Chapter 55 This Damn Forest! & Introductions

"Jesus christ, how the hell do new trainers come through this forest each and every year?"

"I don't know but they're freaking lucky if they don't have to deal with crap like this!" Roy and John had accidentally gotten themselves separated from the other two in a horrible accident. Well, not so much horrible as much as it was incredibly stupid. Long story short, Houndoom + Beedrill Nest = tons of angry Beedrill.

"It's like something out of a cartoon! This is goddamn ridiculous Roy!"

"I would use Torchie but he can't possibly take on this many Beedrill at once!" The two take a sharp turn around a large tree and duck underneath a bush. The dozens of Beedrill hover around for a few minutes before giving up the search and going back to their hive. "Well that was… entertaining."

"Holy hell." John was not used to bug pokemon attacking him. "Well, from what I now see, we have two options. One, we go to Viridian and meet Bill and Len there, or we can look for them here and go together." The swarm of Beedrill fly overhead again. Roy looks John in the eyes.

"They'll live without us." The to wait until the Beedrill finally give up their search, and start sprinting south. After about a minute they tired themselves out to the point where they were both dehydrated, and stopped just as fast as they started.

"That was not a very smart idea," Roy said angrily.

"I don't see you coming up with anything good," John lashed back.

"Whatever. Let's keep moving!" The two run south more, dodging trees an pokemon alike. They're surely out of range of the Beedrill, but they continue to run just to be sure. The two reach a clearing, halfway through the woods. "Out of the frying pan into the fire, huh?"


"Where the hell did Roy and John go?"

"Who the hell knows… but we gotta find them soon."

"Lucky for us they were the ones that attracted the Beedrill while we ran the other way!"

"It's cruel but they'll understand. Nobody can stay mad at you Bill." The two are casually strolling down a dirt path, Umbreon and Ninetales walking side-by-side.

"Yeah, it's a problem." He smiles with his reply, "I'm sure we'll find 'em eventually." They continued to take their time southward towards Viridian. The air was lovely, the Taillow in the trees fluttering about from branch to branch, the rare sight of a Pikachu tail in a rustling bush only to dash away in a hurry. It was peaceful. "I wonder how my family is doing."

"Well it's not like anything bad is happening there. I should call my parents soon, and let them know I'm okay."

"I should tell them we got separated from your sister too."

"Oh yeah," Len punches Bill in the arm as hard as he can, "You asshole."

"What? Jacob found her! We'll be fiiiii-," another punch hits him in the same spot.

"Doesn't mean you can just up and lose my sister."

"It was either you or her, and Mike likes her anyway, he was bound to go help he-" another punch.

"You left her with two guys that like her-"

"And a twelve year old girl!"

"Yeah, that makes everything better doesn't it?" Bill shrugs.

"Well sorry for helping to save you!"

"I love you Bill."

"I love you too."

The dirt trail continued to wind south for about another half hour until it reached a clearing where Bill and Len found their not-so-long lost friends in a heated double battle. A Beautifly and a Dragonair versus their Volcarona and Gabite. Where the dragons came from was a mystery to those who didn't own it. The two they were facing weren't rockets, but that didn't mean they weren't fighting with their all. A Dragon Rush nearly finished off the Dragonair in one go, but Beautifly followed up with a Silverwind. It wasn't very effective but it raised its stats just a little. The Volcarona's Heat Wave flat out finished the Beautifly, and Roy's Gabite Dragon Rushed again to finish the Dragonair. It seems as though they missed a large part of the battle as what they saw ended quickly.

"Damn man, I didn't think my Dragonair would have competition in this forest," said the taller of the two boys battling John and Roy.

"I think my Beautifly needs to see a Nurse Joy…"

"Oh you guys, you knew from the start messing around with me would be a losing fight," John enthusiastically exclaimed to the two boys in front of him.

"So John, who are they exactly?"

"Oh, oh hey Bill, Len, these are some friends of mine from Goldenrod. They're here for…"

"We are visiting our grandmother in Pewter City to make sure she's well. With all this Rocket business going around we needed to see if she was doing alright!" The taller boy who sounded extremely pretentious, was wearing thick rimmed glasses, and was your typical bookworm, pocket protector on his shirt and fanny pack as if to seal the deal. The shorter boy next to him, presumably his younger brother, was a small timid boy, about the age of 11. He hid behind the taller boy throughout the conversation.

"Well it was nice battling you guys again. I'm sure you'll get better Rory!" John goes to pat the smaller boy on the head but he pulls away. He sees this reaction and shakes his other friend's hand as they go back down the road in the opposite direction.

"So you leave us to die from Beedrill and battle people from your hometown?" Len scoffed.

"Well it was a fun battle! I think my guy is gonna become a Garchomp soon!" Roy jumped and hugged his Gabite, and began to rub its stomach; the original discoloration is long gone.

"And when that happens that's when we die."

"Shut up Len, you forget Torchie could whup your ass anyway!"

"Oh shut up. the only reason is because he's fighting and all my pokemon are Dark!"

"Sorry you like the pokemon my favorite is super effective against."

"Shuddup." Len, John, Roy, and Bill turn southward again, on the road to Viridian City.


"DAMMIT! WHY CAN'T I BEAT YOU!?"

"Shit Jacob, you should really pull yourself together! I'm getting tired of beating you day after day!" Green smirked at Jacob. The last three days he's tried and failed at defeating the eighth Gym Leader. His Metang never stands a chance, Snorlax does well enough, Magneton still doesn't seem close to evolving, and Exploud still hardly takes commands. On the bright side Heidi's egg hatched an adorable Magby that cowers in fear whenever it sees her Arcanine, so something of positive influence happened.

"Oh Green, go easy on him! For me?" Erika tries to help her brother by sounding hopeful with her statement.

"No can-do ma'm, I'm a Gym Leader, and Gym Leaders have to have integrity!"

"Oh fine~!" She giggles as she makes for the front door, outside of which Heidi is training with her pokemon, specifically Magby and Eevee. The day is soon coming that she'll use the fire stone on Eevee to make it a Flareon, but she wants to keep it a cute and cuddly Eevee for a bit longer.

"Come on Green. Lemme win one."

"Heyull naw! I love whupping you!"

"Yeah well, we'll see when I become Gym Leader!"

"What type? Loser? Hahahaha!" Jacob can appreciate the joke but knows he still has to come back tomorrow for another Gym Challenge rematch.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it, your pokemon are too strong, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah, don't you have wedding planning to do?"

"Oh shoot you're right! Lemme go-"

"NOT SO FAST GREEN! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A BATTLE!" A silhouette standing at the door that has been visibly kicked in was shouting at Green. In after him came three more silhouettes and some murmuring: "John you didn't have to kick that hard!"
"Yeah stupid, you could've broken the door!"
"Whatever, I made my statement!"

In after them came running a small recognizable figure. "Hey Jacob! Look who I found!"

The reunion was the most magnificent thing that could have ever come out of a romance novel, but better, because it was a bromance. The group involving Len, John, Bill, and Jacob all came together in one large group hug as, "The band finally gets back together." Roy comes walking in after the reunion.

"Sup guys?"

"Roy, this is Jacob, Jacob, Roy Stone," As John introduces them Jacob recognizes him.

"Hey, didn't I battle you outside of Saffron?"

"Yeah, we ended it in a draw…"

"So what you're telling me is… the little brother of the greatest champion to ever live was only able to tie in a battle with me? Yeah, you must be Steven's little brother!"

"Shut up, you know I am."

"Well I can't tell you to prove it because there's no possible way."

"We could try another battle."

"I would but I'm trying to conserve their energy for Green over there."

"HEEY GUYS!"

As a group they respond, "Hii Green."

"By the way," Jacob continues, "That's my new brother-in-law."

"Oh, I have an idea. Hey Green, can you come over here for a sec?" Roy waves him over in an effort to prove his validity in the fact that he is Steven Stone's younger brother. "Do you recognize me?"

"Hmmmmmmmm…." Green needs to think long and hard about this one. "You were at some sort of event…. with Gym Leaders and Champions… RIGHT THE LEADER TOURNAMENT LAST SPRING! I saw you there with Steven! Damn he was a good battler!"

"See?"

Jacob is still in disbelief, "Green is he really Steven Stone's brother?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever. I only saw him there with Steven, and from what I know no one can simply walk up to Steven Stone and not be intimidated. So probably?" He tilts his head to the side, then asks quizzically, "So who's my next challenger?"