Hey. guys! Sentai Red here!
Sorry for the delayed upload! Work has been draining me a lot lately, just because it's the holidays and the fact that people are just... dumb. Retail sucks.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the new chapter!
Episode 5: Viridian Forest! Hello, First Catch!
"Oh, my Lord, Ash – hi!"
"Hehe! Hi, Mrs. Paschall!"
"Oh, dear, just call me Grace! We're practically family!"
Ash and Grace spoke with one another during one of Serena's calls, with Serena happily announcing to her mom that she made it to Kanto without any problems and that Ash was waiting on her as promised. Grace was deeply impressed with Ash's punctuality, knowing his tendencies. Grace even had a call from Delia about his first day! She was ready to tease Ash, but held it off for now, poor boy was probably teased enough as it is.
Then Misty somehow came along, saying hi to her awkwardly, not really wanting to intrude into their conversation, but Serena was adamant. Though, Grace was able to notice her daughter having some animosity towards the redhead but didn't question it.
"Oh, my… look at you, Pikachu! Froakie! You both look super strong!" she compliments Ash's two starters, making them flex in front of her, making them all laugh in good fun.
"Well, Ash, I'm glad you and Serena are journeying together! Just promise me you'll take good care of her."
"I will, Mrs., er, I mean, Grace!"
She then glances over to Serena, "And promise me you'll take care of him! Lord knows he's going to cause a lot of trouble," she teases, making Serena laugh, much to Ash's chagrin. Then Grace stares at Misty and smiles, "Please look after them for me, they're both near and dear to my heart. Ash's mom would say the same."
Misty smiles, nodding, and gives her a wink, "Will do, ma'am!"
Serena almost rolled her eyes, but smiles at her mom, "Anyway, mom, we're heading off! We'll call you and Delia when we get to Pewter City!"
They would hang up soon after, and Serena turns to both of her companions, "Well, shall we?"
Ash grins, bowing mockingly, "We shall!"
As the trio began walking through the forest, Ash and Serena noticed Misty was quite fidgety. She kept glancing around, shaking like a leaf, and jumping around as she would hear rustles in the bushes or in the trees. The two were kind of annoyed with the behavior.
"Hey… can we walk a little faster here?"
Serena had the urge to just snap but stilled her tongue.
Ash wasn't as merciful, "And why should we? It's only the middle of the day and we're in Viridian Forest! There's lots of Pokémon that I can try to catch here, so why not take it slowly! What? You scare of some bugs or something?"
Misty just pales, holding herself tightly, "D-d-don't you dare j-joke about that, Ketchum!"
Pikachu snickers, while Froakie just shakes his head.
"Kie…"
"And what does he mean by that, Ash!" Misty hisses, already feeling the insults fly by because of Froakie. Froakie just ignores her and hops onto the trees, making Ash chuckle. Froakie just hops between tree branches, holding himself against a tree trunk as he surveys the area around him. Pikachu just hops into the trees, doing the same.
Ash wants a Pokémon to join them, so might as well help! They've learned their lesson with the Spearows so now, they're just going to take it easy with attacking on sight.
Serena smiles at the two starters and glances at Ash, "Well, they're certainly just as eager, huh?"
"I'm still waiting for an explanation…"
Ash ignores the sassy remark by Misty and Pikachu points, "Pikapi!"
The trio turn, making Misty pale and she proceeds to hide behind a tree. Of all the luck, it just had to be a –
"A Caterpie!" Ash exclaims, starry eyed. Caterpie were normally considered easy to catch and easy to raise, so might as well get one! Serena watches with amusement, thinking that Caterpie was quite cute.
'Oh, those big ol' eyes,' she gushes, and then she glances at Ash. If he doesn't catch it, she certainly will!
Ash, in excitement, and forgetfulness, throws a Pokéball! Misty just guffaws at the sight. No way in the world was that going to work!
Ding
… It worked.
Ash then begins to twitch, his face begins to break into a huge grin, as he starts whooping and hollering, "Yeah! Let's go! We did it!" He runs around happily, punching the air in excitement. "We just caught a Caterpie!" He picks up the Pokéball and poses with it.
"Pi-Pikachu! | Fro-fro!"
His two Pokémon cheer in happiness, posing with him.
Serena claps happily, "Great job, Ash!" she congratulates him, making him rub the back of his head. Misty just walks over, a twitchy look on her face as she couldn't fathom the idea of someone catching a Pokémon that easily, even if it was a Caterpie.
She then blanches in horror as Ash puts the Pokéball up in her case, "And I did it all by myself! Not so bad, eh, Misty?" he teases.
The redhead just glares, "If only! That was luck and you know it! Now," she backs off, "put that thing away!"
Serena crosses her arms, a frown forming, "Wow, way to be rude, Misty."
Feeling defensive, Misty growls, "Well, excuse me! I don't like bugs! Out of all the 13 disgusting things out there, bug Pokémon are up there for me!"
Ash just shakes his head, "Aside from you, that's probably one of the few things I can count on the top of my head of the most disgusting things out there." Serena almost snorted at that, making Misty roll her eyes at the jab.
"Har-har, Ketchum."
Ash then has an idea as he stares at the Pokéball, "Well… wait a minute, since he's my first capture and all…" Misty freezes, figuring out what he wants to do, "why don't I just have Caterpie come on out and we can all introduce ourselves to him! I think that'd be great! He can meet all his new friends!"
"I think that's a wonderful idea, Ash!"
"Uh… Let's not and say we did?"
"Come on out, Caterpie!" He calls out his newly caught Pokémon, making Misty just back away towards the bushes, in hopes of not having to deal with the bug.
Caterpie just blinks, "Mrrr?" He cries out cutely, looking around. All he knew was that some boy just caught him and now he's outside of the Pokéball. He looks around and sees the very same boy give him a huge smile, with a girl right next to him holding her hands right to her cheek staring down at him. Yeah, he thinks he's going to like his trainer!
"Mrrr!" Caterpie leans upward, as if saying hello.
"Gaaaah!" Serena flutters in the air, squealing in delight, "Ash, you're so lucky! He's such a cutie!"
"Yeah, he's quite the Pokémon," Ash praises his new catch, with Froakie and Pikachu waving at him with friendly dispositions. Caterpie blushes from all the praise he's getting, his head down, but his eyes looking up at them. Serena couldn't help but hold him in her arms, making him blush even more. Ash laughs at the sight.
Caterpie sees a redhaired girl and smiles, maybe she'll be his friend too? She was kind of lonely! He'll cheer her up! He slithers out of Serena's arms, the two of them watching as Caterpie goes over to Misty, their smiles turning into worried looks. Uh oh…
"Mrrr!" Caterpie rushes over to a fearful Misty as he jumps up and hugs Misty.
"Mrrr!" he cooed happily! Hi, new friend!
Misty just lets out the biggest shriek in her life, as she holds herself, throwing Caterpie off her. Caterpie just stares, heartbroken at her pushing him away rudely, "Get that nasty thing away from me!" Misty cries out, making Caterpie tear up.
"… Mrrr…"
"Misty! Apologize to Caterpie now!" Ash yells angrily. He was appalled that Misty would just shove a Pokémon away like that!
"Pika…"
"Froakie…"
The two comforted a tearful Caterpie, as he just curls up dejectedly. He just wanted to make a new friend… Serena holds him in her arms, "I'm sorry, Caterpie… Misty didn't mean it…" she glares at Misty, "right, Misty?" Her attempts to comfort the poor bug gets thrown out the window when Misty just wretches at the sight of seeing the bug being held by the girl.
"No! Just… Ugh! Why did you have to catch a disgusting bug-type Pokémon!"
Caterpie just curls up even more in Serena's arms, she feels something wet hit her arms and she hisses at the redhead, "Apologize! Now!"
"No!"
Caterpie, not wanting to deal with more of the heartbreak, just slithers sadly away and enters his Pokéball… maybe it's best if he just hides away for a bit. Ash closes his eyes, fists clenched. This was not how he expected his first catch to go at all… he wanted to make friends with his newly caught Pokémon and Misty just had to ruin it!
"Misty," he says coldly, "I think you better just leave." He turns away from her, walking away. Pikachu and Froakie simply jump into their side of his shoulder. Serena glances at Misty and shakes her head, walking with Ash.
"But…" Misty just stares in shock, "what about my bike?!"
Serena growls, really wanting to yell at Misty, but Ash quickly responds, "Don't worry about the stupid bike, we'll buy you one and when we do, you stop bugging us about it! I don't know about Serena, but I'm not going to stick around with some girl who just abuses and hurts a poor Pokémon just because she's afraid of its typing!"
Misty tries to defend herself, somewhat hurt that Ash is just brushing her off so callously, "W-well, what would you do if I caught a Pokémon you didn't like?!"
Serena was able to respond, "He would respect your decision and get over it! He wouldn't insult your Pokémon or shove it away like that! Caterpie was just trying to be sweet, Misty and you hurt his feelings! What kind of trainer does that to a loving creature like him?!"
Misty just stays silent, looking down. Maybe she did overreact…
Ash sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Listen, you can have a fear of Pokémon, that's fine… but that doesn't make it right for you to be so mean to him. I think we're done here. Let's go, guys."
Ash and Serena just walk off, but it wouldn't be for long as Misty kept following them. Froakie had the idea of using his frubbles to slow her down, but Ash vetoed the idea. He's not going to bully Misty in the same vein she bullied Caterpie. "Hey, wait!" Misty would call out to them after several minutes of following them.
Ash just stops in his tracks, Serena a bit further ahead but stops as well. He doesn't even turn around, "What?"
"… I'm sorry. You're right… I shouldn't have been mean to Caterpie… even if he's a bug type… It's not his fault for being born that way or just… trying to be nice. I just had bad experiences with bug type Pokémon." Misty rubs the side of her arm nervously. Ash had the decency to turn around and face Misty, his face neutral.
"I get it, but I'm not the one you should apologize to." He crosses his arms, and Misty pales, but she ultimately acquiesces.
Getting a nod from the feisty girl, he calls out Caterpie. Caterpie look around, "Mrr?"
Serena crouches down to his face, a concerned smile on her face, "Hey, cutie," she whispers sweetly to him, "someone is here to apologize to you." She glances over to Misty, who just nods with a shaky smile. Caterpie winces and looks away. He tries to go back into his Pokéball, but Ash rubs his head gently.
"C'mon, buddy, hear her out," his trainer encourages him. The bug then looks at Misty, who sighs and she looks at him remorsefully.
"I… I'm sorry Caterpie, I shouldn't have been mean to you… I know you just wanted to make friends with me. I shouldn't have called you disgusting or nasty. You're a sweet b-b-bug… Forgive me, please?" Caterpies eyes tear up as he just inches himself slowly to Misty and nuzzles his cheek against hers, with Misty struggling to keep herself from running away.
"Y-yeah… t-thanks… uh… yeah," she shivers.
Ash smiles, "See? Not so bad, huh?"
"D-don't push your luck, Ketchum…"
Serena looks around the forest and smiles, "Maybe I should catch a Pokémon of my own!" She bounces on her feet, excitedly. Seeing Ash become fast friends with Caterpie and how sweet he is, she definitely feels inspired to have her first catch! Ash gives her a thumbs up in support, Misty shivers as she knows there's only bug types in the entire forest, with minor exceptions.
She calls out Fennekin and Eevee, both stretching and they both yelp happily.
"Hey, Eevee, Fennekin, we're here in the Viridian Forest! Ash just caught a new Pokémon! So, I feel as though we should catch one as well! What do you guys say?"
"Evui! | Fen-kin!"
The two cheer, excited to get themselves a new friend!
"Do you want any help, 'Rena?" Ash offers, but Serena shakes her head. She appreciates it, but she decided she'd do it herself!
"No thanks, Ash, but I appreciate it," she winks, "I just want to be like you and catch one on my own! Preferably without the luck!"
She waves, running off into the forest, with Eevee and Fennekin running off behind her. Ash just smiles as she runs off, 'She really changed…' he couldn't help but be proud of how outgoing she has become. She used to not be that way! She used to be timid – afraid of everything. She was always second guessing herself or crying about everything. While Ash didn't mind that, he was certainly happy to see her become more confident in herself and being able to encourage herself now.
"You know, your girlfriend sure is just like you, I can see why you two are so close," Misty comments, making him groans.
"She's not my girlfriend," he mutters. Misty just shrugs at his denial, with Froakie and Pikachu snickering. Caterpie just tilts his head, confused.
"Whatever. Now, what do you want to do?"
Ash shrugs, "I guess I can train my Pokémon for a little bit. Gives me something to do while 'Rena is off catching a Pokémon." He looks over to his three Pokémon, all but one cheer. Caterpie just stares at him, nervously. Ash realizes why and smiles, "Hey, bud, you don't have to train if you don't want to." His newly caught Pokémon stares in awe… but he shakes his head. He wants to get stronger!
He's just afraid of letting his trainer down.
With a fist pump, Ash encourages him, "Don't worry, Caterpie! It's just training! We'll get you strong in no time! Whether now or later, you're gonna be a big, strong Butterfee! Just you wait and see!" Caterpie smiles and nods, determined to get strong with his new trainer!
'He really cares for his Pokémon, huh?' Misty thinks softly, staring as Ash talks to his Pokémon. She can see why Serena is so close to him now. He has this charm to him that not many other people have. She shakes her head, 'Me admiring Ash? Hah! Yeah, right…' she tries to tell herself.
She then walks over to Ash, making Ash stare at her confused, "Uh, Misty?"
She then holds her hand out, "I'm sorry… for being… you know… rude to you when we, uh, first met… why don't we just… become friends?" She ends it off nervously, her hand sort of shaking. Ash just laughs, making her glare at him. Why is he laughing?!
"Sorry! Sorry…" he just trails off, "I think we're beyond that stage in apologizing now, eh? I did mess up your bike… but don't worry, I already consider you a friend." He smiles, but still gives her a handshake. She blushes lightly, turning away with a harrumph.
"Well, good!"
Ash just blinks at her reaction, but shrugs. She was weird, but in a good way.
The calm atmosphere quickly goes away as the two hear Serena scream, making Ash's instincts kick into gear, as he and Misty, immediately give chase to where she was. "Serena!" he calls out, worriedly.
"We're coming, hold on, Serena!" Misty all calls out, despite the animosity the two have, she'd like to have a female friend! She runs ahead as Ash gets his Pokémon with him, with Ash quickly catching up.
The two run through bushes, Ash jumps over a big one, while Misty just tries to run around it. She gets stuck but forces herself through and Ash throws both Froakie and Pikachu in the trees, where the two just immediately start hopping between tree branches, hoping to reach the missing girl first.
"Serena!" Ash rushes in, where he presumably believes Serena is at.
"Ash!" He hears her call out as she clutches both her Pokémon, Eevee trying to fight, but Fennekin too weak to battle. The three look completely scuffed over, with Fennekin having a small fever. Serena is panting, unable to hold herself together.
And there it was, a huge Beedrill, one larger than anyone they've seen before!
Misty comes through, freezes at the sight, but the moment she saw Serena on the ground, she knew she can't let her fear get her right now! Forcing herself through, she walks behind Ash, who's stepping up in front to the angry Beedrill, and she helps Serena up, "Hey, good thing you're okay," Misty sighs in relief, holding the girl protectively.
Serena blinks in surprise, "Misty…?"
She shakes her head as she looks down at Fennekin with a frown, "Fennekin got poisoned! Eevee can barely fight! I… I… I-"
"Shhh," Misty shushes her gently, rubbing her head sisterly, "It's okay… Come on, we need to leave and get her taken care of," she looks at Ash, "You got this right? We'll need you to cover us."
Without even saying a word, Ash throws a thumbs up, and growls, "Froakie! Use Water Pulse! Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!"
"Froooa-kie! | Pikachuuuu!" The two launch their attacks.
The Water Pulse narrowly misses as the Beedrill flies around the attack. The attack flies behind it, causing a small explosion behind it. It flinches, and that's when the Thunderbolt lands the hit!
Beedrill winces in pain but uses its stingers to force the electric attack to stop working as it grounds itself. Ash frowns, this is one smart Beedrill.
Having no choice, he throws out Caterpie, "Caterpie! Use String Shot against its stingers!"
Caterpie, already sensing the danger, does as commanded, not wanting to seem useless. "Mrr!" It starts spewing webbing all around the stinger hands Beedrill has. Beedrill flies up and charges at Caterpie, using Twin Needle as an attack!
"Caterpie, dodge it!"
Caterpie unfortunately took the hit as it was too slow to react.
It flies towards a tree, but Froakie throws frubbles to cushion the blow. Caterpie glances at Froakie and nods in appreciation, Froakie giving him a thumbs up in response.
"Pikachu! Use Quick Attack! Caterpie, keep using String Shot against its stingers!"
Caterpie throws another shot of web around it, this time the webbing starts to stick together, forcing Beedrill to sag its arms. Pikachu then lands a Quick Attack to Beedrill's stomach, making the bee stumble.
"Now, Froakie! Hit it with Pound!"
Froakie jumps into the air and slams its fist down against the Beedrill, making the two land onto the ground from the force. Froakie jumps out and watches patiently for the Beedrill to come back up. Ash bites his lip nervously.
Beedrill somehow gets back up slowly, but it backs down as another Pokémon joins the fray! This one is Pidgeotto, the evolved form of Pidgey, and it swoops in using Wing Attack! It lands a direct hit, causing Beedrill to wince.
The bee tries to attack using Poison Sting, but Pidgeotto was faster and dodges the projectiles. It flies up right into the bug types face and uses Peck in between its eyes, causing the bee to close its eyes. Pidgeotto then stares at Ash and nods. Ash realizes what Pidgeotto was wanting and throws a Pokéball at the bug. It was Serena's Pokéball. One that fell to the ground prior her being rescued.
Ding
Not even a wiggle, it just accepted the catch.
Ash sighs, with his three Pokémon following suit, as they all just sit down to take a breather. Ash looks at the bird Pokémon, who stares back, and he smiles, "Thank you, Pidgeotto… don't know how or why, but we're thankful for your help."
The bird just nods and flies off.
Caterpie then spews webbing all over itself, surprising Ash, "Caterpie?"
After a few seconds, the webbing hardens and in its place is a Metapod, "… Metapod…" he utters slowly, adjusting to his new form. Ash smiles and nods, holding Metapod happily.
"You evolved, buddy… that's great!" Metapod just smiles, moving itself closer to its trainer who he only had for just a day. This is great! He may be a Butterfree someday!
Ash glances over to the Pokéball on the floor and frowns, hesitating to pick it up. He reaches for it and looks at it, 'Serena…' He then immediately sends out Beedrill, who stares at him. Ash stares back, his Pokémon right by him, ready if anything.
Then Beedrill began crying and hugged Ash, surprising them all.
"Beeeee!" the bee cries, extremely upset and Ash raises an eyebrow at him.
"Are you really crying? Over what happened?"
"Beee…" he nods, tears streaming like a waterfall, much to Ash's confusion.
"Then why did you attack her?"
"Bee bee Bee bzzzt!" He essentially just motioned around, giving Ash a theatrical explanation. What it boils down to is that Beedrill was just looking for food, when a Weedle came out of nowhere to steal his food, but the Weedle was actually being chased by Serena and her Pokémon as she was looking to catch the small bug. However, because the Weedle swiped his food, he took offense and attacked Serena in anger. Then Beedrill just sags his arms dejectedly, he didn't mean to be rude… he was just hungry!
Ash and his Pokémon can sense the sincerity in Beedrill's actions and he smiles, "Come on then, I think if we have you apologize to Serena, she'll be more than happy to have you as her trainer." He gestures the bug to follow him, which he does with a wary flutter.
Ash walks calmly to the campsite where Misty and Serena are, with Misty and Serena smiling and talking with one another. It seems the two finally made up and are now becoming friends with one another! 'What a relief' is all Ash thought.
He rustles the bushes through, alerting them. Misty freezes and pales seeing the Beedrill behind Ash, pointing at it with an even worse reaction than with Metapod! Serena flinches, backing up, her eyes widen and she begins to tear up, but Ash calms the two down.
"Hey, hey," he soothes Serena, "let him explain…"
Beedrill cries and does the same theatrical movement of the events that transpired, and it puts its stingers together, a teary eyed look given to Serena as if it was begging for forgiveness. Misty was ready to deny the apology, but Serena hugs Beedrill, "Ohhh, you sweet, little thing!" She gushes, and Ash just laughs. Of course, she'd forgive him! Serena was becoming more like him with Pokémon every day.
"He's your Pokémon, Serena," Ash states, holding her Pokéball and handing it to her, "congrats on your first catch!"
She stares at the Pokéball then back at Beedrill and she exclaims with a grin, "Alright! Looks like we're going to be good friends, Beedrill! Let's have you meet your new partners! I'll explain to them what happened, so don't worry! I'll make sure you fit in just fine!"
She takes Beedrill carefully by his stinger, who flutters happily with his new trainer.
Misty just stares at Ash, "I hate you both."
Ash just laughs.
