Many thanks to the amazing Big B 007 for the kind review! Also, the offer of cookies still stands! Also, I just realized that Newbark town is actually New Bark town, but meh….I still wrote it the other way here. Anyways, enjoy and review ;)
P.S: Anyone reading this should check out the works of Big B 007, WitSicness, and Pokestets23 among others. They're all SUPERB writers!
"You know, I could get used to this," Ginan sighed in content. The teen was seated at a small table on the patio of a café just outside Newbark town, where trainers came to rest up for a little while or get a nice caffeine fix. She took another sip of her wild berry smoothie, letting the delicious taste of crushed up Oran and Pecha berries slide down her throat. "Want some, Bentlie?" She pushed the cup toward the normal type seated on the table.
"Ee!" She squeaked, licking out some of the smoothie.
"I could just always do this, sitting at café's, drinking smoothies and coffee, wouldn't be so bad would it?" Ginan mused to herself, leaning back and letting the afternoon sun and beginning breezes caress her face.
"Oh, come on Ginan!" The girl sprang up upon hearing her name from a beautifully familiar voice.
"Jelly!" Ginan gasped, seeing the source's voice. It was Ginan's best friend Angelica, or as Ginan always called her Jelly. She'd moved to Hoenn last year, and Ginan hadn't seen her since. She rushed out of her chair to give her a euphoric hug. "What's up? I haven't seen you since you moved to Hoenn last year!" The teen grinned happily, taking in Angelica's summery Hoenn outfit of green shorts poking out underneath a white sundress.
Jelly smiled in response, brushing her shoulder length light brown hair behind her and adjusting her green bandanna. "Well, I recently finished with the Hoenn grand festival, so I decided to come back to Johto to go on another journey! Look," She paused, rummaging around in her bag, and pulling out a small pink case. "I already got my first Johto ribbon!"
"Wow that's great!" Ginan responded, as Bentlie hopped down from the table, and remembering Angelica telling her she'd become a Pokémon coordinator. "So you're travelling through Johto now?"
"Sure am!" Jelly nodded happily. "And…did you just get your first pokemon?"
Ginan petted Bentlie. "Yeah…my Mom made me go on a journey; well actually I just started this morning."
Angelica sat down across from Ginan, a grin on her heart shaped face. "Oh, look at little Ginan, starting a pokemon journey at last! Only…you haven't even made it completely out of her hometown yet!"
"Hey, I put my priorities first!" Ginan laughed, polishing off her smoothie. "Plus, I'm only taking a break, I had to catch a pokemon thief earlier before I could even get Bentlie!''
Angelica raised an eyebrow. "Oh, rough start? I remember before getting Coco, my Mudkip, I had to chase off some tiny Zigzagoon for professor Birch before he could realize they didn't even know proper attacks!" She giggled, remembering her Hoenn journey debut. "It was my first battle with my first pokemon…"
"Sounds like a fun time," Ginan smiled, putting down a few bills on the table to pay for her smoothie. "So where are you headed, Jelly?"
"Right now I'm on my way to Cherrygrove city, which is where my next contest is! What about you?" She responded, adjusting her white messenger bag over her green shorts.
Ginan bit her lip, awkwardly not really knowing the answer. "Uh…well I'm not really sure…I mean, I haven't even decided what I want to do with my journey yet…"
Angelica let out a guffaw. "Oh, come on Ginan, you don't even know that? Maybe you could enter the contest with me!"
"No thanks!'' Ginan said quickly. She wasn't too fond of large crowds starting at her, and most likely judging her as well. "Actually, why don't I ask Bentlie?" She turned towards her Eevee, who scratched her head for a moment, then pawed excitedly at the ground, hunching down into a battle ready position.
"Looks like she wants to battle," Angelica observed.
Ginan snapped her fingers. "Well, if that's the case, then maybe we could do gym battles. My Mom did those across all of Hoenn, Johto, Kanto, and Sinnoh, and my Dad also…" She shook her head, not wanting to go into that touchy subject. "Anyway, I think that means I'll challenge the Johto gym circuit!" She finished happily, patting Bentlie's head.
"Sounds like a good plan," Angelica agreed. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it. I remember my friend Draco back in Hoenn challenged all the gyms, and he had a lot of fun with it. There was even this one gym, the seventh one, that had two leaders, and they challenged us in a tag battle, so I got to fight in a gym battle alongside him, it was pretty cool!" She pulled out a shiny looking badge from her bag. "Ta-da! My one and only gym badge!"
"Nice!" Ginan commented. "So, if I remember correctly, there's a gym in Violet city, which is North of Cherrygrove, so I guess I can come with you!"
Angelica brightened. "Yeah! That sounds like a good idea! So it looks like it's the two of us again, travelling together!"
Ginan hoisted her pack over her shoulders, ready to head off. "Just like old times! Oh, the escapades we used to have, like when we snuck out off together at night, and made it all the way to Kanto! Well, it wasn't as impressive when we realized it was only fifteen minutes from us, but still…good times." As the two reminisced over old adventures, they began walking on the route edging Newbark, or route 29 as a small wooden sign on indicated. As the twon disappeared behind them, Ginan felt a sense of accomplishment. She'd made it out of her hometown at least, that had to count for something. And she'd even been able to reunite with her best friend. Perhaps, with Jelly at her side, this journey would be so horrendous after all…just maybe.
The grass began growing thicker and deeper, with wild pokemon darting in and out. With the help of her pokedex, Ginan was able to decipher Pidgeys and a few Caterpies, but nothing that looked like extremely catchable material just yet; she probably just had to wait it out for a while.
"Ohmylugia I want that Pokemon!" Ginan gushed a split second later. A small, brown raccoon like pokemon with fluffy ears and white rings on its belly jumped down from a tree, landing gracefully and standing up on its busy striped tail, making it appear taller than it really was. "So cute! I'm going to check this out!'' She dug out her white device, quickly scanning the pokemon.
"Sentret, the Scout Pokemon. It stands on its tail so it can see a long way. If it spots an enemy, it cries loudly to warn its kind." The machine recited. Ginan grinned, stuffing the device in her pocket.
"Okay Bentlie, let's go!" With a determined cry, the Eevee leapt forward, going down into a battle stance. At this, the Sentret's eye's widened in alarm, and it let out a high pitch squeal. At once, at least a dozen other Sentret rushed out from nearby trees and bushes, all forming a mass behind the first one. "Oh…guess the pokedex didn't lie…" Ginan said nervously, stepping back.
"I can give you a hand…my first battle against wild Johto pokemon," Angelica put in happily, reaching for a pokeball. "Go, Jordy!" A small, red fox like pokemon popped out on the grass next to Bentlie, an eager look on his face.
"A Vulpix? Nice choice…you always wanted a Ninetales," Ginan said, nodding at the fire type.
Angelica nodded happily. "Yep! I caught this little guy right before leaving Hoenn! Good catch too. Now, Jordy use confuse ray!"
"Bentlie, you use sand attack!" As several Sentret began rushing forward, their small claws outreached for a group scratch attack, hypnotic blue waves shot forth from Jordy's eyes, travelling in intricate spirals toward the attackers, and rendering a few of them confused, wobbling around with no sense of direction. At the same time, Bentlie kicked up several clots of dirt, kicking up a small dust could around her, veiling her from the approaching normal types.
"Now, Jordy use ember!"A small flame began forming in Jordy's mouth, and as it shot it forward, he ran his six tails through it, making the flame split into six fire streams and hit all attacking Sentrets, as several more squeaks were emitted.
"Bentlie, tackle!" She rushed forward, sending several Sentrets skidding away. However, as the two pokemon continued their onslaught, the one Sentret that had been the first to fall from the tree suddenly burst forward, it paws extended, and nailed Bentlie right in the stomach, sending the Eevee flying backwards with a yelp of pain.
Angelica widened her eyes. "That's the most powerful one…he must be their pack leader or something!" She noted, and then spotted several more Sentret attacking Jordy. "Quick use tail whip!" Jordy's six tails each made a malevolent snapping sound, sending the attackers cowering away slightly.
"Tackle again!" At Ginan's command, Eevee suddenly rammed into the Sentrets surrounding Jordy, sending them skidding backwards. After several more moments, all the normal types had been dealt with except for the leader. He (as Ginan discovered from the pokedex) burst forward, ramming hard into Bentlie and sending her tumbling back. The now panting and bruised Eevee got back up, narrowing her eyes at the Sentret. In a flash of speed, she barreled forward, tackling the Sentret and pinning him to the ground. "Wow…was that a new attack?"
"I think so," Angelica nodded. "It looked like a quick attack to me…like a fast version of tackle. Anyway, try throwing a pokeball now! It looks weakened enough!"
"Right," Ginan nodded. She took out one of the pokeballs that Elm gave her alongside her pokedex and threw it forward. The small ball, contrary to her wishes, bounced off uselessly, as Angelica giggled again.
"Come on, Ginan, you have to enlarge it first!" She told the teen.
Ginan frowned. "Well, not all of us did this last year!" She quickly scooped up the pokeball again, and clicked the center button, causing the sphere to swell from the size of a ping pong ball to about that of a baseball, and hurled it forward again. This time, the ball let out a red flash of light and sucked Sentret inside. The ball shook for a few moments, the center button glowing a bright white shade. After about four or five shakes, the ball stopped moving, as the center button clicked and stopped shaking. Ginan walked forward, and gingerly scooped up the pokeball, a triumphant smile stretching across her face. "Great job, Bentlie. We caught a Sentret!"
So Ginan caught a Sentret, that was always one of my favorite Johto pokemon…
Do you think she made a good first capture?
What do you think of Angelica so far?
Do you think Ginan's caught out for the gym challenges?
Thanks for reading!