There are several errors that you might notice... a lot of them I picked up in rereading and have fixed. Unfortunately, small corrections like that are not immediate. Bear with me, and feel free to point out everything on the off-chance that I really did miss it. Thanks.
The remainder of Author Rant will in fact be at the end of the chapter.
"Sproing, get over here now," Gina said, beginning to become agitated.
Sproing gave an obnoxious, defiant chirp before ramming himself loudly against the door of their room and shooting Gina a glare.
"Spro, it is too early. I don't want to leave yet. C'mon over here, I want to ask you something anyway," Gina flipped open her guidebook and sat on the bed, only to be met by a knocking noise at the door. She looked up, "Sproing, no! Don't… if you like, dent this stupid door… I hardly have any money left as it is!" Gina grabbed her stubborn bird and carried him over to the bed where she sat down, still holding him.
She let Sproing go and proceeded to take stationary and a pen off the bedside table and write in large print, "6:00". She didn't notice Sproing bolt for the door.
"Here we go…" she said, looking up. "Oh, Sproing! Get over here!"
"Okay," Gina said once she had herded Sproing over to the bed, "Here is what we do. See this paper? When the red on this clock says the same thing as what is on the paper, we can leave. Got it? So no more destroying the door, got it?" The catiel gave Gina one more dirty look before sulking off to the far corner of the room.
"No, Spro…! Fine, I'll talk to you even if you're over there being difficult," Gina sat back down with her guidebook, "Look at this. See, if we head toward Widow's Peak… Near the base of the mountain are a lot of bugs. You know, when I was little we had a family of wurmple living in my backyard. They scared the living daylights out of my big sister… so I liked them a lot. I might want one, or maybe a caterpie...Yeah, actually I like caterpie better. So when we come out of the tunnel we'll catch a caterpie. You should be able to handle that, right?" This statement evoked a squawk from the exasperated catiel, who prodded over to the door again and set himself down.
Gina gave an agitated moan, and then flipped to the final page of her guidebook. She began to write vigorously on the blank page titled, "NOTES."
Suddenly, she fell back on the bed and proclaimed, "Spro, I think I'm broke."
The catiel, upon hearing this, dashed toward the center of the room and took a bounding leap onto the bed next to Gina. The bed fluctuated from the impact, and Gina sat up with a start, "Not bro-ken, Spro. Broke. As in no more money." The catiel looked at her curiously. She had said the previous night that they were going "shopping" with this money. The way she had said it made the act of shopping sound appealing to Sproing… But what now, that she didn't have any money to shop with?
"Listen. If we buy all of the things we really need, we'll only have like 1000 left… which is enough for five Pokèballs… but… there's a minimum of five balls to enter a reservation. So either we blow all of our money trying to get a mountain Pokemon or we save some and catch a caterpie, and the odds of actually catching him are a lot better," Gina explained, more to herself then to Sproing. "What do you think, Spro? You want a mountain buddy next?"
A loud, negative chirp erupted from the corner of the room. Gina looked up, startled. The catiel had again retreated to the doorway, and was laying down staring intently at the grains of the wooden door. Gina sighed, and time passed in silence. By six o'clock, both Pokemon and trainer had fallen asleep, and were victim to the rude sound of the alarm.
The Pokemon Center was swarming and, from the amount of dirty plates being cleared and garbage on a floor that had been clean several hours earlier, had been active for a while. Gina checked out reluctantly, and allowed Sproing to romp around and get in other people's faces while she sat down and faced reality.
Once she set foot inside this cave, she would be on her journey. It was a difficult concept to grasp, though it was something she had prepared for her entire life. So little of a distance decided whether or not she was somewhere she knew. Her mind wandered to the time an overnight class trip had brought her to the foot of this mountain. The trip had been a lot faster. It only seemed like a few hours on the long golf cart-like machines that had driven the class across the fields. They had stayed in a nearby Pokemart, whose owners graciously offered to rent the top floors of their building as lodging to nearby schools each year. Gina imagined they were paid handsomely. She remembered a restaurant that had been in the area, long since lost to the convenience of the Pokemon Center's food court, and how they had eaten foreign foods for what seemed to be hours, hearing the stories the more experienced who were passing though had to tell of far-off lands. Yet they had never gone inside the Pass itself. Though, now that she herself had seen how rowdy and crowded it was that didn't surprise her.
Gina realized she didn't remember many of the details that one might think would stand outeither that or she simply hadn't paid attention to them. The way the mountain loomed over everything around it and the awesome size of the Pokemon center, among other things, were sights she felt she was seeing for the first time.
A peck on her ankle interrupted Gina's thoughts, and she smiled at the small bird that had roused her. Sproing supplied a happy chirp, and they proceeded out the door.
The Pokemarts weren't any less crowded than the rest of the area, and shopping proved to be a challenge. It seemed, to Gina, to have the first-come-first-serve-I'll-race you-to-that-item feeling that Christmas shopping did. The pounding feet and small aisles were too much for Sproing, who thrived in open space, so he stayed close to Gina for most of the time. She quickly and quietly gathered what she needed and paid, dismayed to see that her earlier calculations were nothing but correct. The lost battle had devastated her funds to the point that she would have to choose between buying Pokèballs and taking a chance with a Pokèmon from one of the reserves.
Gina sighed and collected her thoughts on a bench outside the store. She hadn't realized how difficult decisions like this would be. Suppose she decided to take a chance with a mountain Pokemon, and she couldn't catch anything? Yet, she realized, the same thing could happen if she opted to claim for herself a caterpie. She looked at Sproing, who returned her gaze.
"What do you think, Spro?" she sighed, "A caterpie or a mountain Pokemon?"
Her catiel characteristically titled his head, considering. He stared into space for a second, carefully going through each option. Eventually, he looked toward the mountain longingly, and then at Gina. He had no desire to go back inside that thing she called a "Pokemart," but he knew his authority as the original companion on this journey would be challenged much more heavily by a forceful, stronger Pokemon such as larvitar or magnegram. He made his decision, but then recoiled from it. The aspect of a team came into his head, carefully turning the gears. What good would a butterfree do them? A bug and flying type has the same pitfalls and a grass and flying Pokemon, and no more useful strengths.
Maybe, he reasoned, he could simply tell Gina that he wanted the caterpie, but then refuse to fight it, or just knock out all of the caterpie they met. This sounded like an acceptable plan until Sproing's conscience bubbled up and over, and he gave a low, long chirp, sighing. He couldn't quite comprehend the origin of his desire to make this decision, but he was sure the feeling related to his loss the prior day.
"C'mon, Spro, we have to get going," Gina said. Though, she realized, they didn't really have to get going. There was no one to tell them what to do anymore; no due dates or curfews existed in this new world. She smiled, "Actually, never mind. Take your time."
Sproing gave his friend a confused look before continuing in his exploration of his decision-making skills. He reviewed his reasoning thus far carefully. He didn't have the faintest desire to relinquish any authority (or attention, for that matter), but he didn't want his own selfishness to get in the way of their overall success as a team. Had he lived a life like Gina's, he might have realized the validity of that thought as an oxymoron. Unfortunately, he had lived the uncultured, sheltered life of a grassland Pokemon, and this phenomenon passed over him, allowing him to venture further into his dilemma.
Gina looked down at her friend curiously. He was so deep in his thoughts; she began to wonder exactly what he was thinking about. Her question hadn't been that trivial though, she realized, it was important. She smiled. Judging by what she knew of Sproing, he had forgotten the point and actual question and had digressed onto a totally different tangent. She impatiently waited his verdict... or any motion from him, for that matter.
Sproing kept focused. It had occurred to him that Gina didn't realize the solemnity of this choice. It had also occurred to him that he was being overdramatic, but he dismissed that though instantly, enjoying the story he had begun to weave around what-ifs.
Her ten-year-old attention span finally winning her over, Gina stood up. Sproing jumped, startled by this sudden movement. She looked down at him expectantly, and he returned the gaze. Gina sighed, "Okay, Spro, we need to do something before we end up being in that cave at like midnight." The little bird looked at her pitifully, and she sighed and sat back down, "C'mon, Spro, I want to get going." Sproing continued to look up at the girl he'd only known for a few days. If the butterfree turned out that bad, he realized, they could just give it to someone else. This seemed more than a little cruel to Sproing, and he decided to push that option away. Truth be told, neither option appealed much to him. Why couldn't she just decide? Why couldn't he have won that battle yesterday? Plagued with the latter question and his consciousness of his own well-being, Sproing finally came to a conclusion. He looked again to Gina and nodded, letting out a shrill chirp.
"Oh, great, Spro, finally...so, are we going to the cave park?" Gina asked excitedly.
Sproing took a deep breath before slowly shaking his head. No, no… that wasn't his ideal, and he wasn't willing to forfeit anything—namely, his authorityfor another Pokemon or a girl he'd known only three days. Plus, she seemed to have an odd attraction to bugs, and wasn't at all disappointed with his decision. In fact, she graciously presented him with a happy face and her encouraging words, announcing the official beginning of their journey.
The crowds in the cave hadn't thinned out at all since the previous day, and Gina and Sproing were hustled along the tunnels to an intersection branching off in three other directions. They made their way to the left, over a small hill that declared loudly the leaving of one area and entrance into another.
Gina stopped, a decision not met happily by those who were behind her, and gazed up at the tall building that was the entrance to the reserve. She'd come back, she decided, after she and Spro weren't so tight on money. Sproing glared at the ground guiltily, as if it would soak up his regrets. He was beginning to feel the consequences of making a selfish decision, even more so because he constantly reminded himself that it was, in fact, his fault that the decision had to be made in the first place. In his attempts to console himself, he decided that he would win the next battle at any cost.
"C'mon, Spro. Don't want to lose you," Gina said, starting to step away. Sproing quickly caught up, and they were off again, any problems and insecurities lost in the ever-moving crowd.
Very much to Gina's surprise, the hoards of people had thinned into small, dispersed groups after only an hour or so of walking outside of the tunnel. Soon the path dissipated into the forest, and Gina and Sproing had only distant shouts to remind them of the crowds. Sproing was once again freely running around, occasionally bringing back berries and rocks he found interesting. The region had transformed from the quiet plains around Sunrise City to an area of jagged rocks, and the invisible path Gina was taking hugged the wall of a plateaua plateau Gina hoped was Widow's Peak. None of the maps the guidebook sported nor the map Gina had printed several days earlier were very helpful in determining her location relative to the Peak, so she hugged the wall of rock to ensure that she was heading in the same direction constantly.
Meanwhile, Sproing was having the thrill of his short life running around forest. Everything was something new, something to be discovered and explored. The wilderness concealed so many treasures that Sproing was, much to both his and Gina's disbelief, exhausting himself with all of the boomerang running he was doing.
The caterpie issue was settled fairly for both parties. In the late afternoon, Gina and Sproing happened upon a clearing in the woods where several other groups had dropped their belongings. According to her field guide, Gina found, caterpie were fairly common in the entire area around the still-visible mountain. It didn't take much searching around the edge of the field to reveal what looked to be a small nest of the little bugs.
"Alright… I think we will just need to land one solid peck on them, Spro…" Gina quietly instructed her catiel, "When I say go... run in there and pick one." Sproing nodded. He already had his eye on one particular mite that was nonchalantly lying by a nearby tree, staring at the sylvan canopy of the forest.
"Ready…" Gina said, nervous, "…set…" Sproing tensed; eager to pounce. "Go!"
At Gina's shout, all activity within the swarm of caterpie stopped. They all looked up in Gina's direction, seemingly paralyzed. Sproing lunged in, charging for his acquired target. The bugs scattered in every imaginable direction, however, and Sproing quickly lost sight of the one he had initially been after. He stood as tall as manageable and looked around, trying to find his choice caterpie.
"Spro, just get any one! Go, go!" Gina shouted desperately. Sproing ran at the only caterpie who was standing still. The unlucky larva went sprawling, but quickly regained its poise.
"Good job, keep pecking him!" Gina called. Sproing steadied himself for another charge, and ran at his new aim. The caterpie responded by launching an attack of its own, and Sproing was met by sticky string in the face. The caterpie proceeded to throw itself at Sproing, who was running around, desperately trying to get the string off his face, and tripping over the caterpie who hadn't yet climbed to safety.
Provoked by Sproing's pleading squawks, Gina did the only thing she felt she could; she threw the first of the five pokèballs she bought. Sproing scratched the sticky substance away from his face enough to stop it from blinding him just in time, as the pokèball broke open. The caterpie, now very obviously enraged, made another dash for Sproing, who deftly jumped over it.
"C'mon Spro, just one more should do it!" Gina yelled. The caterpie turned to her and made a high-pitched noise that was unmistakably an attempt at a hiss. Sproing took this opportunity to peck the caterpie again, and for a second time the bug was sent flying. It slowly got up, its determination apparent, and it sped into another charge at Sproing. Sproing jumped, but this maneuver didn't trick the caterpie again. Instead, it jumped with Sproing and grabbed onto his underside. He started to viciously bludgeon a very surprised Sproing in the face with his tail.
Sproing came down on top of the caterpie, and rolled over, manically kicking, trying to throw the caterpie off him. Now cut badly by his opponent's sharp talons, the caterpie retreated behind a tree. Sproing stood, ready to pounce. However, the caterpie had a home turf advantage; Sproing was attacked from behind by the caterpie who had snuck around. The two rolled around, knocking into everything and anything, each of them striving to be the victor.
They separated again, caterpie breathing heavily and catiel exasperated and covered in the caterpie's sticky thread. Each made another charge, and again rolled around madly. Gina desperately threw a second pokèball. Sproing stood up and collected himself. There was a human word for this concept, he thought, but he couldn't quite remember what it was. He wasn't allowed the time to meditate on it, however, as the ball snapped open and the caterpie threw itself at him.
"Ah… one more peck should do it, let's go, Sproing!" Gina called, becoming increasingly agitated as it dawned on her that she was repeating herself. Sproing recovered from another series of rolling and clawing, and tossed a pitiful look Gina's way. She threw a third pokèball. Sproing stood tense, breathing heavily. He didn't understand how he could be having such a close battle with this little caterpie. His little legs shook and as the pokèball clicked, capturing what was inside of it. Relieved, he allowed himself to collapse. It was right then that the word came to him, and he laughed to himself a little: Karma.
Day 4
Well, hello again. So much stuff happened today. I think I'll just relay a few important things I picked up along the course of the past twenty-four hours:
1: No amount of schooling or classes can prepare you for actually leaving home. I really did not want to leave Cuamenara today. It was a really weird feeling, and definitely depressing. It was so strange, going to someplace you've never been before in your life and knowing you wouldn't be going back… not for a long time, anyway. And it's not like moving or going to school far away, because you have your family to carry you through that. None of them could relate to any of this, so even when I do manage to talk to them it's not like it will actually do me any good in the long run.
I have so much stuff I want to tell my brother. He and I never got along according to my parents, but we were really best friends for a long time, until my little sister came along. She sort of spoiled it… Also, I really want to show my big sister the caterpie I caught, since she's so afraid of bugs but always pretends like she isn't and it's so funny. There's really no turning back now, and I can't wait until I get to see them next. I guess I'll get used to it, though. I mean, so many new people set off on big excursions every year, you must get over it.
2: Using a type advantage to your advantage is a lot easier when you're trading attacks on Game Boy Color. Seriously, I thought it would be just that simple—land a few pecks on a caterpie and you win because of type advantage. Uh, try no. It becomes a lot more complicated when you aren't trading off moves and the caterpie your battling is some insane psychopathic little thing who looks like those animals from Animal Crossing when they get mad and do that weird thing where they shake their heads at the sky. Okay, that's a weird comparison. But still, when the other Pokemon does nothing until you attack a type advantage is much more of an advantage. Not exactly what I had expected going into the whole "Let's catch a caterpie!" thing.
That's not to say that Spro was losing to a caterpie, but he was definitely getting tired and having some issues landing attacks. I feel bad, because I think I insulted him this morning when I asked him if he was sure he could beat a caterpie or something. It's really just my luck to run into to totally insane caterpie that ended up using half of my items. Seriously, after I caught the caterpie Spro collapsed, so I carried him back to this field we had passed on our way to catch a caterpie and set up camp. After getting him back up to near-prime, I let out the caterpie and used most of the remainder of me meager amount of resources to revive him. Typically, the first thing he did after coming back to his senses was whack Sproing in the beak and give me a dirty look. He warmed up after a few minutes, though, and ate an early dinner with us. Though, there was a very good chance it was the food that made him warm up.
3. It is better to have a small, well-trained, evenly strong team than a big team with only one Pokemon that has any battling experience. Okay, so maybe that first part doesn't exactly apply to me. But the overall idea is definitely true. After Spro, Caterpie, and I ate, it was still only late afternoon so we went out to train for a while. It actually went pretty well. Spro took out a few wurmple pretty successfully and Caterpie showed some weedle a thing or two. They actually tried to get along when we took on two other caterpie, and we won that too. We did have our pitfalls, losing to taillow and some bugs, especially when they got tired…and not to mention Spro and Caterpie still aren't exactly best friends, but I really shouldn't rush them. For all I know, they'll never get along.
As far as Caterpie goes, actually, he turned out pretty agreeable. He was a poor loser and a little overly-aggressive on the battlefield, but overall he didn't give me many problems regarding listening, mainly to things such as, "Please, Cat, don't hit Sproing with your tail." Every once in a while I'd turn around to a very sour looking Spro, though. I wonder why he was so tolerant, that really doesn't seem like him. It would seem more in his nature to pummel the caterpie right back the second he touched him at all. I asked him, but he just gave me a strange look and walked away, so I guess I won't get to know. Not that I can understand him that well, but charades is always fun. I can't really blame him for not wanting to act the entire course of his reasoning out, though.
So, anyway, it was starting to get dark and my healing items were next to gone, so we decided to start to head back. After some creative use of my compass, I finally got us headed back in what eventually proved to be the right direction. We walked for a little while, Caterpie proudly leading the way and Sproing staying safely next to me, until Sproing suddenly stopped. He looked at me and turned his head a little, thinking.Just then, I heard someone calling me. It was the oddest feeling, because I knew I'd heard that voice many times before, but I couldn't place it for a second…
"Gina! Hey, Gina!" the voice called through the forest.
Gina turned with a start. The boy who came quickly into view was one she had come to know very well over the course of her lifetime, a neighbor who had been in her class and departed from Sunrise City the same day as she. No Pokemon was in tow, and Gina didn't remember which Pokemon it was that had left with him that day.
He ran up to her in way that pushed Gina into thinking he was going to hug her, something she was not overly comfortable with. She stepped back a little, and he stopped. Not meaning to offend him, she smiled, "Hey, Jon! How are you doing? It feels like I haven't seen you in so long."
"I know," he panted, "I heard you yell not too long ago and I ran all the way here. You're the first person from our class I've seen. I'm really good, what about you?" Before she could answer, Sproing gave a loud squawk and Gina had to grab Caterpie before he began slamming into her friend's leg. Caterpie protested greatly to this, and managed to work his way out of Gina's grasp and land a resentful pound on Sproing. Jon looked at her pitifully.
Gina forced a smile, "I'm really good! They're a bit, um, well, restless, I guess. The caterpie is sort of aggressive." She gave Caterpie a dirty look that was hastily returned.
He laughed. "I bet you're doing really well so far. I already have a real team, four of them."
Gina looked at him, feeling utterly incapable at the thought of the effort she and Sproing had put into catching their first addition. She knew very well what he was waiting for her to say. She gave a sheepish smile, "Wow, that's so cool." Sproing chirped pleadingly, and Caterpie shook in anticipation. Gina sighed, "So, you want to battle?"
"Duh!" he offered. "There's a clearing right here!"
"Yeah, I know I… set up camp there," Gina said, watching him jog off before she was finished. Yes, she had lived right next to him her entire life. Had she disliked him her entire life as well? Possibly—it depended on her mood. She walked after him, praying for it to hurry up and be dark so they couldn't start. They arrived at the field a few minutes later, though, and much to Gina's dismay her hand in front of her face was fully visible.
"So!" Jon said energetically, "What do you say about starting with a caterpie-on-caterpie battle?" Gina's caterpie didn't wait for a response, but charged onto the open field in front of her. She took a deep breath and nodded, watching as her friend's Pokeball ignited a burst of light onto the field. The other caterpie appeared and looked at its surroundings. It was noticeably smaller than the caterpie she had seen before in the forest, though it didn't seen much younger, so Gina guessed that Jon had caught it in the fields around Sunrise where they were much less common and very reclusive.
"Alright there Caterpie, it looks pretty confused. I think if you just do to it what you did to Spro, we'll be fine," Gina said. Caterpie nodded, backing up to Gina and then shooting forward, and the battle had begun. The other caterpie panicked and retreated to a low branch of a nearby tree. Gina's caterpie eyed the tree before following his opponent up. It was an average tree, with just enough leaves to make it difficult to see too far ahead of you. Gina's caterpie maneuvered its way through the foliage until the other caterpie came into view.
Gina watched the tree. Jon was shouting orders at the wood, as if the maple would uproot itself and comply. Gina eyed him, unsure of what to make of him. He wasn't a bad person; definitely not mean… obnoxious was more correct of a term. In fact, Gina realized, he was a very nice guy. He was an overachiever, though, and didn't detest anything more than being wrong or being told so.
The two caterpie tumbled out of the tree, rolling across the field. Gina's caterpie was, once again, mercilessly bludgeoning his opponent with the yellow end of his tail. After they didn't separate for some time, Jon called his caterpie back. Gina's caterpie came crawling over to Gina and Sproing arrogantly, and the grass was lit up again and a small bird appeared on the field. Gina knew what this was: a zippurah, another flying Pokemon indigenous to the area around her hometown. It was a small Pokemon with nothing to complement its flying-type. The male form of this Pokemon, Gina knew, lacked the vibrant coloration of its female counterpart; the mother zippurah being the one responsible for bringing food to the family and attracting a mate as opposed to watching the nest. This particular zippurah was a male, its short brown and black feathers camouflaging it effectively against the darkness that was continuing to grow. It shared the size physique of a finch, minute and fragile with stubby tail feathers and a small head, though it had large feet which allowed it to grasp into things many times its own size.
"You stay out there, okay Caterpie?" Gina decided. She was counting on Caterpie fairing as well against this bird as it did against Sproing. The caterpie nodded, bouncing around as much as a caterpie could bounce. Jon said something to his zippurah, and it ran at Caterpie. Caterpie returned the charge, and the vicious tumbling began again. Caterpie's tail was beating faster than his little heart, and tiny bird was clawing madly. They separated, and the zippurah disappeared into the night. Caterpie looked around, unnerved by the overbearing dark. Suddenly, the zippurah shot through the grass and struck Caterpie with a peck. The caterpie retaliated by launching them into another bout of hopeless wrestling in the grass. Both Pokemon came out breathing hard, exhausted, and Caterpie's opponent again disappeared into the night. Another peck was too much for Caterpie, and he fainted.
Gina recalled Caterpie, and Sproing ran onto the field. The dark didn't bother him, and he too ran right at the zippurah. His tackle hit hard, and the pint-size bird was sent sprawling. He managed to stand up, though Jon called him back. Gina looked on, a bit confused, as her opponent's third Pokeball sent a flash through the ever-increasing darkness. Gina made out the shape of a totodile, another Pokemon easy to find around Sunrise.
"Alright, Spro," Gina said as Sproing ran back in her direction for a battle plan, "I think you can avoid him, and razor leaf is a pretty long range attack. I don't really get what he's doing, but if you don't get too hurt against this totodile, I think we can win."
Sproing nodded and ran out into the field. The totodile followed suit, running toward Sproing after receiving commands of his own. He continued the pattern of charging as an opening, but Sproing's longer legs easily carried him out of the way. The totodile lowered its head and again ran at Sproing, who jumped his pursuer and fired a flurry of leaves his way. The totodile took the attack lightly, and ran into yet another charge. Sproing ran around him and fired another storm of leaves that was responded to as poorly as the first.
"Keep going, Totodile, just follow our plan!" Jon shouted his first audible order since his attempts to make mobile the tree.
Gina looked on to the best of her ability as the night took complete hold of their surroundings and she lost sight of Sproing, the totodile, and Jon. Though, she realized, if she couldn't see him he couldn't see her run to get a flashlight from her things. She didn't know if that was against any rules, but she didn't want to risk Sproing getting hurt, or, she realized, losing.
She had left her backpack in her sleeping back before she left, though retrieving it in the dark proved to be a chore. The lock she had put on it in order to keep animals out of her food chose this time to be stubborn and she spent much longer than she would have liked just getting to her things. Jon's call of "Keep charging at him!" rang across the field, and Gina reassured herself that nothing would happen while she was gone. Her flashlight had managed to sneak to the bottom of her bag, and even more of a chore than opening the sleeping bag was putting everything away and closing it again. She ran back to the field to a Sproing who was chirping quietly in confusion.
She quickly flipped on the flashlight to unmask a large Pokemon she knew immediately to be Jon's starter, though she didn't know exactly what it was. Gina remembered having marveled at the strange-looking creature's presence during the presentation of Pokemon earlier in the week, but it had very obviously evolved. This form was much more ominous, and every time it's outlandish, two-fingered hand would open and shut, a loud metallic clang would echo across the field. It was absolutely a Kantoian Pokemon, definitely not native to any area she had ever heard of.
Sproing, however, saw things differently. He recognized one thing about the odd monster: It was built for water. Sproing awaited an order, standing patiently until he realized Gina didn't see this; she hadn't figured out her friend's strategy. The Pokemon standing before him was obviously much stronger than he was, that was no secret. Sproing reasoned that this boy had trained it around the field area he and Gina had started at until it was incredibly strong for a beginning Pokemon, and then used it to capture Pokemon from that area. He had undoubtedly trained very much at the reserve as well, breezing even more easily through the mainly rock and ground Pokemon.
It had probably evolved there, and then this boy felt it was ready to leave. This, realized Sproing, was why there were no bugs native to this areayet on his team, and why he had run up from behind them to meet them. He had just arrived in this area, his intense training causing him to lag behind a Gina who, in her catiel's opinion, was very rushed. Not that it mattered, anyway. All of the other Pokemon on this team served no other purpose than to sap their opponents' power, making way for the one-mon barrage.
Sproing gawked at the large Pokemon, wondering why no one was giving any orders. Looking back, he realized the light from the flashlight had gone, and Gina was presumably fetching that book that she was always looking in. Sproing backed up some, and then sheepishly launched a razor leaf which seemed to bounce off the intimidatingly enormous beast. Sproing began to back up, warily retreating until his Gina returned with information on the creature in front of him.
The thing made a noise, a disturbing gurgling sound. Sproing turned tail and began a full retreat. A pain seared through his backside, and he peered behind himself to see several of his feathers between the thing's two fingers. A full run was immediately employed, the now threatening darkness bearing no comparison to the lopsided monstrosity before him.
… 'Kingler (King-ler)
Water
Ht. 4'3"
Wt. 132 lb
One claw grew massively and as hard as steel. With 10,000-HP crushing power, it is a deadly weapon. However, it can hardly life this massive, overgrown pincer and its large size makes it unwieldy to use and it is extremely difficult to aim properly. Also, if it lifts the pincer to quickly it the shift in weight will throw the creature off balance and it will stagger.'
So, that's what the thing was, I found out: A kingler, the adult form of krabby. When I got back to the battlefield from checking the guidebook, I found Sproing standing a safe distance away from the creature shooting leaves at it while it made sluggish attempts at grabbing him in a vice grip. Jon wasn't shouting like a madman, so I figured he couldn't see very well. My light was weak and didn't accomplish much besides barely silhouetting the Pokemon, so I stood there sort of helplessly. I mean, what could I tell Spro to do that he wasn't already? The ugly gargantuan Pokemon wasn't moving anything but its claws, so Sproing didn't exactly seem to be getting much of a workout, forget about being tired.
In short, eventually Spro was taken out by bubble attacks. I think we did well, though. I don't exactly know what the point of having just one super-Pokemon is. I mean, his Totodile at least could probably be really good. And a Pokemon can only grow so old… so what happens when Spro catches up to Kingler or Kingler just plain gets knocked out? Poof, you die. It's really a meaningless strategy... actually, it was the one my brother used in his game. It didn't really work, so there.
So, that's my analysis of the day. Luckily for me, Jon insists on escorting us to the entrance to the Widow's Peak grave site. Awesome fun yeah right! He will absolutely not be staying with me any longer than that.
Hn, now I need to nickname Caterpie, too. Curses.
Alrighty, a few notes from yours truly:
I didn't at all expect this chapter to turn out like this... she was supposed to catch an aron or something, and then just cut to the journal. My charcters never listen to me... it gets annoying. So, in short: No, I didn't skip the reservation part to get out of explaining it, I was all for it. And no, I didn't cut out of the journal so it wouldn't seem redundant. It just sort of happened that way... honestly, I basically type up pages and delete things and add until I get something that doesn't bore me when writing or reading it. I'm glad it turned out this way though; I really like the character building Spro got. Feedback on the second half of the chapter would be appreciated, though. I've been sort of iffy about that.
Yay! Review responses! PNG, rnt u lyk s0 ecitd/slash
Keleri: Why thank you. Wow, what a pointless response.
Negrek: Haha, honestly I don't know how you do come up with nicknames. I don't think I ever nicknamed my Pokemon before liking the name Chevron, honestly. Nice, me, way to say honestly thrice.
Farla:All taken into consideration
Kaz: I'm flattered muchly. And I get to write another pointless response. Awesome.
Badger/Vulpix: (Yeah multitasking) Happy March new year! And thanks as well.
Emerald/Dannichu: (Doesn't multitasking destroy brain cells?) Wow, thanks. I'm not at all a descriptive writer, so that's really great to know. Also, I'm pretty sure rollout is super-effective against jumpluff...
Oh, and any suggestions for Caterpie's nickname will be appreciated o.o;;