-part 2-
-Disclaimer- I don't own the Pokemon franchise or anything like that. My fics are for free entertainment only.
"This should be easy," said Zack. "According to the PokeNav, if we just head due north, we should reach Viridian City in a couple of days."
Karen nodded and adjusted the shoulder strap on her two-tone green backpack. "Sounds good."
Pallet Town was now far behind them. The twins had been walking north along a well-worn path for the last hour and a half. There were some trees around them, but they weren't nearly as dense as the twins had heard they were in the Viridian Forest. To their right, behind a thin grove of trees, stretched a large, oblong lake that seemed to have been following them for the last little while, since because of the trees, they couldn't see where it ended or began.
Suddenly, a rustling in the bushes to his left caught Zack's attention, and he grabbed his sister's arm. "I think there's a Pokemon back there," he whispered, drawing out Squirtle's Pokeball and enlarging it.
Karen beat him to the punch, tossing her Pokeball first. "Go, Bulbasaur! Zack, if it's in the bushes, it could be a Grass-type. I can't miss this chance!" Zack grudgingly relented, and the young Bulbasaur materialized in front of his sister. As it turned out, their quarry wasn't a Grass-type, but a Caterpie. It crawled out of the bushes and looked questioningly at Bulbasaur. "Hey, awesome!" Karen exclaimed. She took out her Pokedex, flipped it open, and scanned the new arrival, as did Zack. They both wanted their Pokedexes to be as full as possible, and they'd already scanned Bulbasaur and Squirtle.
"Caterpie. The Worm Pokemon," recited the female computerized voice of Karen's Pokedex. To Zack, the voice sounded vaguely like the time-and-temperature lady in their hometown of Pewter City. "It crawls into foliage where it camouflages itself among leaves that are the same color as its body."
"Hmph, good thing it was moving around, otherwise I might've missed it," said Karen, snapping the Pokedex closed.
"Huh?" Zack was puzzled. "I thought you just wanted Grass-types."
"Mostly, yeah," Karen explained, growing excited, "but Caterpie will eventually become Butterfree, one of my favorite Pokemon! I've gotta catch it! Bulbasaur, Tackle attack!" Bulbasaur obediently charged towards the little Bug-type and slammed it into a tree. Caterpie, dazed, managed to counter by shooting a thin strand of a stringy substance from its mouth, wrapping it around Bulbasaur's legs several times. "Oooo, how could I have forgotten about Caterpie's String Shot?" Karen chided herself. Bulbasaur struggled with the string, attempting to extricate itself, but the more it moved, the more it seemed to get stuck. Caterpie took the opportunity to charge in with a Tackle of its own. This backfired on the worm Pokemon, though, since it knocked Bulbasaur free of the string. "All right!" cheered Karen. "Tackle it again, Bulbasaur!" The young Grass-type did so, this time knocking Caterpie onto its back, unmoving. Karen lost no time in whipping out a Pokeball from the front pocket of her backpack, enlarging it, and tossing it. "Pokeball, go!" she cried as the red-and-white ball sailed through the air and opened, its red energy beam absorbing the unconscious Caterpie. The ball closed and landed on the ground. It shook once -- apparently being captured had revived Caterpie enough to struggle a bit -- then stopped as the Pokemon inside allowed itself to submit. Karen triumphantly held up the ball and grinned.
"Good job," Zack congratulated his sister, "Now maybe you should let it out so you can give it a Potion. That battle left it kinda wiped."
"Right," Karen nodded, and did so. She took a small spray battle from another pocket on her backpack and sprayed her new Caterpie with it a few times. After a moment, it revived visibly. "Hey look, Bulbasaur, we've got a new friend now." Bulbasaur approached and greeted Caterpie in Pokemon language. Caterpie responded happily; it seemed content with its new trainer.
***
Later, the large lake from before far behind them, the twins continued on the road to Viridian City. Zack had been silent for some time now, and looked deep in thought.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Karen.
Her brother sighed. "Well, I may as well tell you now, so you can be prepared by the time we hit Viridian Forest."
"Why, what's up?"
"Remember when the Professor mentioned about how Team Rocket might be lurking there?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, there's something you need to know. It's about Kyle."
Karen already knew that Kyle had been getting into trouble, so that didn't surprise her. What did, however, was that Zack had apparently been keeping something from her, and judging by his expression, whatever it was apparently bothered him. Unlike most brother-sister combos, but much like most same-gender twins, Zack and Karen were best friends and told each other everything...or so Karen thought. "What?" she said aloud. "Zack, what have you been keeping from me?"
"I'm sorry, Karen...I was just embarrassed about this," Zack replied sincerely. "Let me tell you what happened one day when we were eight, while you were away on that class field trip to the Indigo Plateau..." Zack sighed again, and began the story.
Ten years ago to the day, Zack had made the short trip two blocks down to Kyle's house. Kyle Zito was a cousin of Zack and Karen, a year older than the twins, and they had both played with him and his younger sister Melissa often when the four were in elementary school. Karen had gone with her class on a field trip to the Indigo Plateau, and young Zack wanted someone to play with. After a while, Zack and Kyle decided they wanted some ice cream. They were in the front yard of Kyle's house, so he called a vague excuse to his mother about going for a walk, and they set off.
"That should have made me suspicious, but I trusted Kyle..." said Zack.
"What, you mean his saying he was going for a walk when he actually wanted ice cream? What's wrong with that?" his sister asked.
"I'm getting to that, be patient." Zack picked up the story again where he left off.
Kyle led Zack down to the ABC Ice Cream Shop on the corner. It was 9 AM on Sunday, so Zack was confused because that shop didn't open until 10 o'clock. When he voiced this to Kyle, however, Kyle said that they wouldn't need to go in the store. He led Zack around to the alley next to the store, where a Dumpster was positioned almost directly under a window. Kyle seemed to know that the window was unlocked, since without hesitation, he climbed up on the Dumpster and began to open the window, despite Zack's pleas that it was wrong to do that. When Kyle finally did get the window open and tried to convince Zack to follow him, Zack ran. He didn't want to be caught and accused of helping Kyle when he didn't even want to. He had threatened to tell Kyle's mother, but when he got back to Kyle's house, he just didn't have the courage, because he knew it would mean that Kyle would never speak to him again.
"So you let him get away with theft?" Karen couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"For the moment, yes. But after a while I came to my senses. I didn't want a friend that was a thief. How could I trust him? So I told Aunt Barbara about him."
"You told his mother? Good." Karen was relieved. She never thought Zack would cover for a thief, and now she knew she was right.
"Yeah, but it didn't help much. She made him work to pay off the ice cream he stole, but he never really learned his lesson. I guess that was the start of the trouble he's gotten into recently. I guess his dad being away from home so much doesn't really help."
"Yeah but when you're the Gym Leader of a town that's in the process of being totally rebuilt on another island, it kinda keeps you busy," Zack said dryly. It was true. His uncle and Kyle's father, Blaine Zito, was the Gym Leader of Cinnabar Island...until the whole island was destroyed in that volcanic eruption a few years previously. Now the whole town that had been on that island was being rebuilt on one of the Seafoam Islands, complete with an exact duplicate of his Uncle Blaine's old gym.
"Kyle's had a grudge against me ever since I told on him that day," Zack went on. "Melissa's our age, but she always did look up to Zack. Now I get the feeling she's following him into trouble. Remember that Team Rocket Grunt we saw near their house a while back? Well I'm worried that they've joined Team Rocket and will ambush us when we go into Viridian Forest."
Karen was concerned. "Do you think we should get help from the police?"
"No," her brother replied. The response startled Karen. "The police already know about him and Melissa, but they've never been able to pin anything down on them. Either they don't have enough proof, or Kyle and Melissa manage to escape. I think we're on our own for this one. Besides, if we can't deal with them, how are we going to deal with all the other problems we'll no doubt face on our journeys?"
"You're right, Zack. Kyle and Melissa had better watch out, because if they dare to ambush us, they're up for one heck of a battle!"
"You got it." Zack smiled. His sister seemed more confident than he felt.
"Bonjour, mes amis!" a polite, female French voice suddenly came from behind them. The twins turned around to face a young girl who looked about fifteen, proudly holding up a Pokeball. She had short black hair, and wore jeans and a tie-dyed t-shirt.
"Sorry, we don't speak French," Karen apologized, a little embarrassed.
"That's ok," said the girl, suddenly switching to heavily accented English. "I can...how you say...practice English. My name is Monique. I start my journey late because we jus' move in from France. Took me long time to figure out English. Would you like to battle me? I jus' receive my firs' Pokemon a few days ago."
"Sure, I'll battle you. I could use the experience," said Zack. "I'm Zack, and this is my sister, Karen."
"Hi, Monique!" Karen greeted the girl. "Tell you what, I'll ref the first match between you and Zack, I'll battle you and Zack can be the ref. Are you up for two battles in a row?"
"Sure!" said Monique happily. She moved over to one side of the wide path, and Zack took the other. Karen stood between them, but several feet farther up the path.
Karen raised one arm straight up, then pointed it at the spot between the two opponents. "Let the match begin!" she cried.
-Disclaimer- I don't own the Pokemon franchise or anything like that. My fics are for free entertainment only.
"This should be easy," said Zack. "According to the PokeNav, if we just head due north, we should reach Viridian City in a couple of days."
Karen nodded and adjusted the shoulder strap on her two-tone green backpack. "Sounds good."
Pallet Town was now far behind them. The twins had been walking north along a well-worn path for the last hour and a half. There were some trees around them, but they weren't nearly as dense as the twins had heard they were in the Viridian Forest. To their right, behind a thin grove of trees, stretched a large, oblong lake that seemed to have been following them for the last little while, since because of the trees, they couldn't see where it ended or began.
Suddenly, a rustling in the bushes to his left caught Zack's attention, and he grabbed his sister's arm. "I think there's a Pokemon back there," he whispered, drawing out Squirtle's Pokeball and enlarging it.
Karen beat him to the punch, tossing her Pokeball first. "Go, Bulbasaur! Zack, if it's in the bushes, it could be a Grass-type. I can't miss this chance!" Zack grudgingly relented, and the young Bulbasaur materialized in front of his sister. As it turned out, their quarry wasn't a Grass-type, but a Caterpie. It crawled out of the bushes and looked questioningly at Bulbasaur. "Hey, awesome!" Karen exclaimed. She took out her Pokedex, flipped it open, and scanned the new arrival, as did Zack. They both wanted their Pokedexes to be as full as possible, and they'd already scanned Bulbasaur and Squirtle.
"Caterpie. The Worm Pokemon," recited the female computerized voice of Karen's Pokedex. To Zack, the voice sounded vaguely like the time-and-temperature lady in their hometown of Pewter City. "It crawls into foliage where it camouflages itself among leaves that are the same color as its body."
"Hmph, good thing it was moving around, otherwise I might've missed it," said Karen, snapping the Pokedex closed.
"Huh?" Zack was puzzled. "I thought you just wanted Grass-types."
"Mostly, yeah," Karen explained, growing excited, "but Caterpie will eventually become Butterfree, one of my favorite Pokemon! I've gotta catch it! Bulbasaur, Tackle attack!" Bulbasaur obediently charged towards the little Bug-type and slammed it into a tree. Caterpie, dazed, managed to counter by shooting a thin strand of a stringy substance from its mouth, wrapping it around Bulbasaur's legs several times. "Oooo, how could I have forgotten about Caterpie's String Shot?" Karen chided herself. Bulbasaur struggled with the string, attempting to extricate itself, but the more it moved, the more it seemed to get stuck. Caterpie took the opportunity to charge in with a Tackle of its own. This backfired on the worm Pokemon, though, since it knocked Bulbasaur free of the string. "All right!" cheered Karen. "Tackle it again, Bulbasaur!" The young Grass-type did so, this time knocking Caterpie onto its back, unmoving. Karen lost no time in whipping out a Pokeball from the front pocket of her backpack, enlarging it, and tossing it. "Pokeball, go!" she cried as the red-and-white ball sailed through the air and opened, its red energy beam absorbing the unconscious Caterpie. The ball closed and landed on the ground. It shook once -- apparently being captured had revived Caterpie enough to struggle a bit -- then stopped as the Pokemon inside allowed itself to submit. Karen triumphantly held up the ball and grinned.
"Good job," Zack congratulated his sister, "Now maybe you should let it out so you can give it a Potion. That battle left it kinda wiped."
"Right," Karen nodded, and did so. She took a small spray battle from another pocket on her backpack and sprayed her new Caterpie with it a few times. After a moment, it revived visibly. "Hey look, Bulbasaur, we've got a new friend now." Bulbasaur approached and greeted Caterpie in Pokemon language. Caterpie responded happily; it seemed content with its new trainer.
***
Later, the large lake from before far behind them, the twins continued on the road to Viridian City. Zack had been silent for some time now, and looked deep in thought.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Karen.
Her brother sighed. "Well, I may as well tell you now, so you can be prepared by the time we hit Viridian Forest."
"Why, what's up?"
"Remember when the Professor mentioned about how Team Rocket might be lurking there?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, there's something you need to know. It's about Kyle."
Karen already knew that Kyle had been getting into trouble, so that didn't surprise her. What did, however, was that Zack had apparently been keeping something from her, and judging by his expression, whatever it was apparently bothered him. Unlike most brother-sister combos, but much like most same-gender twins, Zack and Karen were best friends and told each other everything...or so Karen thought. "What?" she said aloud. "Zack, what have you been keeping from me?"
"I'm sorry, Karen...I was just embarrassed about this," Zack replied sincerely. "Let me tell you what happened one day when we were eight, while you were away on that class field trip to the Indigo Plateau..." Zack sighed again, and began the story.
Ten years ago to the day, Zack had made the short trip two blocks down to Kyle's house. Kyle Zito was a cousin of Zack and Karen, a year older than the twins, and they had both played with him and his younger sister Melissa often when the four were in elementary school. Karen had gone with her class on a field trip to the Indigo Plateau, and young Zack wanted someone to play with. After a while, Zack and Kyle decided they wanted some ice cream. They were in the front yard of Kyle's house, so he called a vague excuse to his mother about going for a walk, and they set off.
"That should have made me suspicious, but I trusted Kyle..." said Zack.
"What, you mean his saying he was going for a walk when he actually wanted ice cream? What's wrong with that?" his sister asked.
"I'm getting to that, be patient." Zack picked up the story again where he left off.
Kyle led Zack down to the ABC Ice Cream Shop on the corner. It was 9 AM on Sunday, so Zack was confused because that shop didn't open until 10 o'clock. When he voiced this to Kyle, however, Kyle said that they wouldn't need to go in the store. He led Zack around to the alley next to the store, where a Dumpster was positioned almost directly under a window. Kyle seemed to know that the window was unlocked, since without hesitation, he climbed up on the Dumpster and began to open the window, despite Zack's pleas that it was wrong to do that. When Kyle finally did get the window open and tried to convince Zack to follow him, Zack ran. He didn't want to be caught and accused of helping Kyle when he didn't even want to. He had threatened to tell Kyle's mother, but when he got back to Kyle's house, he just didn't have the courage, because he knew it would mean that Kyle would never speak to him again.
"So you let him get away with theft?" Karen couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"For the moment, yes. But after a while I came to my senses. I didn't want a friend that was a thief. How could I trust him? So I told Aunt Barbara about him."
"You told his mother? Good." Karen was relieved. She never thought Zack would cover for a thief, and now she knew she was right.
"Yeah, but it didn't help much. She made him work to pay off the ice cream he stole, but he never really learned his lesson. I guess that was the start of the trouble he's gotten into recently. I guess his dad being away from home so much doesn't really help."
"Yeah but when you're the Gym Leader of a town that's in the process of being totally rebuilt on another island, it kinda keeps you busy," Zack said dryly. It was true. His uncle and Kyle's father, Blaine Zito, was the Gym Leader of Cinnabar Island...until the whole island was destroyed in that volcanic eruption a few years previously. Now the whole town that had been on that island was being rebuilt on one of the Seafoam Islands, complete with an exact duplicate of his Uncle Blaine's old gym.
"Kyle's had a grudge against me ever since I told on him that day," Zack went on. "Melissa's our age, but she always did look up to Zack. Now I get the feeling she's following him into trouble. Remember that Team Rocket Grunt we saw near their house a while back? Well I'm worried that they've joined Team Rocket and will ambush us when we go into Viridian Forest."
Karen was concerned. "Do you think we should get help from the police?"
"No," her brother replied. The response startled Karen. "The police already know about him and Melissa, but they've never been able to pin anything down on them. Either they don't have enough proof, or Kyle and Melissa manage to escape. I think we're on our own for this one. Besides, if we can't deal with them, how are we going to deal with all the other problems we'll no doubt face on our journeys?"
"You're right, Zack. Kyle and Melissa had better watch out, because if they dare to ambush us, they're up for one heck of a battle!"
"You got it." Zack smiled. His sister seemed more confident than he felt.
"Bonjour, mes amis!" a polite, female French voice suddenly came from behind them. The twins turned around to face a young girl who looked about fifteen, proudly holding up a Pokeball. She had short black hair, and wore jeans and a tie-dyed t-shirt.
"Sorry, we don't speak French," Karen apologized, a little embarrassed.
"That's ok," said the girl, suddenly switching to heavily accented English. "I can...how you say...practice English. My name is Monique. I start my journey late because we jus' move in from France. Took me long time to figure out English. Would you like to battle me? I jus' receive my firs' Pokemon a few days ago."
"Sure, I'll battle you. I could use the experience," said Zack. "I'm Zack, and this is my sister, Karen."
"Hi, Monique!" Karen greeted the girl. "Tell you what, I'll ref the first match between you and Zack, I'll battle you and Zack can be the ref. Are you up for two battles in a row?"
"Sure!" said Monique happily. She moved over to one side of the wide path, and Zack took the other. Karen stood between them, but several feet farther up the path.
Karen raised one arm straight up, then pointed it at the spot between the two opponents. "Let the match begin!" she cried.