Hi there

Hi there! I'm Link 2000. Although I have had a long break from them, this is my 11th fanfiction. This series (the third instalment now) is one is all about a trainer who begins his training career in New Bark Town in Johoto. It is based on the Pokemon Gold/Silver games, which have just been released in England (where I come from). They inspired me to write this fic. Anyway please read and review. I really love comments. Thanks a lot.

Continuation policy: Ever since I started writing fanfics, I have kept to my user-friendly policy. At the end of this fic. Review it, giving me some ideas as to what I should put in my next chapter, so what you see may be more like what you want. As there are lots of Pokemon battles in these fics, I have decided to have unique trainers. One way of this is including other fanfiction authors and reviewers and using them and there favourite Pokemon (maybe from the games) as trainers. These ideas have worked well in the past. If you want to be included or tell me what should happen next, simply include all of this information in your review. Well, that's about it… Enjoy!

Dedication: This fic is dedicated to my best friend Steve, always a great guy.

JOHOTO JOURNEY Part 3

Story so far: Link, a thirteen year old boy, has just left his home area of New Bark Town to be a Pokemon trainer, he chose a Chickorita as his Pokemon from Professor Elm, the town's leading Pokemon expert. Along the road to the Nearby CherryGrove City, Link encountered a Geodude, using Chickorita with skill (and maybe a bit of luck) Link managed to catch the Geodude, however, it was weak and inexperienced As soon as Link caught it, he realised that CherryGrove City was about a mile away, so, with high spirits, he set off.

"Wow." Link murmured to himself, as he walked through the streets of CherryGrove City. It was massive, some of the skyscrapers reached above the clouds, everywhere he looked, people bustled around in their everyday jobs. Link suddenly found himself lost, his virtual map that was built into his Pokegear only showed the location of the city in Johoto, not a map of the city itself. He did however, know that every big city had one place for a trainer to go. So he asked a guy the directions for it. He felt pleased at his intelligent question, people said that he was stupid, but they were obviously wrong.

"Um… excuse me, but could you tell me where the Pokemon centre is?"

The person he asked, a man of about twenty, looked down on Link like he was some sort of bio-engineered creature born without a brain. He opened his mouth as if to say something, shook his head, gave Link a look of disbelief and walked off. Link was puzzled by this, it was a perfectly normal question. He watched the young man walk away into a building. It was a big building, Link had to admit, a building with a giant 3D model of two Pokeballs and a large 'P' On it. Strange building, Link thought, he walked up to another person, somebody who was leaning against a large sign on the building that read 'CherryGrove City Pokemon Centre'. Link walked up to him, passing a big flashing light that read 'Pokemon centre entrance'.

"Excuse me, but do you know where the Pokemon Centre is?"

The man already seemed like he had had a bad day and was in a bad mood. He got up, walked up to Link, jerked his head round to face the building so much that it almost broke his neck, and shouted…

"THERE!" And with that, he stomped off.

"Thanks." Said Link weakly. He smiled. "And some people say I'm stupid and never notice things." He said, with a grin on his face, walking inside.

The thing was, Link wasn't a very forward-thinking person. The Pokemon centre was really crowded, and, as he got inside, he wasn't entirely sure what to do, he knew that there was no Gym at CherryGrove City, but he didn't think that it was very good to just move on to the next place without doing something worthwhile. He decided to think it over when his Pokemon were being rested.

He walked up to the hollow circular table, where a gang of about 20 nurse Joys rushed around getting jobs done. He went up to one, giving her his two Pokeballs.

"Thank you sir." The nurse Joy smiled, "I need to know your name so we can inform you when the healing process has finished."

"Umm… Link."

"Thank you Link, they will be ready within one hour. Please make yourself comfortable. We'll page you when we're done.

"Thanks…" Said Link, he looked upwards, the support beam that the table was made around had TV's hanging from the top, showing various Pokemon programs. Link looked around at the hundreds of Pokemon trainers around him, 'there must be somebody here who can help me', he thought. He didn't see any point in standing around, so he sat down on one of the centres couches, bought a can of the popular soft drink – 'PokePop', from a vending machine, and relaxed himself.

As he sipped his drink, he looked around, looking for anyone he knew. Not surprisingly, he couldn't see anybody he knew, so he sat back down. The couches were double-sided, so there were Pokemon trainers also sitting behind him, Link leaned back casually, eavesdropping on their conversation.

"OK, well, where to now?"

"Pika (dunno)"

"Well, Violet City's quite close by."

"Does it have a Gym?"

"Yeah. But you have no idea of what the Leaders are like."

"Whatever they're like, I can take them."

"I doubt that Ash, with all these new Pokemon… It'll be hard."

"Ah c'mon Misty, me and Pikachu can take ANYONE. Right?"

"Pika (yeah)!"

"Well, we'd better be going anyway."

"Right Brock! Let's go kick out that Gym Leader!"

The three people behind Link got up. Link sat forward quickly. One of the trio, a small kid with a cap and a Pikachu on his shoulder, stopped and gave him a strange look, then he walked off. Link frowned. Why did he have this effect on everyone?

Would Link please come to reception. His Pokemon are ready."

Hearing this, Link got up, crushed his empty can of PokePop, threw it in the bin, and collected his Pokemon.

"Thank you," Said the nurse Joy, "Are you, by any chance, a beginner to Pokemon training?"

Link turned red, "Yeah… I guess."

"Well, there's another rookie here who needs an opponent, would you like to face him?"

"In a Pokemon battle?"

"No." Said a voice behind him, "In a Charmander juggling competition."

Link turned around, seeing a trainer about his age.

"Sorry, I don't have any Charmanders."

"No no no!" Said the trainer, laughing, "I said that sarcastically, OF COURSE I want a Pokemon battle. Jeez, your stupid."

"I'm not!" Said Link hotly, "I found this place in an intelligent way. I accept your challenge Mr… Umm…"

"Lundeen. Mike Lundeen." The trainer said.

Nice to meet you Mike." Said Link, "I'm Link. Uhh… Where do we battle?"

"Through there." Said the Nurse Joy, pointing to a large automatic door.

"OK!" Said Link, let's go! Together, they walked off. After saying 'bye to the Nurse Joy.

"So Link," Said Jay, "First time battling?"

"Yeah, first trainer battle, I've already beaten an untrained Pokemon. You?"

"Same here. What battle d'ya want?"

"Two against two works for me."

"OK." The two trainers walked through the door. A man walked up to them, asking them for their names, they both flashed their PokeDexes as a sign of identification, and walked through the door. Link gasped.

They had both stepped into a small stadium, above them, spectators gazed down. An electronic scoreboard hung down, the man had obviously programmed their names into the scoreboard as it read…

Lundeen 2/2

Link 2/2

Link was amazed, this place even had a commentator, he didn't know what was so special about him. It was only his first real Pokemon battle and already he was getting a reception like THIS? He didn't want to let the spectators down.

"Today, we welcome MIKE LUNDEEN and LINK! Two up and coming trainers. So, without further ado, let the champions of tomorrow begin their super-hot match!" The commentator made Link feel even worse, and even better at the same time. He ran up at his side of the pitch, climbed onto a small podium, unclipped a Pokeball from his belt, and readied it. The commentator spoke again.

"Ready all?……….. TRAINERS GO!"

"Chickorita… GO!" Link shouted, throwing his pokeball.

"Mankey, I CHOOSE YOU!" Mike threw his Pokeball. The two Pokemon burst out of their Pokeballs.

"OK Chickorita, we've got to take our best chance to win this… TACKLE IT!"

"Chickorrrr (Raaaargh)!" Chickorita lunged at the Pig Monkey, Mike had obviously recently caught the Pokemon, and never used it, as he hesitated. His mankey looked at him in a puzzled way. And, as Jay was checking his Pokedex, seeming to be choosing between two moves, Chickorita's tackle hit home. And Mike had to dodge the now flying mankey that he had never really worked out how to use. The mankey hit the wall, and slid down, slowly. Link gazed at his Chickorita, he never knew that it could do that much damage. He had only used it once before. He looked up at Mike. Mike looked surprisingly calm, tossing his last Pokeball up and down casually. He then threw it.

"Cyndaquil… GO!" Out came the hedgehog-like fire Pokemon. It tensed itself, and large flames shot out of it's back. Link smiled, even if Chickorita couldn't take this thing, Geodude would, then he thought back to when the untrained mankey was so easily defeated, just as he was panicking, he thought back further to when Chickorita couldn't manage to even scratch the rock, and his Geodude was strong (see part 2). He clenched his fist. He hoped it wouldn't even come to Geodude. His Chickorita may have the disadvantage, but it was tough.

"Okay, Chickorita, try your razor leaf attack!"

"RITA (OK!)!" Immediately, leaves seemed to flake off the ones on it's head flying into a tornado of blades flying towards the fire Pokemon.

"Cyndaquil! Use ember on those leaves!" Mike shouted.

"QUIL!" Shouted Cyndaquil, it's back flaring up even more into a storm itself, shooting at the flurry. The leaves disintegrated under the heat. 'Damn' Link thought. Just as he was contemplating his next move, Mike issued another command.

"Ember again!" Once again, the Pokemon's back shot up, cloaking Link's Pokemon in a blanket of flames. When the flames subsided, Link looked at Chickorita, it blinked once, then toppled over, at stiff as a board.

"Chickorita, RETURN!" Link shouted, calling back the leaf Pokemon.

"We have a match on our hands folks!" The commentator cried, "Link is down to his last Pokemon!"

"Okay Geodude, LET'S GO!" Link hurled his new Pokemon.

"DUDE (ROAR)!" Shouted Geodude.

"Okay Geodude, TACKLE IT!"

"GEODUDE (OKAY!)" Geodude flew, arms flailing, into Cyndaquil. The fire Pokemon flew back, the flames on it dimmed a bit.

"Don't give up, Cyndaquil!" Shouted Mike, "Use leer!" The Cyndaquil's eyes glew brightly. Geodude stopped, it's eyes locked on the Fire Pokemon. Link sighed, Geodude was making a habit of suffering to this underhand non-physical attacks.

"Geodude! It's looking at you! So what? Close your eyes and thump it into the ground!"

"Good job Cyndaquil." Said Mike, "Finish it off with tackle."

"Cyndaaaa!" The Pokemon, it's eyes still glowing, ran forward and smashed the Pokemon with it's entire body, the Geodude, too preoccupied to defend itself, fell to the ground, it's eyes still not leaving the Cyndaquil's.

"No… I… Lost…" Said Link, he felt bad. But, he also felt good. He had only been a Pokemon trainer for about five hours, but already he had fought in a battle in a mini-stadium. And it was really close. He felt that he had learned from his encounter. He smiled. He seemed almost happy that he lost.

"Well done Mike." Link said, shaking hands, "It was a great fight."

"Yeah, it was great. I'll face you again someday Link." He turned to leave. Then started walking off.

"In the Pokemon league competition!" Shouted Link, after him, "And next time, I'll win!"

Link felt good about himself that night, as he ended his first day of being a Pokemon trainer in the Pokemon centre. He had made plans to leave CherryGrove City the next day, and to go to Violet City, where there was a Pokemon Gym. But if he couldn't beat a trainer that hadn't been going for even half a day's experience, he doubted that he could beat a battle-hardened Gym Leader. And with that thought, he drifted off into a deep sleep on the couch of the Pokemon centre.