Luffy was driving the Trampler through the landscape at a steady pace as Monferno sat behind him and enjoyed the views, while Zoro was napping in the cart together with Gabite. When they reached the edge of a forest, stopped Luffy the Trampler and jumped off.
"What is it?" asked Zoro.
"This just looks like a good place for some hunting" said Luffy.
Zoro looked around and jumped out of the cart. Luffy and Monferno was just about to enter the forest when Zoro shouted "Wait up!"
"What?" asked Luffy.
Zoro took a bag out of the cart and raised it into the air.
"Don't you need this?" he asked.
"What is it?" asked Luffy.
"Pokéballs"
"Why would I need that?"
"Aren't you going hunting?"
"Yeah, and?"
"How you going to catch Pokémons without these?"
"What are you talking about? I am not going to eat Pokémons I catch"
"So it is that kind of hunting" said Zoro with a sweat drop "Well, since you are going hunting anyway, catch some Pokémons while you're at it. We can sell them in the next town"
"Ok" said Luffy.
"I'll stay here and watch over our things" said Zoro before he laid down and fell asleep.
The hunt didn't go well for Luffy and Monferno. They had scared a boar away, failed in catching a bunch of Starlys and they did catch a Teddiursa for dinner, but they felt so bad about what they were doing when it used Fake Tears that they let it go. They found a berry tree and began eat the fruits but…
"This is not enough. I need meat to fill my stomach" grumbled Luffy and Monferno nodded in agreement. They suddenly heard the sound of something being hit several times. They followed the sound till they arrived at a clearing. In the middle of the clearing stood a tree and beside it stood a Riolu. Luffy and Monferno quickly hid behind a bush and looked at what the Riolu would do.
The Riolu looked at the tree a while before using Force Palm in rapid succession on it. It continued going ever faster and Luffy found himself in a trance of sort, looking at what once was what he did to become stronger. Monferno found itself in a similar trance and walked out of the cover of the bush. Riolu stopped its attacks and looked at what it had done. In the area that Riolu had hit were there no bark at all and the part of the three had splintered. It was just about to commence, when Monferno walked up to it and pushed it aside. Riolu was about to attack Monferno, when Monferno held its left hand against the three and readied a punch with its right hand. Monferno's fist began to glow a light blue and it used Mach Punch on the tree. The tree trunk shattered and the tree crashed against the ground.
Riolu were shocked by the display of power and a little sad. This stranger had accomplished in one hit what it couldn't accomplish in several hits. There was only one thing to do. Riolu challenged Monferno to a battle and Monferno accepted. The two Pokémons got ready to start and Luffy watched over the battle from behind the bush.
Riolu charged forward with Force Palm and struck out. Monferno grabbed a hold of Riolu's wrist and used Close Combat to send a knee into its stomach and then throw Riolu into a tree. Riolu got up again and dodged an incoming Mach Punch from Monferno by jumping to the side. Moneferno quickly turned towards Riolu and used Ember to cover the area around Riolu. It then charged Riolu with Flame Wheel and Riolu tried to dodge by jumping back, but the embers around them reacted to the fire and burst into flames, creating a raging inferno and making the Flame Wheel twice as big. Riolu was hit hard and was pushed out of the fire. Riolu arm was badly burnt and it looked back at the flames. The inferno began to stir and gather inside Monferno's mouth as a ball of fire, who swallowed the fireball. The flame on Monferno's tail intensified and the air around it began to ignite at random places. Monferno readied Ember but instead a beam of intense flames shoot out, incinerating everything in its path. When the attack was over, was everything hit by it burnt to ashes. At the edge of the burnt area, were Riolu laying. It had avoided the attack by a hair and was sweating heavily. What it just experienced was terrifying.
Luffy decided that it was enough and came out from behind the bush and shouted "Monferno!"
Riolu looked over and got ready to fight, but seeing Monferno happily running up to Luffy it realized that Monfeno weren't a wild Pokémon. Luffy sat down and patted Monferno's head while complimenting on how awesome the last attack was. He then looked over towards Riolu and said "And you! You were also awesome!"
Riolu ran away as Luffy approach him but Luffy stretched out and grabbed it so it couldn't. He then held on to Riolu and asked "Since you are so awesome, wouldn't you like to join my team?" with a big grin.
Riolu looked at Luffy like he had asked him to jump off a cliff. Riolu was a proud wild Pokémon and it had never considered to be caught by someone or join up with someone for that matter. It would have refused, but it looked at Monferno, who was smilling at Riolu and thought about how strong it was. Could Riolu become as strong? And if it could, would it be worth it to follow a human? Only time could tell as Riolu nodded to Luffy, who's grin only became bigger. He took out a Pokéball and pressed it against Riolu and captured it. Luffy then looked at Monferno and said "Ok, now to put out the forest fire you started.
After putting out the fire, went things better for Luffy and Monferno. They killed a bear for dinner, got their hands on a couple of Beautiflys and even found the Teddieursa from before and caught it with a Pokéball. On the way back to camp, found they a bush with blue strawberries and they decided to eat a couple of them.
They reached the camp an hour after and saw Zoro do pushups while doing a hand stand. Gabite was in the cart sleeping. Zoro noticed Luffy and Monferno had come back and got back on his feet. He then walked up to them and asked "Good hunt?"
"It was awesome! We caught a bear for dinner and we also caught a couple of Pokémons!" said Luffy.
"A bear? Never eaten one of those before. No matter. Let me see the Pokémons"
Luffy first called the Beautiflys out.
"Beautifly, huh. They are popular with Bug type collectors and flower enthusiast but not that rare. It's a good thing that you caught a couple them, since they sell better in pairs"
"How do you know that?" asked Luffy.
Zoro took out a book from the cart with the title "Pokémon Prices" and said "It stood in this"
"Oh, ok" said Luffy before calling the Beautiflys back. He then called out the Teddiursa and Zoro looked it over.
"Hm, this one is rare and is pretty popular among kids. We can sell it for a good price"
"Awesome! I got one more but I am going to keep this one!"
"What is it?"
"You'll see" said Luffy before calling out Riolu. When Riolu came out of the ball it was laying on the ground, looking like it was in pain.
"Riolu! What's wrong!?"
Zoro quickly looked Riolu over and said "He has been burnt pretty badly"
"What are we going to do!?" asked Luffy desperate.
"Gabite!" yelled Zoro and Gabite raised it head and looked at Zoro. "See if we have some burn heals! We need them now!"
Gabite began to search the cart while Luffy and Zoro put Riolu on a blanket. Zoro then called out "Found anything!?"
Gabite raised its head and shook it. It couldn't find anything among the supplies.
"Shit!" said Zoro. "A powerful burn like this can kill a Pokémon this size!"
"What can we do!" shouted Luffy.
"If only we had some Rawst berries…" said Zoro.
"Rawst berries?"
"They are berries that can cure burns. They are very recognizable since they look like blue strawberries"
Luffy and Monferno's eyes went wide in realization and Luffy shouted "We have seen such berries!"
"What!"
"Inside the forest! There are bushes with that kind of berries!"
"What are you waiting for then!?" yelled Zoro. "Go find them and bring them here! I will try keeping him stable and getting the things ready!"
"OK!" roared Luffy as he and Monferno stormed into the forest, knocking down trees, animals and Pokémon alike.
Luffy and Monferno went all over the forest to find the bush from before. Luffy were running when he caught the smell. He looked to his right and stopped up. In a clearing up ahead was there a Rawst berry bush. Luffy was just about to run up to it when Monferno speed past Luffy, grabbed the bush, ripped it out of the ground and ran as fast as it could towards the camp.
Zoro had got the equipment ready and was waiting for them to come back. He began to hear a sound from the forest and looked over. Out of the forest came Monferno flying with a bush in its hand, landing in front of Zoro. Zoro jumped back a bit but quickly realized what was happening and took the bush. He picked a couple of berries and threw towards Gabite. Gabite used Dragon Claw and slashed the berries in half. Zoro quickly took a pot and used it to catch the berries.
"Monferno! Start a fire!" ordered Zoro and Monferno gathered wood as fast as it could and started a campfire. Luffy had finally caught up to them when Zoro put the pot over the fire.
"I'm here! What should we do!?" said Luffy, trying to catch his breath.
"We have already started the making of the salve and now we can only wait" said Zoro as he put some powder into the pot.
"What's that powder?"
"It's Healing Powder. In good amounts can it heal different conditions, but it is better to use it like this. By mixing it with the Rawst berry jam can it increase the healing effect and make a salve to cover the wound" answered Zoro as he began to mix it.
2 minutes went and Luffy were lying on the ground.
"I am bored!" said Luffy loudly and Zoro looked over. He then grabbed a berry and threw it to Luffy.
Luffy looked at the berry and asked "What am I going to do with this?"
"Give it to Riolu. It will ease the pain and give us the time for the salve to cool down"
Luffy nodded and walked up to Riolu and sat next to him. "Hey little guy." said Luffy and Riolu opened its eyes. "Hey, eat this. It will help"
Riolu slowly ate the berry and fell asleep again. A little while later had the salve cooled down and they applied it. Zoro added a spray from a potion and bandaged the burns just to be on the safe side. It had gotten dark and Luffy and Zoro sat up a tent and put Riolu inside. Monferno and Gabite chose to go into the tent and sleep together with Riolu and watch over it, while Luffy and Zoro sat around the campfire.
"Hey Zoro. How did you know what to do there?" asked Luffy curiously.
"You don't know how many books are in that cart, do you?" said Zoro with a grin.
"Are you serious?" asked Luffy, clearly confused since he knew that there weren't that many in the cart.
"Na, I'm joking. The truth is that I have read up on how to cure burn since I was a child. You see, I lost a friend in a fire once" said Zoro while looking thoughtful.
"Sorry to hear that" said Luffy.
"Don't worry Luffy. It was a long time ago"
Inside the tent woke Riolu up and looked around. To his right was Monferno, peacefully sleeping and to his left was a menacing looking Pokémon sleeping. Riolu quietly got up and exited the tent to find Luffy and Zoro sharing a bottle of sake.
"Come on, Gabite can drink more than you" said Zoro while laughing at the grimaces that Luffy made.
"But this taste awful!" said Luffy "I don't understand how you can drink this"
Riolu walked up to them and Luffy asked "Hi, are you feeling better?"
Riolu nodded and Zoro put a glass in front of it.
"Drink up. Its Rawst berry juice mixed with sake. It will give you a bit of a kick"
Riolu nodded and took a sip. It grimaced but forced the rest of the glass down. Hic… Riolu's face became red and he began to dance. Luffy and Zoro laugh because of the drunken Pokémon and they woke up Monferno and Gabite. Soon after were Luffy and Monferno dancing together with Riolu and Zoro and Gabite were having a drinking contest. They drank, they danced and they partied till 3 in the morning.
Hi everyone.
I know some of you might be offended by a drunken Riolu, but it is purely for entertainment for now.
Luffy's second Pokémon have been revealed and I actually don't know what the third will be. I will ask you readers about it in a future chapter but for now I don't want any suggestions.