Taking Flight
Fuchisa City was more active in morning than any other city Red has ever been to. Most likely due to the fact that more farmers and Pokemon ranchers there were living here that got up early to get to work.
Red walked along the dirt path looking at the new text message that Leaf just sent that morning. He clicked away as he got nearer to the edge of the city.
"So what kind of special training are you planning to do?" asked Emily who was dragged out as well early in the morning but it seem like she didn't mind it much.
Red put up his phone. "Well, I'm just going to give my Charizard some flying lessons since he can't go more than five inches above ground."
"Your Charizard doesn't know how to fly," Emily giggled finding it funny. "And I assume you know how to fly."
Red smiled. "Of course not! I have something planned but we need a place a bit away from here." He took her at the edge of town which was overgrown with trees and led her through it until they arrived in a clearing.
"How far did you take us? It feels like I'm in the Ferris Wheel forest," Emily wondered taking a look around. The forest was closer to a jungle for there where many vines hanging, lush bushes, weird colored flowers.
"Not sure but we can get out faster on Charizard once he's able to fly properly," he said as well as releasing the student into the field.
-"Now were in a jungle... I've sure have traveled far,"- Charizard muttered stretching his wings out.
"Listen up, Charizard," Red spoke to his starter. "Today I'm going have you learn how to fly."
-"Oh goody your going to teach... this should be fun,"- Charizard snorted paying little attention to him and more to his new surroundings.
Red reached for his belt and pulled out a Pokeball, enlarged it before throwing it up high. From it flew out a brown bird with red violet head feathers flowing behind him.
-"No you got to be kidding me,"- Charizard murmured as Pidgeotto landed on Red's broad shoulder.
"Let me guess. This is Charizard's private tutor," Emily spoke up.
"Yup," Red answered. "Pidgeotto, I have a task for you and that is to teach my buddy Charizard how to fly. You have so much experience with the art of flying so tell him all what you know. Think you can do that?"
-"Hmm, me as the teacher...well I guess I can give it a try,"- Pidgeotto accepted the task. He jumped from Red's shoulder and glided towards his new student.
-"Alright, I'm your ne-."-
-"Yeah I know you're my new flying lessons instructor,"- Charizard grumpily muttered feeling ashamed for he needs someone to show him how to use his body. –"Let's just jump right into business."-
Pidgeotto could tell he was slightly ticked off but he didn't know why. -"Well then, let's start with...with uhh...with..."-
-What is the best way to start?- He pondered. -The way I learned was when mother pushed me off the nest for I was too scared to leave the nest.-
-"Are there any cliffs nearby with a high altitude?"- he asked.
Charizard narrowed his eyes. –"Are you trying to get me killed or something?"-
-"Oh no no! I'm just trying the technique of pushing off a high place to teach you how to fly by relying on your instincts to save you from your deadly fall,"- the flying expert briskly explained.
-"I rather take my chances on learning how fly myself than do crazy crap like that!"- Charizard roared.
Pidgeotto jumped back not wanting to take the large lizard's fury. –"Fine then, I'll just try to explain to you how to use your wings."- He gave up on his initial idea. He flew up close to Charizard's back to have a better view of the wings he was dealing with.
-"Let's just start with getting use to them."- Pidgeotto said. –"Slowly begin to flap both of them at a slow pace just to get the feel of them."-
-"Gah…like this?" Charizard muttered slowly fluttering his wings up and down. It was a weird to have arms growing out of his back that where larger than his front limbs.
-"Ehh that's fine…let me add some wind between them so you can feel what it will be like when you're flying up high,"- Pidgeotto flapped his wings to blow gusts of wind right into Charizard's outstretched wings that looked to weak to be able to life his body.
Defying all of the laws of gravity, Charizard began to slightly lift up from the ground. Just over a few inches his feet dangled above flat ground. He slightly smirked but lost concentration and accidentally made on wing beat earlier than the next. Losing his ability to float he fell straight into the ground.
-"Don't lose concentration or you will crash to your demise!"- Pidgeotto scolded.
-"Grr, don't treat me like a child!"- Charizard roared jumping right back onto his feet.
"Charizard, don't make me return you back into your Pokeball," Red sternly said.
The starter Pokemon eyed his trainer before looking back to his teacher. With a sigh he nodded to Pidgeotto.
-"Alright, from the top. Lets begin with soaring for a few seconds,"- Pidgeotto ordered feeling better that he now had control over his student. –"And this time don't mess up!"-
-"Watch your yapping mouth or you'll be the one crashing into the ground,"- Charizard growled.
-We'll I have some authority then, Pidgeotto thought a bit frightened but continued with the instructions.
"I think he got it under control," Red remarked folding his arms behind his head.
"Yeah, so what are we going to do now?" Emily asked who held her beloved Zorua in her arms as a defenseless Pichu. "Just stand here and watch them train?"
Red shook his head. "I think this is the perfect chance for me to see how good of trainer you are," he said twirling a pokeball in his hand.
"What? Like right?" Emily asked feeling a bit startled of the sudden challenge.
"Yeah, I mean what else are we going to do here?" Red. "And I'm also interesting in how you battle with Zexal." He pointed a rude finger at the Pokemon in Emily's arms.
She took a step back ready to protest. She stopped to herself to wondered if she should accept his challenge. "Hmm…fine, just a one on one match will be good," she accepted and dropped her Pichu on the floor.
-"Wah! A battle?"- Zexal cried in shock. He looked up to the boy he was facing. He intensely watched him produce a red pokeball which he has seem many in his life. He yelped and reverted into his original form.
"What's wrong with him?" Red suddenly asked mid stopped in throwing his Pokeball.
Emily looked upon her dark type and saw that he was quivering in his normal body. She followed his gaze and saw it was looking directly at Red's pokeball.
"Ah! He' afraid of your Pokeball. Hurry up and release your damn Pokemon!" Emily shouted in anger.
Red jumped and fumbled to release his Pokemon. He finally revealed his partner for his match.
"Oh my gosh it's an Eevee!" Emily squealed in a high pitched voice that Red never thought she would cry in. She instantly clapped a hand over mouth realizing what she just did. The tomboyish girl decided to act like nothing happened and continue to admire Red's Eevee.
"I always wanted one of those but there were none in Unova. Also, I heard they are even rare here," she said.
-"Hello!"- Eevee greeted Emily a new person that smiled back at her. She than saw the fox cub Pokemon who now was looking at her with a threatening face. -"Hello there!"- she said not noticing the hostile looks.
What is he doing challenging us to a battle? Zexal thought. Is he...planing to hurt Emily! He may want to catch me but he won't get close to my friend!
-"I will not let you hurt her!"- Zexal barked.
Emily was surprised by Zexal's sudden reaction to battle. I never seen him so keen to fight, Emily thought. I don't know whats gotten into him but I'll obliged to wishes and do my best!
"Alright, Zexal lets show them whose better!" The red head enthusiastically said.
"Eevee, show them what you can do with Quick Attack!" Red said his first ordered.
-"Here we go!"- Eevee gleefully said before disappearing in a blink of an eye. She sprinted towards her opponent who took the blow head on.
"Now Shadow Ball!" Red quickly ordered to keep the pressure on her.
"Zexal watch out!" was all that Emily could say.
Eevee fired a single purple ball of shadow material but knew she was now capable of more. She managed to create a few more to show off her mastery of the technique and all got a clean hit on her opponent.
Red felt like he should keep up the offensive and shouted his next order. "Tackle him now!"
Emily had enough of being made look like a complete newbie. "Zexal, transform into the Eevee in front of you."
-"Ugh,"- Zexal got up and saw the charging ball of fur. A flash of purple light later he became into an Eevee.
-"Huh?"- Eevee came to a complete stopped to analyze the strange situation. She now saw before her a brown four legged creature before her instead of the black fox cub.
"Faint Attack now!"
Zexal deviously smiled; glad to take advantage of Eevee's confused state. He ran up to his victim and sucker punch her right in the gut throwing her back.
"Eevee, don't fall for his dirty tricks and Tackle him. He is still your opponent," Red tried to get Eevee to believe he is the same Pokemon.
-"Alright, if you say so."- Eevee didn't know why was going on but decided to do it anyways. She got right back up and attempted to tackle him again.
Emily could see she was still a bit confused about Zexal's ability and decided to trick her once more. "Zexal, now turn into...that Charizard!"The Tricky Fox Pokemon looked up to catch a glimpse of the mighty flying beast and that was all he needed.
-"Let's see you take this,"- Zexal shouted after he successfully transformed and unleashed a large stream of fire.
Eevee stopped her charge and jumped out of the way nearly getting her flank burned by the raging flames. She was dodgy with her landing but rolled onto her backside and back onto her nimble feet. She took a few steps back when she looked into her new foe's mean looking eyes.
A Charizard! Does he gain all the abilities of my Charizard? Red asked himself. The fire cleared to reveal a non-burnt patch of grass which still had the morning dew on them. Wait!...That's right, he can't use the moves but he can still create the illusion that he can. Which means that Eevee can attack him without fear of being severely hurt herself.
"Eevee, don't fall for his tricks! It's all just a false impression," Red encouraged her to not fear. "Just Tackle him and he will surely disappear."
-"Err but it looks so real…"- Eevee whimpered too shocked to even attempt to attack.
Red realized that his Eevee wasn't going to move. He had to show her that he was really just a trick but how was the question. He thought critically about it on how to do it and managed to come up with a sketchy plan.
"Fine Eevee, if you're not going to attack then at least try using Sand Attack to blind him." Red said.
She hesitated at first. -"Yeah I can,"- Eevee finally muttered. With a quick swipe of her bushy tail she lifted up a sand cloud that drifted towards the Charizard.
-"What are you trying to do?"- Zexal coughed. The dirt cloud enshrouded him hiding him from view but he was still visible by a silhouette if one looked hard enough.
Eevee was lost for words when she realized that the silhouette resembled the small, black fox she was facing before. She was able to now believe Red that he was not what he was disguised to be.
"Just as I remembered; he is just an illusion that has no real strength of the one he copies himself after," Red smirked having figured it out. "Eevee, tackle him now!"
The sand calmed down leaving a blind Zorua but still maintained his illusion that also depicted the blindness by having its eyes clenched tight. It rubbed its eyes not attempting to stop the incoming furball heading his way.
Eevee pounced right at Charizard's lower abdomen, went why through the skin as if he was just simply fog and landed a hit on Zexal. The false Charizard disappeared once Zexal was attacked and spiraled onto the ground with Eevee victorious.
"Zexal, get up! This battle is just getting started!" Emily said hyped up to battle, a characteristic that Red never thought she had. Her Dark Type shook of the sand out of his eyes and barked to show his ability to continue battling.
Charizard continued to watch the rival battle from high above as he started to get the hang of flying. He flapped his wings getting a weird sensation enter his body. Flying now seemed a whole lot easier as his instincts began to guide him. The part he didn't know about himself implanted new knowledge and opened up his senses. He could feel the patterns of air around him as well he had better knowledge of his surrounding without even having to look around.
The instincts began to kick in when he had Pidgeotto give him enough wind between his wings to fly a near the top of the trees. He figured the rest out by trying to maintain that altitude and he sort of got it from then.
A draft of air flew into his nostrils which he breathed in and let out his own gas of Carbon Dioxide. His eyes shot opened when he realized what scents came along with the small amount of air. A scowl appeared on his face as he slowly descended to the two battling trainers. He however wasn't paying attention to the teenagers but a menacing glare he had was focused on the bush that was planted on the other side.
-"Do you really think that you can hide from me?!"- Charizard roared immediately stopping the battle as both small furry Pokemon backed off away from each other. Charizard didn't seem to notice the stare of the trainers on him and proceeded to burn the bush right in front of him.
"Charizard, have you gone mad!" Red yelled thinking his Charizard was getting frustrated of still not being a pro flier by now. His theory was thrown out when he saw two dark figures jump out of the burning bush yelling.
"Ahhh Fire!" screamed the voice of an adult man.
"Please don't hurt us!" the second voice shouted that also had a masculine tone.
-"Team Rocket scumbags,"- Charizard spat seeing the two black clad men in front of them on their knees begging for mercy. –"I can smell your pathetic-ness anywhere."- he scowled.
"Team Rocket Grunts!" Red jumped onto alert as well as Emily who picked up her Zorua that quickly transformed back into a Pichu.
Red approached the criminals. "What are you guys doing here?" he sternly said which surprised him to stay that calm. He felt like he was watching two ghosts of his pasts appear before him.
"We-we were just passing by and-and just happened to meet you guys," one of the grunts answered.
"You hesitated there a second," Red pointed out. "What is the real reason?"
-"What is your evil plan now punks?"- Charizard hissed breathing a small burst of flames to demonstrate he didn't want anymore lies.
"But that is the truth!" barked the grunt again and was responded with a roar from Charizard who fired a large fireball straight into the air.
The second grunt trembled carefully watching the threat that was Charizard. His second outburst caused him to scream. He grabbed his hat and cowered trying to hide from the world. "We are here to steal Pokemon from the Safari Zone!" he shouted in defense.
"I thought I told you to let me do the talking," the first grunt scolded his friend.
"So-so-Sorry Ryan!" he apologized looking up. "The-the fire! It just brings back horrors and-and I just want it all to go, so I told him to let us go!"
Red approached the crouching grunts and got lower to get on the level of the scared grunt. "Tell me, what happen to the rest of the Team Rocket members?" Red asked.
"Hehe, now that's something I can't answer and besides that we will come back to full power," he manically smiled.
Red shook his head. "Then who else is with you guys to steal the Safari Pokemon?" Red knew that Team Rocket always acted in large groups unless it was just the Rocket Executives on the job. Charizard got closer to further extend his threatening figure.
"Do you think I will just answer all of your questions?" the grunt being interrogated nervously said beginning to sweat and eyes going wide.
Red lowered his head, squinting his eyes. "My Charizard lately has been getting a bit restless and needs a few disposable grunts to release his frustration with fire." Red said in a cold tone that felt quite unnatural to him. An emotionless tone however did the trick because the frightened grunt gulped and opened his mouth to spill the beans.
"Hold it right there everybody!" yelled a female voice.
Red, Emily, and their Pokemon turned to face the new female voice all expecting it to be someone from Team Rocket how came to save these Rocket Grunts. The confusion was what the trembling grown men needed for they began to run away just as the voice spoke.
Red thought he heard the voice from the trees but didn't see anything or the branches hid everything from view drastically limiting his line of sight. He turned back to see his captives were now escaping ,but before he could get Charizard to stop them someone else did it for him.
Jumping from the shadows of the trees and young girl appeared in front of the two grunts. She looked no younger than sixteen years old by Red's standards. She was clad in what seemed as a black ninja getup with a pink scarf and purple arm bands. Her bright purple hair was tied into a ponytail with a yellow hair band.
Her violet eyes stared down the two Rocket Members. "Especially you lawbreakers are not going anywhere," she made it clear. The two men tried to react with their own Pokemon but giant purple moth appeared to stop them.
Green powder was sent from above the grunts' heads where the giant bug appeared. The powder from its wings landed on the two men and did its job. The two men succumbed to the Sleep Powder and slumped onto the ground haven fallen asleep.
"Nice Job, Venomoth!" the strange girl praised receiving Venomoth onto her shoulder. She faced the two teens that were left.
Red didn't know what to do but decided to greet her. "Uh-hey, thanks for-!"
"Listen here, kid. I'm not here to make friends," she harshly stopped Red's friendly approach. "I'm making my usual rounds around these places and I happen to see a large fire spout go straight in the here. I follow it to find some two kids beating up two grown men that happened to be Team Rocket members. So, let me ask you this, and answer correctly or face the consequences. What are you Team Rocket members up to now?"
Red scowled when he heard the term kid being used as a noun for him. What made him feel worst was that he was being accused of being affiliated with Team Rocket. "What are you talking about? I'm not even part of Team Rocket!"
"And that's the incorrect answer," the girl said to the misinterpreted teen. "Venomoth, lets take these guys into custody! Put them to sleep!"
Red didn't want to attack her but he had no other choice. "Charizard, lets go! We got to show her we are innocent!" The orange dragon roared in agreement steeping forward.
And a Pokemon battle is going to show your innocence, Emily questioned Red's logic.
"Alright everybody, stop this madness," Emily intruded into the scene, two pair of eyes on her. "Red this battle with prove pointless for she will still believe you're part of Team Rocket and probably only further her point that you are a terrible person."
"You stay out of this, for I still believe both of you are working for them," the female ninja said, and pulled out a small, silver shuriken. Red shrunk back after she revealed she had a weapon but Emily didn't back down.
"Look, I don't know what your problem is with us but we are just normal trainers who were training in these woods until those two buffoons appeared ready to attack us," Emily valiantly explained. "We got them under control and we were just questioning them for what they were up to for they are always up to trouble."
The teenage ninja didn't let down her weapon not even after Emily finished explaining. She took her time to digest the account, her purple eyes switching from Red and Emily ever so often. "Being close to the Safari Zone is a very bizarre place to train," she pointed out with a dangerous hiss in her tone. "Why not somewhere else that had more space?"
-"Heh, that's exactly what I said,"- Pidgeotto remarked. –"How am I suppose to teach a massive orange dragon guy how to fly when I'm such a close in space that not even a Caterpie would feel so small?"-
Venomoth perked up his head hearing Pidgeotto speak. With out warning, her left his trainer's shoulder and flew straight towards the brown bird perched on a single branch. He didn't notice the eyes that were on him as he arrived at Pidgeotto's perch.
-"I see. So you confirm the actions of you training in this clearing, sir?"- Venomoth asked in a very sophisticated manner, the exact opposite attitude of his trainer.
Pidgeotto was slightly surprised by the difference in tones of the purple moth and the ninja girl. –"Ye-yes! I was just trying to train Charizard how to correctly fly and he nearly had it if he would have gotten it if he hadn't stop in the middle of training to stop those scumbag Team Rocket members."-
-"I can tell that you're being truthful,"- Venomoth concluded. –"Please forgive my trainer for her harsh attitude. That's how Janine is, charging into the heat of an incident without thinking."- He left and returned back to her trainer.
"So are they telling the truth?" Janine questioned her trusty Pokemon and received a gentle nod. "Man when am I finally going to get some criminals to actually fight?"
"Wait, you're willing to fight criminals like these guys?" Red asked pointing to the knockout grunts.
"Yeah, its my duty to keep the Safari Zone safe from poachers who want to steal the rare Pokemon that live within, but lately it has been quite boring since nobody has attempted to attack it," she tiredly explained. "Next time leave the bad guys to the professional kids." She took out a purple Pokegear that looked similar to Emily's. It did compliment her outfit but sort of ruined her ninja appearance.
"Well, there are probably other guys that are in the Safari Zone already," Emily said perking up Janine's interest. "Team rocket never go do something illegal without going in large groups. They are too much of cowards to do it themselves."
Janine watched her intensely. "How do you guys know so much about a criminal organization like Team Rocket? Tell me your names now!" she harshly demanded.
Emily didn't hesitate to answer. "I am Emily-Emily Silph." Her reluctance to finish her full name made Janine wary.
"And I'm Red Ketchum," Red semi cheerfully answered. "And what is your name?"
Janie glared at Red making feel uncomfortable. "I am the one asking questions around but just to get greetings out of the way, I am Janine Kyo. Also, the daughter of Gym leader and Ninja master, Koga Kyo!" She made it clear she was proud of her father.
"Don't worry about these guys for I will call the authorities to collect them. Well, Red and Emily, I must be off to fight these Team Rocket members that you say are still on the loose," she announced pocketing her dangerous weapon. "But if what you say to me is false, then you bet I'll make you guys pay for wasting my time." After warning them she disappeared. Jumped straight into a tree branch and left them.
"Geez, she acts so different from her father Koga," Emily said once she was sure Janine was out of range.
Red absentmindedly agreed. "She just jumped to conclusions and threatened us with that knife! Sorry got to cut training short guys."
-"Humph, I was ready to show her who she was dealing with,"- Charizard muttered before going back to his round home.
Red began to leave clearing as well and had Pidgeotto join him by letting him rest on his arms.
"Hey, where are you going?" Emily cried going after him.
"Where else! The Safari Zone to go after the rest Team Rocket and stop their plans," Red bluntly answered.
"But Janine will be there too and don't you know how mad she will get if you intervene? I know her type, always on the look out for adventure to take on dangers without anyone getting in her way," Emily said.
"Team Rocket is now my responsibility to handle," Red asserted. "I will try to stop every vile plan they try to pull and also, I might be able to get some information from them to see if Team Rocket is really trying to reform itself."
Emily thought about the last part. "Why are you so attended on getting Team Rocket?"
Red sighed. "Because if no one stops them from doing all of this horrible crimes then they will grow and one day possibly even try to take over Kanto."
"That's so far fetched," Emily said.
Red shrugged. "Hey could happen, but I just want to bring them to justice." He walked for a while in the direction that Janine went alongside Emily and soon enough they came upon a large gray building. Behind it, tall jungle trees could be easily seen growing up high.
"I take it that the large jungle behind is the Safari Zone full of rare Pokemon," Red said walking up to the building. Up the marble white steps he climbed with Emily and pushed open the large glass doors.
They found themselves in a single large room with the only decoration placed in here was a few couches on the side with small round tables as well as few house plants that littered the room with no exact pattern to it.
In the back was a receptionist wearing an explorer attire. Tan colored button up shirt tucked into matching shorts as well as a darker tan colored hat similar to the ones park rangers wore. The hat was a bit odd for they were inside free from the sun's rays.
She greeted them with a warm smile. "Hello and welcome to the Safari Zone of the Kanto region," her eyes drifted between the two. "Are you two guys new here?" She questioned furrowing her brows as though she was trying to remember them.
"Oh no, we haven't been here ever," Emily answered.
She perked up with a smile. "Well, in that case, would you two like a detailed summary on the wonderful Safari Zone?"
Red answered up this time. "Sorry, but we really want to get in there as soon as possible."
The receptionist formed a slight frown. "But you need to hear about the history of this place before entering."
"We are pressed for some time right," Red asserted.
"Look here missy, me and my friend just want to get through," Emily said with little sass in her tone. "I'll pay what ever the cost is." She held up her golden Credit Card, the symbol that she had money.
"A Kanto Express Credit Card," the women gasped. She gulped a quickly nodded. "Alright, that will be exactly 100,000 Pokedollars for both of you!"
Red jaw nearly dropped hearing the insane price for a simple walk in a fancy park. He has heard about the Safari Zone simply being a tour place for the wild pokemon that the Kanto region is trying to preserve.
Red didn't stop Emily from sliding her credit card in the provided slot. He watched in disbelief as she typed in her pin.
"Great! Now I will still have to relay to you guys the rules," she happily said. "Don't worry, I'll make it quick." She chirped seeing the annoyed looks.
"First rule, stay in the vehicle at all time unless your guide allows you get out to touch the wild Pokemon. Second rule is that under no normal circumstances can you use your Pokemon unless for obvious reasons like being charged by a mother Rhydon trying to protect her babies…stupid Billy Myers…" her words were lost in her murmurs but continued. "Last rule is that none of these Pokemon here are up for capture unless they are in the corral zone where we allow some trainers to catch the rare Pokemon. You won't imagine how many trainers come here thinking they can catch the rare pokemon. I mean the point of this reserve is to protect the endangered Pokemon not diminish their numbers even further by letting people catch them left and right."
"Yeah, yeah lady but we have to go," Emily pushed and grabbed Red's arms to pull him to the single door behind the reception that must have led to the Safari Zone.
"Alright, and your tour guide with be with you in a few minutes so you will have to wait for a bit," she said before they disappeared through the door.
Back out in the outside world, Red pulled himself free from the teenage girl. He saw that they were close to a large jungle type forest just a few feet away. There was a clear dirt road on the ground that must have been made for the many times tourists cars that have passed through.
Besides the dirt road, there was no other sign of human presence over the wild jungle. With trees many times taller than an average teenager and greenery making it nearly impossible to see more than a few inches ones face.
Emily's breathe was taken out of her in the presence of the large jungle. She then expressed her eagerness with a wide smile.
"Let's get going if you want to find those Rocket hooligans," Emily said walking through dirt track.
"Wait, where are you going?" Red asked.
Emily stopped at the edge of the enormous forest and looked back. "To go look for Team Rocket! What else do you think I'm going to do? Actually go sightseeing?"
"But won't it better if we waited for the tour guy with the jeep to better travel the area and besides we don't even know the forest that we will surely get lost," Red pointed out.
Emily crossed her arms. "Red, I know how these safari resorts worked since I have been to one and these 'tour guides' are actually Pokemon Rangers who hate their job placement and will only stick to the road which Team Rocket will surely avoid even if they have half of a brain."
"And if we get lost?"
"I'll just use the GPS installed in my phone to get us out of here," Emily snapped back. "Come on and stop being a little scared kid."
Red frowned. "Fine but it's your fault if we ever get lost on our way." He went after the girl who disappeared into dense forest. He brushed away the vines in his faces in stepped over a short shrub. Hot air met his skin and also some moisture was felt. It felt a he just stepped into the mouth of a large monster already engulfed in greenery up to the knees.
"Emily?" Red said out loud after not catching another glimpse of her since she entered. He frantically looked around but only saw blurs of green.
"Emily!" he said louder. He took one step further a bit cautious. He then felt something grab his left wrist.
"Ahhh!" he jumped back and pulled out his hand. It took a second for him to realize that it was actually Emily's hand that reached out grab him. The pale arm poked out of a thick bush with large turnips-looking berries growing on it.
"Gah, owww!" Emily cried.
Red quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her out with a single pulled. She was covered in bits of twigs and leaves with grass stains on her pants as well as pink berry stains on her black t-shirt. She dusted herself to get rid of the plant parts out of her hair.
"What happened to you? I stepped right in and you already disappeared," Red said.
Emily spat out some more bits of destroyed leaves. "Bleh, I think I tripped over a tree root on my second step into the forest and next thing I know I'm stuck in a berry bush." She looked down at her shirt which was covered in berry juice.
"Damn, this was a good shirt and now it's ruined with this stuff…well it actually looks pretty cool now," she smiled as she admired the unique blotches. "If I knew I was going to come here I will have most likely have come better dressed for the occasion. Like these pants would work better as shorts…."
Hey! Can I borrow your Gabite?" Emily suddenly asked.
"What? Why!" Red asked unprepared.
"Just do it!" Emily spat back. Red jumped back and nervously nodded. He quickly released his Gabite thinking if her took any more time then he would surely be murdered here and now.
"Gabite, I borrow to use your claws for something quick," Emily she asked gently.
Gabite yawned stretching out his two forearms. He looked up to Emily with a tired expression.
-"Umm..sure,"- He extended one arm to the girl.
Emily brought her thigh to his extended claw. "Alright, I need you cut off the legs of my pants …right about here!" Emily pointed to the area high above her knee.
"What are you crazy!?" Red shouted. "Gabite's claws aren't meant to slice thin fabric material but thick flesh of other creatures!" he tried to knock some sense into her.
-"I get it,"- he yawned. His drowsiness added to Red's fear but he couldn't stop Gabite stick a claw in the jeans already making clean cut for the staring point. The claw gleamed in the little sunlight there was as it slowly inched forward but Emil's face didn't look like she was in pain, yet.
Her jeans are also tight against her leg and Gabite isn't the most coordinate Pokemon in the world, Red thought in dismay. He cringed when Gabite began to cut and covered his eyes with his hands as he began to faster to the point his claws where now blurs.
"Perfect!" Emily shouted gleefully. Red looked up worried to see gushing amount of blood but saw there was none.
"Now cut off the lower useless parts off my pants by cutting it down through the middle." Emily instructed. Gabite placed both of his claws at the top of the cut pants and went straight down through the middle of her leg in one swift move.
Red cringed again but his face quickly turned to an astonished one. The lower part of Emily's pants unwrapped from around legs like flower petals falling off its place. Her pearly white legs where left intact with not deep cuts and in fact not even a scratch as they looked silky smooth.
Red blushed as he caught himself gawking at some girls' legs with a new short that barely reached halfway to her upper thigh. He was impressed and returned Gabite with some praise in the form of a pat on the head.
Emily also looked quite pleased with herself. She stretched out her long legs feeling relieve from the skin tight pants chocking them. She hid a small hop before turning to Red with smile.
"Alright, lets get a move on," she said leading the way again.
"Wait weren't you at least a bit scared that your idea could have gone wrong? Like he could cut of your leg with a single swipe" Red asked going after her.
Emily pushed some hair back away from her face. "What do you mean scared? I trusted your Gabite to do it right. Didn't you not had the same faith in him to do a great job?" Her questioned struck Red.
Faith…in Gabite…Red clenched his teeth. "You're right, I should have had more faith in Gabite," he sadly admitted.
Emily nodded. "Well, just keep that in mind as we search for this forest." Red followed up Emily's increased pace now that she could moved more freely.
He had new hope as they continued their search. Through the vast jungle they walked through with some concern of their safety. They trudged through the humid forest for a good 15 minutes before Red decided to say something odd he noticed.
"We have been running around for fifteen minutes in this jungle and I haven't seen a single exotic Pokemon or any Pokemon for that matter," Red raised the abnormality.
"I know," Emily agreed. "Could it be that Team Rocket has already stolen them?"
"I doubt it for even they are not that productive to clear out a whole forest clean of Pokemon," Red said. He stopped to look at an exotic yellow flower poking out from the bush. "I know this place is vast so it surely must be teeming with life everywhere, right?"
"Yeah and leave that strange flower alone," Emily sternly said.
Red was bent over admiring the yellow bulb shaped flower. "Calm down, it's just a flower. I not going to touch it for obvious reasons but what will it do if I just admire it from afar." Red bent lower to look into the opening of the sprouting flower.
He opened up his mouth to tell Emily something weird is up with the flower but thin green vines shot out form the ground in a split second to wrap around his face. Two small dots opened up on the yellow flower Red was admiring and then they suddenly blinked.
Red pulled his head back in hopes of freeing himself but took the strange plant with him. The flower wasn't even hook to the ground when he saw the bottom where two more thin vines. This wasn't even a plant but a plant-like Pokemon.
"Hefh Mea!" Red mumbled trying to reach the plant with his hands but the little guy squirmed around face switching to the back of his head.
Emily stepped in with a single swipe caught a hold of the moving plant and tugged. The flower clung onto Red's head with incredible strength even though it was no thicker than a pencil.
-"Wahhh!"- the flower shrieked frightened by the violent revolution of his captured prey.
"Gahh!" Red felt the vines were starting to give away painfully slipping their grip. Red bobbed his head forward and with a loud plop sound the creature was pried away.
-"No! My time of lying still for the entire afternoon has all gone to waste!"- wailed the wild Pokemon
"Whoa, stop right there little guy!" Emily held the plant away from her as it tried to whip it's vine to her face. He also stuck out a cute little tongue from his flower opening. She carefully placed it down and jumped back from it.
-"Wait, you guys are not like any other creature I have seen…"- The flower Pokemon acknowledged the two humans were something new to him.
"Bellsprout: Flower Pokemon. It prefers hot and humid places. It ensnares tiny insects with its vines and devours them. If it notices anything that moves, it immediately flings its vine at the object."
Red had his Pokedex pointed at the feisty Bellsprout and other hand was covering the bright red lash marks on his face.
"Well, there is your first encounter with an exotic Pokemon. Happy now?" Emily said. "Is your little device helping you identify it?"
"It's just a Bellsprout. Not as exotic that I thought it will be," Red replied. "And this is called a Pokedex which is advanced technology to analyzed Pokemon and get information."
-"What was that! Do see me not good enough!"- Bellsprout began to throw a fit shaking it two leaves menacingly. –"Why I outa-"-
-"Human Trainers!"- A new voice shouted. Everyone looked just in time to see a giant, yellow squash falling right above them.
Red and Emily jumped back right out of the way of the squash which turned out to be another plant Pokemon. In the shape of a water pitcher it stood taller than the teens with two broad leaves at it's side and one large one over it's top with a single vine kept it in place.
"Victreebel: the Flycatcher Pokemon. Victreebel has a long vine that extends from its head. This vine is waved and flicked about as if it were an animal to attract prey. Once ingested into this Pokémon's body, even the hardest object will melt into nothing. Acid that has dissolved many prey becomes sweeter, making it even more effective at attracting prey."
-"I told you to be extremely careful of these kind of creatures !"- the female Victreebel scolded.
-"But Mom, I missed breakfast because I didn't manage to catch anything in the morning and I was getting hungry so attacked the first thing that moved,"- Bellsprout said in defense like a child.
The mother Victreebel fired a single vine and grabbed her child by the waist of him. Another was shot and grabbed a hold of one of the jungle branches. Swiftly she pulled herself away from the trainers and disappeared into the wild.
Red still on the ground from the earlier intrusion looked up hearing the rustle of leaves and branches. Before his eyes many Pokemon were moving through the trees. Different kinds of Pokemon were running away from him.
Small, furry monkey-liked Pokemon jumped from branch to branch. A brown feathered bird flew through the leaves while slashing away at the branches with a leek vegetable in their wings. He saw some of the grass around him began to move which in fact turned out to be Pokemon with a round blue body and only two legs as limbs.
-"Poacher!"-
-"Run, everyone run!"- The pokemon of the forest each shouted to warn others.
"Wait, Come back!" Red shouted getting up. He tried to point the pokedex at any one that saw was close enough to scan but they all evaded the direction of his Pokedex.
"It's no use, Red. They are all scare of us and will runaway at the sight of us," Emily remarked grabbing him by the shoulder. "You got your minute of wildlife but we have more pressing matters right now."
"But…I didn't get to scan a single one," Red whimpered.
"Don't act like a kid! Snap out of it," Emily slapped Red on the back roughly. "Now I think we are going to need some sky view help for finding the Team Rocket."
Red grumpily put away his Pokedex. He wordlessly released his Pidgeotto already knowing where this was going.
"Don't worry this is not another training session with Charizard," Red said seeing his bird Pokemon jumped right behind his trainer's leg to hide. "This time your flying skills will be used to help us find a couple of Team Rocket Members that are somewhere in this forest."
-"Well, that's a better used for my flying ability,"- Pidgeotto sighed in relief. He knew his objection and took to the air to get on his mission.
"Now all we do is follow him," Emily said jumping over large tree root. "And if you want, I can turn your pants into shorts as well."
"I don't need to maim my pants to get around easier," Red grumbled jumping over tree root but not as gracefully as Emily could. "I'm fine and plus these are few of the pants that I have right now. I can't always just buy a new wardrobe whenever I set out on a route."
Emily rolled her eyes. "I'm not that spoiled to buy new clothes every few hours. Believe me, I seen girls that will only one outfit for an hour and will never wear it again once they take it off."
"Well, then try and keep up with your new shorts," Red said sprinting off to catch up with his Pidgeotto who looked like he already have caught sight off them for he was heading to a specific location.
"Hey, wait up," Emily followed after. She saw Red's Pokemon was in the upper level of the trees but flew low enough for the two trainers to not lost sight of him.
"hmm, I think he is going to take us to the end of the forest," Emily commented once she caught up.
"And how do your know that?" Red asked.
"Can't you see the trees are starting to thin out? That signals that we are coming to the end of the jungle soon," Emily swiped away a vine.
"You mean Pidgeotto is taking us to the end of the Safari Zone?" Red said befuddled.
"Not necessarily…" Emily said. "I mean, he could be taking us to another area zone that Team Rocket decided to attack first."
"Another 'zone'?"
"Yeah like a different biome that holds totally different Pokemon than this jungle one," Emily explained.
"The Safari Zone is big enough to house another large reserve for Pokemon!" Red cried shocked on the sheer size of the reserve.
"Yupp, the Pokemon League set up this large area aside for the endangered Pokemon so it has to be there natural habitat for humans don't have resources to create artificial lands for the delicate Pokemon," Emily further explained.
"I think your right," Red aid seeing the end was coming near. The trees came to an abrupt stop and rays of bright sun flowed through the breaks to blind the duo from seeing much further.
They reached the clearing which was in fact a large prairie biome that extended beyond the horizon. Sure enough, they found a batch of Team Rocket grunts rounding up what seems to be a brown bull that had three thin tails. The tails whipped one man in the face.
"Stop fooling around and get this guy into a Pokeball," ordered an Executive Rocket. Floating on his Weezing was purple haired Petrel safely away from the Pokemon's fury. "Gah reduced to doing this grunt work is just insulting to me."
"Your not even doing anything," muttered a frustrated grunt getting out of the way of the bull's charge path. He had his Zubat confuse it with Super Sonic which led to the bull tripping over his own feet and fall face first into the ground.
"Catch the Tauros!" yelled another grunt. A comrade threw a Pokeball at the knocked out Pokemon. The device sailed through the air but a gush of wind caught it and threw it of course.
A random rush of wind, Petrel raised an eyebrow. He looked up towards the forest and saw Red and Emily running towards them with a Pidgeotto flying close by who should have been responsibly for the strange wind.
"Act quick boys and deal with the two kids heading your way," Petrel said.
The group of grunts finally took notice to the approaching kids. A total of six grunts were present to deal with the situation. They ditched the large bull that decided to get up and runaway find the herd he came from.
"Should I go after the Tauros, sir!" A grunt said.
"That won't necessary since I am going to need all of you guys to handle these kids," Petrel replied realizing the face that was coming towards his way. "And get some of my frustration out." He muttered the last part.
"Looks like they are preparing to attack back," Emily noted. The six grunts have released their respective Pokemon.
"And they have a Rocket Executive as well," Red remarked pointing up to Petrel slyly smirking in his high place.
Sitting back up on his Pokemon, Petrel greeted the trainers. "Here to stop us from continuing, boy who likes the color red and girl side kick?"
Red gritted his teeth. "How about you come down here and fight us to see if can handle me!" Red shouted.
"I will in a while, but for now…get them!" Petrel ordered.
The group of Pokemon consisted of two Zubats, two Koffings, a Golbat, and a Weezing. Nothing new but they looked more powerful than the usual one that Red has faced before from grunts.
"I have Naomi handle this," Emily announced throwing her Pokeball in the air to release her defending Pokemon.
A small, orange fox-like creature appeared before her. Her six red orange tails flowed behind her as she hopped forward to face the enemies. She didn't look to intimidating with her large light brown eyes staring down them down before she flicked her head to the side as to straighten the fur growing on top her head that looked like fiery orange curls.
"A Vulpix," Red muttered. He knew it quite well because his mother has always adored this particular Pokemon, especially its evolution. He quietly placed that at the back of his mind and got ready to order Pidgeotto.
"Attack!" cried all the Team Rocket Grunts together. The group of Pokemon flocked towards their selected foes breaking into two groups, one with the Koffing evolution family while the other was the Zubat evolution family.
"Dodge it, Naomi!" Emily shouted.
Naomi the Vulpix dashed to the side to escape the incoming Smog attack aimed at her. She growled at the floating mutated heads
"Toxic the birdie, Golbat," the grunt ordered his evolved Zubat.
"Don't let him by blowing away the Toxic with Gust!" Red was quick to counter.
Golbat spat out a nasty purple blob that headed directly at Pidgeotto. The avian flapped his wings furiously to have the Gust attack not only dispersed the venom blob but also make it rain on his foes. This was however unnecessary for they were all immune to their own poison.
"Bite the hell out of that pigeon, Zubat!" a grunt spoke for both of the annoying varmints.
Having fought this kind of Pokemon many times before, Red wanted to end this as quickly as possible for he knew how annoying they can be.
"Pidgeotto, show them your Dart Pierce attack!"
-"Going straight to it,"- Pidgeotto murmured finding it quite strange that his trainer will just have do his most powerful move right in the beginning but he wasn't complaining. –"It's a shame I won't be able to 'actually' show you my combo,"- he said to the Zubats flocking towards him.
-"Shut up and let me have a taste of you,"- the Zubat screeched.
-"Hehe, yeah let me have a taste,"- the second Zubat repeated.
Pidgeotto smirked as best he could with his beak and disappeared before they could get in range. The next thing the Zubats knew they were in excruciating pain. Pidgeotto reappeared while he tackled both of the blue bats with an aura exactly as he would if he was performing the Aerial Ace attack.
Golbat who witness the whole event was astounded by what the just transpired. A second his comrades were going for the attack corning the Pidgeotto and the next they are on the floor knocked unconscious.
-"I see…you are no ordinary Pidgeotto that I have fought before and trust me…I have defeated many Pidgeotto in my life time,"- hissed the Golbat as he fluttered around. –" They all had… delicious blood."-
-"You bastard!"- Pidgeotto yelled.
"Grr, Golbat don't be scare because those weaklings failed so easily!" yelled the grunt getting dirty looks from his two supporters.
-"Pidgeotto, give that oversize Zubat a taste of your Wing Attack and don't give him a chance to fight back!"
-"With pleasure!"- Pidgeotto dashed towards Golbat at a speed that people could have considered he was using Quick Attack.
Pidgeotto brought his glowing wing to Golbat's body but a second Wing Attack made contact with his. Pidgeotto's body trembled trying to overpower his opponent. Equal force was placed against his wing so no one gained any ground. They had to break away for no one was able to keep stay afloat and slowly began to fall.
-"And I see you're no ordinary Golbat,"- Pidgeotto remarked.
Golbat grinned more than he already was before going for another Wing Attack that Pidgeotto blocked with his own. Golbat didn't feel like having another wing wrestle and lunged at his feathery foe with his fangs bared. Pidgeotto jumped back and slapped him with his other wing.
"Pidgeotto, Dart Pierce!"
The brown bird attacked now that his opponent was momentarily stunned. That was all he needed to turn his body into a living accurate dart and pierce Golbat right in his back. He knocked Golbat right into the grassy ground and he followed after him ready to perform an Aerial Ace.
"Golbat, Toxic quick!"
Golbat lay on the ground cringing in pain and seem he wasn't going to be able to poison anytime soon. He could only see Pidgeotto through the slit for eyes he had and couldn't get a clear lock on him for a Toxic. He did let out an ear piercing screech that reached Pidgeotto.
-"Gah what is this-bleh-gah!"- The unbearable noise got his head leaving with a head splitting headache. He dropped onto the ground shaking his head in agony and looked at the world with blurred vision. Two Golbat seemed to have appeared in his vision as well as two small snake-like creatures.
-"Ekans, Toxic the bird!"-
-"You too, Ekans!"-
The two new Team Rocket Pokemon to enter the battle were short-length purple snakes that slithered their way to the grounded Pidgeotto.
"Need help!" Emily asked, seeing the dire situation he was in.
"Don't worry about me and focus on your side of the battle," Red replied.
"I'll just do one thing," Emily flashed him a smile. "Vulpix, Will-o-Wisp the Golbat!"
The fiery fox jumped away from an incoming Sludge Bomb before she saw the large bat trying to recover. She formed a small flame on her nose that burned an ominous purple color. With a simple tap of her nose, the wisp of flame began to mysteriously move in a zigzag pattern towards it intended target. Golbat noticed the ghostly fire and when he tried to fly away the flames followed after him and struck his left wing, exploding on contact. The purple flame was gone and left its victim a testament to its existence, a nasty burn that will cause Golbat pain for the rest of the battle.
-"You bitch!"- Golbat cried but didn't go after the feline seeing she was long gone to take care of her opponents and he wasn't in the right condition to chase after her. He dropped onto the ground to nurse his burn.
-"What are you waiting for? Toxic that bastard!"- Golbat yelled.
-"But he's is a tricky one, boss,"- the Ekans whined. –"Look at him! Stumbling around as if he just took a bush load of Wiki berry's and is now dancing drunk."-
Golbat observed the confused Pidgeotto who was walking around in one place as if he was lost trying to get his nest. He had his wings outspread flapping only one wing. Golbat fired a blob of toxic at him but at the last second Pidgeotto tripped over his own feet and dodged the Toxic.
"Pidgeotto, snap out of it!" Red tried to get to him.
The Ekans lunged at him with intentions of sinking fangs into him. Pidgeotto jumped right back up and dodged the incoming Bite by clumsily teetering to one side almost falling over again. The second tried to immobilize him by going around his foe used his long body to entangle around him but failed as well the bamboozled Pidgeotto managed to fly away.
-"Not this time!"- The first Ekans cried who coiled himself into a spring. He leaped higher than he would normally would and managed to snag one of Pidgeotto's scaly foot.
Still not fully in his right state of mine, Pidgeotto didn't adjust his flying patterns to the new weight. He and his foe both plummeted into the ground.
-"Gahh! Where am I?"- Pidgeotto woke up from his confused trance after hitting his head. He looked up to see the menacing Golbat rubbing the burn mark on his damaged wing.
With a sly smirk, Golbat sank his teeth into the bird's neck. Pidgeotto was too shock to move as he felt a fluid seep into his body through the fangs and entering his bloodstream. He stifled a cough once Golbat decided to let go and jumped back.
-"Was that Poison?"- Pidgeotto coughed.
-"It's not good for you to move around too much,"- hissed the persistent Ekans. This time he managed to wrap his body around his weakened foe completely immobilizing his movement.
-"Glurp!"- Pidgeotto made a weird noise feeling his lungs tightened along with his other organs.
"Pidgeotto, don't worry I'll get you help," Red said grabbing Charizard's pokeball.
Resting on his Weezing, Petrel didn't bat an eye when he saw the large dragon appear on the battlefield.
"Don't fret, you'll get your chance to join," Petrel mumbled to his Weezing shooing the poisonous stray smog from his Pokemon away with his hand. He watched Emily's Vulpix fall to Sludge attack from the two Koffing's which mildly surprised him.
"Don't worry, Emily. Charizard got this now!" Red told Emily who returned her tired Vulpix.
"Hey, I didn't tell you to look after me!" Emily barked back offended that she needed help to deal with Team Rocket Grunts.
"I didn't ask you to help me during the battle so you just stay back and watch me handle this," Red asserted. "Let's go Charizard! Help free, Pidgeotto."
-"Looks like I get to have my meal of Team Rocket meat today,"- Charizard puffed.
Pidgeotto struggled to keep conscious under Ekans's grip. His fading eyesight was still sharp enough to make out the orange outline of his flying student in practice. He was going to have to be saved by his comrades…like before.
-To think that I actually grew up from being a Pidgey and yet I still require to be rescued,- Pidgeotto thought. –I must look terrible in his eyes. All battered up and shabby as well as weak…beaten by these criminal Pokemon as well…- The Ekans tightened his grip seeing that the new player on the field was making it way towards them.
-"Hey, don't make another bussster or your bird friend here will gets his lungs crushhhed!"- the Ekans held him as a hostage.
-"Grr!"- Charizard stopped his approach.
"Looks like they are keeping your Pidgeotto as a hostage," Emily said.
"Yeah, but I can't get a clear shot to try and return him back into the Pokeball with that Ekans," Red said worried.
-I-have-become- a-burden for-him- Pidgeotto found it much harder to breath now. He was starting to see the world black out little by little. -And I promised him that will not be weak-
"Stay Strong, Pidgeotto!" Red cried. "I can't lose you yet!" Red saw the pain that Pidgeotto was in and couldn't help but feel helpless.
"We got to do something or else he is going to get the life squeezed out of him, Red," Emily said alarmed reaching for another Pokeball.
"Haha, you shouldn't have underestimated us grunts, kid," the opposing Rocket member began to gloat.
"Yeah, and when we managed to beat up you two trainers the boss will surely give us a great reward for it," a grunt from the Weezing group piqued up.
"Pidgeotto, don't lost your strength!" Red shouted and was met with laughs from the criminal grunts.
"Stop it, Red and do something about it!" Emily said.
Red turned to her. "Weren't you the one who told me to have more faith in my Pokemon?"
Emily was taken back. "Well I did but-"
"Then believe in Pidgeotto that he can escape. He has the strength to do so he just needs some encouragement."
Muscles coiled themselves tighter making Pidgeotto feel more pain. He did little to fight back losing his strength quickly. His head was full of little thoughts besides his critical thinking on what he heard from his trainer.
"I'm in a dire situation and he still believes that I can do it," Pidgeotto muttered. A part of him thought it was useless to fight back but another part of him told I'm he still had some strength to fight back. Some hidden power deep inside of him that he has never touched.
-No-I know I have the strength!- Pidgeotto thought before he tapped into the reserved of power he had within him.
-"Hehe…huh?"- Ekans felt the muscles within his grasp hardened. He attempted to strengthen his coil but was met with resistance that turned into strength pushing back at him.
-"What the hell is going o-" He turned to his prey just in time to see him flash up with blinding white light. He quickly expanded throwing away the Ekans away like he was thin piece of string.
Ekans landed right in front of Charizard's feet already burnt from the energy from the evolution. A dazed look in his eyes stopped Charizard from doing any more harm for hurting an injured Pokemon was dishonorable and not to mention boring.
Finished with his flashy transformation, the new Pokemon screeched excited to show off his new found power.
Almost five feet long from the top of his head that had flowing colorful head feathers as long as it's body to the bottom of its larger bird feet that wielded sharper, stronger claws. It kept the same old Pidgeotto body structure with same body colors however it now had yellow and red head feathers as well as red tail feathers.
Red didn't think its evolution was quite as body changing as his other Pokemon but he was still quite amazed by it. He took out his Pokedex.
"Pidgeot: the . Its well-developed chest muscles make it strong enough to whip up a gusty windstorm with just a few flaps capable of bending tall trees. Its outstanding vision allows it to spot splashing Magikarp, even while flying at 3,300 feet while flying at Mach-2 Speed."
A swift slap with his larger wing, Pidgeot struck the Golbat down. Combined with his earlier injuries he was knocked out cold with that last blow.
-"That will teach you to not go out and sink your fangs into any Pokemon's neckk1"- Pidgeot huffed. He leered at the other Ekans who shrunk back under his new glare. He could see him shiver down to the single scales covering his entire body.
"Pidgeotto- I mean Pidgeot, I knew you could do it," Red said.
Pidgeot smiled back but than fired a glare at the remaining Pokemon along with their grunts. They all jumped in fright afraid of what he was capable off now.
-"Your help won't be required from here now,"- Pidgeot boldly declared seeing Charizard puff up his chest ready to burn them down.
Charizard stopped and was about to yell at his comrade until he saw the look in his eye. –That wasn't a snide remark…but request to prove his worthiness.-
"Huh? What's the matter, Charizard? Aren't you going to help?"- Red asked realizing he was backing received a nod from his noble fire type. "Why is that?...Is it because you want Pidgeot to handle this on his own?"
-"This is a fight that must do alone,"- Charizard remarked. –"In order to protect his pride. So don't fail me now!"- Charizard shouted his words of encouragement. Pidgeot responded with an understanding smile.
"Grrr, just because your little birdie got a new hairdo doesn't mean that we can't win this! Get them boys!" Roared a determined grunt.
"Alright, Pidgeot! Let's see how fast you have gotten with an Aerial Ace attack to your poison foes!" Red ordered.
-"Allow me gentlemen to show you true speed,"- Pidgeot modestly said proficiently dodging the Ekans Bite attempt. In the blink of an eye he disappeared from view.
-"Where the hell is that bast-"- Ekans received a blow to the back of the head and that was the end of the vile snake.
The Koffing group all looked frightened by their fallen comrade who seemed as if he just fell unconscious with no one nearby. The evolved member immediately released a cloud of black smoke in attempt to protect themselves from the swift killer.
Pidgeot reappeared above the thick smoke cloud.
-"You won't be able to hide like that,"- he proclaimed before unleashing a powerful gust of wind that almost instantly blew the smog away. Powerful gales of wind they were that they were strong enough to propel the scared gas pokemon straight into the ground.
"Such power and grace," Emily remarked. She was intrigued on how Pidgeot managed to create hurricane strong winds with a few strong flaps of his wings.
"I know, he has grown a lot since I had him as a Pidgey," Red said couldn't help himself feel a little proud and some pride knowing he helped him get that far. "Finish them off Pidgeot."
-"I attend to,"- Pidgeot said. –"With my brand new technique!"- He stopped his gust of winds to fold his wings close to his body.
"Is this a new attack?" Emily asked out loud.
A light-blue aura surrounded his body however the aura resembled more like flickering flames that has engulfed his entire body. The flames burst out of his soul to take on a more damaging role like turning him into a deadly missile flying straight to his victims.
"Weezing!" cried the grunt who owned him. "Self-destruct!"
Red's stomach churned. "Pidgeot, stop!" It was already to too late. A white glow surrounded the scared Weezing that grow bright before a large explosion took place.
The ground shook under Red and Emily making them fall to the ground. Debris was kicked up to shroud the battlefield making it difficult for Red to see if his Pidgeot was okay.
"Pidgeot!" Red cried in vain getting back up.
"Red!" Emily shouted to warn him it was dangerous.
He ran up to the middle of the field squinting his eyes to look through the dust cloud. He found the place that the Weezing exploded where he lay in the middle of a large crater with his fellow Koffings next him all charred by the explosion. He then saw his Pidgeot laying limp on tattered grass.
"No Pidgeot!" He crouched on the ground to hold his giant bird shaking him to try to wake him up. He was covered in dirt as well as sparks of red light were emitted by his body.
A small groan escaped his beak making Red's heart jump in relief.
"Pidgeot, please wake up. I'm sorry that I let you go on your own," Red pleaded.
-"It's alright, Red,"- Pidgeot coughed. He struggled under his trainers grasp and free himself against his masters wishes.
"Pidgeot, what are you doing? You're hurt so let me get you back in your pokeball and I'll…"
The dirt began to settle as Pidgeot stood on his two feet. Closing his eyes he breathed out to let in some clean air into his lungs. A bright white light engulfed his body but this light attempted to heal his body instead of hurt it. His sore body parts were soon relieved of suffering and injuries from the explosion maneuver were completely eliminated.
Red took out his Pokedex to check the new moves his Pidgeot has learned.
"I see the move you just did was Roost which restores the users help," Red said. "And Brave Bird? A powerful Flying attack that in turn hurts the user as well with recoil."
Pidgeot smirked and glanced at the vulnerable grunts who all flinched in his sight.
"Help us, Petrel!" a grunt squealed.
"Yeah Petrel, you should be able to deal with this kid," another said.
High above his begging underlings, Petrel sighed as he stroked what was left of his beard. He slowly began to descend on his Weezing still with a sly smirk on his face. He spoke once he was at eye level with his grunts.
"Don't worry, I can handle this kid," Petrel declared. "You may have gotten a bit stronger since last we met but don't think that you can easily defeat a Rocket Executive."
Red placed a hand on his Pidgeot's back standing to his full height. Emily arrived at his side as well as his trusty Charizard approached.
"Well, I already defeated two Rocket Executive…twice," Red told him of his feats.
Petrel finally hopped off his transportation with an irritated look. "Don't lump me in the same group as those other fools. I'm on a different level then them," he stated. He no longer held a sluggish grin but a serious face.
"Let me handle this, Emily," Red said.
"Hey, why are you pushing me aside after I helped this far?" Emily rudely asked.
"This is a one on one battle between me and him," Red replied. "Pidgeot will deal with him in a fair battle so just let me do this,"
"Why do you want to fight evenly against a guy from Team Rocket when I can help you dispatch him?" Emily implored.
Red shook his head. "They may have their foul methods of dealing with things but I will keep to my word and do things the right way," Red said. He placed a hand on Emily's shoulder who reluctantly nodded her head.
"Alright, but I will step in if I see you're in trouble," she agreed.
"Thanks," Red replied. "Let's do this Pidgeot."
"Such pride you have their child but don't think that playing fair will get you anything," Petrel sneered. "I'll show you the true strength of Team Rocket."
"Brave Bird, Pidgeot!"
"Sludge Bomb, Weezing."
Cloaked in blue flames, Pidgeot collided head on into Weezing. A large explosion ensued afterwards blowing wind in all direction. The large bird flew out of the smoke showing sings of him trying to handle the recoil damages. A slimy purple substance was slathered on chest feathers with drips of it falling onto the ground.
"It's going to take mote than that to take down, Weezing," Petrel said after his Weezing emerged from the collision moderately fine.
"I must credit it for being able to survive a Brave Bird," Red said. "Most of your Pokemon will fall by a single strong blow."
"Don't go and just assume my dear Pokemon is like the rest of these fools Pokemon," Petrel replied annoyed. "I'll show you he is like no other one. Weezing, Thunder Bolt!"
"Pidgeot, dodge it!"
Weezing didn't immediately fired rays of lightning but first released an icky green smoke from his body which confused Red. He then created a small spark the instantly ignited the gas around him. A wide rage of lightning bolts was fired towards the recovering Pidgeot.
A few flaps Pidgeot flew higher however his misjudged the speed of lighting and felt jolts of electricity courses through his body. Fried to the core Pidgeot fell altitude but managed to pull back up again.
"Now Flamethrower him to crisps!"
Weezing released more gas from his body that emitted a methane smelling odor. That was all that made Red realize how he was able to perform the special attacks.
"A smart way to use the many gases that Weezing emits," Red acknowledged. "Just a simple spark is all it takes to get it started…but it is dangerous if your Weezing accidentally lit up the gasses within himself."
"You insult me. My Weezing isn't that stupid enough to make that kind of idiotic mistake," Petrel said with a proud smile. Weezing ignited the gas to create flames blasting straight up where his foe tried to escape.
"Then allow me to show you the consequences of such mistakes. Pidgeot blow the flames back at him," Red ordered. Petrel's face turned to dismay.
Pidgeot proved the gales that easily blew the raging fire back to its caster. Weezing didn't muster a whimper before the flames reached him. He disappeared from sight right before another large explosion followed after him.
Petrel covered his face with his arm to protect it from the blast. The grunts behind him cried in fear as they fell to their backs as a small tremor ensued.
"You fool!" Petrel roared flustered. "Grr…fall back everybody. We got to make a retreat now." He recalled his fainted Weezing before following after his scrambling underlings.
"What?" Petrel felt a small tap on his lower left calf. He felt his leg was pulled back making him fall straight into the ground. The grunts faced the same fate all falling on their faces.
"Don't you dare try to escape or I'll have to use brute force!" shouted a familiar female voice.
"Janine," Emily said confused. Looking up sure enough she saw the ninja girl holding onto her Venomoth by its leg.
-"Move aside, citizens!"- said certain bug type Pokemon.
Red and Emily turned around and saw it was large spider-like pokemon crawling their way. They jumped out of its way as it fired another thick stream of white web from its mouth towards the Team Rocket members. This one created a large net than trapped the criminals.
From the jungle biome more people appeared. Half of dozen people there were and all wore similar outfits. Red jackets over a black t-shirt with men wearing longer shorts than the females all held together with red belts. A red device that Red mistook for a Pokedex was held in a holster by their side.
Emily gasped. "They're Pokemon Rangers."
"You got that right miss," replied a male ranger. "If it weren't for the explosion we saw earlier, we never would have found you here."
"Rest assure now that the Pokemon Rangers are on the case now," replied another male Pokemon Ranger who flashed her a smile.
Janine dropped from her Venomoth right in front of the two trainers with a frustrated look on her face.
"I thought I told you kids that you should have left this to me," she said severely.
"Well, I couldn't just let this go without me doing anything," Red replied. A few jeeps appeared from out of nowhere all driven by more Pokemon Rangers. They slid to a stop right next to the capture trunks.
"Ariados, reeled in back your web to let them gather up the crooks," Janie ordered and her spider Pokemon obediently followed. He fired another string of web that snagged the edge of his web and pulled it off the Team Rocket members.
The Pokemon Rangers rushed in to tie up them up with rope. They then began to load them on the Pokemon Ranger Jeeps. A few in each jeep and did little to struggle.
"Wait, I need to talk one of them," Red said going by Janine but stopped him by grabbing his arm.
"I don't think you get that privileged to talk with the captives," she said in strict voice.
Red pulled his arm away from her grasp. With a straight face he said, "look, it's just on thing I need to know from him." With that said he ran after the jeep that was loading the last passenger on.
"Hey I told you to stop boy!" Janine shouted. "Humph…not yet Ariados." Her spider partner was ready to shoot web but halted.
"Wait, Petrel!" Red reached the back of the jeep where Petrel sat down right next to a Pokemon Ranger. He jumped onto back of the jeep to get closer to Petrel. He however acted as if he showed little interest in the boy.
"I need to ask you on thing for you go," he said. "Where is the Team Rocket headquarters now?" he bluntly asked.
He didn't answer.
"I just need to know where it is. General description will be gladly accepted," he pestered.
He slightly smirked. "Hah and why should I tell you kid where it is?" he laughed.
"I know that you wouldn't tell me straight away but maybe we can make a deal?" Red offered.
"And what can you offer?" he rudely asked. "I'm already on a one way ticket to the most heavily guarded prison in Kanto and you have something that can lighten that load?"
Red was about to speak again but caught his own tongue. He was lost for words.
Petrel continued. "This isn't your little own world kid. This is reality where things are not all good and happy just like the way you want it to go," he spat. "In this world kid, there is this one rule that everyone should abide by. A rule that our boss goes by and that is no matter who you are, in the end you will end up all alone. You can't rely on anyone in the end but yourself to get it right."
Red eyes widened in shock. He clambered into the back of the jeep with the other passengers.
"Wait does that mean that you don't know where-"
"Hey you can't get in the jeep-" the Ranger on guard duty cut him but was cut of himself.
An explosion sounded of right next to the jeep with enough force to flip on its side. Everyone in the vehicle toppled over into the grassy field.
"Red!" Emily yelled.
"Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have let him get to close to him!" Janine cursed.
The two girls ran up to the jeep but another explosion happened right in front of their faces.
-"Janine!"- Venomoth yelled seeing his trainer disappear in the smoke. He swooped down to help her but found her to be completely safe. Ariados managed to catch the two girls with his web and pulled them back right before the explosion.
Emily rubbed her head a bit disoriented by the fall. "Ugh-huh…Red!" She jumped to find the trainer sprawled out on the ground along with the black cloaked grunts and a knocked Pokemon Ranger since he didn't stir.
The only one missing is…! Emily saw the purple haired Rocket Execute running towards the jungle with hands still tied behind his back.
"You nearly killed me you moron!" Petrel scolded.
"I apologized but I must appreciate the new weapons that the boss has provided me." From within the forest Proton appeared. On his right shoulder he wielded what seemed like a brand new rocket launcher.
"It's Proton who is helping him escape!" Emily said out loud running towards Red.
"Ugh-what is that mom? Protons are the opposite of Electrons?" Red tiredly said. He snapped out of his headache to see that Emily was helping get up.
"What just happen?" he first asked. Around him was now chaos. The remaining Jeeps sped off as rockets whizzed by their windshields. The remaining Pokemon Rangers took their Pokemon all adept in long ranged attacks.
He lazily looked up and saw his enemy Proton with Petrel helping deal with the rope around his wrists. His eyes lit up realizing he was escaping and Janine was attacking them head on with her Ariados and Venomoth. A Rhydon, which Red surely knew belonged to Proton even if its been long he has seen it, stood in front of the two Rocket Executives tanking the Poison Sting both Poison types fired at him.
"We got to stop him!" Red said dropping his arm off Emily and decided to go help.
"Hey step back citizen!" shouted a Pokemon Ranger. He caught Red with a lasso and pulled him down onto his bottom. "Hehe, I always wanted to say that," he said.
"But I can help !" Red said. He watched Proton fired another rocket at Janine who dodged it with nice reflexes. The other Rangers had to watch for the deadly missiles where one even managed to get himself caught near the explosion for one and required help from his comrades to be moved to safety.
"I should have know he had a way to escape," Red said regrettably after the two men disappeared into the jungle with Janine right behind. He remembered the easy smile on his face and the glint of mischief in his eyes. "I could have warned everyone else if I had paid more attention.
"Hey don't blame this on yourself," the man who caught Red tried to assure him. "In fact, you should be more ashamed that you decided to break the Safari rules!"
Red gulped. "Hehe, is their anyway that you can let us off with a first warning?" he nervously laughed.
"That's not a possibility because the only punishment for entering the Safari without your tour guide is…," his head quickly spun back to catch Emily sneaking way from him, "to have both you guys banned from the Safari Zone-forever!"
Red's shoulder slumped. And there is my reward for trying to help them get rid of ruthless poachers. Red is definitely the hero of the day… He glumly thought as he was pulled by the Pokemon Ranger with Emily who also got tied up with him to not be able to escape.
