Chapter 7
Japanese Names:
Matsuba = Morty
Disclaimer: We do not own Pokemon. We would not, could not, in United States. We will not, will not in Japan. We do not own them in 1995. We will not own them in 2015. Not in the dark, not in a bank! Not in by stocks, we're not that kind of rank! We do not own Nintendo in a box; we do not own Game Freak or their fox. We will not own them in a house; we do not own their electric mouse. We do not own them here or there. We do not own them ANYWHERE! (Oh, and we don't own Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham, enjoy the fanfic.)
Ecruteak Gym
"Kera, avoid that attack!" Chiharu's Golbat did a mid air somersault to avoid a dark ball of energy flying to its direction. The bat pokemon was blue and had wide wings with purple skin stretched over it. It had a big body with small feet and was taller than its trainer (1). Golbat's opponent zoomed around the platform, hurling itself at the shadow pokemon.
"Gengar, gengar!" Stop running away! The shadow pokemon laughed, still chasing Golbat, who was flying around to avoid the ghost pokemon's grasps.
"Golbat, gol, golbat!" I don't think so, buddy! Golbat narrowly flew away from another Shadow Ball. "Golbat!" Not in your dreams! The bat hit the ghost pokemon to the side with its wing with Astonish, making Gengar flinch.
"Kera, Supersonic Gengar!" Chiharu shouted.
"Golbat, golbat!" Never been happier to hear those words!
Her pokemon briefly stopped flying away from Gengar and allowed the ghost pokemon to float to it until the two pokemon were a few feet apart. Golbat opened her mouth wide to reveal a pair of fangs and let out a loud shriek. The whole gym shook from the intensity of the sound. Her trainer already plugged her ears with ear buds before she announced the attack. The gym leader wasn't as prepared and covered his ears with his hands. A few of the gym trainers were heard complaining about the sound.
"Gen, gar?" What, is that? Gengar tried to cover its obscured ears, but failed due to its short arms. The shadow pokemon cried, "Gengar?" Why do I have short arms? The pokemon lost its balance in the air and flopped to the ground. It was barely standing up with a confused look on its face.
"Are you alright, old friend?" The gym leader looked at his pokemon with concern.
Gengar had swirls in its eyes and struggled to look up straight. Matsuba admired this trainer's skill. Unlike the last gym match, this one lasted longer where none of Chiharu's pokemon were knocked out at the moment. He couldn't command the shadow pokemon to use Hypnosis because Chiharu's last pokemon had used Disable on it. The ghost trainer thought it was rash of her to use a Golbat in the match, but it turned out that this Golbat had out speed his Gengar and had managed to use Supersonic on it before it was too late.
"Gengar, gengar..." You other pokemon are so lucky... Gengar mumbled. The ghost pokemon tried to walk over to the bat pokemon with its short arms reaching for it. However, the poison flying type easily avoided its reach and watched it cry. "Gengar, gen, gengar..." You have long arms and can touch your toes...
"Bat?" Excuse me? Golbat stared at the ghost pokemon, wondering if she had misunderstood his words. The female bat pokemon blinked. "Golbat..." Okay... She wasn't expecting that sort of reaction from her Supersonic. Most pokemon under the influence of Supersonic spouted random stuff, but this one took the cake.
"Gengar, try to use Sucker Punch on her Golbat!" Matsuba ordered his pokemon.
"Gar, gengar!" I can't see! The ghost pokemon tumbled on its feet and fell over. It crashed into the floor and hurt itself in the process. It tried to pick itself up with its arms, but it was no use. Gengar then managed to float up off the ground to see its opponent being returned back to its pokeball.
"Good job, Kera." Chiharu recalled her Golbat and took out another pokeball, "Phoebe, Stun Spore Matsuba's Gengar!" The blue haired trainer threw the pokeball where Gengar was. The pokeball opened to reveal Oddish, a blue pokemon with big green leaves growing out of its head.
"Oddish?" Is this good enough? Oddish landed into Gengar and had yellow spores flying out of its leaves. Gengar was still levitating in the air, but its limbs grew stiff from the spores' effect.
"Gen. Gar." It grunted, I'm. Tired.
"Shadow Ball Oddish!" While the grass pokemon was still in close range, Gengar formed dark energy between its paws and launched it at Oddish's face.
"Use Acid to counterattack that Shadow Ball!" Oddish's trainer shouted. The grass pokemon wore a determined look and opened its mouth to have purple liquid shooting out like a waterspout. The acid hissed as it hit Gengar's attack where the ball of dark energy slowed down from Oddish's counter attack. Shadow ball and the stream of Acid fought hard for control over the other; both pokemon focused hard to fight the opposing side. Oddish positioned herself on the side while struggling to hold onto the ground with her small feet. Gengar was now paralyzed and confused, but it still had enough energy left to fight Oddish.
"Give it all you got!" Matsuba encouraged Gengar. The shadow pokemon's eyes widened from hearing its trainer's voice and broke out of its confusion. It mustered all its strength and pushed Shadow Ball further and overpowered Oddish's Acid. The dark ball of energy easily overcame the attack and flew to Oddish's face before the grass pokemon had time to respond.
"Oddish!" She cried, Nooo! The grass type flew across the floor from the intensity of the attack. She felt the hard ground hit her on the side when she fell back down and whispered, "Oddish, Oddish..." I'm sorry for not being strong enough... Oddish closed its eyes and became unconscious.
"Oddish is unable to fight!" The referee announced.
Chiharu walked over to her pokemon and said, "It's alright," she stroked Phoebe's leaves. "That was a good try for our first official trainer battle. You deserve a good rest." She took out a pokeball and returned the pokemon back to its capsule.
"I'll give you points for using the most annoying moves on my favorite pokemon," Matsuba closed his eyes before opening them. "But I won't be defeated that easily."
"That's good to know," Chiharu had a wild smile. "Because I hope that you didn't make me wake up this early to fight a boring match." She had to request her Golbat to wake her up with Astonish this morning! The catcher woke up with a sudden slap on the side by the bat pokemon and almost woke up the whole Pokemon Center with her cry.
"I take it that you're not a morning person?" The gym leader grinned ear to ear.
"You look like a night person yourself," the trainer crossed her arms. "Wearing dark clothes and a scarf in the summer? You either care more about fashion than convenience or you have a strange sense of temperature!"
"Thank you for your fashion analysis," Matsuba chuckled. "But I'm afraid this is a pokemon battle, not a fashion show."
"Asahi, let's finish the battle!" Chiharu called out her next pokemon.
"Vee!" All right! Her Eevee, who was standing by her hopped onto the battle platform and made a battle stance.
"I'm glad to see I entertained you," he beamed back. The ghost trainer narrowed his eyes, "Because this fight is about to get tougher." Matsuba raised his arm, "Gengar, Sucker Punch Eevee!"
"Gengar!" I can do this! The ghost pokemon ignored its paralyzed condition and bounced up into the air. It flew towards the evolution pokemon and hit the pokemon in the face.
"Eevee, eevee?" Hey, what's up with that? The Eevee rubbed its hurt face with one paw. The punch made the normal type fall on her legs.
"Asahi, you okay?" Chiharu asked her Eevee. Eevee squealed and did a victory pose for being all right. Eevee jumped back on her feet. "All right! Then use Sand Attack!"
"Sucker Punch!" Gengar tried to attack Eevee again, but the normal type turned its back on the ghost and kicked sand into its face. The shadow pokemon was surprised by the sand and jerked away from the Eevee.
"Hypnosis!" Matsuba was sure that Disable was out of effect by now. The challenger ordered her pokemon to use Sand Attack again; her Eevee kicked sand into Gengar's eyes to avoid getting hypnotized by the ghost.
"Gengar!" Ow, I don't like sand! Gengar cried from the sand in its eyes.
"Eevee, eevee!" I'm sorry about this! Asahi cried, "Vee, vee, eevee!" But this is a battle! The female Eevee avoided eye contact from Gengar. The ghost trainer's Gengar attempted to use Hypnosis again, but Eevee continued kicking sand to the pokemon to avoid attack.
"Gengar, one more Sucker Punch!" Matsuba was starting to get frustrated from having his Gengar being unable to attack the normal type with its only attack that could hit. Gengar charged at Eevee again, but the evolution pokemon narrowly dodged the attack and whipped its tail for Tail Wag. The ghost pokemon tripped from Eevee's long fluffy tail and flew past her.
"Asahi, Tail Whip again!" Chiharu ordered. Asahi kept whipping its long tail to trip Gengar, who was now hurling several Shadow Balls out of frustration. Eevee grew cold from being hit by the dark energy balls, but they didn't affect her due to her typing.
"Eevee?" Can I attack now? The female Eevee asked.
"Gengar, gengar?" Why can't you stand still? The ghost pokemon thrashed around the battle platform with dark energy forming between its arms. Gengar hurled another Shadow Ball at her, but the Eevee didn't react to the attacks.
Chiharu watched her Eevee continuous dodging and wagging its tail before saying, "Finish it with Bite!" Eevee hurled herself into the ghost pokemon with her fangs bearing out. She landed on Gengar's back and sank her fangs into the ghost pokemon. Gengar howled in pain from the super effective move and fell down to the battle platform. It sunk to the floor and lost consciousness.
"Gengar is unable to battle!" The referee shouted, "Chiharu is the winner of the gym battle! What's this?" He looked at the battlefield, "Chiharu's Eevee is evolving!"
Eevee's whole body glowed white. Her small body became a silhouette of light as the normal type pokemon grew bigger in size by almost a foot. When the light faded away, a new pokemon appeared in Eevee's place. The pokemon had silky lilac colored fur and was similar in appearance to Eevee where her ears have grown larger and she had whiskers. She was feline like and her tail had split into two like a fork.
"Espeon!" Asahi cried, I feel stronger! The newly evolved pokemon walked around in one circle, examining her new body.
"Asahi?" Her trainer looked at the psychic pokemon in awe. The catcher cast her eyes to Matsuba and said, "I guess you must be glad Asahi didn't evolve into that Umbreon you were worried about." She giggled.
The gym leader sighed and walked over to the happy trainer. He took out his pokeball and recalled his Gengar, "Here's the Fog Badge." The blond man handed the small black badge to the trainer; it resembled the tail of a ghost.
"Was this battle entertaining enough for you?" Chiharu asked, grinning ear to ear at the new badge gleaming in her palm.
"Well, that certainly was an interesting match," the blond man had a rare smile on his face. It wasn't the same creepy grin he threw to his last challenger at the beginning of the match. "As promised, I will tell you more about that...prophecy I told your friend earlier."
"You kept your word," she said. Her Espeon sat patiently at her trainer's feet.
Matsuba raised a brow, "What? You were surprised?" He mocked a surprised look. "This is the fourth gym trainers usually go to for the pokemon league." The ghost trainer laughed at Chiharu's skeptical look, "Not many trainers make it this far. It gets dull waiting for the occasional challenger to come by. Not everyone can fight all eight gym leaders and win!"
"Why don't we talk about the prophecy?" The catcher jumped to the main topic.
"You're pretty one tracked too," Matsuba noted. "I guess you're not as different as your friend as it seems."
Chiharu rolled her eyes, "Do you spout prophecies to every challenger you meet?" She remembered Mirei's reaction to Matsuba's odd phrasing of words. Not that she blamed her. If one wasn't expecting it, the ghost trainer's prophecies could throw a person off.
"Not necessarily," the blond man sported a sly smile. "I can naturally reject someone's request for a prophecy too."
"You were referring to Ho-Oh," the girl said. "There's only one pokemon that is described as rainbow hued. It has to be the legendary pokemon."
Matsuba couldn't help but smirk at the trainer's conclusion. She obviously knew her legendaries. Not many people took the legends seriously. Sure, many have grown up listening to such tales of pokemon having the capability of be born from volcanoes or purify water, but not many have grown up to believe it. There was evidence of those pokemon's existence, but the accounts of their appearances were very few and spread out through history since the war. Anything recorded before 150 years ago tend to be hazy and inaccurate due to historians' bias.
"Correct," the ghost trainer said. "I was indeed talking about Ho-Oh. Did you also catch that I said that I wanted to meet the rainbow hued pokemon?"
"Yet you never met it?" Chiharu guessed.
"Yes..." He mumbled, he remembered the day five years ago. The day he battled a trainer who showed some talent in battling. "Someone else brought Ho-Oh's attention and had it appear above this city in the Bell Tower." Matsuba at first dismissed the trainer as an ordinary child who was only fulfilling his dreams of becoming a high ranked trainer. A few months later after the match, something happened.
"It was on the news," Chiharu recalled. The news reporters were talking over the loud crowd of locals who were all saying the same thing: "Ho-Oh is back." There were ambiguous photographs and videos of an orange blur flying over Ecruteak City on the news five years ago.
"And now, someone is after Ho-Oh," Matsuba said quietly. "That shadow will try to use Ho-Oh for dark things that I fear will destroy the balance of the world"
"You said this prophecy had relation to us," the girl said slowly. "What more can you tell me?" She looked at the ghost trainer for an answer. He was still deep in thought from his memories, it seemed. Chiharu saw that the referee was on break and was drinking from his water bottle. The gym trainers have left the building to heal their pokemon from their previous matches with Chiharu.
"I saw you and your friend in my vision," Matsuba was still talking in a low voice. "You and several others, but you weren't reaching for Ho-Oh's wings. You were at the bottom looking up at the pokemon." He wiped his forehead, "That's all I can tell you."
Chiharu didn't respond back immediately. She and Mirei were in his...prophecy? Of what? All she had acquired was that someone was after Ho-Oh and that it would somehow destroy the world. How would she have relation to a legendary pokemon? Was it even possible to meet Ho-Oh? It has been five years since the last rumor of the rainbow pokemon floated about.
"I don't know the details of what will happened to Ho-Oh," he continued. "But what happens to it must be prevented!" He shot Chiharu a stern look.
"What about my friend?" The trainer said weakly. Her Espeon looked worried and tried to nuzzle her trainer in attempt to comfort her. "Where is she?"
"Your friend?" The ghost trainer said surprised.
"You could predict things," she rambled. "So I thought...maybe you could find her?" He could see that she was trying to hold back tears. Her voice gave it away that she viewed him as her last hope.
"What about your friend?" How old was the friend? A little girl? A full grown adult? Matsuba concentrated his mind to search for this friend of hers but saw nothing but pitch black. Everything was foggy and unrecognizable.
"She went missing five years ago," Chiharu said. "We were trying to look for her." So that's why the trainer was so interested in his prophecy. She was trying to find a missing person. She wouldn't be the first one to do that. Matsuba have had many requests by locals to find missing items or pets.
"I'm sorry, but I can't see her." The gym leader said, "I'm afraid she's either dead or her future is too uncertain for me to see anything."
"She isn't dead," the trainer muttered. The gym leader barely heard her words. "I met her again just two nights ago, there is no way she is dead."
"Sorry I could not be of help. If anyone knows more about Ho-Oh, it would be the Kimono Girls. They helped the previous trainer meet the legendary pokemon; I'm sure they can give you some lead about your friend." The ghost trainer murmured all of this to the sad trainer, who was now looking eager to leave the dark building.
"I guess I should leave now," Chiharu said hollowly. "Sorry for wasting your time." She grabbed her bag to leave.
"Wait," he stopped her. "You forgot to take this." He handed a purple CD to the trainer. "It's TM36," Matsuba explained when he saw Chiharu's confused face. "It teaches your pokemon the move Sludge Bomb. Usually, I would give trainers Shadow Ball, but it doesn't look like you need it at all. Well... Unless you want to teach your team Shadow Ball."
"No, that's fine..." Chiharu didn't think she wanted to have two pokemon with the ghost type move. Asahi already enjoyed using that attack too often in battle.
"You must be ecstatic that your psychic type can counter ghost types..."
"Hm," she said. The trainer picked up her stuff again and replied, "You seem to enjoy creeping out your challengers." She gave the ghost trainer a shrug and left the gym before he could make a comeback.
Mirei woke up to the sound of rain tapping on window at her bedside. A groan nearly escaped from brunette trainer at the sight of the rainclouds while stretching one arm out with a yawn. The girl was in a regular bedroom the Pokemon Center provided. Her bed was the bottom of the wooden bunk bed. A writing desk was set against the wall beside the dressing drawer. The room was plain and went by the deep red colored scheme the rest of Ecruteak seemed to practice. It was hard to tell what time it was since the sun wasn't out. It looked so dreary outside, she wished that it wouldn't rain so much in the summer.
"What time is it?" Mirei sat up, "Chiharu?" She turned her head around in search of the blue haired girl. She looked up to the top of the bunk bed for her friend, but the bed was empty with the red sheets tossed to the side and undone.
"Dear Mirei, I'm already up and running some errands. Tried to wake you up, but you slept like a log. Don't get mad 'cause, hey, I tried. Will see you later tonight back in this room.
-Chiharu"
"Wait, what time did Chiharu wake up?" The brunette asked herself. It was rare for Chiharu to wake up before she did. "It's only eleven!"
"Nidorina, rina." She woke up at seven, her Nidorina answered her trainer's question. Mirei however, did not understand poketalk. The turquoise colored pokemon was out of her pokeball and was patiently sitting beside the bed.
"Eevee, eevee, vee!" She was in a bad mood! Leo laughed, "Eevee, vee, eevee?" Did you see Kera slap her awake? Chiharu's Golbat reluctantly flew over to her trainer and smacked the girl on the cheek with her wing. The trainer rubbed her cheek while brushing her teeth that morning. Leo was sleeping with his trainer when he woke up to Chiharu's shriek. The male Eevee tried to get her attention, but he was ignored with a few unintelligible complaints.
Mirei was still in her everyday clothes and went to the bathroom to change out of them. The pokemon heard her turn on the showerhead inside the bathroom. Her pokemon rolled around the unmade bed as they waited, rumpling up the sheets and blankets into a nice messy lump of fabric. Leo stopped, lying on his back to see his trainer run out in a rush.
"I can't believe it!" She practically screeched to herself. "That stupid gym leader defeated me! I never lose!" The girl huffed angrily. "How was I supposed to know that Haunter would know Dream Eater? It doesn't learn that move on its own that early!" Mirei impatiently turned on the blow-dryer and waited for it to heat up.
"Pidgey, geotto?" Pidgeotto asked, Maybe I should have kept Whirlwind as a move? The bird pokemon sat on top of bunk bed since he was too big to fit at the bottom with the rest of the team.
"Alakazam, kazam." She should have used Leo instead. Her Alakazam said in a bored tone. "Kazam, alakazam, kazam." She made me battle twice in a day, the psychic type looked extremely annoyed at the very thought of participating in more than one fight.
"He even gave me that creepy grin!" She shuddered from the memory. "That's it, I'm going to wipe that smile right off his face!" The battler struck a pose, pointing at her pokemon, "And you guys are going to help!"
"Nidorina?" By? The poison pin pokemon tilted her head.
"Everyone!" Mirei called out all of her pokemon's attention. "Today, we are going to train until we drop!" The trainer beamed.
"Ee? Eve ee, eevee!?" More? Oh come on, why!? The little brown dog looked at his trainer with pleading eyes. "Ee, eevee, eve?" Do we really have to do this? He jumped on his trainer's leg and whimpered.
"Alakazam." And you wonder why I hate battling, the Alakazam sighed.
"That's the spirit!" Mirei completely misunderstood her pokemon's' whines, thinking that they were cries of enthusiasm. Nidorina was still sitting in the same spot and looked down at the beige colored tiles of the room in gloom. Alakazam was in his usual position of sitting by Indian style with his head resting on his hand with an unenthusiastic expression. Pidgeotto nearly fell off of Chiharu's bed at the mention of additional training.
"Nido, ni ri rina..?" But, didn't we train our butts off the other day..?
"I know just the perfect place to train!" The brunette sang.
"Eevee," Sometimes I wish she can talk to pokemon. Leo rested his head on Mirei's lap with a sad look on his face.
"Pidgeotto?" Wasn't it on the news that this one guy in a different region can do that? The bird pokemon chirped in excitement.
"Eve! Eevee ee ee vee!" Great! Let's have him come and tell Mirei how we feel! Eevee jumped on the bed very eagerly.
"Ni, na nido dori!" Idiot, he is in another region! Nidorina nearly did a face palm at the normal type's declaration. The poison type pokemon walked over to lightly bop Eevee on the head. The Eevee cried at the gesture.
"Eevee, eve!" But I'm the leader of this group! The evolution pokemon whined, "Eevee, eve, ee, vee!" I was here first before all of you guys! He hopped off of his trainer's lap and trotted to the pokemon.
"Nidorina..?" So how are you going to get this guy to come over then..? Kisaki didn't bother to point out that despite being Mirei's first pokemon, it was her who participated more in battles than Eevee did. The Nidorina was favored for her high physical attacks and tendency of poisoning opponents in battles.
"Let's go, guys!" Their trainer said, "What are you waiting for? Don't you guys want to defeat that creep?" The girl struck a grin as all her pokemon groaned in union.
Route 37
After much effort of dragging out all her pokemon, especially Alakazam, Mirei had finally managed to take them to a route nearby the city. The pokemon have been to this route before, earlier when Mirei and Chiharu were walking very far apart from each other to the city. It was full of wild pokemon like Stantlers and Growlithes, who both participated in the eternal battle of survival. Chiharu refused to stay at route 37 for the night due to the Spinaraks making the quiet route their natural home. The girl cringed at the appearance of the arachnid pokemon.
"Come on! You can do it!" Mirei cheered as her Eevee shot a Shadow Ball at a wild Growlithe. Eevee dashed to the fire dog pokemon, twisting and turning, avoiding the pokemon's fire moves. The normal type pounced off the grass and hurled the ghost attack at his opponent. Growlithe groaned from the attack and left the route after throwing Eevee a dirty look.
Her Nidorina was off chasing down Stantlers and Pidgeotto scouted the sky for wilder pokemon. Alakazam managed to run off and hide beneath the shade of a fairly large tree for a nap. He was out of Mirei's sight, who gave up trying to train him after a while. The psychic pokemon would give her an annoyed look and used his Psychic to levitate her away from him.
"Pidgeo, geo, tto." It isn't right to chase all these Pidgey, Sora said with forlorn. "Pidgeotto, pidgey, pidgey, geo." They need to have a chance to survive with the flock, not faint and get lost. The bird pokemon created a wind current to aim at the smaller bird. "Pidgey..." We should stop...
"Nido, nidorina," I would if I could... STAY STILL, she growled at the escaping deer like pokemon as her claws scraped against the trees.
"Alakazam, kazam." Alakzam's voice floated in, saying, Of course you could. "Alakazam, ka, kazam." You can ignore her. He was still resting under the trees; the psychic pokemon was half awake when he listened into their conversation.
"Nido, nido, rina!" Easy for you to say! The poison type said, "Nido, ri, rina!" She still keeps you because you're the strongest! She defeated the deer pokemon with a Double Kick and watched the Stantler limb away. Alakazam didn't reply to Nidorina's statement and chose to close his eyes.
After Eevee defeated that Growlithe, his trainer focused on Pidgeotto instead. The normal pokemon saw his chance and wandered away from the training site. He walked through a few patches and grass further down south, enjoying the quiet peace. Close enough to still see his teammates, but far enough to barely hear them, Eevee spot a berry patch ahead. The evolution pokemon excitedly ran to the bush with a watery mouth. Mirei was so pumped up about training for Matsuba that they left the Pokemon Center with a meager brunch before heading out to train. Eevee snuck in a poffin or two to himself and his teammates during training, but that poffin could only last for so long after continuously tracking down wild pokemon.
"Eevee!" Leo cried, Oran Berries! He snatched a few berries from the bush and helped himself to the small blue fruit. "Eevee, vee, ee!" He happily chirped, These are so good! The berries' juice dripped down his muzzle.
Once Eevee finished his snack, the normal type looked up from the berry bush and noticed that there was a small moss covered rock beside him. The rock was barely three feet tall. Compared to the other rocks in the route, this one appeared to be untouched by other pokemon and it carried an odd aura. Leo found himself attracted to it and placed his paw on the green rock. The rock gave him a tingling sensation.
Meanwhile, in another part of the same route, Mirei was still training her pokemon. She had somehow convinced Alakazam to fight a few Stantlers before the psychic pokemon went back to taking a nap. In between training with the wild pokemon, Mirei had her team practice their moves on a couple of trees nearby. The trainer herself was taking a short break and was feeding her pokemon. Pidgeotto was resting in a tree when Nidorina came running to the bird pokemon with worry.
"Nido, rina?" Where's Leo? The poison type glanced around her for the small pokemon. "Nido, do, do!" He was here a few minutes ago! Nidorina glared at Alakazam, "Nido?" You see him?
"Alakazam," Probably wandered off again. The psychic type uttered, "Kazam, alakazam, zam." Probably got distracted by flowers or berries.
Leo enjoyed being born in a village surrounded by the forest. His home was always abundant of plants and other botanical life. The little brown dog would spend his hours playing in the field of flowers with the other pokemon. He would often come back home with flowers stuck on his fur.
"Pidgey, pid..." Mirei is going to get mad again... Pidgeotto took off from its branch, "Pidgey, pidgeotto." She's going to think he got attacked by a Growlithe or something, the bird pokemon cawed at the funny thought. Eevee was stronger than Mirei gave him credit for. In a way, the brunette trainer spoiled the normal type pokemon and babied him at times.
"Nidorina?" Where are you going? The poison pin pokemon looked up at the tree branch where the bird pokemon was. Her red eyes blinked from the sun peaking from behind the clouds. It rained a bit at this time of the year, but that didn't mean it rained all day. It has been a few hours since they left the Pokemon Center with their trainer wearing a pink raincoat along with a white umbrella decorated with a cherry blossom pattern. It was a bit annoying having to train in the rain as it was sometimes hard to see through the pouring rain.
"Pidgey, pidgey!" The bird chuckled, I'm going to sneak up on him! Pidgeotto looked like he was telling a private joke. "Pidgeo, tto!" He'll think I'm an ordinary Pidgeotto! He spread out his wings to take off, leaving his teammates behind. Nidorina rolled her eyes at his idea of a joke and shook her head. Alakazam didn't appear to care.
Mirei recognized her pokemon flying off and cried, "Hey! Where's Sora going?" She checked her team and counted two pokemon. Her Eevee was nowhere to be found, "Where's Leo?"
"Nido, rina." Looks like we have to go find him, the poison type sighed and followed her trainer, who was running after Pidgeotto.
"Kazam," How annoying, Alakazam stretched his limbs and stood up. He levitated himself in the air to follow his trainer and Nidorina.
Mirei ran down south of the grass path in search of her Eevee. Her Pidgeotto was still flying over her head; his wings were spread out and gazing down the area. The trainer noticed that after a minute or so, the bird pokemon was already slowing down and was preparing to land. Eevee didn't wander off too far, he never did. Mirei quickly ran to where she thought Pidgeotto had landed. Pidgeotto saw Leo not too far from where they were training before they noticed his disappearance. The normal pokemon was resting on a moss covered rock and looked very relaxed. The bird silently landed on the grass a few feet behind the normal type and quietly walked to Eevee. He was careful not to make a sound and avoid stepping on any twigs.
Pidgeotto was about to make his move when his trainer suddenly ran in and cried, "There you are, Leo!" Mirei startled the bird pokemon, causing him to instinctively fly up and puff his wings out in defense with a loud caw.
"Pidgey!" Darn it! Pidgeotto grumbled.
"Eevee!" Hi Mirei! The Eevee cried with joy and looked up at Pidgeotto, "Eevee, ee, vee!" Hi Sora! The bird gave a weak caw for hello to the normal type pokemon.
"What are you doing here by yourself?" His worried trainer pets the small pokemon and said, "We still need to train for today!" Eevee and the rest of her pokemon groaned at the word 'training'.
"Nidorina, rina?" Where were you? Kisaki asked Leo, who was still sitting on the moss covered rock. "Rina?" What's this? The poison type poked the rock in curiosity. The rock was smooth to the touch; the moss was wet and had a fuzzy sensation. "Nido, rina, do, nido, rina?" Don't tell me you were distracted by this? Leo never shown any interest in rocks before.
Eevee remained still on the odd rock, which was only small enough for tiny pokemon like him to sit on. The rock reminded him of Sacred Heart Village and the grass pokemon that lived around the forest area. It was a very comfortable place for him to rest after all that training with the pokemon. Before Leo could find the answer to Kisaki's questions, his ears perked up at the sound of leaves rustling.
Mirei noticed his reaction and asked, "Did you hear something, Leo?"
Eevee cocked his head to the side towards the source of the rustling. Mirei eyed the bush that her Eevee was staring at. Could it be a wild pokemon? The noise was too loud to be from a Growlithe. The fire dogs were good at sneaking up on their prey; it would have to be a young Growlithe or a foolish one to make so much noise. She heard a few whispers coming from the bush and wondered if it was a trainer. Why hide from her? Most trainers were eager to battle. She was about to call out to the person or pokemon behind the shrub when a huge figure suddenly jumped out and leaped towards her.
"What have you done?" The figure demanded to know. He was tall and lanky in figure with dark curly hair. He looked like he was in his mid twenties and wore a white shirt of an obscure name brand
"Who are you?" The girl was still staring at the odd man, "Are you a pokemon trainer?" Her Eevee gave the man a funny look.
"No!" The man looked offended at her assumption, "I am a man who cares about the environment!" He pointed at the message on his green t-shirt and read out it loud, "The environment is over-raided!"
"Huh?" The brunette was still confused. "Don't tell me you're a..."
"That's right!" He looked proud of himself, "I'm an environmental hipster!" The man scrutinized the trainer and asked, "Which should you use? Paper bags or plastic bags?"
Was this guy serious? Mirei couldn't believe she ran into a crazy man. This was worse than battling Matsuba, even if the gym leader was a real creep. She thought that crazy guys like him were in Hoenn... Mirei shook her head and wonder what she had gotten herself into and said, "Um, paper?"
"No!" The environmental hipster roared, "It's neither!" He took out a green woven bag with a Deerling design on it and said, "You use your own handmade bags!"
"Whatever," Mirei pouted. "Can we just battle?" Maybe the guy could be a decent battler and help her train for Matsuba.
"You want me to use my pokemon in a battle to have them become stronger than they can in the wild?" The hipster's eyes widen.
"Um, yes?" Why did he make it sound like it was a bad thing? The trainer wondered in annoyance.
"Then I will teach you how to use your pokemon naturally!" The man took out his pokeball and called out, "Poochyena, go!" A small black dog like pokemon came out of its capsule. It was a little taller than a foot and bared its small fangs at Mirei.
"Poochy, poochy, ena!" I can finally battle! The dog like pokemon cried happily. "Poochy, poochy!" He never lets me have fun! Poochyena lowered its body in a battle stance with determination in its red eyes.
"Leo, attack Poochyena with Quick Attack!" Mirei's Eevee hopped from his resting place and landed beside his trainer. The normal pokemon charged at the dark type pokemon head first, causing Poochyena to fall on its feet.
"Eevee, eevee!" Take that! The normal pokemon attacked the dark type.
"Poochy!" Hey! Poochyena growled, barely standing from the strong attack.
"Poochyena use Bite!" The pokemon showed its fangs to Eevee and raced to bite the evolution pokemon by the tail. Eevee ran around the grass in attempt to shake it off with Poochyena stubbornly holding onto his tail.
"Eevee, vee, ee!" Let go of my beautiful tail! Leo yelled at Poochyena and hurled himself into the moss rock. Poochyena fell down face first into the moss rock with a yelp. Seeing his chance, Leo followed Mirei's orders and used Shadow Ball on Poochyena. The dark type pokemon groaned from the ghost attack and lost consciousness.
"P-poochyena!" The man fell on his knees. He quickly returned his pokemon and said, "I have one more pokemon left!" He angrily threw the pokeball at Mirei, "Deerling, use Double Kick!"
Mirei recognized the deer like pokemon from an old animated film she watched as a child. It was a small green deer with small hooves and a yellow flower on its head. The grass type pokemon galloped towards her Eevee and stomped on the normal type pokemon with its tiny hooves.
"Deer!" Does it hurt? The Deerling kicked the Eevee hard on the chest. Eevee barely moved from the grass pokemon's attack.
"Ee? Eevee?" Was I supposed to be in pain? Leo didn't feel anything. He was expecting the super effective attack to send him flying across the route. The Deerling must have been caught recently. "Eevee, eevee!" Let me show you this move! Eevee bit the grass pokemon on the side of its belly. Deerling fainted from the attack and collapsed on the grass.
"And that's how you battle!" Mirei said proudly as the man grumbled and handed her money. Before Mirei could continue to brag about her victory, her Eevee squealed as his whole body shone bright with light.
Leo closed his eyes and felt the moss rock's power come into effect. His body grew an additional two feet and his ears and tail grew larger. When the light disappeared, Mirei saw that moss was growing out of her pokemon's ears and have turned green to resemble leaves. The newly evolved pokemon had a bigger tail that was also green and leaflike. Moss and leaves covered the pokemon; his body has turned to a yellow white color with brown paws, like the soft soil in the forest.
"A Leafeon," the man said and huffed. "You were training here earlier," he crossed his arms. "Did you notice your pokemon being unhappy?" He pointed to Mirei's Nidorina, who was spooked at the sudden attention from a stranger. The Nidorina stuttered a few words before shyly hiding behind Alakazam, ashamed to agree with the man.
"What are you talking about?" Mirei wasn't impressed with his observations. "My pokemon are perfectly happy!" She spread her arms to refer to her team, "They just want to train to battle the gym leader and win!"
"Humph!" He turned away, "Even if your pokemon wanted to train, look at the pokemon on this route!" The environmental hipster pointed at the wild pokemon moving away from their battle, "You're scaring them away because you keep looking for them to battle! Pokemon naturally battle, but you don't give them the chance to survive on their own!"
"You don't know that!" Mirei argued.
Most trainers trained their pokemon by having them fight against other trainers or against pokemon that attacked them. Actively going after pokemon that never attacked makes them more aggressive and has a lower chance of survival in the wild. Many trainers have sought to find other alternatives to train their pokemon through other methods. Those methods required more creativity and thought.
"Are you going to destroy the forest too?" The man said angrily.
"Leave me alone," she grumbled and turned to her pokemon. "We're done training today. Let's go back to the Pokemon Center." She lowered her head and started walking up north.
Her newly evolved Leafeon lowered his ears and whined, "Leaf? Eon...?" Are you okay...? Mirei...? The grass pokemon went over to comfort his trainer. Pidgeotto flew down and looked at Mirei with concern. Nidorina and Alakazam followed their trainer with hesitance as they headed back to the Pokemon Center.
Extra Notes:
taller than its trainer (1) = The anime and manga makes the pokemon look smaller than they actually are...Golbat is 5'03 and its evolution is 5'11.
Author Notes: In our original version of the story, Environmental Hipster was used mainly as a comedy element and played a very tiny role. This time...he gets some more screen time and we get to hear what he has to say. Question of the chapter: What is your favorite TM move? Review please. Until next time, see you later!
"MikaStoryInc": That's right, I never lose. Not to some weak gym leader~ :D
"LunarAbyss": T-the pokemon...! QoQ
"RainSonata": *pats LunarAbyss on the back* I'm not going to say anything...