Chapter 2
One day later. I was walking north of Morning Dew town. It was early afternoon. My eevee and I had just finished lunch and had decided to do some exercises to warm up.
"So, have you decided to nickname me?" Eevee asked.
I answered "Well, I was thinking Shadow, since you were following me on the way to Morning Dew."
"Wait, you knew I was tracking you? Impressive...for a human, anyway." Eevee said.
"Shadow it is." I said to him. "Hey, watch where you're going!" Shadow bellowed.
"Huh?" I replied. I tripped over a curving root and fell right into the ground. "Ow..." I grunted.
Looking up, I noticed not just the initial root that tripped me, but several roots. And then a tree. Then many trees. I quickly realized I had stumbled unto the threshold of an enormous forest.
"What the?" I asked. Shadow answered "This is Sage Woods, an old forest no one goes to because the Pokémon are especially tough here. Also, an enormous slanted volcano stands at the end of the woods, called Magma Cliff."
"Sounds good for training then!" I said.
"Didn't you hear me just now? I said, the Pokémon around here are especially tough, and no one goes in." Shadow remarked.
"Just because everyone else jumps off a cliff do we have to as well? No! So, just because everyone else avoids this place doesn't mean we have to."
"Oh, fine. But you asked for it!" Shadow replied. The pair then trotted into the forest. After about ten minutes of walking Shadow said "Yawwwn, this is boring!"
"A hike through the woods isn't supposed to be exciting; it should be calm and peaceful." I replied.
"Of course, but we were supposed to do some form of training! You said it yourself!" He complained.
"Sigh, alright, you want to train? Then we'll train. Find a Pokémon to spar with." I replied.
Shadow stopped, scanned the whole area around us, and found a Volbeat flirting with an Illumise nearby. He buzzed a few words to her and she nodded, smiling. He then buzzed what seemed like a friendly joke. He laughed heartily. She got mad, and slapped him so hard he flew into the side of a tree. Apparently, she didn't find that funny.
"Ooh, rejection stings doesn't it?" Shadow remarked. "Let's brawl with Romeo over there." Shadow offered me.
"Ok." I announced. Shadow then went to the Volbeat and growled fiercely. The Volbeat shot me a dirty look, and proceeded to get in a fighting stance.
Suddenly, the giant firefly rushed for a head on tackle into Shadow.
"Shadow! Dodge, then use sand attack." Shadow rolled over to avoid the tackle and then kicked dirt into the unsuspecting Pokémon's face.
"Now, use Tackle!" Shadow slammed himself into the Volbeat with all his might. Volbeat collapsed onto the floor unconscious. I raised my fist in the air.
"Yeah! Check it out, Shadow! We won our first battle!" I exclaimed in cheer.
"Duh. Now, catch him with a Pokéball. You do have some Pokéballs, right?" he questioned.
"Of course I do! They're right….. Wait where are my…?" I fumbled through my jet-black bag. No Pokéballs.
"Umm….. Well see, it turns out that I didn't get any." Now that I think about it, Tim was supposed to give me some Pokéballs and a standard issue PokeDex as well. I guess we both forgot about it. I put that as next on a mental To-Do list.
"So what now?" Shadow asked.
"Let's just get some good training in then…" I grumbled. So, Shadow and I went through the forest. We thrashed and bashed our way through all the Pokémon challengers. After what seemed like our 50th battle in a row, we stopped at a little cabin that sat at the end of the woods, right at the mouth of the volcano. We walked over to it and rapped on the door.
"It's open!" yelled a familiar voice. "Tim? Is that you?" I inquired. The door squeaked open and Tim's short figure stood in the doorway. He had on a lab coat, and was observing a piece of stone. He turned to me and extended a hand out. I gave him a high-five, asking
"What are you doing out here?"
"I'm studying the volcano. What about you?" He asked.
"Just toughening up Shadow. Hey, do you have any Pokéballs that I could borrow? I never got any from you while I was still in town." I said.
Tim became alert and responded "Oh, yes! I knew I forgot something back there. Here are some Pokéballs."
He passed me a couple of round metallic spheres that were colored white on one half, red on the other. I quickly tucked those away into a special compartment of my bag.
"And don't forget this." He said as he passed me what looked like a little handheld video game.
"This is a standard issue PokeDex given out only to exceptionally talented trainers throughout all the regions."
"Wait, don't all starting trainers get a Dex?" I questioned.
Tim replied "No. PokeDexes are very powerful pieces of machinery. They hold tons of information on all species of Pokémon in the world. To house all this information is a set of several powerful microchips, each of which cost a small fortune. Also, the material used on the outside of the Dex is a rare metal alloy only known by Elite Pokémon Experts. It is virtually indestructible, while still being extraordinarily lightweight. So, you can see why not just anybody gets one. All in all, PokeDexes don't come cheap. In fact, the only reason I'm even considering giving you one is because you show huge amounts of potential to be great."
"Um, okay thanks." I reply.
"Sigh, I just explained that I'm giving you the Single Most Expensive Piece of Machinery Ever Made by Man for free and all you say is 'Thanks'? Sheesh…"
Suddenly, an odd device connected to the ground in Tim's cottage started beeping wildly.
"Oh, No!" Tim bellowed. "What's wrong now?" Shadow asked. The volcano has been acting up recently and may blow up any day now! I've been posted here to find some way to impede the eruption and to be the first signal if it does explode. According to the scanners, seismic activity has suddenly skyrocketed and the volcano just might erupt!"
Tim yelled with panic in his voice. All of a sudden, Shadow tensed up.
"Everyone! Get out the cabin now! Hurry!" He exclaimed. The ground immediately shook below us and we staggered our way out. As we all turned to see if the volcano had set off, gigantic boulders broke off the mountain and crushed the tiny house. It was utterly smashed to pieces.
A second later, and that would have been us.
Other boulders broke off and hit the ground violently, but the volcano itself was totally fine as far as erupting went. I heard a horrible scream as one of the boulders fell to the ground. I could see a falling silhouette as well. Soon afterward, the vibrations died down and Shadow and I raced in the direction of the silhouette. As we came near the where the silhouette should have fallen, nothing was found.
"I swear I'd seen someone fall from the mount" I said.
"Y'know, that shadow didn't look quite human…" Shadow explained.
"What are you getting at?" I asked. Shadow turned his head toward some footprints from an unknown Pokémon. I pulled out my PokeDex.
"Whose footprints are these?" I asked.
Dex lit up and said "Scanning….. Scan complete. Footprints belong to RexPyrosus,better known as Charmander. Charmander is a fire-type Pokémon who often resides in mountainous areas." Dex showed me a picture of a Charmander. "Hmm… Shadow, track the footprints." Shadow pointed with his nose and then darted off back into Sage Woods. I swiftly followed. After twenty minutes, the footprints were too faded to track anymore. Shadow started tracking by scent. Five minutes later, we stopped.
"That's odd." Shadow spoke to no one in particular. I answered
"What's up? Did you lose the trail again?" My little Eevee sat there for a moment, thinking something through.
Suddenly, his ears pricked up and he shrieked "Hide!"
We fell back into a bush and stayed there for a minute or so. Just when it seemed as if nothing was going to happen, a young Charmander came running through the trees as if his life depended on it.
Indeed it did.
Two Beedrill were right behind him, trying to skewer his miniscule boy. Shadow and I jumped in to help the Charmander fight off the Beedrill.
Shadow Tackled as hard as he could into the first Beedrill. The Beedrill was off guard, and was critically injured. It was sent reeling and fell to the ground, dazed.
The Beedrill Charmander was dealing with looked much more powerful. Beedrill sent one of its sharp lances straight at the fire lizard.
Charmander stopped it with Metal Claw. He sliced down sending the lance's tip right into the ground.
Charmander put his foot down on it to keep it stuck. Then, he hopped off the lance and struck the Beedrill square in the chest with metal claw. The Beedrill fainted. Skipping celebration of a great win, Shadow and I hurried to the Charmander, who was still exhausted and badly injured. "Don't worry little guy, It's all over now. Rest….."