Chapter 10
"It may take a couple of days to get through Viridian Forest," Johnny warned them as they walked. Spikes had happily returned to his pokeball and Gem was now being carried in Elise's arms. She didn't want to risk Gem getting poisoned again, even though they did have Antidotes with them now.
"I'm so gonna catch a bunch of strong Pokemon here and then I'll beat Elise in a battle and she'll have to do whatever I say for a week," Josh said, grinning at Elise.
"Assuming I agree to battle you and agree to the terms," she responded, amused.
"You couldn't beat Elise anyway, she's a way better trainer than you are," Johnny added. Elise glared at Johnny, but Josh just laughed.
"Yeah you're probably right," he agreed. A small, brown, bird Pokemon landed in front of them. It had pink wings and a lighter underside. Elise opened her pokedex.
"Unlike Pidgey, Spearow has a terrible attitude. It is very wild and will sometimes attack other Pokémon and humans," the pokedex said.
"Go Rattatta!" Josh called, releasing Rattatta from its pokeball. Elise frowned slightly. She'd wanted to battle the Spearow, maybe even catch it. Oh well.
"Use Tackle," Josh commanded. Rattatta jumped forward and hit the Spearow. It looked mad. It dived at the Rattatta and started pecking it over and over with its sharp beak. Josh's Rattatta fainted. The Spearow took to the sky and flew away.
"Oh no Rattatta," Josh cried, scooping his Pokemon into his arms. It opened its eyes.
"Rattatta," it said softly.
"Well that was pathetic," said a girl's voice. Ahead of them was a dark skinned girl with long, black hair and green eyes. She was dressed in a purple shirt, black mini shorts and bright sneakers, along with a leather jacket. She was sitting on the back of a Pokemon. It was deer like, big and light brown with a lighter underside and small pink flowers across its large horns. Elise pointed her pokedex at it.
"Sawsbuck, the Season Pokémon, and the evolved form of Deerling. The plants on Sawsbuck's horns change depending on the time of year, and people often use them to measure the passing of the seasons."
"Hold on, that's not a normal Sawsbuck, they're usually darker than that," Johnny said, frowning. The girl laughed.
"Well spotted," she said in a warmer tone, "my Sawsbuck happens to be a shiny Sawsbuck." Her Pokemon let out a cry. She swung off of its back and approached the group.
"So we have a little nerdy kid, a midget girl... or are you a boy? I can't quite tell, and a very good looking guy," she observed. She turned to Johnny and smiled alluringly. Elise glared at her.
"I am a girl," she said angrily. The dark skinned girl smirked.
"Either way it doesn't matter. So I'm Rain, and you are?" she continued, turning back to Johnny.
"I'm Johnny," he replied. Elise wasn't sure whether he liked this Rain or not, but she wished the girl would go away.
"Well Johnny you don't need to continue travelling with these losers, you're more than welcome to travel with me instead," Rain said. Elise was fuming.
"I don't consider Elise a loser, Josh sometimes, but not Elise. She's my best friend," he responded smoothly. Rain pouted.
"Well fine, I'm sure we'll see each other again soon," she said. She turned and mounted her Sawsbuck.
"Oh and Elise, next time we meet, I will beat you," she added. Rain and her Sawsbuck cantered away into the forest.
"Well she seemed pleasant," Johnny said sarcastically. Elise burst out laughing.
"Should we just camp here for the night then?" Josh suggested brightly. The others hadn't noticed, but it was getting quite dark. They set out their sleeping bags and Johnny released his Ninetales after they created a fire pit.
"Use Flamethrower Ninetales," Johnny said. The white fox like Pokemon released a jet of flames at the pile of wood they had collected. Soon Johnny was cooking sausages that they had bought in Viridian over the fire. Elise had let Spikes out of his pokeball to join her and Gem. Josh had let out Rattatta and Squirtle and Johnny had let out all of his Pokemon. In addition to Cubchoo, Leafeon and Ninetales he also had a large purple ghost type Pokemon with glaring red eyes called Gengar.
"Gengar, the Shadow Pokémon. The evolved form of Haunter. Details about this Pokémon are unknown."
He had a turquoise, discus-shaped Pokemon that had a silver cross on its face around red eyes called Metagross.
"Metagross, the Iron Leg Pokémon and the evolved form of Metang. Metagross has four legs and uses many powerful moves."
There was also a dinosaur like Pokemon with a thick, green armour like hide that stood on two legs called Tyranitar.
"Tyranitar, the Armor Pokémon. Tyranitar has a heavily armored body that can withstand powerful attacks and is able to crush a mountain with one hand."
"Wow you have a lot of strong Pokemon," Josh said admiringly. Johnny merely grunted in reply. Elise opened the necklace Johnny had given her and stared at the photograph inside. Half of her wished she'd never invited Josh to come with them. She wanted to be alone with Johnny for a while.
We'd been told never to go into the forest outside Kazan town. But since when had we really listened to our parents? I would've been nine at the time, Johnny twelve.
"Okay so get as much food as you need, and bring your sleeping bag, I think that's all we'll need," Johnny had whispered to me, before returning to his own house. I lay in bed, listening for my parents' snores. Finally, around eleven, they fell asleep. I took my back pack and rolled up sleeping bag downstairs. I crept over to the fridge and put some food into my bag. I also had my Vaporeon Pokemon Doll. I slipped out the door and walked towards the gate. There was nothing to hide me from the neighbours' view, if someone saw me I'd be in a lot of trouble. But Johnny really wanted to do this, so I knew I had to try.
"Elise!" Johnny whispered. He was hiding behind a bush near the gate leading out of Kazan town. I hurried over to him. He had his back pack, a sleeping bag, and Cubchoo with him. We squeezed through the gate, trying not to make any noise, and tip-toed into the forest.
"Isn't this exciting?" Johnny said to me, eyes glinting. I managed a weak smile. I was quite terrified, even though I knew nothing could hurt me when Johnny was with me. We walked for a while in the semi-darkness, patches of moonlight were filtering through the trees. It was quite pretty really. Finally we got to the part of the forest where the lake was. What we saw made me breathless. Volbeat and Illumise, dancing across the sky with their tails lit up. The little lights reflected in the water, causing shimmering patterns to dance across the surface. Johnny and I sat there for what felt like hours, watching the beautiful sight. I fell asleep first I think, on Johnny's shoulder, because I woke up like that the next morning. Johnny's arm had been resting over me. I didn't move until he woke up, because I didn't want to waste the moment.