Bruised, battered and beaten, and with Jolene's foot still having a large piece of thick swamp stuck to it, we stumbled out into the fresh air, heaving for breath and scrabbling at our legs to dislodge the very much unwelcome spider webs that had been waiting right at the spot where the tunnel ended.

I lay down on the ground, panting, and felt my limbs ache and throb with the various cuts and slashes the woods had bestowed upon us.

No forest whatsoever, I'd decided, should ever have bushes growing upside down or trees that looked as though they'd been forced into cliffs with a screwdriver.

After what felt like hours, I sat up slowly. Charmander was lying a few feet away, its belly going up and down in beat with its breathing. It was covered in slime, thorns and dead bugs; so was I. But right now, that didn't matter because it was a layer so thick, we would need three showers to be merely dirty again - we were beyond filthy.

I sighed, and reached for my Poké Balls again. There were two of them that were currently occupied - I peered at each of them in turn, before deciding that I might as well.

Both of them landed on the ground right between me and Jolene, and they each burst with a brilliant white; both lights joined together and grew in size. A small shape, I noticed, detached itself and ran off towards the nearest rock.

The remains, however, grew legs - six of them, the two upper ones wielding lance-like needles - and wings. Its skinny but still huge body landed on the ground, and it stood up, looking around with compounded eyes.

My Beedrill surveyed the landscape, and let out a happy sigh.

In direct opposition to everything I had learned about insects at school, it had a black eye. I knew how it had gotten to be there - a Rattata had tackled it - but from what I'd expected, there should have been much more of crunch and a lot less of slap as it struck.

There were also, much more noticeable once the colours had taken over for the whiteness, a number of rifts in its four wings. None of them were hampering its ability to fly, but several came close. To these wings was strapped a three-part body in yellow and black, and it was not so much striped as gashed. In fact, the general effect of it was that somebody had tied a mangled ant to a worn kite and then flown it through a thicket. Despite this, it was smiling broadly.

I'd named it Caldera, because I liked the sound of the word.

"W'lcome back," I said to it, standing up. "How're you feeling?"

"Top o' the world, Kim, top o' the world!" it responded, brightly, while mildly concussing itself with a stinger. "It'zzz a beautiful day, ainnit?"

"Oh... Um... Yer not hurt, are you? Only..."

"Yezzz?" it asked innocently, head cocked to the side.

"Well, you did get that branch in your face..."

"Oh, no worriezzzz, I got over that."

You got through it, I mentally corrected it. "An' then, there was that small landslide jus' at th'start of the woods..."

"Only got a few large onezzzz over me. I'll zzzzurvive!"

"An' then you were 'tacked by th' large colony of Beedrill...*" I tried, in a desperate attempt at getting it to admit at leastsome pain; after that incident, I had recalled it for the whole duration of the forest trek so that it would be at least somewhat safe.

"Juzzzzt high zzzzpiritzzz, juzzzt high zzzpiritzzzz," it assured me. I gave up, and went to look for Mr. Squeak instead.

It had hidden itself behind a small boulder to the right of the path that ran straight forward towards some distant settlement; I spied a few rooftops some length away when I picked up the Rattata.

" 't's all right," I told it soothingly. "We're out 'f that forest now."

"Oh..." it whispered in meek tones. "That's... gogood..." It curled up in my hands, but at least it wasn't trembling any more. Patting it, I settled down on the rock.

Jolene came up, and we sat still for quite a while, glad to be out in open space, and listening to the sounds of nature: Wingbeats, the creak of the wind in the trees, fluttering tufts of grass, a scream and the thud of a body hitting the ground...

"Terribly zzzorry to butt in," came Caldera's voice, "but I zzzeem to've hit a zzzzpot o' trouble..."

I looked up, and the first thing I saw was the unlucky Beedrill pasted to the ground and gazing up into the eyes of a Pidgey that was standing on its chest.

"Hey!" I shouted, and started standing up; Mr. Squeak scurried off me and ran down behind the rock again. "Don' hurt it!"

The bird turned its eyes upon me.

It was the sharpest glare I had ever seen. I felt like it was slicing straight through my eyeballs and out the back of my head, and didn't stop until it had sheared straight through the whole world. The eyes were not exactly intelligent, but 'cutting' definitely covered it.

In the face of it, I hesitated.. "Um... Don'..." I started, but I was less certain this time around. However, Caldera butted in.

"Eczzcuzzzze me, but I think I'll be getting up now," it said, and waved a stinger at the bird. It flopped off, and landed a few feet away, still staring me in half.

Jolene moved swiftly. In the blink of an eye, it was atop the wild Pokémon, pinning its wings and legs to the ground and breathing hot air at it.

"Now, you've got three choisssesss," it said. "One of them isssbeing roassssted. How do you feel about that?"

There was a slight caw from the bird, but having a Charmander on top of it seemed to be taking away its will to pick a fight.

"That'zzz the way!" exclaimed Caldera happily, flourishing an arm that ended up slashing a hole in its wing. "Zzzhow it what you're made of!"

I held up a hand. "Um, thass enough," I said, and walked over, crouching down beside the bird. "You look strong... 'd you like t'come with us?"

With a growling Charmander on top of it, ready and willing to turn it into fried chicken, it seemed to realise the wisdom of giving up. A quick nod told me yes, and I put the Poké Ball to its head. The red flare enveloped it and drew it in.

Jolene dropped the remaining centimetre to the ground, and stood up, gazing at the Pidgey's capsule. It brushed the dust off its knees and hands, and folded its arms.

And looked down at its feet. And started twitching, and trembling, as though it was about to take off like a rocket.

A sudden blunt spike erupted from the back of its head as what seemed like a blush burnt across its face and arms. Its head jolted up from the body, but was stopped by a very thin neck; its arms stretched forward and out, in pursuit of the brand new claws that were attempting to escape. Bones lengthened and knuckles widened, touching the skin from within.

The blush settled, and now it seemed more like Jolene had been surprised by a maniac with a spray gun while wearing a chest plate. What stood before me was a lot thinner, and a foot taller, than a Charmander, and was still staring at its feet with hands held out wide in complete surprise.

"Crikey," said Caldera, "that'zzz a new one!"

* Caldera was, quite possibly, the most unlucky being in the whole world. I'd caught it as a Weedle, after a battle that had mostly involved it being mangled by a flock of wild Pidgey that wanted it for a meal. Since then, it had grown slowly, and with at least one major accident for every fifty steps we took; the only reason a grand piano hadn't fallen out of the sky and crushed it yet was, I suspected, because the world likes to keep its punching bags alive.
Even though I'd put it into the Poké Ball for protection, it still seemed to have acquired a crack in its leg and a few chips into its stingers that weren't there before. How this happened, I might never know.

Team Update:

Jolene the Charmeleon
Mr. Squeak the Rattata
Caldera the Beedrill, caught in Viridian Forest
? the Pidgey, caught at Route 3