Chapter seven redone! I liked writing this chapter because it has so much plot devices. It also features my first time using random letters for a line break. :)

This is probably my most epic chapter so far lol

Chapter 7: Rocket Appears! Begin The "Forest of Hell" Training!

Carl woke up, not even tired at all. He glanced at his Poketch, and groaned softly. It was only dawn; way too early to get up. Carl wasn't an early riser and now that he's actually getting up early, that's a bit strange. The reason he's been waking up earlier than usually planned, was because he's been going to bed, well, early. The reason for that? He has nothing to do.

Dean was helping him train, but it was more like Dean training his Pokemon instead of giving tips and helping out. Dean would basically take over the training session, leaving Carl nothing to do. This did frustrate Carl quite a bit, but he didn't say anything. He also knew that it was for the greater good. But for whom?

Maybe I should try it for myself, Carl thought. Rather than having someone else do it.

He wriggled out of his sleeping bag and unzipped the entrance flap of his tent. He and Dean had camped in a meadow clearing between a sea of trees on one side and a gentle stream on the other. Dean's tent was a couple of feet close by. A mist hung over the entire length of the stream as the cooing chirps of the Pidgeys and Kricketots rang out while the sky grew increasingly a lighter shade of orange, then eventually to light blue, announcing the coming of the morning sun.

Carl was so transfixed by this peaceful scene of nature's tranquility that he did not notice Dean's head poke out of his own tent, looking around sleepily, all bleary-eyed, hair mussed up. "Hey," Dean croaked, startling Carl. "At least put on some clothes if you're going to go out in the morning."

Carl looked down and was surprised to see that he was only wearing his boxers. "You didn't see anything!" he cried out as he dove back into his tent.

"Like there was anything down there," Dean muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing."

xxXxx

Later, after a breakfast of crushed berries and toast (the bread was roasted over a fire); Dean offered to help with training again. But this time, Carl politely declined.

"No thanks, I think I'm going to try my hand. But first, I'm going to take a walk with my guys. You know, for a warmup."

Dean smiled in approval and nodded. "Sure, but don't take too long!" He called. "I hear this forest can be like a maze!"

Carl sighed in annoyance. That should be my line.

xxXxx

"Come on, girlie, we've searched for you for hours, you've gotta come with us."

"Hmph. You idiots are lot more intelligent than I gave you credit for; looking for me in the forest all night, then finally catching me. But still, I'd rather not waste my time with a couple of homos like you."

"That's it, you bitch. I've had enough of this. Prepare for battle!"

xxXxx

As Carl traversed the forest, he was beginning to hear the sounds of a Pokemon battle: Humans shouting commands and Pokemon attacks clashing. He rushed towards the source, eager to see the current state the battle was in. When he arrived at the location of the battle, he became a little confused, wondering what was going on. Two men, both wearing matching black uniforms with a large red "R" on their fronts were engaged in combat with a girl, possibly older than Carl, with blue hair and wearing an orange top with blue shorts. One of the two men had a Raticate and the other sent out a Murkrow. The girl, meanwhile, only carried a single Scyther and a long pouch strapped to her back. Carl knew that something was up and crouched down in a bush.

"Scyther, use Double Team!" The girl cried.

The two black-clad men also shouted orders. "Raticate, Hyper Fang!"

"Wing Attack, Murkrow!"

The green insectoid split itself into six copies, spreading out in a semi-circle. Meanwhile, the large beige and brown rat with abnormal large teeth charged, opening its mouth wide, and took a big bite out of the closest Scyther. But then it fizzled out, a fake. Then the crow smacked its wings on another Scyther. That too also disappeared.

The Scyther's trainer glared. "Time to end this. Scyther, Air Slash!"

To Carl's confusion, the Scyther slashed the air with one of its scythes. Then to his shock, a gash appeared on the Raticate. The rodent squealed in pain and collapsed, rolling around in agony, its blood steadily flowing out.

One of the men cursed and recalled his Raticate. "Damn it!"

The other stared unflinchingly. "For an Air Slash to be so fast, so deadly, your Scyther must be very well-trained." The girl didn't reply. "Very well, I admit defeat."

"But Marcus!" the Raticate's trainer protested in anger. "I know you can take her down! Come on!"

The man named Marcus narrowed his eyes. "That may be so, but we lack some certain necessities. To face her would mean death." He turned to the girl and smirked. "Fear not, my dear, Team Rocket will come for you again." Suddenly the two were surrounded in a brilliant flash of light and vanished.

The girl scoffed and spat on the ground. "And I'll be waiting."

It was at this time Carl decided to show himself. He started to stand up, but a katana's tip, which came from the long pouch, landed gently on his nose. The girl had somehow heard him emerging from the brush and probably teleported to his position while pulling out her blade. He froze, afraid to make a move.

"You really suck," the girl said.

Carl blinked. "What?"

The girl gave him a hard stare. "I said you suck. Hard. I can't believe this. You didn't bother to send me emails, call, or even a write a freakin' letter, or anything! Now I come here into this Arceus-forsaken forest after being on a ship for a whole day, and you don't even freaking recognize me?!"

Carl shook his head, scared that the wrong word might behead him.

The girl sheathed her sword, brushed a strand of blue hair form eyes and sighed exasperatedly. "You're allowed to talk, Carl Zorbo."

Suddenly it dawned on Carl. "Nicole?"

Nicole threw up her hands in the air. "Now he remembers!" she growled.

Nicole Shinsuke was a very old friend of Carl's back in Hoenn, long before Carl moved to Kanto. Before Carl traveled to Kanto, he promised her that he would contact her as soon as possible. Turns out that he forgot about it years later. It's probably worth mentioning that she's two years older than Carl. Nicole was very interested in the way of the samurai; as a result, she always carried a katana everywhere she went.

"But-but, it's been such a long time and-"

Nicole held up a hand. "Save it! I don't want to hear your lame excuses right now. I'm tired, and I'm PMS-ing. The least you can do now is to take me to your base camp."

"Ok, whoa." Carl said. "How did you know that I'm on my journey?"

"Your mom told me a little right after you left." Nicole deadpanned. "She wanted me to track you down and accompany you."

Carl sighed. Of course. His mom would've never let him go anywhere alone. Seeing Nicole again and traveling around with her would be nice, but since he was already traveling with Dean, Nicole wasn't really needed. Dean wasn't bad, although he can be a bit of an insufferable know-it-all. On the other hand, Nicole was violent, a loose cannon. His mind made up, he was about to repeat what he said in his mind to Nicole, but she just smiled dangerously and pulled out her sword again.

xxXxx

Back at the camp, Dean was sparring with his Riolu. Before training, he released another member of his party, an Empoleon. The majestic-looking penguin stood vigilantly under the shade of a tree, eyes constantly darting around for any possible source of attack. The Empoleon grunted, signaling his trainer. Dean stopped and looked around to see Carl coming back accompanied with a fierce-looking girl. He caught her eye but before he could say anything, the girl pointed to him and said, "Who the hell is this guy?"

"Nicole, be nice!" Carl said to her, hoping Dean wouldn't be offended. Quite the contrary. Dean wasn't the slightest insulted at all. In fact, he smiled.

"I'm Dean Shapiro, pleased to make your acquaintance." He tried to kiss her hand, but she pulled it away.

"Ew, creeper."

"Nicole," Carl muttered. "The least you could do is introduce yourself to him."

She scowled. "Fine. I'm Nicole Shinsuke. Want to make something out of it?"

Still smiling, Dean held up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, aren't you a little toughie?"

"More than that," Nicole said flatly and pulled out her katana.

Dean smirked and got into a fighting stance. "Really? Because I'd love to see what you're made of."

Carl stepped in between them. "Guys, come on! There's no need to kill each other! I mean, you guys just met; there's no reason to hate each other on first sight."

"Wanna bet?" Nicole and Dean said simultaneously.

Carl sighed exasperatedly. Then he had an idea. All trainers like to see Pokemon, right? "Hey, Nicole, do you want to see what Pokemon I have on my team?"

She didn't take her eyes off of Dean. "I couldn't care less," A moment passed. "Nah, I'm kidding." A grin washed away her piercing look as she put her sword away. "Now show me what you got."

Carl beamed. "Come on out, guys!" Carl tossed three Pokeballs onto the forest floor. They opened to reveal his proud-looking Charmander, angry Mankey, and the newest member, a timid-looking Pikachu.

Nicole groaned. "The Charmander, I can understand, and the Mankey is okay, but a Pikachu?! That is so unoriginal. Everyone has a Pikachu these days! Arceus above, I always hear every little kid saying before they get their starter, 'Ooh, I want a Pikachu! Because it is sooo cute! And it's totally not because I don't want something else that is completely better than it, I just want to be a conformist!'"

Carl interrupted Nicole's ranting. "Yes, I'm guilty of having a Pikachu, so what? The only reason so many kids wanted a Pikachu as their starter was all because of Ash Ketchum!"

"Exactly! It's all that dumb kid's fault! If he would've evolved it, then he would've won a lot more battles faster and easier! Not to mention that he could've gotten laid!"

"The reason Ash didn't evolve his Pikachu is because of his battle with Colonel Surge! His Pikachu wanted to prove that it didn't have to evolve to become stronger! And I'll thank you very much not insult Blitz or his species any further!"

Blitz the Pikachu was frightened by Nicole's shouting and began to cry. Carl scooped up the electric mouse and began to comfort it like a baby.

Nicole raised an eyebrow. "You even nicknamed them?" She started to laugh, but not in a belittling way. She pointed to his Mankey. "And what's his name? Porkchop?"

"Actually," Carl piped up. "That was going to be my first choice until I thought 'Mr. Furious' sounded better."

Nicole groaned again and slapped her forehead.

xxXxx

After proper introductions were made to Nicole, Carl and Dean explained from how they met to Dean's promise to train Carl. Nicole started going into one of her ranting moods again until she stopped mid-rant and smiled. She told Carl to follow her deep into the forest to a suspicious-looking tree and told him to release all of his Pokemon next to the tree. Once he did, Nicole took out some rope and proceeded to tie all of them up to the tree, Carl included.

"Okay," Nicole said. "Since Dean here has trained your team extremely well in defense, you're going to have to increase your attack power and speed to balance everything out. This kind of training is specifically for dodging enemy attacks."

Carl raised a hand. "Um, questions."

"Yes?"

Carl turned to Dean, who was beside Nicole. "Dean, what exactly did you do to raise their defense levels?"

Dean shrugged. "I had them spar with my Riolu and sometimes with Empoleon." Carl winced; he noticed that his team did likewise. "Yeah, they did lose horribly, so I worked on their endurance. They still lost miserably against Riolu, but they are improving."

"Any other questions?" Nicole asked.

Carl looked at Nicole with apprehension. "Yeah, I got another question. Why am I tied up to the tree too?!"

Nicole scratched her cheek. "Training isn't just for Pokemon, you know. That's what most trainers these days never realize; they claim that they're connected with their Pokemon forever and always. That's where they're all wrong. In bonds, maybe, but not really in mind, body, spirit, and especially heart. To truly become one with your Pokemon, you must train with them. You have to sweat with them, cry with them, and even bleed with them. So one of the last things I want to see is you turning out to be one of those careless trainers like I described."

Carl was mesmerized and awe-inspired. He hadn't really thought of Pokemon training as something like that. "Ok, I'll do it!" he declared.

Nicole clapped him on the shoulder. "Well said! See you later!" She then picked up a small stone and threw it all the way up into the tree's branches where a small thunk was heard. As soon as she released the stone, she grabbed Dean by the shoulder and sprinted away.

"Wait!" Carl tried to wriggle out of the rope. "What do we have to dodge? Don't leave me out here all night!" A loud buzzing filled his ears. Within seconds, Carl and his Pokemon found themselves surrounded by angry Beedrill.

xxXxx

Not too far away, in a thicket, Nicole and Dean watched Carl and his team trying to dodge the stinging Beedrill through binoculars. Nicole was chuckling while Dean was a little disturbed by her training methods. "Aren't Beedrills supposed to be poisonous?" he asked.

Not taking her eyes off, Nicole answered, "No. This type of Beedrill only has one stripe on their abdomens, making them not venomous. See? Other than some painful stings, he'll be perfectly fine."

Dean was quiet for a minute, taking this in. "Huh. I didn't know that Pokemon have subspecies."

"Not all of them do, but there are quite a few." Nicole said. "Oh, it looks like Carl is finally starting to fight back."

Indeed, Carl was starting to counter the Beedrill stings but ordering one of his pokemon to dodge some of the stings then attack while the other two would defend Carl and then they would rotate.

"You're a sadist, you know that?" Dean said.

"Maybe, but at least I'm not a masochist."

xxXxx

That night, as Carl slept, covered in various injuries, Nicole watched the clear starry night while smoking her pipe. While she did not smoke tobacco, she smoked Oddish leaves instead. They were already cleaned from any toxic particles, making it perfectly harmless, but it does give off a very pleasant and a slight intoxicating smell.

She looked down to see Dean walking over to her. He sat down next to her and asked, "I've been meaning to ask you this… what is your relationship to Carl?"

Nicole blew a smoke ring. "I'm his girlfriend."

"You sure seem a little too violent and dominating to be anyone's girlfriend." Dean commented.

"So?"

Dean sighed. "Does he know?"

"About what?"

"Well, you know…"

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you are talking about," Nicole flatly stated. Dean rolled his eyes. "But… I do know that he has incredible potential. How did he ever catch that Pikachu anyway?"

"Well, apparently, while I was training Carl's pokemon, Carl went out for a walk. An acorn had rolled into his path and the Pikachu followed it. They made eye contact with each other and the little critter just ran off into the bushes. Carl then coaxed it with the acorn and although it took some time, the Pikachu agreed to join him."

Nicole laughed softly. "Typical Carl. You could always see him being so friendly with the pokemon back in Hoenn."

Dean did a double take. "Carl came from Hoenn too?"

"Yep."

"He never told me about that,"

"Carl just met you. Besides, he didn't really like Hoenn that much, with his father being Champion and all," Dean's mouth dropped open in shock. "Oh yes, Carl is basically royalty, but he doesn't like to use his status. But the thing is that Carl and his father hate each other. Well, actually, Carl tries so hard to make his father proud of him just once, but he never praises his son."

"Let's change the subject. This sounds very depressing."

"Yeah, you're right." Nicole emptied her pipe. "Oh, I should also mention that I was attacked by Team Rocket." Her tone sounded as if she was discussing the weather.

Dean sat up straight. "What!? Why didn't you tell me?!" he loudly whispered. "We could've contacted headquarters by now!"

"It's fine, it's fine. My Scyther already took care of them."

"But still-"

"What HQ doesn't know won't kill them," Nicole firmly said. "Besides, Carl doesn't know anything either." She chuckled. "I'm younger than you, and yet you're concerned with your partner, how sweet."

"That's because you're a girl."

"And proud of it. But next time, don't question your superior again." A pause. "Brilliant acting there before. I was surprised to see you with Carl, even though I was assigned to him."

"What can I say? I was undercover. Trainer rules."

Nicole silently nodded. She smacked Dean's leg before standing up. "Get some sleep. We have a couple of days left before we reach Pewter City."

"Yes, ma'am."

Yeah, I know, ending was a little rushed, but that's ok.

Yes, the Beedrill scene was from Dragonball. You know, when Goku was just a kid back then.

Nicole's ranting is directly how I personally feel about most OT fics, even though I'm writing one too. It's not really Pikachu, but I'm talking about Eevee. Don't get me wrong, I like Eevee, but the eeveelutions aren't that great. I won't say no further.

Yes, it does look like Dean and Nicole know each other somehow; I am the author, after all.