A/N: My sincerest apologies for the delay in releasing this chapter. My schedule is a bit cramped right now and will delay future releases of chapters (classes, exams, projects, work, and other things that I constantly juggle). I will try my best to release the next chapter in two weeks at the earliest.
Thank you everyone who has reviewed my story so far! Also, thank you for the PMs that come in!
Also, I get questions about the conventions I use when typing "Bulbasaur" and "bulbasaur". To me, a pokemon is a type of animal; you would not capitalize "Dog" every time you type dog, unless the given name was actually Dog. The same concept is presented here in this work. "Bulbasaur" as a name is different than "the bulbasaur" as a type of pokemon, with pokemon being in lower case to also illustrate this concept. I hope that clears some misunderstandings some readers may have.
Chapter 5: Strange Happenings in the Viridian Forest – Part 1
October 3rd, 2007 – 8:00 AM
It was a sluggish start for a pair of particular trainers happily snoozing underneath the covers. The musical chirps of pidgeys and other birds filled the morning sky. Puffy white clouds dot the horizon and a soft light filled the room as one sleepy Ash Ketchum slowly opened his eyes and turned his head towards the blaring alarm clock. A bout of soreness sprang up from all area of his body when he tried to sit himself up. He let out a soft groan when movement stirred from his left side.
"Good morning, Pikachu," Ash greeted groggily. Pikachu perked up and let out a purr as he jumped on Ash's lap and went back to sleep. Ash looked down at the small electric mouse and looked to the right. There on the other side of the room was Leaf happily snoozing away. Her snoring is incessant and quite audible, and a rather large stream of drool could be seen trickling down the side of her face onto her pillow. Her sheets and comforter are mangled at best. It is as if Leaf became a tornado in her dreams and destroyed what would be a town of bedding material. He could only attempt to hold back the laughter at the sight.
'Oh Leaf, you have no idea how attractive you look right now.' He proceeded to quietly pick himself up from his bed and made his way to the bathroom to complete his morning rituals.
Leaf had always been a rather heavy sleeper. Alarm clocks had little to no effect on her as it was her mother's booming voice that triggered her eyes to automatically open. She could never fathom the amount of effort needed to get herself out of her warm comforters. This morning, however, was a different kind of morning for Leaf. Her mother was not there to wake her up. There was no scent of delicious aroma of home brewed coffee around the house. There was not even a room of red to open her eyes to. There was, however, a pokemon that was repeatedly using her infamous Pound attack on the sleeping trainer.
"Hmmmm…what the…OW! WHAT THE HELL?! WHO'S HITTING ME?!" Leaf opened her eyes and retreated into a fetal position as she continued taking the onslaught of punches from one angry Jigglypuff. She, unlike Leaf, woke up the same time as Ash as the alarm went off. Seeing Ash getting ready made her wake up Leaf so they could be ready at the same time. Unfortunately, she knew it was near impossible to wake her up, and thus bringing about this very scene. Jigglypuff stopped the barrage of punches and stood on top of her trainer giving her an angry glare and letting out a fairly angry huff, or in this case "Puff!" Leaf took a good look at her surroundings and noticed there was a person missing from the bed on the other side of the room. She looked at Pikachu for an indication of where her traveling buddy was, only to be met with a point towards the bathroom and sounds of a shower running with steam escaping from the door crack.
'So he's in the shower,' Leaf thought, blushing at the thought. She could not perform her morning rituals with him in the bathroom, let alone go a second without thinking about him in the shower. 'Wait, what the hell? Did I just think about him being in the shower?' She let off a blush of a brighter shade of red thinking of all the possibilities of what he may or may not be doing in the shower. The situation did not get any better as he stepped out of the bathroom…with nothing but a towel on.
"I seem to have forgot my clothes out-" Ash opened the door to find Leaf face to face with him. They looked at each other for a moment. Time stood still between them. Leaf took note of his washboard-esque mid-section as well as his toned, yet not bulky upper body. His arms, while not three times the size of Leaf's, looked as if had enough mass to hold some serious power. Then, her eyes slowly made its way back down when she noticed there was only a towel. Ash looked down as well and noticed he was still in a towel.
"WAHHH! SORRY!" Ash screamed as he made his way back into the bathroom slamming the door shut. "Eh, Leaf?"
"…Yeah…" Leaf quietly replied, "…yah need something?"
"Yeah…I forgot my clothes on the bed. Can you get them for me and bring them to the bathroom door?"
"…sure…" Leaf got his set of clothes and went back up to the door.
"Okay…here you are." Ash opened the door just enough to stick his arm through to grab his clothes. He quickly changed and walked out of the bathroom again, this time in decent attire.
"Your turn, Leaf" She made her way into the bathroom, fearing the worst and let out a gulp in the process. Ash looked at her confusingly. She had always thought guys tend to leave the bathroom in a state of ruin and despair. Sharing a bathroom with a guy seemed like a daunting and impossible task, only to find that it was quite clean as she opened the door. She quickly got ready for the day.
Ash knew what outfit she was going to wear since her main outfit was caked in mud and they did not have time to wash them. He blushed thinking about it. Seeing her in that outfit would make any male within a 200 feet radius to collapse of blood loss through the nose. In about 20 minutes, the door opened again to reveal a female teenager in a very form-fitting black dress, fitting enough to accentuate the curves she possessed and then some. He stared at the ground as she looked at him in confusion.
"Why are you staring at the ground," Leaf asked. Ash slowly looked up at her. He first noticed the short length of the skirt portion of the dress. Half of her thighs were visible with the other half being tightly hugged by the black dress. He made his way up to the torso where her body became outlined in an hour-glass shape. Underneath was probably a flat stomach, if not a six-pack since she swam on the middle school swim team (not to mention being the district champion twice, and second place to a girl named Misty from Cerulean City at the state championships). He then made his way to where he did not want to look. He tried to contain the blood flow to his head (well at both ends anyway), being surprisingly successful. There was not really much to say as it was all there, and hugged tightly by the dress. For a teenager, they were quite…developed. Leaf looked at him and finally understood what he was thinking. Instead of slapping him, though, she gave him a light flick to the forehead.
"Okay, Quagmire; eyes up here, buddy."
"OW! Okay, Okay" Ash quickly said as he stared back at her face. Leaf just could not pass up this opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
"So…you like what you see?" Leaf asked voluptuously. Ash's face instantly paled and he face-faulted…anime style. Leaf let out a laugh loud enough to potentially wake the entire center.
"AHAHAHA your face! Okay, let's see if we can meet up with Gary for breakfast and head to the forest, shall we?"
"Uhhhh…sure…" Ash slowly replied, following the ever attractive Leaf out into the hallway…only for Leaf to run into someone, knocking him down in the process.
"GAHHH! What the hell…watch where you're fucking goi-Oh, mornin' cousin," Gary said as he picked himself up.
"Well top of the morning to you, cousin," Leaf happily replied back, as if nothing happened. Gary took a second to see what Leaf was wearing, only to do a double-take.
"Why the hell are you wearing that? Are you just asking to be attacked and raped?" Gary asked. Leaf only smiled.
"Well it's my favorite dress and it's short enough to where it's not restrictive while walking. I'm pretty sure you like the dress."
"Well I can't say that I don't. I'm one of the few guys who doesn't get nose bleeds seeing you wear that."
"Well I hope not; that's incest, dude."
"I'm pretty sure Ashy-boy still has episodes when seeing you wear that. Isn't that right, Ashy-boy," Ash looked at him, red slowly creeping to his face.
"Hey! At least my nose didn't bleed like the other times!"
"And you're supposed to be used to it since you both are around each other so much. Heh."
"Well anyways," Leaf interrupted, "let's go downstairs and get something to eat, shall we?" The three trainers and two pokemon made their way down to the cafeteria to get the continental-style breakfast offered. This meal, of course, was paid using the debit card on the Trainer ID. Pikachu could live off of a bottle of ketchup if he had to. Jigglypuff enjoyed her bowl of cereal. Gary looked at both pokemon with curiosity.
"So Jigglypuff and Pikachu can eat normal food…interesting…"
Breakfast was eaten in near silence between the trainers. All three were still exhausted from last night's events. As quickly as breakfast started, it ended with Ash, Leaf, Gary, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff standing outside.
"Yo Ashy-boy," Gary suddenly spoke up, starling Ash.
"Hmm?"
"I want a rematch from the first day. I can't stand here knowing I lost to you." Ash looked at him confusingly.
"What's that going to prove?" Ash asked him out of concern, not really understanding why his was acting like this.
"I just need to know I can beat you, okay?!" Gary yelled, "I can't sleep at night knowing I lost to you on my very first match. I just need to beat you fair and square so we can even out the numbers." It was Leaf's turn to look at Gary. She let out a long-winded sigh.
"Gary, you know this won't solve any-"
"Fine, let's battle. Let's go behind the center where there is a field," Ash said, completely changing his entire demeanor. His voice was thick and dark; he was ready for battle. They made their way towards the back of the Pokemon Center where they found a field with markings that's reminiscent of a soccer field. Behind that was the large city park. They both took each side with Leaf watching in the middle. Pikachu looked at him with hesitation. Leaf had only one thought, 'Here we go again…'
"Pidgey! Let's go!" Gary yelled. Pidgey cried out ready for battle and landed on the ground. Gary's pidgey was the only bird Leaf was not afraid of; she knew he had control over his bird.
"Let's do this, Pikachu," Ash commanded rather calmly. Pikachu let out a sigh. In the pokemon language, Pikachu decided to communicate with Pidgey.
'Really sorry to do this to you. I don't really want to fight you since we're all friends,' Pikachu reasoned.
'Eh…what are you gonna do. I didn't like you much anyways,' Pidgey replied.
'What?!'
"Pikachu! Tackle attack!" Pikachu, having heard Pidgey's apparent dislike of him, charged the bird with full force. Pidgey sensed this attack and glided straight up into the air.
"Pidgey! Peck attack in air raid formation!" Gary yelled.
'Air raid formation?' Ash thought as Pidgey made a vertical loop and dove back down, twisting back into dive position and aimed straight for Pikachu.
"Pikachu, dodge the attack and bounce off the ledge." And Pikachu did just that, he was now airborne and flying towards the Pidgey, who was closing in fast.
"Thundershock!"
"PIKACHUUU!" A massive current of electricity flowed from the cheeks of the mouse and directly into Pidgey, completely decimating the poor bird. Pidgey crashed down into the ground. Gary grunted as he returned the fallen pigeon. He looked at Ash, who pulled Pikachu out of battle. He knew what pokemon Gary was going to send out next.
"Charmander! Go!" Gary cried. Charmander looked almost ready to kill to avenge his fallen teammate. He let out a low growl while staring down field
"Bulbasaur! I choose you!" Ash cried in the same manner. Bulbasaur had the exact opposite demeanor; he was excited that he would face his rival. His soft smile slowly gave way to a smirk.
"Charmander! Ember!"
"Bulbasaur, dodge to the right and follow it up with tackle attack!" Bulbasaur successfully dodged the attack and counter-tackled, only to hit thin air. He lost balance and began to roll out.
"Charmander! Ember again while its down."
'Oh shit' Ash thought as Charmander charged a small fire ball. Ash knew that grass was weak to fire, but also knew that any fire ball was going to take at least a little time to charge up.
"Stabilize yourself and quickly release leech seed!" Bulbasaur got back up just in the nick of time as the ember was released. He jumped to the right, bounced off the ground, and aimed its bulb towards the lizard, releasing seeds. The seeds landed on Charmander and quickly grew vines to constrict the lizard, slowly draining the life out of it. Bulbasaur did not even need to hear the next command to finish out the battle.
"Tackle attack!" Bulbasaur charged like a raging bull and knocked Charmander at least 20 feet back and slowly skidded to a stop. The seeds began to wear off at that point.
"Ember again! And this time don't miss!" Charmander let out a fire ball towards the bulb pokemon, who had forgotten the seedlings wore off. The fire ball hit the bulb and he cried out in pain. Still, he worked through it and stood back up. Without an utter of a single command, Bulbasaur tackled Charmander, knocking the last bit of strength out of it. Bulbasaur stood proudly at its victory. Gary sullenly returned Charmander into its ball with Ash folloing suit with his bulbasaur. They got to the walked into the recovery ward to find Nurse Joy at the desk.
"Welcome to the Poke-…haven't you three done enough battling for the week?" Nurse Joy asked sarcastically. Gary did not utter a word. He just laid his pokemon in the tray and waited. Ash did the same. No one talked to each other for a good half an hour before both pagers went off.
"Your pokemon are ready. Enjoy your day!" Nurse Joy happily said, trying to ease the tension in the air. The air still remained as tense as ever. The three trainers made their way to the front courtyard.
"I'm going to travel on my own," Gary finally said. Ash and Leaf looked at him.
"…why?" Leaf asked out of concern.
"I just can't bear the fact that I lost to him twice! I've trained hard all yesterday to see that I can beat him! I still couldn't do it! Having to see the smug look on his face only pisses me off even more! Damn it! I can't stand being second to a LUNATIC!" Gary yelled at the top of his lungs vigorously pointing his finger towards Ash, who looked hurt by that comment. And on that note, he ran off down Main Street to the north towards the Viridian Forest.
It was around 9:30 AM when Ash and Leaf started down Main Street, with Pikachu and Jigglypuff in tow. The sun was higher up in the sky and its rays glistened off the mid-rises that fill the skyline. The street was bustling with traffic and people walking about downtown. There was a particular building that Leaf was looking at with the name Barlin Technologies in bright red near the top floor.
"So this is where Dad works…interesting. I wonder what he's doing right now…" Leaf mused as they continued walking. Viridian City as a whole is a relatively hilly area. Perched atop of the highest hill half a mile away was a round building with classical architecture. They both stopped to look at it when a passerby approached them.
"Oh," a voice rang out from behind. Ash and Leaf quickly turned around to find a young (well who appears to be young; one can never tell these days) woman donning a soft smile, "…you must want to know what that building is. That's the Viridian City Gym. It's been the centerpiece of this city for well over 20 years until recently when it mysteriously closed down."
"So you mean gym battles go on in there?" Ash wondered out loud.
"Well they don't anymore. Not sure why it closed down a couple of months ago. It used to be the most difficult gym in the region. If you want to start on gyms, why not try Pewter City. It's about 25 miles north of here."
"Well that's where we're planning on heading to," Leaf replied.
"Well at this rate, you'll be spending the night in the Viridian forest. Good luck with that," the woman snickered as she continued her path south.
"What's so bad about the Viridian Forest? I bet there is a ton of pokemon in there!" Ash happily thought. Leaf groaned in response.
"You have a one-track mind, don't you…" Leaf sighed as they continued north and out of the city.
-Northern Viridian Gate/Route 2-
10:15 AM
The cityscape continued to wane in the distance as Ash and Leaf came upon the North Gate where the road ends. They looked back at the skyline upon the hill.
"Well it was nice to see the city where Dad works. Quite pretty and different compared to Pallet Town. I'm kinda sad we didn't get to explore the city a little more," Leaf said as she rested her hands at her hips.
"I'm sure we'll get to explore the city on the way to the League. We'll have to pass through there anyways," Ash replied, earning a strange look from Leaf.
"I guess you're right (for once). Now let's get going; I don't want to get stuck in the middle of a forest at sundown."
"Wait! Whaddayah mean 'for once'?! C'mon, I'm not that dumb…"
"Hah, whatevs. Let's get going, already!" They made their way down the winding path, walking for a little over 2 hours. They had only run in to a couple of rattata (not that they have not seen them already, but Pikachu and Bulbasaur got some good practice in), and a couple of pidgeys which Leaf immediately ran away from, so it made for a very long and boring 2 hours. Trees surrounded them on all sides and only continued to get thicker as they progressed. The canopy's domain exponentially got denser as any trace of the sun began to fade away above the trees. Then, they saw what appears to be a building of some sort.
-Viridian Forest South Visitors Center-
12:30 PM
"What is this building doing in the middle of the pathway?" Ash wondered out loud.
"Dunno, but we'll have to go through it to get into the forest. Let's eat a quick lunch first and rest a bit." Leaf said. They made their way inside to find what looks to be a small visitor's center. Brochures of types of pokemon that could be found in the forest, as well as tourist opportunities for both Viridian City and Pewter City, lined a shelf on one side of the room. The center of the room had benches facing back to back. On the other side, there was an information desk with a snack and drink concession, and a lady tending it. She had a long, beautiful lock of blonde hair that reached down to her knees. Her brown eyes sparkled in the light. The yellow dress reminiscent of traditional rural wear covered the black long-sleeve shirt she was wearing underneath with her tightly-fit jeans. Looking at her waist, she was armed with 3 pokemon and a rather long katana. She smiled at the teens that had just wondered in, looking confused at why there would be a lady well-armed and ready to kill tending a visitor center.
"Why hello, you two," she greeted, "welcome to the Viridian Forest Visitors Center. Please enjoy the adventures and mysteries the Viridian Forest has to offer." Ash and Leaf looked at her again, not saying as much of a word.
"I see you two still seem confused. My name is Elise Lighthouse, I'm the manager and guardian of the Viridian Forest. It's my duty to keep the forest in stability for the future generations of pokemon who live here. Usually it's my daughter who greets travelers in here while I'm on patrol in the forest. But today, she's attending school. You may run into her this afternoon since it's her turn to patrol. She's kinda short and always rides on her Doduo.
"The pathway through the Viridian Forest isn't a straight path since the area is quite hilly. Careful not to get lost; the forest is about 10 miles long and there are multiple pathways, so it may take a couple days. Also, I see you have PokeGears…they don't receive any reception in the forest. The maps can be found on the brochures over there. And the entrance to the forest is at the other doorway there. Now we got that cleared up, need anything to snack on?" The two trainers were still trying to wrap their heads around the slough of information that was just thrown.
"I think we'll…eat lunch before heading into the forest…" Leaf said uneasily. They both took one bench and sat down and their pokemon climbed up to join them. Ash dug in his bag for some snacks they can eat, finding three granola bars and a bottle of ketchup his mom packed. Everyone devoured their bar in less than two minutes (Pikachu drinking about half of the bottle). Leaf was the first to stand up and head towards the double doors. Ash, unsurprisingly, was not following suit.
"C'mon, Ash…let's make some good distance already; it's 1:00 and we won't make it out of the forest at this rate!" Leaf cried.
"C'mon…I wanna rest a little!" Ash whined back. Even Pikachu and Jigglypuff were tugging on Ash for him to get up. "So all three of you against me, huh. Fine, we'll go." And with that, they opened the doors to the Viridian Forest.
The forest was, for lack of better term, dense. The sunlight that attempted to penetrate the forest's canopy fortress was instantly denied; only a select few rays got through. At early afternoon, it mind as well be midnight. There were sparse patches of grass where the sun shone through. The pathways of the forest meander in and around the sloping hills and through dense forest. Ash and Leaf just could not wait to get out of there.
"Dude…this place is really dark. And it's in the middle of the day time! Do you have the map?" Leaf nervously whispered. Ash looked around in his bag and pulled out a large map of what was literally all of the possible pathways. The tangle of black lines did not help much for poor Ash; he decided to guess anyways.
"So we'll just walk straight ahead then…" Ash decided, thinking it was the safest bet. They walked forward for what seemed to be a couple miles until Leaf felt something at her feet.
"Hold up. I feel something crawling up my leg." She reached down to her right leg and grabbed whatever was crawling up her leg. She looked carefully at the creature and noticed it was small, long, and green. It had many pairs of tiny stubs along the body as well as a pink antenna-like extension and two large eyes. Ash took out Dexter to see what this strange pokemon was.
"Caterpie: the Worm Pokemon. Caterpie uses the suction cups on its feet to climb trees and feed on its favorite leaves. Its known attacks are Tackle and String Shot."
"String Shot?" Leaf wondered as the caterpie sprayed a silky substance straight in her face. "AHHH! Ash! I CAN'T SEE!" She tore all of the silk off her face and pulled out Squirtle.
"That's it! This bug's pissing me off! Squirtle, Bubble!" Leaf cried. Squirtle unleashed a torrent of bubbles at the bug, only for it to bounce off like nothing happened. The bug unleashed a tackle on the turtle, but could not take it down like it wanted to. Squirtle easily got back up and readied for the next attack.
"Leaf! Looks like it's strong against water!" Ash yelled from the sidelines.
"Yeah! Thanks, I figured that one out already!" Leaf sharply responded, "Squirtle, Tackle attack!" Squirtle rammed the poor bug hard enough to send it back several yards, effectively knocking it out of battle. Leaf took this as a signal to throw an empty pokeball.
"Pokeball, go!" The ball hit the bug, and was instantly absorbed by the white plasma. The ball's locking mechanism continued to blink until the ball itself stopped wobbling. Once the ball shutdown noise was heard, Leaf walked forward to pick up the pokeball.
"Yes! Finally caught a pokemon!" Leaf happily cried with Jigglypuff gleefully cheering as well. Ash looked glum all of the sudden. "Hey…what's wrong?"
"Eh, nothing really; I haven't been able to catch a pokemon yet, that's all," he gloomily said.
"Oh don't worry! There's a bunch of pokemon here; you'll find one you can catch."
"Heh, I hope so." They trekked on for what felt like 20 miles, but it was really only 2 miles. The forest was still dark as ever. However, Ash began to notice the abundance of life in the trees. There were specs of green diamond shapes clinging to the high areas of wide trunks and specs of yellow hanging from the branches. He walked up to one tree and stared at it for a little bit. Pikachu seemed mesmerized as well. 'Hmmmm…these must be sleeping cocoons of caterpies and another pokemon…best not to wake them up…' Pikachu nodded in agreement and started to make his way back to the path.
Leaf, whom kept walking forward, looked back to find Ash not by her side. Now sensing panic and fear, she darts her head side to side to find Ash; he was nowhere to be found. Sweat permeated through her skin and her dress. Her muscles started to tense up and she froze in her tracks when she heard rustling in the dark canopy above. Jigglypuff looked up, trying to find the sound. 'It better not be a bird…it better not be a bird…it better not be a bird…' she kept repeating in her head as she looked up, dropping her bag and fedora in the process.
Ash decided it was better to keep moving than to wonder at a couple of cocoons who may or may not be guarded by its queen. He and Pikachu walked up to what appears to be a frozen and frightened Leaf. Taking this opportunity (and to Pikachu's disapproval), he tip-toed behind her and tapped her on her shoulder, complete with a short, pronounced "Boo!" The shriek that followed could be heard for miles.
-Elsewhere in the Viridian Forest-
There was a man, a woman, and a feline pokemon wandering about the strange forest. They look like they have gone through hell and back with burn marks, scratches, and bruises everywhere. It did not help that their phones received no signal; they did not have a map to find out where they are. The man spoke first.
"Ummm…Jessie. I know you're still in a bad mood from yesterday, but we've been walking the entire morning. Is there any way we can, you know, take a rest?" he said sheepishly, especially the last bit. Jessie's face became even more cross than it already was; in fact, she gave off the intent to kill whoever as much uttered a single word in her direction. Completely frustrated, she turned around to the two, who looked worse for wear.
"I don't FUCKING care how FUCKING tired you are! I just want to find a FUCKING way out of this FUCKING forest and think of a FUCKING way to explain this FUCKING failure to the FUCKING Boss. I mean, we've never failed fucking a mission before. The Boss has high expectations for us! HOW COULD WE HAVE FAILED?! IT WAS JUST RAIDING A FUCKING POKEMON CENTER!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, almost standing over her poor teammates. James and Meowth cowered in fear, hoping they would at least survive the next five or so minutes. It was bad enough that the team that was supposed to perform the raid got reassigned to desk work in lieu of their mishap; Jessie and her team was to pick up the slack. This, unfortunately, did not help the cause one bit; it only made things worse.
"I never asked to do this assignment. I swear my sister can be an asshole sometimes." James looked at her curiously.
"Oh. How is Jamie, by the way?" James asked out of curiosity. They have met before while James was still a probie and his instructor was none other than Jamie.
"She's well. The Boss takes a great liking to her, although she's more in tune with his mother than anything else. Same deal with Mom. I don't think anyone likes the Boss much, except maybe that Domino person I keep hearing about. Maybe Butch and Cassidy as well…oh well."
"Well don't you like the Boss, Jessie?"
"He's okay. He's still an asshole when you try to talk to him and has this weird 'oh look at me, I'm the shit 'cuz I have power' deal. Couldn't really get past that. Anyways, we have to find a way out of here and back to Saff-" a shriek could be heard in the distance.
"Uh Jessie…" James spoke nervously, "…did you hear that…"
"…yes I did…"
"…how about you, Meowth…"
"…uh huh…"
"…so uh…run?" Meowth looked at him.
"…yup…" The three looked at each other and nodded.
"WAAAAH!" all three yelled as their legs carried them further and further into the forest, the outlines of their bodies becoming more and more faded as they ran into the darkness.
-Back with Ash and Leaf-
There was a loud scream that echoed Leaf's shriek of surprise, fear, and panic. Ash and Pikachu were on the floor crouched in fetal positions with their arms tightly caressing his ears; that shriek was enough to bring them down past their knees. Only one thing was going through Ash's mind, though…
'…worth it!'
Pikachu's thought was more "Fear of the Wrath of Leaf" more than anything else. Leaf looked down at the fallen trainer and pokemon, arms sternly placed on her hips and mouth seething in anger. Her brown eyes bore down at the two until she noticed something on Ash's head.
"Hey Ash," Leaf suddenly said, breaking out of her cold, hazardous glare, "yah might want to feel your head." Ash could hear her snicker after that. He wondered what was funny as he felt his head. At first, he would pass her off as crazy and insane…until he felt the brim of hat. As a matter of fact, it moved over the edge and in visible sight. There, a figure of a group of spheres connected together, growing smaller in size as one looked up. At the bottom of the spheres were a sharp point and a pink snout. These spheres were covered in tiny pink stubs that Ash guessed served as feet. As if on instinct, quickly shot to his feet, throwing the poor bug a good 6 yards ahead of him. Leaf flipped out her pokedex as it spoke.
"So you finally decide to use me! I've been sitting here waiting while my two other companions see pokemon. You just let me sit here idly downloading their information! What an ungrateful trainer!" the pokedex spat, surprising Leaf and Ash. 'Is it normal for pokedexes to have anger issues? Let alone a personality? Best deal with it later' Leaf thought as she regained her composure.
"That aside, my name is Dextra by the way. Shall I commence the scan of the pokemon?"
"…uh sure…" Leaf responded unsure of what to make of the situation.
"Then allow me. Weedle: the Hairy Bug Pokemon. The stinger on this pokemon's head guarantees that any attacker will get the point right where it hurts. Its known moves are Poison Sting and String Shot."
"I got this one," Ash confidently said, "Bulbasaur, let's get some good practice in!" Bulbasaur came out of its ball, already in tackle mode. Without having Ash telling him what to do, Bulbasaur tackled the bug, only to be met with a sheet of silk to the face. Bulbasaur tried to clear its face, but was having a bit of difficulty since it had to be on all fours. Weedle, being the surprisingly clever bug it was, took this opportunity to fire a Poison Sting, but completely misses failing to lock onto the target. Bulbasaur was still thrashing around when Ash had an idea.
"Bulbasaur! How good are you with bearings?" Bulbasaur called back with affirmation. He seemed to know his angles pretty well despite being blinded by silk.
"Okay when I tell you, you need to angle yourself left or right. Ready?" The weedle, of course, did not understand what was going on and was ready to fire another Poison Sting, this time the target being locked. It then released a Poison Sting directly at Bulbasaur.
"Quickly side-step to your right!" A side-step to the right caused the Poison Sting to unintentionally hit Pikachu, though not poisoning him. Pikachu let out an unceremonious cry in pain and plopped over. Ash looked down and over to his left.
"Oh shit! My bad Pikachu. Are you okay? You're not poisoned right?" Pikachu, while faced down, gave him a thumbs up. A sweat drop can be seen dripping from Ash's forehead.
"Bulbasaur, angle yourself 25 degrees to the left and fire a leech seed!" Bulbasaur complied and successfully angled himself exactly 25 degrees and unleashed a multitude of seeds straight ahead. As expected, the seeds hit the bug square in the face and seedlings sprout all over. This slowed down the weedle quite a bit. It wanted to throw another Poison Sting instead of going with a String Shot, but it was not quick enough to dodge the incoming tackle from Bulbasaur. This tackle was enough to completely knock it out. This was the cue for Ash to grab an empty pokeball and chuck it.
"Pokeball, Go!"
As the ball hit its target, the weedle disintegrated into red plasma and absorbed back in. The moments between absorption and confirmation were nerve-wracking. The ball wobbled back and forth what seemed to be at least two minutes. Ash found himself sweating bullets and Pikachu (who was now up standing after the stray blow to the head) on all fours, a stern look on his face hoping for a new teammate. Just when Ash was about to give up hope, the ball clicked off; Weedle was now his.
AN: So this chapter was originally written with the next chapter, but because of length and flow issues, I have decided that it would be split. As always, read, love and critique! =)