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Viridian Forest is the strangest place in the entire region of Kanto. It's the one place where the trees don't sway no matter how hard the wind blows. Trust me, I've tried.
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That day, the wind whipped across my face, strands of my blazing copper hair blinding me. Trinity had to be recalled into her Pokeball because she was constantly being blown away. Even Melody was having trouble navigating, but she refused to go back, saying that Pokeballs were for sissies. Her tails billowed in the wind, whipping up the dirt as she kept close to the ground.
Did I mention the trees still weren't moving?
The Weedle and Caterpie were plentiful, and just plain annoying. Imagine just walking one step, only to find yourself face-to-face with a bug. Creepy. When people thought up the saying "strength in numbers", let them visit Viridian Forest and see how they feel!
Naturally, all the trainers were attracted to me and flocked around asking for battles, thanks to the fact that I had Melody. She trounced each one with a powerful Tackle or Ember. I was extremely proud of her accomplishments, and the other Trainers stared at me in awe. I was having a winning high, romping through the grass with confidence. I'd added a Metapod, Weedle, and Pikachu to my arsenal. Weedle went directly to my PC. They were all above level 10, Melody and Trinity tied at level 19.
"Care to battle?" a voice suddenly said from behind me. I whipped around to see a girl that looked around 13, my age, staring at me. She had dark brown hair that went just a few inches lower beyond her shoulders. Her deep chocolate eyes bore into me, and her hands were on her hips in the usual cocky, defensive stance.
"You're on." I smirked. She pulled out a Pokeball and in a flash of red light, a Pikachu appeared. Its cheeks buzzed with static and anticipation. My choice was Trinity, since she hadn't been keeping up lately. She appeared with a sweet purr and squeaked her name several times at Pikachu. Pikachu's eyes got all misty. It began storing electricity, then released it directly at Trinity.
"What was that for?" I snapped, wincing as several scorch marks appeared on Trinity's fur. The girl shrugged. I pulled out my Pokedex to record its info.
Pikachu, the mouse Pokemon, whenever PIKACHU comes across something new, it blasts it with a jolt of electricity. If you come across a blackened berry, it's evidence that this POKEMON mistook the intensity of its charge.
The girl looked sheepish, stuffing her hands in her jean pockets. I rolled my eyes.
"Trinity, Tackle," I commanded. The small fox dashed forward with alarming speed and slammed into Pikachu. The mouse was pushed backwards several steps. When it recovered, its fur was sparking dangerously.
"Thundershock!" called the girl. I refuse to call that person "the girl" anymore, so she will now be known as Person.
"Chuuuuuu," cried Pikachu, letting loose a violent burst of electricity.
"Dig your tail into the ground," I countered hastily. As Trinity was shocked, she gritted her teeth against the pain and pointed her tail towards the ground, creating a lightning rod. She shook off the aftermath of the attack, then proceeded to charge at Person's Pokemon, leaving a white trail behind her. Then, she slammed into Pikachu with a powerful Tackle. It was knocked to the ground and out cold. Person raced to the Pokemon, picking it up gingerly in her arms.
"Nice battle," she complimented, flipping her dark chocolate hair over a shoulder. Her eyes sparkled with exhilaration. I laughed and shook hands with her.
"You were the toughest opponent I've seen today." I smiled.
"Thanks," she said.
"I'm Ayre. Ayre Gold." Person nodded her head and replied,
"Catina..." She hesitated for a fraction of a second, as if unsure of herself, then continued, "Catina Rocket."
I was unable to move. Minutes ticked by. Catina looked concerned, then groaned. She was unable to say anything, though, because right at that moment, a vicious bark echoed throughout the clearing. A man dressed in a black uniform with a red 'R' on the front blundered out of the foliage. A large, gray and black dog who seemed as if it were sent by Satan himself bounded faithfully beside him.
Its head was held high, polished horns arching beautifully at the back of its skull. Its single, arrow-shaped tail was raised triumphantly at the sight of human and the smell of fresh blood. One paw was curled elegantly, silver gauntlets gleaming, and it was howling at the prospect of a successful hunt.
With its fawn-colored muzzle, ivory teeth, and blazing scarlet-red eyes, it was like a demon without wings.
Catina was chalk white, fingers trembling.
"No..." she whispered softly. I realized she was looking at the man.
On closer inspection, he was actually quite young, possibly around our age, give or take a year. He had messy, light blonde hair and dark green eyes. He had a sturdy build, but lean and athletic-looking at the same time. A faint smirk was plastered across his face.
"Catina," he said, voice like rich cream. She suddenly stopped shaking when he said her name, like it had given her back her strength. With all the intensity she could muster, she shot a glare at him through her narrowed doe-brown eyes.
"Aiden Fresnine," she hissed back. Aiden laughed, a mocking, hollow sound. Catina's expression changed instantly. Her eyes were wide with terror.
"What have they done to you?" she whispered in horror. Aiden's lifeless green eyes traced over her figure, searching. Catina shuddered delicately, pulling her light cream jacket over her shoulders.
"You - you're like one of them, now." Aiden shrugged, his eyes still glassy and unfocused.
"They didn't to anything to me," he spat mechanically.
"No..." Catina repeated quietly.
"No, they can't!" She screamed. Aiden's smirk became more prominent.
"Oh, they have." I stared at the two uncertainly and waved my hand in front of their faces.
"Mind filling me in?" I prompted. Catina shook her head slowly. She was obviously still in shock. The Houndoom remained sitting obediently at Aiden's side, but broke out of its frozen state to growl at Melody. Aiden turned to see what caused his sudden change from his previous stoic behavior.
"Calm, Blaze," he soothed. The demonic dog whimpered, but resorted to glaring as its master began petting its head. Now, Melody was shaking. Her eyes were flashing between red and dark blue, and her tails were curled protectively around her small body. She bared her teeth furiously and attempted several times to lunge at him, only to be held back.
Let me go! she howled angrily into my mind. I shook my head.
Chill, you attacking is only going to make it worse. She gave one last violent, high-pitched howl that sounded more like a cross of a scream and a snarl, then stopped. Melody's little episode had attracted Aiden's attention. He stared at her for a moment, then whispered something to Blaze. Whatever it was, it definitely got him excited. Or maybe angry? You really can't tell what it's feeling when its panting, tongue lolling, and snarling with some sort of emotion.
"He wants a battle," Aiden said in his monotonous voice. Melody's eyes sparkled mischievously, and her tails waved in anticipation.
"Deal." I smirked. I was confident I could beat him, just like all the other...oh, 17 other trainers I battled earlier. Aiden laughed again, this time more mockingly.
"Suit yourself. Blaze, use Flamethrower," commanded Aiden. Melody screeched in surprise as the flames licked at her tails. They consumed her thin form, twisting and scorching her fur. I watched with wide eyes.
"Return!" A beam of red light shot out of her Pokeball, despite Melody's weak mental protest of 'Pokeballs are for sissies!', and she disappeared into it.
"Trinity, you're up," I called. Aiden looked bored. Actually, he always looked bored.
"Blaze, singe that fox," he drawled. Blaze growled as a five-foot long jet of flame shot out of his muzzle and tore at the Eevee's fur.
"Stop it!" I screamed. Trinity cried out as several patches of fur burned into nothing. Aiden smiled icily. He fingered a pitch black Pokeball. It was decorated with gold markings and a single red band encircled the center of it. He caught me watching and lifted the Pokeball higher so I could see it and possibly 'revel in its glory'. Then, he threw it at Trinity.
"What are you doing?" I snapped. He put a finger to his lips and pointed at my Eevee. Her eyes flashed red for a second, just like the Pokeball, before it sucked her in. There was no struggle, and the dark ball flew back to its master. Then, he threw it back onto the grass, where it opened, revealing my Eevee. But not exactly the same.
Where it would normally brown, it was black, and where it should've been cream, it was scarlet. Her eyes were a fiery red-violet color. Trinity bared her teeth in a snarl, exposing two-inch long fangs that curved in slightly at the end. Her ebony-furred paws were tipped with sharp ivory claws.
"M - Melody, come out and use Quick Attack!" The bird/fox creature appeared in a flash of blinding red light. She charged at Trinity with blinding speed.
"Two can play at that game. Go!" Trinity sprinted forward, her lengthened legs carrying her quickly over the grassy earth. She easily overpowered Melody and I cringed as she hit a tree with a sickening thud. Then, I saw Aiden pull out another black ball from his belt, staring hungrily at Melody. I screamed. He threw it, just as Melody was struggling to get up.
A lavender paw batted the ball away effortlessly.
"Not cool, Aiden," snapped a girl's voice. Through the light that sifted through the broad leaves of the trees, I saw her standing there, hands on hips, glaring at the boy. Aiden's head whipped up. His eyes narrowed, though distant.
"Who do you think you are, and how do you know my name?" he hissed. The girl smiled.
"How would I not. You remember me, right? Alivia." Aiden's face blanched at the name. He took a few steps backwards, calling the Houndoom to his side.
I studied her more carefully this time, wondering what about her could frighten him so much. She was slender and around 5' 4" maybe. Wavy, jet black hair flowed down to the middle of her back and her dark blue eyes were steely with anger. She was, as the jocks in Littleroot Academy would say, "absolutely foine and stunning". I shuddered as I thought back to those times.
Sitting on each side of her were Pokemon. On her left was a regal, goddess-like Espeon. Its lilac-colored eyes stared unwaveringly at Aiden.
To her right was a sleek, silky-furred Glaceon. Its body was mainly a pale, silvery blue color, looking more like a snowy white, while its patterns were a darker blue shade and cerulean, like Alivia's eyes. Its clear blue gaze was trained steadily on Blaze, and crystals of ice scintillated around her body.
You could tell they were both trained extremely well by their glittering coats and vibrant eye color. Plus, you could literally see the Glaceon's fur ripple with each gliding step it took, muscles flexing.
"Leave them alone," Alivia demanded coldly. Blaze stepped forward and shot a burst of flame at the Glaceon. It dodged to the side and the Espeon put out the spark with barely a twitch of its paw. You could see the powerful psychic energy extinguishing the fire before it could spread.
"I said leave them!" The Glaceon's fur bristled as it snarled angrily, ears flicking to catch some type of signal from its trainer to attack.
I'd listen to her if I were you, hummed a velvety, melodious voice, obviously female. It was evident that Aiden heard it, too, for he was glaring at Alivia. I gaped at the Espeon.
"Can't they only talk in your mind?" Alivia shrugged.
"Well, telepathy can be channeled by the wind, so if Tess here can learn to control it, then she can project the sound,"she explained, making it sound as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Blaze howled demonically again, his eyes blazing with anger (no pun intended) as he wailed to the skies repeatedly. Not that you could see the sky from beneath the huge, towering, not moving trees.
Slowly, Alivia nodded. Apparently, that was the signal the Glaceon had been waiting for. It surged forward with such a vengeance that it tore some of the grass out of the ground. Twisting and jerking, it fired off multiple volleys of Ice Shards. The Espeon now known as Tess was more calm, choosing to attack through telepathy. You could tell she had jabbed at Blaze when he fell to the ground, writhing with agony.
Aiden growled, much like his doggy friend.
"Return, Blaze." The beam of light reduced Blaze into red energy and he was sucked into the Pokeball. Then, he jogged away. As I turned around to thank Alivia, I realized she wasn't there anymore.
"My day just keeps getting weirder..." I mused to no one in particular. I heard Catina mutter,
"Tell me about it." Only then did I realize she was still there.
"Well, there are still a few hours of the afternoon left, so I'm going," I called over my shoulder as I trotted to another place.
"Wait!" she yelled, running to catch up. She looked at me.
"I'm coming with you." I shrugged. Honestly, I didn't care. Besides, every trainer needed a companion on his or her journey.
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We spent the evening in a semi-normal manner. There were rumors of a wild Mudkip running loose around here, but I hadn't seen anything so far. I was kind of hoping that we could last the entire day without any more chaos but, as usual, fate has something different in mind.
Catina had a fire going, courtesy of Melody's Ember attack. She only started it because I insisted. Twelve times (yes, I counted) that evening, I thought I saw a Caterpie or a Weedle or whatnot and screeched so loud Catina had to stuff a blanket in my mouth.
"They're scary," I whimpered.
We roasted marshmellows that I had packed. There were around 7 jumbo packs of jumbo marshmellows. What can I say? I have a mega-marshmellow addiction. We finished off half of a pack, which is amazing because those things are like the size of a lamp but weigh less than a water bottle. Then, I remembered.
"I just realized something..." I started. Catina looked at me curiously.
"I'm still hungry," I whined. She groaned and slapped herself across the forehead.
"Way to go, Ayre. You just made the record for the biggest amount of stupidest comments ever made in a day. Would you like a certificate? Maybe a cookie?" she snorted sarcastically. I shrugged.
"Cookie would be nice. Are there any chocolate chip cookies?" Catina screamed in frustration. I walked over to my backpack, and I was immediately handed 1 million dollars in cash!
No, I'm kidding, but if I did sell all the Weedle that fell on me in that moment, I would've made more than that.
Now, you may not have noticed, but I have a huge phobia of bugs. So imagine the loudest peal of thunder you've ever heard. Multiply it by 200. That is the perfect example of how loud I screamed. Melody incinerated at least a third, but was too tired to continue. I grabbed a random Pokeball off its hook and chucked it.
There was no noise. Oh boy. No noise = Metapod.
Metapod are giant lumps that hang around on trees until they become Butterfree, and until then, they are virtually hopeless to train.
Well, I was stuck with one option.
"Run!" I screamed. We took off. Everyone except Metapod. He stood there, blinking his eyes sleepily. Then, he began chatting with the Weedle. Catina stared.
"What - the - heck?!" she hissed. But whatever Metapod said to them, it made them leave. I felt better, but then screamed again as a few other Weedle fell out of the tree.
"String Shot," I managed to choke out. He did the rest. When they all scurried away, I hugged him tightly.
"I will never call a Metapod useless again!" I vowed. He blinked at me. Suddenly, he was glowing. The glow grew brighter, illuminating our entire camping area. It began to take the shape of something. First, wings extended from the sides of its body, then it became more slender and two antennae sprouted on its head.
"Freeeee!" he cried.
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