Chapter 7, everybody! In which we make it through Viridian Forest and learn that despite type disadvantages, Darkrai doesn't take smack talk from Beedrill. Sotto voce, by the way, is Latin, and is used to describe talking quietly. How does Ash know this? Because he hangs out with a Legendary that's much older than he is….

Pokeevee57, thanks for the review! Yes, not a problem for Darkrai. :D Most likely—and most likely. Thank you, I hope to continue to astound! :D

Hunter Redflame, thanks for the review! No surprise there. Ah, I enjoy reading stories where Team Rocket is an actual force to be reckoned with. Granted, it is Jessie, James, and Meowth, but still. Thank you, glad you liked it—and thank you, I hope to continue to please!

Vismur, thanks for the review! Not a clue. I agree, madnesss does seem to be in Ash's DNA—hopefully being around Darkrai has fixed at least some of the foolhardiness, though (and I think FanFiction ate up some of your review there). Well, they were regularly tortured by him, come to think of it….

Jakeroo123, thanks for the review! This is true, but conductors do too (which will be brought up at a later date…). Um…to be honest, in rewatching some of the first season, I don't think any thinking was really employed by anyone. This is true—and considering the Pokémon world has Pokémon, it makes sense that humans would have subtly different physiology. Ah, they pulled an Ash….

Kazikamikaze24, thanks for the review! Thank you, I'm glad you like it, and I hope to continue to please! :D

Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo

And now, for something completely different:

The Pokémon League would like to remind travelling trainers to not randomly jump out at strangers. Pokémon Center nurses report that seventy-three percent of trainer injuries that come in are a result of badly startled Pokémon trainers and Pokémon who react in self-defense. The remaining twenty-seven is reported to come from "run of the mill trainer stupidity."

The next day was sunny and muggy as they made their way through Viridian Forest.

"I find it funny," Misty said, gingerly picking her way along the muddy path. "That you say you want to catch another Pokémon, yet all the ones you've seen so far you haven't tried to catch."

That was because each and every one Ash had encountered so far had other duties—or at least, that was the impression he had gotten when the Pokémon snubbed his asking them if they wanted to go on a journey.

Now, however, with Darkrai lurking in the forest, most of the timid Pokémon were in hiding. A swarm of Beedrill had attacked, angry at the intrusion, but Pikachu had struck them down with a series of Thunder Shocks, and capturing them fainted just seemed like bad form. Pikachu was now sitting pretty at Level 15, according to the Pokedex (Ash wondered how it determined levels), but that didn't mean much against Brock's Rock types.

However, after a lengthy discussion with Darkrai last night, the team had hit upon a plan—teach Pikachu Iron Tail.

Even with the move's type advantage, the plan was still risky—despite Pikachu's natural speed, his type weakness meant one hit would wipe him out—two, if they were lucky.

"We haven't seen any Pokémon in a while," Ash observed, stepping closer to the scrub next to the trail; he had seen a flash of blue there.

Called it right. "You say that like it's my fault," Darkrai hissed.

It was Darkrai's fault, but Ash couldn't call him on it without getting into trouble—randomly chatting up bushes was the fastest way to get into trouble.

"That doesn't bother me too much," Misty said. "At least we're not running into any more bugs."

As it turned out, Misty was terrified of Bug Pokémon, something that Darkrai was delighting in using against her. He'd come in behind, spook her with a choice noise and movement, then dart away before Misty could spin around. It had been funny the first few times, but it had happened enough that Ash wasn't even reacting to it now; he had bigger things to worry about.

Ash was carrying Lenny again, but there was a way to go before he would evolve. Even at that, Darkrai had explained that Gyarados had a disadvantage due to its Flying type. But Pidgey, Caterpie, and Weedle weren't about to cut it either—not when a well-aimed Rock Throw could squash them flat.

Pokémon training was harder than he thought.

Lenny was still at a pretty paltry level, but he was getting there—he was Level 5 now, at least, but it would take a while before he strengthened up enough to learn Tackle.

"Ash, hold up before you go and get yourself lost."

Ash blinked, realized he'd been lost in thought, and looked behind him to see Misty looking around with a frown on her face.

"That was a bad rain yesterday," she said. "Give me a minute—I've got to find the path again."

"I'll poke around for Pokémon while you do," Ash said, edging to the bushes.

"Don't go too far!"

"Right, right." He pulled a branch back, looking. "Darkrai, I could use some help here," he hissed.

"I could knock her out, if you want," Darkrai replied, sotto voce.

"I meant some help finding our way out of these woods."

"Do I look like a road map?"

"Please?"

"Fine, fine…."

Ash heard something like a strong breeze and knew it was probably Darkrai shooting away.

Maybe I can get some peace and quiet now, Ash thought. Again, Darkrai having fun at Misty's expense had been funny the first few times, but the both of them had started to wear his nerves thin.

Maybe it was a good thing Misty didn't know about Darkrai….

He pulled aside a branch and saw a strange crest on something short and brown. "Wow," he noised. "What kind of Pokémon is that?"

Something sharp and silver pointed at his face alerted him to his error.

"Are you a trainer from Pallet Town?" the short brown thing asked.

"Ulk," Ash responded.

"Is that an answer?"

"Is that a real sword?"

"A real man wouldn't balk."

"Yeah, but I like my nose where it is."

"Ash, who are you talking—oh," Misty said, coming over. Then, more forcefully: "Hey, you—didn't your mother ever tell you not to point sharp objects at people?"

"My apologies," the short brown thing said, pulling the sword away from Ash's face. Ash allowed himself a small sigh of relief. "I am the Samurai of Viridian Forest—it is my goal to challenge each and every trainer hailing from Pallet Town that passes through here."

"I'm from Pallet Town," Ash said, rubbing his nose.

"Then why didn't you say so?"

"I had a sword pointed at my face."

"No matter—I challenge you to a battle!"

Hey, that was good—trainer battles gave Pokémon more experience than wild battles did. Somehow. "All right then!" Ash declared. "I accept! Go, Lenny!"

He set the Magikarp down, where Lenny assumed a fierce glare—until he fell over.

"A sad showing," the Samurai observed. "Go, Pinsir!"

Another short brown thing with curving horns appeared. It suddenly became evident to Ash what the Samurai had patterned his outfit off of.

"Vice Grip, now!" the Samurai commanded.

"Lenny, return!" Ash said, sending Lenny back into his Pokéball in a beam of red light. "Go, Pikachu!"

"Poor form!" the Samurai said, as Pikachu leaped off of Ash's shoulder and into the fray. "Pinsir! Focus Energy followed up by Seismic Toss!"

"Pikachu! Quick Attack followed up by Thunder Shock!"

The Pokémon dashed to follow orders, but Pikachu was the quicker of the two—the minute he connected with Pinsir, he let loose a devastating electric shock.

Pinsir fainted.

"Pinsir, return!" the Samurai commanded, returning it to its Pokéball. "Go, Metapod!"

A green cocoon sort of Pokémon took its place.

"All right, Lenny, let's try it again!" Ash said, tossing Lenny's Pokéball into the air. Lenny appeared on the field.

"That pathetic thing again?" the Samurai scoffed.

Lenny puffed up angrily before flopping over to where Metapod sat. With an indignant cry of "Magikarp!" Lenny flopped onto the Metapod.

"Um," Ash noised. "Pikachu, you think you ought to help him?"

"Pika," Pikachu said, shrugging.

Darkrai had returned to find the kid in the middle of a battle—interesting. He wondered if he had enough time to get some popped-Cornn.

Of course, with the way the Magikarp-versus-Metapod part of this was going, he wondered if he shouldn't get a pillow instead.

"There he is!"

Darkrai looked to see some very indignant Beedrill swarming. One was pointing through the screen of leaves to Ash.

"That's the trainer with the Pikachu that roughed us up earlier!" the lead Beedrill continued. "Let's go teach that kid a lesson!"

Darkrai moved so he was behind them.

"You've got bigger problems to deal with," he announced.

Several minutes later, Ash, Misty, and the Samurai were running out of Viridian Forest as fast as they could, gripping their Pokémon as they struggled to outrun a swarm of hysterical Beedrill.

In retrospect, Darkrai realized he could have handled that better.