I don't own -pokémon-, however I only refer to -pokemon- in this story, so
there should be no problem.
Walking along with two new friends, David felt really out of place. Not only were they both girls, but attractive ones too. If this didn't make him uncomfortable, their conflictingly polar opposite personalities could easily drive someone crazy. They had both already caught two new pokemon, while he still only had one. "Hey, uh, Em, Ann?"
"What now? You want me to catch some pokemon for you, after all yours is still fainted." was Emily's curt response.
"Stop being so mean, you're the one who took the battle too far!" Anna sympathized.
"It's not my fault, all he has is a puny Weedle!"
"Well, maybe he would have more if he had a conscious pokemon to catch them with!"
And away they went. All he had done was say their names. How could these two possibly be best friends? He had been trying to tell them that they went the wrong way at the last fork. In a sudden burst of backbone he told them to shut up and walked off in the correct direction. Emily and Anna paused, looking shocked before silently following him, he seemed to mean business. It was good thing they couldn't see his smile or they would have torn him apart.
After a hike three hours longer than it should have been they reached the small town of Peppibb. It was already after dark and the gym was no doubt closed for the day, so they decided to tour the town. Seeing a popular clothing store, the two girls nearly ran David down. He used the confusion to slip away. While the girls shopped, he decided he would train his Weedle. 'They won't laugh once I get some new pokemon and evolve Weedle!'
A few hours later, the girls returned to the pokecenter to find David moping about the lounge. "What's wrong, you're Weedle still suck?" came Emily's predictable insult.
"Shut up." David stated and walked away. If he couldn't beat a few low-level wild pokemon, what chance did he have against a gym leader?
"What was his problem? I always make fun of the bug." Emily asked Anna after David had gone to his room.
"But what if what if he now agrees with you. I can't imagine how terrible it must feel to only have one worthless pokemon." Came Anna's typical sympathetic remark.
"If you feel so sorry for him, give him one of your pokemon."
"What are you, nuts? I love my water pokemon too much to give up on them!"
"Well, your Magikarp is about as useless as his Weedle, it'll be perfect."
"Stop it!" Anna cried, before running from the room.
Alone except for the ticking of the wall clock Emily had to wonder if that other guy would get upset as easily as these two. Speaking of which, after closing the door, David jumped onto his bed. Something hard was pressing into his stomach. Sitting up he found a standard pokeball. He wondered about where it came from and pressed the release button. A Mankey was jumping up and down, holding a note. "What's this about?" he questioned. The Mankey bounded over and handed him the note.
It read -Don't give up on your pokemon, soon enough it will become more powerful than theirs. This little guy's name is Ee-ee. He'll tide you over until your Weedle evolves. Remember, fighting types are strong against rock types. Be sure to practice his moves.-
"Well, it looks like you're mine now. Don't worry, I'll take good care of you and tomorrow we'll win a badge! Now what moves do you have?"
The next morning the two girls came down from their shared room fully expecting David not to go to the gym with them. To their surprise, they found him standing at the door with his backpack on, ready to go. "Hurry up! I wanna go now!"
Emily and Anna decided not to question him and just go. As they reached the gym, they grabbed David by the collar demanding to know what was going on. "Nothing. I'm just eager to battle. This is the rock gym, right?" David said unconvincingly.
"Whatever, but I'm going first!" Emily snapped.
Entering the gym, it took a minute for their eyes to adjust due to a low- level of light. A big man stood towards the back sizing them up. "Who will be first?" he demanded with a gruff voice that matched his size. "Me! And you're going down!" Emily asserted. She revealed her Charmander, Growlithe, and Magby.
The gym leader went down in about the same time David had, the day before. "Who's next?" the gym leader asked in an annoyed voice.
"He doesn't sound happy about losing." Anna noted.
"He's just a big baby!" Emily declared.
Anna proved to be much quicker at defeating the gym leader, with a simple water gun knocking each of his pokemon out. Now it was David's turn. He threw out a pokeball and out popped Weedle. "Give it to him, Weedle!"
The gym leader's Geodude knocked the bug across the floor. Strangely Weedle was still conscious. The answer to that was revealed as a familiar white glow surrounded it. "Yes! He's evolving! Now you'll all pay!" David rejoiced. Seconds later the glow faded leaving a small yellow rock-thing. "What?" David's voice rapidly grew softer. It wouldn't matter since the laughter erupting from all those present in the gym would have drowned out anything he said anyway. "Okay.return. Try this!" David heaved a second pokeball onto the floor. A Mankey appeared.
"Hey! That's-" Emily began.
"Go!" David cried.
Within seconds the fighting pokemon had decked the Geodude. David had won his first real badge. The one given to him and the other fourteen didn't count in his mind.
"Way to go!" Anna cheered.
"No freakin' way-"Emily stuttered, "Hey! Where did you get that pokemon?!"
"I found it last night, on my bed. Someone left it for me. Although I can't figure out how he got in my room."Before David could finish a massive explosion was heard outside the gym. David, Anna, Emily, the gym leader, and his junior trainers all ran outside to see two people arguing in front of a blackened patch of the gym's wall.
"How was I supposed to know the wall was made of rock?!" the male yelled.
"Duh! It's the rock gym! Personally, I thought they walls would be made of wax!" shouted the female, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"If you're so smart, then how do we bust in!" the male replied with equal volume.
"Uh, hello?" the gym leader said, folding his arms across his chest and lifting one eyebrow. An expression Emily could have sworn she had seen before.
"Oh, uh, we're here to steal your pokemon." The female stated
"Sorry, I can't allow that." The gym leader replied, voice leaving no room for debate.
"Okay, then we'll just leave." The male stated after studying the size difference between himself and the hulk in front of him that seemed to be causing a minor eclipse.
"What was that?" the gym leader said, shrugging his shoulders. He handed badges to the three teenagers, but stopped as he gave David his. "You're lucky to have him for a friend."
"Who?" David asked
"The one who gave you Ee-ee. If he didn't tell you any more, than I won't either. I would like to stay on his good side." The gym leader then marched back into his gym to await the next challengers.
"I never told him that the Mankey's name was Ee-ee." David said emotionlessly.
"Isn't that kinda creepy?" Emily suggested.
"Meh." Was all David replied, "Let's go heal our pokemon."
By the time they returned to the pokecenter, they agreed to stay an extra night and leave the next afternoon. The girls went upstairs to do their girl stuff, while David sat down in the lounge. Looking around, he noticed a bulletin board, with a list of jobs on it. He walked over to the reception desk and asked what it was.
"It's the Pokeboard. People can come in here, and put up small, short, one- shot jobs and then the pokemon trainers do them for a preagreed reward. Feel free to pick one, just to warn you though, you may only accept one job at a time. A young man came in yesterday to introduce it." The receptionist answered with predetermined perkiness.
'Huh. Maybe I'll take on a job to earn some extra cash.' Looking at the list of jobs and their corresponding awards, he decided this was a great idea, and was surprised that noone had thought of it before. 'This one looks good.' -Bothersome pokemon bird stealing my newspaper every morning-. 'I'll just call this number and set up a meeting.'
"Hello, my name is David. I'm a pokemon trainer and I saw your ad. I'm interested in filling it." David then waited for a reply.
"That's good to hear. I se that board does work. Come on over to the address listed and you can see for yourself"
'Alright!' David thought to himself. He walked over to the house described and knocked on the door. "Good. You're just in time." The woman who opened the door said after David had introduced himself. That bird comes by every day, like clockwork, at 9 am."
'Good thing I insisted on going to the gym first thing in the morning.' he congratulated himself.
Soon enough the paperboy came by on his bike. No sooner had the morning paper hit the lawn, than a duck-like creature bolted out of the bushes, snatched it up, and began waddling off. David shouted after it and took up chase. They reached a small pond and the duck-thing turned around to face David.
"Farfetch'd, huh?" David stated after consulting his pokedex. "What do you need a paper for?" The Farfetch'd took a defensive stance with its back to a bush. "Whatever you're hiding must be in that bush! Prepare yourself!" David tossed out Weedle's pokeball. Even though it was now a Kakuna, David felt that it wasn't fair to just change its name. "Get him, Weedle!"
Weedle just sat there. The Farfetch'd rocked back and forth on its heels, determined to be ready for whatever surprise attack this seemingly weak pokemon had planned! Weedle just sat there. The Farfetch'd feinted a couple times; trying to break the enemy's concentration on whatever dastardly move it was preparing! Weedle just sat there. The Farfetch'd started making loud noises to distract the yellow evil! Weedle just sat there. The Farfetch'd was perplexed, it couldn't understand how this thing would attack! Weedle just sat there some more. The Farfetch'd lost it, began running in circles, tripped over its own makeshift sword and bonked its head on a tree. David tossed a pokeball and captured the Farfetch'd. "Good job, Weedle!" Turning his attention to the pokeball now in his hand he commented, "I shall call you Ducky!" Named after a rubber bath toy he had been fond of as a child. "Now let's see what you were up to!" Pushing aside the bush, David suddenly felt horrible. He had captured this poor Farfetch'd that had only innocently been collecting scraps of newspaper, just to make some paper maché furniture! Wait. That's nothing to feel bad about. David shook his head at the absurdity of it all. However, he had to agree that the absurd situation fit an absurd pokemon. The woman gave him twenty bucks and a nice lunch. She was happy to learn that both her newspapers and the strange pokemon would be safe.
As he walked back to the pokecenter he began humming the age-old classic 'Too young to fall in love' and was surprised as a passing teenager picked it up and sang the words. David stopped and decided to greet him. "Hey, you like that song too?"
"Sure, 80's rock is the best!" the guy replied
David quickly looked him over, just long enough to judge the morality of his character, but not long enough for someone to question his sexuality. He was about his height, but ungodly skinny. He had glasses and clothes that would have looked very stylish on anyone, but him. It's not that he was ugly, he just was awkward looking. David decided to only partially agree. "Yea, it's good, but there's other stuff too. You like pokemon?" David inquired.
"Sure. I used to be a trainer, but I don't really like to battle. I only caught a pair of Eevees, but they 'liked' each other and now my parents distribute their offspring."
"Cool. Could you give me one? My name's David."
"Call me Dante."
"Dante? What kind of name is that?"
"My middle name. My first name is Sherman. Which would you go by?"
"Good point. I'm going to the pokecenter to tell my friends about my new pokemon. I've been gone for hours, and I didn't say where I was going or when I was coming back, but I'm sure they've hardly noticed. Wanna tag along? It'd be nice to have another guy around."
"Sure."
David and Dante soon reached the pokecenter, but found it difficult to get through the crowded lounge. There were a lot of people. But something seemed odd. Then David noticed that all the people were -male- people.
"I thought you said you needed another guy around. Looks like you have plenty." Dante remarked
"Let's see what this is about." David replied and shoved and pushed his way through the crowd to find none other than Anna and Emily sitting comfortably on the couch. Anna didn't look too upset, but hen again she never looked upset. Emily on the other hand looked about ready to blow.
"I said -GO AWAY!-" She screeched in the nearest guy's face. "Oh, David, it's about time! Mind if I use you? Good. Attention all boys! Our boyfriend has returned, please depart at once or he might lose his temper and tear you a new one!"
As one every male in the room turned to look at a sheepish David. Poor Dante was stuck right next to him. Emily used the distraction, grabbed Anna's wrist and ran behind the reception desk to take cover, abandoning David to his fate.
A wall of male flesh began closing in on David. However, one part of the wall seemed to breaking away. On closer inspection, he noticed a blue-eyed boy; about 16 years old throwing guys out of his way, in order to make it to the middle.
"You're a lifesaver, Strikerfox!" David said with extreme relief.
"Strikerfox!," Dante excitedly shouted, "not -the- Strikerfox!"
"Hey! You told me your name was Spence!" shouted Anna from where she and Emily had stuck up their heads to watch the action.
"Quiet. Everyone listen to me," he said as he climbed on top of the coffee table, "These two," pointing at David and Dante, "are not the girls' boyfriends."
The room hushed as everyone waited for him to continue. "And neither am I." a great wave of relief went through the crowd, "However," he continued, "I will declare that I have gotten farther with them than any of you ever will."
A sense of hostility rose as the wave of male flesh began closing in again. "Clamp, it's play time and these are your playmates." Spence said as he released a pokeball. What came out caused every man to do a backwards charge, causing many to trip and fall. Clamp was a towering 8-feet tall with humongous jaws. Clamp shook with laughter, before giving Spence a big bear hug. "Air."Spence groaned as Clamp returned to his pokeball.
Anna was the first to talk of the five remaining, "When you said you used to have a Totodile, what you meant was-"
"-He fully evolved." Spence finished for her.
"That. Was. Awesome-" Emily said, "No wonder you said you didn't need that other pokemon. Who would with a behemoth like that!"
"Clamp? He's not my strongest pokemon, nor is he the most powerful one." Spence coolly stated.
David cleared his throat before asking, "What happened?"
Emily sighed, "Same old, same old. Bunch of guys see some pretty girls. -I- thought they would have given up after Ann sent one through the wall over there. But it just seemed to -encourage- them."
Spence raised one eyebrow in a familiar amused expression, "-You- did that?"
Anna blushed slightly before nodding.
'Hmmm. She got mad at me for commenting on that, but when he did it-' Emily contemplated.
Dante spoke up for the first time in front of the people he had just met, "I was wondering, does stuff like this always happen?"
David replied, "Don't you remember my duck story?"
"What duck story?" Emily asked
"Okay then. I'm coming with you!" Dante declared, "I could use a little excitement. If we stop at my house I can get my Eevee evolutions."
"What duck story?" Emily asked again.
"I hate to say it, but I gotta go. I've finished distributing my Pokeboards, but I still have to check on the other new trainers one more time. Make sure they haven't run into any trouble." Spence stated
"What duck story?" Emily asked again.
"How did you know about Strikerfox?" David asked Dante, ignoring Emily for the third time.
"Are you kidding? Strikerfox is practically a legend! He came to our islands about a year ago with weird pokemon, and has beaten every person he's met. They say he even beat the current champion in an unofficial battle. They also say his father is a gym leader and he carries his home gym's badges to give to those he deems worthy. They're good anywhere in place of any badge! He recently started the Pokeboard thing, helps out with the annual 'Chosen Pokemon Trainers Guild' by catching fifteen beginner pokemon for them, not to mention that he has contacts in every city maintaining an aggressive news network!" Dante managed all in one breath.
"Ya see why I go by Strikerfox?" Spence whispered to Emily and Anna, both giggling at Dante's enthusiasm.
'Whoa, did I just giggle?' Emily mentally reprimanded herself.
"How come you never told me all that?!" David demanded.
Spence sighed, he really needed to leave, "Okay, at Professor Maple's insistence I posed as one of the 'Chosen Trainers' in order to keep an eye on all of you for a short period of time. Yes, Emma, that Mankey was from me. I'm warning you, bite your tongue about Weedle. When it evolves, its going to be more powerful than any of your pokemon or the one I gave him."
Emily looked really upset, but after seeing Spence's pokemon, Clamp, decided to take his advice and bite her tongue for now.
"So, I really owe you, huh?" David seemed depressed again, "for the pokemon."
"Sure, but don't worry about it right now, sooner or later I'm gonna need a favor and that's where you come in. My whole 'News Network' that fanboy is raving about is just a bunch of people I've done favors for and owe me just like you now do. And if you're wondering, the gym leader here -is- in my debt as well, just like the lady you helped this morning will forever feel in your debt. I bet if you ever come to this city again there will be a hot meal waiting for you at her house." David seemed to perk up at this encouragement.
"Will you come find us again?" Anna asked, "or now that you've seen we're okay you're not gonna hang around anymore?"
'She seems really upset' Emily pondered, 'Sure he makes me mad, but he has always done me favors.' Emily decided, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you leave, unless you swear you will meet us in the next town. If you make Anna or me," she paused, "That hole in the wall will be nothing compared to what I do to you."
"Sure, sure" Spence sighed, "and you can even meet the rest of the gang." He said as he patted the messenger bag on his side. He raked his fingers through his hair, winked at them all, turned around, and walked out the door without a backwards glance.
"He. Is. So. Cool." Everyone turned to look at Dante, "What?" This time they turned and looked at each other. "Oh, c'mon, it's not like I'm gay!"
"Whatever you say fanboy," Emily started, "it's just that you seemed more interested in -him- than -Anna-. What does -that- tell you? Anyways, I'm sick of this town, in particular the male population, let's leave now."
Fifteen minutes later the four were walking down the trail leading to the next city. "Oh no, I forgot. I still have to tell my parents!" Dante cried.
Fifteen more minutes later the four were walking down the trail leading to the next city. "Oh no, I forgot. I still have to get my pokemon!" Dante cried again.
Yet another fifteen minutes and the four were walking again down the same trail leading the same destination. "Oh no, I for-"
The rest of Dante's sentence was sharply cut off by three distinct 'bonking' noises.
Almost as an afterthought Emily asked, "Are you going to tell us the duck story yet?"
End of Chapter 2
there should be no problem.
Walking along with two new friends, David felt really out of place. Not only were they both girls, but attractive ones too. If this didn't make him uncomfortable, their conflictingly polar opposite personalities could easily drive someone crazy. They had both already caught two new pokemon, while he still only had one. "Hey, uh, Em, Ann?"
"What now? You want me to catch some pokemon for you, after all yours is still fainted." was Emily's curt response.
"Stop being so mean, you're the one who took the battle too far!" Anna sympathized.
"It's not my fault, all he has is a puny Weedle!"
"Well, maybe he would have more if he had a conscious pokemon to catch them with!"
And away they went. All he had done was say their names. How could these two possibly be best friends? He had been trying to tell them that they went the wrong way at the last fork. In a sudden burst of backbone he told them to shut up and walked off in the correct direction. Emily and Anna paused, looking shocked before silently following him, he seemed to mean business. It was good thing they couldn't see his smile or they would have torn him apart.
After a hike three hours longer than it should have been they reached the small town of Peppibb. It was already after dark and the gym was no doubt closed for the day, so they decided to tour the town. Seeing a popular clothing store, the two girls nearly ran David down. He used the confusion to slip away. While the girls shopped, he decided he would train his Weedle. 'They won't laugh once I get some new pokemon and evolve Weedle!'
A few hours later, the girls returned to the pokecenter to find David moping about the lounge. "What's wrong, you're Weedle still suck?" came Emily's predictable insult.
"Shut up." David stated and walked away. If he couldn't beat a few low-level wild pokemon, what chance did he have against a gym leader?
"What was his problem? I always make fun of the bug." Emily asked Anna after David had gone to his room.
"But what if what if he now agrees with you. I can't imagine how terrible it must feel to only have one worthless pokemon." Came Anna's typical sympathetic remark.
"If you feel so sorry for him, give him one of your pokemon."
"What are you, nuts? I love my water pokemon too much to give up on them!"
"Well, your Magikarp is about as useless as his Weedle, it'll be perfect."
"Stop it!" Anna cried, before running from the room.
Alone except for the ticking of the wall clock Emily had to wonder if that other guy would get upset as easily as these two. Speaking of which, after closing the door, David jumped onto his bed. Something hard was pressing into his stomach. Sitting up he found a standard pokeball. He wondered about where it came from and pressed the release button. A Mankey was jumping up and down, holding a note. "What's this about?" he questioned. The Mankey bounded over and handed him the note.
It read -Don't give up on your pokemon, soon enough it will become more powerful than theirs. This little guy's name is Ee-ee. He'll tide you over until your Weedle evolves. Remember, fighting types are strong against rock types. Be sure to practice his moves.-
"Well, it looks like you're mine now. Don't worry, I'll take good care of you and tomorrow we'll win a badge! Now what moves do you have?"
The next morning the two girls came down from their shared room fully expecting David not to go to the gym with them. To their surprise, they found him standing at the door with his backpack on, ready to go. "Hurry up! I wanna go now!"
Emily and Anna decided not to question him and just go. As they reached the gym, they grabbed David by the collar demanding to know what was going on. "Nothing. I'm just eager to battle. This is the rock gym, right?" David said unconvincingly.
"Whatever, but I'm going first!" Emily snapped.
Entering the gym, it took a minute for their eyes to adjust due to a low- level of light. A big man stood towards the back sizing them up. "Who will be first?" he demanded with a gruff voice that matched his size. "Me! And you're going down!" Emily asserted. She revealed her Charmander, Growlithe, and Magby.
The gym leader went down in about the same time David had, the day before. "Who's next?" the gym leader asked in an annoyed voice.
"He doesn't sound happy about losing." Anna noted.
"He's just a big baby!" Emily declared.
Anna proved to be much quicker at defeating the gym leader, with a simple water gun knocking each of his pokemon out. Now it was David's turn. He threw out a pokeball and out popped Weedle. "Give it to him, Weedle!"
The gym leader's Geodude knocked the bug across the floor. Strangely Weedle was still conscious. The answer to that was revealed as a familiar white glow surrounded it. "Yes! He's evolving! Now you'll all pay!" David rejoiced. Seconds later the glow faded leaving a small yellow rock-thing. "What?" David's voice rapidly grew softer. It wouldn't matter since the laughter erupting from all those present in the gym would have drowned out anything he said anyway. "Okay.return. Try this!" David heaved a second pokeball onto the floor. A Mankey appeared.
"Hey! That's-" Emily began.
"Go!" David cried.
Within seconds the fighting pokemon had decked the Geodude. David had won his first real badge. The one given to him and the other fourteen didn't count in his mind.
"Way to go!" Anna cheered.
"No freakin' way-"Emily stuttered, "Hey! Where did you get that pokemon?!"
"I found it last night, on my bed. Someone left it for me. Although I can't figure out how he got in my room."Before David could finish a massive explosion was heard outside the gym. David, Anna, Emily, the gym leader, and his junior trainers all ran outside to see two people arguing in front of a blackened patch of the gym's wall.
"How was I supposed to know the wall was made of rock?!" the male yelled.
"Duh! It's the rock gym! Personally, I thought they walls would be made of wax!" shouted the female, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"If you're so smart, then how do we bust in!" the male replied with equal volume.
"Uh, hello?" the gym leader said, folding his arms across his chest and lifting one eyebrow. An expression Emily could have sworn she had seen before.
"Oh, uh, we're here to steal your pokemon." The female stated
"Sorry, I can't allow that." The gym leader replied, voice leaving no room for debate.
"Okay, then we'll just leave." The male stated after studying the size difference between himself and the hulk in front of him that seemed to be causing a minor eclipse.
"What was that?" the gym leader said, shrugging his shoulders. He handed badges to the three teenagers, but stopped as he gave David his. "You're lucky to have him for a friend."
"Who?" David asked
"The one who gave you Ee-ee. If he didn't tell you any more, than I won't either. I would like to stay on his good side." The gym leader then marched back into his gym to await the next challengers.
"I never told him that the Mankey's name was Ee-ee." David said emotionlessly.
"Isn't that kinda creepy?" Emily suggested.
"Meh." Was all David replied, "Let's go heal our pokemon."
By the time they returned to the pokecenter, they agreed to stay an extra night and leave the next afternoon. The girls went upstairs to do their girl stuff, while David sat down in the lounge. Looking around, he noticed a bulletin board, with a list of jobs on it. He walked over to the reception desk and asked what it was.
"It's the Pokeboard. People can come in here, and put up small, short, one- shot jobs and then the pokemon trainers do them for a preagreed reward. Feel free to pick one, just to warn you though, you may only accept one job at a time. A young man came in yesterday to introduce it." The receptionist answered with predetermined perkiness.
'Huh. Maybe I'll take on a job to earn some extra cash.' Looking at the list of jobs and their corresponding awards, he decided this was a great idea, and was surprised that noone had thought of it before. 'This one looks good.' -Bothersome pokemon bird stealing my newspaper every morning-. 'I'll just call this number and set up a meeting.'
"Hello, my name is David. I'm a pokemon trainer and I saw your ad. I'm interested in filling it." David then waited for a reply.
"That's good to hear. I se that board does work. Come on over to the address listed and you can see for yourself"
'Alright!' David thought to himself. He walked over to the house described and knocked on the door. "Good. You're just in time." The woman who opened the door said after David had introduced himself. That bird comes by every day, like clockwork, at 9 am."
'Good thing I insisted on going to the gym first thing in the morning.' he congratulated himself.
Soon enough the paperboy came by on his bike. No sooner had the morning paper hit the lawn, than a duck-like creature bolted out of the bushes, snatched it up, and began waddling off. David shouted after it and took up chase. They reached a small pond and the duck-thing turned around to face David.
"Farfetch'd, huh?" David stated after consulting his pokedex. "What do you need a paper for?" The Farfetch'd took a defensive stance with its back to a bush. "Whatever you're hiding must be in that bush! Prepare yourself!" David tossed out Weedle's pokeball. Even though it was now a Kakuna, David felt that it wasn't fair to just change its name. "Get him, Weedle!"
Weedle just sat there. The Farfetch'd rocked back and forth on its heels, determined to be ready for whatever surprise attack this seemingly weak pokemon had planned! Weedle just sat there. The Farfetch'd feinted a couple times; trying to break the enemy's concentration on whatever dastardly move it was preparing! Weedle just sat there. The Farfetch'd started making loud noises to distract the yellow evil! Weedle just sat there. The Farfetch'd was perplexed, it couldn't understand how this thing would attack! Weedle just sat there some more. The Farfetch'd lost it, began running in circles, tripped over its own makeshift sword and bonked its head on a tree. David tossed a pokeball and captured the Farfetch'd. "Good job, Weedle!" Turning his attention to the pokeball now in his hand he commented, "I shall call you Ducky!" Named after a rubber bath toy he had been fond of as a child. "Now let's see what you were up to!" Pushing aside the bush, David suddenly felt horrible. He had captured this poor Farfetch'd that had only innocently been collecting scraps of newspaper, just to make some paper maché furniture! Wait. That's nothing to feel bad about. David shook his head at the absurdity of it all. However, he had to agree that the absurd situation fit an absurd pokemon. The woman gave him twenty bucks and a nice lunch. She was happy to learn that both her newspapers and the strange pokemon would be safe.
As he walked back to the pokecenter he began humming the age-old classic 'Too young to fall in love' and was surprised as a passing teenager picked it up and sang the words. David stopped and decided to greet him. "Hey, you like that song too?"
"Sure, 80's rock is the best!" the guy replied
David quickly looked him over, just long enough to judge the morality of his character, but not long enough for someone to question his sexuality. He was about his height, but ungodly skinny. He had glasses and clothes that would have looked very stylish on anyone, but him. It's not that he was ugly, he just was awkward looking. David decided to only partially agree. "Yea, it's good, but there's other stuff too. You like pokemon?" David inquired.
"Sure. I used to be a trainer, but I don't really like to battle. I only caught a pair of Eevees, but they 'liked' each other and now my parents distribute their offspring."
"Cool. Could you give me one? My name's David."
"Call me Dante."
"Dante? What kind of name is that?"
"My middle name. My first name is Sherman. Which would you go by?"
"Good point. I'm going to the pokecenter to tell my friends about my new pokemon. I've been gone for hours, and I didn't say where I was going or when I was coming back, but I'm sure they've hardly noticed. Wanna tag along? It'd be nice to have another guy around."
"Sure."
David and Dante soon reached the pokecenter, but found it difficult to get through the crowded lounge. There were a lot of people. But something seemed odd. Then David noticed that all the people were -male- people.
"I thought you said you needed another guy around. Looks like you have plenty." Dante remarked
"Let's see what this is about." David replied and shoved and pushed his way through the crowd to find none other than Anna and Emily sitting comfortably on the couch. Anna didn't look too upset, but hen again she never looked upset. Emily on the other hand looked about ready to blow.
"I said -GO AWAY!-" She screeched in the nearest guy's face. "Oh, David, it's about time! Mind if I use you? Good. Attention all boys! Our boyfriend has returned, please depart at once or he might lose his temper and tear you a new one!"
As one every male in the room turned to look at a sheepish David. Poor Dante was stuck right next to him. Emily used the distraction, grabbed Anna's wrist and ran behind the reception desk to take cover, abandoning David to his fate.
A wall of male flesh began closing in on David. However, one part of the wall seemed to breaking away. On closer inspection, he noticed a blue-eyed boy; about 16 years old throwing guys out of his way, in order to make it to the middle.
"You're a lifesaver, Strikerfox!" David said with extreme relief.
"Strikerfox!," Dante excitedly shouted, "not -the- Strikerfox!"
"Hey! You told me your name was Spence!" shouted Anna from where she and Emily had stuck up their heads to watch the action.
"Quiet. Everyone listen to me," he said as he climbed on top of the coffee table, "These two," pointing at David and Dante, "are not the girls' boyfriends."
The room hushed as everyone waited for him to continue. "And neither am I." a great wave of relief went through the crowd, "However," he continued, "I will declare that I have gotten farther with them than any of you ever will."
A sense of hostility rose as the wave of male flesh began closing in again. "Clamp, it's play time and these are your playmates." Spence said as he released a pokeball. What came out caused every man to do a backwards charge, causing many to trip and fall. Clamp was a towering 8-feet tall with humongous jaws. Clamp shook with laughter, before giving Spence a big bear hug. "Air."Spence groaned as Clamp returned to his pokeball.
Anna was the first to talk of the five remaining, "When you said you used to have a Totodile, what you meant was-"
"-He fully evolved." Spence finished for her.
"That. Was. Awesome-" Emily said, "No wonder you said you didn't need that other pokemon. Who would with a behemoth like that!"
"Clamp? He's not my strongest pokemon, nor is he the most powerful one." Spence coolly stated.
David cleared his throat before asking, "What happened?"
Emily sighed, "Same old, same old. Bunch of guys see some pretty girls. -I- thought they would have given up after Ann sent one through the wall over there. But it just seemed to -encourage- them."
Spence raised one eyebrow in a familiar amused expression, "-You- did that?"
Anna blushed slightly before nodding.
'Hmmm. She got mad at me for commenting on that, but when he did it-' Emily contemplated.
Dante spoke up for the first time in front of the people he had just met, "I was wondering, does stuff like this always happen?"
David replied, "Don't you remember my duck story?"
"What duck story?" Emily asked
"Okay then. I'm coming with you!" Dante declared, "I could use a little excitement. If we stop at my house I can get my Eevee evolutions."
"What duck story?" Emily asked again.
"I hate to say it, but I gotta go. I've finished distributing my Pokeboards, but I still have to check on the other new trainers one more time. Make sure they haven't run into any trouble." Spence stated
"What duck story?" Emily asked again.
"How did you know about Strikerfox?" David asked Dante, ignoring Emily for the third time.
"Are you kidding? Strikerfox is practically a legend! He came to our islands about a year ago with weird pokemon, and has beaten every person he's met. They say he even beat the current champion in an unofficial battle. They also say his father is a gym leader and he carries his home gym's badges to give to those he deems worthy. They're good anywhere in place of any badge! He recently started the Pokeboard thing, helps out with the annual 'Chosen Pokemon Trainers Guild' by catching fifteen beginner pokemon for them, not to mention that he has contacts in every city maintaining an aggressive news network!" Dante managed all in one breath.
"Ya see why I go by Strikerfox?" Spence whispered to Emily and Anna, both giggling at Dante's enthusiasm.
'Whoa, did I just giggle?' Emily mentally reprimanded herself.
"How come you never told me all that?!" David demanded.
Spence sighed, he really needed to leave, "Okay, at Professor Maple's insistence I posed as one of the 'Chosen Trainers' in order to keep an eye on all of you for a short period of time. Yes, Emma, that Mankey was from me. I'm warning you, bite your tongue about Weedle. When it evolves, its going to be more powerful than any of your pokemon or the one I gave him."
Emily looked really upset, but after seeing Spence's pokemon, Clamp, decided to take his advice and bite her tongue for now.
"So, I really owe you, huh?" David seemed depressed again, "for the pokemon."
"Sure, but don't worry about it right now, sooner or later I'm gonna need a favor and that's where you come in. My whole 'News Network' that fanboy is raving about is just a bunch of people I've done favors for and owe me just like you now do. And if you're wondering, the gym leader here -is- in my debt as well, just like the lady you helped this morning will forever feel in your debt. I bet if you ever come to this city again there will be a hot meal waiting for you at her house." David seemed to perk up at this encouragement.
"Will you come find us again?" Anna asked, "or now that you've seen we're okay you're not gonna hang around anymore?"
'She seems really upset' Emily pondered, 'Sure he makes me mad, but he has always done me favors.' Emily decided, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you leave, unless you swear you will meet us in the next town. If you make Anna or me," she paused, "That hole in the wall will be nothing compared to what I do to you."
"Sure, sure" Spence sighed, "and you can even meet the rest of the gang." He said as he patted the messenger bag on his side. He raked his fingers through his hair, winked at them all, turned around, and walked out the door without a backwards glance.
"He. Is. So. Cool." Everyone turned to look at Dante, "What?" This time they turned and looked at each other. "Oh, c'mon, it's not like I'm gay!"
"Whatever you say fanboy," Emily started, "it's just that you seemed more interested in -him- than -Anna-. What does -that- tell you? Anyways, I'm sick of this town, in particular the male population, let's leave now."
Fifteen minutes later the four were walking down the trail leading to the next city. "Oh no, I forgot. I still have to tell my parents!" Dante cried.
Fifteen more minutes later the four were walking down the trail leading to the next city. "Oh no, I forgot. I still have to get my pokemon!" Dante cried again.
Yet another fifteen minutes and the four were walking again down the same trail leading the same destination. "Oh no, I for-"
The rest of Dante's sentence was sharply cut off by three distinct 'bonking' noises.
Almost as an afterthought Emily asked, "Are you going to tell us the duck story yet?"
End of Chapter 2