AN: Odd chapter name, but I dont really get creative with them until more is going on ^^ But anyways, thanks for all the positive response guys! :D I won't thank any of my reviewers directly, but trust me, I read every single review and smile. So don't hesitate to review, they'll drive me to write the chapters (Not that I won't if you don't, they just motivate me more) So yeah, I'm going to hold a poll by the fourth chapter at least to pick a companion OC for the main character. They probably won't appear in the fifth chapter mind you, I just want to be prepared. The reason why I'm holding this poll is because the OC's I've been getting so far have been very good, they deserve more than just to be a support character. By the way, please include whether or not your char's a gym battler or a contest coordinator. Note that whatever your OC wants to do does not appeal to me, it's just information I'm going to need to know. By this I mean, just because your OC's a coordinator, does not automatically mean it's going to be the main char's companion. For all you know, I could choose a gym battler this time :P
(Pokemon Thoughts/Translation)
Ch.2: 25 Years Later
In the depths of the Petalburg Woods, all was peaceful. The trees gently swayed from the gentle winds that came with Spring. Shroomish frolicked around the vast foliage and Wurmples inched their way up the trunks to find their favorite treat, the tasty juicy leaves. One Wurmple in particular had almost made it to the top of its tree, a large green leaf in range. It stretched its neck out for a bite, closer and closer.
"Swish!"
Suddenly, a large white object swept past the Wurmple. In its haste it didn't notice the unfortunate bug type and knocked it to a lower branch. With a sad "Wurm..." the Wurmple moved towards the trunk ready to start over. However, this still didn't stop the white blur, for it was being pursued. It swung through the treetops, as swift as a Snorlax when it spotted food. But this pokemon did not fear the pursuer, rather, it was thrilled. Its long arms caught each branch in front of it and launched it to the next as it constantly looked over its shoulder for its hunter.
Its constant energy kept it moving but the fact that the thing might catch up to it inspired it to move faster.
(One claw after the other, one claw after the other, don't stop, no time to stop, keep it moving, keep it up. One claw-)
These thoughts ran through its head like a locomotive on a circular track. Once more it glanced over its shoulder, and to its glee, discovered that it lost its chaser, but even so, it could not stop, it had to keep going, all the way to the end. It swung from every oncoming branch, bough, stem, and even once, another Wurmple, as it continued its journey. Finally, its attempts were rewarded by bright light shining in front of it, and the end to the endless trees.
At the second-to-last branch, the pokemon lept into the air, doing a front flip before landing on the soft green forest floor. It bounced around with its claws over its head and pounded its chest as it let out a loud,
"Vigoroth! Vigor Vigoroth!"
In the middle of its display of dominance, another white blur landed behind it. The newcomer raised its claws over its head and leaped around the other, growling its defiance while the other Vigoroth just gave a smug look and waved a claw dismissively.
(No fair! You cheated!)
(Yeah, yeah, go whine somewhere else.)
The defeated Vigoroth pushed the first in the chest, immediately ending the victor's coy mood.
(Ay! Watch who you're pushing!)
(I am! And as far as I can see, I didn't push nobody!)
(Who you callin a nobody?)
(The cheater! Who else?)
(You wanna go pal?)
(Just name the time and the place! Just name it!)
(How about right here, right now?)
(Lets go buddy!)
But before the two pokemon could continue their competition, they both heard an abrupt sound that instantly ended their feud. It was the sound of someone casually clearing their throat. Slowly, the white sloths looked up, and to the dismay of their rapidly deflating egos, a grinning teen lounged on the very last branch of the forest.
His tanned leg that came from constant exposure from the sun fell over the branch lazily with his ripped brown shorts just barely in view. He wore a dirty white T-shirt with ragged, torn sleeves. One hand was hanging from the limb while the other held a Pecha berry in front of its mouth. His tossled brown hair covered his shining chocolate eyes. With his free hand, he wiped the juice from his mouth and beamed at the apes.
"Looks like I won again guys!" He then extended the arm that held the Pecha berry towards the duo. "Want a piece?"
The silence of Petalburg Forest, usually serene and gentle, was broken not by the sounds of wild pokemon, but the rain. Clouds had blotted out the rising sun earlier that morning and were now pouring their contents among the trees. The trees' heavy limbs and mulititude of leaves managed to block a majority of the water, though a few persistant drops managed to break through.
It was a time of day where the pokemon retreated to their hidey holes and stopped their many activities to rest. The shroomish had hidden themselves in the hollows of the tree roots, the wurmples hid in the knot holes, and the slakoth relaxed upside-down from the branches. It was the Pokemons' time to rest, but unfortunately for the Rustboro City Pokemon Trainer's School, it was Audrey's idea of a perfect field trip. The pokemon were all tuckered out and couldn't harm the students.
Audrey was the headmaster of the Pokemon Trainer's School as well as the only teacher. There was a huge debate whether the attractive young teacher could fulfill the gargantuan position the last teacher had left her. But time and time again she had proven herself and never had a failing student. Her long blonde hair flowed down to the curve of her lower back and her gentle blue eyes betrayed the strict instructor that resided inside her. Though she was kind to the children and a loving woman, she could be harsh when the occasion called for it.
Weeks ago she had made plans with Professor Spruce for a fieldtrip to Littleroot Town where they'd listen to a compelling lecture of Pokemon habitats and finally be introduced to the starter pokemon the children would receive upon graduating. As usual, everything was perfect. All the children were on time, they had formed a line, with Audrey at the head, and walked into the forest. The beautiful teacher never missed a good teaching moment and chattered the whole time, pointing at this pokemon and that and giving intricate details about their dietary, territorial, and mating(albeit not as detailed) habits.
"So as you can see class, although most pokemon are non-responsive in the rain, Slakoths prefer to remain motionless throughout the day. This can be a problem for new trainers. This instinct causes them to stop moving in the middle of battles which puts them at a serious-"
At this point, the last boy in line, Norman Senri's, mind started to drift. He knew he'd probably be disciplined for it later but he didn't really care to listen to lectures. He started to look around, giving an imaginary lecture in his head.
"And so class, Slakoths are totally awesome because they evolve into Vigoroth which is super fast with super sharp claws! Much better than a silly little Wurmple and sissy little Beautiflys! That's why I'm going to catch one!"
In Norman's excitement, he failed to notice that he said the last sentence out loud and caught the attention of the girl in front of him, Roxanne Tsutsuji. The little girl had been meticulously writing down everything Ms. Audrey had said, word to word, every once and a while she'd take a break to observe the pokemon her teacher was talking about. But most of the time she was absorbed into her notebook which was quickly filling up from the long detailed descriptions. However, at the time she was watching a wurmple curled in it's little hidey hole, she heard Norman's exclamation. Irritated, she promptly turned around and put her hands on her hips.
"Norman! We're not supposed to catch any pokemon on the field trip!"
The nine year old boy had just been in mid-throw at an unsuspecting slakoth when the girl called out. Startled, he lurched forward and dropped the sphere which rolled into the tree trunk. He recovered the pokeball and scowled at the girl. Immediately he went back to unscrewing the seal on the top of it once again.
"Now look what you made me do! The automatic lock went back on."
Roxanne stared at the sphere, she had never seen a pokeball beyond Ms. Audrey's lessons. It was a small silver ball with a dial on top that looked like the locks they had on their lockers without the numbers. Around the seal was a circular indention where the ball would open and the pokemon would either enter or exit. However, she managed to frown and resume scolding the boy.
"You know we're not supposed to catch anything on the field trip! Where'd you even get a pokeball anyway? We're too young to get them from the Pokemart!"
Norman rolled his eyes and shot back his own retort,
"My dad's the Petalburg Gym Leader, where do you think I got it? Besides, you don't have to remind me, I know we need to show the Pokemart owners a trainer card before we can buy anything Little Miss Know-It-All."
Norman ignored the gasp that came after the remark and finally pressed the button that opened the latch to the pokeball. Satisfied, he nodded and focused on the suspended slakoth. For a moment he took his time to aim, then, he hurled his arm back, ready to throw the pokeball. But just when he was about to deliver, he found instead of the pokeball leaving his hand and hurtling towards the slakoth, he was raised through the air with the pokeball still in hand as well as another hand, a larger hand, wrapped around his own, lifting him.
"Hey! Lemmego!" He shouted, wriggling with his eyes clenched shut as he was lifted higher and higher to the astonishment of the nine year old girl below him who could do nothing but gape at the spectacle before her. His eyes finally snapped open, anger filling them only to turn to confusion when he found mellow chocolate brown eyes staring back at him. Along with the mouth he found a huge playful grin the size of an aipom's. The eyes suddenly looked up as Norman's captor shouted,
"Throw us up Kaji!"
'Vigoroth!'
The hand around his wrist suddenly tightened and with a powerful yank, the boy went soaring into the mass shade of leaves.
"And here we have an example of evolution, watch closely kids."
Ever since Roxanne and Norman left the procession, none of the kids noticed, nor the teacher, noticed that either of them were missing. They were almost out of the forest when Ms. Audrey had noticed a wurmple displaying odd behavior. Its eyes suddenly snapped open and it started to thrash about in its hole wildly. Urgently, it started to inch out of the hole and swung itself upside down from a branch. White silk emerged from its mouth and it started to wrap itself in the fine material before a bright white light hid it from view.
"What is it going to evolve into Ms. Audrey?" One of the kids asked, their eyes stilled glued to the light the Wurmple made.
"No one knows exactly whether a wurmple will evolve into a silcoon or a cascoon."
"Ms. Audrey!"
"Though many scientists have tried, one noted scientist being William Dean,"
"Ms. Audrey!"
"They have never discovered a way to choose what wurmples will evolve into."
"Ms. Audrey!"
Audrey patiently turned her head from the wurmple to find Roxanne tearing down the forest trail, stopping for a moment to catch her breath before pointing behind her.
"Norman was just abducted by a pokemon!"
The tolerant teacher followed the girls finger with her eyes and shook her head doubtfully.
"No Roxanne, Norman's right there."
Roxanne huffed, putting her hands on her hips, annoyed that her teacher didn't believe her. But all the same, she turned around to see what her teacher was talking about. Emerging from the shadows of the trees, a small boyish figure walked from the same area Roxanne herself had just exited. The girl widened her eyes and her mouth fell open.
"B-B-But-!"
"Calm down Roxanne, and take a look at this wurmple."
With that said, the instructor turned around to watch the dimming light of wurmple's evolution. Roxanne however could not get back into the lesson and frowned at Norman, raising her hand to strike him.
"You doofus! How could you scare me like th-"
As the figure emerged from the trees, she realized that it wasn't Norman, it couldn't be. But the look in the impersonator's eyes chilled her to the bone and she had to do all she could to force down a scream.