"But you can't catch that, May!" It was our second day in Petalburg Woods, and we were just about to set up camp when a Pokémon jumped out at us. The very same Pokémon we were now arguing about.
"Stop being so greedy, Spencer! You've nearly got a full team, and this'll be my first catch! Give me one good reason I shouldn't catch it," May growled, glaring at me and pulling out a Poké Ball. I looked over at the Shroomish, which was hopping back and forth on its feet.
"Because... it jumped out at me," I said a bit pathetically, not able to think of a better reason, other than the curse.
"Not good enough," May scoffed. "That Shroomish is mine!" Without delay, May tossed the ball at the Shroomish, and I knew I had no time to act. I pulled out and threw my own Poké Ball, though I knew I had no chance of catching it first.
"Shroo!" Just before May's Poké Ball hit its target, a second jumped out of a bush and rammed into it, sending it flying away. The new Shroomish landed, only to get hit with my Poké Ball. It was knocked off balance, but nothing else happened and the ball simply bounced back towards me.
"Jeez Spencer, did you buy second-hand Poké Balls or something? Isn't that the second one of yours that hasn't done anything? But hey, at least there's two Shroomish now, so you don't need to complain. Pepper, you ready?" Pepper nodded and ran at the two Shroomish, but got intercepted by the second one, who leaped into Pepper with a powerful tackle. With that Shroomish occupied, I turned to my team.
"Alright, who wants to fight?" Jessica shied away immediately, and Maria busied herself trying to encourage her. The rest of my team simply looked behind me, until Trent pointed to the Shroomish. I looked over to see it walk over to the Poké Ball I'd thrown earlier and tap the button. The ball opened and the Shroomish disappeared inside. "Well, I think that may be the easiest capture in recorded history."
"Ember, Pepper!" I glanced over at May's battle just in time to see Pepper spit a burst of flame at the Shroomish he was fighting, causing it to recoil. May used the opening to throw her own Poké Ball, resulting in another successful capture. She turned to smirk at me until she saw that I'd already captured my Shroomish, without any of Pokémon looking like they'd fought. "What, no battle? You're kidding me right?"
"No, May, I'm not kidding. Looks like I've got all the luck," I smiled, releasing the Shroomish. "Kelso here practically caught himself!" Upon hearing his new name, Kelso began dancing to a tune only he could hear.
"Seems like he's defective," May scoffed. "Oh, and Kelso? Really?" May released her own Shroomish and took out a potion to tend to its wounds.
"Yeah, what's wrong with the name? It seemed like it'd fit really well."
"It's still weird, though. But hey, if you're gonna go for the reference, I might as well complete it by naming mine Jackie. Sound good?" Jackie turned snobbishly away from her, and May sighed. "Well, I guess that name was pretty fitting too." Kelso walked over to Jackie and said something that he obviously thought was funny, but only got an angry glare in return.
"It's like they're really Kelso and Jackie! Man, it's like I have the psychic ability to pick perfect names!" May laughed to herself, but didn't say anything and continued treating Jackie's wounds, while Kelso tried to cheer her up. Maria had somehow convinced Jessica to sit on her head, while Baron, Trent and Bonnie were playing among themselves. It was that moment that it dawned on me that I had a full team, and I knew we had some real potential. I made a promise to myself then: no losses. I didn't have to lose any of my friends, and since the curse was set to end with me, nobody had to know.
"Excuse me children." I jumped slightly as my thoughts were interrupted by a slightly portly young man in a suit, carrying a wrapped package. "Those two Shroomish, they didn't happen to come along from that direction, did they?" I looked where he was pointing, and could still see the rustled leaves from where Jackie had jumped out from.
"Yeah, they did. Why?"
"Oh," the man frowned. "Well, I noticed them on my way to Rustboro, and Shroomish is my favorite Pokémon, so I followed them! But it seems you've already caught them."
"I caught mine," May said. "His pretty much caught himself, though."
"Oh, that's terrible luck," the man sighed, looking at his watch. "I must have been tracking them for an hour and a half, and you don't even need to expend any energy to catch them! I guess I need to get back on the path to Rustboro, though, so-"
"You stupid deliveryman, could you be any slower?" Interrupting the man in a business suit, another stranger in a striped shirt and blue bandanna stepped out from behind a tree. "All you had to do was keep walking along towards Rustboro so I could jump you and take that package, but no! You just HAD to go chase some stupid Shroomish! Whatever, I'll just be taking that package now, for my boss! Poochyena, go!" The man pulled out a Poké Ball and threw it down, releasing a vicious looking Poochyena.
"T-trainers, do you think you could help me out? I don't have any Pokémon!" I turned back to my team.
"Alright, guys, who's up for it?" Jessica crawled down from Maria's head and stepped forward, looking one last time back at Maria. "Jessica? Alright, I know you can do it, girl!"
"Is this some sort of joke? Poochyena, grab that package while the brat decides what Pokémon he wants to lose!" The Poochyena reared back, snarling, and leaped at its target. The man just stood there, wide-eyed and unable to move, until May tackled him. The Poochyena flew over the two of them and turned around for another attack. Just before he jumped, however, a small number of pale, purple barbs collided with it, causing it to yelp in pain.
"W-Wurmple..." Jessica crawled out in front of me to confront the Poochyena, looking way to much like she didn't belong on the battlefield. The Poochyena turned and howled in anger at her, before jumping at her.
"Poison sting, Jessica!" Jessica hesitated slightly quickly but lowered her head, her horn glowing a sickly purple. The Poochyena slammed head-first into her, but shuddered and stumbled backwards after colliding with her horn. "Now, bog it down with string shot and stay out of attack range!" Jessica shook her head, a bit disoriented from her foe's attack, and spat a string of sticky web, tangling up the Poochyena's legs.
"Pooch!" The Poochyena jumped at Jessica again, but tripped over the webbing and fell face-first, shivering and whimpering quietly.
"Poison's a dirty trick, brat! But fine, you win this round." The assailant pointed his Poké Ball at his fallen Pokémon and recalled it in a beam of light. "This isn't the last time you'll see me, or Team Aqua!" He threw down a small pellet, and the air suddenly filled with an irritating, noxious smoke. I had to use my shirt as a makeshift mask just to breathe, and I could hear everybody else around me coughing.
"Baron," I managed to say between coughs, "can you do anything about this smoke?" I didn't hear any reply from Baron, but I heard him flap his wings heavily and take off. The smoke started to clear, and I saw him flying back and forth, doing his best to blow it away with each pass. He couldn't get it all cleared, but he managed to get rid of enough for us to see and breathe again. I blinked away the tears that had formed in my eyes and looks around; everybody seemed fine, if short of breath, but the attacker was nowhere to be found.
"Gul." Wingull landed softly on a branch up in the trees to get away from what little smoke was remaining, and I saw Trent sitting on the branch below him. Bonnie, Maria, Kelso, Jackie, and Pepper were all huddled together coughing on the smoke that had sunk to the ground, while Jessica was curled up in the remnants of her string shot, left behind when the Poochyena was recalled. May was busy helping the business man to his feet.
"Are you okay?" she asked. The man dusted himself and nodded.
"Yes, and thank you. If that thief had found me alone, then he'd have taken this package from me for sure," he said, patting the package which was securely tucked under his arm. "It's not much, but I want you two to have these Great Balls. I was going to use them to catch any Shroomish I came across, but I figure I owe you two dearly." The man pulled two red and blue orbs out from his pocket and handed one each to May and me. I put it with the rest of my Poké Balls, and an Ultra Ball that Bonnie had mysteriously obtained for me in Oldale.
"It was no trouble at all," I assured him.
"Well, they're also a bit of an advance payment. You see, what the thief said about seeing him again has me worried, and I was hoping that you could help get to Rustboro safely?"
"Well, it's not like we'd have to go out of our way; we're heading in that direction too. We were just about to camp, though."
"I'll go grab my stuff, then, I left it just a little further along! Thank you so very much, again," the man said as he jogged off deeper into the forest. "Oh, my name's Edward, by the way!"
"You don't have a problem with him staying with us, do you, Spencer?"
"Not at all, May. If anything I'd have thought that you might have a problem with it, though. But actually, it makes me feel like a hero!"
"Oh, you're such a dork," May laughed, turning back to Jackie so she could finish tending to her wounds from the battle. "Oh, and by the way, Jessica evolved."
"Huh?" I looked at where Jessica had been earlier, and instead of seeing her curled up in the web, I saw a cocoon sitting on Maria's head.
"Lotad," she croaked, bouncing happily back and forth.