Green had no idea where she was going. Blindly, she stumbled through an overgrown forest path with only a crude map and the pale light of a flashlight to guide her. The map, she had gotten from the pokémon centre in Vermilion. When she had asked Nurse Joy for a map of the Eastern Forests she had been met with a queer look.
"There's nothing in the Eastern Forests? What do you need a map for?" Joy had asked her.
Green's excuse had worked, a lie about hunting for rare berries. Not a great lie by any means but it had gotten Joy to scrawl through the back of the dusty bookshelves, so Green couldn't really complain. Perhaps the fact it had taken Joy upwards of nearly 15 minutes to find the map or the fact it had about an inch of dust on it should have set off some kind of red flag. But, whether it be because of her own newfound confidence or the fact she was too busy staring at Joy's breasts, she had taken the map without even glancing at it. If she had, she would have seen that the map was crudely drawn at its best and complete blank at its worst. Fortunately, the place Abby had picked to meet up at was in one of the drawn parts. What little use that was. The path Green was supposedly following was little more than a squiggly, faint line through what must have been an attempt at drawing trees. At least Green assumed she was following the path. If she hadn't had the map, she'd never known there was a path here at all.
The ground beneath her was a mess of knee-high tall grass, twisted weeds and tangled roots. All surrounded by a huddled mass of thick, short trees that left gaps which the grass would branch out into. Sometimes, her map would take through one of these gaps and it would be an ordeal trying to squeeze through. Her bust made moving through any sort of tight space a nightmare. There was little else to help with the ease of this blind journey through the forest. Night had fallen a while ago, leaving her in near-total darkness. The pale light of her flashlight was her only source of vision and a poor one too. The pitiful little plastic thing could barely light up anything further than a few feet in front of her, casting a small murky yellow circle of light. An overcast that had rolled in during the afternoon blocked any light she might have got from the stars or half-moon. The humid air drained all her energy, thick and heavy it felt as if she was walking through soup. The humidity made everything smell awful, the pungent smells of the forest lingered damp in the air. Even her ears weren't safe from torment. Ghastlies, far off and unseen, howled and wailed all around her with shrill echoing voices. Occasionally, they would draw closer but thankfully they never got close enough to see. Beside her, a voice cried out.
"I can't see!" Jackson complained.
He had insisted on coming with her after their battle. At first, Green was more than happy to let him tag along but she had quickly regretted it. The kid just couldn't stay still, every time she'd look over to check on him he would have wandered off and gotten lost. A flower, a bug, a cool looking rock, everything caught his attention and he just couldn't help himself. Most likely Green would have already arrived by now if he hadn't come along. Although he did get less and less distracted as it got later and later it wasn't much better. Now Jackson was finding anything and everything to complain about. He was cold. He was hot. He was hungry. He was tired. His feet hurt. He was bored. Now, he couldn't see apparently.
"Here, hold this then," She hissed and shoved the flashlight into his hands.
He grabbed it eagerly and began waving it around back and forth across the ground. Green rolled up the map and reached back to tuck it into her bag. They had reached the end of the drawn section, now it was just a straight march to a little symbol that she assumed was a cave. She hoped was a cave. If she had gotten the map wrong and arrived at the wrong place she was going to scream. Jackson held the torch up to his face under his chin. The light shone upon his features, casting shadows on his eyes and the bridge of his nose. He smirked a stupid grin at her. Green wanted to be annoyed but found herself smiling and fighting off a giggle instead.
"Very scary," She chuckled.
Jackson stretched his grin even wider, causing the corners of his mouth to twitch.
"I'm a Gengar!" He declared.
"Oh, are you? Well, I'm sure they'd love to meet you," Green laughed back and gestured to the woods.
Right on cue, a Ghastly let out a shrill wail, hollering and screaming crazily. Green expected Jackson to cringe or shrink back fearfully but instead, he whipped around to face the noise. He let out his own scream in response. When the Ghastlies screamed back Jackson laughed happily.
"Of course, he's the kind of person to actually like Ghastlies," She thought.
Red had liked Ghastlies too, she remembered. Once when they were very little he had brought one home to the horror of their mother. It had taken one look at their mother and began screaming so loud that it had left a ringing noise in Green's ears that remained even after their mother chased it out of the house with a broom. All the while Red had just watched, with his usual silent gaze. Green shook her head, confused as to where the memory had come from. She pushed it away back into her mind. Even just the image of Red made her blood hot. Instead, her mind went to the Gengar that Red had eventually raised. Although not the same Ghastly it was just as fearsome. Instead of screaming, however, Gengar would take things and hide them. Usually, he'd hide them around the house but sometimes he'd hide them out in the fields or deep within the forests. While not as loud as screaming it was just as annoying. He'd even managed to hide his own pokéball, which still to this day was lost. When Red left, Gengar took it perhaps the worst of any of the pokémon Red left behind. He started acting out, stealing things more and more until one day he just up and disappeared. For some strange reason, Green missed him. Again she shook her head and fought off the memory. If she let herself think about Red anymore she was either going to break something or cry. Not something she wanted Jackson of all people to see.
She trudged forward, taking out her anger on the grass. The flat soles of her brown hiking boots flattened the tall blades of grass and mashed them into the soft, damp dirt below. Green stomped and stamped, wanting her anger to trickle away slowly with each step but it wasn't working. If anything it was only making her anger worse. She stopped and huffed, sighing loudly. A good thing too. If she hadn't, Green would have ended up walking right into the thick trunk of a fallen tree. She stared at it baffled, its large black silhouette loomed over her. In her blind rage, she hadn't even seen it. That realisation was enough to whip away from her anger as she suddenly became very self-aware of how she was behaving. She took long, deep breaths and calmed herself down. Jackson shone his torch on the tree.
"It's huge," He marvelled.
Green was less amazed.
"Great," she muttered and reached for Machoke's pokéball.
The surrounding trees had begun to pack together tighter, leaving no room for them to go around and the trunk loomed at least twice their height over them. Machoke would have to clear it. She released him and he appeared with a yawn. He stretched out his large, muscular arms and cocked his head to the side, cracking his neck.
"Machoke?" He asked sleepily as he rubbed his eye.
Green pointed to the fallen tree behind him.
"Can you clear that?"
Machoke turned around and looked the tree up and down. He grinned.
"Machoke!" He declared and squatted down.
He grabbed the tree from underneath and strained to pick it up. His raw strength wasn't enough so he ignited his arms with orange, fighting flames.
"I can help!" Jackson cried and threw a pokéball into the air.
Beedrill appeared with a flash, his bulbous red eyes were drooped sleepily. Jackson caught the pokéball and pointed at the tree.
"Cut it in half Beedrill!"
Beedrill snapped out of his groggy state immediately and narrowed his eyes at the tree.
"Drill!" He buzzed.
He sped over to help Machoke. His drills began to whirr and glow a bright white. He slashed at the trunk, sending splinters of wood and bark flying. A huge gash had been cut into the trunk a couple of feet deep. He slashed again and again until the huge tree was cut into two. The half Machoke had been fighting to lift suddenly flew into the air, arching off away into the surrounding forest. There was a loud crash, followed by the alarmed cries of a flock of sleeping Spearow. Black silhouettes erupted from where the tree had landed, shooting off in all directions while squawking unhappily. Machoke extinguished his arms and beamed at Beedrill.
"Ma!" He cried and held out a first to him.
Beedrill gave him a stiff, courteous nod.
"Beedrill," He replied with a buzz.
His drills stopped glowing and he tapped one against Machoke's fist. Jackson ran up to Beedrill and wrapped his arms around Beedrill's striped yellow-black thorax.
"Great job Beedrill!" He exclaimed.
Again, Beedrill nodded stiffly.
"Beedrill," He buzzed, his wings hummed as he hovered before Jackson.
Green watched them curiously for a moment. Their personalities were on complete opposite ends of the spectrum to one another but still, they seemed to work together quite well. It puzzled her. Green made her way over to Machoke and gave him a gentle pat on the arm.
"You did well too," She assured him.
Machoke grinned and flexed his arms.
"Machoke!" He proclaimed with a shout, making Green giggle.
"I guess Machoke and I are pretty different too," She thought.
On further thought, it wasn't just Beedrill and Jackson, or herself and Machoke that contrasted one another. Abby and Dratini shared that too, Green realised. Abby's impulsiveness and Dratini's tendency towards apathy often clashed she had observed but still, they worked together all the same. As the now, group of four made their around the newly cut fallen tree Green pondered on why that was.
After a few more minutes of stumbling through the overgrown forest half-blind, a small flicker of light gleamed through the darkness, poking through the tightly packed trunks of trees ahead. The gaps were too small for even Jackson with his tiny, bony body to fit through, however, forming a dead end in the dark maze of a forest. Green gave Machoke another gentle pat on the arm.
"Can you part the trees?" She asked.
Machoke nodded with a confident smile.
"Ma!" He assured her.
Machoke strode forward and stood before the thin gap between the tree trunks. He placed a hand on either thick tree trunk. While the trees themselves were only a few feet higher than Machoke was, the trunks were thick like colossal pillars. Machoke braced, leaning forward as he strained to push the trees apart. The muscles in his huge bulky arms and back rippled fiercely, shooting out a shower of orange sparks. Machoke cried out, bellowing a roar as both his arms burst into an intense blaze of orange flames. The trees groaned and croaked as their roots were forcefully torn from the ground. Like long, thick whips the roots burst from the tightly packed damp earth sending soil flying out in all directions. One by one the roots burst out, flicking the air like tongues until the trees' trunks began to lean to either side. Machoke gave one final surge of strength, making the orange flames around his arms flare and then he took a step back. The final push sent both trees toppling to either side. The upended roots had weakened the foundation of the neighbouring trees, so when the two trees hit the trees on either side of them it set off a domino effect. In synchronised sequence the tightly packed trees teetered over and leaned against their neighbour, leaving the wall of trees before Green all leaning on an angle away from the two original trees Machoke had parted. The trickle of flickering light now gleamed brightly through the gap in the trees, providing the group with a clear beacon to follow. Machoke extinguished his arms
Green took in Machoke's work with a proud smile. If Jackson hadn't been with she would have given him a small kiss but instead, she just hugged his arm and patted him on the shoulder.
"Great work!" She encouraged before hopping over unearthed roots and heading towards the flickering light.
Machoke followed after her still pumped up on all the leftover energy coursing through him. Jackson took one look at the wall of leaning trees and huffed.
"Pedigree pokémon," He scoffed and turned his nose up before following after them.
Beedrill remained a moment longer, marvelling at the scene before him.
"Beedrill…" He buzzed softly, not able to draw his eyes away from the wonder as he hovered over the tangled mess of roots.
Beyond the wall of leaning trees was a narrow path of scruffy, ankle-high grass and moss-lined by solid walls of the same thick trees. Their canopies connected overhead, blocking out the black inky sky above. While not really changing the lighting situation all that much it did make the path feel tight and cramped. The short height of the trees meant that the tight canopy was only a few feet above Machoke's head with only roughly an extra foot Green. The pitch-black darkness and tiny range of the torch meant that their field of vision was short too, only able to see one or two feet ahead of them. The light ahead continued to burn brightly, however, only growing stronger and stronger as they drew closer. The lack of gaps in the surrounding walls of trees muffled the still screaming Ghastlies down to little more than faint whispers of the night. Closer and closer they got, each step making the light ahead brighter until its beams reached them. The tight, natural corridor was cast in light. At first only faint, enough to cast shadows on branches and a few small rocks littered about the ground. Then as they drew nearer the light revealed the fine details of the trees' bark and the moss growing on the underfoot stones. Until finally, as the mouth of the path's exit came into view the corridor was absolutely flooded with light. Yellows, Red and Oranges danced about the corridor, giving everything a faint warm glow. Green had to squint her eyes as they adjusted to the lack of darkness. As her eyes adjusted the blinding light calmed, the haze of warm colours took on features and details. A raging fire was before her in a small round clearing, a giant bonfire 12 feet tall loomed before her, its high flames flared and snapped ferociously. A ring of stones surrounded a circle of cleared grass, leaving only bare dirt on the floor. Good thing too as embers rained down all around from the towering blaze, a single one could catch the whole forest on fire.
"Green!" A voice that unmistakably belonged to Abby cried out.
A formless shape rushed to her, snapping into focus to reveal Abby throwing herself at her. Green stumbled back as Abby slammed into her, wrapping her arms around Green's neck. Machoke stopped her fall by placing a hand on the small of her back. Green laughed and patted Abby's back as she hugged her back.
"Sorry I'm late, I let this one tag along," She laughed and gestured behind her to Jackson with her thumb.
Green expected Jackson to complain about being blamed for them arriving late but she was met with silence. She pulled back from Abby and turned to face him as Abby peered around her curiously. Jackson looked half his size, he was shrunk back, gawking wide-eyed at Abby. Abby gave him a pleasant smile.
"Oh! I remember you, you're the kid who beat Misty!" Abby noted cheerfully.
She stepped around Green, ran up to him and held out her hand as she beamed down at him.
"I'm Abby, nice to meet you!"
Jackson stared at the outstretched hand as if Abby were pointing a gun at him. From within Abby's thick auburn hair, Dratini poked out his head. He yawned as he woke from his nap before gazing at Jackson curiously. His piercing, analytical and judgemental eyes interrogated Jackson. Dratini huffed and looked away, resting his head back on Abby's shoulder with a bored look.
"I-I-I, I'm Jackson," Jackson managed in a small, quivering voice as he extended his hand.
Abby grasped his hand at once, making Jackson jump.
"Cool name!" She exclaimed before letting go and spinning around on her heels to face Green.
She punched Green in the arm.
"Ow, what was that for?" Green protested, rubbing her arm.
Abby folded her arms.
"Next time try to make some more noise why don't you? I could hear you guys smashing and crashing your way through the woods all the way from here. What did you guys do anyway? Topple a mountain?" Abby scolded.
Green glanced back at from where they'd come sheepishly.
"No, just a few trees," She admitted.
Abby sighed, shook her head then laughed. She hugged Green again, gently this time.
"At least you made it safely, that's all that matters," She whispered softly.
Green found herself blushing but didn't run from the feelings as she was accustomed to doing. Instead, she allowed her heart to flutter excitedly. Suddenly, she was very aware of how their bodies were touching as they pressed together. Abby whipped back her head and stared down at Green belt with a wild grin.
"Hey, nice! You did it!" She exclaimed.
Green followed her eyes and found them staring at the Thunder Badge. She beamed proudly.
"Yeah just barely though, it came right down to the wire."
Abby shrugged, her excitement refusing to falter.
"An inch or a mile, a win is a win. But anyway, what really matters is that we don't have to do plan B!"
Before Green and Lt Surge had left for Vermilion the day of their fight, Abby had shared a series of plans she'd come up with for getting to Celadon City. Abby would fly out into the woods north of Route 8 and camp out while Green did her gym challenge. Whether she won or lost, it was decided that Green would make her way out to Abby and they'd head out to Celadon back through the Central Kanto woods. If she won they'd follow plan A which was head to Celadon then head south to Fushia. If she'd lost they'd head to Celadon then stop back in Vermilion to rematch Surge and then head to Fushia. Green was honestly quite glad they didn't have to do Plan B either, stopping back in the meadow again was definitely risky. Although if what Surge had told her was true the plan could definitely be changed to make things easier. The prospect of going back through those thick central woods filled Green with dread.
"Surge told me that the rangers looking for us have been recalled, I think it'll be safe for us to head east on the routes instead of west through the woods. We can pass through Lavender Town and use the west-east underground passage to get to Celadon," Green suggested.
Abby furrowed her brow.
"Recalled? If that's true it must have been forced, there's no way my dad would willingly do that," Abby muttered.
She walked over to the fire pit, plopped down on the stone ring and stared up down at the ground thoughtfully.
"We're probably still being hunted, there's probably a small force tracking..." Abby lingered on the word tracking.
Her eyes widened.
"Tiberius," She muttered with a fear-ridden whisper.
Green cocked her head.
"Who's Tiberius?" She asked wearily, she didn't like the fear in Abby's voice.
Abby clicked her tongue.
"My uncle, he's a fucking psychopath. If he's hunting us then going through the woods is a no go. We'll have to take the routes, there's no point hiding anymore we just need to move as fast a possible," Abby raised her head and stared at Green with a deadly serious look.
"It's no longer a matter of if they find us, it's when. Green…" She hesitated and glanced down at Dratini with a pained look, "we need to get stronger, fast."