Again, this chapter is a little bit of a detour...Rose goes on her own little adventure, but you'll see. Hope you enjoy! :)
As always, I appreciate all the support and submitted OC's! OC's are still wanted, feel free to submit!
Also, I really love and appreciate reviews, they help to give me motivation to write more!
"Hyper Beam, Snorlax, let's go!" called Gage.
"Fly up and dodge, Gligar!" Elliot countered.
The two Pokémon obeyed. They and their trainers were in the midst of a training battle, in a clear field they'd found. It was much nicer down here, now that they weren't in the snowy mountains.
While the two boys practiced Gym Battling, the two girls were off to a side practicing for Contests. Of course, Rose was a Coordinator, but now Poppy was planning on entering the next Contest since Clefairy had seemed so interested in the last one they watched.
"Now, Poppy," Rose started to explain in an all-too-serious manner. "The goal of a Pokémon Contest is to showcase just how special your Pokémon is, and how beautiful they and their attacks can be. The first round is the round where you have to combine your Pokémon's attacks to create the most beautiful show possible."
"Okay," Poppy nodded. She had Clefairy in her arms, who was intently listening to Rose.
Leaning over, Rose smiled, as she spoke to Clefairy, saying, "So, Clefairy, can you show us some beautiful moves that could be used in a Contest?"
"Clefairy!" exclaimed the happy pink Pokémon as it leapt from Poppy's arms.
To both of the girls' surprise, it launched an attack of dazzling light that looked extremely beautiful.
"Woah," Rose mumbled, in complete awe. "What was that?"
"I think Clefairy just used Dazzling Gleam," Poppy replied.
Rose pulled out her PokéDex, which said: "Dazzling Gleam. This attack damages opposing Pokémon by emitting a powerful flash. It is a Fairy-type move."
"Wow!" Rose exclaimed. "That'll be fantastic in a Contest, Clefairy!"
"Clefairy!" Clefairy grinned, flashing a peace sign.
The girls continued practicing for their next Contest, and the boys were still practicing battling.
"Alright, Gligar, try X-Scissor!" called Elliot, trying to strategized as Gligar dodged Snorlax's Focus Punch.
"Gligar!" the purple Pokémon agreed.
"You know what to do, Snorlax!" Gage yelled.
"Snor!" the Pokémon agreed.
Gligar soared up in the air for preparation, then swooping in with its claws in position for the attack. It slammed right into Snorlax, scoring a direct hit. However, Gligar had flow right into Snorlax's belly, which caused it to bounce back into a tree forcefully, sliding down to the ground, injured.
"Now, Rollout!" Gage commanded.
Elliot winced, as the enormous Snorlax rolled over his already injured Gligar. After that, Gligar was totally unable to battle, so the boys called it off as Elliot sprinted to Gligar's aid.
"You okay, buddy?" Elliot inquired, lifting Gligar into his arms.
"Gligar!" the Pokémon nodded.
Within a minute, it seemed to have recovered, and knocked Elliot to the ground by hugging him harshly on the face.
"Okay, Gligar, I think you're great, too, but please get off of my face!" Elliot laughed, trying to pry the Pokémon off of him.
"That Gligar sure does like you," Rose giggled, as she, Lily, Poppy and Clefairy met back up with their companions. "Anyways, since we're all done training for now, can we get some lunch, please?"
Laughing, the rest of the group agreed, saying in unison, "Of course!"
So, the group prepared for lunch. Gage gathered some firewood, which Poppy and Elliot used to whip up a stew, while Rose set up the small camping table and chairs. When the stew was all ready, and the bowls of it had been placed out on the table for everyone, the quartet released their Pokémon.
Out came Oshawott, Ferroseed, Litwick, Ivysaur, Raichu, Hitmontop, Flora, Buttercup, Dratini, Bayleef, Chinchou, Susie and Eevee, joining Clefairy, Lily, Snorlax, Gligar and Deino, who were already out of their PokéBalls. The quartet's Team had grown a lot since everyone first met. Gage had caught Snorlax, who increased his team with it's sheer size. Elliot had caught Gligar, who'd given his team and advantage with its flying abilities. Rose had befriended and captured two more Grass-types, Flora, the Sunflora, and Buttercup, the Bulbasaur. And, Poppy was the first to fill up the six slots on her team - by capturing Chikorita, who was now Bayleef, and building strong bonds with Chinchou, Clefairy, Susie the Swinub, and Eevee. All of the Pokémon seemed healthy and happy and ready for their next battles and Contests.
"Ready to eat, everyone?" Poppy asked with a smile, as she pulled out cans of Pokémon food from her backpack.
All of the Pokémon responded loudly and happily, their own way of saying yes. With the help of the others, Poppy passed out bowls of Pokémon food to everyone, except for Snorlax. Gage had special food that Professor Oak sent him from Pallet Town that was specifically formulated for Snorlax, so that it'd be filled up instead of having to eat and eat and eat.
"I can't believe that all of these Pokémon are ours!" Rose squealed with delight, as she smiled out over all of the eating Pokémon. "I never imagined I'd be able to travel with all these beautiful Pokémon!"
"Well, I'm glad you're happy, Rose," grinned Poppy.
Rose opened her mouth to reply, when, suddenly, a rustling in the bushes and a small glimpse of a Pokémon completely stole her attention. In the flash of an eye, she recalled all her Pokémon, including Lily, and started off. Her manic expression and starry eyes returned, as she squealed and sprinted off in the direction of the Pokémon she'd seen.
"Think it's safe to say she saw some sort of Grass-type?" Elliot chuckled, with Gligar on his shoulder.
"Yeah," Gage sighed. "We better go see where she ran off to, before she gets herself in trouble."
They all called their Pokémon back in their PokéBalls. They'd finished eating anyways. Poppy was the first to sprint off after Rose, while the two boys pack up the campsite.
Rose fell to her knees in front of the Pokémon that she'd been chasing. She clutched her hands by her cheek, as her eyes glittered in admiration. The Pokémon she'd chased was now cornered into a tree, and had no means of escaping. So, the Grass-type only stared at the seemingly strange girl.
"Wow, you're so beautiful!" Rose told the Pokémon with the utmost sincerity. "Your petals have the most lovely pattern of spots that I've ever seen! They're so big and full and vibrant! You're the most lovely Vileplume I've ever seen!"
"Vileplume?" the Pokémon inquired, cocking its head out of confusion, and maybe even a bit of fear.
"Oh, don't worry, I won't hurt you," Rose said, acting more normally now as she tried to comfort the Pokémon. "I'm Rose, and I want to be the world's greatest Grass-type Trainer, and I think that you're just the greatest, most pretty Vileplume that I ever have seen."
"Plume," the Pokémon muttered. I backed up further into the tree, still seeming apprehensive.
"Hm," Rose mumbled. She fumbled around in her pocket, and pulled out a few pellets of Pokémon food, and offered it to Vileplume. "Here, want a little snack? This Pokémon food is special, I made just for dual Grass and Poison-types like yourself. My little Bulbasaur loves it, and I'm sure that you will too. Go on, give it a try."
Vileplume stepped forward, sniffing the pellets being offered by Poppy. It took it a minute, but once it tried the food, it couldn't get enough and soon ate the whole handful. When it was done eating, it was clear that Vileplume now trusted Rose, as it did its best to give her a hug with its stubby little arms as it smiled.
"Oh, wow, thank you!" came a new female voice.
As Rose stood to her feet, with Vileplume in her arms, she saw a girl in a jean shorts with a pink flowered tanktop. The girl had dirt-covered boots on her feet and gardening gloves on her hands. Her hair was tied back in a braid that was intertwined with flowers, and she wore a sun visor to keep the sun out of her blue eyes.
"Huh?" Rose mumbled.
"Hi there, I'm Lavender," the girl introduced herself, hastily shaking Rose's hand. "And this Vileplume is Tulip, and belongs to my Grandma."
"Wow, this is your Grandma's Vileplume?" Rose inquired. "It's great! And I'm Rose, by the way, and I want to be the world's greatest Grass-type Trainer."
"So, you must really love Grass Pokémon, huh?" Lavender giggled. After Rose nodded, Lavender continued, "My Grandma loves Grass-type Pokémon, too. She converted our whole house into one big greenhouse. We have all kinds of Grass Pokémon living with us, along with all the flowers and plants we raise."
"Wow," Rose mumbled in awe, her eyes once again overcome with stars. She was still holding Tulip the Vileplume as she added, "That sounds like an absolute paradise!"
"Why don't you come see it?" Lavender suggested. "We don't live too far from here, and my Grandma loves company. She'd especially like meeting someone as passionate about Grass-type Pokémon as she is!"
"Wow, thank you!" Rose squealed.
Like Lavender had said, it didn't take long for the two girls and Vileplume to arrive at the house. It was a big beautiful house, completely made out of glass, with plants and flowers of every imaginable hue and shade growing inside. Already, Rose saw tons of different Grass-type Pokémon, one of every kind imaginable.
Rose was in heaven.
"C'mon, Rose!" Lavender hollered over her shoulder, running towards the door. "You haven't seen anything yet!"
"Oh, wow!" Rose exclaimed. "This is just the best!"
Inside, Lavender gave Rose a grand tour of the greenhouse. Rose was completely slack-jawed and in complete awe as she walked through, seeing all the plants and flowers, and of course, the Grass-type Pokémon. She loved the Oddish and Gloom, the Bulbasaur, the Ivysaur, and the one enormous Venusaur, the Chikorita, Bayleef, and Meganium, the Tangela, and all the others that made their home in the wondrous greenhouse.
"Well, who do we have here, Lavender?" came the voice of Lavender's grandmother.
She was clearly elderly, but she still was beautiful, in an ethereal way, like her greenhouse.
"Oh, Grandma, this is Rose," Lavender introduced. "She found Tulip, and she loves Grass-type Pokémon, so I brought her over to show her around."
"Well, it's always a joy to meet another person who loves Grass Pokémon like I do, young lady," Lavender's grandma said with a smile, as she shook Rose's hand. "And you can call me Myrtle, Rose."
"Nice to meet you, Myrtle," Rose grinned. "You have such a beautiful house, and such beautiful Pokémon!"
"Thank you, young lady," Myrtle nodded. Bending over, she rubbed Tulip the Vileplume's petals, and said, "And thank you for finding Tulip. She's been with me for quite some time. I got Tulip when she was just a little Oddish and I was just a little girl. We trained together, and even won one of the Grand Festival Pokémon Contests. But, that was years okay, and we haven't entered a Pokémon Contest since I was knee high on a grasshopper. Lately, she's been running off a lot. I think she's gettin' antsy, since all she does is help me water plants."
"Wow," Rose replied. "Y'know, I'm training to become a Coordinator, too! I just competed in my first Contest not so long ago. And I want to become the world's greatest Grass-type Trainer!"
Chuckling, Myrtle stood up, and told Rose, "You remind me a lot of myself when I was a girl. I wanted to be the best Grass-type Trainer as well when I was young, but then I married and had my children, so I decided to open my own greenhouse and raise Grass Pokémon instead."
Outside, Team Rocket sat in a tree, peering in the greenhouse with their binoculars.
"Well, the little brat led us to Grass Pokémon paradise," Rattata commented. "I knew we shoulda kidnapped her!"
"We tried!" Thomas wailed. "But, as usual, we lost…"
"And we only lost because of that sour attitude of yours!" Trixie hollered at him, effectively scaring him. "So lose the tude and we'll have ourselves a brood of Grass Pokémon!"
Down below in the greenhouse, Lavender, Myrtle and Rose were sipping herbal tea in the midst of all the plants and Pokémon. They were chatting about how great Grass-types were, when, suddenly, Team Rocket crashed through the glass ceiling.
The humans jumped to their feet, as the Pokémon were startled. Immediately, Thomas started firing off his net gun, capturing Myrtle's Grass Pokémon by the dozen.
"Stop!" Lavender cried. "Who are you people, thinking you can steal our Pokémon?!"
"It's Team Rocket," Rose growled. "They're a bunch of dummies who always try to steal Pokémon. But don't worry, they never actually steal Pokémon."
"Hey, we're trying our best!" whined Thomas.
"Give us those Pokémon!" Myrtle demanded.
"Never!" Trixie laughed maniacally.
"Oh yeah?" Rose taunted. Tossing out her PokéBall, she called, "Let's show 'em, Buttercup!"
"Bulba!" exclaimed Buttercup, emerging from its PokéBall.
"Use Razor Leaf, and free all the Pokémon!" called Rose.
"Bulbasaur!" Buttercup cried, as it obeyed orders.
With a few well-aimed Razor Leaf attacks, all of the grass Pokémon had been freed, and Team Rocket was scared, as usual.
"We're not giving up that easily!" Thomas yelled. "Go, Poliwrath! Use Water Gun!"
"Dodge, and use Vine Whip!" countered Rose. "Send that dumb frog flying!"
Buttercup obeyed and dodged the Water Gun, though it wouldn't have had much effect anyways. Then, Buttercup used its vines to wrap Poliwrath up tightly in the air, and then threw it forcefully back at Team Rocket. The impact caused them to go back flying through the hole they'd created in the roof of the greenhouse.
"We're flying off again!" they yelled.
"Great job, Buttercup," Rose grinned, as she recalled her Bulbasaur.
"Thank you, Rose," Myrtle said gratefully, as she bowed to the young girl. "Without you and your Bulbasaur, those fools would've taken all our lovely Grass-type Pokémon and plants."
"Yes, thank you," Lavender added, bowing as well.
"Don't worry about it," Rose replied humbly.
"Lavender, why don't you give Rose a gift to thank her," Myrtle said. Then, she whispered something in her granddaughter's ear, causing Lavender to sprint off into the trees.
"You really don't have to give me anything," Rose said.
"No, I want to give this to you," Myrtle responded. "I would only give this to a fellow lover of Grass Pokémon such as yourself."
Lavender returned moments later, with an egg case that contained a blue Pokémon egg with green markings towards the top. She handed it to Myrtle, who handed it to Rose.
"Wow!" Rose squealed, as she looked lovingly at the gg in her arms. Then, she sighed, and said, "I really can't accept this. I appreciate it and all, but I really can't."
"Of course you can, dear!" Myrtle insisted. "I won't let you move a muscle until you decide to take on that Pokémon egg."
"Well, if you put it that way…," Rose giggled, along with the other two humans. "Thank you so much!"
"Not a problem, dear!" Myrtle assured her, waving as Rose went out the front door of the greenhouse.
Panting, the other three of Rose's companions emerged from the forest, just in time. Rose walked towards them, leaving Lavender and Myrtle's greenhouse to fade away in the distance.
"Rose, we've been looking everywhere for you!" Elliot called.
"Yeah, where've you been?" Gage asked, as Rose and the egg came towards them. His eyes nearly popped out of his head as he inquired, "And where the heck did you get that egg?!"
"Oh," Rose giggled nonchalantly. "Me and Bulbasaur saved some Pokémon from Team Rocket, and the owners of the Pokémon gave me the egg as a reward."
Gage groaned, mumbling, "Why is it so easy for her?"
"Cheer up, Gage," Poppy said, patting her friend on the back. "You'll catch another Pokémon soon enough."
Gage grumbled again, and Poppy turned her attention to Rose, asking, "Do you know what kind of Pokémon is in the egg, Rose?"
"No," Rose said, shaking her head. "All I know is that it's a Grass-type. But I don't care what it is, as long as it's healthy."
And so, another day sets on our heroes. After some much needed training, Rose had her own little adventure, which led to her making new friends, defeating Team Rocket, and acquiring a new egg for her team.
POPPY's current team:
Dratini, Bayleef, Chinchou, Clefairy, Susie (Swinub) & Eevee
GAGE's current team:
Ivysaur, Raichu, Hitmontop & Snorlax
ROSE's current team:
Lily (Chikorita), Flora (Sunflora), Buttercup (Bulbasaur) & an unhatched egg
ELLIOT's current team:
Deino, Oshawott, Ferroseed, Litwick, Gligar