OK, people, I've decided to ask for my loyal readers' opinions. First of all, do you think any of the characters so far would be suitable as a rival for Jake? Any character at all. You could even suggest some of your own invention, if you can be bothered. Secondly, do you think Jake and Sam need another companion? Again, your own characters are welcome suggestions. Finally, what evolutions do you think the Eevees should take? I've got some ideas, but I'd like your opinions, especially with the revelation of two new Eevee evolutions. See if you can guess the evolutions I have in mind. I've left a few obscure clues so far, but nothing's set in "stone". Heh, heh. Get it? Sorry, that was terrible. Oh, and does anybody now how to separate different sections of the chapters when submitting? The gap between each paragraph is the same no matter how many lines, or lines with indents, I put in the Word doc. Please send help! Shit! I've just realised I've been calling Ilex Forest Azalea Forest. Damn, now I've got to edit the other chapters AGAIN! And if you were wondering, I haven't modelled Ilex Forest after the game version, and I have no idea what the anime version is like. It's modelled after the forests to the south of Sydney, near Nowra.
Update: Fixed the problem with the paragraphs. Not perfect but it'll
do. Thanks for the help Kyre Alder and Mysterious Secret.
Jake and Sam left Goldenrod for Azalea early Monday morning. Too early, in Jake's opinion. They woke up at 5:30 a.m., to leave at 6:30. Sam always insisted that they get up early on days that they were going to be walking. He liked having as much daylight in which to walk as possible. Jake had thought he would be used to it after the trip to Goldenrod, but three weeks of sleeping in to whatever times he liked meant he was extremely grumpy when Sam's alarm clock woke him up.
They both had a good, long shower. The trip from Goldenrod to Azalea takes about a week and a half, according to Sam, including a long trek through Ilex Forest, so they knew that hot showers would be few and far between for quite a while. They also stuffed themselves and their pokemon with a huge breakfast, before going back to their rooms to make their final preparations.
They left the Pokemon Centre right on 6:30, taking a cab to the southern edge of the city. They began walking from there, all of Jake's Eevees either walking beside them or, in Chestnut's case, perching on Jake's shoulder. Jake kept an eye on his Pokenav as they walked, making sure they were on the right roads, etc. They came across quite a few wild pokemon, and Jake took these opportunities to train his pokemon further. Chestnut's ability to dig was getting greater with every battle, and he was almost able to get far enough underground to move undetected, like Sam's Diglett. He was still very slow underground though, but Jake figured speed would come with practice and strength. Lemon's Body Slam was still a bit inaccurate, but a lot better than it had been when she'd first learnt it. But it was Silvio's Shadow Ball that was really impressing Jake, and Sam, for that matter. Once, Silvio managed to knock out Sam's Poochyena with it, despite the Dark pokemon's natural resistance to ghost type moves, and his greater experience. Admittedly, Silvio was lucky, as Pooch was flung into a tree trunk, which added considerably to the damage. Sam was still impressed that Silvio could send Pooch flying in the first place. Silvio was not particularly interested in Jake or Sam's praise, though, and after accepting a spray of potion from Jake, kept trotting along, without waiting for his trainer to follow.
Jake was still concerned about Silvio. At times, it seemed as though he'd come to fully accept him as a trainer and friend. Other times, however, he would treat Jake almost with disdain. Sometimes, when Jake asked him to get back in his pokeball, he would dash off, dodging the beams of red light. He never refused to battle for him, though, which gave Jake some confidence. Although it could be that he just liked fighting other pokemon, and Jake had nothing to do with it.
They stopped for a break after two hours of walking. They had had small breaks for a minute or so along the way, but they decided it was time for a bit of a longer rest. So far, they had stuck to the coastline, and when they came across a nice white beach with some shade, they figured it was as good a place to stop as any.
Jake was rummaging through his pack for food when he saw the fishing rod Peter had given him. Looking out to sea, he figured he might as well try it out.
He hooked some pokemon food onto the fish hook, and inexpertly cast the line into the sea. Sam watched in amusement as the line barely cleared the shore. He came over and helped Jake cast properly. He'd often gone fishing with his family before he started his journey.
The next time Jake tried, the line went a suitable distance. Sam told him to just wait for a while, until a bite came. Jake jammed the rod into the sand, and they both had a rest under the shade of some trees. After a few minutes, Jake got a bite, and Sam told him how to reel in the pokemon.
Jake was a little put out to discover he'd landed a Magikarp. Rather than fight the pathetic pokemon, he let it back into the sea. He recast, and once again waited. The next pokemon he landed was a Tentacool. He decided that this was worth a fight. He sent out Silvio, as he'd be able to attack without coming within striking distance of Tentacool's poisonous tentacles. The battle ended after just one Shadow Ball. Again, Silvio was in no mood for praise, returning to his spot in the shade.
They had been resting for fifteen minutes, and they decided that was enough. They set off again, still sticking to the coast. Jake was a bit annoyed he hadn't come across any more powerful pokemon while he was fishing, but Sam did not seem surprised.
"If you want to find some water pokemon worth catching, you've gotta go out off the coast in a boat or something," he told Jake. "That's what my cousin told me, anyway. He caught a Remoraid, which evolved into an Octillery. One of the friends he was travelling caught a Seadra, which eventually evolved into a Kingdra."
"Sounds cool," said Jake, still not entirely sure he wanted to catch one anyway. He still had the option of evolving one of his Eevees into a Vaporeon.
They came across some other trainers after another hour, a group of four. They all claimed to be beginners, so Jake challenged one of them to a battle, a trainer of about twelve, who's name was Danny. He was a bit in awe of Jake's three Eevees, as were most people when they first saw them. He didn't let it distract him, however, and he accepted the challenge. It was to be a two-on-two battle, with $60 for the winner.
The other trainers cleared the area, as they took several steps back. Because Danny had already seen Jake's pokemon, he offered to release his pokemon first, despite Jake being the challenger. He released a small, (female, according to Sam) Oddish.
Silvio had become somewhat of the go-to pokemon for Jake when there was no obvious advantage to any of his pokemon, despite his strange attitude, so he sent him out first.
"Alright, Silvio, tackle her."
Silvio crashed into Oddish, sending it toppling over. The bulbous pokemon rolled to its feet, however, and they once again stood facing each other.
"Leach Seed, Sucker," yelled Danny, a grin on his face. Jake didn't know an Oddish could learn Leech Seed. He watched as Silvio didn't quite dodge the seeds that spurted from the top of Oddish's head. As they began to sprout, he knew he had limited time to finish the battle.
"OK, Silvio, use Shadow Ball."
"Razor Leaf," called Danny at the same time.
Both attacks found their target. Fortunately for Silvio, the sharp leaves sent his way severed some of the sprouts that were slowly engulfing him, but he also received a lot of nasty gashes. His opponent, however, was even worse off. The poor Oddish, Sucker, took the force of Silvio's Shadow Ball full on. She was flung backwards, bounced and skidded a couple of times, before coming to a stop. She didn't get up.
Danny returned his Oddish with a look of incredulity. His second, and final pokemon, was a Mareep named, "Shocker".
With Silvio still suffering from the effects of Leech Seed, he knew there was little point in battling with him further. Instead, he recalled him, sending out Chestnut.
"Chestnut, dig as far underground as you can." Jake had been discussing a strategy against electric types specifically with Chestnut, and this was the perfect opportunity to use it.
Danny looked stumped. First an Eevee with Shadow Ball, now one that could dig! He knew that his Mareep's electric attacks would be no use. Even if he aimed them down the hole, they would be absorbed by the ground before they got anywhere near the Eevee. On the other hand, Danny couldn't see how Mareep was in any danger with Chestnut so far underground, so he figured he should let him try to shock his opponent anyway.
Danny was unaware, however, that Chestnut backtracked up towards the entrance of the tunnel he'd dug. As soon as Chestnut saw his opponent, he launched out, tackling, biting and scratching. Shocker keeled back under the onslaught, flipping onto his back. He righted himself, but was bleeding from several cuts, and was noticeably injured. Chestnut crashed into Shocker with another heavy tackle, knocking him to the ground once again. The electric pokemon managed to get a strong Thundershock in after once again pulling itself up. Chestnut took the blow, and shoock it off, before once again tackling his opponent. This time, Shocker didn't get back up.
Danny returned his pokemon, disappointed. He congratulated Jake, and handed over the money. He asked whether Jake had used TMs on his pokemon to teach them those moves. Jake replied with the affirmative.
"How about your Oddish?" Jake asked with interest. "I had no idea an Oddish could learn Razor Leaf and Leech Seed."
"My Dad bred his Gloom and Venusaur," he replied. "I got to keep one of the offspring, which was Sucker here. Because Venusaur knew Razor Leaf and Leech Seed, so did Sucker. Although it's odd that she knows Leech Seed. They usually can't learn that at all."
The two groups said their goodbyes after a few minutes of talking and resting. The group was actually heading from Azalea to Goldenrod. They said they passed a small town the day before which Jake and Sam could probably stay at, if they got there before nightfall. They also said Ilex Forest was not too hard to get through, and it only took them three days.
Jake and Sam kept going. They encountered a few trainers on the way, and had several more battles. They got to the town that Danny's group had mentioned just as night began to fall. They booked into a cheap hotel. The small town didn't warrant a Pokemon Centre, but the hotel had a healing machine. They healed their pokemon, and dumped their gear, before going out to grab some food. They found a pizza place, and ate there. The food was good, and quite cheap. After filling themselves and their pokemon, they returned to their room. Once again, Sam insisted on getting to bed early. Jake had no objections. After three weeks in Goldenrod, he was in worse shape than when he started his journey, and as such was exhausted after a day of near constant walking. They were both sound asleep by 8:00.
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It took them six days to get to the edge of Ilex Forest. The forest stretched from the beach on Jake's right to as far as the eye could see on the left. They got there about midday, and took a break, before venturing in.
The forest was quite similar to the woods in which Jake found his three Eevees. It was dark, and silent. The sounds of the waves crashing on the beach, so prominent before, were now completely muffled. It took them a while for their ears to adjust to the apparent silence. It was then that they realised it wasn't true silence. The cries of pokemon could be heard in the distance, echoing through the trees. They walked in a tight group. Even Silvio seemed a bit spooked by the forest; he only walked slightly ahead of the rest.
The path that they walked was well worn, thankfully. They had little chance of getting lost. The main ones were even signposted, and this, combined with Jake and Sam's GPS technology on their Pokedexes, kept them knowing exactly where they were.
They walked for three hours through the forest, before coming across a dirt road. They followed the road for another hour, before coming across a small rest area and campsite. They hadn't travelled particularly far in those four hours, as they were moving slowly. Several times they had to climb or descend steep slopes. This had taken its toll on Jake, and he was struggling by the time they trudged in to the campsite. Sam was in better condition, having done this sort of walking before, but was still exhausted. Jake's Eevees, including Silvio, had long asked to be returned to their pokeballs.
They asked some of the people at the campsite how far it was to the next one. Apparently, it was another five or so hours away. It seemed very early to turn in and set up camp, but neither Jake, Sam, nor any of their pokemon wanted to camp out in the open forest if they could help it. They set up their tents, and went into the little administration building to fill up their bottles and take a rest.
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Jake and Sam were up early the next morning, as usual. The two of them had both engaged in a few battles the afternoon before, against some of the other trainers at the campsite. They had won, once again, more than they lost, and both earned a little more money. There had not been a healing machine at the campsite, but there was a large supply of potions and other medicines, which Jake and Sam took full advantage of. They didn't want to waste any of their own, in case they needed them on the hike.
After an hour of walking within a similar landscape to the day before, they noticed the path begin to widen. They had been walking up a steadily rising slope the whole time, and this slope was about to reach its peak. It was hardly a mountain top, but the path widened to become about fifty feet wide. The path was no longer composed of trampled soil, either. They were walking over bare rock. As they emerged into this strange sort of clearing, they could look out over the landscape that surrounded the forest. The coast was beneath them on their right, and inland they could see more mountainous regions. Jake thought he might like to travel through there one day, but he knew it couldn't be for a while. Three normal type pokemon is not the combination you want against primarily rock types.
After twenty minutes of walking, the open area came to an end. Directly in front, the ground fell away into a steep slope, almost a cliff, which was heavily forested. The path veered to the right, and it swung back around to traverse the slope, making it easier to descend. Jake called all of his Eevees into their pokeballs, not wanting them underfoot as he and Sam negotiated the difficult terrain.
It took them about ten minutes to make their way down before the path flattened out. Several times either Jake or Sam would slip, and they would have to grab on to something, usually a tree or each other, for support. At one stage, Sam even considered getting his Scyther to fly them down, but even that short distance would be far too much for the bug pokemon.
Jake's Pokedex told him that following the path for another hour or so at their walking pace, would take them to a road. The road itself didn't go where they wanted to go, veering off and heading north, but they could follow it east for a while, before picking up again on another track. The other campsite, which had been mentioned the night before, was on this road, though it was no use to them. By Sam's estimate, they would reach it by lunchtime, which was far too early to set up camp, no matter how reluctant they were to camp in the forest. It was located after the road turned north anyway, so they would not pass it.
They found the road, and Jake released his pokemon. He and Sam were setting an easy pace, neither in a hurry to get anywhere in particular. They were resigned to the fact that they'd be sleeping in the forest tonight. There were no other campsites they could reach that day. The good news was that they were over a third of the way to the Azalea Town entrance. Jake was surprised so far at the small number of pokemon they had encountered. He could always hear the forest pokemon chattering away in the distance, but he and Sam had only seen about ten between them. Jake and Sam even battled some, a Caterpie each. Understandably, they had no desire to catch the pokemon. It was not what Jake had expected, though. He'd expected the forest to be full of pokemon, and there to be battles every fifteen minutes. He wasn't disappointed. He was almost relieved, in a way. It just seemed that a lot of the notions about pokemon training he'd picked up from watching TV and hearing stories, particularly Peter's, were being replaced by a far less romantic reality.
All this wasn't to say Jake was having any regrets about becoming a trainer. Jake reflected as he trudged along the road with his pokemon by his side, or in front of him, in Silvio's case, that this was the happiest he'd ever been. He'd always felt restricted, living on a farm, miles away from the city, with only two people his own age anywhere near by. He was finally free to do whatever he wanted, and at that moment, that included walking almost non-stop through a forest with the sun beating down on him burning his neck.
They walked for a solid two hours before they came across the new path they had to take. It was almost exactly noon. They figured that, rather than waiting another two hours or so, they should have an early-ish lunch right then. They sat under a tree, and munched on some of the food they'd brought. Sam let his other pokemon out to eat as well. Both trainers' pokemon started playing with each other as Jake and Sam rested.
An hour later, they resumed their walk. The new path started off at quite a steep incline, but Sam assured Jake that it would end quickly. Sam had taken responsibility for navigation, since he was more experienced than Jake and less likely to get them lost. True to his word, after about fifteen minutes the slope evened out, even sloping downwards slightly. On this ground, walking was easy. All of them, Jake, Sam, the three Eevees and Sam's Growlithe, who had decided she wanted to take a walk for a while, enjoyed the scenery around them. The sun had ducked behind some clouds for a moment, making the walk even more comfortable. Jake was only slightly annoyed when Chestnut once again perched himself on his shoulder.
It wasn't long before the sun came back out from behind the clouds. The heat radiated down onto the group. They were walking through an area of particularly low tree density, so there was nothing to prevent the full heat of the sun from beating down. It wasn't long before Jake's Eevees retreated into their pokeballs. Sam's Growlithe seemed unaffected, however, even appearing to enjoy the heat.
The landscape they had walked through that day was quite different to that of the day before. The forest before had been dense, shady and cool, whereas the forest they were walking through currently was light, with very little shade. Jake wondered vaguely why there was such a difference. Sweat was trickling into his eyes, and his leg muscles were beginning to cramp, as they climbed another particularly steep stretch of path. Even Sam was noticeably struggling, despite his greater experience and fitness. They took a short break before again trudging onwards, continuing their steady ascent towards some peak obscured from view by the forest.
They struggled to the top of the incline at about 6:00. They found themselves in an area similar to the rocky clearing they had come across earlier in the day. Once again, they had a terrific view of the surrounding area. They were a lot further inland than they had been that morning, and not quite as high. Both Jake and Sam were very pleased to see that they were almost all the way through. Sam guessed that at the rate they had been going, they would be out of the forest the next afternoon, and, with any luck, at Azalea Town by nightfall.
After having collapsed upon reaching the top, they decided to find a good place to set up camp. Anywhere would do, but if they found an area that had been used by other campers before, then it was likely to have a campfire area already set up, meaning less work for them. As they searched, they noticed some tents a few hundred yards further along partly obscured by some boulders. They headed over and discovered a small group of trainers. Jake and Sam introduced themselves to the trainers. There were four people in the group, and they introduced themselves as Courtney, Iain, Chris and Louise.
They were all experienced trainers, and all over thirty, but Iain, like Dave Normington, was training some new pokemon, and agreed to battle Jake. Iain only had two inexperienced pokemon with him, the others being far too strong, so they were going to use two pokemon each.
They were battling for $80. Jake, being the challenger, sent out Silvio first. He found that sending out Silvio first was a good strategy, as his ability to use Shadow Ball gave him the greatest flexibility against unknown pokemon. For example, the rock-type Geodude, which Iain sent out in reply.
It was clear from the broad smile on Iain's face that he thought he had already won. He had seen all of Jake's pokemon, and knew that the next would have to be another Eevee.
Silvio looked back at his trainer, who nodded at him. This was Jake's way of telling Silvio to wait until Geodude was close, before unleashing Shadow Ball. It was something they'd been practising on wild pokemon when they saw them, although this had not been often during their hike through the forest. Unfortunately, they hadn't seemed to have developed a deep enough understanding, as Silvio took the nod to mean he was free to use Shadow Ball whenever he liked, which happened to be immediately.
The Geodude managed to dodge the attack, as it was coming from a distance, and Silvio was still a little inaccurate with it. The element of surprise was gone.
"Silvio, I meant wait!" said Jake with exasperation. "Remember what we practised?"
Iain knew that he had been lucky the attack had missed, and that Geodude was too slow to keep dodging, so he ordered him to use Rollout to increase his speed, and maybe land some damage at the same time. The plan that Jake and Silvio had practised was still useable in this situation, so he remained silent, hoping that Silvio would be disciplined enough to pull it off.
Silvio was smart enough to fire several weak Shadow Balls either side of his opponent. This was not something Jake had ordered him to do, but it was effective, so he didn't complain. As Geodude was unable to turn sharply while rolling, he was shepherded straight towards Silvio. This put the little Eevee in a lot of danger, but also allowed him to unleash a full strength Shadow Ball straight into the rolling rock pokemon. The Geodude was stopped in its tracks, and sent rolling backwards just as fast, before slamming into a tree, bending it backwards precariously.
Iain returned Geodude, shocked that such a little Eevee had such a potent Shadow Ball. Silvio looked a little worn out from using the move so many times, but was still very battle worthy.
Iain's next pokemon was a Teddiursa. The normal-type pokemon rendered Silvio's Shadow Ball useless, but Silvio still knew how to use physical attacks.
"Silvio, tackle it to the ground."
"Slash it, Teddiursa!"
Teddiursa's claws tore at Silvio as he crashed into her. Silvio squealed in pain, but managed to land on top of his opponent. He returned the attacks with gusto, trying to pummel the little bear. Teddiursa was quite a bit bigger, however, and managed to flip Silvio on to his back. The two pokemon wrestled, before Teddiursa managed to land several hard blows in quick succession. Jake returned Silvio before any more harm was done. He was surprised by the Teddiursa's aggression, having always thought of them as cute and cuddly, the kind of pokemon that girls battle with. He decided that Chestnut was the right pokemon to send out, as he was closer to Teddiursa's size and strength, and with any luck, would match her for speed.
"Chestnut, dig underground."
"What the hell?" muttered Iain under his breath. "Where did you get your TMs?" he asked Jake.
"They were gifts," replied Jake, a small smile on his face. "OK, Chestnut, you know what to do."
Chestnut found a soft area of soil between the hard rocks, and dug. Jake and Chestnut had modified the strategy Sam used with Diglett. Chestnut was still not quite able to dig far enough underground to be entirely unnoticeable, but could still put himself far from harm's way. They had decided that Chestnut should just wait until his opponent came to him, rather than move around.
Sure enough, the Teddiursa came over to a small mound of soil that had been pushed up by Chestnut, sniffing cautiously. Chesntut kept waiting. The few minutes that he waited left Teddiursa confused, and she let her guard down. Suddenly, Chestnut erupted from the ground, slashing and hacking, looking very similar to Sam's Diglett when she used this strategy. Diglett's landing was much more graceful however, as Chestnut flopped to the ground on his back, before twisting back to his feet. The damage had been done, however. Teddiursa, having already had a lot taken out of her by Silvio, collapsed, injured and exhausted.
Iain transferred the $80 to Jake's Pokedex, complimenting Jake on his battling skills.
"You are a good strategist," he commented, putting his own Pokedex away. "For a beginner, especially."
The four trainers invited them to set up camp nearby, as there was plenty of room. They put up their tents, and joined them around the campfire for dinner. Jake watched the sunset from their high vantage point, with his pokemon by his side. Lemon, who had not battled since a wild battle just after they'd had lunch, padded around him, not the least bit tired, as Chestnut and Silvio both settled in his lap, sleeping. As darkness fell and the stars began to shine, Jake could easily make out the patch of lights which was Azalea town.
So there you have it. Chapter Eight will see the pair arrive at Azalea Town. Please R&R, and if you can, can you give your opinion in regards to the questions at the top? Cheers 'til next update, then.