To get to Goldenrod City the fastest way possible the trio of Joey, June, and Eddie took Officer Jenny's advice to travel through Ilex Forest.
"Joey! You're telling me we're lost again?" June freaked.
"What? I've told you multiple times that I'm bad with directions," Joey defended himself.
"Give me the map!" June grabbed the map out of his hands but lost her grip on it and it flew in the wind.
The two scrambled to try to grab the map out of the air. June, not looking, tackled Eddie. Joey was still chasing after the map when it stopped floating and Joey ran into it and fell down.
"What the-?" Joey looked up to see two antlers sticking through the map.
Whatever was behind the map grunted and started shaking its head around until the map was off its antlers and ripped to shreds.
"Stantler!" It roared and rose its hooves in the air.
Joey quickly rolled out of the wild Pokemon's Stomp attack before it made contact. This quickly turned into a Tauros fighting match. The wild Stantler repeatedly chasing after Joey with a Headbutt attack while Joey dodged last second.
"Guuuuuys! Haaaaahhlp!" Joey screamed.
"Use one of your Pokemon!" Eddie shouted.
"Don't you think I've thought of that?" Joey yelled back. He was still avoiding Stantler's
Headbutt attacks, "I need one of you to distract this thing for me!"
"Fine. Bulbasaur use Vine Whip to hold it down," Eddie ordered as he tossed out his starter Pokemon's pokeball. The Grass-type followed orders and used its vines to hold the wild Pokemon down.
Joey, finally able to catch his breath, took this time to pull out his Pokedex and scan Stantler, "Stantler, the Big Horn Pokemon. Normal-type. The curved antlers subtly change the flow of air to create a strange space where reality is distorted."
"So this is a Stantler, huh. I like you, your feisty. I'm gonna catch you," Joey said as he pulled out Cyndaquil's pokeball.
"Bulba!"
Joey's attention was turned towards Eddie's Bulbasaur for its cry of annoyance.
"Hurry up, already. Bulbasaur can't hold Stantler much longer," Eddie said.
"Cyndaquil, go!" Joey threw the pokeball in front of Stantler and his starter appeared, "Use Ember!" Cyndaquil spit out flames towards his opponent and when they made contact the Normal-type flinched and seemed to get even angrier and attacked with another Headbutt. "Cyndaquil jump on top of its head!" Joey's starter followed orders and hopped onto his opponents head. Stantler then began to furiously shake its head. Cyndaquil was sent flying into the air and Stantler charged Joey once again, but this time the trainer didn't run away but planted his feet in the ground and grabbed a hold of the wild Pokemon's antlers.
"This Pokemon's crazy!" June yelled, "Joey, give up on this catch! It'll never listen to you!"
"Like I'd ever give up. Even if this Pokemon won't ever listen to me I'll never give up on a potential partner!" Joey replied.
"But-" June was cut off when Eddie put his hand in front of her.
"There a perfect match, if they both work hard enough, that is," the boy beside her said.
"But how?"
"Don't you see? They're both stubborn, if anything this Stantler is more stubborn than Joey. Neither of them will give up until one of them wins. Not to mention they both have temper management issues," Eddie stated.
"Cynda!" Cyndaquil squealed as he used Tackle on Stantler to knock the wild Pokemon away from his trainer.
"Quick, Cyndaquil use Swift," the fire-type starter flung a series of stars at his downed opponent. When the stars subsided the wild Pokemon was down for the count and Joey took the opportunity to capture his opponent, "go, pokeball!"
The ball hit Stantler and aborsed it in a red beam of light. It shook once, twice, thrice, then gave a sounding beep.
"Phew," Joey sighed as he picked up the pokeball, "hey guys, look I caught Stant-"
Joey was cut off when the ball started shaking again and a beam of red light released Stantler out of the pokeball.
"Huh, what's going on how'd you get out?" Stantler charged his new trainer once again, "aah! Get back in your pokeball," Joey pushed the button on the pokeball and absorbed Stantler once again, "what happened there?"
"It seems like Stantler doesn't want to stay in its pokeball," Eddie said while walking up to Joey after returning Bulbasaur.
"Well, why not? I'm his trainer now so he should listen to-" Joey was once again cut off by Stantler's pokeball shaking. He quickly wrapped the ball around in his shirt and gripped it tightly.
"Some Pokemon are just like that," June said.
"Well how am I supposed to keep Stantler in its pokeball then?"
"I'm telling you, don't bother with that Stantler," June said to Joey while taking a bite out of her burger.
The trio were eating at a table outside of a Pokemon Center, while Cyndaquil, Wooper, Aipom, Marrill, and Bulbasaur were all eating and playing together. Beside Joey was Stantler's pokeball, which had been hastily wrapped in tape earlier, which was still shaking furiously.
"And I'm telling you, that I don't give up on my Pokemon," Joey replied, "just because Stantler won't listen to me now doesn't mean it won't listen to me in the future."
"It's like I said earlier, you two are a perfect match," Eddie stated again, "it won't come easily though, it'll take a lot of time and you need to work very hard with Stantler. You know that right?"
"Yes I do, and that's why I'm gonna start training with Stantler right away," Joey replied, "and when we get to Goldenrod, Stantler's going to be in the gym battle," Joey finished before sipping his soda.
"What?!" June yelled, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
Sorry about the incredibly long wait guys, I didn't have the time to continue writing because I had to focus on school (even though school literally just started up for me again) but this year I feel I have an easier work load which means I can do this more often.
FlameAura98 out.