8. All for one and one for all.

We find Danny and Richard, once again on their way towards Cerulean. The once vague silhouette of Mt. Moon has gained more shape and details, they were getting closer and closer.

Right now, they were in a forest part again, after walking in a more grassland-like environment earlier.

"If you continue like this, I think we should be at the foot of Mt. Moon this afternoon," Richard said.

"That would be nice", Danny reacted. "Than we can use tomorrow to travel through it. I hope we can make it in one day."

"Me too," Richard laughed nervously.

"Besides, I need to train some more for my upcoming gym battle. I might've underestimated Brock a bit, that's not going to happen with Misty."

Richard pulled up an eyebrow. "So that was underestimating? I thought you were nervous, I must have those two confused then."

Danny couldn't find something to say in time and decided to just let this one go.

Meanwhile, a small being crawled out of the bushes to their right.

"Wait, what is that?"

Richard was about to give Squirtle an order, when Danny stopped him.

"It's a Caterpie…. but it's wounded!"

Danny ran towards the place where Caterpie was crawling, and it seemed like it had used up all of its strength.

"We need to bring it to a Pokémon Center, and quick!" Danny said, while kneeling down near the Caterpie.

"Yeah, but how?" Richard, who had seen the seriousness of the situation, started to panic. "Between us and Cerulean is Mt. Moon and Pewter is at least a week away, if we walk fast maybe days."

Richard's panic was contagious and Danny started feeling it too. Both their brains worked overtime, but there was simply no way Caterpie would make either journey.

"We have to help Caterpie, but how?" Danny thought. "If only this dream had given me wings."

"That's it! Wings!" Danny shouted out of nowhere, causing Richard to look at his friend puzzled.

"What?"

"Wings. Walking is too far, but flying there should be way easier, it's straightforward. Beedrill can take the little Caterpie easily and fly with it towards Pewter."

Richard thought about it and his face cleared up. "That's a brilliant idea!"

Danny turned around towards Beedrill, who had sat down when the group stopped moving and didn't hear their struggles.

"I have a job for you Beedrill. You see this Caterpie?"

Beedrill looked at the weak Bug type and hoped his trainer wouldn't let him battle the Caterpie, that would just be mean.

"It is hurt," Danny continued. "Can you fly it towards the Pokémon Center in Pewter City?"

Relieved he didn't have to battle such a hurt Pokémon, Beedrill nodded and carefully took the Caterpie in his paws, careful not to hurt it anymore.

"Good luck Beedrill! And be careful," Richard said, as Beedrill flew away, on his way towards the city of rocks.

"Do you think he'll make it in time?" Richard asked.

"Of course! We're talking about Beedrill here, he has faced worse," Danny said confidently.

Richard nodded, Danny and confidence were two sides of the same coin.

"We should stay here, so Beedrill knows where to return too."

Before Danny could react, he was interrupted by the shouting of a young boy.

"Where is my Caterpie!? I just left it here five minutes ago!"

The boy came storming towards the two trainers. His face was red, a combination of anger and the fact he was running.

He didn't look older than 14 years and had dark hair, with casual clothes.

"Your Caterpie?" Richard asked. "We found a Caterpie crawling towards us, badly wounded, so we had Beedrill fly it towards the nearest Pokémon Center for help."

The boy seemed to explode.

"You did WHAT?"

Danny and Richard looked at each other with a strange look, but the boy wasn't done.

"That was my Caterpie, you didn't have the right to do that!"

As usual with Danny, it wasn't that hard to get him angry and this kid had no trouble getting him like that.

"What kind of trainer are you, if you let a Pokémon become that badly wounded to begin with," he started his rage. "Secondly, why would you let it all alone here, being vulnerable."

The kid, a bit shocked by the sudden anger in Danny's eyes, wasn't scared off. In fact, he was still pretty angry with these two guys who had taken what was his.

"It's a tool for my business, why would I care what happens with it next?"

Now he had accomplished something that was harder than getting Danny angry, he now got Richard angry as well.

"Pokémon are no tools for business, they are your partner and friend," Richard said, while trying to keep his calm.

"ha, this one wasn't even captured by me. I control it, like I control all the Pokémon here. You can be friends with your Pokémon, but in this forest I am the king and they do what I say."

"You what? A free Pokémon isn't under anyone's control, especially not a bratty kid with egocentric problems," Richard said angrily.

"That's right, you don't control anything." Danny added, his anger getting in the way of his ability to make strong arguments.

"Whatever, the two of you should be happy that I don't take your teams because you are trespassing in my forest."

That was it for both boys. This kid was already on their nerves, but this was the limit.

"Now you've done it." Danny was ready to let his fists do the talking, but Richard had a better idea. Unlike his friend, even angry he could still think properly and getting in a fist fight with a kid wouldn't help them out in the long run.

"You know what, we'll both battle you. Squirtle, you're up."

Squirtle stepped forward. He too was done with this kid. He didn't completely follow the conversation but by now he had learned that if his trainer was pissed, he had a good reason to be so.

"Fine by me.." Danny growled. "Charmander, let's beat this brat."

"Ha, that will be two of yours against three of mine, you don't stand a chance," the kid laughed.

"Well let's make it even then," a voice said. "Bulbasaur, help them out."

Danny and Richard turned around and saw Marcel walk up to them.

"You want to battle with us?" Danny asked, surprised. "I thought you hated Pokémon."

Marcel couldn't help but smirk. "Just because my training methods are different, and better, than yours doesn't mean I hate Pokémon."

That one little bit about Marcel's training methods being better was enough to trigger Danny, especially coming from Marcel, but in this situation he still had enough control to let it slip.

The kid now faced Danny, Richard and Marcel with Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur respectively.

"This should be a good lesson for the three of you. Come on out Oddish, Vulpix and Poliwag. Show them who's the king!"

"So it's going to be an elemental war, good," Marcel said. "Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf, that should hit them hard."

The kid reacted quickly. "Vulpix, attack that Bulbasaur with Ember. Oddish, choose a target and use Absorb!"

"Charmander, attack Oddish with Ember!"

Oddish got hit, but shook the attack off, especially considering it had chosen Squirtle to attack. The Water-type felt his energy flush away and for a moment, he had trouble staying up.

Meanwhile, Vulpix was a bit faster than Bulbasaur and hit the Grass-type with an Ember attack, causing the leaves Bulbasaur had prepared for the attack to fall to the ground uselessly.

The trio of trainers had trouble working together, while the kid was fighting on his own and had an easier time.

"We need to start working together," Richard said. "That's the only way we'll win this."

The other two trainers nodded.

"Poliwag, attack Charmander with Water Gun!"

"Counter it with your own Water Gun Squirtle," Richard ordered.

"Vulpix, you try to attack that Charmander," the kid ordered while both Water guns collided in mid air.

"Get Charmander out of there with Vine Whip!" Marcel commanded.

Bulbasaur released two vines and picked Charmander up, causing Vulpix to suddenly charge at nothing.

"Use Ember," Danny said.

Far away from its partners and no way of protecting itself, Vulpix got hit hard by the Ember attack.

Vulpix quickly ran back towards its two friends.

"Turn around and use Ember on Bulbasaur, fast!"

The Fire-type wasn't near his two friends yet and making it turn around this early was a mistake.

"Squirtle, use Water Gun!"

"Charmander, attack with Scratch!"

Before Vulpix could even get off an Ember, Squirtle's Water Gun hit it, causing it to step back. Before it could recover, Charmander was face-to-face and slashed his claws over the Fire-type.

The double attack was too much and Vulpix fainted on the spot.

The young boy was shocked to see one of his team go down and realised he had forgotten to give Poliwag and Oddish orders. Pokémon like Charmander or Squirtle would help out even without an order because that's how they are being raised. But not Oddish and Poliwag.

"Crap, Vulpix return."

"Poliwag, use Tackle. Oddish, Sleep Powder."

"Dodge it!" the three trainers shouted.

While Bulbasaur could avoid the Tackle from Poliwag, which caused it to be behind enemy lines, Charmander and Squirtle both inhaled the spores released by Oddish, causing them to fall asleep. Bulbasaur also inhaled them in this attempt to dodge, but was immune to the effects.

"We need to do something quick," Marcel said. "Wake those two up with Vine Whip Marcel, but carefully!"

Not wanting to hurt them, Bulbasaur wrapped his vines around the duo and shook them awake.

"How do we beat the other two?"

"I have a plan," Richard responded. "Danny, if you attack that Oddish with Ember and Marcel attacks the Poliwag, Squirtle and I will take care of the Pokémon left standing."

The duo nodded and gave the orders to their Pokémon, but their opponent wasn't stupid.

"Poliwag, protect Oddish from the Ember and Oddish, do the same for Poliwag."

The Ember did barely any damage onto Poliwag and the Razor Leaf, which Oddish managed to take out of the air, did even less.

"Squirtle, Tackle Poliwag!"

"Another Ember, Charmander!"

Marcel had a sudden stroke of genius.

"Bulbasaur, keep both of them in place with Vine Whip, don't let them dodge the attacks."

Marcel read his opponent right, because both Poliwag and Oddish tried to run. Not because of a command, simply because their instinct told them to do so.

A super effective Ember hit Oddish, knocking it out right away.

Squirtle bashed his head into Poliwag, who stepped back but took the hit.

"Now it's close, use Tackle!" the kid ordered, but Bulbasaur had other plans.

He still had his vines around the Water-type and lifted it into the air, only to smash it back into the ground, causing the third Pokémon to faint as well.

Delusional, the kid returned both of his Pokémon to their respective Pokéballs, before running away, not looking back once.

"Hey, wait!" Danny shouted, but Marcel interrupted him.

"Let him go, he's just a kid."

"Marcel is right, there could be more hurt Pokémon, we need to find them."

The other two boys nodded and started looking.

It didn't take them too long before they found a Metapod, the evolved form of Caterpie, on the ground. It had a blue spot just above its left eye, indicating it might be bruised.

Marcel found a Weedle, who had its sting curved.

Danny found another Weedle, this one was hot from a fever, caused by an infection. The poor thing had an open wound on its belly.

A Pikachu was found who had its leg in a strange position, possibly broken. There was a Beedrill with both its antennae hanging loosely from its head and so on. They quickly found at least a dozen wounded Pokémon.

Not knowing what to do with them, they suddenly heard a buzzing sound.

"That must be Beedrill!" Danny exclaimed relieved.

The buzzing sound was quickly overruled by the sound of motorcycles.

"But where is that sound coming from?" Richard asked.

Through the trees they saw a glimpse of blue. Marcel was the first to recognize the figure.

"That's Officer Jenny, she and her nieces are the leaders of Kanto's police force."

Beedrill was there first and landed near his trainer, who couldn't hide how happy he was to see his Pokémon again.

"How did you manage to get them to come?"

Throughout the woods, Officer Jenny and her motorcycle made their way towards the three trainers. Following them were three ambulances.

Out of the first ambulance, the Nurse Joy of Pewter City stepped out.

"So this is your Beedrill?" She asked, to which Danny nodded.

A smile appeared on Joy's face. "When it flew into the Center and towards me, I have to be honest, I was scared quite a bit. The reputation of Beedrill as a species around Pewter City isn't good you know. But when it placed that wounded Caterpie on the desk, I knew it wouldn't harm me."

Her eyes then looked past the three trainers and noticed the wounded Pokémon, causing her smile to fade.

"And now I see why it wanted me to come with it so badly, you found more wounded. What happened?"

To avoid confusion, the trio had decided Richard would be their spokesman for when Joy arrived, as he would be the best in putting everything into good sentences.

"There was this kid who called himself the forest king. He terrorized this place and even wanted to take away our Pokémon for trespassing. He got angry with us because we send Beedrill with the Caterpie towards you."

Officer Jenny, a woman, seemingly the same age as Joy, with green hair and a police uniform was listening as well.

"Seems like we need to find this kid and have a decent talk with him. Youngster or not, harming Pokémon is never acceptable. Do you have any idea where we can find this forest king?"

"Forest king? You must be talking about my Mikey."

A woman quickly walked towards them. She looked like she was around her fifties. She had red, slowly greying, hair. She was wearing a blue denim skirt and a red top.

"And who are you?" Jenny asked.

"My name is Natalie, I'm the mother of Mikey. He always talked about 'his' forest, but I thought he was kidding. I'm so sorry, I'll make sure he gets punished and will never pull stuff like this again."

Jenny slowly nodded. Even if they would be able to get to the kid, arresting him wasn't allowed as he was a minor. Often a tough talk from a parent would do the trick, and otherwise there were other, more serious options.

"Can you bring your son here? I would like to have word with him."

Natalie nodded and walked away.

"There are more important matters to attend, these Pokémon need to be brought to a Pokémon Center," Jenny said, but Joy shook her head.

"They are too weak, they won't survive the trip. We need to treat them here first."

"I'll help," Richard stepped forward directly.

"Yeah me too!" Danny added. Marcel simply nodded in agreement.

"Tentacool, use your Bubble to cool down the Pokémon who seem to be way too hot."

The Water-type left its Pokéball and started to release bubbles onto the nearest target, a Kakuna. The cool bubbles seem to do some good work.

"That's a good idea." Danny reacted. "Krabby, you cool those Pokémon over there with your Bubble."

Krabby followed the example given by Tentacool. Without an order, Squirtle did the same.

Meanwhile, the other Pokémon looked around what they could do.

Charmander found a Weedle with a curved stinger, picked it up and brought it towards Nurse Joy, who had just prepared a Pidgey for transport.

"That doesn't look good Charmander," she said. "We need to improvise a bit. Can you heat the stinger up a little? That way I can push it right into place. Does any of your Pokémon know Sleep Powder?"

"Bellsprout does," Danny reacted and signalled Bellsprout to help out.

As soon as the Weedle as the Weedle was asleep, Charmander moved his tail towards the stinger, which grew hotter with the second. Wearing gloves, Joy managed to push the stinger back into place, after which the Weedle was placed in an ambulance as well.

On the other side of the open field, Abra was walking around with a Metapod in his arms. A large, blue spot on its body was covered with a bag of ice. The Bug-type seemed to be enjoying the cooling down in that area.

Richard was about to start with a small brace for the Pikachu's leg, when one of the ambulance workers came to help him out.

"Have you ever done this before?" He asked.

Richard shook his head. "But I watched a lot of doctor shows, so I know what to do."

The male nurse guided him through some steps and Richard was eager to learn. Together, they placed a strong stick against Pikachu's leg, and wrapped it in with a bandage.

"So, you're all ready to go to Pewter," Richard said. Pikachu made a happy noise as a thank you.

"You could easily be a Pokémon doctor, with the right studies of course," the ambulance worker said. "You kept your cool and did this quite professionally."

"Do you think so?" Richard asked. "I do really like to work with Pokémon in another way than just battling…"

"Nurse Richard, how does that sound?" Danny asked, causing both him and Marcel to laugh. In fact, it was the first time the duo could laugh about something together.

Nurse Joy, who overheard, quickly silenced them.

"There are plenty of male doctors you know. They usually work on ambulance services throughout Kanto or in larger hospitals, like the one in Celadon City."

Richard smiled. "Maybe I'll become a Pokémon doctor, who knows…"

Danny walked away, still with a smile on his face, when he found a Pidgey. It was sitting on the ground, looking sadly at its wing, which seemed to be severely damaged.

"You don't need to worry," Danny said, while crouching next to the Flying-type. "These nurses will be able to fix your wing in no time. I'll quickly put a bandage around your wing, so you can make it to Pewter in a bit more comfort, okay?"

Danny looked into the Pidgey's eyes, happy to see no fear, but only trust.

Careful, Danny wrapped the bandage around the Pidgey's wing. All that time, Pidgey didn't look away from Danny's face, although it sometimes checked out what Danny was doing with its wing.

Danny was happy to see Pidgey accepted this without question.

"Maybe this was my calling all along. Being a Pokémon trainer and friend. I have an amazing team and Pokémon seem to trust me. Not to mention, I love interacting with them."

As the group of people and Pokémon kept working and treating more Pokémon, the ambulances started filling up. The first few left already, until one was left. The one Nurse Joy had come with.

"Is that everyone?" She asked.

"This Pidgey is the last one," Danny was now carrying the Pidgey towards Nurse Joy and another Ambulance worker, who took the Tiny Bird from Danny.

Pidgey looked at the paramedic with a strange look for a second, before picking the man in his fingers, causing him to scream out in pain.

"Pidgey, what's wrong?" Danny asked, shocked. "This man will take good care of you, I promise. And before you know it, you can return home."

Danny petted the little bird on its head, which seemed to calm it down a bit.

The man nodded. "Nothing will happen to you, we will make your wing like new again," he said, while sucking on his hurting finger. A drop of blood fell to the ground.

With Danny's insurance, Pidgey seemed to be on board. It looked at the paramedic once more, before jumping into the ambulance itself.

"Bye Pidgey, I'll visit you when I've won the league."

The Pidgey nodded, that was a promise.

"Well I want to thank you all for your help today, we couldn't have done it without you," Nurse Joy said, after which she stepped into the ambulance with her colleague and drove away.

Natalie chose this time to walk onto the open field with her son. She had waited until she heard the ambulances leave, as she didn't want her son to make a scene.

"So, you are Mikey?" Jenny asked, still polite.

Mikey nodded. "Yes, and where are those cars going with my Pokémon?"

Jenny looked at Natalie, who shook her head in helplessness.

"Well, first of all, those Pokémon aren't yours. They are wild Pokémon. Secondly, I don't think you sense the gravity of the situation. If you were an adult, I would arrest you right now."

That last bit made Mikey gulp and his head turned red.

"You can't just use Pokémon as tools you know?" Jenny continued. "There was a man like that once. He ran a villainous organisation called Team Rocket. Nowadays, they are disbanded. But only because a young man tracked down the boss, Giovanni, and stopped him. This boy is our current champion, Red."

Mikey, not really interested in the history lesson, was waiting for what punishment would come. When no-one said something, he decided to ask himself.

"Well, your mother is in charge of the punishment. But if you keep this up, I'll be at your doorstep when you turn eighteen to arrest you."

Natalie decided to take over. "I know a good punishment. You aren't allowed to leave home for a month, only to go to school."

Mikey shrugged his shoulders, but would flinch when he heard the next part.

"And no videogames either."

"What!? But mom…"

"You want another month?" Natalie said firmly.

"No.." Mikey whined.

"Good, now go."

The duo walked home, Mikey a lot less happy than when he woke up.

"I think he learned his lesson," Jenny said. "I want to thank the three of you as well."

"It was no problem," Danny reacted and the other two boys nodded in approval.

"Well, if you ever need help, you know where to find me or my cousins."

As Jenny drove away, Marcel turned to Danny.

"Don't think this means I'll be nice to you from now on," he said. "I still think you are a bad trainer, but I guess you aren't a terrible human being."

He returned Bulbasaur and Tentacool to their Pokéballs and walked away, leaving an angered Danny behind.

"Well… I still think you are a bad trainer!" He screamed, but was stopped by Richard.

"Let it go, stand above it," he said.

It wasn't late yet, so they decided it would be safe for their teams to be out of their Pokéballs. Besides, Charmander and Squirtle have made it clear they rather not spend a lot of time inside. Both prefer the outside way more.

"Well, we should get going again. My gym battle isn't going to fight itself," Danny said.

Richard laughed. "That's the spirit, let's go!"

And so the boys left Mikey's former kingdom behind, towards mt. Moon.