Chapter 3: VS. Murkrow

Following Eddy's battle with Red, the Eds journeyed towards Sandgem toward via route 201. Route 201 was a short and grassy road that linked Sandgem town & Twinleaf town. Much like the two towns it linked, route 201 was very serene and was relatively untouched by mankind. Edd liked this place for those very qualities. Eddy, on the other hand, found route 201 to be "snoresville", which was why he bolted at top speed toward Sandgem town.

"Cmon, sock hat! You're dragging us all behind!" complained Eddy.

"Well, Eddy, excuse me for not being as athletic as you." said Edd sarcastically "some of us actually want to enjoy our journey!"

"I do, too. Which is why we're running to the nearest city! There's like nothing to do here!"

"We can wait for that! How about we slow down and take a breather? I feel like I'm going to collapse."

Eddy groaned and the three of them came to a stop. "You never were good at keeping up with us, were you sock hat?"

"How 'bout this?" propositioned Eddy "You stay here an' go as fast as you want, and Ed n' me run off to Sandgem town?"

Edd wanted to stay with his friends, but he didn't have the strength to keep up with them, and knowing Eddy, his mind couldn't be changed. Defeated, Edd acquiesced.

"Alright, Eddy. I'll stay here and you can go."

"Alright! Let's go, Ed!" Eddy instructed.

"But Eddy, shouldn't we wait for Double Dee?" asked Ed

"Don't worry about him, this is the best for both of us. He gets to do his boring nature walk and we get to go on ahead. It's a win-win." replied Eddy, already walking off. Ed looked back at Edd with a worried expression.

"Come on, Lumpy! Let's go!" Ed hesitantly ran off with Eddy. Fatigued from the constant running, Edd sat down to regain his composure. Edd was unhappy that his best friends had just deserted him, but he decided to at least use his time alone productively. Edd was sure that there were some nature trails that he could walk along while observing the wildlife. Long after Eddy had disappeared from his line of sight, Edd walked on one of route 201's scenic paths.

As he walked down the path, Edd made sure to observe all of the different pokemon species moving about. In terms of biodiversity, route 201 was very homogenous. Almost all of the pokemon were either in the starly or bidoof evolution lines, with a few kricketots and kricketunes making noise. He noticed something yellow that stuck out from the rest of the pokemon. Dashing about the tall grass was a pikachu wearing a pink flower in its ear. Edd was sure that Pikachu didn't naturally appear here. Edd walked toward the pikachu with the intent of studying it. Noticing Edd's presence, the Pikachu dashed off and hid itself behind a pair of blue boots. Edd looked up to see a girl in her mid-teens. She had a long blond hair tied together in a ponytail, which along with her yellow shirt, accented her golden eyes. In her hands was a straw hat with a couple feathers sticking out.

"Oh, hi there." the girl said in a bright, friendly voice.

"Oh hello." Edd replied "Is this your pikachu?"

"Yes, this is chuchu, my pikachu. She's been my companion for a long time. Actually, I've been letting my pokemon get some fresh air." Edd noticed her pokemon, which were a in a field a short distance away. Out playing in the field was a Raticate, Dodrio, Omastar, Golem, and Butterfree. Chuchu ran off to rejoin her friends.

"With a team like that, you must be a Veteran trainer." Edd conjectured

"My pokemon can hold their own in a fight, but I always prefer not to get into battles." the girl replied. "But you are right about the veteran part; I've been with these pokemon since I was eleven-years-old. They've been some of my best friends and closest companions."

"I haven't been a trainer as long as you have, but I still have found being a trainer to be very rewarding in that way." Edd said. He then remembered something. "I haven't introduced myself yet, my name is Edd. I'm from a town called peach creek."

"Oh, my name is Yellow and I'm from the Viridian grove in Kanto. What region is Peach Creek in?"

"It's in Hoenn."

"I haven't travelled in Hoenn much, but I have a few friends who are from littleroot town."

"Yeah, Littleroot isn't far away from Peach Creek." Said Edd "Where in Hoenn did you go?"

"Most of the time I was on an island where the battle frontier is."

"YOU got invited to the battle frontier? Only the best trainers get invitations to go there!"

"Well, my going there wasn't because of invitation; it was due to extraordinary circumstances. Besides, in what few battles I participated in, I did rather poorly."

"Still, that's very impressive. Where else did you go?"

"The only other places I went were Sotopolis and Lilycove Cities, which I went to with my friends from Hoenn."

"Lilycove is one of my favorite cities because It has all of the benefits of the city while still maintaining a rustic charm. That, and the Lilycove art museum is there." Edd said "Sotopolis, however, is just... breath taking. The great majesty of the city is something that must be seen to be truly experienced. Visiting these two cities with my friends was one of the best experiences in my life."

"I agree; travelling with friends is one of life's great experiences." Said Yellow "Speaking of which, where are your friends at the moment?"

"Oh, they left me behind on their way to Sandgem town because I couldn't keep up with them."

"That was awfully mean of them."

"Don't get me wrong, they're still close friends; It's just that sometimes, one of them in particular isn't very caring of other's feelings. He can be selfish and arrogant at times, but he sticks up for me and so does my other friend."

"Well, It's still nice to have friends with you, flawed they may be."

"Yeah, but on the plus side I got to go and explore for a bit and talk with you."

"I Agree; I enjoy talking with you."

Line Break

Meanwhile, Ed and Edd were walking around Sandgem town.

"You know, Lumpy. Don't think this town is any more interesting than the route where Double Dee is. I mean there's nothing to do 'round here. There aren't any real shops outside of the pokemart and beach is completely empty this time of day, not that there would be many people there during the day, from looking at the people here."

"Yeah, Eddy. Double Dee said that we won't be able to reach the nearest city for another day or two" Said Ed.

"I wonder what sock head is up to anyway. Probably studying some stupid bug pokemon or something."

"We should go back and get him, Eddy."

"What?"

"It's getting late and we should go and find him. You need to apologize to him, anyway."

"Oh, come on. It was his fault for lagging behind and-" Eddy fell silent as Ed stared at him very sternly. Eddy shortly gave up.

"Okay, Okay! We'll go get Sock Head!" said Eddy. Ed Smiled lightly as they both ran off back to route 201.

Line Break

Yellow and Edd had been talking for a while, so it was almost night. The Setting sun painted the landscape in a dark light.

"I've had a good time talking with you, but I really should meet up with my friends; they're probably worried about me." said Edd

"Okay, would you mind if I accompanied you to Sandgem town?" said Yellow

"Not at all; I enjoy your company."

The two of them walked for a few minutes when Edd noticed a large group of birds in the distance. Unlike the starly who lived in the area, these birds where pitch black.

"Huh, that's odd. I haven't see any of these birds in this area before." pondered Edd. "I wonder what species that is." Edd was able to get good look at them as they aggressively charged him and yellow.

"Go, Meganium!"

"Go, Golosk!"

Yellow's Golem and Edd's Meganium's sudden appearance deflected the swarm's attack. At that distance, Edd was able to see clearly what the pokemon were. It was a swarm of murkrow, said to bring bad luck to others during the night.

"Meganium, use energy ball!"

"Golosk, use rock blast!"

Meganium was able to score a direct hit on one of the murkrow, but Golem's slow moving projectiles had a hard time hitting their targets.

"They're going to fast! Golosk can't hit them!" yelled Yellow.

"Send out your Pikachu, then!"

"I can't! there are too many of them!" The Edd and Yellow were forced to hide behind their pokemon as the Murkrows' attacks became increasingly ferocious. Meganium and Golem were able to knock out a few of the Murkrows' with their attacks, but they were very much on the defensive. Meganium was especially weak from the constant attacks. Meganium and Golem used their bodies to form a defensive circle in which Edd and Yellow hid.

"I don't think meganium can hold out much longer!" said Edd "I'm Going to send out my elekid!"

"Good idea, I'll send out Chuchu!"

"Go, Elekid!"

"Go, Chuchu!"

Both pokemon emerged from the balls and released a nasty thundershock at the birds. The combined electrical attacks of the two pokemon was able to relieve some of the attacks off of Meganium. Even so, Edd and Yellow were still heavily outnumbered.

"Chuchu, thundershock again!"

"You too, Elekid!"

Elekid and chuchu's attacks were hurting the swarm badly, but the pair were tired from the repeated attacks. Even with its thick rock skin, Golem was fatigued from the fighting and Meganium was on the verge of collapse.

"Meganium is going to fall if we don't get out soon!" yelled Edd

"We can't leave! They've got us surrounded!" Yellow yelled back.

Meganium braced itself as the swarm formed up for another assault.

"Swinub, use icy wind!"

A cold blast of air knocked the swarm off course and chilled their joints, slowing them. Golosk took advantage of this and fired off a rock blast which hit several Murkrow. Edd looked over to where the voice came from to see Ed and Eddy with their pokemon out. Edd let out a sigh of relief from seeing them.

"Don't hog all the glory from me, lumpy! Gible, use dragon rage!"

Eddy's Gible released a giant orange fireball from its mouth, which slammed into a couple Murkrow, knocking them out. With the enemies attention diverted from them, Yellow and Edd's pokemon started attacking again. Rocks and electric bolts decimated the Murkrow. Many of the remaining Murkrow started to flee from the battle.

"Oh no, you don't! Swinub, use ice shard!" Ed commanded. Swinub charged up and released a bunch of fast-moving frozen shards. Swinub was able to knock out one of the Murkrow with this attack.

"Alright! Go, Pokeball" Yelled Ed as he threw a pokeball at the fainted Murkrow. The ball pulled the pokemon in and effortlessly captured it. Everyone returned their battle-weary companions as Ed went to get his new team mate.

"Eddy, Ed! Thanks for helping us! I don't think we would have made it!" said a very relieved Edd.

"No problemo, sockhat." Eddy replied

"Ummm, look. I'm sorry about before, okay." said Eddy, who clearly wasn't accustomed to giving apologies. "It was bad of me to leave you behind. Can you forgive me?"

"I forgive you Eddy, if only because you came back."

"Alright, guys! Let's go!" Said Eddy.

"Wait, Eddy! Before we leave, I want to introduce you someone to you both. This is Yellow; she's a trainer from Kanto." said Eddy

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." said Yellow in her usual cheery voice.

"The pleasure is all mine." said Eddy.

"Nice too meet ya!" said Ed.

"I stilll need to go to Sandgem town, so do you all mind if I tag along?" asked Yellow.

"Not at all, so let's get going!" said Eddy as they all started to walk off.

"Now that I think about it, it's strange that a large group of Murkrow would appear and attack us around here." said Edd. "Murkrow wouldn't usually live in that concentration around here naturally."

"The only forest I can think of that would be large enough to have this many is Eterna Forest, but that's far north." Said Yellow.

"Weird."

Line Break

As the Eds and Yellow walked away, a group of conspicuous spacesuit-wearing adults started talking.

"Dammit, we were so close!" one of them moaned.

"We should have attacked earlier! This is all your fault, Phobos!" Another replied

"We'll we would have, but you had to stop for a bit to eat, didn't you Deimos!" Phobos replied.

"I hadn't eaten since this morning! How do you expect me to fight with no strength?" Deimos retorted.

"You didn't even have to fight! You just had to release the murkrow like the rest of us and let them force the natives to do battle! Honestly, how you got promoted to sub-commander is beyond me!"

"Um, sirs?" one of the others said "Shouldn't we go get our pokemon back?"

"You're right." Phobos said, disappointed with the events that had transpired. "Let's go."

Line Break

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As you can tell, it's much longer than the others.

R & R, as usual.

Bio #3

Name: Eddy

Pokemon (on hand): Charizard (his starter), gible (received from Prof. Rowan)

Pokemon (elsewhere): Exploud (caught as a whismur near rustoboro city), Metagross (received from steven as a beldum), Absol (caught near fortree city), Dusclops (caught near mt. pyre), houndoom (caught on mt. pyre)

Eddy is the trio's leader and the most ambitious of the three, though he has a tendancy to disregard his friends' well-being in favor of personal gain. He, like his friends, participated in the Hoenn league and was able to win the tournament.