Chapter 3
Versus Rattata and Pidgey

After a mere twenty minutes of walking across the bustling streets of the metropolis that was Saffron City, Ivy was already bored and trailing her feet, and had slowed to an infuriatingly slow, trudging speed. Jack was steadily growing more and more irritable with her as her constant moans about being tired reached annoyingly high-pitched tones, dripping with self-pity. Casting a weary look in her direction as they dilly-dallied at a road crossing, Jack sighed and eventually gave in, choosing, quite foolishly, to indulge her.

"Ivy, you can't be tired already. We're not even halfway across the city yet."

"Not even halfway!" Ivy repeated shrilly, her eyes bulging in horror.

"No," Jack said in a strained voice. He didn't dare tell her that in order to reach the edge of the city where the grassy Route 5 first began; they'd have to criss-cross practically the entire length of the massive city of Saffron, a feat which could probably take them the better part of three hours on foot.

"You know, I thought we would have seen some Pokemon by now." Ivy said as conversationally as she could manage as they crossed the street.

Jack shook his head. "We're in the middle of a city, Ivy. Pokemon don't hang around in street corners and dodge in and out of roads. If we're lucky we'll see the occasional Pidgey way up in the sky, but that's about it."

Ivy let out a theatrical groan. "But Jack, I gotta find a Pokemon somewhere."

"Better to wait until we get onto Route 5, then," Jack said as lightly as he could muster, as they made their way up a tight alleyway and emerged onto another bustling street. "We might find some weak baby Pokemon there, and if luck stays on our side, we might be able to catch them."

"Aww!" Despite herself, Ivy's eyes widened at the thought of weak, helpless baby Pokemon being ripped from the protective embrace of their families. "Isn't that cruel?"

"Well it's either that or no Pokemon whatsoever." Jack said firmly, privately thinking that if Ivy considered ambushing weak Pokemon "cruel", she was going to have a lot of difficulty dealing with the more "conventional" ways of catching normal, healthy Pokemon in the wild. He grimaced as another thought struck him. "Honestly, the idea of expecting someone to catch a Pokemon by themselves is ridiculous…"

Seeing an opportunity to complain and fume and rage over the injustices she felt she was enduring, Ivy pounced on it with vicious abandon. "Yeah, and the Pokemon themselves are rare!" she cried angrily. "Vulpix, Shellder, Cubone? I know people that have searched for years looking for them."

The two friends continued loudly expressing their various woes and concerns for a further ten minutes, reluctantly dragging their feet across the monotonous grey and black streets. Eventually, annoyance got the better of even Jack, who normally prided himself on having seemingly endless supplies of patience, and he quickly made an executive decision. It was obvious that if they insisted on walking the entire city, they would never make it to Route 5 by nightfall. Jack then realised it would be in their best interests to double back and catch the bus from Saffron City bus terminal which, after an hour's journey, would drop them right at the outskirts of Route 5.

The journey was pleasant enough for the two friends. The bus was relatively empty, with only a handful of passengers alongside Ivy and Jack. Ivy was strangely quiet the entirety of the journey and Jack found himself thankful for the silence. He was also grateful for the chance to absorb the scenery, knowing it would be a long time before he was back in the familiar territory of his home city, and also for being able to be alone with his thoughts for a little while. However, at the same time, he couldn't help but be concerned over his unusually silent friend. At first he assumed she really was tired, and offered her his shoulder to sleep on, but she refused, shaking her head animatedly. Her eyes were alert and shiny and she seemed content enough; there was no sign of visible depression or upset marring her face. Jack couldn't help but think about it on-and-off consistently through the course of the journey. Eventually he surmised that perhaps his friend needed to be alone with her thoughts just as much as he wanted to.

She didn't perk up until the bus trundled into its last stop before it was due to turn around and head back into Saffron City. Jack and Ivy left the now empty bus, engaging in excited small talk as to what was awaiting them on Route 5 and continued on foot towards the Route. It was simple enough to get there. They followed a small path until they reached the unmistakable figure of the gates that served to separate all major Kanto and Johto cities from the dangerous, Pokemon ridden and often rarely traversed natural routes. They slipped through the gate, offering the bored-looking guard a smile, before officially emerging out into Route 5.

"So," Jack murmured no sooner had they stepped back out into the sun. He briefly stared around the unfamiliar territory, taking it all in within a matter of seconds. "What do we do now?"

Ivy couldn't even reply. Her surroundings had her shocked into silence. She had never seen so much green in all her life, and was completely and utterly transfixed by the strangeness of it all. Even living so close toViridianForest, Ivy had never even set so much as one solitary foot in there. Growing up in the grey surroundings of Pewter City, and then studying in Saffron, one of the biggest cities in the whole of Kanto, Ivy was not accustomed to country surroundings, and the sight of so much green unnerved her. Everywhere she looked she saw thick lush grass waving lazily in the wind, saucer-shaped flowers in every colour and hue imaginable, rolling hills that seemed to go on as far as the eye could see, just giant slabs of varying shades of interlocking, patchwork green, with the occasional silvery thread weaving through it, and trees that looked so strong and wise she imagined they could have been standing there since the beginning of time.

"You know, a thought just occurred to me…" Jack said, crossing to stand next to his gawping friend, still engrossed in the natural beauty around them. "If our destination is Viridian Forest, we should have just got a ride with your parents."

"Huh?" Ivy came out of her momentary stupor at Jack's words. She considered it, before shaking her head vehemently. "No… not a lot of Pokemon live around Pewter City, and heading into Viridian Forest without Pokemon to protect you is suicide… We're better catching something beforehand to protect us. And I don't see many Pokemon living around Pewter City…"

Jack let out an annoyed grunt before falling to the ground, heaving off his giant bag. Ivy took a seat next to him, glad to also relieve the pressure on her back from her own bag. They'd only been off the bus for ten minutes, but the strain from the weight of their bags was already starting to get the better of both of them. Jack glanced at his watch. "Three o'clock," he stated, letting his arm fall to the ground.

"Only three, huh…?" Ivy said thoughtfully. She felt like so much had gone on today that she naturally assumed it would be much later in the day…

"Well, we can do one of two things," Jack said, letting out a fatigued sigh. "We can go looking for Pokemon or we can make our way up to Cerulean."

"What kinds of Pokemon live around here?" Ivy asked.

"Don't ask me, I'm not a Pokedex." Jack quipped at once, stretching his arms and sighing in relief when he felt his back click satisfyingly.

Ivy let out another sigh, fighting the urge to collapse her head in her hands. "Well, to be honest, I really can't be bothered travelling any more. I'm too tired for it."

"You were on a bus for an hour…" Jack pointed out.

"That's still tiring," Ivy said with finality, and after a few thoughtful minutes, she came to a decision. "I think I want to look for some Pokemon."

Jack groaned at his friend's suggestion, but reluctantly pushed himself to his feet. "I had a feeling you would say that…"

"Well, I gotta find something!" Ivy appealed.

"I know, darling, I know." Jack said, stretching his words out into a slow, easy drawl. "Let's go and look then,"

"Yay!" Ivy cheered, finally managing to muster up some enthusiasm at the thought of taking the first step of her task. She would be lying if she said she wasn't looking forward to capturing her first Pokemon, despite all the worries and concerns associated with it. She had already begun to warm up to the thought of having her own little Pokemon following her around, looking up to her and loving her unconditionally. She was quite content with her romantic notion of Pokemon training, still blissfully unaware of the problems it could potentially cause her.

However, Jack and Ivy were quick to discover searching for Pokemon was not as easy as they expected it to be. Both young adults knew a little about Pokemon and their habitats, but their knowledge didn't go further than what the average person possessed. The average person knew however that undisturbed terrain, patches of tall grass, deep forestry and places that weren't normally frequented by humans, were generally goldmines for finding Pokemon. They had heard many stories of friends and relatives finding Pokemon with ease and practically no effort in those kinds of places, and the two of them held more hope for finding Pokemon than either of them dared to admit. Luckily, there was a thick expanse of forestry hedging a long stretch of the route that both young adults suggested would be a good place to start.

As they tensely slipped through thick undergrowth and weaved through a maze of outstretched branches, a thought suddenly occurred to Ivy.

"Jack…"

"Quiet!" he hissed at once. "Are you trying to scare the Pokemon away?"

"Sorry," she lowered her voice straight away "But I was just thinking… if you're going to capture Pokemon too…"

"Yes…?"

"Don't you need Pokeballs?"

"That is generally how it works, isn't it?" he retorted, sweeping aside a thick branch lying in their path.

Ivy nodded. "But do you even have any Pokeballs yet? I didn't see any in your bags, or see you buy any."

"No, I don't have any." He said, shaking his head, peering in the gloomy darkness. The expanse of trees had perfectly closed off all natural light above their heads, so only the merest trickle of sunlight was getting in to illuminate their paths. "I was planning on getting them when we reached Cerulean. I didn't figure I would need any up till now."

"Oh…"

"But if I do need them, surely I can just steal one of yours?"

"No!" Ivy squeaked, grabbing the Pokeballs still stored in the oversized pocket of her hooded jumper protectively. "They're mine!"

"Easy love, I was joking," he flashed her a toothy smile, but it was lost in the darkness of their inky black surroundings. He couldn't help but shiver slightly at the sight of an old, bare wizened branch of a tree that looked suspiciously like a skeletal hand as it came into his vision. Jack certainly wasn't as brave as he would have liked to have come across as. "Come on; let's just focus on this for now."

"Yeah…" Ivy murmured, feeling all of a sudden overwhelmed and more than a little frightened by the creepy shadows cast by the thin, brittle branches of some of the dead trees. "This place does kind of creep me out a little,"

"Me too," Jack had to admit.

Ivy opened her mouth to say something else, but all of a sudden, a violent rustle of leaves somewhere overhead caused both Ivy and Jack to screech. They grabbed a hold of each other and whipped their heads up, just in time to see a collection of small dark shapes fly straight above their heads!

"Pi…Pidgey, right?" Ivy cried as soon as the dark shapes disappeared, praying she had identified them right and they weren't something altogether more sinister.

"Yeah…" Jack replied breathlessly, his heart beating hard in his chest. "Just… just… Pidgey. Come on, let's keep going…" he tugged on Ivy's hand and the two of them, linked together, continued on their way through the forest.

However, not for very long.

A branch snapped somewhere behind them and both Ivy and Jack shrieked. In her haste to get away from wherever the noise was coming from, Ivy pushed forward, trying to get past Jack, but in the process, caused him to be knocked off balance. With a high pitched screech, he felt himself falling backwards. Reaching out to grasp whatever he could, his hand closed around Ivy's wrist. In a moment of wild panic, she screamed as she felt something seize her wrist, her mind suddenly filled with wild scenarios of monsters and spirits reaching out to grab her and take her away to be killed in all manner of horrendous and vicious ways. His efforts to steady himself proved futile and Jack toppled straight onto his back, taking down a couple of thick branches with him. With an ear-pitching howl, Ivy somehow managed to twist herself in mid-air as she too fell, and landed square on Jack's skinny chest.

After the two of them calmed down from their initial fright and the fall, they took one look at the position they were in and burst into peals of giggles. Ivy was sprawled comically across Jack in a most undignified and unladylike manner. She reckoned in fact it looked like they had been caught in the middle of a very suggestive act, and it only made her laugh harder.

Eventually the two friends calmed themselves down and were able to survey their position with slightly more maturity. "Wow… this is a compromising position…" Ivy said with a giggle, but making no effort to move in the slightest. "Hope no-one finds us like this…"

"It's been a long time since I've been in this position with a girl, I'll say that for sure." Jack was chuckling merrily, no doubt at some memory long buried in the depths of his mind.

Ivy slapped him hard on the chest. "Don't be so vulgar!" she scolded him, but she was still fighting to keep the corners of her mouth from turning up into a smile.

"It's the truth!" he protested, giving her a tiny shove in retaliation.

"Yeah, well you don't need to—"

"Ra?"

Ivy was cut off mid-sentence as an unfamiliar voice suddenly and sharply permeated the air around them. Craning their necks, they turned around with great difficulty to look in the direction of the voice. Just barely illuminated by the thin beams of light, the two friends were able to see a small, purple Pokemon sitting on its haunches a few feet away from them. It remained completely still, nose and whiskers twitching as it watched the two humans entangled in grass and leaves intently and with great interest.

"That's a Rattata…" Ivy said slowly.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Jack grunted. He was starting to feel conscious of Ivy's sharp, pointy elbow that was now embedded firmly in his chest. She seemed to be using him as a tool to prop herself up to get a better look at the small purple Pokemon watching them. She was deathly silent for a few moments, before a look of pure, unmitigated,eager excitement flashed across her face.

"No… I mean, that's a Rattata!" she cried.

Before Jack could protest or even process what was going on, Ivy had leapt to her feet, jammed her hand into her hooded jumper and had pulled out a Pokeball. Finally understanding what his friend was about to do, he let out a panicked shout of "No! Ivy, don't do that!"

Ivy took no notice of her friend's warning and hurled the Pokeball with as much force as she could muster straight in the Rattata's direction. The Rattata screeched at the incoming projectile, but instead of running away like Jack quickly anticipated, the Pokemon instead turned on its heel and forcefully batted the Pokeball straight back at Ivy. The Pokeball sailed away with surprising power, coming to a heavy stop only a few feet from where Ivy was currently standing. Ivy nervously locked eyes with the rat Pokemon and instantly, a cold sweat erupted over her body. That Rattata looked mad.

Jack caught sight of the Rattata too and swore. He knew what was coming next.

What felt like only a millisecond later, the purple furry creature hurled itself at Ivy, clawing and squeaking angrily. Screaming at the suddenness of it all, she fell on her back, valiantly trying to wrestle the writhing Rattata off her, but with no success. All she got for her trouble was a vicious Bite to her hand that drew beads of ruby blood from the teeth marks. Jack let out another curse as he saw his best friend fall, scrambled to his feet, and yanked the purple rat off her with only minor difficulty. He set the screeching rat down as carefully as he could, which immediately took off as soon as its paws touched terra firma once more. Ivy sat up straight away, looking terrified. Blood was spilling from the bite on her hand, beads of blood stood out on her face from the thin, rake-like scratches and unshed tears were glittering in her eyes

"Ivy, you idiot!" Jack hauled Ivy to her feet, squinting in the soft light to see the damage on her face. "You should know better than to throw a Pokeball at a healthy Pokemon! They'll resist capture, just like that."

"I… I couldn't help it…" She was trembling, and her voice was cracking ominously. She sounded like she was completely in shock.

"Just follow me," he told her firmly, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her out of the small forest to the makeshift campsite they had set up near a small rivulet of water. She followed without protest, letting him lead her carefully through the various obstacles in their paths.

As they reached their tiny campsite, Jack sat Ivy down forcefully, noticing that she was still trembling, before diving straight into his own bag, looking for a cloth and some bandages.

He couldn't help but grimace at the thin, painful looking scratches raked across Ivy's face and the bite mark embedded in her hand. Quickly, he got to work and doused the cloth he was holding in some water from a bottle they had originally saved for drinking. He started to dab at the cuts with the damp cloth, but Ivy's hand closed around it instead, taking it from him, rather forcefully, he thought.

"I can do it myself…" Her voice was hoarse, but determined. She said nothing else, but began mopping up the spilled blood from her face and hand.

Perplexed at her behaviour, Jack sat back on his haunches, and ran a hand through his spiky blonde hair. He knew better than to argue with her, and instead busied himself by handing over a collection of bandages and antiseptic wipes to his friend. She remained stubbornly quiet as she struggled to open up an antiseptic wipe, but took none of the help Jack offered to her. She didn't even make eye contact with Jack until the blood was wiped from her face, her hand was cleaned and bandaged and until she let the bloody cloth fall to the ground with no intention of using it any further.

Jack, who had been up until this point had been pretending to be fascinated by the darkening afternoon sky, was quickly jolted back into his sentences as Ivy put the cloth down. He winced at the amount of blood it had collected, but quickly caught Ivy's gaze, who seemed to have calmed down considerably.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly.

Ivy responded by letting out a quick, hastened sigh. Her face which had just moments ago seemed cool and collected now was struggling to conceal anger and frustration. "That was a pretty stupid move, wasn't it?" her voice was thick and choked, but unmistakably tinged with anger.

"A little," Jack couldn't lie. "But you were excited, you know? I can't really blame you for being a little…"

"Stupid?" Ivy offered.

Jack winced at her harsh tones. "Don't be like that, Ivy. Don't worry; we'll find other Pokemon,

"Will we?" Ivy snorted sceptically. "Look at us, Jack! We're in the middle of Route 5 for goodness sake! Look at all the trees and the bushes and the rivers! Pokemon are supposed to live in all those places, but we've found nothing apart from that one stupid Rattata that almost took my face off!"

"Well to be fair, we've only been looking for about an hour…"

"No!" Ivy cried dramatically. "We're never going to find anything!"

"Ivy, don't get so discouraged. We will find—"

"No, we won't!" By this time, big fat tears were rolling down Ivy's face. "This is hopeless, Jack! I'm not going to pass this damn course! It's impossible!"

"It's not impossible, Ivy." Jack tried to keep his voice calm and encouraging, like when he was coaxing a reluctant child into carrying out a difficult task. However, this seemed to only aggravate Ivy further.

"It is!" she cried, suddenly jumping to her feet. Her shouts were so loud and so angry that a flock of frightened Pidgey took flight from the trees nearby. "It's not gonna work, Jack!

Knowing his friend was quickly working herself into hysterics, Jack realised he had to calm her down quickly. He got to his feet immediately, strode straight up to her and grabbed her by the arms. "Ivy! Calm down!" he didn't raise his voice, but firmed and lowered his tone of voice like he had been taught to do when implementing discipline with children. For a moment, she faltered, and Jack thought it had worked. But suddenly her face twisted into even worse rage than before.

"No!" she screeched, wrenching her arms away. She backed away quickly, before turning around, completely facing away from him. When she spoke again, her voice was noticeably calmer but wavering and jumpy, like she was about to burst into tears. "I just… I just… I just need to be on my own for a while."

"Ivy!" Jack protested as soon as Ivy broke into a run. "Ivy! Get back here, now!"

She paid him no attention, and took off towards one of the thick expanses of trees nearby. He could have sworn he heard her sobbing as she ran. Groaning angrily, he sunk his head into his hands. This was one of the rare moments he actively disliked his best friend. She was far too easily discouraged, and as soon as one little thing went negatively for her she lost all hope and instantly became depressed. Letting out an impatient snort, he paced back and forth furiously for a while to work out his pent-up frustration. His patience rarely failed him, and as an innately serious young man, it took a lot to make him flustered or angry. However, Ivy was one of those rare things that could and most definitely would frustrate him…

After eventually working out his anger, a thought occurred to him. Ivy had left behind the Pokeball she had attempted to use on the Rattata in the forest, and since she only had six Pokeballs to work with, and a limited budget, she couldn't really afford to waste it. For a moment, he wavered, debating about going in there himself to get it, or simply waiting until Ivy calmed down so she could get it herself. However, realising it could be quite some time before Ivy calmed down, and not really wanting to leave the Pokeball lying out in the open, he decided to retrieve it himself.

After entering the small forest it took him only a few moments to find the discarded Pokeball lying idly in a bed of leaves. He had to admit he was glad he had found it. Those things were only single use. If it failed to capture a Pokemon once, it was basically useless. Pokeballs were expensive too. The kind of expensive that two poor university students couldn't afford. A wasted Pokeball was practically like pouring money down a drain. Jack certainly didn't want his friend to have any more disadvantages; this whole thing was tough enough on her as it was.

He bent down to pick up the Pokeball, savouring the feel of the unfamiliar cool metal. He couldn't help but marvel at the feeling of it in his hand. It felt so strange and alien to him, like he wasn't quite sure it was his place to hold one. The feeling brought back so many nostalgic memories; memories he had thought he had long buried in the depths of his mind. It had been such a long time since he'd held a Pokeball. He hadn't held one since he was a small child. A small child with so much hope and anticipation for a future that was never destined to be his…

Well until now, that is…

Pocketing it, he turned on his heel to leave and catch up to Ivy. However, no sooner had he taken a step forward, a low cooing sounded somewhere above his head. He whipped his head up at the noise and came face-to-face with a small, plump, brown and cream bird, with bright intelligent eyes. It was clinging to an overhead branch, looking intently at the human invading its territory. Jack stopped in his tracks as soon as he locked his gaze with the Pokemon, unsure what to do.

"Pidgey! Pidgey!" it trilled cheerfully.

Jack blinked and took an experimental step forward, expecting the Pidgey to take flight at the sudden movement, but it remained firmly clinging to its branch. It cooed again, its head bobbing up and down comically, its head cocking from side to side.

"What?" Jack asked the Pidgey, wondering why it was staring at him.

"Pidgey-Pidgey!" the Pidgey crooned.

"I don't have anything for you," Jack patted down his empty pockets as if to verify the fact he had nothing of interest for the bird Pokemon. "Sorry…"

The Pidgey cooed again, and Jack felt a stab of guilt at its happy chirrups. Privately, he found himself wishing he had a scrap of bread or some Pokemon food pellets (or whatever Pidgey ate) to feed the tiny Pokemon. Even for a Pidgey, which he knew to be very small Pokemon normally, this one seemed to be particularly small, almost doll-sized. It cooed and trilled again, this time with a flap of its tiny wings. Jack took another tentative step forward, and as he moved, the Pidgey took flight. He gasped in shock as the Pidgey was suddenly zooming straight for him! For a second, he wholly anticipated the sharp beak or feet of the Pidgey to come into painful contact with his face, but with a flutter of wings, the tiny bird landed firmly, but harmlessly, on Jack's shoulder.

Completely taken aback by the tiny Pokemon's presence on his shoulder, Jack froze. The tiny Pokemon chirruped and tweeted happily, nudging its beak into the soft flesh of Jack's neck. For a few seconds, Jack didn't know what to do. The bird seemed happy enough perched on Jack like he was a tree branch, and even when Jack walked a few paces, it remained stubbornly attached. Jack eventually got brave enough to reach up and tickle the Pidgey gently on its underbelly, and the Pidgey chirruped at the physical touch.

"Huh… you're kinda cute…" Jack said out loud, despite himself.

"Pidgey! Pidgey!" it trilled back.

Jack chuckled, reached up and cupped his hands around the Pidgey. The Pidgey didn't protest at being picked up; in fact it was quite the opposite. Jack brought the Pidgey to his chest in an almost protective manner. The Pidgey cooed happily, ruffling its plumage. It seemed content nestled in the cupped hands and protective embrace of the human.

To say Jack was surprised at the behaviour of this Pokemon would have been an understatement. He had never known wild Pokemon to act so friendly. The thought of letting the little thing go, especially when it seemed so attached to him actually made a pang of sadness reverberate through him. Yes, he knew it was only a Pidgey. They were generally thought of as unimpressive and common, just like every other Pidgey in the world. There were thousands of Pidgey in every city and every route in the whole of Kanto. He could easily capture a Pidgey if he so wanted at any other time and in any other place. He knew that, yet for some reason, the idea of letting this Pidgey go and just capturing another one was the last thing he wanted to entertain.

A thought suddenly struck Jack. He was suddenly very conscious of the Pokeball he had lodged in the pockets of his jeans. He looked the baby Pidgey once more in the eyes. It chirruped merrily as Jack tickled it with one finger again. It flapped its wings enthusiastically and nuzzled its beak into Jack's outstretched finger.

"Pidgey! Pidgey!" it trilled.

"Pity…" Jack said softly, shifting the Pidgey's weight to only one hand as the other slowly lowered into the pocket of his jeans. "I seem to have become far too attached to you to let you go…"


Author's Note

This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Liam, an old school friend of mine, who was tragically killed last week. R.I.P Liam, you are sorely missed.

Thanks to my reivewers, Sapphire's Destiny, Shadow of Eckhart, Master Freezeman, Something Dictionary Related, Koypcat101, WildCroconaw, Crown of Gold, Chaison, Sunbean, TwewyReaperGirl, Splashstorm and Zoeten.

I can't really answer your questions as I don't want to give away too much of the plot!

Please read and review, guys :)