Chapter 1: The Trio of Troublemakers
The young trainer leaned back in the soft grass and gazed upward at the perfectly blue sky. After walking all morning, he needed to rest and the luscious grass felt comforting on his skin. He placed his hands behind his head and relaxed. A cool breeze blew over the grassland which made the grass and flowers sway back and forth. His sandy and blond hair waved slightly with the cooling wind.
He placed his red and white trainer hat on his raised knee and gazed at the gorgeous blue sky. Memories of the start of his journey came flooding back to him as another breeze drifted along the countryside. That very first Pokémon that he had captured near Pallet was a rare and unique one. The Pokémon seemed to be fearful upon first meeting but after much befriending, the trainer was able to finally gain the trust of his very first wild Pokémon.
The trainer's eyes began to close and he would have fallen into a restful sleep from all his journeying until a distressing cry echoed from over the hill. He tried to ignore it. But another plea for help compelled him to action. Dang! He grumbled to himself. So much for my nap.
He stood to his feet brushing off the grass and debris that had collected on his clothes. As he grabbed his bag he headed over to the source of the cry of help. As soon as he was over the hill, he saw the situation. At the base of the hill, three men in plain clothes taunted a female trainer much younger than themselves by throwing her travel bag back and forth amongst each other.
The trainer secured his belongings and reached for his Pokéballs and ran down to help this damsel. He prepared for a battle that would most likely occur when he approached the menacing trio.
"Hey! What's going on here?"
The burly group of men turned to face him and one of them replied gruffly, "And who might you be?"
"I asked you a question."
"So did I." came the sarcastic reply.
Urghh… I hate people who talk like idiots. "Fine. My name is Aiden Keith. Now, what's going on?"
"Hmph. We were just having a bit of fun, right, girlie?"
"My name is Vivian! Now give me back my stuff!" She reached out to snatch her backpack away from the first man only for him to toss it to another one of his companions. The first man then grabbed hold of her wrists as she tried to swing at him He then lifted her arms up into the air above her head.
"Now, now. There's no need to get all worked up. All we want is your Pokémon, Vivi. Can I call you that?"
Her response was to spit in the man's face. That, of course, didn't go over well. The man held her arms up with one hand and brought the palm of his other across her face. He smacked her so hard that she fell down onto the ground by Aiden with a rather large red outline of his hand on her delicate face. Her brown hair was disheveled and her clothes were wrinkled and dirty. But despite all of that, she still was a cutie.
Aiden bent down and placed a hand on her shoulder and helped her to her feet. "That," he began angrily, "is gonna cost you." He narrowed his eyes as he felt his entire body tense with the rising emotions.
"Yeah, and who are you? Her boyfriend?" another man scoffed.
"Or maybe you're her bodyguard?" the other man joined in.
"Oooo… You're really intimidating! Just look at his muscles! I think that I see a slight buldge where they were supposed to be!" the first man said in obvious sarcasm as he elbowed his buddies. The three men laughed and elbowed each other.
"At least I have a place for some," Aiden shot back.
"Wow! You got balls, kid!" The first man stepped closer to Aiden. As he got close he flexed his muscles and breathed into Aiden's face, "But you have no idea who you're mouthing off too, do you?" The stench of something foul hit Aiden's nostrils and it nearly made him sick.
"For one, you need a breath mint. And two, for your own safety, I suggest that you leave her alone."
The man stared back at this kid, his mouth gaping. Did he just say that? "Come again? Was that… a threat?"
One of the other men behind him spoke up. "No one threatens us and gets away with it."
"We'll teach you not to mess with members of Team Rocket!" Dropping the light yellowish bag to the ground, the rough trio looked at each other and nodded. Each one of them took out a Pokéball and threw them into the air. Three Pokémon emerged from a brilliant flash of light in front of their respective trainers ready to battle. A rather large yellowish-furry rat with menacing and protruding incisors appeared at the left most man's side. Slightly bigger than the rat creature, the second Pokémon appeared and it resembled a large armadillo with multiple rocky spikes protruding from its back. It had a pair a large scythe-like claws on either hand and it stood upright with its claws ready for battle at the right most man's side. The ring leader had a Pokémon that was much taller and much more menacing than the other two creatures. As the flash of the Pokéball disappeared, it was replaced by a purple, cobra snake that hissed as it glared at his opponents. His tongue flicked in and out of its mouth in anticipation of the coming battle. In order from Aiden's perspective from left to right the Pokémon were identified as Raticate, Arbok, Sandslash.
At last! I thought that I'd have to force them to battle! Time to shine! Aiden smirked and readied himself for battle. He turned and addressed the girl named Vivian. "Stay behind me. I'll protect you." He grabbed a Pokéball and summoned his Pokémon to the field. There was a bright flash followed by the appearance of his Pokémon. It was a lizard-like creature that stood upright on two legs. It was a little over three feet tall. The creature had razor sharp claws on both hand and feet. A single horn proceeded from out of the back of his head. He whipped his tail back and forth causing the flame on the end of it to dance in the air. But the most notable feature was not the claws or the flame tail, it was the color.
"What is that?" one of the men declared.
"I think… it's a… Charmeleon," the other man said doubtly. "But I thought that they were red, not orange."
"You're going to fight us with that… thing?" the first man said. "Please! And what's wrong with his skin? Is that supposed to scare me? Wait, I know, you're such a terrible trainer that his skin has turned colors because he's sick! Regardless, we'll still make you regret insulting members of Team Rocket!"
Aiden, as well as his Pokémon, glanced at each other and seemed to smile. "My Pokémon is fine. In fact, he could take all three of yours' at once and win! Charmeleon, Go!" The shiny orange fire lizard charged at the opposing Pokémon so fast that it a trail of fire traced the ground behind him as he moved.
The first Pokémon, the Raticate, charged but was unprepared for the agility of the fire Pokémon. Charmeleon was in front of it before it even had time to react. The lizard unleashed an intense heat wave in the rat's face so powerful that the grass below the beam withered and shrunk away in fear. Charmeleon then grabbed it and tossed him up into the air and tail whipped it even higher.
The other two Pokémon started their attack runs. The Arbok lunged and tried to wrap its tail around Charmeleon but the fire lizard was too quick. It leapt into the air slightly and cast another intense wave of flames down upon the snake. When the fire subsided, Arbok was singed and blackened in places, but it could still attack just not as fast as it could have. Charmeleon landed with his back towards the snake. The snake sprang after the fire lizard trying to subdue the lizard with its powerful bite and lethal venom.
"I got you now!" the ring leader hissed with excitement.
With a quick, precisely timed command from its master, Charmeleon turned to face the cobra, back flipped, and whipped the cobra's mouth closed. The strike was so powerful that the over one hundred pound cobra was flung backwards with its intensely hot tail. It crashed down into the earth with a nauseating thud just as the Charmeleon landed gracefully on the ground.
The triumph was short lived when suddenly the Sandslash leapt into the air from behind the downed cobra. It slashed down on Charmeleon, but a quick forwards roll by the lizard and Sandslash's attack missed it mark. Charmeleon, now behind his opponent, leapt high into the air and cast a blaze down upon the victim. It was so intense that everyone felt the heat radiate from the attack. Sweat formed rapidly on every person's face as the heat radiated through the air with the fire assault. As long as the attack continued, Charmeleon was raised up into the air a little bit more.
Sandslash tried initially to fight the flames by cutting through them with its claws, but its efforts were to no avail. Through the fire everyone saw that the moments of the Pokémon became more and more sluggish. All it could do was use its claws now to shield its face from the attack. The intensity of Charmeleon's fire attack was so blistering that the temperature of the battlefield was raised a few degrees in the short span of the attack.
The relentless flame assault suddenly stopped and Sandslash appeared from the flames, hurt badly evidenced by the significant amount of carbon scaring on its hide; however, it still had a will to battle. A small shadow, which was initially difficult to see because of the charred grass and dirt, appeared on the ground in front of the Sandslash which soon encompassed its entire body. Everyone's eyes immediately looked for the shadow's source above the spike-backed armadillo only to realize that it was the Raticate from before finally coming back down to earth. Exhaustion kept Sandslash from evading and it dropped to one knee as it tried to deny what was inevitable and escape the collision.
Charmeleon, still in the air, looked at his trainer and they seemed to nod to each other. The golden Pokémon glanced at the falling Raticate and spun in the air and struck the Pokémon with his tail so as to accelerate its descent to earth. The accelerated tail whip action caused a fire trail to follow Raticate all the way to the ground and into the awaiting Sandslash.
The crash was nearly deafening as both Pokémon collided, sending dirt in every direction and creating a dust cloud so intense that it became difficult to breath easily. Silence soon accompanied the battlefield as the results of what had just happened slowly began to register in everyone's mind. When the cloud dissipated, the three trainers gasped at the sight of all three of their Pokémon, all unconscious, lying in a small crater created no doubt by that last attack. The battle was over! And so quickly!
The men then looked past that sight to see Charmeleon standing in front of his trainer glaring at them with an intense gaze that begged for them to do something foolish so it could attack again. The lust for battle in its eyes seemed to beg for more of a challenge from the Team Rocket members. It was almost as if this Charmeleon hungered for battle and was now disappointed that it was done.
The battle had ended as quickly as it had begun and Aiden and his Pokémon glared at the three men who seemed to be in total shock that their Pokémon had lost so quickly. Aiden then spoke up in a deep, seemingly arrogant tone, "Your three Pokémon are weak and poorly trained compared to my one Pokémon. Now that they have been defeated, I suggest that you leave."
Aiden and Charmeleon took a step toward the men in perfect unison, their eyes still aflame from the heat of the battle. "Or would you rather stay and continue fighting because we would love to accommodate that too." The Team Rocket members looked at the young trainer with disdain. They looked at each other grudgingly accepting what had happened. They recalled their Pokémon and slowly backed away from the scene.
The ring-leader made one final remark before he turned and left: "You'll pay for this, kid. I'll make sure of it. I'll make you regret ever crossing my path." With that, the troublemakers turned and left Aiden and the girl whom he had saved alone.
Vivian watched in amazement as this mysterious boy soundly defeated her attackers and did not seem to break out in a sweat, except when his Pokémon was using its flame attack. But, he kept himself calm, cool, and collected during the entire struggle. She reached up with her hand to wipe the excessive perspiration off of her forehead realizing that she probably sweated more than he did.
She watched him as he walked slowly over to her bag, glance around for any other threats, and pick it up. He then turned around allowing her to see the countenance of her savior.
When he turned to face her, his pacific blue eyes caught her attention almost immediately and she could not remove her gaze from his eyes. Small locks of his sandy blond hair extended to his eyebrows captivating her attention even more.
Suddenly, Vivian realized that she was staring at him for the longest time and her face changed colors from her normal skin tone to a deep shade of crimson. Glancing down at the ground, she noticed that some of her stuff was scattered on the ground. Kneeling down, Vivian began to collect the wayward items into a pile.
Aiden watched as the girl eyed him and then saw her face blush and her sudden action of picking up her stuff that was strewn across the ground. He bent down and began to help pick things up for her.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, thanks to you," she replied bashfully.
"I believe these belong to you," he said as he handed her a couple of items.
She looked up at him shortly, smiled cutely, and accepted the items and her bag that was handed to her. His voice seemed to calm her soul and bring peace to the very core of her being. "Thank you so much. I would have battled them myself but they took my bag. And that is where I kept my Pokéballs," she replied nervously feeling her face flush with excitement and nervousness at the same time. "I'm Vivian." She extended her hand to Aiden who graciously accepted it and gave it a warm squeeze and a shake.
He couldn't help but stop and admire the beauty of this girl. Her brunette colored hair had many highlights and gave off a sweet aroma that wafted into Aiden's nose intoxicating him, making him want another smell. Her smooth, gentle face was small and slender. Her brown eyes were loving and caring as could be. As he shook her hand, he noticed how soft and smooth her hand was. Aiden felt his face flush with the same color red as her but he tried to push that feeling down as he tried to act as professional as possible.
"I'm Aiden. It's a pleasure to meet you." They stood up and grabbed their respective bags. Aiden took his eyes off of Vivian to grab his stuff and noticed that his Charmeleon was standing a ways off behind his legs. "Hey," Aiden whispered addressing his Pokémon, "It's okay. She's not going to hurt you." Aiden prodded his Pokémon with his hand and he cautiously and slowly stepped out in front of his trainer.
Vivian glanced over her shoulder and noticed a medium sized Pokémon slowly walk in front of his trainer. Its head was bowed low and it seemed as if it were scared to move anywhere. "Oh, if it isn't Charmeleon? He's so cute," she announced gleefully. The small lizard perked up and looked at the young girl. When eye contact was made, Vivian continued, "Thank you so much, Charmeleon." This seemed to delight the Pokémon and he looked up at his trainer and seemed to smile.
"See? I told you she is all right. You can trust her," Aiden said with his calming and soothing voice. Charmeleon looked back at Vivian and opened up more to this girl whom he could now trust. He ran over to her and hugged her leg and Vivian reached out and scratched the top of its head which it seemed to thoroughly enjoy. "All right, now. You need to rest, little buddy." With that, Aiden grabbed his Pokéball and recalled his Pokémon back inside of its ball.
As he put the ball away, Aiden narrowed his eyes and glanced around indistinctly, feeling as if he was being watched carefully by someone other than Vivian. But he dismissed that feeling when Vivian started talking to him. "Aiden, was it?" He nodded. "Thank you for all of your help," she began.
"Don't worry about it. You should consider traveling in a group. It would be safer that way. Do you have anyone you're going with?"
"No," she replied sheepishly, shaking her head back and forth.
"No? Vivian, you mean that you're out here all alone?" Aiden asked in astonishment.
"Yes. I-I thought that I could handle myself, but I guess not. I'm not cut out to be a Pokémon trainer, am I?"
"That's not true! All you need is a little bit of coaching and some life experience, both of which I could give you if you want." Aiden looked at the girl with a hopeful smile.
Vivian bowed her head and her hat covered up her eyes. She seemed to be on the verge of tears. "Well, you see, my mom said that I should learn to be a homemaker. She said that I should learn cooking skills not Pokémon skills. But that type of life wasn't for me. I wanted to explore the world and become a Pokémon trainer."
"Hmmm… Seems to me that we have something in common," Aiden mused loud enough for her to hear. Vivian looked up at him finally with a slight watering in her eyes. "If you want, I could travel with you for a little while to keep you safe. Would you like that? You wouldn't be alone anymore. And I can do my best to help you reach the next town."
He extended his hand toward her and she looked at it, agonizing over what to do. She then came to a decision that she thought was right. She grabbed his hand and replied, "Sure, I'd love that. And you can call me Vi. That's what my friends call me."
Aiden's ears perked up when he heard that he could call her by her shortened name. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze just to make sure that he was not dreaming. Once he determined that he wasn't, Aiden looked into Vi's eyes and said, "Well then, Vi, let's make our way into town. We can figure out what happens when we get there."
