4. Gaining new Experiences

"Thanks for the breakfast," Danny gave Nurse Joy a little something in appreciation. It had been three days since Danny beat Eric. In the meantime the two trainers had explored the city.

"I'm glad I could help," she replied. "Where will you go next?"

"I think Pewter City. The gym leader here is gone so we'll be back someday."

"Well safe travels then." Nurse Joy nodded and gave the young trainer a wide smile.

Danny waved goodbye and walked out of the centre, where he met up with Richard, who was looking on his map.

"Can I help?" Danny asked.

"No way, you always get lost. You even get lost in the bathroom," Richard responded with a laugh, amused by the memory.

"That's not true, the lights were out and I had my eyes closed, that's all," Danny said ashamed, but suddenly, something flashed back into his memory.

"The lights were out and I had my eyes closed."

That particular moment happened when Richard was staying at Danny's place for the weekend. Nothing strange, except for the fact that it happened in the real world.

"Don't think about it, it has been almost a week now, I don't think I will be returning any time soon," Danny thought calming him a bit. He didn't want to leave anymore.

"What's wrong?" Richard asked.

"Nothing. I just remembered something, you can have the map," Danny said, still a bit puzzled from the suddenly appearing memory.

Richard sighed in relieve. "Thanks, with you we'll end up in Vermillion."

He laughed, especially when he saw Danny turning red.

"Just joking, come on. Time to get on the road again, and remember, the first Pokémon we'll find will be mine."

The two guys walked towards the other side of the large city, both ready to leave the large buildings behind them. Just as Danny, Richard was a small-town boy and preferred open fields and thick forests.

"Caution, enter at your own risk," Richard read from a sign. Below it, children had drawn pictures resembling Beedrill.

"This must be Viridian Forest." The two trainers continued on the path. There were some small buildings here and there, probably inhabited by bug catchers.

"So this forest is filled with creepy Pokémon, according to some people in the city," Richard said, after they had been walking in it for halve an hour. He said it because he realised there weren't many creepy Pokémon to be seen.

Danny agreed. "I've only seen Weedle and Caterpie," he laughed.

"I think those are considered the creepy Pokémon," Richard answered.

"Compare them to that Gastly from a few days ago and I would almost consider them cute."

Richard nodded. Then again, he didn't mind the absence of the bigger creeps. He had heard stories of groups of Beedrill attacking people and that wasn't something he wanted to experience.

"I wonder how people who started with Bulbasaur get through here," Richard wondered out loud.

"You mean with them not being good against bugs?"

Richard nodded.

"Expanding their team early I guess. There were Pidgey living in the city, I would've captured one of those to help me through it."

Their thoughts were interrupted by a small boy with a large fishing net.

"I challenge you to a battle!" He screamed.

Danny looked around to see if there was room for a battle, which was the case.

"Accepted. Charmander, I choose you!" Charmander happily walked forward.

"You, you can't use Charmander," the boy exclaimed, with a sense of panic in his voice.

"Why not?"

"Because it's a Fire-type and my Pokémon are Bug-type. It just isn't fair."

Danny and Richard looked at each other and started laughing.

"You should've thought of that before challenging me." Compared to the calculating Eric, this was a whole new experience for Danny.

"But my dad told me only Pikachu trainers came by here, so I wouldn't have much trouble," the kid answered shyly.

"Are we going to battle or not?" Danny didn't intended to sound mean and regretted the response immediately.

"O-okay. Go, Caterpie. Use your Tackle attack."

The younger boy was in panic, so Danny decided to not even go with the fire attacks.

"Charmander, use Scratch."

The prints of Charmander's nails became red on Caterpie's skin. The Bug-type flinched as a result.

"Caterpie, use Tackle again."

"Charmander, Scratch."

It was the same outcome as before: Charmander hit, Caterpie flinched, and fainted this time as well.

The young trainer returned Caterpie with his mouth dropped to the floor.

"Caterpie return. Metapod, use Harden!" For a small kid he was quick with switching Pokémon.

"Charmander, use Scratch."

This time, the Scratch attack barely did anything. Metapod's skin had shined greyish and seemed impenetrable.

"Metapod, use Harden again!"

"Again? I thought you were going for the victory?" Danny said, a bit sarcastic.

"Metapod only knows harden…" the kid reacted sadly.

"It only knows Teleport!?"

Due to the young trainer's words, Danny remembered how terrible he felt when he found out he couldn't really use his Abra in battle.

"Then I forfeit," Danny said, with a decisive tone in his voice.

"W-What?" Both Richard and the kid reacted.

"Why?"

"You can't battle and I won't harm your Pokémon when it can't fight back. Consider this a victory. Return Charmander." Danny was salty he had to forfeit, but he knew he had no choice.

The bug catcher was beyond happiness.

"Did I just win…?"

"A word of advice: train your Metapod so it learns a new move," Danny said, the boy could only nod, with his body filled with pride, but also a bit of sorrow sneaking around.

"Metapod, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have put you in a fight like this."

The Metapod looked up at his trainer.

"Don't take it yourself too hard, you are just starting right?" Richard jumped in.

"Y-yes."

"Anthony! Where are you?" a voice called in the distance.

the bug catcher, Anthony, looked behind him.

"That's is my dad. I have to go. Bye and thanks for the battle."

"That was very mature of you," Richard said when Anthony had left.

"Yeah sure, can we move on please?" Danny said, with a tiny hint of sadness in his voice, which made Richard laugh.

So the two kept on walking. The map, which didn't have a lot of advice on how to navigate through the forest, quickly rendered completely useless when they past the same, remarkable rock for the third time.

"Where the hell are we!?" Richard exclaimed as the dropped the map onto the dry ground. "The map said that if we followed the main path we should be in Pewter City by now."

"Maybe plants took over Pewter?" Danny started to laugh, payback was his favourite kind of amusement.

"Really funny. You do realise we are lost in one of the most dangerous forests of the region, right?"

Danny waved it away. "I'm not scared of some bugs."

"I bet you will run like hell when a Beedrill shows up and, just to remind you, there are a dozen of them here."

Danny stopped talking and imagined a flock of Beedrill appear through the tree line. He got shivers only considering it.

He looked at Kakuna, who he held in his arms. Only to imagine Kakuna would be a fearsome Beedrill one day as well.

"Danny, you here?" Richard said, apparently not for the first time. "You drift off a lot, everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's up?"

"I said we should keep moving." Richard started walking again, until both heard a noise in the bushes.

"Oh no.." Richard felt tensions rising within him.

"Charmander, ready your Ember attack."

Charmander jumped forward, ready to burn whatever came out of the bushes.

Instead of the creepy or dangerous things they imagined, it was a little Sandshrew that crawled out. It looked curious towards them.

"A Sandshrew?"

Danny took out his Pokédex to register the Ground-type.

Sandshrew, the Mouse Pokémon. Sandshrew hates moisture and lives in holes it digs in dry places. It protects itself by curling into a ball.

Sandshrew seemed a bit scared by the two humans.

"Maybe it never saw a human before, this isn't our habitat after all," Richard said.

"According to the Pokédex, this place isn't it's habitat either."

Sandshrew mostly live in mountain area. They can sometimes be seen in dry plains or open fields.

"It must be lost too," Richard said. "The closest mountain nearby is Mt. Moon, that's still miles away from here. Poor thing."

Richard kneeled down by the little Sandshrew. "Are you lost little fellow?"

The Sandshrew got scared by the sudden approach and bit Richard in his nose.

"Auw!" Richard jumped up, which caused Danny to start laughing.

"What's so funny?" Richard asked furious, still petting his now red turning nose.

"You are," Danny laughed. You should've known a little Pokémon like that, far away from home, wouldn't be happy with your face so close to it. Even I'm not always happy to see your face and I'm your best friend."

Richard mockingly agreed.

"Now excuse me, I have to do some capturing. Charmander, you ready?"

Charmander was about to get ready for battle once again, when Richard stopped both. Charmander dropped his paws and sighed.

"Wait!" Richard shouted. "We had a deal. The first Pokémon we would come across would be for me to try and capture."

Danny scratched his chin. "It bit your nose, I guessed you wouldn't want it."

Charmander gestured Sandshrew to run, realising the two boys forgot to take the Pokémon's opinion into account.

"We'll work on that, right Sandshrew?" Richard turned towards Sandshrew, only to realise it was gone.

"Where are you going?" Richard ran after the Mouse Pokémon, who was now running on all fours.

The two trainers and their Pokémon followed the Sandshrew through bushes filled with cherries, until they eventually found an open spot in the middle of the forest. There was soft grass and some small bushes.

"Wow," Richard said. "This is the perfect place to take a rest and consider our options."

Sandshrew also decided it was tired of running and settled for a place near the forest's edge, where it could keep an close eye on its chasers.

Squirtle ran towards the Ground-type. The two started chatting a bit, something neither Richard or Danny could understand.

Pokémon translator ON

"Don't you worry, that guy over there is my trainer and he's really kind," Squirtle explained to the scared Sandshrew.

"Are you sure? Cause I've only heard bad stories about trainers and I don't want to be a part of it."

Squirtle shook his head. "Absolutely sure. These two might be goofy at times but I have a lot of fun to travel with."

Pokémon translator OFF

Richard had laid his bag on the ground and sat down, glad to be able to relax a bit after hours of walking around.

"Does this forest even have an end?" Danny asked as he looked through the trees on the other side, but there didn't seem to be a way out.

"Just sit down and rest a bit, we'll find a way out soon."

Abra had already fallen asleep and Kakuna didn't seem too energised either. Charmander and Squirtle had managed to get Sandshrew to play with them, something Richard liked to see.

"Do we have something to eat left?" Danny asked as he sat down next to his friend. Richard opened his bag to check.

"There's some cookies."

Danny's stomach rumbled, indicating something more than cookies was needed to satisfy the young trainer. A little disappointed he ate one of the cookies, which tasted delicious.

As Danny laid down on the soft grass he looked up to the sky. The sun was shining fiercely and the heaven was free of clouds. It was a beautiful day summer day.

As he laid there, he could hear the noise of Abra snoring and the sounds Charmander was making as he was playing. Within the short period of time they had spend together Danny had started to care a great deal about them. They were his team after all.

These thoughts led him towards Kakuna, his third Pokémon. The Bug-type hadn't really moved or played since evolving. He didn't know what it was, but it worried him. Maybe he did something wrong? Maybe Kakuna was angry with Danny for letting him fight against Marcel's Raticate?

Richard looked at Danny and noticed the stress wrinkles.

"What are you worried about?"

"I'm a bit worried about Kakuna. I'm afraid it might be angry with me," Danny explained.

"I doubt it has anything to do with you. Kakuna aren't the biggest talkers. Communication will probably improve once it evolves again," Richard answered.

Danny's worries were put to rest a bit by Richard's answer, but it didn't completely disappear into his subconscious.

"Is there any food for the Pokémon?" Danny asked.

Richard took out a few bits of Pokémon cookies, which were made of a certain organic ingredient they could all appreciate. It wouldn't be good for them to eat the chocolate cookies the two boys had been eating.

Danny stood up and walked towards Abra first. Danny laid the cookie on the Psychic-type's belly. Charmander, Squirtle and even Sandshrew were more enthusiastic for the treats and accepted them with gratitude.

Kakuna was the last Pokémon Danny visited. He crouched down next to the Bug-type.

"Kakuna, you want something to eat?" He asked, but no response. Kakuna did look at him but didn't move. He remembered the Pokédex saying Kakuna was inactive until it evolves again, but Danny couldn't shake the negative feeling of Kakuna resenting him somehow.

He left the cookie with Kakuna and walked back to Richard.

"I'm sure that Kakuna will be fine if you give it some time," Richard said, to which Danny nodded. I guess you're right.

Danny closed his eyes for a second, enjoying the warm sunlight on his face. Without him knowing he drifted off.

In his dreams, he saw the battle against Marcel again. This time, Weedle lost and got injured badly. All of a sudden they were standing here, in the middle of Viridian Forest. Weedle evolved into Kakuna and immediately after into Beedrill. The Bug-type looked pissed at Danny and prepared to ram one of it's drill-like arms into the teenage boy.

With a scream Danny woke up.

"What's wrong?" Richard came running towards him, as he had been taking some time to participate in the Pokémon's games. The Pokémon, Abra had awoken and found his cookie, came running towards him as well.

Danny looked around him with a confused look. There was no Beedrill. But he had gotten nervous.

"Nothing, I just had a bad dream. Can we continue?"

Richard nodded. Camping out in Viridian Forest might not have been the best idea, the longer they spend in the forest the more the creepy feelings grew.

"Time to go guys," Richard gathered everyone around. Sandshrew instantly followed, even though he wasn't captured and was free to go wherever he wanted.

Richard noticed the Mouse Pokémon joining in and smiled.

"Sandshrew, you've been here longer than any of us, do you know a way out?"

The Ground-type nodded and started walking, followed by the rest of the team. Danny had picked Kakuna up. The cookie he put in his jacket. Whenever Kakuna felt like it, it was his.

Sandshrew led them down a smaller path, which was overgrown with vegetation. The two boys doubted the route, but Sandshrew seemed quite sure about it, so they didn't complain.

Without realising it, Danny kept looking behind him. Richard did the same. Once again the two realised camping out here was a bad idea and they should've kept going. Eventually their necks hurt from looking back.

The Pokémon seemed to feel it as well, Charmander nervously looked up at his trainer.

"Richard…"

"I feel it too.. Sandshrew, can we pick up the pace?"

Sandshrew didn't share the feeling, but did walk a bit faster.

The nervous feelings grew into fear and all Pokémon could feel it.

"We shouldn't have stayed here…" Richard mumbled as they kept on walking, although it started to look like running.

A soft buzzing sound reached their ears. Charmander was the first to notice, as he turned around. The others heard it too and their fear grew even stronger.

"Run!" Richard realised what this must be.

The group all started running as fast as they possibly could, but the buzzing sound kept growing stronger.

"It's a Beedrill!" Danny shouted. But it wasn't just one Beedrill, there were dozens. And they all looked aggressive.

"We can't outrun them," Richard said beneath his breath. Danny realised that too, they were in trouble now.

Suddenly, Kakuna jumped out of Danny's arms.

"Kakuna, what are you doing?!"

Danny stopped to pick up the Bug-Type, but the latter refused to come with. Charmander ran back to help and, if it would come to it, protect his trainer.

"I'm sorry if I did anything wrong, but we need to go now!"

Danny picked Kakuna up again, but the latter just as easily jumped out again. Danny was on the edge of crying. The Beedrill were moving ever closer and Kakuna refused to come with.

"Danny, come on!" Richard had turned back with the other Pokémon.

"Kakuna keeps jumping out of my hands, I can't get it along."

Danny looked up and saw the Beedrill had gotten close now.

"There's only one thing to do, with have to fight them," he said determined.

"Fight them? Have you gone mad?"

"They were faster than us anyway, at least now we can prepare," Danny responded. "Team, in battle position!"

Richard sighed and ordered the same thing.

"This will get us killed."

The Beedrill noticed the change in behaviour and it only made them angrier. They were about to launch their first attack when a strong, white light blinded them.

Kakuna became engulfed in the it, and it seemed it cracked open.

The Beedrill were flying against trees in their confusion, not seeing where to go.

Meanwhile, Danny and Richard knew what was about to happen.

Danny kneeled down, even though he could barely see a thing. Out of the Kakuna shell, two pincers came out, followed by a round head and other body parts. When the light faded, the Kakuna shell laid on the ground, something terrified Danny a bit.

But that concern was gone once he saw the creature standing in the middle of that cracked shell. Unlike their pursuers, this Beedrill looked more friendly and directly jumped towards Danny for a hug, feeling he needed to assure Danny they were still friends.

"I'm glad you too are cuddling, but can you we get back to that?" Richard pointed towards the re-grouping Beedrill group.

"You're right. Beedrill, you ready to beat some Beedrill?"

Beedrill made a motivated noise and flew up into the air.

"Wait, I don't even know what moves Beedrill can use," Danny said shocked.

Beedrill didn't seem to mind though, it hit the first few Beedrill down quite easily without orders. Due to some quick thinking on Danny's side, he learned that the move was called Fury Attack.

Despite Beedrill's best efforts, the group was just too massive, causing Beedrill to retreat back to the ground.

"You guys ready? Charmander use Ember. Abra, Psychic and Beedrill, Fury Attack!"

The first line of Beedrill took some hits, as two of those three attacks were super effective.

"Squirtle. Hit them with Water Gun." Richard added to the mix.

A few Beedrill fell to the crawled away, but more were incoming.

"Keep using the same move," both boys ordered.

More and more Beedrill retreated, but a few were smart and circled around them, where no-one protected the group.

Before they could order anything, Sandshrew launched itself into the air and struck four Beedrill right away. The four didn't know what hit them and quickly re-joined the larger group.

"Good job Sandshrew!" Richard praised.

Sandshrew continued protecting the group from Beedrill that tried to go around the Pokémon to attack the trainers and it seemed to work. Less and less Beedrill found the motivation to try it.

The motivation levels within the Beedrill group was decreasing by the second. The attacks kept on coming and they weren't used to it. Most (sane) people would run away when facing such a large force.

One Beedrill went low, beneath the attacks, and tried to hit one of the attackers, but Charmander quickly saw it and quickly dealt with the situation

Eventually the teams Pokémon grew tired. The attacks became less furious and missed more often. Some Beedrill noticed and gave the last bit of energy they had left to start one last attack.

Danny gasped. "Come on guys, just a little while longer."

"It won't work, they are tired," Richard sounded desperate. For all that battling, only to end up as .. whatever Beedrill did to humans. He didn't doubt it was bad.

Feeling their despair, Sandshrew stepped forward. With no more Beedrill trying to attack them from behind, it could shift its focus.

"Wait, I have an idea," Danny said. "Charmander, come over here."

The tired Fire-type walked towards his trainer. He didn't understood why, since the final attack was about to come.

"Can you swing Sandshrew into the air with your tail?"

Charmander nodded and got ready, while Sandshrew curled up.

"Now!" Danny ordered.

Sandshrew was launched towards the group of Beedrill, who had no idea what was heading their way.

"Beedrill, cover for Sandshrew!"

When Sandshrew made impact, a large group of Beedrill were blasted out of formation, into trees or trees. Sandshrew landed better and jumped up again, hitting another group of Beedrill. Meanwhile, the other Pokémon, with newfound motivation, targeted the other Beedrill.

One Beedrill had had enough and flew away. Multiple others soon followed, until the entire group made their retreat, dealing with their first ever defeat.

Danny and Richard fell to the ground. They might not have battled, but instructing their Pokémon where to hit and the tension made them quite tired.

"You guys were amazing," Danny praised the five Pokémon. His trio jumped onto him, while Squirtle and Sandshrew made their way towards Richard.

Richard hadn't forgotten about the thing he told Danny earlier. First Pokémon we find is mine.

Realising Sandshrew had a say in the matter as well, he decided to ask the Ground-type.

"Sandshrew, I've been thinking," Richard started. "Would you like to tag along with Squirtle and me?"

Danny looked at Sandshrew, trying to get an early answer, but even the retreated Beedrill could see the smile on Sandshrew's face.

So did Richard. "I'll take that as a yes," he said with a smile.

He took a Pokéball off his belt and laid it on the ground. Sandshrew stepped forward and pressed the central button, causing it to be sucked into the device by a red light. The ball didn't even spin, but directly clicked as confirmation of the capture.

Richard quickly released Sandshrew back into the open.

"Welcome to the team," he said with a warm smile, Squirtle and Danny's Pokémon all cheered in excitement. Except Abra, who had a lot of sleep to catch up on of course.

"Now let's get out of this forest," Danny said after returning his team to their Pokéballs, who all deserved a good rest.

Richard returned Squirtle as well. "We'll need your help Sandshrew."

The Ground-type nodded and started walking again. All of them would be very happy once they could leave this forest behind.

Now strengthened with two (new) Pokémon, the journey continued!