Pokemon Viridus - Chapter 2
A Weedle Defeat!

The Ostara festival was finally over and the crowd that had once surrounded the wooden stage had long dispersed. The sun had begun to set, and the fading sunlight had cast a beautiful, eerie purple glow in the sky. Amber and Miri had begun to walk back towards Miri's house along one of the few dirt roads in their town. There were small homes close together on each side of the road. As they walked, they noticed that a group of their fellow townspeople had gathered in the front yard of the house that belonged to popular queen bee Samantha Raynor. They saw Samantha chatting with her little clan of wannabe bees Kristen and Julia. Samantha was crouched down near the ground with a red brush in her hand, grooming her new vulpix.

"Wow, Samantha got a vulpix…" Amber said aloud softly, yet audibly. She felt a pang of desire and envy, for vulpix had always been one of her favorite pokemon.

"Yeah, seems that way," Miri replied with little interest, "and Kristen got a venonat and Julia got a wailmer."

"Hmm, figures... she's a bit of a whale herself…" Amber muttered. Miri quickly looked over to see if the group had heard Amber's comment, but it only seemed that they heard her voice and not the insult she had made. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was not looking to get into a fight with those girls soon. As she and Amber reached the front of Samantha's house, they heard a familiar yet pesky voice call to Miri.

"Hey Miri! What pokemon did you get? Come over here and we can show each other what we got!" Rose twittered and emerged from another group of kids on the yard. The pink-haired, pigtailed, spectacle wearing, colorfully clad young girl came over to the edge of the house's white fence, "Hurry, come over!"

Not wanting to seem rude, Miri motioned to Amber and they both walked over to where Rose was.

"I asked for Miri to come over, not you Amber…" Rose huffed. "The only way we're letting you into the party is if you agree to battle me right here, right now, because I didn't forget that little comment you made during the festival!"

At the word battle, all the people in the yard suddenly hushed and stared with curiosity at Rose and Amber. Amber felt embarrassment creeping up on her again as she did not like being the center of attention. Not really sure what to say, she tried her best to get out of embarrassing herself more, "We're supposed to be celebrating right now, not fighting…"

A few of the boys standing nearby started to chant, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Pretty soon, most of the other kids were chanting along with them. Rose seemed triumphant, although a battle had not yet occurred. Amber hated knowing that the little snob was enjoying putting her under so much pressure. She looked around at all of the faces, most of them with big dumb smiles of excitement on their faces, the others with anticipation on which way this would be resolved. She knew they all wanted to see a battle, after all, who wouldn't be itching to try out their new pokemon? Rose had always found ways to act nice to her one minute, and the next turn completely against her and try and humiliate her. Well this time, Amber thought to herself, Rose was not going to have her little prissy way. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her pokeball, pressing its button to have it expand. A whir of voices started to resonate amongst the others and the crowd that had begun to form seemed to take a step back in defense.

But Rose did not retrieve her own pokeball right away. She unlatched the gate door and stepped out onto the road, Amber having to follow. Once they were both in the middle of the road facing each other, Rose took out her pokeball, pressed its button, and tossed it into the air, "Weedle, go!"

The crowd of onlookers sprinted to the edge of the fence and some even stepped out onto the road to get the best view of the match. A few started to cheer and even more started to root for Rose, much to Amber's annoyance.

"Seems like your fanclub didn't show up…" Rose smirked, "Let's see what you and your pokemon can do."

Amber pressed the center button on her pokeball and tossed it out in front of her, "Go, Dratini!"

Both pokemon now stood facing each other. Rose's weedle had a determined expression on its face, while Amber's dratini had cocked its head slightly to the side and was looking at weedle with much curiosity. At one point it seemed to be smiling at the weedle.

"Weedle, use string shot!" Rose commanded. Immediately, Weedle lifted itself slightly and shot a sticky web-like material from its mouth onto Dratini.

"Dratini, dodge it!" Amber said, but the command came too late and Dratini was covered with the sticky attack. It reared its head from side to side, frantically trying to get the web off, but it was useless. "Dratini, try a wrap attack!"

"Weedle, poison sting attack!" Weedle wasted no time launching itself head first into Dratini's soft skin before Dratini could even recover enough to attack. Dratini let out a cry of pain and was knocked over to the ground by Weedle's force. "Again, weedle! Poison sting attack!" Rose cried, and Weedle once more launched itself at Dratini, piercing its skin with the point on its head. Despite Ambers efforts to have Dratini dodge, Dratini did not seem to be able to recover from the string shot attack and was hit with Weedle's stings. Fearing that Dratini could be severely hurt, despite Weedle's small size, Amber tasted bitterness on her tongue as she called out a forfeit.

Rose broke into a triumphant grin, "Weedle, return!" She called back her pokemon and stood with both hands on her hips, watching Amber attend to her injured pokemon. "So who's laughing now, huh?" Rose asked, breaking into laughter herself. She turned and went back into the yard, leaving Amber and Dratini on the road. The crowd stood by and watched, but eventually all returned to talking amongst themselves.

"Amber! Oh my goodness…" Miri said with sadness in her voice. A second person voiced concern behind Miri. "Amber, you'd better take your dratini to Professor Mahogony's lab and let her take care of it for you." Brendan, a close friend of theirs, bent down next to Amber and touched Dratini's head sympathetically. Amber looked at him and nodded.

Luckily, the lab was not too far away. Amber carried Dratini in her arms, resting its head against her shoulder. They walked up the cobbled path to the lab and went inside. Amber recognized two of the researchers from earlier at the festival. They both looked at them when they came in, "Did Professor Mahogony ask for you to come by? Trainers are not allowed in here unless they have the professor's permission beforehand." One of them said.

"Please, I need to see the professor right away. My dratini needs attention." Amber pleaded. Just then, Professor Mahogony emerged from another room carrying a clipboard and a flask of peculiar clear liquid. She noticed Amber and her friends and smiled, "Well, hello, what brings you to the lab?"

The blonde haired researcher responded, "This girl says her dratini is hurt and wants us to care for it."

"Oh dear," the professor said, looking at Dratini, "What happened?"

"Well, we got into a battle, against a weedle. I think she's been poisoned." Amber said.

Professor Mahogony went over to a counter and put down her flask and clipboard, then turned back to Amber, "Alright, bring your dratini into the backroom. I have just the antidote. You will need to leave it here overnight, but don't worry, it will be in good hands."

After leaving Dratini at the lab, Amber, Brendan, and Miri left the lab. They stood outside for a while talking until finally it was almost getting too dark for them to see each other, "I'd better be going home. Are you guys excited to finally be leaving Viridus town and exploring the world?" Brendan asked.

Amber tried to be enthusiastic, but she was still worried about her pokemon, "Yes, I haven't thought about much else all week! Hopefully, Dratini recovers in time. I'll come by the lab early tomorrow morning."

"I'll meet you here then, and we can leave together." Miri smiled, putting a hand on Amber's shoulder. Amber gave her a grateful smile and nodded. "Well, we'd all better go home now," Miri said with a yawn. "Bye guys, good luck for tomorrow!"

To be continued…