Chapter Twelve
The Terrible Trio
Before Ivy knew it, she was waking up on the morning of her tenth day as a Pokemon trainer. The recent few days had passed in what felt like nothing more than a mad blur of training. As the days progressed, Ivy barely left the depths of Viridian Forest, working as hard as she could (under Sebastian's patient tutelage) with Toni the Pidgey and her still unnamed Kakuna. It had taken Ivy quite some time to make any tangible progress with her Pokemon. Toni was stubborn to say the very least, quick to assert her dominance over both Ivy and the poor Kakuna. Ivy couldn't deny Toni was a strong Pokemon, which she was glad of, but there was the added difficulty that she was a handful, ferociously independent and not often willing to listen to her trainer. Even worse was the fact that the Pokemon still was unable to use Gust, despite a vigorous training regime, once again devised by Sebastian, and despite any amount of encouragement, begging, pleading, badgering, bribery and blackmail Ivy tried to use. Eventually she just gave up, deciding that Toni would only use the move when she was good and ready. It wasn't a major disaster however, as Toni still proved to be a competent battler, with a huge amount of power behind her Tackle attacks, and after the development of Quick Attack, she steadily grew stronger.
However, progress was intolerably slow when it came to Kakuna. The Pokemon unfortunately had very little defensive or attacking power, meaning it couldn't make much of an impact on opponents, and it had to, in Ivy's eloquent phrasing 'keep spamming that stupid Harden attack to avoid being knocked out in one hit!' As a result, the only Pokemon Kakuna could safely battle were Caterpie and Weedle, and the battles were frustratingly long, Ivy initially having to set up numerous Hardens to safeguard her Pokemon, and the weak Poison Sting attacks barely damaging even Caterpies and Weedles. To even defeat one Pokemon, it took an exasperatingly long time, resulting in infuriatingly slow progress. Ivy soon came to dread the idea of having to train her Kakuna every morning. Her predicament was not helped by Jack, who was sailing through opponent after opponent, both trainer and Pokemon, with Phoenix, his Pokemon advancing in strength completely incomparable to Toni or Kakuna.
The final straw came on that tenth day. It had been almost two weeks since Ivy had left home, and she felt now she was just wasting time. She recognised the importance of training, but her stubbornly slow progress was beginning to plant the idea that she needed a change of scenery and opponents, in particular to try and encourage Toni, who was now slacking and refusing to fight the local weak Pokemon. As well as Toni's stubbornness, she also realised that Kakuna simply couldn't get the experience he needed to get stronger from the Caterpie and Weedle. So Ivy, after waking up that morning and simply wanting to roll over and go back to sleep at the thought of having to endure through another bad day, made an executive decision.
The only reason they hadn't moved on from Viridian was because Route 22, a route near Viridian, was the earliest possible place they could find a Nidoran, a Pokemon Ivy needed for her course. But Ivy was sick and tired of Viridian and she was desperate to leave. She deduced that she would have to eliminate the only thing keeping them there. So, that morning, she told Sebastian, Robert, Michaela and Jack that she would be training in Viridian Forest as normal, but instead headed west of Viridian City into the quiet Route 22.
Ivy remembered that Route 22, according to what Sebastian had told her, was the route that trainers supposedly traversed to reach Victory Road and the Pokemon League. However, Victory Road was guarded by a series of huge gates that simply would not open for trainers unless they had obtained the necessary badges to enter the Pokemon League. As such, the rare and immensely powerful Pokemon that could be found in Victory Road were contained, leaving Route 22 a safe and secure haven for several uncommon, but relatively weak species native to it.
Ivy picked her way cautiously through the grassy Route 22. It was a long route, dotted with rivers and hills, abundant with trees and tall grassy patches. Ivy could hear the calls of Pidgey as flocks flew overhead. It was a sound she had grown rather fond of, if she was completely honest. She was nervous of other trainers, particularly skilled ones, being around, but the place was mercifully empty so far as she could see. Satisfied the place was secure enough, she released Toni and Kakuna.
Toni soared above her head as soon as she tasted freedom from the Pokeball, pointedly ignoring her trainer's orders to stay close, while a grounded Kakuna stared indignantly up at Ivy until she reached down to pick it up. Ivy let out a tortured sigh. Her Pokemon were hopeless sometimes, she felt.
"We're looking for Nidoran, Kakuna." Ivy explained to her Pokemon as they slowly made their way across the route. "Can you see any?"
The Kakuna looked unimpressed and said nothing.
"Jeez." Ivy frowned, shifting the heavy Kakuna into a more secure position. "You're not much help, are you?"
The Kakuna still said nothing.
Ivy groaned and had to hoist up the Kakuna again as it began slipping out of her grasp again. "You're getting heavy…" She moaned. "I'm not gonna be able to carry you for much longer. You need to hurry up and evol—whoa!"
It was only just in time that Ivy looked down and stopped herself from standing on what looked to be some kind of Pokemon nest. It was empty, thankfully, much to Ivy's relief and she side-stepped around it neatly, letting out a sigh. She glanced around, looking for whatever it was that owned the nest, but she saw nothing. There were no Pokemon to be seen at all. She felt a little unnerved, but pushed herself to keep walking. As she continued, she found several more nests, all of them empty and completely devoid of life. She found it strange to see so many nests, but so little Pokemon…
However, she found out where the Pokemon from the nests were a few moments later. A little pond nearby had a variety of young, infant and baby Pokemon congregating around it, calmly drinking the cool water. Ivy cocked her head, trying to figure out what Pokemon were there. There were several tiny Mankey, similar to the one her sister Michaela owned, a few infant Spearow with downy feathers, watched over by a larger Spearow, and then, her heart leapt when she saw a tiny blue Pokemon sitting by itself on the other end of the pond.
A Nidoran!
She almost dropped Kakuna in her excitement and had to scramble to get a secure hold of her Pokemon as it slipped from her hands. She whistled for Toni who, after a long period of pretending not to hear, eventually listened and came to rest on a branch above her. Ivy's mind immediately began racing at the prospect of capturing the Nidoran, but then she forced herself to think sensibly. If she charged in rashly, she risked the Pokemon scattering or even worse, attacking.
So instead, she sat down on her haunches and waited.
The family of Mankey left fairly quickly, but Ivy didn't dare move until she saw the Fighting type Pokemon disappear completely from sight up a tree and stay away for a good five minutes. The Spearow also took flight a few moments later. Ivy panicked as Toni suddenly seemed to take an interest in pursuing the flock of Spearow, and she desperately called her Pidgey back, suddenly afraid the Spearow would tear the young Pidgey apart.
The Nidoran, which Ivy recognised as being the female one of the species, looked a bit bemused to suddenly be left alone, but it continued lazily drinking from the pond. Taking her chance, her heart in her mouth, Ivy gently set Kakuna down.
"Toni!" Ivy commanded. "Use Quick Attack on the Nidoran!"
The Quick Attack knocked the unsuspecting Nidoran straight back from the pond. It tumbled backwards, looking shocked, clambered back onto its feet before immediately turning on its heel and running! Ivy blinked in shock as the Pokemon began fleeing. She looked in confusion at Kakuna who returned a blank stare. From what she had gathered, Pokemon weren't normally meant to flee under attack! They were meant to fight back!
Ivy clenched her fists. She wasn't going to let that Nidoran get away! Not when it was so close to her. "Toni!" she hollered. "Quick Attack again!"
As Toni zoomed in, the Nidoran squeaked in terror, but fought back this time, lashing out with her claws. However, the weak Scratch barely affected Ivy's tough Mafia Boss Lady Pidgey and she performed excellently under attack, delivering another Quick Attack, flipping the Nidoran over onto her side. The Nidoran squealed, unable to get back up. Toni landed next to the struggling Nidoran, twitching its head and looking vaguely unimpressed at the sight she was seeing.
Ivy grabbed her Kakuna and heaved it over to the side of the struggling Nidoran. She couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the Nidoran, now growling feebly at the sight of the strange human and two Pokemon now towering over her.
"Easy girl," Ivy murmured, reaching her hand down to touch the frightened Pokemon's belly. She was wary of the developing horn on the Pokemon's head, knowing it could secrete a particularly nasty poison. She wholly expected the Nidoran to try and jab her with the aforementioned horn to scare her off, but to her shock, the Pokemon seemed to relax under Ivy's hand and gentle touch. It stopped growling and struggling and became quite still. Ivy let out a little murmur.
"Come on, you come with me and I'll get you healed up," she told the trembling Pokemon gently as she tapped her with the Pokeball.
Ivy expected the Nidoran to struggle, resist capture as she knew all Pokemon did. But this one didn't. With remarkably little resistance, the Pokeball sucked the little Nidoran inside. It barely even twitched before a ding sounded out.
Ivy sat there for a full few minutes, staring at the Pokeball in complete shock. It took a long time for her to finally grasp the concept of what had just happened.
"I've done it…" she thought shakily. "I've caught a Pokemon! All by myself! I got my Pokemon to battle and weaken a wild Pokemon and I caught it!" she fought the urge to jump up and down in excitement, but decided that would be a bit embarrassing on the chance she was seen.
She cleared her throat and pressed down on the release button of the Pokeball. Her Nidoran appeared, curled up in a ball and panting heavily. While the Pokemon had been calm before entering the Pokeball it was a completely different story now. Her eyes were wide and frightened and she was trembling in fear again as Ivy approached her. The Nidoran had sustained a nasty scratch that was leaking beads of blood from Toni's attack and Ivy quickly set to fixing it, spraying a light covering of Potion over the injury. This didn't help calm the Nidoran down and it began to struggle again. Ivy tried reassuring the Pokemon using a soft tone, exactly like Jack had taught her, but that didn't seem to help either. Finally, stumped as to what else to do, Ivy motioned for Kakuna and Toni to try and make the Pokemon feel better.
Toni fluffed up and shook her feathers in defiance, cawing indignantly. Kakuna just returned a blank stare and said and did nothing.
Ivy let out an angered sigh. "Well this is just grand. I've got a Pidgey that thinks she's a Mafia Boss and above listening to me, a Kakuna that just doesn't care and now a Nidoran that's scared of her own shadow. Someone up there must be having a right laugh at my expense…"
Sighing slightly, she recalled all three Pokemon and began the walk back to the Pokemon Centre.
It was approaching midday now and although the sun was warm, there was a pleasant cool breeze rolling in that kept Ivy refreshed as she walked. She found herself thinking of her new Nidoran. It was a cowardly little thing, really, she thought with a short sigh. It was probably young, she reasoned. She was likely to be in the same situation Jack had been in with Phoenix. She had a young, unskilled Pokemon that would need intensive one-on-one training to bring up to its full potential. At that point, she'd have been lying if she said the idea of having to do so much rigorous training didn't make her want to completely give up.
"I have to do it, though." She told herself firmly "I've come really far… I've caught two Pokemon for my course already. All they need is some training to evolve. And this is only after ten days! I'm doing okay!" she clenched her fists. "I can't quit. I can't let Jack down or the Rhodes cousins down. And I know Michaela would never let me live it down, either…"
Her mind began wandering as she walked and it soon settled on the problem of not knowing a good nickname to give her new Nidoran. Nothing came to her and she let out a deep sigh. She found her lack of inspiration annoying to say the least. It also occurred to her that she was still blanking on a good nickname for her Kakuna. Kakuna was her first Pokemon and she hadn't even given it a nickname. She didn't even know what gender her Kakuna was!
Shaking her head, she put thoughts of her Kakuna to the back of her mind and continued thinking about her Nidoran. She remembered that Nidoran were quite an unusual case in that the male and female versions of Nidoran were totally different. It was common enough to see Pokemon that had slight gender differences, she knew that, but it was quite rare to see Pokemon with completely different physiology and a different evolutionary line for the two different genders. A male Nidoran would eventually evolve into a Nidoking, whilst a female Nidoran would evolve into a Nidoqueen. Ivy didn't need a Nidoqueen or a Nidoking though; she only needed a Nidorino or a Nidorina.
She continued thinking about Nidoran and her nickname problem as she approached Viridian City once again. She remembered a children's book she had once seen Jack in possession of. A story about two star-crossed Nidoran named Romeo and Juliet from different families who had to conduct their romantic relationship totally in secret. Of course, the story was heavily edited from the original Shakespeare play, as it was geared for younger children, but the basic story of a forbidden love between Juliet, a female Nidoran, and Romeo, a male Nidoran, remained the same.
"Juliet." Ivy said out loud, liking the way it sounded. "Hmm," she lifted out the Pokeball that held her newly caught Nidoran. "I actually kinda like that. Toni, Juliet and… Kakuna." She had to admit, that sounded rather anti-climatic and she had to stifle a giggle at her poor, still nicknameless Kakuna.
She felt quite pleased with herself for coming up with this nickname at this point and she continued with an optimistic spring in her step back to the Pokemon Centre. She found it surprisingly busy with passing trainers, and oddly enough, found Jack sitting engrossed in front of the TV munching mindlessly on snacks and sipping on juice.
"Jack? What are you doing here?"
Jack stopped, looking up at Ivy over the lenses of the blue rimmed glasses he wore whenever he watched television. His eyebrows rose. "I could say the same for you. I thought you were meant to be training in Viridian Forest?"
"Emm…" Ivy said guiltily. "I kinda… got a little sidetracked."
"What the hell did you do?" Jack asked at once.
"Eh?" Ivy said, flustered. "I didn't do anything!"
"Well, what did you break?"
"I didn't break anything!"
"Lose anything?"
"No!"
"Well, what did you—?"
"I didn't do anything! Jack, would you listen to me?"
"Hmm," Jack didn't look convinced. He eventually relented. "I guess I may as well. What happened?"
"I caught a Nidoran!"
Jack looked stunned. "You what?"
"I caught a Nidoran, look!"
She pulled out the Pokeball, pressed down on the release mechanism and the Pokemon was expelled forward. The tiny Nidoran's eyes widened at the strange, new surroundings and the sight of the unfamiliar young man standing in front of her made her squeal in horror and cover her eyes with her paws. Ivy cringed slightly at her Pokemon's display, and knelt down trying to reassure the Pokemon to come out of hiding.
"What's scared her?" Jack asked, his eyebrow twitching.
"I think you have,"
"Me?" Jack said, frowning. "Why would I scare her?"
"Don't take it personally," Ivy said with a sheepish smile, stroking the trembling Juliet softly. "I think Juliet is just scared of everything…"
"Juliet?" Jack asked frowning. "Why on earth would you—" He then broke off, thinking better of it. "Actually no, I don't wanna know…"
"But isn't this awesome?" Ivy grinned. "I caught a Nidoran, Jack! Which means with Toni, I now have two Pokemon on my list! Well, once I evolve them, of course! And I caught her all by myself!"
"A timid little thing like that doesn't look like she'd put up much of a fight…"
"Oh, don't be a spoilsport!" Ivy said, aiming a punch at Jack. "Besides!" she added with a triumphant grin. "I'm the one sitting here with three Pokemon and you've only got one."
"Well, I prefer quality over quantity, my dear."
"Well… I think you need to shut up!" Ivy punched Jack weakly again. "Come on, be happy for me."
"I'm more worried about you… an angry Pidgey, an "I don't care about anything" Kakuna, and a scaredy-cat Nidoran. You're gonna have your work cut out for you…"
"That's exactly what I was thinking earlier…" Ivy said with a frown. She tapped Juliet lightly with her Pokeball and the Pokemon was sucked inside. "It's gonna be a lot of work, isn't it?"
"Well, they do say that a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor," Jack said wisely.
Ivy stared at her friend, shaking her head in exasperation. "You really need to stop talking in riddles…"
Jack shrugged.
Ivy groaned slightly, realising this was about the extent of the sense she would be receiving from her best friend for the day. "Listen, I'm gonna go heal my Pokemon and then go back out and train for a bit, okay?"
Jack nodded, absent-mindedly returning to the snacks he had in his hands.
"Wish me luck," she said in a forced sing-song voice as she got up.
"Luck," Jack deadpanned.
"I'll need it," Ivy added silently as she left.
She returned late that night after spending some more time on Route 22, working with Kakuna, Toni and Juliet. It had been a hard training session. Kakuna hadn't been interested and had to be coaxed into battling, and even when it did decide it wanted to cooperate, it was barely able to defeat any enemies. Toni had been the exact opposite, picking on everything she had seen, divebombing them with Quick Attack and Tackles, and then starting on Ivy when she dared to chastise her. Ivy was still having no luck teaching the Pidgey how to use Gust, and no amount of instruction or embarrassing demonstration would make any difference. She wasn't having much luck with Juliet either, who only knew a feeble Growl and an even weaker Scratch. Progress was made, but it was intolerably slow, Juliet needing extreme encouragement to attack.
She found herself repeating Jack's words to herself over and over again, trying to convince herself that all the difficulties and hardships she was facing now would pay off in the end.
"A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor…"
That night as she returned, frazzled and stressed over the little progress she had made, the news had already spread among the rest of their party that she had captured a Nidoran. Sebastian was quick to praise Ivy and give her advice on how to train timid Pokemon, and his knowledge was enthusiastically welcomed by the strained young woman, and she picked up a number of useful hints. Michaela grinned at the idea her sister had a Nidoran, before proudly showing off a massive Nidorino she had in her team, Ivy promptly almost falling off her seat at the sheer sight of it. Robert merely shook his head and continued eating, not even caring.
Ivy expressed her desire to leave the next day for Pewter City, and the others agreed that it would be the best idea. Sebastian, after consulting his Pokedex, deduced that the best course of action would be to search Lavender Town to look for the elusive Cubone that was next on Ivy's list. It would take a long time to reach there, at least a week or at most, two weeks. Sebastian planned out their journey with military precision. They would travel to Pewter first, travel through Mt Moon to reach Cerulean, head back down to Saffron, before finally turning east and emerging in Lavender Town. It would give them the perfect opportunity to train on the road, and Sebastian was hinting quite strongly to Jack in particular that he needed to start capturing more Pokemon to enhance his team.
But as Sebastian enthusiastically explained to Jack and Ivy that they would easily find a Cubone somewhere in Lavender Town, no-one noticed a smile curling onto Robert's face and a short chuckle escape him.
As night fell, Ivy was still troubled by worries that simply would not leave her alone. Her recurring insecurities and doubts about her abilities and her Pokemon's lack of progress taunted and mocked her every waking moment. Jack held no such worries, and was sleeping peacefully, in such a deep sleep that he was snoring slightly. Ivy on the other hand, tossed and turned, horribly tense, tortured with worry and desperate for some manner of reassurance, but Jack would not wake up, even when she repeatedly hissed his name into the darkness.
Still fraught with worry, a strange thought occurred to her. She turned her head to look at the bedside cabinet and saw the three Pokeballs lying idly there. She was desperate for some kind of company…
She soon learned that it was impossible to open Pokeballs quietly, and the noises of all three of them bursting open sounded deafening in the bitter quiet. She cursed violently under her breath as her Pokemon emerged, but Jack didn't even react to the noise that seemed thunderous to her. Her Pokemon were still sleeping as they were released from the Pokeball, and they had all landed on her bed. Toni was curled up into a tiny ball at the edge, while Juliet was sprawled out, her feet twitching, and a small snore escaping her every now and again. Kakuna sat solidly, but as Ivy shifted under the blankets, it suddenly awoke. Ivy froze guiltily as her Kakuna stared at her.
"What…?" she whispered.
The Kakuna said nothing.
"What?" she hissed, even more irately.
The Kakuna still remained silent.
"Ugh, you're impossible." Ivy said, flopping onto her back. "Letting you guys out was a bad idea," she decided, before rolling onto her side and closing her eyes.
Oddly enough, the presence of her Pokemon had a strange calming effect on Ivy, and she dropped off to sleep only a few moments later. Kakuna sat there for a few moments, watching his slumbering trainer, before glancing back at the sleeping Pidgey and now very loudly snoring Nidoran before squeezing his eyes shut angrily. The noises the other two were making were too loud for him to sleep.
So he hopped forward, a difficult procedure for a Pokemon with no legs on such a soft, uneven surface until he reached Ivy. He looked down, spotted a small opening under the duvet and proceeded to wriggle in until he was safely secured underneath the warm blankets. As he lay there, his trainer murmured in her sleep, and suddenly her arms wrapped around him! The Pokemon initially struggled against the trainer's vicelike grip, but gradually the feeling of warmth around his body made the Pokemon feel safe and secure and he let out a contented sigh. A peculiar happy feeling encompassed him as the Pokemon also drifted off to sleep…
He was totally unaware of the change that was about to overwhelm him as he slept.
Or the pandemonium it would cause the next morning...
Author's Note
Hi guys :)
As I've said before in the Free Spirits update, I have been left completely internet-less. I've had to rely on friends to get my updates out…
Hopefully I won't dawdle too long for the next update, expect it by the beginning of the week at least, okay?
Thanks to my reviewers TristeWilds, I have a dictionary here, MasterFreezeman, Shadow Serenity 57 and musa lover.
Until next time! Please read and review!
