Shining Shadows
Chapter 11: Eterna Forest
Will the Charizard
Just about a half hour later, after a quick trip to the Pokémart, we had headed into Eterna forest. On the advice of a friendly hiker, most went into their pokéballs, with Larsha in a new Luxury Ball that she had insisted on getting. It was a little more expensive than I wanted to buy, but it wasn't horrible.
Kade was walking alongside me, the backpack slung across one shoulder. I hate to admit it, but he was carrying a majority of the weight, with the tent plus some of the food and supplies. I hadn't originally planned for that much of a hike, but after I saw how large Eterna actually was, I was glad for the extra things, and help.
"It is a lot bigger when you see it in person, isn't it?" Kade said, sounding impressed. "I hope there's just one straight path."
"It should be." I replied. "The map shows one bigger trail, this main one, and some smaller ones coming off. It looks easy to say on course, though."
After that, we didn't talk much. It was nice, having someone else there who was alright with just walking. I could just focus on the forest itself, the sounds of Pokémon just behind the curtain of bark and leaves. There were so many tiny, easily missed signs of how alive Eterna was, the tracks sometimes wandering across the road, the Starly and Pachirisu nests visible high in the trees. The forest felt like everything had a place, and it was comforting.
I did eventually try to make a little small talk, though. Just to find out a little more about Kade, really. "So, what kind of moves do you know? Do you mainly fight as a psychic, or…?" I left my question open, not really wanting to lead his answer.
"Oh, no, I rarely use my psychic abilities, only when they're needed. I really prefer to find a way to solve my problems physically. 'Psychic' was always Rose's job. For attacks? Slash, Leaf Blade, Psycho Cut, a few others. Mostly attacks that require my blades. Is this going to be a problem?"
I shot him a confused look. "Why would that be a problem? And, why do you talk like that? You're sometimes all formal, than you'll start talking normal. It's not a problem, it's just a little weird."
"I'm just a little more used to speaking formally, but recently I've tried to loosen up. It's a work in progress." He gave a small shrug of his shoulders, and that was that.
Maybe a quarter hour later, we were still on the path. We had battled a few Pokémon, and saw a couple of trainers on the way, but it was still mostly peaceful. Soon, however, we saw a familiar face.
Henry, the trainer I'd battled in Sandgem, was leaning against a tree, his Turtwig, Rocky, next to him. Only, Rocky wasn't a Turtwig anymore.
The former Turtwig was bigger now, with a yellow shell coated in two lines of bush. His head was more protected, and he seemed stockier; he had gained more weight than height. It looked like he'd evolved recently; the Grotle seemed to still be a little uncomfortable in his new body.
Henry spotted me as Kade and I were heading over. He waved, and pointed us out to Rocky, who stood a little taller, with a smile.
"So, how've you guys been?" I asked. Henry was still grinning like a maniac; the kid had so much energy. Does he even sleep? Rocky answered, his voice was deeper and more gravely than it was before.
"Good, we got a badge a couple days ago. Rock types didn't know what hit them. Other than that, I've been training a lot."
"Yeah, it's been great!" Henry added. He showed me his badge, seemed like he was really proud of beating Roark. "Rocky evolved just a little after we beat the gym, and I caught a Starly, too! And then she evolved! When'd you get a Gallade?"
"Recently" was all Kade said. He looked a little uncomfortable, but not much.
I rolled my eyes at the Gallade, but he didn't seem to care. We probably needed to keep going anyway, so we started off again, before Henry stopped us.
"So, Sam, I was wondering if you'd travel with Rocky and me? The forest's sort of empty, and it's nice to be with friends sometimes, right?" He looked at me, hopefully. How could I say no?
It turned out Henry was a pretty good trainer, and he and Rocky seemed to have become a really good team. Most Pokémon they fought were much less experienced than them, but they still stayed coordinated, and the way they fought was smooth.
Kade and I were getting better as well, though not as good as them yet. I was still learning where he was strongest, but we were catching up quickly. He was extremely physical when attacking, but I was sure he could use psychic attacks as well. He was fast too, even compared to a lot of the other strong Pokémon we'd met before.
Quite a bit further in, maybe a mile more, we came across a pair of trainers traveling together. They seemed like a couple, even had matching Pokémon, he a Nidorino, she a Nidorina. We were challenged to a double battle, and Henry quickly accepted for us. He sent out Rocky, obviously, and looked at me expectantly.
Why not? I pulled out Will's pokéball, and sent out the slightly confused Charmander. He looked at me and cocked an eye. "Double battle" I replied. "You ready?"
He broke out into a grin. "Always"
Immediately after he stepped onto the field, the Nidorino came at Will, horn down, in a raging charge. The Charmander let out an ember in front of the Nidorino, temporary blinding it, quickly followed with a smokescreen to further the Nidorino's temporary handicap. Will stood ready outside the smoke, expecting the Nidorino to come charging through at any moment. What he didn't expect was for Rocky to throw the Nidorina through the smokescreen with a Vine Whip.
Faced with a new opponent, Will went on the offensive, running at the Nidorina with a Dragon Rage at the ready. The Nidorina ran straight for him, her horn glowing a sickly purple. Once he was close enough to ensure a hit, he spat the Dragon Rage straight for his opponent and dived out of the way. The Nidorina threw her head forward, splitting the Dragon Rage with her horn, and rammed into the fleeing Charmander, her Poison Sting drawing a shallow line across his front.
He winced; the battle obviously wasn't going as well as he'd wanted. He'd probably need an antidote after it was over, but for now he was just going to tough it out.
Will wasn't going to wait for the Nidorina to come at him again, and he immediately spent an Ember in her direction, carefully watching for movements from her or her partner. Rocky had the Nidorino occupied, so there was no worry from him. As the Nidorina charged at him again, I caught a look in his eyes. He was planning something risky.
He waited until the Nidorina was almost on top of him to pull out his now metallic claws and lunge forward at his attacker. Will threw grabbed her horn, threw himself to the right, and planted his feet in the ground, pulling the Nidorina down onto her side. Before she could get back up, he shot another Dragon Rage into her now defenseless face.
The Nidorina fainted.
Will turned quickly to face the remaining Nidorino, only to find it lying on its back unconscious. He started nodding his head, clearly pleased with his work. He suddenly stiffened, one of his claws twitching. He slowly turned around and stared at me, his face expressionless.
He started slowly, his words soft and deliberate. "Do you know that feeling, when you know you're close to something great? Like it's right there, just waiting for you to grab it?"
"Maybe?" If I'm right, he's close… "Like you're going to evolve?" I was hopeful he was. Cautious, but hopeful.
He busted out into a huge grin, all seriousness forgotten. "You know it." He turned out to the forest and bellowed as loud as his pint-sized lungs would allow. A few Starly erupted from the trees, and he briefly flung a few insults after them, just fueling his two-foot tall ego.
"Maybe you won't be so short when you evolve" I said, but he didn't seem bothered. "Full three and a half foot" he replied proudly, puffing out his chest and stretching out his legs as much as possible.
From then on, Will charged forward into any situation he thought might become a battle, but most Pokémon were either nowhere to be found, or scampered off before he could attack. He did get several string attacks for his troubles though, and had to burn the stuff off of himself after getting too tangled. He almost set the forest on fire, but we managed to put out the blaze fairly quickly.
After quickly realizing that charging blindly everywhere scared away many potential opponents, Will changed to a new approach: stealth. Surprisingly, he was actually good at it. Not fantastic, not by a long shot, but good enough. He would catch a rustle, or some hint of a Pokémon only he could see. He would then quietly move toward whatever he saw or heard, often crawling with his tail tucked underneath him.
The illusion of stealth was ruined almost every time, as he would abandon his sneaky ways and loudly leap at his target, sometimes even yelling out a battle cry. As if that wasn't enough, he wasn't very quiet trying to get himself unstuck from the bushes. His scales let him slide mostly out, but there were still a few snapping branches. There were a lot of burning leaves as well, with his tail being made of flame.
His ridiculous antics stopped abruptly when a large, winged shadow crossed over the ground. It moved quickly, flitting between trees and moving ever closer. The shadow stopped just above us, coming to rest in a tree. Will's eyes narrowed and the slightest smile appeared on his lips.
He spat a Dragon Rage into the air, near where he thought the shadow had come to rest. Before striking the tree, it was enveloped in a purple outline and hurtled back at Will. It was soon followed by a humongous bearded Noctowl, over five feet tall. The enormous bird landed right in front of Will, dwarfing the Charmander.
"You are the one who tries to burn my forest. You are the one who tries to attack my friends." the Noctowl said, its voice hoarse. They weren't questions.
"You know it" Will replied, a ridiculously cocky smile on his lips. He hesitated a little, "Not the burning down the forest, just the attacking."
"If you let another spark loose from your lips in this forest, I will be forced to take action" the Noctowl continued. "I will be watching." The beast took to the air, each flap of its wings creating an enormous amount of force.
Please don't do something stupid. Please don't do something stupid. I thought desperately, my eye drilling holes in Will's head.
Will did something stupid.
He calmly waltzed over to a nearby bush, grabbed a handful of leaves off of it, and blew sparks into them, his eyes on the Noctowl the whole time. The leaves lit up in a small pop and crackle of flame, small red hot ashes floating off and away.
The Noctowl let out a screech and dived for Will, its wings glowing white. The Charmander, with a distinct metallic sheen on his claws, grabbed the Noctowl's left wing and was swept up into the air. Even with the metal claw, he still looked to be in some pain from grabbing onto the wing attack.
The Noctowl let out a screech, and tried ramming its left side into a tree, but Will was already climbing onto his back. The Noctowl rolled, and Will gripped onto the feathers between its wings as hard as he could. The Noctowl righted itself and squawked, its wings being yanked back. It let out a wail and rolled again, sending Will into a tree with maybe a half dozen long feathers in his hand.
The Noctowl landed on a high branch and stared down at the Charmander, fire in its eyes. He grinned back up at it, stuck a feather in his mouth and sent a few wisps of flame up it, burning it to a crisp.
"Is he always this cocky?" Henry asked in shock. I just sighed and gave a nod.
The Noctowl's eyes began to glow that purple color again, and Will was lifted into the air and brought up to directly face the Noctowl. Its eyes narrowed and it hissed out a warning for the Charmander. "You are lucky I am allowing you to leave this place with your life. However, some warning is needed for others that may follow your example." The Noctowl slowly rotated Will upside down in its psychic grip. "Goodbye, little Charmander."
The purple glow around my friend winked out, and he dropped to the ground. But Will was not so easily defeated. As his feet were passing the Noctowl's, he latched his legs around the bird's, and drug it down with him.
It let out another squawk, and started flapping its wings to get away. Will was having none of that, and swung his body around and grabbed onto its left wing, pulling it toward himself and sending the Noctowl into a spiraling fall. Just before they both struck the ground, Will blasted the area they were about to hit with a Dragon rage, bringing the distinct blue flames to meet them where they crashed with a blinding flash.
Henry and I ran over to where they had fallen, shouting to find out if Will was alright. We approached the crash carefully, wary of the blue fire.
Will was alright. In fact, he was much better than alright.
He rose from the flames, his dark red scales glowing from the blue light. He stood taller than ever, his legs and arms more muscled, his skull more defined, with a short spike jutting from the back.
"Well?" the Charmeleon asked, his voice deeper. "How do I look?
"Brilliant. Absolutely wonderful" I said sincerely. "And taller. Much taller. Almost four feet tall now."
Will snorted, a small jet of flame shooting from his nostrils. "Then let's go kick some ass. Where's the next Gym?"
"Up in the next town" I said, pointing in the direction of Eterna city. "It's grass types."
His mouth stretched into a sinister grin. "Perfect" He ran down the path, with Henry and I not far behind. Eterna city, here we come.
He he… long time no see, right guys? Only six months or so? I'm not going to promise that the next chapter will take less time than this one, because that never works out well, but I should have more time when school gets out in a couple weeks. Also, don't know if I've said this before, but thanks to tinyRyan117 for Beta-reading this POS. Well, see you next time. Will the Charizard, out.
Please don't hurt me.