POKEMON

Chapter Seven:

Karma Charmeleon

Danny had just started travelling down Route 9. He hadn't gone far when a female Junior Trainer had stopped him for a battle, sending out her Oddish.

That gave Danny and idea. "Go, Charmeleon!" he called as he let out his Charmeleon. Almost instantly, Charmeleon yelped in a panic and grabbed Danny's legs.

"Charmeleon," Danny said softly as he gently rubbed his back, "evolving into a new form may seem a little scary, but it's also good for you. You get stronger and better at battling. Lots of Pokémon evolve, too. As you get even stronger, you may evolve again into a bigger and better Pokémon! Now does that sound like such a bad thing?"

"Chaar…" the Charmeleon softly said, nodding his head in agreement.

The other trainer groaned. "Are we gonna battle or what?!" she yelled.

"So, you ready to battle?" Danny asked his Pokémon.

"Charmeleon!" the red Pokémon agreed, and went into battle.

The female Junior Trainer, a Picnicker, had two Oddish and two Bellsprout. But thanks to his Ember and Scratch attacks, Charmeleon was able to take all of them down, not even letting a bit of Poisonpowder stop him. "You deceived me!" the Picnicker said.

Danny leaned down and high-fived his Charmeleon. Pikachu did the same, too. Then Danny gave Charmeleon an antidote to cure his poison condition, and they headed to Rock Tunnel.

…

Danny was now passing through Rock Tunnel. However, it was so dark, Danny taught his freshly-evolvedKadabra the move "Flash" so he could see. Back at the Pokémon Center outside the tunnel, Danny had just swapped his Mr. Mime for his Abra from Professor Oak, whom had evolved into a Kadabra after gaining some experience when Danny battled other trainers along the way.

There were quite a few "Pokémaniac" trainers along the way, too. One stopped Danny, asking "Do you know about costume players?"

"You mean cosplay?" Danny asked. "I will admit I've always wanted to give it a try."

"Good," the Pokémaniac said, "but first, let's battle!" He got out his Charmander, to which Danny sent out his Squirtle.

Squirtle could easily take down the Charmander with its' Water Gun and Bubble attacks. Likewise with a Cubone the trainer had also sent out.

"Well, that's that," the Pokémaniac said, recalling his fainted Cubone to his Pokéball. Then he explained, "Costume players dress up as Pokémon for fun. Clefairy is a popular favorite."

"I'll keep that in mind," Danny said, and then looked down at his Squirtle, whom seemed to be glowing.

"Oh boy," Danny said, "now YOU'RE evolving, too!"

Sure enough, Danny's Squirtle had evolved into a Wartortle!

Danny got out the Pokédex again. "Wartortle. The evolved form of Squirtle," it explained. "When tapped, this Pokémon will pull in its head, but its tail will still stick out a little bit."

"Wow, I can't believe how well I am training all my Pokémon at this rate," Danny said, impressed with himself.

"Pika-pika!" his Pikachu agreed.

"Wartortle!" The newly-evolved Wartortle seemed rather pleased, too.

A little later, Danny's Pikachu was battling a Picnicker girl's Pidgey, eventually knocking it out with his just-learned Thunderbolt attack. "I'm out of Pokémon!" the girl complained.

"You did great, Pikachu," Danny said. "AND you learned the Thunderbolt move too!"

Pikachu gave a big "PIII-KAAA!" and zapped Danny to show off his Thunderbolt move.

"YOWWWWWWCH!" Danny yelled, before Pikachu released him and Danny dropped to the ground, stunned a bit. Pikachu laughed.

"That wasn't necessary," Danny groaned…

…

Eventually, Danny and his Pokémon arrived at Lavender Town. It was dark out now, and there was no power here either. Danny and Pikachu decided to turn in for the night at the Pokémon Center, as they had offered some cots for passing trainers. It was a bit crowded inside, due to the power failure, but thanks to the Center's generator they could still heal Pokémon, though the lights and air conditioning were still unavailable.

Danny and his Pikachu tried to sleep on the cot, waking up briefly a couple times during the night due to the heat. Later, near 3:30 AM, Danny got up to use the restroom, and Pikachu followed. Danny let Charmeleon out of his Pokéball to provide a light source on the way.

Just as Danny was washing his hands and Pikachu was grooming himself in the sink a bit, the lights outside the restroom came back on (as Danny didn't turn the restroom light switch on due to the power failure) and he could hear the air conditioner starting up, and several of the other sleeping trainers woke up as well.

"The power's back on." "Finally, we can cool down!" "Now I'll be able to sleep better," arose the chatter from various trainers in the center.

The Nurse Joy managing the Pokémon Center stepped out of her office and quarters. "What? The power's back on! What a relief. I recommend all trainers that have the room to do so, let your Pokémon out of their Pokéballs so they can enjoy the cool air from our air-conditioning system."

Danny smiled and went back to his cot, letting out his Ivysaur, Wartortle, Pidgeotto and Kadabra from their Pokéballs so they could sleep in the now-cool climate.

…

The next morning, everyone woke up well-refreshed. Danny swapped his Kadabra for his Diglett from Professor Oak, and headed out. Things were back to normal now that the power was back on across the region, and it was a bright sunny day. However, near the edge of Lavender Town towards a mountainside, a decreipt ominous-looking tower with demon horn-like protusions on its' side stood, with some kind of mysterious fog surrounding it and darkening the area. Danny thought it looked rather creepy, but he figured there were probably some neat Pokémon in there. But first he had to go to Celadon City, where his next gym badge was waiting…

Along the way, Danny battled a few other trainers. When a super nerd sent out his Grimer, Danny sent out his Charmeleon, who once again started shivering in fear.

Danny sighed and leaned over to Charmeleon. "Now, Charmeleon," he softly said, rubbing his arm. "I know you're still nervous about your new form, but evolution is good for you. You gain strength and loyalty to the trainer in the process. Otherwise, our friendship will not build up, and you won't be a good Pokémon partner. I still like you, no matter what form you're in. And once you become a Charizard, things will be even better."

Charmeleon looked up at Danny with large eyes. "Chaaar?" he asked uncertainly.

"You can do it, Charmeleon," I said. "After all, Pikachu didn't like me much when we first met, and now we're inseparable!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu happily agreed.

That convinced Charmeleon. "Meleon!" he exclaimed, and went to face the super nerd's Grimer.

"Finally!" the nerd said. "Pokémon battles are for battling, not social hours!"

Charmeleon was able to take down the super nerd's two Grimers and Muk using his Ember and Rage moves. It was a close battle, but despite looking quite weak, Charmeleon was the victor.

Danny grinned. "You did it, Charmeleon!" he exclaimed. Charmeleon let out a happy "Charrr!" leaped into Danny's arms and hugged him.

"It's not logical!" the super nerd said, not amused.

After that, Danny had his Diglett battle a Lass's female Nidoran and Nidorina. After doing so, it began to glow white, and then buried itself in the ground. Some dirt rose, and then what looked like three larger Digletts popped out bunched together.

"Trio!" the Dugtrio said.

Of course, Danny checked his Pokédex on this. "Dugtrio," Dexter explained. "The evolved form of Diglett. A team tof triplets that can burrow over 60 miles per hour. Due to this, some people think it's an earthquake."

"Cool," Danny smiled.

The Lass wasn't amused. Already bitter from defeat, she said, "When Pokémon grow up, they get ugly! They shouldn't evolve!"

Danny returned Dugtrio to its' Pokéball, and he and Pikachu walked off laughing.

…

Danny saw that the road from Route 7 to Saffron City was closed, so he had to cut through another underground path to get to Celadon City, as that's where he could win the fourth badge he needed to get into the Pokémon League. Before going down the stairs, a woman told him, "The department store in Celadon City has a great selection!"

Danny smiled and told his Pikachu, "Well, Pikachu, I guess at some point we'll go on a shopping spree in Celadon!"

After going through the underground path, Danny and Pikachu went up the stairs, and started walking towards Celadon City…

TO BE CONTINUED