The adventure officially begins. there are a few captures in this chapter for the first few chapters Ash Serena and Clemont will have pretty much the same partners like in the show and capture them similarly, but after a bit there will be plenty of team shifting so have no fear.
as always I hope you enjoy :)
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON
Chapter 4: you have to start somewhere
After departing from Kenji's house and allowing him to inform his mom about his new journey and to grab all his things, the group set off.
"So, if we head this way", Kenji said looking at his pokedex map, "I think we can catch the next bus to santalune city."
"Why would we take the bus," questioned Ash.
"To get there quickly," Kenji said a bit confused.
"Well, think of all the pokemon we would meet," Ash said grinning. "You can't meet any new pokemon by taking the bus."
"I can't believe I didn't think of this," Kenji thought to himself. Santalune City wasn't too far away and could probably get there in a few days, they could even cut through santalune forest and see even more pokemon. Sure, they'd be camping outside but that was supposed to be part of the experience.
"Well, if we are walking," said Clemont, "the best route is this way," he said pointing in another direction.
"Thanks Clemont, but you don't have to keep showing us around, we can find our way, we don't wanna keep you two from anything."
"Well, about that," started Clemont. "I was going to ask if I could also come on your guy's journey with you."
"Woah really," said Ash. "Yea, I feel like I could learn a lot from you as a trainer, and besides I am a pretty good cook as well." Ash then remembered an old traveling companion whose cooking was on another level.
"Sure thing," said ash smiling, "come right along." "Yippee, off to Santalune City!" yelled Bonnie.
"I'll come back even stronger," Clemont said to himself looking off at Prism Tower.
As they got out of the city, Kenji thought to himself about the type of pokemon he'd like to add to his team. He thought about Viola and her pokemon and what tricks she used against him. He thought about it constantly and what he could've done differently.
But none of that mattered anymore, now he and charmander needed to work together to earn a bug badge, the right way. They had stopped next to a small stream for a break to eat lunch when something caught Kenji's eye.
He saw some of the bushes rustling just across from him. A maril had hopped out of the bush. It was a small blue mouse like pokemon with short stubby arms and legs with a round body, a thin black tail with what looked to be a blue ball at the tip, a white belly and little round ears.
Kenji's heart started to race, he slowly reached for Charmander's pokeball, but the pokemon darted back into the bush.
"Awe man," Kenji said glumly. He let charmander out of its pokeball.
"Hey charmander, let's go try and track down that maril and catch it."
"Char" it said happily. Kenji had walked around a bit and found it next to the stream. Kenji jumped out and yelled out "Charmander go use scratch!"
The maril was startled a bit but got ready to fight. Charmander ran up to strike the pokemon but it managed to jump out of the way. Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie had caught up to him and were watching the action.
"Use growl," yelled out Kenji. Charmaner let out a scream that made maril plug its ears. "Now go in for scratch again!" hollered Kenji.
Charmander ran forward again to strike and this time it connected, and the maril was sent flying back.
"Okay, let's try this," he said as he got a spare pokeball. "Go pokeball!" he shouted as he threw it at the downed pokemon. The maril was sucked into the pokeball and it started to shake for a few seconds, but then burst open. The maril popped back out ready for more with an angry look on its face.
"Wow, this pokemon's got some spirit," thought Ash. Before Kenji could call out another attack, the maril leaped forward and its tail started to glow and struck charmander with it, sending it hurling back, it seemed to hurt charmander a lot.
"That was aqua tail," shouted Clemont, be careful.
"Are you okay charmander," Kenji asked. Charmander got up slowly but nodded its head. "Alright, then use ember." Charmander then spewed out little fireballs at the maril who got struck by them, but it held its ground.
"You're gonna need to be careful," said Ash, "it's a water type and is super effective against charmander, try drawing it in close then striking."
"Right," said Kenji. "Charmander, let it come to you, then strike," Kenji hollered out. It nodded in understanding and stood ready for an attack. The maril then rolled up into a ball and shot itself at charmander, it was able to block it and send it back. But the maril kept on coming, with each attack seemingly getting stronger.
"Rollout gets stronger each time it's used," yelled Ash.
"I gotta finish this quickly," Kenji thought. "Alright, Charmander use growl once more." Charmander let out a screech once again making the maril hesitate a bit as it had its attack lowered. The Maril shook it off and shot forward once again.
"Get ready charmander, here it comes," shouted Kenji. Charmander got ready once again. The maril collided with it and charmander held its ground.
"Now use scratch," commanded Kenji. Charmander's claws started to glow white and struck the maril with its sharp claws.
"That was metal claw," said ash. The maril was flung back and fell on the ground.
"Go pokeball," shouted Kenji as he threw another pokeball. The maril once again got sucked up inside. As the pokeball shook for a few seconds, which felt like forever to Kenji, it sparked a bit and dinged, indicating that the pokemon had been caught.
"Wow, we did it charmander! you were awesome!" Kenji said running over to it picking it up.
"Charmander!" it happily cried.
"You even learned metal claw, that's amazing!" Kenji went over to the pokeball and sent out his new partner. The maril appeared exhausted as he knelt down next to it.
"Hey maril, my name is Kenji," he started nervously remembering all of his mistakes with Froakie. He would not repeat any of them ever again. He reached into his back and got out a potion spray and used it on maril's bruises.
"I see your pretty strong, I think you and I will make a great team, whaddya say, you want to travel with us?" Charmander stepped up beside Kenji giving it a thumbs up sign. Maril looked up at the boy thinking things over. "Maril," it said nodding its head putting its small fist into the air.
The rest of the group cheered as they went back over to them.
"That was really great work Kenji," said Ash. "I can't believe you said you were having trouble at first with your journey."
"Well, I spent a lot of time studying what I did wrong," Kenji said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Turns out, it was a lot of things," he said chuckling to himself.
As they got back to camp, they saw an orange and black mouse pokemon rummaging around in their stuff.
"Hey, get away from there," yelled Clemont.
"Oh, it's a pokemon," shouted bonnie, "lets catch this one too." But before they knew it the little pokemon had run off.
"Well, it made off with a bunch of our food," Clemont said hanging his head.
"It was probably just hungry," said bonnie. After the group got acquainted with maril and finished what was left of their lunch, they were back on their way to santalune city.
The group settled down and made camp for the night under some trees. Clemonts's food was pretty good, and with Charmander there, getting a fire going was a sinch. All the pokemon seemed to be getting along pretty well, and maril was fitting right in.
Bonnie spent most of her spare time looking after the pokemon petting and brushing them. She loved any time she could get with any pokemon and couldn't wait to get her own one day. Wanting to be as prepared as possible, Kenji and his pokemon stayed up that night talking about Viola and his upcoming battle and what to expect.
The group was woken up that morning by loud noises, the pots and pans had been knocked down. Clemont looked over half asleep, to find the same small orange and black mouse like pokemon that was rustling about in their bags from the previous day. It had in its mouth a small bag that was filled with berries.
"Hey, get out of there," Clemont yelled out leaping towards the pokemon who quickly darted away, the commotion woke everybody up.
"Bunnelby, after it!" he said throwing out his pokeball. It quickly darted after it,
"You too Pikachu," said ash, "send up a thunderbolt when you catch up to it."
"Pika," it said running off with bunnelby. The group quickly tore down camp and headed off in the direction their pokemon ran in. After walking around for a bit, they saw a bolt of electricity shoot up from a small rocky hill.
"That way, let's go," Kenji yelled out. The group ran in the direction of Pikachu's signal with Clemont bringing up the rear. When the group caught up to them, Pikachu and bunnelby had the little pokemon cornered with the bag.
"I gotta get that bag back," panted, Clemont, "it's got all the berries I use to make healing ointments. Let's do it, bunnelby use dig." Bunnelby quickly dug underground and sprung up beneath the pokemon striking it, making it drop the bag. Kenji pulled out his pokedex and scanned the little rodent.
"Dedenne, the antenna pokemon. Dedenne communicates long distance with other dedenne by sending radio waves through its antenna like whiskers."
"Oh, can you catch it for me please?" squealed bonnie.
"Catch it for you?" He questioned.
"Well yeah, since I can't catch a pokemon yet, you can catch it for me and I'll watch over it till I'm old enough."
"Yeah, I think that will work," he responded. He tried to go up to it, but it sent out a small electric shock making him step back.
"Here let me try," said bonnie stepping up. "Hi Dedenne," she said slowly crawling up to it with a big smile.
"Sorry about my brother, but we just wanted to get our berries back," she said looking at the bag next to dedenne.
"You know, it's wrong to take from others without asking, if you wanted, we could've given you some," she said kindly handing over a berry. The small pokemon came out and looked at the girl. As it took the berry from her, it slowly ate it making it feel a bit better.
"Yummy, right?" said bonnie. "If you come along with us, you can have all the berries you want you know," she said standing up.
The little rodent's eyes lit up at the sound of that. No more having to scrounge around for bits and scraps. It then happily stepped forward and jumped into the little girl's arms.
"Yay, that's wonderful, but I think you owe my brother an apology though," she said. She then turned to the group and Dedenne hopped down and said what sounded like an apology. Everyone smiled accepting it.
"Welcome to the team dedenne" said Clemont tossing up a pokeball catching Dedenne and sending it out right away.
"Yay," bonnie cheered holding it in her arms, "let's get you cleaned up, you got all dirty in that battle," she said taking a brush and brushing out its fur. Dedenne cooed with delight. The little rodent then gave a big yawn.
"Dedenne here," she said, "you can just sit here inside of my bag," she said as she opening her small yellow bag. The curious pokemon gave it a quick sniff and hopped inside, it then popped its head back out giving its approval.
"I suppose that's ok," said Clemont, "do you think you can handle watching dedenne," asked Clemont.
"Yeah of course, I'm not a little kid anymore ya know," she said frowning a bit.
"Okay, just making sure," Clemont said backing off a bit. Bonnie then looked at dedenne again who was curled up fast asleep in her bag. Everyone gathered around and took notice.
"I've heard that dedenne sleep a lot to conserve their energy," whispered Clemont."
"Oh, okay, you just sleep tight dedenne," whispered bonnie.
"It did have quite the morning," Kenji said with a chuckle. The group then set out once again.
The group was coming up on the outskirts of santalune forest and had stopped for a break. It was getting late into the evening and the group had finally stopped for the night and set up camp.
Bonnie got ready to feed dedenne some berries when out of nowhere something swooped down and stole the berries right from her hand and knocking her onto the ground. Bonnie screamed with shock.
"Woah, what was that," said Kenji as he and the group looked around.
"Look up there," shouted Clemont. It was a small orange and grey bird pokemon.
"Hey, you give that back, that berry was for dedenne," shouted bonnie angrily with tears in her eyes. The little bird then promptly ate the berry and laughed a bit mocking them. Ash and Kenji pulled out their pokedex to scan it.
"Fletchling, the Tiny Robin Pokémon. Although Fletchling's chirp is quite beautiful to hear, it is relentlessly tough with those who enter its territory," chimed the pokedex.
Dedenne with tears welling up in its eyes began to start to cry loudly. Froakie then leaped up throwing a few handfuls of its frubbles at the tiny bird pokemon who took off and dodged all of them with ease.
"Wow that fletchling is really fast," commented Ash, "I think I'm gonna catch it, you ready Pikachu?"
"Pika" it said getting ready for battle but was stopped by froakie putting its arm out letting pikachu know that he was going to be the one to battle it.
"Wait froakie, you want to battle it?" Questioned Ash. Froakie then jumped up and again threw more frubbles at it.
"Come on froakie, we don't even have a plan yet," groaned Ash. Kenji got a nervous feeling, it was a bit of de ja vu of froakie not listening to its trainer.
Froakie jumped and launched a water pulse attack at it, prompting the fletchling to use a double team attack creating duplicates of itself in an effort to make it more difficult to hit. Froakie's attack missed, and the real fletchling dove in and hit froakie dead center with a hard peck attack sending it back to the ground.
Ash was able to run over and catch it in time. Before ash could say anything to froakie, it leapt out of his arms, and started shouting at the fletchling who was hovering above them. Froakie jumped up and engaged again, resulting in the same outcome as before. It was slow to get back up this time.
"Froakie stop, you're just gonna end up hurting yourself," Ash said holding it back. The fletchling's wings started to glow and it launched a razer wind attack hurling what looked to be small blades of wind at them. The group jumped out of the way, with Ash getting slammed up against a tree in the process.
He winced in pain, froakie taking notice that his actions got his trainer hurt, it paused a moment thinking that it might have been a little hasty in trying to get payback for fletchling stealing from them and making Bonnie and dedenne cry.
"Froakie, I understand that you wanna get a little payback, but we need to make a plan first," said Ash. Froakie then nodded, hopping down.
"Awe, froakie, you did that for us," said bonnie and dedenne beaming with joy, "thank you but Ash is right, it's probably better to have a plan before going into battle."
Froakie had a sheepish look on its face accepting the thanks and dealing with its own thoughtlessness.
"Alright, here's what we're gonna do," said Ash as they started to form a plan.
"Since fletchling can fly we need to figure out how to bring it down to us," started Ash.
"I believe I can help with that," said Clemont, getting a confident grin on his face.
"Really?" said Kenji, "how is that?"
"With a quick modification to my speaker in my backpack," he said pulling it out, "I should be able to create a frequency that flying type pokemon will be attracted to."
"Wow, you can really do that," said Ash in shock.
"Well, you know what they say, the future is now thanks to science," Clemont said as he fiddled with his speaker.
"I guess science is pretty amazing," responded Ash.
"And... done, it should be ready to go," said Clemont standing up.
"Let's just hope it works," sighed bonnie taking a step back.
"So, what is it exactly," questioned Kenji.
"I guess it would be considered a pokemon attractor machine," said Clemont beaming with pride.
"Gotta work on the name next," chuckled Kenji.
"Now, all I have to do is get the right frequency for flying types and we should be good to go," Clemont said turning on the device. It made high pitch humming sounds as he changed the frequency.
"Ah, this should do it," he said confidently. The device then shut off.
"Awe, did it break," said ash disappointed.
"No, I think it just needs more power," Clemont said, "I think I can give it some more juice from my backpack battery," he said hooking up a wire coming out of his backpack and plugging it in. The device then turned on again but much louder than before, it began to increase in volume so much so that the group needed to cover their ears.
"Quick, shut it off!" yelled Kenji.
"I'm trying, but I can't!" yelled Clemont, "it's not responding!" The machine then seemed to short out and give off a small explosion, covering the group in soot and singeing some hairs as well.
"I probably should have said that most of my brothers' inventions seem to do that," said bonnie stepping forward, who was out of the range of the blast. The group then heard some rustling in the bushes next to them.
"Hey, I think my device still worked," said Clemont. Then a group of angry beedrill flew out of the bush and started to surround them. Immediately the group was immobilized by fear, beedrill are very quick to anger and do not like to be disturbed.
"Quick froakie use water pulse on the ground," Ash shouted. When the attack hit the ground, it made a big cloud of dust giving the group a chance to make a break for it.
As the group ran away from the angry bugs, Kenji quickly called out charmander to deal with some of them.
"Quick charmander use ember!" Charmander quickly shot hot embers at the angry pokemon making some fly off. After dealing with a few more of the angry bugs, the last of them seemed to have finally gone.
The group sighed in relief. The fletchling was beside itself laughing at the group as it was perched on a little rocky cliff, it was practically dinner and a show, how much better could it get.
The group now found themselves in a small rocky canyon area, not really realizing how far the beedrill had chased them off of the path. Ash looked around the rocky area they were in and grinned.
"This area will be perfect to battle fletchling in, with your jumping skills, you should be able to keep up with it no problem." Froakie grinned and nodded in agreement.
"Alright froakie, go jump up and get above fletchling," said ash. Froakie then began to jump from ledge to ledge till it was above the little bird pokemon who had a shocked look on its face. Froakie was able to keep up much better this round, making it as difficult as it could for the fletchling by throwing its frubbles over and over at it, not letting up.
Froakie then dove behind a corner to hide. The fletchling scanned the area for any sign of froakie, it caught a glimpse of it and dove down to deliver another peck attack. But to its surprise, it didn't hit froakie, it had hit a pile of froakie's frubbles used as a decoy.
The fletchling in a panic, unable to see lost control and fell to the ground.
"Quick water pulse," shouted Ash. Froakie then let off another attack scoring a direct hit this time.
"Alright, let's go," Ash shouted throwing a pokeball at fletchling. The little bird pokemon was sucked inside and the ball dropped to the ground and started to shake. It then sparked and dinged.
"Yeah, I caught a fletchling," shouted Ash sticking his fist up in the air. "Thanks, Froakie, you were amazing out there praised," Ash.
"Froakie..." Froakie said exhausted.
"Come on out fletchling," ash said sending out his new partner. The little bird came out and looked very tired.
"Fletchling, you were really great out there, and I think we'd make a great team." The little pokemon then smiled a bit and nodded its head. "But next time you're hungry, just ask," said bonnie, handing it a berry, fletchling had a sheepish look on its face.
"Well since that's all done with," said Kenji, "how do we get back to where we had camp set up?" he said, looking around realizing they were lost.
"I can whip up a find my location machine," piped up Clemont.
"Please no, shouted bonnie, "one explosion today is enough."
"Actually, I think fletchling can help us," said ash looking at his new partner. "How bout it fletchling, can you lead us back to where you found us from the air," he said. Fletchling nodded and took off with the rest of the group right behind it.
It was the next day and the group had finally made it to santalune forest, it was the last obstacle standing in their way from getting to Santalune City.
Kenji walked with Charmander beside him, he liked Charmander's company. It was a stark contrast to his interactions with froakie when they first met. Charmander always seemed to be in a good mood and got along with all the other pokemon just fine.
They even battled pretty well together, the few trainers they had come across so far had given the duo a great deal of experience, way better than reading from a book like Kenji did in school.
"I hear this forest is home to many bug types," said Clemont as he read from a guidebook.
"Wow neat," said Kenji, "I might be able to find another pokemon in here."
"Yeah, definitely," said Ash, "I've had a few bug types myself and they never let me down," he said reminiscing about past pokemon partners.
"Hey Ash," said Kenji, "Where are all your other pokemon, you have others that you have traveled with before, why not bring them along with you? It would certainly make things a bit easier."
"Well, you see," Ash responded, "when I travel to a new region I like to try and get as far as I can with new pokemon I caught in the region."
"But what about Pikachu," said Kenji. "Well, he's my best buddy, and I couldn't imagine going anywhere without him," he said rubbing Pikachu's' cheek.
The group came upon a small building at an entrance to the forest. A tall brown-haired man with a small beard greeted them.
"Hey, are you kids pokemon trainers?" he questioned.
"Yeah, we are," said Ash.
"Is that a problem?" questioned Kenji.
"No, not at all," said the man, "my name is Mike and I'm a pokemon ranger you see. We've had several reports of an aggressive pokemon in the forest lately."
"Oh, really, is it safe?" asked Clemont.
"As long as you trainers have competent pokemon with you I'm sure you'll be fine. But be warned the aggressive pokemon seems to target fire, electric, and rock type pokemon. There's also been some rumors of pokemon poachers in the area.
"Thanks for the heads up," said Kenji as they made their way into the forest.
"You all be safe now," Mike said.
The group made their way through the forest. All sorts of sounds could be heard, and the air felt thick. Ash chuckled to himself thinking about a certain traveling partner who hated forests filled with bug type pokemon like this one.
"I wonder what kind of aggressive pokemon would live in here," said Kenji nervously.
"Probably a strong one," said Ash.
"Well if it's a bug type Charmander has got us covered right buddy," Kenji said grinning at his partner. "Char," the lizard agreed.
As the group made their way through the forest, little did they know that their movements were being watched...
"Ugh my feet are killing me, let's take a quick break," complained Clemont.
"Come on Clemont, said bonnie, "can't you move any faster."
"You try carrying this big heavy backpack," said Clemont sitting down on a rock. He set his backpack off to the side.
"So, what do you think about this aggressive pokemon that's supposed to be lurking around if it's a bug type, I wonder what it is," said Kenji.
"Well, we haven't seen any signs of it so far," said Ash.
"Well, it sounds like a big coward if it hasn't shown itself yet, ill bet the ranger was just trying to mess with us. It's probably nothing more than a harmless Caterpie." Clemont said jokingly, in an attempt to try and relieve his nervousness. He didn't like the idea of an aggressive pokemon just wandering the woods they were walking in.
Then suddenly, they heard a snap and a cage dropped down from the tree above with a loud thud with Clemont's backpack inside of it.
"Agh, my backpack!" cried Clemont, as he tried to reach it, but it was just out of reach in the cage.
"Is this from one of those poachers the ranger warned us about," Kenji said.
"I think so," said Ash inspecting the cage. As Kenji looked at the rope that was holding the cage in the air, he noticed that it was cut clean through, not a set off trap and not a failed trap but cut.
"let's find something we can pry it open with, it's too heavy to lift," Kenji added.
"Stay close," said Ash, it's easy to get lost in a forest like this."
Kenji and Charmander made their way a few yards from where the cage had dropped.
"See anything that could help us get that cage open Charmander?" he asked. He then noticed Charmander wasn't moving. It was staring intensely at a tree off in the distance, Charmander gave off a low growl.
"Hey, what's up Charmander, you see something?" Kenji asked looking off towards the tree. They decided to go have a look, once they got over to the tree, however, something was rustling in the tree, and they couldn't quite tell what it was. Kenji began to feel a tingling sensation start in his hands.
Then whatever it was, leaped out of the tree and over to the next one.
"Quick let's follow it!" said Kenji as he and Charmander ran after it. Kenji notices that all of the trees in this part of the forest were covered in big slash marks, whatever made those had to be a strong pokemon Kenji thought.
They chased the figure from tree to tree without realizing how far they had run from the group. Eventually the figure seemed to stop and the two stared up into the leaves. Kenji could feel the tingling sensation getting stronger as they stared at the figure.
The figure then darted out of the tree and made a beeline over to them, it just looked like a green blur. Kenji, without thinking grabbed Charmander and jumped out of the way just in time.
Kenji looked over to see a tall praying mantis like pokemon that stood upright on two legs and had wings and had large blades as hands. He took out his pokedex and scanned it.
"Scyther, the mantis pokemon. Its claws are sharp as swords. And is a powerful flyer. This pokemon is rarely seen by humans and almost never caught."
The scyther turned to face them with a look of determination in its eyes.
"Charmander, use ember quick," said Kenji getting up.
Charmander then launched as many embers as it could at the large bug only to have it dodge them and darting towards Charmander, striking it sending it flying back hitting a tree. The scyther seemed to notice that Charmander did not get up right away, it then turned around almost in a way of showing disrespect and started to walk off.
"Hey, wait a minute, I'm not done with you yet," shouted Kenji, he started to reach for maril's pokeball but before he knew it the large bug was standing right in front of him, looking down with a menacing stare.
Kenji didn't move a muscle, he just stared back. The large bug then brought one of its blades up to his neck. Kenji started to back up, but he felt that he was up against a tree.
"Scyther"... it said in a slow and low menacing tone, it then gave a loud hiss and proceeded to nick Kenji's neck with its blade giving him a small scrape. As Kenji stared into the large bug's eyes, he started to feel dizzy, and his vision began to come and go. Kenji's eyes were wide with fear, expecting the worst he shut his eyes.
But nothing happened, as he opened his eyes, it seemed that the scyther had flown off. Kenji fell to his knees and sighed a huge sigh of relief. The tingling sensation in his hands along with his dizzy spell was gone as well.
Charmander then slowly started to wake up. Kenji promptly gave it a potion and a berry taking the edge off the assault that just occurred. "I think we found the aggressive pokemon," he said to Charmander rubbing his neck.
Kenji then walked around a bit realizing he was lost.
"Oh great, he said, I wonder what the others are doing, I hope they found a way to get Clemont's backpack."
Kenji then heard a noise, but not a noise one would hear in a forest, it sounded like a truck. He and Charmander peered around a tree noticing 2 men driving through the forest in a jeep with a logo of what looked to be a Rhydon head logo on the side of it.
"You see anything?" The driver said to the other.
"No, but it couldn't have gotten far," said the other.
"When I get my hands on that scyther, it will wish it never set foot inside this forest." Said the driver again.
"I'd be willing to bet those were some of the poachers that they were warned about," Kenji thought sinking down into a bush hiding.
The poachers ended up getting out and set up a couple traps and drove off. After they were gone Kenji stood up.
"Hey Charmander, let's go take care of those traps, I'd hate to think of what they'd do with a pokemon that is trapped in it," Kenji said walking over to it.
It was a net trap, the kind where, if one were to step in a certain spot a net would scoop you up leaving you hanging there. Kenji avoided the mechanism that caused the trap to go off, as he tried to get the cable that held it all together to come loose.
"Charmander, help me out, think you can make a really small fire like a little torch, and if you can make it really hot?"
"char" it nodded. Charmander took a deep breath and a small jet like flame came out of its mouth, then turned smaller and became white hot.
"That's great," said Kenji, "now aim it here," he said pointing to the cable on the trap.
Charmander leaned down and blew its fire on the metal cable heating it up. Unbeknownst to Kenji the cable began to melt, and a bit of molten metal dripped onto Kenji's leg making him jump up and scream in pain accidentally setting off the trap and getting himself and Charmander scooped up into it. "Well, this is just great," Kenji said sighing.
"We gotta figure a way out of this net before they come back to check on it," said Kenji. He tugged and tugged on the strong cables, but nothing seemed to give any sign of breaking.
"Char," Charmander had seen something and pointed. Scyther was back. They froze, not knowing what it was going to do. The Scyther seemed to be curious about their predicament and went up to them giving the cables a sniff.
"Scyther, could you get us out," Kenji pleaded. The bug just stared at them.
"We aren't with those poachers from earlier, we are just passing through," said Kenji trying to get through to it. The scyther then turned to walk away.
"I'll tell you what if you cut us down, I can give you a really good battle." The scyther stopped and looked back.
"That's why you came after us right," said Kenji, "you just want a challenge don't you." "In fact, I'd be willing to bet that there's not a pokemon in this forest that can stand up to you," he said as the scyther walked back over to them.
"If you cut us down, and come along with us, I can promise you that you will have loads of strong opponents to battle he said looking into its eyes." The Scyther seemed intrigued by this, but ultimately turned around and started to walk away, it wasn't going to just go with this random kid on a whim.
But then they heard a loud snap and a trap sprung up sinking its claws into one of Scyther's legs. It cried out in pain as it fell down.
"Oh no, scyther," gasped Kenji. "Okay Charmander, let's get out of here," Kenji said with determination. "Let's burn through this net," Kenji said giving it a boost up so its fire would point away from him.
Charmander began to burn through the cables. It took a minute, but they eventually managed to get it cut loose and they fell with a thud. Kenji rubbed his back where he fell as he slowly got up. He then rushed over to the injured bug who gave a loud hiss and swiped at him. Kenji backed up a bit in fear, but then calmly started back over to it.
"Scyther, I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to help you," he said looking at it. The scyther seemed to get the message this time and nodded its head. Kenji went over and examined the trap.
"I think I can get it loose, I just have to pry it open," he said getting ready. He pulled hard with the trap not moving hardly an inch.
He then heard a vehicle and those same voices from earlier. Scyther seemed to get a bit nervous. Kenji pushed down on the trap with all his might but was struck by something sending pain throughout his body, as he got up, he saw the men in the jeep, they were accompanied by a black dog looking pokemon.
"Houndour, use dark pulse again," said the driver. Kenji was struck again by the attack, he fell trying to fight his way through the pain.
"Step away from the scyther kid, if ya know what's good for ya." Sneered the other man in the jeep.
"You can't have this scyther," Kenji said getting up slowly, "why do you want it so badly that you'd set traps out for it."
"That scyther has been a pain in our necks for a while now and we've been tracking it for months, "said the driver.
"Yeah, and we're not gonna have some kid ruin all our hard work," said the other man.
"Sorry, but that's not gonna be happening, Charmander use ember!" shouted Kenji.
"Use Flamethrower!" commanded the man in the jeep. Charmander's embers were engulfed by the huge flamethrower shot from the houndour, hitting Charmander.
"Now use dig," the man said. The houndour then dug underground and quickly shot up striking Charmander in the chin knocking it out cold.
"Maril, let's go," Kenji shouted after returning Charmander. "Use aqua tail quick." In a flash of light maril appeared and darted forward and struck the houndour with its tail but it stood its ground.
The man grinned. "Use thunder fang," he shouted. The maril then yelled in pain as the black dog bit down on maril's tail sent electricity coursing through body and throwing it aside.
"Oh no Kenji thought as he returned maril, what will I do now. Without thinking Kenji went up to the trap holding scyther down. He gave one last mighty tug giving it just enough room and then he felt the trap slowly creak open. Scyther's leg was free.
Scyther looked in shock at the young boy. It could've easily just ran off and saved himself but chose to free him first. Scyther then flew up and off into the trees quickly dodging another dark pulse, but it hit Kenji this time. The driver had an angry look on his face.
"You shouldn't have done that kid, now you're gonna pay," he said. "Use dark pulse," he shouted.
The houndour hesitated looking back at the man as if to say, really? He's just a kid.
"Do it now!" he shouted. The houndour gritted its teeth and launched the attack. There was nothing else Kenji could do, he then closed his eyes not knowing what was going to happen next. He felt his hands start to tingle and felt dizzy again. If worse came to worse, at least he went out doing a good deed. He heard a loud impact but felt nothing. He looked up and saw that scyther had come back and blocked the attack.
"Hey, you came back, thanks scyther," Kenji said weakly. The scyther nodded and grinned. It then quickly struck the houndour sending it back hitting the jeep, and then shot off an air slash attack at the poachers. The blades of wind cut into the jeep like a sharp knife.
"Let's get out of here and tell the boss it wasn't worth the trouble," one of them said.
"Yeah, good idea," the driver said as they sped off.
Kenji slowly sat up not really processed fully what had happened, the tingling in his hands and dizziness seemed to be gone. Why did he keep getting that feeling.
The scyther came up to him, this time it didn't have a menacing streak in its eyes, but one of gratitude.
"Thanks, scyther you came back for me," said Kenji getting up.
"I was serious you know," he said, "I'm aiming to beat the pokemon league, and in doing that, I'm going to be facing off against some of the strongest trainers in the world, and I'd like you there by my side." He said holding out a pokeball.
The scyther thought about it for a second then in a low voice responded. "Scyther," and nodded pressing the pokeball button with its claw allowing itself to be caught.
"Kenji...Kenji, you out there," Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie hollered. They had been searching for some time and had gone back to where Clemont's backpack was to regroup. After a bit Kenji stumbled out of the thick forest with cuts and bruises all over him and went over to the group.
"Kenji are you okay?" they all exclaimed running over to him.
"Yeah, I'm okay," he said catching his breath, "sorry, I got a little sidetracked."
"Sidetracked? What happened to you, you look like you got rolled over on by a Snorlax," said Clemont.
"Yeah, I'm okay," said Kenji once again.
"Were you able to find anything to get Clemont's backpack out," asked Ash.
"Funny story", he said, "I think I got just the thing," Kenji said grinning as he tossed out a pokeball. His new scyther burst out in a flash of light giving the group a menacing look as it towered over them. Now that Kenji got a proper look at it, his new scyther seemed to be much larger than normal, maybe that's why the poachers wanted it so badly.
The rest of the group cowered a bit. "Scyther these are my friends, and we will be traveling with them," Kenji said standing in front of the group. The scyther seemed to lock eyes with Pikachu and was staring it down. Pikachu stared back sparking its cheeks a bit.
"Scyther, there will be plenty of time to battle later, but for now, think you can help us out and cut through that cage for us?" Kenji asked pointing out the cage.
The scyther scoffed at it, it quickly sliced through the metal cage. It then grabbed the backpack by the strap and handed it over to Clemont slowly without breaking eye contact.
"Umm, thanks said Clemont nervously as he slowly tried to take the backpack from Scyther. It hissed loudly making Clemont flinch, giving the bug a mischievous grin.
How did Scyther know that the backpack belonged to Clemont, Kenji wondered. He then saw the rope that was holding up the cage and remembered that it was cut. Kenji realized that Scyther seemed to be the culprit since it happened right after Clemont had bad mouthed it calling it a coward. Even if he didn't really mean it Clemont was probably not going to be on Scyther's best friends list anytime soon
"Sorry Clemont, he just has an intense personality," Kenji said chuckling a bit.
"Yeah, seems pretty strong too. We'll have to have a proper battle once we get out of this forest," said ash clenching his fist in excitement. Scyther seemed to grin in excitement as well. As the group walked through the forest Kenji explained how he ran into Scyther and the poachers.
"WHAAAT?! Wailed Clemont "I didn't really mean that!" he said after finding out why Scyther seemed to take a disliking to him.
"I'm sure you'll be friends in no time," said Ash smiling. He had dealt with a few other pokemon in the past that were difficult to get along with at first. He was confident that Kenji would be able to manage.
"I wonder why Scyther went after you guys in the first place," questioned Bonnie.
"I think I know the answer to that" said Clemont after thinking for a moment.
"Remember when Mike the ranger said when we got here, that the aggressive pokemon was targeting fire, rock, and electric types?"
"Oh, yeah," Ash and Bonnie said thinking back.
"Well, I think that's because Scyther is constantly looking for strong opponents, so it was looking to battle types it's weak too."
"Right," said Kenji, "I figured the same thing, it just really wants to challenge itself." With a strong pokemon like Scyther with him it was sure to be of help during Kenji's gym battles.
"I wonder where those poachers went off too," ash said with a hint of concern in his voice.
"Hopefully they're gone for good Kenji said with a bit of disdain in his voice. Ash didn't think they'd seen the last of them. After all he'd run into poachers in the past, and they were never ones to give up so easily. Ash put those thoughts to the back of his mind, for now he had to concentrate on his upcoming gym battle.
The group then made their way through the rest of the forest without any more incidents and by nightfall they had made it to the other side. They set up camp in a field under the cover of a few trees for the night. The group sat around the fire and ate the stew Clemont had prepared, but Kenji wasn't eating. His mind was elsewhere thinking about his upcoming gym battle.
"Hey Kenji, you okay?" asked ash.
"Yea just a lot on my mind," he said sighing.
"It's your gym battle isn't it," he responded.
"Yeah," Kenji said softly, "I just don't want it to turn out like last time," he said nervously.
"How about this, let's get some special training in tomorrow morning before we head out, besides, I wanna see Scyther in battle," said Ash grinning.
"Wow, really? Thanks Ash," said Kenji. He was feeling a bit better after hearing that. Kenji slept a little bit better that night knowing he wasn't going in completely blind to his gym battle this time.
So Kenji got a few new captures as well as Ash and Clemont. sorry again if its a bit boring since some of them are so similar to cannon.
We definitely haven't seen the last of the poachers, thats for sure.
next chapter is some training and Ash's gym battle.
thanks for the read!