Chapter 11 - Houtou


After the trio had spent a considerable amount of time in Fuchsia, it was now time for them to be off to their next destination, Celadon City. Fuchsia and Celadon were connected by a lengthy bridge that spanned a few miles. It could be traveled via car or bike, but walking was not allowed. Because of this, the group rented three bicycles, and then they were on their way. They left the forested area of Fuchsia and were now bound toward the big and loud city.

The bridge was suspended over the ocean, and it allowed for a good view of the rest of Kanto. Of course, one could only see as well as their eyes would allow them to, but the trio could clearly see a large mountainous area in the distance, forests, and even what appeared to be either towns or villages. Since they were coming upon Celadon, they could see it most clearly, but even then, only the tallest of buildings stuck out from a few miles away.

The wind blew through Yurie's dark brown hair, and she relished every moment of it. She hadn't ridden a bike since she was a lot younger, and it was like they say, you never forget how.

Logan, who had been traveling nonstop for three straight years, had forgotten what it felt like to be on a bike. When he was younger, he would ride on his father's motorcycle, and he loved the feeling of the wind rushing against his body. It was not only the wind washing over him, but also nostalgia. However, the boot that he wore on his leg did occasionally scrape against the bike, and it'd break him from his nostalgic daydream.

"How long do you think this'll take?" he asked.

"Probably a few hours," Seshiru answered.

Logan smiled. He didn't want it to stop.

The three continued, but to their dismay, after roughly thirty minutes of travel, they came to a block. Cars and bicycles were stopped, and there appeared to be a commotion between what looked to be teenagers dressed in leather and some commuters who were too timid to get out of their cars.

"We're just looking for some Pokémon," one of the teenagers said. He appeared to be a couple of years older than Logan. He wore a black leather jacket, and his hair was nicely slicked back.

The elderly man that the boy was talking to glared. He was stopped on his morning commute by the biker gang, and the other people who were stopped by the domino effect were too nervous to argue on his behalf.

"You're not going to find any Pokémon on the bridge!" he yelled. "Go to a wild area or something!"

The boy shrugged. "But that takes so much effort. After we catch 'em, we gotta raise 'em, and I think I prefer ones that are already strong. So, why don't you hand over what you got, old man?"

The man gritted his teeth. He looked down at his passenger seat where his partner, Cubone, sat. "I won't."

"In that case, we're gonna be here all day," the boy said with a laugh. He clicked his tongue and then looked at all of the other cars. "No one wants to cooperate!"

"I will," Logan said. He slowly got off of his bike and then walked through the cars. "I'll play your little game."

"Game?" the teenager asked. "Who do you think you are?"

Logan put the stop down on his bike and then drew out a Poké Ball. "You're disrupting my peace. I was really enjoying the bridge until you showed up. How about I beat you in a battle, and then you be on your way?"

"And if I win?"

Logan shrugged. "I guess I'll be forced to give you my Pokémon."

"You can do it, Mizuki!" one of the female members of the gang yelled.

The boy clicked his tongue and then started to unzip his jacket, revealing a black shirt with a red 'R' embroidered on his chest. He grabbed a Poké Ball from the inside pocket and then expanded it.

"You're gonna regret it," he said.

"Logan, be careful," Seshiru said. She stared at the 'R' in disbelief. She hoped that it wasn't the same 'R' that she had heard so many terrible stories about.

"Mightyena," Logan muttered. His Pokémon nodded before slowly walking forward.

At this point, the bridge had gotten quiet. The passengers in cars stopped honking, and everyone instead sat in silence, hoping that Logan could force the gang to leave.

"Go, Arbok!" Mizuki yelled as he threw his Poké Ball into the air. It exploded, and a purple serpentine Pokémon with a large head appeared. It hissed upon seeing its opponent before coiling up its body, preparing to strike.

"I hate snakes," Logan muttered.

"Arbok, use Iron Tail!"

The serpentine quickly slithered forward. Its tail started to glow with metallic energy before it swung around its massive body, aiming for a direct hit.

"Fire Fang!"

Mightyena jumped into the air and twisted his body. Flames exploded from his mouth before he looked downwards and then gripped onto Arbok's ironhard tail. The fire engulfed Arbok's body, and the two struggled for a moment as Arbok tried to wriggle free.

"Use your own Fire Fang!"

Arbok stopped struggling and then used its muscles to move upwards. Flames emerged from its mouth and it twisted around, biting Mightyena on the back of the neck.

"In that case, we'll use Iron Tail!"

Mightyena released his grip on Arbok before spinning around. He smashed his ironhard tail into the back of Arbok's head, making the Poison-type fly backwards. Both Pokémon quickly recovered and then retreated to their trainers. They shook slightly, as the damage had done quite a number on them already.

He's actually pretty strong. This may not be as easy as I thought it would be, Logan thought.

"Arbok, use Crunch!"

"Fight back with your own Crunch!"

In front of both of the Pokémon, a dark energy swirled. It took the shape of a set of jaws, and they both lunged forward. The energy crashed into one another before clamping down onto both of their bodies. There was a small explosion of dark energy that engulfed the small portion of the bridge momentarily, but it quickly died down, revealing the two Pokémon in a test of strength against one another.

I can't use Dig. This isn't a regular battlefield, and I could get into some serious trouble for doing damage to it. So, what do I do? I've already revealed my hand.

"Arbok, use Sludge Wave!"

A purple energy radiated off of Arbok's body, and like a cannon, Mightyena was blasted backwards. He landed hard in front of Logan's feet, but somehow, Mightyena managed to stand back up.

"I can see all of that confidence that you had is just somehow gone now!" Mizuki yelled. "Ready to hand over your Pokémon?"

He does have me on the ropes, but I refuse to lose right now. Arbok is fast, but if we can get in a hit, then we can win this, Logan thought.

"Answer me, boy!"

"I won't be handing them over! Mightyena, use Iron Tail!"

"Fine! Arbok, use your own Iron Tail!"

The two Pokémon charged at one another again. They twisted around their bodies, smacking together their tails made of iron. There was a loud clang that reverberated down the bridge, and everyone watched intently.

"Crunch!" Logan yelled.

Now at close-range, Mightyena could build up his energy a lot faster. In an instant, the dark energy surrounded both of the Pokémon, and he clamped it down onto the entirety of Arbok's body. The Poison-type shrieked as they both fell to the ground. Arbok's body went limp while Mightyena remained standing, but his legs shook violently.

Logan smiled. "It looks like this one is mine."

Mizuki glared at his Pokémon before he returned it. The gang behind him all stood silent, unsure of what to do or say.

"You win, but only this time," Mizuki said. "What's your name, squirt?"

"Logan," he replied. "You gonna leave?"

Mizuki looked at his comrades. "I'll keep my word. Let's get out of here." He turned back to Logan as his gang started to get on their motorcycles that they used to block off the road. "I won't forget this. Next time we meet, you'll be in for a beating."

Mizuki turned around and got onto his motorcycle, revving it loudly. On the back of his jacket was the same giant red 'R' from before. Within moments, Mizuki and his gang were gone, and the traffic started moving again. Logan and his group returned to the bike trail where they could collect their thoughts and Logan could give Mightyena healing items.

"You okay?" Yurie asked. "For a moment there, everything got a little close."

Logan nodded and then sighed. "I wouldn't hand over my Pokémon no matter what, but we were put in a tight position. He was a better trainer than I assumed."

Seshiru was silent the whole time. She couldn't stop thinking about what she saw, and she gazed off into the distance. Logan and Yurie looked at each other, noting that it was uncharacteristic of Seshiru to be silent, let alone not smiling.

"Something on your mind?" Yurie asked.

Seshiru broke out of her trance, and she shook her head. "It's complicated. Today was a little scary."

"But we handled ourselves well," Logan replied.

Seshiru nodded. "Yes, but the person you battled today, he gave me really bad vibes. Have you ever heard of Team Rocket?"

Yurie groaned before she took a seat on the floor. "Another one? Another 'Team'?"

Seshiru appeared confused, but Logan quickly took the initiative, "We had a run in with some people called Team Aqua and Team Magma a few months ago. They were bad dudes."

"I see," Seshiru mumbled. "Team Rocket… They're really bad. I was only a little girl when they were most rampant, but they stole a lot of Pokémon, and they hurt a lot of people. I heard that they were disbanded about five years ago, but that guy had their symbol on his jacket. I'm worried that they could be coming back."

"Could it be copycats?" Logan suggested. "A spin-off of sorts."

Seshiru stayed silent. She knew that whatever it was, she felt uneasy about it.


It didn't take very long for the trio to finish their journey along the bridge. Soon enough, they gave back their rented bicycles, and since the sun was starting to set, they decided to make camp on the outskirts of Celadon City. The three set up a simple campfire, and they prepared for bed. Logan laid out the sleeping bags in a neat triangle, Yurie prepared a simple dish for dinner, and Seshiru mapped out their destination for the next week.

Soon enough, the smell of Yurie's food filled the air, and they began to eat. The three trainers sat around the campfire while the Pokémon all enjoyed their own specialized food. Mightyena ate alongside Torchic, Minun, and Turtwig. Nidoran was still weary of Mightyena and chose to eat alone. Squirtle was too nervous to join the group, but he looked up occasionally, hoping that they would invite him over. Any time that they would make eye contact, he would quickly look away.

Seshiru's four Pokémon all ate together. The group was a tight knit one. Poliwrath and Quagsire sat next to one another, and across from them was a crab-like Pokémon and an orange Pokémon with poofy yellow fur coming from her neck, forming what looked to be a thick scarf. They ignored Logan and Yurie's Pokémon, still unsure of how to feel about all of them.

"Our Pokémon don't really get along very well," Logan noted.

Yurie nodded. She remembered back to Himawari and his Pokémon. They instantly took a liking to her and Logan's Pokémon. Maybe it was Himawari's playful nature. But Seshiru's Pokémon seemed distant, and maybe even stuck up.

"They'll warm up to each other eventually," Seshiru said. "My Pokémon are very shy, and they've been through a lot together, so making friends doesn't seem to come easily."

The three continued to eat, and soon, their bellies were full almost to the point of aching. The Pokémon that had finished eating found a place to sleep while the others stayed up, talking in their own language.

Logan looked at the pot, observing that there was still more food left. He groaned. One more bite would surely kill him. He looked up to Seshiru and Yurie as they discussed the next few destinations. Yurie held onto her egg and lightly rubbed it with a soft cloth. It shifted slightly as though whatever was inside enjoyed the attention.

A smile came across Logan's face. Today was a scary day for him, but everything seemed peaceful. No sounds of battling. No sense of urgency. His adventure was starting to get into gear, but the stress of collecting gym badges didn't overwhelm him this time.

Then all of that peace was sucked away as the pot in front of him spilled over, making a loud clanging noises that woke up the sleeping Pokémon.

Yurie ran forward and lifted the pot with two of her oven mitts. She put the pot back on its holder, noticing a small Pokémon covered in the broth that she had made. The Pokémon was licking its lips, trying to take in as much as it could. It had no arms, but instead long leaves that protruded from its head. It glanced up at Yurie before smiling, appearing like an overexcited toddler with spaghetti sauce all over its face.

"Oddish!" it cried out happily.

"Oh yeah?" Yurie asked.

The Pokémon tried to look at the pot, seeing if there was more it could eat. "Oddish-odd!"

Yurie scooped out a small batch of the houtou soup and let the small Pokémon drink from it. Meanwhile, Logan pulled his Pokédex from his back pocket and scanned the new friend.

"Oddish, the Weed Pokémon. Awakened by moonlight, it roams actively at night. In the day, it stays quietly underground," it chimed.

"That must be why it made its way over here. It's real cute," Logan said.

Oddish quickly finished up slurping up the soup. It looked back to the pot, trying to peak to see if there was more.

"You're still not full?" Yurie wondered.

Seshiru knelt down to look at the Pokémon. "You know, Oddish, if you join our little crew, you'll get to eat delicious food everyday. How does that sound?"

Oddish clearly didn't understand every word that Seshiru had said but she perked up at 'food' and 'everyday.' Without any warning, she used her leaves on the top of her head, pulled a Poké Ball from Yurie's waist, and smacked herself in the forehead with it. She was absorbed into the ball, and it immediately let out its soft ding. Oddish was captured.

"What just happened?" Yurie asked, baffled by the events that had taken place.

"You caught yourself an Oddish!" Logan exclaimed.

And then Oddish's ball exploded open, and the Grass-type reappeared. She happily hopped into the pot of soup and disappeared into its frothy goodness. The pot rattled about as the Pokémon ate its full, and soon, the rattling came to a stop. The trainers cautiously peaked into the pot to find the Grass-type curled into a ball and sleeping.

Yurie was the first to speak after a few moments of stunned silence, "This may be the weirdest thing that's happened to me so far."

"On your adventure?" Seshiru asked.

Yurie slowly shook her head. "No. Ever."


AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I originally had this chapter as two, but they were both a bit too short for my liking. Instead, I put them together, so the tone is a bit different roughly 2/3 of the way through.

But anyways. Team Rocket?

What do you think about Oddish joining Yurie's team? I wanted to have a Pokémon join her team in a sort of unconventional, comedic way. With that, she officially has a full party (including the egg). I wanted to begin developing her new team's characters as soon as possible.

REVIEWS:

wisdom-jewel - "Well, I guess that would be too many battles to write. Logan might get ideas if he can't make it in this league. And it seems that Seshiru won her battle. I wonder if the next one would be tougher. I'm guessing Seshiru likes water-type Pokemon. This might bite her later on if she doesn't get a different type of Pokemon." - She's a Water-type trainer, but she's also very aware of her weaknesses, so she has counters. Since I want to develop the characters of the Pokemon a lot this time around, I don't know if I'll have her train anything new. She's going to have a lot of trouble with a certain Frontier Brain though.

pokemonking0924 - "Looks like Yurie is finally starting to like Seshiro, looking forward to seeing how they bond. As for Himawari maybe if he gets vacation days he could go see Logan and Yurie compete in the Kanto league and Grand Festival respectively. Seshiro's battle against the Pike Queen was great and I enjoyed Logans reaction to the snake themed building. Looking forward to seeing the other Battle Facilities." - I think in the next chapter, Seshiru and Yurie will bond more. But I think it'll take awhile for Yurie to truly accept Seshiru as one of her friends. And Logan doesn't seem to like snakes. Haha