Chapter 12 - Adventures in the Ilex Forest
After leaving Crimson Town once again, we headed through the Brushfire Woods. Riding on Tauros' back proved to be very time saving, and I was so grateful to have him. As always, Flamefox rode with me, sitting in my lap, while Fearow continued to fly around above us, and Firestorm and Eevee ran alongside us. Ever since my promise to let them evolve, Firestorm and Eevee had become best friends.
As we neared the end of Brushfire Woods, near the borderline to the Ilex Forest, I could swear we were being watched. Just as we crossed the borderline, Flamefox and I were knocked to the ground off Tauros' back, as Tauros, himself, had been knocked over. I looked up to see what happened, and there stood a large, antelope-like Stantler, looking ready to battle. Stantler were native to Johto. He must have tackled Tauros! "I hope he knows what he's in for now" I said to Flamefox. Tauros angrily stood back up and stared down the Stantler, grunting and snarling at him. The Stantler did not back down, he just stood his ground. Tauros charged at him, while I sat up on the ground and watched, with my Vulpixes and Eevee. They met each other with head-butt, locking their horns together. They stayed this way for a long time, pushing against each other with their horns, as hard as they could. "Come on, Tauros! You can do it! You're stronger than he is!" I shouted to him in encouragement. Suddenly, it seemed like there was a flash of light, and when we looked again, there was an entire herd of Stantler! Tauros discontinued his horn wrestling, backed away, turned to us, and ran. "You got the right idea, Tauros!" I yelled, leaping onto his back as he ran past me. My other Pokemon ran beside us as the stampede of Stantler came running after us. "Just keep running, everyone!" I yelled, as we dodged branches and leaped over logs and rocks. The stampede was gaining on us, and I did not know what to do. Fearow was still flying above us, when he looked down to see what was going on. Then I saw him look behind us, and he flew down to attack! "Fearow, what are you doing?" I shouted. I looked behind us to see Fearow attacking the Stantler at the head of the herd with a drill peck, knocking him down. Suddenly, the rest of the herd vanished into thin air! "Tauros, everyone, stop running!" I yelled. Behind us was only one Stantler, getting back up from the ground. "Could it be - the whole thing was a mind trick?" I asked out loud. The Stantler stood back up completely, and there was another flash, and the herd reappeared. "Don't move, guys! Just stay put!" I commanded of my Pokemon, as the herd started charging at us again. I stayed up on Tauros and watched, while Eevee and the Vulpix brothers nervously watched from the ground next to us as the stampede got closer. When the herd reached us, they ran THROUGH us, as though they were translucent, or ghosts. All except one. "I knew it! He must have used his hypnosis to make us think there was a herd and scare us away! Since Fearow was up so high, he wasn't affected by the hypnosis!" I deducted. The Stantler looked mad, still ready to defend his turf! I got off Tauros' back. "Okay, Tauros, he wants a battle, so let's give him one! Hit him with your body slam!" Tauros charged at the Stantler, but he retaliated with confuse ray, which got Tauros all mixed up! He started charging in circles. At that, the Stantler hit him with a take down attack, knocking him to the ground. Tauros stood back up, still dazed. "Tauros, shake off your confusion! I know you can! You did it when we first battled you!" I yelled to him. He tried to shake it off, but fell to the ground after the Stantler tackled him. I ran over to Tauros, stood in front of him, and said, "Tauros, focus on me!" He stared into my eyes, then stood himself back up. "Good. Now get that Stantler with your horn attack!" At that, he was no longer confused, and he charged at the Stantler again and they locked horns once again. This time, Tauros forcefully turned his head sideways, flipping the Stantler into the air with his horns, and he crashed down to the ground. "Pokeball, go!" I shouted, tossing an empty pokeball at the defeated Stantler. There was a bright flash of light as the pokeball engulfed him. "Good work, Tauros! And to you, as well, Fearow!" I said to my Pokemon, complimenting them. I picked up the pokeball, mounted back up on Tauros with Flamefox in my lap, and we proceeded ahead, through the Ilex Forest. We had to go North to reach Goldenrod City.
As we proceeded through the woods, I soon noticed an Oddish up ahead. Firestorm had already spotted it, and was moving in for the attack! "This'll be a cinch to catch!" I thought to myself. Then I commanded, "Go, Firestorm! Use ember!" Firestorm launched his ember attack at the Oddish, while Flamefox, Tauros, Eevee, and I watched from a distance. The attack knocked down the Oddish, but it stood back up. It started to launch stun spore from it's leaves, and I yelled, "Firestorm, burn up those spores with your flamethrower!" He used his flamethrower attack, incinerating all the airborne spores. "Now use that same attack on Oddish!" I shouted. He did so, knocking the Oddish down. It lay on the ground, seemingly defeated. As Firestorm ran up to finish it off, Oddish launched a last ditch attack - poison powder! I watched helplessly as Firestorm got the poison powder right in his face, and he collapsed to the ground! "Firestorm, no!" I yelled, running over to him. I picked him up, and he was barely breathing. I looked frantically through my pack for some antidote, but it was the one thing I forgot to stock up on while I was in town. I grabbed his designated pokeball, and recalled him to it, hoping that would buy us some time. Then I got back up on Tauros and said, "Top speed, Tauros! We need to get to a Pokemon center, fast!" With that, he ran ahead, and my other Pokemon followed. I felt irresponsible leaving the Oddish behind, but this was an emergency.
Eventually, we came across a house. I recalled all of my Pokemon except Flamefox, and I knocked at the door. An older, scruffy looking man answered the door. "Can I help you?" he asked. I responded, "I sure hope so! My Vulpix was hit with poison powder and I'm out of antidote. Could you tell me how to get to the nearest Pokemon center?" He looked at me and said, "It's not for many miles. You won't have time! Come inside, and let me look at your Vulpix." I went in, with Flamefox beside me, and he led us to a spare bedroom that he had. I released Firestorm from his pokeball. The man gave me a large pillow to lay him on. He looked dead. "Please be okay, Firestorm" I pleaded to him. "Here, give him this" the man said, handing me a vial of antidote. I couldn't get Firestorm to drink it. "Come on, Firestorm! You have to drink this!" I said. The man said, "He's too weak. You'll have to hold his mouth open and I'll pour it in." I did as he said, and soon the antidote was inside of Firestorm. "Now what?" I asked. "Now we have to wait, and hope it isn't too late for him" he somberly responded. I just looked at my lifeless Vulpix, and tears started to well up in my eyes. Flamefox and I sat beside him for hours, maintaining a constant vigil. The man brought me some tea, but I was too upset to drink it. I just cuddled Flamefox in my lap, hoping his brother would pull through. Finally, I just fell asleep from the fatigue of worry.
I awoke to a moaning sound. It was coming from Firestorm! He was moving! Then he looked up at us. "Firestorm, you're going to be okay! You had us worried!" I excitedly said to him. He smiled at us, and weakly said, "Vulpix", before he turned his head over towards the floor and vomited. "Oh, Firestorm..." I started to say, when the man came in and said, "It's okay. He's getting the last of the poison out of his system. You'd better let him rest now. I'm sure he'll be fine by morning." It was dark outside now, and the man let us sleep in the spare room. I slept in the bed with Eevee next to me, but Flamefox slept curled up next to his brother, keeping him warm.
The next morning, Firestorm was back to his old, fiesty self again, running around and wrestling with his brother. I ran over to him to pick him up and hug him, and said, "I'm so glad you're okay, Firestorm!" The man had made breakfast, and there were places set for three. It turned out the third person was his young son, Sylvester. The man was a charcoal maker. Anyway, at breakfast, I said to him, "Thank you for all your help! I owe you the life of my Vulpix! If there's anything I can do in return, please, just name it!" He replied, "Well, we can always use an extra hand carrying wood. Sylvester, here, takes my Farfetch'd into the woods to chop trees, cut the wood to size, and then we bring the wood back here, where I make it into charcoal with help from my Magmar." Sylvester then asked me, "Are you a Pokemon trainer?" I answered, "Yeah. I'm trying for the Johto League. I already have 2 badges." He said, "Someday, I'd like to be a Pokemon trainer." His father looked at him and said, "You can barely keep an eye on my Farfetch'd! You've already lost him 3 times this week! What makes you think you'd be any more responsible as a trainer?" The boy looked down, disheartened. I interjected, "Well, being a trainer does give you a stronger sense of responsibility. Maybe once he starts down that road, it will rub off on him." The man looked sternly at me and said, "Don't try to defend him! He's got to prove himself to me first if he ever wants to become a trainer." I kept my mouth shut after that. I didn't want to push it.
After breakfast, I went outside with Flamefox and Firestorm. We followed Sylvester and his father's Farfetch'd to the middle of the woods, where there was already some wood cut up. "You can start carrying these back to the house. Farfetch'd will have more for you by the time you get back" he said. I carried a stack of wood in my arms, while each of my Vulpixes carried a piece in their mouths. When we went back into the woods, Sylvester was looking for Farfetch'd. "I turned my back for a second, and he ran off again! My father will kill me!" he said to us, frantically. "Calm down! We'll help you look for him." Then I released Fearow, Tauros, and Eevee, and gave everyone commands: "Fearow, fly around up above and see if you can spot Farfetch'd! Everyone else, split up and look for him. Come with me, Flamefox!" Sylvester said, "Thank you", and I responded, "Don't thank me until we find him!"
I walked around with Flamefox, looking for Farfetch'd while Flamefox sniffed the ground for him. Suddenly, Flamefox said, "Vulpix!" He had the scent! I followed Flamefox as he ran, and he led me right to Farfetch'd. "There you are! Come on, Farfetch'd! It's time for you to go home" I said. The duck-like Pokemon turned around, and as Flamefox approached him, he whacked him on the head with his leek! "Why you little..." I started to say, when he jumped up and whacked me on the head, as well, laughing "Faaaarfetch'd!", and then he ran off again! "Are you okay, Flamefox?" I asked him, while I rubbed my head. "Vulpix", he replied, as he rubbed his head with his front paw. Then, in a sarcastic tone, I said, "How would you like a roast Farfetch'd dinner? And you could do the roasting!" He smiled, and laughed, "Vuuulllpix!" "All right. Let's go look for him again" I said, standing back up.
We continued searching, and had no luck for a long time. All of a sudden, we heard Farfetch'd yell out in terror. We ran in the direction of his yelling and found him cornered by a raging Rhyhorn. I threw my pokeball, and shouted "Go, Stantler!" The pokeball opened, and nothing came out! "What the... what's going on?" I yelled. Then it hit me - the Stantler must have used hypnosis on us when I threw the pokeball, so we thought we caught him, but he actually ran off! "Oh, great!" I said, as the Rhyhorn turned to us. "Okay, Flamefox, use dig!" I commanded. Flamefox ran ahead, then quickly burrowed under the ground as the Rhyhorn came charging at us, and then he shot up from the ground directly under the Rhyhorn. The impact sent Rhyhorn flying, and then he crashed to the ground. He got up and ran off! We then walked over to Farfetch'd. "So, you had to tangle with something bigger than you? I hope you learned your lesson. Now come with us." He looked up at us, then jumped up and hit Flamefox again with his leek. "Why you ungrateful little..." I started to say, when he jumped up and hit me, then ran off again, laughing. Flamefox was not amused, and gave chase, launching ember attacks at him. "Flamefox, no! We can't hurt him. But I have an idea." I called out to my other Pokemon, who came running over with us. I had each of them head off Farfetch'd, so he would run into one of them, and go running the other way. We finally got him heading in Sylvester's direction, and he grabbed him. "Got you!" he exclaimed. We all walked over to him. "Thank you for helping me catch him" he said. "Don't worry about it! Just don't let him run away again. He gave us quite a chase!" Then he said, "I'm sorry he caused you so much trouble. Let me make it up to you. Here is some charcoal. It powers up fire attacks. Use it on your Vulpixes" he said, handing me 2 pieces. "Thank you", I responded.
We finished carrying the wood back to the house, and once we were done, we decided to get under way to Goldenrod City once again. I thanked the charcoal maker and Sylvester for their hospitality and help, before Flamefox and I mounted up on Tauros again. All of my Pokemon and I proceeded through Ilex Forest, in the direction of Goldenrod City.