Chapter 4- It's the Viridian Forest!
Note: I changed Zac's last name to Merlo. Zac Merlo sounds better than Zac McDougall. :P
"Wow... I can't believe it's almost nighttime already!" Chris says. "How could it possibly have come as a surprise?" Zac says angrily. "I feel like I've been walking for two days! No shit it's getting dark by now!" Chris laughs. "Aren't you bitchy?"
It was nearly 10A.M. when Zac and Chris left Frank and the others. It is now 5:45 P.M., and since it's January, nightfall is descending upon them already. The road to Viridian City has been quite long. It probably would not have been so long if they hadn't stopped several times to take breaks. They are just not used to traveling like this yet. They saw a lot of Pokemon, but they couldn't catch any; Squirtle and Bulbasaur were worn out from their first battle.
The events of that battle keep replaying in Zac's mind. Every time he thinks about it, shivers go down his spine. (Man, I can't wait until my next battle! Squirtle and I... will be invincible! We'll be the best there is!) Suddenly, thoughts of home pop up in his mind. His teachers... his parents... even his neighbors... (They must all be so worried about me. But, I... I don't want to go home. I want to stay here... I want to become the best! If we ever DO find a way home... would I even take it?)
Zac is so lost in his thoughts, he doesn't notice the sign. "Viridian City Up Ahead."
"Yeah, we're almost there!" Chris exclaims happily. "Finally! It's already past 6:15!"
Zac suddenly snaps back to reality. "Oh, what, huh? We're... almost there? Great!"
About 15 minutes later, the city comes into view. They shout their joy, and they somehow scrape up enough energy to run the rest of the way. When they reach the city entrance, they stop for a minute to regain their breath, realizing running wasn't the best thing to do. After they are able to walk again, they walk into the city.
Even though it's nighttime, there are lots of people on the roads. They're all laughing, having a good time. Some are shopping, some are eating, and some are just hanging around. Zac and Chris search for a Pokemon Center. They find a sign pointing them in the right direction, and they finally make the first stop of their journey.
Inside the Center are big, comfy couches and chairs. Zac falls heavily into a very puffy armchair. He closes his eyes, grins, and gives a happy sigh. "Aaaaah, I've been waiting for this all day. This is great!" He puts his feet up on a stool. Chris shakes his head. "Hey, we have to take care of our Pokemon, remember?"
So, Zac and Chris meet the first of many Nurse Joys they'll encounter in their adventures. After healing their Pokemon, they get a comfy little room in the back of the Center where traveling Trainers can crash for a night whenever needed. There are two wooden bunk beds. Zac practically flings himself onto the bottom bunk of one of the beds. "Don't get too comfortable," Chris says. "We have stuff to do still. We have to sell the Nuggets Oak gave us, then we have to buy some food." Zac grumbles at first, but then reluctantly gets up and says, "Yeah, I'm freakin' starving, let's go."
They go to the Pokemart and sell their two golden Nuggets to the wide-eyed sales clerk. They buy Pokemon-related supplies there, too, along with two big, sturdy backpacks to put it all in. They go to a food shop and buy food supplies there. They also go to one of those general stores that sell everything, like a Wal-Mart or something, and buy clothes and hygienic necessities. Then, they go to an inexpensive buffet and pig out.
Finally, after all that, the two boys walk back to the Center half asleep. They waste no time in getting to their rooms and falling asleep.
Morning comes. Zac sits up in bed, stretches with a huge yawn, and rubs his eyes so he can open them. He blinks and looks around- and freezes. In the middle of the room, fast asleep, are Squirtle and Bulbasaur. Zac, face frozen in shock, turns his head to look at Chris. (He must have let them out last night or something... he must have!) He gets out of bed to go to the bathroom, trying not to wake anybody up. However, Squirtle yawns and gets up. He looks at Zac and smiles. Zac gives a wan smile back. Squirtle's movements have woken up Bulbasaur as well. "Bulba, bulbasaur." She walks over to Chris's bed and jumps up onto his sleeping form. Chris wakes up with a yell of surprise.
"Zac!" Chris exclaims angrily. "Why did you release them?" "What are you talking about?" Zac retorts. "You are the one who released them some time last night!" "I did not!" "Well, you had to have done it because I know I haven't taken them out since we first arrived here." "Same with me," Chris replies indignantly. "Don't go blaming stuff on other people." "Ha! And you should be talking?" Suddenly, it hits them.
Their Pokemon got out on their own.
Zac sees Squirtle's empty Pokeball lying on the floor next to Zac's bed. He picks it up. "Squirtle... return." Before the beam of red light can come out to claim the Pokemon, Squirtle uses Bubble on Zac's hand. He drops it. "Ow, that kinda hurts..." Zac mumbles, rubbing his hand and giving Squirtle an injured look. Chris tries the same, but Bulbasaur tackles him to the ground and licks his face. "Okay, okay!" Chris laughs hysterically, his face being tickled. "I get the point!" He gets up. He and Zac look at each other, shake their heads, and sigh.
Zac and Chris make their way out of the Pokemon Center, Squirtle and Bulbasaur trailing along behind them. People reading the paper and sipping coffee stare at them. Zac is aware of the staring and goes slightly red. When they leave the building, he spins around to face the Pokemon. "So how about gettin' in the Balls, huh? You see how those people stared at us?" The two Pokemon just stare at him blankly. Chris shrugs and keeps walking. Squirtle and Bulbasaur walk past Zac and follow him. Zac jogs to catch up to them. "Hey, wait for me!"
They go back to that buffet and eat breakfast there. They look at their Pokemon who are eyeing the human food hungrily. Zac gives them each a pancake. Everyone loves pancakes. Chris looks at Zac. "We should get them some Pokemon food, huh?" "Yeah, that would be good," Zac agrees. They finish up their meal and head back to the Center to collect their things and move out.
When they walk past Nurse Joy, she giggles. "Hm? What's so funny?" Zac asks Nurse Joy. She points to their Pokemon. "Looks like you've got the Ash Ketchum syndrome." "Huh?" Chris says, confused. "Well, Ash is a world-famous Pokemon Master, and out of all his Pokemon, Pikachu is especially famous because ever since Ash owned him, he has almost never been in a Pokeball. It's rare, but when Trainers get Pokemon who do the same, it's commonly called the Ash Ketchum syndrome. It's funny because, well, you two are traveling together, right?" "Yeeeaaah..." Zac says. "Well, the fact that both of your Pokemon have the Ash Ketchum syndrome is such a coincidence, it's funny," Nurse Joy explains with a big grin on her face. "I mean, while it's rare, a single Trainer with a Pokemon like that is not unheard of, but two of them is. That's why people stare at you when you walk past!" She giggles again. Zac goes red again. "Well, uh, I'm glad to hear we're so special... I guess. Hey, listen, do you know where we can get Pokemon food?" "Oh, good timing! We just got a new shipment this morning..." She ducks behind the counter and brings out two boxes of Pokemon food labeled, "Brock's Perfect PokePellets – Brock's world-famous recipe... in a pellet!" There is a picture of the maker's smiling face on the front. Brock looks exactly the same as he did from the anime Zac and Chris used to watch... before they started living in it. "I always wondered..." Zac mutters to himself. "Are those eyes open, or-" "Let's go!" Chris declares, interrupting Zac's thoughts about Brock's eyes (which are perfectly understandable.) "Wait," Zac says. "These are free?" "Usually, no, but I will make a special case for you guys," Nurse Joy says, smiling warmly at them. "Thanks a lot!" Zac calls to her as Chris drags him to the door.
As they walk through the city, Chris pulls out the map they bought last night and looks at it. "Well, next is Viridian Forest, in case you didn't know..." "Yeah, that's gonna be a bitch," Zac groans. They walk past a large building. It's the 8th Gym, home of the Earth Badge. It seems to be closed, as usual. Zac and Chris stay silent as they walk by it. (Are we ever gonna make it that far?) Zac thinks to himself.
They reach the other side of the city. They go onto a road leaving Viridian City and heading towards Viridian Forest. It's about a half hour walk to the Forest. Soon, a small building comes into their sight, and behind it looms the big, dark Forest. As they approach it, they notice a Trainer battling a wild Ratatta. They stop for a sec and watch. The Trainer appears to be a young boy. His Weedle uses Poison Sting again, and the Trainer throws his Pokeball at it. The Pokemon goes into it in a flash of red light, and the ball starts to wiggle.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle... The Ball stops shaking and glowing, and it emits a satisfying humming sound. The boy just caught a Ratatta. "WaHOOO!" he shouts, jumping for joy. He returns his Weedle and walks to the building with a big smile on his face.
"You know..." Zac says slowly, looking at Chris, "we need to do the same. We need to battle a few wild Pokemon. We can catch some, build up a little team for the Forest... Plus, Squirtle and Bulbasaur can get some training." Chris nods enthusiastically. "Okay!"
They walk around in the taller grass, looking around for Pokemon. A Pidgey hears them coming and starts to fly away. "That's mine!" Chris calls out. "Fine," Zac mumbles as Chris and Bulbasaur start chasing the Pidgey. "I want a different Flying type anyway."
Squirtle tugs Zac's leg and points to a Ratatta near a tree that's very close by. "All right, then," Zac says. "Squirtle, use Tackle!" The Ratatta looks up from its acorn and scurries up the tree. It looks down at its pursuers and gives an angry "Rrrrrrrratatta!" Zac growls. "Squirtle, Bubble attack!" Squirtle starts shooting bubbles at Ratatta. It jumps onto another branch, avoiding the attack. However, the Bubble attack does hit something... It hits a Spearow's nest. It comes flying out of it with a very pissed-off look on its face. "Ah, here's my Flying type!" Zac declares happily. The Ratatta jumps off the tree and runs away. Zac takes no notice. "Speeeaaarow!" the bird Pokemon screeches. It dives down at Zac, taking him by surprise. It uses Peck on his head. "OOWWWW!" he cries out. "Squirtle, take care of this!" Squirtle looks at Spearow angrily. He uses Bubble. Spearow dodges and attempts a Peck on Squirtle as well. He dodges and before Spearow can go back into the air, he crushes it with a Tackle attack. Spearow starts to get up, but Squirtle uses Bubble. This time, the attack hits its intended target. Squirtle hits it with another Tackle. "Great job!" Zac says. He feels something in his eye and rubs it. He looks at his hand; it's blood trickling down his forehead from the Peck attack. He shakes his head. "I got it from here... Go, Pokeball!" He throws it rather hard at Spearow's head. The Pokemon goes into the Ball.
Zac's heart starts pounding as the Ball starts wiggling, even though he knows Squirtle did a perfect job weakening it. The Pokeball calms down and makes the telltale humming sound. "Yay!" Zac shouts excitedly. "Good job, Squirtle!" He picks up his new Spearow's Pokeball. He looks all around him, question marks popping up over his and Squirtle's heads as they look for Chris and Bulbasaur. They finally spot them. They are battling a Pidgey.
Zac sweat-drops. "Are you kidding? They're still fighting that thing?" His attention is diverted by another Ratatta. "Hey, Squirtle, let's catch this thing, too, okay?" Squirtle nods. He charges the Ratatta and attempts to hit it with Tackle, but the Ratatta dodges it and hits him with an attack so fast, Zac barely saw it happen. (Quick Attack!) he thinks to himself. (This Ratatta is a little advanced...) It uses Quick Attack again. Squirtle falls down. He winces as he gets up. Zac notices that its tail twitches every time it attacks. It twitches again. "Use Tail Whip... now!" It works. Squirtle stops the attack with Tail Whip. "Now, use Bubble, then Tackle!" Squirtle does so, hitting his opponent with everything he's got. "Go, Pokeball!"
It works. Zac catches a Ratatta. The grin on his face is huge. (This is easy! For now, anyway...)
At this point, Chris and Bulbasaur catch up with Zac and Squirtle. Chris has a Pokeball in his hand and a triumphant smile on his face. "What took you so long?" Zac says in an annoyed tone of voice. "Well, we made the first Pidgey "faint" by accident, and apparently that means you can't catch it. Then we accidentally did the same to a Ratatta. But we finally caught this Pidgey! How about you?" Zac closes his eyes and grins an arrogant grin. "Heh, we got a Spearow and a Ratatta on our first try!"
Chris frowns. "Whatever. Hey... what happened to you? You're bleeding!" "I'm fine," Zac says. "The Spearow I caught pecked me in the head. It'll stop bleeding soon." "All right," Chris sighs, not completely convinced he's okay. "Let's just go in the Forest now." "Fine by me," Zac agrees.
They enter the little rest house. There is a little Pokemon healing center (how convenient!) They put their Pokeballs on the healing-table-thingy and turn it on. When the machine indicates their Pokemon are at full health, they start to head out. "Hey, what about Squirtle and Bulbasaur?" Chris says suddenly. Zac looks at the Pokemon. "You guys tired out yet?" They both firmly shake their heads. Zac looks at Chris. "There you have it," he says in a matter-of-fact tone. Chris sighs and they walk to the entrance of the Forest.
However, they are stopped by a couple of guards with brown uniforms dragging a woman into the building. She is sobbing hysterically. "My son! He's lost... my son is in there! LET ME GO!" "Ma'am, please calm down!" a guard yells over her sobs. "We have Officer Jenny and three guards looking for him! It'll be fine!"
"An Officer Jenny and three guards?" Zac mumbles uncertainly. "I don't think that's enough people to search the entire Viridian Forest for a little boy..."
When the guards finally drag her out of the way of the doorway, Zac, Chris, and their Pokemon walk past them and into the Forest, looking at the sobbing mother sadly.
Chris puts his hands on his hips. "All right," he says with a big sigh. "Which way are we goin'?" Zac looks at the different trails leading into the Forest. "Let's go on the far right one." Chris nods and they begin their trip into the Forest.
It's been about 45 minutes. Zac has managed to catch a Weedle and Chris now owns a Caterpie. Whenever they meet other Bug types, they make short work of them with their bird Pokemon.
"This is driving me nuts!" Chris exclaims suddenly. "Do we have any idea where we're going?" Zac simply shakes his head. "Nope." Chris looks at him angrily. "HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM?" "What's the point of getting worked up?" Suddenly, they run into a young Trainer. She looks at them and smiles. "Hey, do either one of you want to battle me? I wanna test out my new Bug Pokemon!"
(Ugh,) Zac thinks to himself, (another Bug Catcher.) "Chris, you take this one." "Okay," Chris complies, taking a step forward. "You ready?" "You bet!" the girl says excitedly. "Go, Kakuna!"
As Chris battles the Bug Catcher, Zac sits down. He becomes lost in thought again. He thinks about the 8th Gym in Viridian City. (Will I ever make it that far? I think I have the ability, but what if I'm held back? What if we find a way home? Knowing Chris, he would rather go home than stay here. What would I do then? Stay here by myself?) He shakes his head. (I don't belong here... I don't belong in the Pokemon World. What would people think of me if I got into the Pokemon League and they all found out about where I'm from? I might be hated for it...)
So, as you can see, Zac likes to think about certain things all the time. If confronted with a somewhat troubling problem like this, he could go on thinking about it all day, not caring about what else is going on. It actually gets annoying for the people around him sometimes.
Chris brings him back to reality. "Hey, I won. I got some money... 80 zenny." (A/N- If I have the wrong currency, or if I have any Pokemon names misspelled, please notify me in your reviews. Thanks!)
Zac stands up. "Cool. Let's go."
They actually end up searching for another hour. "Is the Forest that big, or are we just lost?" Chris moans. Zac's stomach growls. "I'm hungry," he states. "It's food time."
They sit down and have a nice lunch of chicken and rice. Squirtle and Bulbasaur eat some PokePellets. They clean up and continue their search for the exit.
After another half hour, Zac gets an idea. "Hey, I know! Let's use your Pidgey to fly over the Forest and look for the exit! It can guide us there!" "Okay," Chris agrees enthusiastically. He releases Pidgey. "Find an exit for us, Pidgey!" Pidgey nods and flies up above the trees. Soon enough, the group is following Pidgey to the exit.
(A/N- Yes, I know, "why did it take them about two hours to realize this?" They're slow sometimes, okay:P)
Suddenly, they hear a scream. "What was that?" Chris says, startled. Zac sighs. "how much you wanna bet it's that kid who's lost?" Chris frowns in confusion. "Wha- Oh! That kid! Hey, I know; let's go help him!" Water starts flowing out of Zac's eyes. (A/N- I can't really call it "tears", I mean, they draw it like two rivers coming out of their eyes. :P) "But it took us forever to get this far!"
Squirtle and Bulbasaur are already running in the direction they heard the scream. "Well, there you have it," Chris states happily, and he runs off with them. Zac just stands there. "I'll, uh, wait here. To make sure... we don't lose our way... or something..."
Chris, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur hear the scream again. "We're getting closer!" Chris pants. They crash through some more bushes... and find a little boy surrounded by Beedrill. Chris counts seven of them. One stings him. He screams again. He sees Chris and the Pokemon. "Help!" he cries out. Four of the Beedrill turn around and attack Squirtle and Bulbasaur. Squirtle uses Bubble on one, Bulbasaur uses Leech Seed on another, and they dodge the other two. Bulbasaur uses Leech Seed on another, and another. All three of them fall to the ground, stuck in the small vines that sprouted from the seeds. They glow and Bulbasaur glows; the plants are healing her. The other one attacks again. Chris's Pidgey comes out from the sky and intercepts with a Tackle. The other three come at them now. Chris's eyes go wide in fear.
A Spearow comes in and uses Peck a couple times on one. A Ratatta comes dashing in and uses Quick Attack on a few of them. Zac comes running in.
After a few minutes of battling, the only Beedrill that hasn't fainted runs away. However, the only remaining Pokemon on the other side is Bulbasaur because the Leech Seeds were keeping her alive. A Bug Catcher runs into the scene. "What the hell happened here!"
Zac looks at the Bug Catcher. "Hey, take this kid back to the rest house at the entrance, okay? His mother's looking for him." "All right," the Trainer says, awed. "What're your names?" Zac starts to walk away with his Squirtle in his arms. "Doesn't matter. We don't want recognition. Just get him to his mother." The boy suddenly calls out, "Thanks guys! I'll never forget you!"
Chris and Zac are able to find where they were before. They walk along the path. They see a door to another rest house. Beyond it lies open field. They go into the building and collapse onto very comfortable chairs.
"It's... about time..." Zac pants. Chris gets up after a couple minutes. "Your Pokemon, please. I'll go heal them at the healing station." Zac puts Squirtle in his Pokeball and hand over his four Pokeballs to Chris. Chris puts those and his two Pokeballs on the station. After they are healed, Squirtle breaks out of the Pokeball again and looks at Zac angrily. "What?" Zac says innocently. "You needed to be healed." Squirtle uses Bubble on his face. "Ow!" The smile on Squirtle's face seems to say, "We're even now." Chris laughs at him. They all sit down, and after about 10 minutes, they fall asleep...
Wow, another long one. Many thanks to Ephraim, my only reviewer so far.
Next Chapter: Pewter City at Last! 1st Gym Battle