Pokedex had began changing, finally showing the image of Porygon. A low buzzing came from the device, prompting Zacck to look down at it in confusion. "What the-"

Zack's comment was abruptly cut off when a bright flash of light emerged from the screen, Porygon abruptly materializing and catching the Pokedex on its snout as Zack was knocked away from the force of the entrance. The Virtual Pokemon then flipped backwards, catapulting Demitri's Pokedex into the air, where its owner abruptly stood up and caught it. "What...how did..." Zack stammered bluntly.

During this time, Ranoku had stood up, arms folded with a slight chuckle; in his hand was his own Pokedex. "Porygon have the power to travel through cyberspace, from one electrical device to another. Professor Oak made the Pokedex so that they all ran on the same frequency, sharing the same little stream of cyberspace."

The teen lifted up his own Pokedex, finishing, "All I had to do was make Porygon travel from my Pokedex to his for a perfect sneak attack."

Zack gawked at the teen for a moment as Demitri pocketed his Pokedex, mumbling, "Alright, I WILL admit that was pretty clever."

"Told ya!" Anne shouted as Porygon retreated to its Trainer's side.

Zack gritted his teeth at this, fishing out another Poke Ball as his Pidgey alighted off of his shoulder. "Laugh it up while you can, because now I'm going to defeat you!"

With this comment, he tossed his Poke Ball forth, releasing his Charmander in a pillar of light. Both Pokemon stepped forward, Demitri narrowing his gaze. "I beat you before, I can very well do it again."

"Not when it's two against one," Zack responded with a cocky smirk. "Maybe if there were two of you, you MIGHT have a chance."

Demitri narrowed his gaze, Ranoku glancing at him. "I'm fairly sure Demitri has another Pokemon. Show him."

A few moments passed in silence, Demitri glancing at Ranoku blankly. The teen stared back at him, mumbling, "You don't even have two Pokemon. Wow, you're behind."

Zack smirked again, pointing forward. "And since I have the advantage of numbers, this victory is sure to be mine! Charmander, Scratch!"

The orange lizard abruptly charged forward, claws extended, Demitri and Porygon spacing themselves out to get into a defensive position. Before the attack could impact, however, another figure abruptly leaped in the way, clashing claws with Charmander; a Meowth. "I don't think so!"

Demitri glanced to the side at Anne, who stepped next to him, arms folded. Zack glanced at the girl, grunting, "This doesn't concern you, pipsqueak. Butt out!"

"It does now!" Anne retorted with an enraged expression. "And don't call me pipsqueak! I could still kick your butt up and down this entire forest!"

"Not that I'm thrilled about you helping me," Demitri responded with a thick layer of sarcasm, glancing at Anne. "But why're you offering your services to help me?"

Anne glanced at the teen with a slight frown. "Look, Ranoku might see something in you, but I still don't think you could handle two opponents at once with only one Pokemon. Besides..."

With this comment, she struck a pose, one hand perched on her hip and the other pointing at Zack, Anne winking. "This is the perfect chance for me to strut my stuff!"

Zack scowled at this as Meowth and Charmander leaped away from each other. "Tch, just because the battle's even now, doesn't mean you have a chance at winning!" Zack called, pointing forward. "Prepare to be defeated!"

Battle Situation
Pkmn Trainer Demitri, Pkmn Trainer Anne vs. Pkmn Trainer Zack
Location: Viridian Forest
Multi Battle

"Don't be arrogant," Demitri snapped back, motioning forward. "Porygon, Psybeam!"

The Normal-type obeyed, shooting several blasts of rainbow energy towards the two opponents. Charmander danced out of the way of each while Pidgey lifted itself into the air to avoid; however, during this time, Meowth had leapt up the branches of a nearby tree, managing to catapult itself toweards Pidgey. "Show it your Scratch attack!" Anne commanded, punching forward.

Meowth let out a snarl and swung its claws towards Pidgey, who quickly scrambled back to avoid, and prompting Meowth to fall back to the ground; coincidentally, right in front of Charmander, whose mouth was leaking flames. "Charmander, torch that kitten with an Ember!" Zack ordered.

Charmander let out a shout and shot several flaming darts at Meowth at point-blank range, the cat sent toppling backwards before rolling to a halt. It looked up as Pidgey began diving down towards it, Zack shouting, "Good! Follow up with a Tackle!"

"I don't think so," Demitri responded, Porygon abruptly levitating down in front of Meowth and charging forward as well, Pidgey and Porygon impacting with a loud thunk. The impact knocked Pidgey to the ground, staggering about with a lethargic coo as Porygon shook itself off. "Now, finish it with a Psybeam!"

"Counter with Ember!" Zack retorted, Charmander abruptly spewing an array of flaming darts at Porygon to cut off its attack, resulting in an explosion that clouded the area and hid the combatants from view.

Demitri furrowed his brow at this, Porygon and Meowth quickly hopping out of the smokescreen. "Gust!"

The smoke was abruptly parted by an intense burst of wind generated by Pidgey, the current slamming into Porygon and Meowth, knocking them skidding back slightly. Zack continued to smirk, shouting, "Time to finish this! Charmander, one more Ember!"

The lizard took a breath, finally firing off a large array of embers towards the two opponents and prompting them to look up. "Going up," Demitri responded, Porygon abruptly positioning itself under Meowth and lifting the cat into the air, perching them high above the battlefield.

Zack looked up with a slight chuckle, calling, "Oh, you wanna take this battle to the skies? Fine by me! Pidgey, after them!"

With this command, the bid quickly gave chase, headed right towards them. Demitri frowned slightly, mumbling, "Probably not the best idea...Porygon, Psybeam!"

The Virtual Pokemon shot several psychic blasts towards Pidgey, who expertly wheeled out of the way and shot towards Porygon. Anne, on the other hand, smirked, shouting, "Gotcha! Take it out with a Fury Swipes!"

Pidgey didn't have enough time to stop or avoid when Meowth lunged forth, releasing a flurry of claw swipes at the bird's body and sending both plummeting towards the ground. Zack's eyes widened, the boy growling, "Ggh...Charmander, knock it off with an Ember!"

The fire lizard abruptly shot several flaming darts towards the two combatants; instead, Meowth leaped off of Pidgey, resulting in the attack missing them both, and Pidgey hitting the ground hard with one final squeak, finally unconscious. Zack gritted his teeth in anger, shouting, "I'm not done yet!"

"Oh yes you are," Demitri responded, pointing downwards. "Porygon, Tackle."

Zack and Charmander both looked up at this, finding Porygon rocketing downwards at a surprisingly high speed. The fire lizard's eyes widened as Porygon smashed, snout first, into the fire-type's head, a resounding "bonk" being heard through the area. Porygon levitated up as Charmander staggered back, finally flopping onto its back with one low murmur, unconscious. "And that's a wrap!" Anne called, striking another victory pose.

"It looks like we win," Demitri murmured, folding his arms as Porygon levitated to his side with several victorious beeps, Anne making several more victory poses while Meowth kept its arms folded with a confident smirk.

Zack returned both Pokemon at this, gripping his fists in irritation. "You...this isn't over! Not by a long shot! I WILL return, and I WILL defeat you!"

"Keep talking," Anne responded, making a mock talking motion with her hands as Zack and Hayden retreated into the forest once again.

Ranoku, who had been spectating with Sneasel the entire time, stood up, crushing his now empty soda can. "Impressive. Of course, given that you had two Trainers working together as opposed to his one...I still think you both did well."

Anne placed her hands on her hips, chuckling, "Of course...was there ever any doubt?"

"There was for a second, but that's not the point," Ranoku responded with a wave of his hand, Anne giving a slight sweatdrop as he began headed back towards the forest. "Let's get back on the path so we can get out of here."

The duo proceeded to follow along after Ranoku, Zack and Hayden peeking from the bushes after them. "Tch...can't believe it..." the older growled in irritation. "How could this have happened?"

"Well, the tall guy said there was two of them and only one of you," Hayden pointed out.

"Since when do we listen to what the tall guy has to say?" Zack shot back in irritation. "We don't even know who he is, or why he's with Demitri! Same goes for that little girl!"

Hayden tilted his head to one side. "Think they're his friends or something?"

Zack waved a hand around, mumbling, "Ah, him and the girl didn't seem to be on very friendly terms...however..."

He turned back to where the trio had left, musing, "That older boy seemed to be in charge...like...a teacher, or something."

"So, you think they got a teacher?" Hayden asked, tilting his head to one side.

"Maybe," Zack responded, rubbing his chin in thought. "Perhaps he's some sort of Pokemon guru that's teaching Demitri how to be an even better Trainer."

The boy stood up at this, shouting, "And I will not stand for it!" He turned to Hayden, adding, "We need to find out more. Which means..." Zack adopted an evil smirk, drumming his fingers together. "...it's time for a little espionage..."

Hayden stared at Zack for a moment. "What's that mean?"

"I dunno," Zack responded with a nonchalant shrug. "I heard it on a spy movie once, and I thought it sounded cool."

"Ooohhh," Hayden responded with a slight nod, the duo quietly slinking through the underbrush after Demitri and the others.