Chapter Five: Falling Through Autumn

Beautiful forest scenery couldn't distract Alaska from how bloody bored she was.

It had been three days since her blog post, and Alaska had not had a single good battle since then. The newcomer trainer had left the dullness of Route 2 and had now ventured into Viridian Forest, the first real challenge for trainers from her neck of the woods.

Alaska did have to admit it was a purely gorgeous place to be in. Huge collections of tall, towering trees stretched high into the sky, packed so close together that their leaves blocked out the sky, casting a beauteous green glow over the leafy path. The trees were all different sizes with different sorts of leaves and branches, and Alaska was enjoying herself by examining each tree individually as she moved through. There were large fields of knee-tickling grass that made for a mini voyage in order to get throw, especially with the abundance of bug type Pokemon around.

"I swear, if I ever see another buggered bug Pokemon again, I'm going to scream!" Alaska had shrieked to Paige and Darwin the previous night. Every single grassy field contained a bug type Pokemon: either the green and cream Caterpie that insisted on tying Alaska's legs together with String Shot, or the amber coloured Weedle that instead choose to jab its sharp white horn into her legs as she passed. If that wasn't bad enough, there were only bug types to battle in battles as well: Alaska had defeated about a dozen Bug Catchers over the past three days, and had gone from getting a sadistic pleasure out of winning to wishing she could jab a tree branch through her eyeball. Alaska wasn't a boastful, proud person, but she just wanted to lose at least one battle: she probably shouldn't have started her journey with a flying Pokemon when she was in Bug Central.

So Alaska didn't have high hopes for the day after she packed up her tent, which she had positioned next to a mossy green boulder. The tent was helping her get through the nights, as she had her laptop with her that allowed connect with the world outside of the trees. Apparently Indigo Dreams was getting very hyped up and thousands of people were excited for it. Alaska was irritated that the reality show was gaining so much popularity, though she was amused when several fan polls showed that people were more interested to see Damian than Chloe.

I'd like to see that smug tart try and cross me again after that battles of ours! Alaska had thought bitterly after reading the poll results. While she didn't get a kick out of beating Youngsters, Alaska was looking forward to next time she got to cut Chloe down to size.

So after packing away her tent and other supplies, Alaska had no choice but to keep travelling through Viridian Forest: if she wanted to find better trainers and reach Pewter City, home of her first badge challenge, she would have to push on through the petty trainers. There were two choices for Alaska to go through today: one path led through a brisk, clear path to the right, whilst one with long, entangled grass stood to the left.

"What do you think we should do?" Alaska said to Darwin, who she was spending some time training. The Mankey examined the two paths quickly, and then let out a screech and dived straight into the grassy route.

"Really?" Alaska groaned, watching several hard shelled Kakuna that were adorning the nearby trees.

"Mankey Man!" The Fighting type called, scratching around the grass, hoping to find a good opponent. Alaska smirked and headed after her Pokemon, though she didn't have high hopes for this area. Her feet were instantly disguised by the long grass, which was stretching far towards her knees. A small group of Caterpie and a lone Weedle skirted away as Alaska passed, and the new coming trainer was desperate to get close to Darwin. She hated being alone in grass: Pokemon could attack any person that came into their habitat, wheter they had a Pokemon on them or not, and Alaska didn't want to find herself getting attacked.

"Darwin, slow down!" Alaska shouted, struggling to keep the weight of her bag and move through the grass at the same time. Darwin was slashing at the grass with his Fury Swipes, sending blades of grass flying into the sky. The Mankey was always looking for a fight, and Alaska had hopes that she could control the outrageous behavioural aspect of his. She was just about to tell him off when Darwin suddenly froze, his fists high in the air as if they were suspended there. Alaska came to a halt too, stunned by the sudden halt to his activities.

"Darwin, are you alright?" She asked nervously, taking a nervous step forwards. However, she didn't notice the branch beneath her feet: her shoe landed on it, causing the entire thing to snap. The noise echoed everywhere, and Alaska gasped as Darwin turned dramatically towards her, eyes bulged out in shock.

"Pika?" A soft voice said, and suddenly a yellow figure rose up from the grass. Alaska had seen the Pokemon regularly on television, and was able to identify the long ears, the brown stripes on its back and a long, jagged tail: it was the Electric Mouse Pikachu, a very rare Pokemon in these parts of Kanto. It seemed Darwin had noticed it and had been waiting to strike, which Alaska had unfortunately failed.

"MAAAAN!" The Mankey shouted angrily, and the Pikachu looked startled. Darwin leapt forwards, his claws glowing and ready to slash down. But before he could get close, the Pikachu began to glow white as it shut its eyes in terror. A white-yellow blur suddenly sped off into the trees, and Darwin crashed onto the earthy floor in a heap. Alaska gasped again and rushed forwards, nearly tripping over a Metapod that was camouflaged by the grass.

"Darwin, are you alright?" Alaska asked, flopping down into the grass besides him. The Mankey nodded his fluffy head, a sad, defeated look on his face, one that Alaska knew she had probably pulled lately. Paige and Darwin both wanted better opponents to battle, neither of them satisfied with their battles either and equally desiring a good match.

"Don't worry!" Alaska said in a cheery tone, giving Darwin a big hug. "We're nearly out of here, and then we can have some good opponents!" Darwin nodded, and he wrapped a long arm around her. They were all getting a bit tired of Viridian Forest, and Alaska barely even noticed how much her desperation was softening her up. The two sat there for a little while, watching a flock of Pidgey flying through the tree tops above them. Some human voices sounded nearby, and Darwin's head turned towards the noise excitedly. Alaska laughed and stood up, allowing Darwin to bounce around and begin climbing the next tree.

"Calm down!" She called, struggling not to laugh at how excited he was getting. "It's not like a great battler is just going to appear out of nowhere like this!" Alaska joked.

However, she didn't realise how wrong she was.

There was a sudden snapping noise above her, but Alaska barely paid any attention to it, thinking it was just a Pokemon. But than her interest was piked by a sudden loud screaming: Alaska looked up just as a figure burst through the leaves above her, arms flailing, hair wrapped around her face and coming straight for her.