(Note: I don't own Pokémon, and I don't own the song Life is a Highway. So please don't sue me. Also, Pulsar and Crystal are my characters, and Keia belongs to her player, Reanni.)
Chapter 2: Enter Keia
"C'mon, you call that an attack?" Pulsar asked. Crystal was out of breath. "Well I don't want to hurt you, Pulsar! Can't I find an opponent I don't know?" she asked. Pulsar sighed. "Don't worry about hurting me. I'm at least three times bigger than you, and I'm at the third stage of evolution. Just attack, okay? It's not like you're gonna -" *WHAM!* As he spoke, her ears went flat against her head and she lunged forward suddenly, slamming headfirst into the Raichu. He wasn't expecting it, as a matter of fact he though she was going to scratch him or use one of her attacks. However, Crystal had realized that her attacks didn't do much, so she'd changed her strategy. Pulsar was hurled backwards onto his back and had the wind knocked out of him. Crystal blinked and walked up beside him. "Um… Pulsar? You okay?" she asked.
"Eh… yeah. I'm.. fine…" he said, groaning and getting back on his feet. Then he grinned at her. "Well, that's a great start! The best way to grow stronger is to fight Pokémon that are as strong as you or stronger," he said. Then he started off in the direction of a small lake he knew of. "I'm gonna get a drink. Coming?" he asked.
"No thanks, I'm not thirsty," she replied, heading off into the forest. Pulsar shrugged and went to get a drink.
After walking for no more than a few feet, Crystal heard rustling in the bushes. A young girl walked out and suddenly noticed her, then grinned and pulled out a Pokéball.
"Finally, a wild Pokémon that might be a challenge for ya! Pokéball, go!" She yelled, hurling it. A huge bird Pokémon appeared from it, eyeing the Meowth. "Aaaaaaaaiiiiiiii! It's a Pidgey on steroids!" Crystal shrieked. "Pidgey? Excuse me? I am a Pidgeot!" the bird retorted angrily.
"Pidgeot, Fly attack!" the trainer yelled. The huge bird flew straight up, and then dove down, building tremendous momentum. Crystal was frozen in place. There was nowhere to run! Suddenly there was a flash of brown from her left, and Pulsar leapt into the air, landing directly on the descending Pidgeot's back. "RraaaaaiiiiiiiCHHUUUUUU!" Electricity enveloped the two powerful Pokémon, and Pidgeot fell like a rock. Pulsar slowly and dramatically turned to look at the trainer, looking very menacing. "Rai!" he said angrily. The girl stared unbelieving at her fainted Pokémon. "T-that was a – a Thunder attack!" she stuttered. Then she recalled Pidgeot and ran. Pulsar smiled and looked over at Crystal. "A little intimidation never hurt anyone. Next time you see a human, look dangerous and kind of angry. Then they might leave you alone," he advised. The Meowth sighed. "I wish I was strong like you. It seems like every time I turn around you're saving my butt!" she said. Pulsar shook his head, smiling to himself. "You just have a lot to learn."
They kept on going in a random direction, seeing as they had nowhere to go and all the time in the world to get there (and because neither of them had any idea of where they were). "I've forgotten just how hard life can be when you don't have a trainer," Pulsar mused. Crystal turned to him curiously, "Do you regret leaving your trainer?" His ears went back again, "No, I'll never regret ditching that creep. I'd rather starve than have to be with him any more."
Crystal sighed and her ears drooped, "Jared didn't treat me all that well, either, but it wasn't so bad that I'd run away. Yet. Maybe I would have after a while. I don't blame you for running away, Pulsar. Humans can be really horrible sometimes."
Pulsar looked over in the distance, "Hey look. There's a mountain over there. Most trainers wouldn't go up there, I'd think. Wanna go see what's there? Could be fun."
She followed his gaze, "Sure. Not like there's anywhere we have to be right away."
They traveled for two days before reaching the mountain, and spent half of the third traveling up it. Crystal also learned one of Pulsar's other talents besides fighting – singing. As they traveled, he started singing, "Life is a highway! I want to ride it all night long! And if you're goin' my way, I wanna drive it all night long!" That was the only part of the song he knew, but still, his deep voice and the way he sang it made it sound really good. After a short time Crystal caught on and joined in. Anyone passing by would think it was kind of strange – after all, it wasn't every day you saw a Pokémon singing outside of battle, much less a Meowth and a Raichu singing together.
By the time they were half way up, both were tired and kind of hungry. The terrain was rough and steep, so they decided to would be a good idea to rest. They had seen no other Pokémon on the way up, which was odd. Then they found out why.
It rose up from the ground behind them without warning – an Onix that was much bigger than any they had ever seen. It didn't look too happy, either. "Ghooooooorllll!" It roared. Pulsar swallowed hard and said, "Um, hi... we're just passing through. No need to be nasty or anything… see, we're just trying to find somewhere that doesn't have any humans and –"
"This is my mountain! Get off of it!" the Onix growled. "Are all wild Pokémon this territorial?" Crystal asked in a whisper.
"I think so..." Pulsar replied. The Onix was at the end of its patience. It dove down towards them, and they just barely managed to get out of the way as it slammed into the ground where they had been standing. Crystal snarled and tired to bite the huge rock snake, but its hide was too thick. It ignored her and went for the most obvious threat, Pulsar. The Raichu leapt out of the way, but Onix landed on its tail blade. Pulsar grabbed his tail and pulled hard, but the Onix was too heavy. He couldn't get away now and the other part of the huge Onix was free to attack. Pulsar used his Thunder attack over and over, but it had no effect. With a sudden surge of energy, Crystal leapt onto the Onix's back and ran up onto its head, trying to scratch at its eyes. The Onix closed them and shook its head violently to try and throw her off. She hung on for dear life, but eventually he threw her off and she hit the side of the mountain hard and fell to the ground. The good news was that Pulsar's tail had been freed in Onix's struggle. The bad news was that the Onix was now even madder. The two stood facing the huge snake, realizing that there was no way to escape. Suddenly, "Essssssp…" A blue light formed around Onix, "eeeeeeooooooon!" it was hurled into the side of the mountain, then into the ground, and into the side of the mountain once again. The glow faded and it shook its head dizzily, and then dove back underground. Pulsar and Crystal blinked in surprise, and then looked up when they saw a flash of movement from above. An Espeon suddenly leapt down from a rock and landed agilely on the ground in front of them.
"Are you two okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, thanks to you we are!" Crystal said, smiling at her. Pulsar regarded her for second then smiled and said, "Yeah, thanks. But what is an Espeon doing all the way up here? Do you live around here?"
"No, I'm just kind of wandering around," she replied, "What about you two? It's not exactly a good idea to be up here when your attacks can't hurt the Pokémon here."
"Are all the Pokémon up here rock-types?" Crystal asked.
"From what I've see they are."
"Oh. We didn't know that. Anyway, my name's Pulsar, and this is Crystal," Pulsar interjected.
"I'm Keia," she looked at the Raichu curiously, "What kind of name is Pulsar?"
"Oh, well a Pulsar is a kind of star. A star that blinks a lot and flashes," he replied.
"Oh. I see," Keia said, "But you still didn't answer by question."
"Oh…well we came up here for a kind of break. We've had nothing but trouble lately – we've been attacked by anything and everything we've come across," Crystal said. "Though this is obviously no place to relax, as we just found out."
"I see," Keia said, looking around.
"What about you? I didn't think that Espeon appeared in the wild," Raichu said. Keia's gaze dropped to the ground and her ears drooped sadly. "I'm not really wild. My… my trainer passed away some time ago."
"I'm sorry, Keia," Crystal said. "I guess he or she meant a lot to you."
"Yes, he did. His parents gave me to his cousin, but I didn't really want to fight for him. I missed my own trainer and didn't want another one. Then my new trainer took my tag… it was a silver one, on a string… my old trainer had saved up his money for a long time to get that for me. It was really special. Then I stopped fighting for him altogether and he got angry with me and tried to make me do what he wanted, so I ran away," she said. Her eyes were wet with unshed tears. Pulsar and Crystal looked at her sympathetically. "Oh. I ran away, too. My trainer wasn't nice to me at all. Crystal was abandoned," Pulsar said, motioning to the Meowth. "I guess we all have a sad story to tell… hey, why don't you come along with us, Keia? We don't really know where we're going, but we're at least trying to make the best of what lives we have left and trying to enjoy ourselves. How 'bout it?" Crystal asked. The Espeon looked at her for a moment, then at Pulsar. She was kind of lonely and it would be nice to have someone to talk to for a change… "Sure. I guess I could use a little companionship," She replied at length. Crystal smiled. "I guess we're really getting a group together here… kind of like those adventurers in fantasy movies that travel around together and fight monsters and stuff," she said. "Maybe there are others out there who are alone like we all were…" she mused.
"Maybe so…" Pulsar said, looking down the mountain to the forest below, "Well, how about we head for the nearest town? I can see what looks like Turquoise Village from here."
"Okay, then. We may as well head that way," Crystal said. "Did you ever wonder why they name all these towns after colors?"
"They're too unoriginal to come up with anything else?" Keia suggested, "Anyway, if you want to get there fast, I can help."
"Really? How?" Pulsar asked.
"I'm a Psychic Pokémon, remember?" Keia's eyes glowed brightly and a glow surrounded the three of them, and in an instant they stood in Turquoise Village. "Wow! That was too cool!" Pulsar said. Then he looked over at Crystal, whose every hair was straight up on end, her eyes wide. "Um… Crys? You okay?" he asked, waving a paw in front of her face.
"Y-yeah. Fine. I'm ooookkaaaaay-y…" she replied, falling over suddenly.
"Some take longer to adjust to the Teleporting that others," Keia explained. Pulsar looked worried and sat the Meowth up, holding her in place so she wouldn't fall over again until she got her bearings.
Then Crystal noticed a Mexican Restaurant. "TAAAACOOOOOSS!" she yelled, lunging out of Pulsars arms, running right by Keia and knocking the Espeon onto her haunches, and bolted into the building. A man behind the desk held out a bag to a lady who had just paid for her food. "So, that's a Taco and Burrito meal for four, and – hey!" the man yelled in surprise as Crystal leapt by, taking the bag with her and bolting back out the door before he could even realize what had just occurred. She headed back towards her confused friends, where she set the bag down. "Tacos! I love tacos! This is the best day ever!" she exclaimed. Then she turned to see the angry restaurant manager running at her with a frying pan. In an instant, they were outside of town in the forest. Crystal stumbled around for a second before collapsing on the ground. "I… don't think I like this Teleportation stuff…" she moaned.
"So, um, what is so great about these taco things?" Pulsar asked. Crystal looked at him incredulously. "You've never had tacos? What is wrong with you? Tacos are the best thing since… since… the invention of the Pokéball!" she exclaimed. Pulsar and Keia looked at each other confusedly but Crystal insisted they try some. They found out that tacos were indeed good… very good. Now that they were no longer hungry, they fell asleep.
They were awakened in the middle of the night by voices that came out of nowhere.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
"To protect he world form devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend out reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meeeeowth, that's right!"
"Huh? Wha? Who are these guys?" Crystal asked. Meowth's eyes widened and he stared at her dreamily for a minute before rushing over and taking her paw, "We are Team Rocket. And I'm Meowth… but you can call me sweetheart!" Crystal yanked her paw away, "Get away you creep!" she yelled. Meowth smiled, "Ahh… I love it when you's calls me creep!" She made a disgusted face and turned away.
"Look, Jess! Rare Pokémon!" A purple-haired boy said. Both were wearing all white with a red 'R' on the front of their shirts.
"Right! Let's steal them!" The other human said. She was a girl with long red hair that somehow defied the law of gravity by sticking straight back from her head. Meowth grinned and ran over to them. "Hehe! Yea! And she can stay wit me!" he pointed at Crystal, who stuck her tongue out.
Pulsar looked worried, but Keia had already figured out a way out of the situation. "Hey, wait a minute, Meowth. You can't steal us," she said. "Why not?" He demanded. "Because we don't belong to anyone! You can't steal wild Pokémon," she replied. He stared at her blankly for a minute and then relayed her point to the two humans.
"Good point," the boy said.
"Well… no matter! Let's go find that annoying kid and his Pikachu!" The girl replied, and the two turned to leave. Meowth walked over to Crystal. "Maybe some time when we're both free we could, you know, go catch a movie or somethin'," he said. She laid her ears back and took a step back. "No way! I don't hang around with law-breaking reject like you!" she replied. "Yea, but –" he was about to protest when Pulsar walked over to him, looking quite imposing. "Quit hitting on Crystal!" he growled, whipping around in a circle and smacking his tail into Meowth and hurling him into the other two, sending them all flying. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" they all yelled in union as they were hurled into the distance.
"Ooookay… that was really lame," Keia said as she watched them go. "Yeah, and what's with the poem? And the name? Team Rocket? Sheesh, how pathetic can you get?" Pulsar asked. He noticed Crystal grinning at him. "What?" he asked. Keia grinned at him too. "So, what's the real reason you didn't like Meowth flirting with Crystal?" The Espeon asked. "Well…eh… she didn't like him and… he was being annoying! That was all…" he stuttered. "Oh, I see," Keia said slyly, winking at Crystal.
"What? What?" Pulsar was glancing from one to the other.
"You know what. But for now lets get some rest. I want to try and get to Saffron tomorrow," the Espeon replied. They settled down to rest once again, and luckily there were no more interruptions that night.
(End Note: Okay, well, not exactly a good story, but I had a kind of writers block.)