(I still don't own pokemon, or anything affiliated with it. Nerds.)

Chapter 2

Mirror, Mirror

"Ok, the first thing we gotta do, is catch another pokemon!" Chloe said excitedly as we hiked through the road leading to the first gym in Chakleburg City. My hiking pack sat uncomfortably on my back. I was itching, maybe from the copious amounts of sunblock Chloe forced us to put on before embarking, maybe from the sheer excitement of it all. I didn't care about catching another Pokemon, all I wanted to do was keep moving.

"Ugggh, why? We already have one each." I sighed exasperatedly. I understood why they needed new pokemon, because the first gym was Psychic type, and they both had Fighting type Pokemon with disadvantages, but Murkrow was Dark, so it wouldn't have a problem facing the gym.

"Carbon, you need at least two pokemon to face a gym. It's two towns over, so you'll be able to take your pick." Ink said from behind us. Neither I nor Chloe had noticed, but he had started lagging behind us quite a bit. We were on a hill, so I thought maybe he was having trouble hiking.

I was about to ask him, when Chloe smirked and shouted down, "I assume you're enjoying the view, pretty boy." She wiggled her poor excuse for hips jokingly, winking at Ink.

Ink laughed and said teasingly, "Yeah, Carbon looks great from down here, it's a good angle."

I chuckled and continued trudging up the hill. I was a bit heavier than Ink or Chloe, but I wasn't really having as much trouble as I thought I'd be. We'd been hiking for a while, but I guess they were just keeping me entertained. I was happy for once. Really happy. I was glad I had some good friends to go on this journey with. I guess I was too busy thinking about that to notice something moving on the road.

I (quite embarrassingly) had tripped over what seemed to be absolutely nothing and landed on the ground, hard. All of a sudden, a big green lizard appeared in front of me, I had apparently startled it awake. It scampered off into the forest, and following my instinct, I ran after it.

"Carbon, wait! We don't even know what it is! What if it's too strong for us?" I heard Chloe yell from behind me.

"I know what it is, it's a Kecleon!" I shouted back.

"What in all hell is a Kecleon?" Ink said, all of a sudden right next to me.

"It's the color swap pokemon. Once it's hit with a damaging move, it changes its type according to what type of move hit it." I said, reciting what I had read in "Unusual Pokemon for Unusual Strategies", a book I had checked out from the library a month ago.

"Ok, I see, what type is it now? Like, before its hit with anything…other than your foot." Ink asked jokingly.

"Normal." Chloe answered, as she appeared on the other side of me. Even in her large pink coat she was agile from years of...well...probably like dance or gymnastics or something.

"Well, ok then, I'll just send out Jagged and we can Karate Chop the little bastard." Ink said, reaching for the pokeball strapped to his belt.

"Wait a second, I have a plan." I said, smirking.

~Two minutes later, after chasing the Kecleon across the forest and into a clearing~

"We see your red zigzag thing, buddy. No use hiding." Ink said with a laugh pointing at the hovering bright red stripe in front of us. The wild Kecleon appeared, sticking its tongue out and standing its ground. It was a lot bigger than I remembered, definitely larger than Jagged or Rebel, and I had only just gotten Omen, but it was still three against one.

"Go, Jagged! Use Karate Chop!" shouted Ink as he released the pig monkey from its pokeball. The thing dashed out with almost unmatchable speed. It halted suddenly in front of the lizard, and delivered a destructive blow to its stomach. The Kecleon flew back, and its green skin turned to a rusty orange. I remembered reading that when Kecleon's type changes, its personality somewhat reflects the change…that didn't even scratch the surface. The newly-fighting-type Kecleon dashed forward and landed a swift punch right on Jagged's pig nose. Jagged was knocked back, and skidded into Ink.

"What the hell was that? It's not supposed to learn fighting type moves, even when it's a fighting type!" Chloe yelled over to me, Rebel ready for battle at her side.

"Guys, look at Jagged…" Ink said. We looked over at the Mankey, who was back on its feet, fighting Kecleon, but something was wrong. Jagged was famous among all the kids at school for being not only strong, but incredibly agile, but now it was stumbling along, leaving itself wide open for attacks from the Kecleon. Then it hit me.

"Ink, get Jagged out of there, he used Dizzy Punch!" I shouted. "We have to keep going with the plan!" I sent out Omen, and ordered him to use Peck. For a second, Omen did nothing. He just sat there. Then, he turned, glaring at me with one of his shining red eyes. I was afraid he would defy me, and then he simply nodded, spread his wings and dashed through the air at Kecleon. Omen's long yellow beak collided with the lizard, making it jump back. Its skin now turned a light blue, the color of the sky.

"Now! Rebel! Use Rock Tomb!" Chloe shouted, sending the battle-ready Pancham towards the wounded Kecleon. Rebel dug his hand into the ground as he ran, and then raised it out, flinging rocks towards the Kecleon. It tried to dash out of the way, but one of the rocks hit its tail. The lizard now turned brown, and began acting aggressive again.

"Jeez, how bulky is this thing?" Ink asked.

"Not bulky enough. Rebel! Karate Chop!" Chloe yelled. The small panda raised its hand, but right before it hit the lizard, Kecleon stuck its tongue out and licked Rebel's face. Rebel's attack hit, but with much less force than intended. The Kecleon became rusty orange once more, and I guess its new typing gave it a bit more strength, because it was able to lift the rock off of its tail and throw a devastating punch to the pandas head. The bear collapsed on the floor, confused and paralyzed, unmoving.

"Ok, Omen, here's our chance!" I shouted, "Omen! Peck, go!" The bird flew at the already enraged Kecleon, who was hit squarely in the jaw by Omen's long, sharp beak. This blow was much stronger than the last, and the lizard flew back, turning to a light blue once more.

"Quick, Carbon, catch it!" Chloe said, rushing away from the dangerous pokemon, Rebel lying limp in her arms. I dug into my pocket and pulled out a pokeball. I breathed in. Then out. It had just hit me that this was my first capture, or at least first attempted capture. I was so nervous, but if I hesitated, Kecleon would get away, or even worse, do more damage to our team. I threw the ball at the wounded monster, and once it hit, the light of Kecleon's genetic data rushed into the red-and-white orb. The ball shook once…twice…three times, then nothing. There was complete silence for a few seconds. Then the button in the center of the pokeball flashed red, indicating a successful capture.

We all breathed a collective sigh of relief. In my head, when one of us got our first capture, we all cheered and celebrated, but we were all too tired now. In my head, we weren't fighting something so strong. In my head, we weren't fighting a freaking Kecleon for Arceus's sake.

~That night~

We had set up camp on the edge of the clearing where I caught my Kecleon, which I had named "Mirror". The day had been completely exhausting, but still fun and productive, well, mostly. Chloe had caught a Ledyba which she named Lady (creative, I know) but Ink hadn't caught anything. It's not like he hadn't find the right pokemon to be part of his team, he just couldn't seem to catch ANYTHING. He had used up the 5 pokeballs he had, plus the four I had, and now, among the three of us, we only had one of Chloe's left. I felt really sorry for him. I started to wonder if he'd ever catch something. Then, that night…

"AAAAH! GUYS! GET THIS THING AWAY FROM ME!" Chloe yelled from her tent. Ink and I sprang up, clumsily stumbling out of our tent and rushing over to hers. As we fell into her tent, we saw her in her pajamas with a dark figure covering her face. It turned its head and the moonlight slipping in through the entrance reflected off of its gleaming, gem eyes. It was a Sableye.

We saw it clinging to the absurdly large and flashy jewel necklace Chloe was wearing, and Ink dashed into it. We had forgotten our pokemon in our tent, so I guess we had to improvise. The Sableye dashed around, dodging Ink and letting him fall awkwardly onto Chloe. They both got up, startled and waited.

No one was making a move, even though we were surrounding it. The dark creature just waited, standing eerily still. Then, a pokeball flew out of seemingly nowhere, and hit the Sableye on the head. Its genetic data was absorbed into the ball, and just as before, the ball shook once…twice…three times…

We were expecting the thing to burst out, like all the other pokemon Ink tried to catch, but instead, the red button glowed briefly, and he caught it…just like that. There was silence for a few seconds, then Ink said, "…what? WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! ALL I DID WAS GRAB CHLOE'S DAMN POKEBALL AND THROW IT AT THAT THING? ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

There was silence again, and then I said, "Well, I guess it was time for a gym battle."

(Yeah, I know this one is like half as long as the first, but I'm studying for a test to get into a rich kid school, so I'm saving the super spooky stuff for later. You guys won't have to wait as long for the next chapter…oh wait, no one reads this…I'm so alone…you big dummies.)

Repost - (A year later, and I'm in that rich kid school and finished with finals. It really has been a crazy time since I first posted this story. Anyways, I still ask y'all to comment and review about what you like, and more importantly, what can be improved. As always, try to be polite, I'll see you dummies later.)

Tune in next time when our three protagonists are confronted by some bullies who challenge them to a battle, but not is all as it seems. Will our heroes be able to defeat Fox and her goons, or will they be in for a rude awakening? Find out next chapter, in "Foxy Lady". Thanks for reading.