Blue Mountain League: Prologue
Disclaimer: I still don't own Pokémon
Chapter 2: The Forest of Four Shadows
Well, when we last left off, John had Charmander, Jack had Squirtle, and Squirtle had a few new scars. Jack ran towards Viridian to get Squirtle healed properly. Now, we join John as he gets to Viridian, and the reason he took so long is because he was trying to catch pokémon, which he finally realized is hard without pokéballs. So, to make sure I don't bore you (yet), we'll skip to when he gets the pokéballs.
"How much do pokéballs cost?" asked John after finally reaching the front of the line. The guy at the counter looked at him, and then pointed to the sign. The sign showed that pokéballs cost $200 each. Checking his trainer card, he found he had a mere $1000. Buying his five pokéballs, he was about to leave when the guy at the counter called him back.
"Hey, you John?" asked the cashier. When John nodded, he asked, "Why?" Though it isn't the most thrilling conversation, it is important. "Well, Prof. Oak sent up a pokédex for ya. Said it was special, something about extra features." Obviously, John was quite happy about his visit to Viridian. Nothing good enough to mention, just John walking into people's houses uninvited and being forced out. So next I'll mention something curious. Curiously suspicious. Or whatever.
Reaching Viridian Forest, John had seen nothing but Rattata. Those rodents freaked him and Charmander out, so they avoided them. Then, in one of the most coincidental circumstances in this story (now have all 46 chapters planned!), John looked up just in time to see a Spearow flying overhead. So, by some strange primal reflex, John threw the first pokéball, and managed to hit the bird. However, Spearow's altitude and speed made the pokéball fall into Viridian Forest. John felt confident about his first capture, however, because Spearow had been caught unawares.
Traveling into the forest is usually a bad idea, and when the only pokémon you have can be seen, despite being unable to see in the dark, it's even worse. John turned back to check on Charmander, but he first noticed the Gastly fluttering around his tail. John thought quickly, and realized that Charmander only knew scratch. Or so he thought. Charmander quickly launched an ember into the Gastly, which tried to flutter off, despite the burn.
" Yes! Charmander learnt ember!" yelled John excitedly. However, this quickly died down as he remembered that the Gastly would have been an easy catch. Moping, he went deeper into the forest with Charmander, for the sole purpose of finding the Spearow. However, when they got to where the pokéball fell, there was only a small hole in the ground… and the Gastly. Grinning, Gastly cried out a few times, and it's friends emerged from the surrounding forest. Gastly's friends were an Abra, a Machop, and a Geodude, the last of which was the only without some form of tail. Gastly fainted from the burn just then, as burns deal constant damage.
As Machop and Geodude began attacking Charmander, John looked over at Abra. The small psychic seemed to be sleeping, though it was moving its' fingers back and forth. As John watched, Charmander tried an ember on Geodude, to no avail. The rock was unharmed. Charmander was fruitlessly fighting the two as John tried to figure out what the Abra was doing. Suddenly, he realized there could only be one explanation.
"Charmander, look out! It's metronome!" John warned, barely in time. Charmander, who had also figured it out, looked at Abra in time to figure out which move the ever-random metronome would produce. To the non-sarcastic luck of John and Charmander, it was explosion, the strongest move, which also knocks out the user. The explosion completely missed Geodude and Charmander, while knocking the future superpower pokémon into unconsciousness. With the defeat of its' allies, Geodude might have tried to escape. However, Geodude had already taken Charmander's strongest attack with barely any damage at all.
Running away from the blast area, John and Charmander saw a Metapod, which, being no more than a green cocoon with eyes and a nose, is really annoying. All it does is stiffen its muscles to make sure no one gets into the actual creature. As they watched, Geodude came bursting out of the forest, shaking the ground with magnitude 7.
"Magnitude 7? Is that thing crazy? The trees will start falling on it!" asked John. Obviously perplexed, he soon realized why. "It's trying to draw us out, Charmander. But we can't beat it. Not yet. The only move you learn that can beat a rock-type is…" Then John remembered the pokédex. Checking the menu, he found a level tracker. Aiming the electronic eye at Charmander, John's suspicions were confirmed. They quickly made a plan. As Geodude came by, Charmander jumped on top of it. Then, when Geodude tried to roll away, Charmander jumped off, so Geodude crashed into a tree. As it was recovering, Charmander's claws began to glow. As Geodude turned around, Charmander used metal claw to cut the hard rock body of Geodude until the small boulder fainted (4 metal claws was all it took).
Looking at the defeated Geodude, John had a sense of self-reassurance. Charmander had won another battle, and managed to reach level 13. He was brought out of these thoughts as he felt Charmander pull on his leg. Looking up, he saw that the Metapod was glowing. As they watched, it evolved into Butterfree. They saw it flying up and up, and thought of how Butterfree came from bad begginings to a beautiful life, went from a lowly worm to being able to soar, and they thought of how that Butterfree's life represented their own, and how they would end up. They were still watching when the Pidgeotto dived out of the air and tried to eat the Butterfree. John, on total reflex, threw a pokéball up to catch Pidgeotto, but the bird knocked it away. However, it was distracted long enough for Butterfree to use stun spore, and fly away. Pidgeotto just fell into the forest.
John looked down from where the aerial battle took place. Turning around, he saw the exit of the forest. He and Charmander nodded knowingly at each other, then ran towards the light, ready for their next battles as a team.
AN: If you haven't already figured it out yet, the title doesn't refer to the four pokémon; it refers to the fact that a lot of this is going to be important later in the story. Which parts will be important is for me to know and for you to find out in chapters 44 - 46