Chapter 6

Escaping the Forest

A silver fireball burst through Ilex Forest as we made our way through. Slugma's attacks were getting stronger, but it was still at a low level. These small ember attacks were just powerful enough to sizzle some leaves on the trees, and burn a few bushes, but that was it. After the silver flames disintegrated, the fire stopped and it didn't burn anymore.

We had left the center in Azalea early, and had been walking in the woods for hours. Every now and then I would bring out my bike, check the navigation system to see if we were going the right way, and then continue down the trail. If my calculations were correct it would take us pretty much a full day to get through the forest.

All this time in the woods, however, did come in handy. Not only was I able to train Slugma, which was coming along quite well, but Scyther has really started to listen to me. He also fully recovered from the battle yesterday. His sword wasn't chipped, and I sharpened them again before we left. I finally found something that he really likes me to do for him. When I sharpen his blades he seems so happy, even though he is too arrogant to show it, I knew.

Syther was following behind Slugma, slicing what the fire did not consume. I walked behind him, and behind me walked Ricky followed by his Ursaring, who made sure our backside was protected. These woods were so thick that all the trees blocked out the sun, which made it very hard to see, but the sliver flames shooting from Slugma did help.

All of this time we had been walking was kept in silence. I don't know, but for whatever reason Ricky kept his mouth shut. Not saying that I was complaining, after all, he wasn't much of a conversation. All he ever wanted to talk about was getting into some girl's pants. But this time of silence gave me some time to think. I thought about many things, Shonna, Articuno, Raticate, and the other pokemon at the lab on Cinnabar. I hoped they were doing okay, the pokemon anyway. I really worried about them. Well, I guess I worried about Shonna as well, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt … nothing. I knew that I loved her, but she obviously didn't feel the same for me. I knew that she did what she had to. She probably thought that she would only hurt me if she kept it going on. Hanging around with a guy she didn't like, while he fell more and more in love with her. Or, maybe I was looking at it the wrong way, maybe she didn't know that I loved her, maybe she was just leaving because she didn't know what else to do.

But, regardless of what happened, the fact is that I am getting over her. I know that I could never patch the hole that was in my heart from her, but she's gone. There is nothing more I can do. But there is something I could do about Articuno. I could chose to train it, I could let it go, I could do lots of stuff, but whatever I do I don't want to leave it in that lab. The pokemon deserves to be free, not cooped up. Either that or it should be trained. If I could control it, it would be a great pokemon. Though, I don't think I should ever keep it in my party for too long, or use it for that matter. Heck, like Oak said, 'If any one saw it they would kill you.' I will admit, that almost scared me, but I knew it was true. So many people have already died because someone wanted that pokemon, one more wouldn't make a difference.

"Hold up." I said, watching Slugma, Scyther, Ricky and Ursaring stop. I reached into my book bag, pulling out my bike, throwing it on the ground. I raised the hood, looking at the navigation system.

"How far are we to the end?" Ricky spoke up from his eight or so hours of silence. "We have been walking forever!"

"Saring!" His Ursaring yawned, flopping down on the ground.

"And what time is it?" Rick asked, pulling out his cell phone. "I forgot to swipe the power charger for this thing."

I read the navigation system carefully, guessing about how much time we had left. "It looks like we have about 5 miles, maybe hour and half, two hours?"

"Ahhh!" Ricky moaned, falling to the ground like his Ursaring.

I pushed the exit button on the touch screen navigation system. "And it's almost six o'clock." I pushed the three buttons on the side of the bike, making it puff back into a capsule. "I suppose it would be best if we stop here and continue tomorrow."

"Oh, thank God." Ricky said, recalling his Ursaring. "My legs are killing me."

"Scyther." Scyther said with a chuckle, as if he was making fun of Ricky. He then walked over to a tree, crossing his swords as he sat by the trees roots. He closed his eyes, acting like he was meditating, or sleeping, I really couldn't tell.

"I'll go ahead and get the pots and pans out." I put Pichu on the ground along with my book bag. I looked over to Sycther. "Hey Scyther, could you get us some fire wood?"

"Scy!" He nodded, flying off into the woods.

"Hey Ricky." I looked over at him, sitting under a tree. "Can you take the canteen and find some water for the food?"

"Arrr…" He groaned. "Why? I'm tired."

"Well then I guess you won't be getting any spaghetti." I stood up, taking the canteen as I walked into the woods.

"Spaghetti?" He asked, rising up. "You're fixing spaghetti?"

"Yes." I nodded. "But its not any concern to you, seeing as how you won't help."

"Hey!" He jumped up, jerking the canteen out of my hand. "I'll help for spaghetti!" He reached for two pokeballs around his waist. He threw out his Swampert, and hopped on his Dodrio. "Find some water Swampert, me and Dodrio will follow behind."

"Swamp!" The creature said.

"Hey, Ricky."

"Yeah?" He looked back me, still on Dodrio.

"Here." I tossed him another canteen from my book bag. "When you find a stream or something get some scum from the bottom of it."

"What?" He jumped, looking at me strange. "Lord, why? If you're going to add that into the spigetti…"

"No." I shook my head with a chuckle. "It's for Kabuto, that's what he eats."

"Pond scum?" He asked, before looking away. "Okay, whatever. Lets go you two!" He motioned to his Swampert as they disappearing into the woods.

"Well, well." I said, picking Pichu back up as I put him on my shoulder. "It's amazing what a little convincing can do for someone." I smiled, releasing Arcanine, Kabuto, out Quilava. I looked around, seeing that all my pokemon, with the exception of Scyther, were all standing around me. Man, I really should work on my party's defense. With half of my party fire type all it would take was one good Hydro Pump and I would be out of commission. Slugma can't really learn any defensive moves now, seeing as how he is just a blob of lava, but he might when he evolves. Quilava could be trained to handle some water attacks, but if his body temperature drops too much it could be bad. Arcanine, on the other hand, is at such a high level that a water attack wouldn't hurt him very much. On top of that his thick fur is so oily that when he gets wet it just rolls right off. I might should start training him in the water, that way he would get use to it and might strengthen his weakness against those types of attacks. If I was going to train him with that then I would like to start him off with some hot springs, maybe that wouldn't be as bad as a cold river, but where would I find a hot spring? The last one I found was back in Azalea Town, and that was a full days walk, I really didn't want to go back. Well, we will see after I get my gym badge, maybe I can talk to some people and see if there is a short cut back, I know in Kanto there always was.

I looked to sky, away from my playing pokemon. This place is very well covered, in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I should think about training Articuno, this would be an ideal spot. But if I were going to do that, I would need Ricky out of the picture. How would I manage that? I guess I could just tell him to go out and get drunk, even though I don't know where he would get the beer seeing as how he was only 15, but I knew he would from somewhere. That kid was crafty. I pondered on this more, feeling sure in my plan. He also said that there were some very… 'questionable gal's' that would do dirty work, if you know what I mean. I could just tell me to go there and leave me alone for a bit.

It wasn't long until Scyther came back with a trunk of a tree in his sword like arms. He threw it into the air with a quick Wing Attack and sliced it into smaller pieces, perfect for a fire. When the pieces fell they landed in a stack in the middle of the open area we were at.

"Great job!" I said, giving him a thumbs up. "That is really awesome how you can do that, and even stack it too!"

"Scy." He crossed his arms, acting like he didn't care, but I could see a smile on his face.

I took some pieces off the stack, putting them on the ground, and lining a circle of large rocks around them. I looked over to Quilava and Pichu, who were both playing with Slugma and Kabuto. Arcanine was there too, watching over them, making sure that things didn't get too rough. I smiled, not wanting to bring anyone away from the fun, but I needed a fire lit. "Hey, Slugma."

They all stopped playing as Slugma turned to look at me. "Maaa?"

"Come over here." I motioned. "I need your help to make a fire."

"Ma, ma, slug!" He smiled, inching his way over too me, making the grass under his lava body sizzle into a silver flame before going out. The other pokemon behind him started to play once more, watching out for the little cinders that he had made before. I saw Scyther fly into the air, landing beside Arcanine. Though it had been subtle, I have noticed that he was taking a liking to Arcanine, either that or he just wanted to hang around the strongest pokemon he could. Arcanine didn't mind, he always liked everyone in my party, kind of acted like the leader in some ways.

When Slugma got to the fireplace he shot an ember attack at it, making it engulf in silver flames, before it slowly turned red. "Thanks!" I said, reaching my hand down to pat him on the head, only to yank it away. I only got a few inches away from him, but his lava body was so hot that I could feel my hand start to get burns.

"Slug, ma?" He looked up at me sadly.

"I'm sorry Slugma," I said, knelling down to him. "I want to pet you, but I can't. Your skin is far too hot, I would get burned. It's not like the fames on Quilava, regardless of how much you like me, I will get burned until you evolve into a Magcargo."

"Slug…" He looked down sad.

"Oh, its okay." I smiled, looking at him. "We can still make the best of it."

"Hey!" Ricky yelled as he rode back on Dodrio. Swampert wasn't around, I guess me must have put him back up. He hopped off the three headed bird, recalling him. "One canteen full of water," He said, placing it in my hand. "And the other one full of … scum… stuff…"

"Buto! Buto!" Kabuto squealed, leaping from the spot him, Pichu and Quilava were playing. He ran as fast as his little claw like legs could go, jumping on Ricky's leg, trying to get to the muck.

"Ah!" He screamed. "Alright, alright, take it, take! Just get off of me!"

He threw the canteen on the ground. "Buto!" Kabuto scurried over to it, nibbling at the slush that fell out of the open lid.

"Hey!" I said, scooping up the canteen. "You have to wait just like everyone else, Kabuto."

"Bu, to…" He looked down sad, pushing a little claw in the slush that was on the ground.

"Agg…" I sighed. "Okay, you can eat that, but no more!"

"Buto-to-to!" He squealed happily as he munched the muck down.

* * *

It wasn't long until the food was done. I bought some spaghetti noodles back is Azalea town, and couldn't wait to try my new recipe. Everyone seemed to like it, except for Scyther, who preferred to fly off and get his own food. After the dinner we rolled out our sleeping bags and went to bed. That night, I knew something didn't feel right, like I was forgetting something… or something…

"Oh well." I said, closing my eyes.