Champion's Journey: The Kanto Khronicles

by jedimasterpest

It's a new day as new Trainers start their Adventure's. As for one, John Russi, takes his first steps as a adventurer as we follow his journey. This is my take on the events of the gen 1 games and i'm using a new method to write my fanfics.

3. A Buggy Situation

Chapter 3: A Buggy Situation

When we last left our Hero, John Russi the Ace Trainer. He spent the night at the Viridian City Pokemon Center resting and pondering over his first-day mistakes while Blaze, the Gentle Charmander, and Brisby, the Decisive Rattata heal from their battle. John and his Pokemon spent the next day repelling a garden-invading Caterpie, curing an old Capture Specialist of his hang-over, freeing a PokeMart of its Rattata problem, and finding a missing pet Nidoran all the while John befriending and catching a new Pokemon for his growing roster in the form of Holly, the Cuddly female Nidoran and earning a little money for supplies and food. Now well rested from another night's stay, showered with clean daytime clothes, John is ready to head north toward Pewter City and his first gym challenge, but first he must navigate through the dense Viridian Forest of Route 2.

It's the next morning and John has taken all three of his Pokemon into the Pokemon Center's practice field for an hour training season, building up their experience and inspiring them with his inspired training methods all the while improving Holly's skills in perceiving the world around her.

"Great job everyone!" John says as he kneels down and pets both Blaze and Holly as they quickly rush over to John for affection and praise. The Charmander leaning against the head pets as the Nidoran nuzzles into John's hand. Brisby just sniffs at the ground for a bit before she starts cleaning her face and whiskers. The Rattata is still indifferent with her trainer but she is starting to like him.

"Man, you two are just so cute," John says with a smile before he recalls the two Pokemon back into their balls he walks over to Brisby who just stops her self-grooming and looks up at John as soon as she notices his presence. John bends down and scoops up the Rattata, holding her in his arms as he straightens up, hugging her as he pets her head.

"I know it's only been two days since I caught you but I'm thinking that I might be starting to rub off on you a little," John says and he scratches her chin. To Brisby, she has to give credit to her trainer as the young boy does have a heart. As much as her feelings towards the human are neutral however she can't but feel how good it is to have that one tiny little spot under her chin scratched as she raises her head higher up to give John easier access to the spot as her hind leg starts to kick rapidly in the air. John laughs at her reaction.

"Looks like I found the spot huh?" John chuckles before Brisby decides that enough is enough and yanks her head away from John's hand. With this, John returns the Rattata back into her ball. He is just about to turn away and leave the area when the girl from yesterday's Pokemon Swarm group walks over to him.

"Hey wait a second!" the girl calls out to John, getting his attention.

"Huh? Oh hey, I remember seeing you with those two boys yesterday talking about the Nidoran Swarm. Did you catch one?" John asks trying to be friendly to the girl who just looks annoyed.

"Yeah I caught my own Nidoran and I saw you caught one too you Copycat!" the girl said as she pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"Copycat? What are you talking about?" John asks looking confused.

"Don't act so innocent! You caught a Nidoran only because I said I think they would be cute as Pokemon contest Partners!" the girl said as she glared at him.

"That's not why I caught Holly. I caught her because I thought she would be a good poison type to help me handle with Bug-type Pokemon since Blaze hasn't learned any Fire-type attacks yet. I'm not interested in Pokemon contests anyway." John said as he held up his hands defensively.

"Well is that so? Well, how about you back that up with a Pokemon battle? All of my Pokemon against all of your Pokemon! League rules and I wager 250 Poke!" the girl says as she takes out a Pokeball.

"Ok fine, if that's how it's going to be then I accept your challenge and I wager 200 Poke," John says confidently. One of the other young trainers has overheard the two and yells out "Trainer battle!" as the other trainers clear the way as John and the Lass trainer walk to either side of the 91 by 50-meter practice battlefield, with John taking the red side and the Lass taking the green side. John Calls Brisby as the Lass calls out her male Nidoran.

"Try to get in close and use Tail Whip!" John orders the Rattata.

"Let that rat come to you and use Leer!" the Lass calls out to her Pokemon.

The Nidoran stands his ground as he waits for Brisby to come to him as the Rattata starts to sprint towards him for most of the way. Quickly close the distance as fast as she can. Once she is right in front of him she starts wagging her tail at him to lower his defenses. The Nidoran in return glares at the Normal-Type Pokemon, lowering her's as well.

"Well if that's how it's going to be then use Tackle!" John calls out.

"Oh yeah well use Peck Nidoran!" the Lass calls out.

The Nidoran acted first as he used his horn to peck at Brisby, distracted by the leer the Rattata was hit with the attack with massive damage as the Nidoran scored a critical hit. Brisby tries to counterattack with her tackle but stumbles a bit instead. The battle has already begun and already Brisby is looking not so hot.

"Oh no! Quick Brisby use Tackle!" John cries out

"Hit it again with Peck!" the Lass orders.

Before Brisby can recover from her stumble and hit the Nidoran, once again jabs his horn into her, knocking out the Rattata. John grunts as he recalls the fainted Brisby back into her ball before deciding to call out his own Nidoran.

"Go Holly! Get to the middle of the battlefield and wait for that Nidoran to get closer!" John orders.

"Looks like we have to close in on them this time. Go and use Leer once you are in range!" the Lass calls out to her Pokemon.

The two poison-type Pokemon sprinted across the battlefield towards each other closing the gap between each other. Holly skids to a halt once she is about eight meters from the male Nidoran but the male Nidoran keeps going for another five meters. Acting on her own Holly moves up onto the male Nidoran and Growls at him, catching her opponent off guard and lowering his attack.

"Great job Holly now use Scratch!" John cheers from the red end.

"Ugh, back up a bit and use leer!" the Lass calls out forgetting to order her Nidoran to disengage.

The Nidoran jumps back away from Holly as Holly tries to use the opportunity to struggle but misses as her foe jumps away from her just in time. As he lands, right away he uses Leer but blinks in surprise as he is glaring towards his own trainer. The Lass falls over anime style as those who gather to watch the fight start laughing at the male poison type. Even Holly finds it funny that the Nidoran failed to notice that he twisted his body mid-jump and ended up facing the other way. However, she takes the opportunity to get up from behind the Nidoran and scratch his back. The Nidoran cries out as he is dealt with some damage.

"Great job Holly now use Growl!" John orders as he chuckles at the Nidoran's failed attempt to leer at Holly.

"Keep a short distance and use Leer again, this time at that Copycat!" the Lass cries out.

The Nidoran suddenly dashes off to Holly's right, putting a meter distance away between her and himself as he Leers at her to lower her defences once again. Holly however quickly closes in and growls at her opponent once again.

"Alright, that should do it for now! Use Scratch!" John calls out.

"This is getting us nowhere, use Peck!" the Lass calls out.

The male Nidoran shakes his head after being growled at as he holds his ground and jabs his horn at Holly. The female Poison-Type squeaks in pain from the attack as she takes some damage but she stands up on her hind legs and swipes her paw at him, she scratches the Nidoran right across his face, landing a critical hit on him as she deals massive damage to him. The Nidoran is now not looking so good.

"Yeah, let's go, Holly! One more Scratch attack, this time do it for Brisby!" John cheers out loud.

"Quick disengage and get away from her as quick as you can and regroup!" the Lass calls out.

Right away the Nidoran does as he is told by pulling away from Holly and flees about five meters away from her. Holly however gives chase and quickly catches up the male Pokemon. Holly swipes for another Scratch attack but barely misses as the Nidoran flinches away from her.

"Don't let him recover! Use Scratch again!" John orders.

"Keep your distance! Don't stop!" the Lass calls out

The Nidoran once again moves away from Holly trying to put as much distance away from her as he can while trying to confuse her as he zigzags away from her. Holly however was able to close that gap by 3 meters. Right away she swipes with her paws and scratches the fleeing male, doing a little bit of damage to him as he is barely hanging in there.

"That's it Holly, one more time with Scratch!" John calls out.

"Dang it. If we are going down. We are going down fighting! Use Peak!" the Lass orders.

The Male Nidoran quickly turns around and jams his horn into Holly's shoulder dealing a good amount of damage to her. Holly swipes her paw at the Nidoran to try to block his attack, but as his Peek attack lands, she winces with a squeak as her own scratch attack lands but doesn't deal all that much damage.

"Scratch again! I know you got it this time!" John calls out.

"Yeah, now we got a bit of a fighting chance! Use Peek again!" the Lass cheers out

The Nidoran once again jabs his horn into Holly, this time hitting her in the armpit as she squeaks in pain. Holly quickly yanks away from the Nidoran and quickly scratches him across the face with one of her forepaws. Dealing enough damage to finally knock out and faint the Pokemon.

"Alright, Holly!" John cheers out loud for his Nidoran. The Lass however does not look happy as she calls back her Pokemon and calls out for her Pidgey.

"Fly in and use Sand Attack!" the Lass orders

The bird Pokemon gives out a chip as she hops up and starts to fly towards Holly. Holly's ears twitch as she hears the Pidgey call out and turns to face her new opponent, Looking a little haggard from the blows she received from the Lass's first Pokemon.

"Wait for it to close in and use Growl!" John ordered

"Keep your distance with your attack!" the lass warns her Pidgey.

The Pidgey flies low to the ground as she draws near Holly as she just stands there and waits for her to come closer. Once she is about 3 meters away from her, the female Nidoran quickly closes the distance as she growls at her to lower her attack.

"There we go! Now keep close to it and use growl again" John orders as he thrusts a fist forward.

"Keep your distance!" the Lass reminded the Pidgey.

The Pidgey flies back as she tries to hit Holly with a Sand Attack but due to flying backwards the gust of sand blasts the ground beneath her, missing her target. Holly however once again closes the gap and growls once again at the bird, making her wince from the sonic status attack.

"That's it, Holly! Jump up and use Scratch!" John cheers out loud.

"Don't stop moving and use Sand Attack again!" the Lass orders.

Pidgey once again flies back and away from Holly as she blasts her with a guest of sand. Hitting her in her face and blinding her briefly. Holly squeaks out in surprise as she follows the origin of the attack. She swipes in front of her with her paw but misses as she shakes her head to clear the sand off her face and eyes.

"Shake off that sand and use Scratch!" John calls out.

"That's it! Now dive bomb that Nidoran with Tackle!" the Lass orders.

While Holly was shaking the sand out of her eyes the Pidgey smashes into her, landing a critical hit while dealing max damage to her. Holly is thrown back from the Tackle attack and faints.

"Oh no!" John cries as he recalls back Holly. He unclips his last Pokeball and calls out Blaze. "Go after that Pidgey and use Scratch!"

"Use Sand Attack on that Charmander!" the Lass orders out.

Blaze moves first as he sprints towards his target all the while the Pidgey flies towards him, still keeping low to the ground in hopes of hitting the Charmander more easily. As Blaze gets closer to the flying Pokemon he jumps up and scratches the bird Pokemon across the chest, dealing massive damage to the Pidgey while landing a critical hit. The Pidgey lets out a caw of pain before she blasts her Charmander attacker with a gust of sand to the face, blinding him before he lands on the ground to recover from the Scratch attack

"Don't let that sand stop you! Keep going with another Scratch Attack!" John cheers hoping the next attack hit as the Charmander rubs his eyes.

"Hit that fire lizard with Tackle!" the Lass calls out.

Blaze tries to swing his claws at the Pidgey but misses, feeling no contact Blaze shakes his head, finally clearing the sand from his eyes. The Pidgey however flaps her wings and slams into Blaze, knocking him back about 2 meters.

"Don't give up Blaze! Use Scratch again!" John calls out.

"Blind it again with another Sand Attack!" the Lass calls out.

Blaze gives off a little growl, hearing another order for a sand attack and he is starting to get annoyed with all the sand already after only getting hit by it once. Well who can blame the little Charmander, after all, sand is coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere. Blaze charges towards the Pidgey as she is about to flap her wing as he raises his claws and strikes down on her. Dealing massive damage to her while knocking her out.

"Woot woot! Let's go Blaze!" John cheers as he jumps up and down.

"Dang it!" The Lass cries out as she recalls the Pidgey and calls out her Oddish. "Get in Range of that Charmander and use Sweet Scent!"

Blaze notices the Oddish first and moves faster than her as he charges towards her as the grass/poison type slowly makes her way towards the Charmander. Blaze reaches the Oddish first but as he raises his arms. He swings his claws at her a little too early and completely misses her. As his claws barely touch her head leaves, the Oddish starts shaking her leaves, releasing a very attractive scent. Making her alluring and dropping Blaze's abilities to evade.

"Use Scratch again!" John calls out.

"Use Absorb!" the Lass orders her Oddish.

Blaze swings his arm again at the Oddish, barely hitting her with a small amount of damage done to the weed Pokemon. The Oddish's leaves glow with a green energy as it saps Blaze with Grass-Type energy. Dealing a little bit of damage but the Oddish glows and heals for half the damage it dealt on the Charmander.

"Oh no, not again. Use Scratch Blaze! Come on I know you can do it!" John cries out, cheering for his Pokemon.

"Looks like we are playing the slow game. Use Abosb once more!" the Lass calls out

Blaze gasped from feeling a little bit of his energy being drained from him. He raises a claw and strikes down dealing a little more damage to the grass type than his last strike. The Oddish cries out from the attack but its leaves glow green once again as she saps more energy from the Charmander. Dealing more damage than before.

"Um. . . . . Use st-struggle." Panicking John calls out for Blaze's next attack.

.

"We got them, use Absorb!" the Lass orders.

Blaze looking confused himself and not looking so good struggles about, as he flicks his tail flame at the Oddish, the grass type is scorched by the tail flame however her leaves glow green again. Sapping what little energy Blaze has and the Charmander faints.

"Shoot! I'm out!" John cries out.

"Red trainer is out of usable Pokemon! The win goes to the green trainer!" a random kid who decides to be the referee for the match yells out as he holds his hand out towards the Lass.

"Ha! I won, after all, you copycat! Now hand over the money!" The Lass demands as she walks across the battlefield while recalling her Pokemon back into its ball.

"Ok fine," John said dejectedly as he handed over the money he wagered.

"You are so pathetic. Who owns a Fire-type Pokemon who doesn't even know any Fire-type moves!" The Lass says as she walks away while laughing. John hangs his head in shame from the taunting as the crowd disperses and goes about their own business.

30 minutes later John gets his Pokemon team healed up by Nurse Joy. He returns the room key to her, thanks her for the service, and leaves. As he walks through the city he stops at a park and takes a seat on a bench, deciding to have some one-on-one time with his Pokemon. He pulls out Brisby's ball first and calls her out. The Rattata shakes her head, still not getting used to going through a healing machine to help recover from a battle.

"Hey, Brisby. Are you feeling ok?" John asks the Rattata. Brisby just looks up at him and stares at him with her whiskers twitching.

"Yeah well, I know you got healed to a hundred percent by Nurse Joy but I meant by deep down with your feelings? You know with the battle with that jerky girl." John said. With that Brisby gives out an annoyed grunt. With that, John gets the feeling that Brisby did not like the outcome of her fight let alone the entire battle.

"Look I'm sorry that you lost in the first match. I should have think more carefully when she started counter-planning our attack and baited us. I should have changed tactics and tried to get them to come to us instead." John sadly said as he reached down to pet the Rattata: Brisby allowed the pets but with a neutral expression. She is starting to get used to the feeling of the human's hand rubbing along her furred head and back through not to say it doesn't feel warm and welcoming to her. She kind of likes the attention though.

"I promise I'll do better next time. So are we cool?" John asks her. Brisby just looks up at him as he pulls his hand away, just only to chatter a "Tata, Rattata!" to him as if trying to say "You lose, you learn, you grow. That's all I want to see for now."

"Thanks, Brisby. "John says as if he understood the Pokemon. He returns her back into her Pokeball and clips it back onto his belt before pulling out Holly's ball. With a flash of light, the Nidoran is summoned in front of the young boy. Holly looks around her surroundings before looking up at John. Before John can get a word in edgewise the Nidoran's ears droop down as she rears up on her hind legs and places her forepaws on one of John's shins and cries out a consent sound of "Ran Nido Nido, ran ran!" at him while her eyes start to get teary.

"Hey hey, what's wrong?" John asks Holly. The Nidoran only stops her cries and hangs her head. John gets a sense of what Holly is trying to say as he picks up the Nidoran and places her in his lap.

"Hey, there's no need for that. You're not in trouble." John says as he starts to gently pet the poison-type Pokemon. Holly starts to calm down from her trainer's touch as she looks up at him.

"We all lost that entire battle but I should have commanded you guys better than that. Luck may have not been on our side but at least you did get to knock out that male Nidoran." John says as he gives the Nidoran a little smile. Holly senses the comforting tone of John's voice starts to feel better for not winning for her new trainer and friend and starts to nuzzle up against John's body. John's smile grows bigger as he lets the Nidoran cuddle up to him in his lap as he continues to pet her for another 3 more minutes.

"Feel better now?" John asks Holly as he pulls his hand away from her. Holly just gives out a cute squeak as she gives John's belly one more nuzzle.

"I promise you, we will be great friends and we will grow stronger together! All of us." John vows to the little Nidoran. Holly nods and gives out her own cheer as she tries her best to mimic her trainer. John smiles as he gives Holly one more head pat before returning her back into her ball. John brings out his last Pokemon to talk to, Blaze the Charmander. John literally had already gone through the same thing with him the morning before and yet here they are again.

"Hey buddy," John says as soon as Blaze materializes out of his Pokeball. The Charmander happily greets his trainer back with a drawn-out "Char!".

"The battle from earlier was real close huh Blaze?" John asks the Charmander. Blaze only hops up into John's lap and pumps a clawed fist in the air, trying to mimic his trainer's movements as he has seen John make the same motion over and over again in their short amount of time together.

"You may have lost but at least you didn't get injured again, but still I think I should have handled that match better. With what that girl said earlier, am I really that pathetic of a trainer? I haven't even gotten you to learn any Fire-type moves yet." John said as he looked down. He's not sure why but those words that the Lass said to him are starting to sting, even though they shouldn't. He starts to think is he truly capable of being a Pokemon Trainer or should he give up? As these thoughts run through his head, John kinda spaces out but he is pulled back to reality as Blaze stands up in his lap and licks his cheek, trying to cheer up his trainer. John looks at the Charmander as Blaze has a confident smile at him before pumping his clawed fist at John again. John starts to smile again as he closes his own fist and fist bumps the Charmander.

"Yeah, you're right. I made a promise to you yesterday that we will get stronger and I just made that same promise with Holly, and this promise goes for Brisby as well." John says as Blaze looks at John's fist with his head tilted to one side, confused. Not yet understanding the hand jester of one lightly bumping another's fist together.

"Well, Blaze I think it's time for us to keep going and work our way up the ranks!" John calls out earning a cheer from the little Charmander. John holds out Blaze's ball to recall but a thought runs through his head.

"You know what. How about you stick with me for a while." John says as he puts the Pokeball back in its place on John's Pokeball belt. Blaze's eyes lit up as the Charmander realizes right away that he is going to walk alongside his trainer. He gives out a happy "Char Char!" as he hops off John's lap and jumps up and down happily, very eager to hit the road with John.

"Alright, Blaze let's go!" John cheers out loud as he stands up. Together John and Blaze leave Viridian City and head north, walking along Route 2 and enjoying their time. To pass the time the two even play a bit. Chasing each other and playing tag as they walk along the path. By noon the pair have reached the southern edge of the Viridian Forest.

"There it is buddy. We better stick with each other so that we don't get lost." John says as he stares at the forest ahead of them. Blaze nods to John in agreement as they both walk into the forest. Blaze follows behind John as to keep a good view of his trainer as they make their trek through the forest and keep up with John's pace as they round every tree and every brush as need be. Once in a while, John will look back just to make sure that the little Fire-Type is still following him.

Two hours go by as the two travel through the large forest. Blaze looks off to the side and spots a berry bush with a lone ripe Oran berry growing on it. The Charmander calls out to John getting his attention as Blaze stops in his tracks.

"Huh? What is it, buddy?" John asks as he turns around and looks at Blaze. Blaze lets out a "Char Char!" as he points towards the berry bush. John looks and just only sees the bush a few feet away from them until he notices the lone blue-colored berry hanging off its branches.

"Nice find buddy! That looks like one big Oran berry. Do you want?" John asks. Blaze nods and happily runs towards the berry bush.

"Hey wait up!" John laughs as he chases after the Charmander. As Blaze near the bush an angry cry calls out to his left as a Weedle crawls down the trunk of a nearby tree. Once on the ground, they notice movement coming east from the two as a single Caterpie appears from some tall grass. The little green caterpillar Pokemon looks hungry and to the Weedle sees that both the Caterpie and the invading Charmander are after its berry. Blaze however walks up to the bush and picks the Berry from the bush.

John does not see the Caterpie but does notice the upset Weedle that is glaring daggers at his starter Pokemon.

"Look out for that Weedle, use Scratch if it gets too close!" John orders as he picks up his pace. With his PokeManiac skills, John can tell that the Weedle is a level 5 male with a Sassy nature and has the Shield Dust ability. The Weedle rears up and blows out a cone of Weedle silk that goes out 2 meters wide as it fires off a String Shot attack. Blaze while admiring his fruity prize gets caught in the attack and has the sticky silk warp around his legs, lowering his speed. Seeing its own chance the Caterpie rushes around the berry bush and tackles Blaze, dealing some damage to the Charmander and knocking him back a couple of meters. Blaze gets up and runs over back to the two wild Pokemon. Putting himself in between the Weedle and the Caterpie. With the berry in one claw, Blaze raises his free claw and scratches the Weedle across the face, dealing a good amount of damage to the Bug and Poison-type Pokemon.

John however now notices the Caterpie as it comes up and tackles Blaze deciding to even the odds John unclips Holly's Pokeball and throws it, unleashing her right next to the Weedle as he gives out commands. "Blaze disengage the Weedle and focus on the Caterpie! Holly get that Weedle's focus on you! Double Scratch attack time!"

As Holly materializes next to the Weedle, she hears John's orders and notices the pickle that her teammate has gotten himself into. Holly rears up and slashes with her front paws but her Scratch attack misses as the Weedle notices the flash of light that heralded in the Nidoran's arrival and duck just in time. However, Holly fails to get the Weedle's attention on her as he is still dead set on getting that Oran berry for himself. Seeing as the Caterpie wants the berry just as bad as he does turns his head spike towards its fellow Bug-Type. His head spike glows as a storm of tiny purple needles fires from said head spike, hitting the Caterpie in its side with its Poison Sting and dealing a good amount of damage but the Caterpie is proving to be very capable of taking hits. The Caterpie itself was aiming to catch all Pokemon in a cone of its own silk, but the strike of the Weedle made it rear back in pain and fail to deliver its attack. Blaze disengages the Weedle by moving back next to the berry bush but the Charmander gets an idea as he sees the Caterpie being distracted by the attacking Weedle and starts to make his way around the bush to get up from behind the Caterpie.

"Yeah, that's it! Use Scratch again Holly!" John cheers, keeping a good 6 feet distance from the heart of the Pokemon battle. Being the Pokemaniac that he is, John can tell from a distance that the Caterpie is a level 4 male with a Quiet Nature and has the same ability as the Weedle.

Holly rears up on her hind paws as she tries to swing a paw at the Weedle but once again the Weedle ducks down to avoid the attack as he tries to fire off another Poison Sting attack to its rival Bug-Type but his attack finds no purchase as the tiny poisonous needles strike the ground between the two caterpillar Pokemon. At this time the Caterpie recovers from the first Poison Sting attack and sprays out a cone of silk, catching both the Weedle and Holly in its range as the sticky silk lowers both of their speed. Blaze rounds around the berry bush without the Weedle or the Caterpie from noticing and slashes the Caterpie from behind with a Scratch attack. What would have been a great deal of damage the Caterpie just shrugs it off as if it was a prick.

"Wow that Caterpie is tough for a Quiet nature. Holly, Blaze! Use scratch again!" John yells out.

Holly grunts in annoyance as her last two attacks did not land. Still rearing up on her hind legs and once again slashes at the Weedle. This time scratching the bug's side but only doing a little damage. The Caterpie now faster than the Weedle tries to tackle but as Blaze's claws strikes his back he winches in pain and turns towards the Charmander. As the Caterpie does so the Weedle takes its chance and fires another Poison Sting Attack at the Caterpie. Dealing a good amount of damage and poisoning the Bug-Type Pokemon.

John notices how tough the Caterpie is and how much damage he has taken and with it being poison, takes out an empty Pokeball and throws it at the Caterpie but misses and the ball lands right next to Blaze's feet. Holly takes note of her Trainer trying to catch the Caterpie and decides to try to help her trainer by first taking care of the Weedle she digs in all four of her paws into the ground and growls at the Weedle, making it wince from the sound and lowering his attack. The Caterpie not happy with being poisoned by his rival, Tackles the Weedle into the tree behind the Bug and Poison-type, dealing a lot of damage and bruising the back of the Weedle's exoskeleton. However, the Caterpie winces in pain as it takes a little bit of damage from its own condition. The Weedle not happy with the injury that its rival caused it, fires a poison string attack at the Caterpie. The Caterpie gets a face full of poison needles as it receives a good amount of damage. The Caterpie is now starting to look haggard but the Weedle is not looking so good. Blaze also notices John's intent as he moves around the Caterpie and gets up against both him and the Weedle, sandwiching the Hairy Bug Pokemon between him and Holly. Blaze raises his claw and slashes at the Weedle with a Scratch attack, scratching the bug Type's left eye out as the Weedle falls to the forest floor and faints.

"Great job guys. Don't let that Caterpie faint though." John cheers as he steps closer to the group as he pulls out another Pokeball. He pulls back his throwing arm as he winds up the pitch and throws the Pokeball. As the ball flies through the air it makes a high-pitched whistling noise before it strikes the Caterpie and is pulled into the ball by the capture beam. The ball hovers and shakes in the air for an extra 2 seconds before it falls to the ground. The Pokeball doesn't even shake as it clicks with the capture light flashing green.

"Yes! I caught a Caterpie!" John cheers as he pumps a fist into the air. Both Blaze and Holly cheer with him as John walks over to the two and picks up both Caterpie's Pokeball and the ball that he missed with earlier. John then turns towards his two Pokemon and holds his hand out to them.

"You two did great today. Good job!" John says as he praises the Nidoran and the Charmander. Both Blaze and Holly jump up into John's arms, knocking him onto his back as he laughs. Both Pokemon nuzzle up against John's chest as their trainer returns the affection with plenty of head pats and chin scratches. Blaze is the first to break away from the affection as he holds out the Oran Berry to his trainer.

"Huh? Are you sure Blaze?" John asks. Blaze nods as he lets out a "Char Charmander.". John then takes the offered berry from the Charmander and puts it away in a safe place in his backpack.

"Why thank you, Blaze," John says as he pets the Charmander's head who has come to love this form of positive affection from his trainer.

"You fought hard and smart today. You should take a good rest." John says as he pulls out Blaze's ball and returns him back into the Pokeball.

"You did a great job too today Holly! Take a nice long rest." John says as he gives the little Nidoran a chin scratch before sending her back into her ball.

"Yaaaaay! The greatest and bestest Hero won the Battle of the Berry!" a high-pitched voice calls out. John quickly jumps up to his feet and quickly looks around for the voice that just called out, as he was not expecting an audience in the middle of the forest. As he scans the area, he finds nothing.

"Hello? Is someone there?" John calls out but he receives no answer. As he continues to look around he finds something in the now bare berry bush that wasn't there before. John reaches for the item and pulls out what appears to be a one-time-use purple capsule with similarly colored balls in the clear part of the capsule.

"A X-accuracy? Where did this come from?" John asks to himself out loud. Not finding the answer to his question any time soon John just pockets the item away in his backpack. Remembering his newest catch, John pulls out the Caterpie's Pokeball and calls out the little Pokemon. As the Bug-Type Pokemon appears before John, he is panting heavily as deep little holes litter his face.

"Oh, my Acreus! That Weedle did quite a number on you. Here let me help." John says as he sets down his bag. He first pulls out a Potion and starts spraying the Caterpie with it. The Caterpie winces from the string of the medicine as it heals the Caterpie a bit but not fully.

"It's okay. You're doing just fine" John says as he uses up the bottle. He then takes out an Antidote and makes the Caterpie drink from the bottle, curing it of his poison. John kneels down and takes a closer look at the Caterpie's face and the injury it received from the Weedle's Poison Sting attack.

"It looks deep but it doesn't seem life threatening but I think you will be ok if you just rest for a full day," John says as he does his own crude examination on the Caterpie. The Caterpie just stares at him as John stands up.

"By the way. I think you need a good name. Seeing how much you can take a hit, how about Monarch?" John asks the Caterpie. The caterpillar Pokemon just only tilts his head at John as he makes a confused squeaking sound.

"Monarch it is then," John says as he pulls out the Caterpie's Pokeball. "But like I said. I think the best thing you should do is get some rest. Return." John points the Pokeball at Monarch and the Caterpie is energized back into his own ball.

"Hmm, I wonder who was that person that was cheering? They sounded like a girl?" John asks to himself as he looks around but sees nothing. Not wanting to linger on it anymore he just turns around and continues on his trek through the forest. Unknown to him, floating high above the Viridian Forest treeline is a pink cat-like creature with a long tail that ends with a slight bulb at the end and has big blue adorable eyes, watching the trainer from down below. All of a sudden the creature lifts her head up and slowly turns to look behind herself before she notices you, the Reader.

"Oh hi there! I'm Kate! What is Kate I hear your thoughts ask. Well, Kate is a Kate who does Kate things because she is a Kate! Did you all see that?! Wasn't the Battle of the Berry the most amazing thing?! Blaze was like 'Oh a berry!" and the Weedle was like "No, my berry because I is grumpy face bug!" and Mony was like "I is hungry hungry caterpillar!" and John was like "Oh a bugacian stand-off" and Nido-face is like "I'm helping" and then it was all like vroom! Boom! Bush! Bash! Ah meh leg! And the Pokeball was like whoosh and clonk! And now Mony is now John's new friendly friend face who does friend things! It was the most amazing thing Kate has ever seen! Kate is John's Biggest fan!" Kate cheers.

"Oh oh! The next scene is about to start! Kate better go before Kate makes Mr. Writer-face write a large paragraph of Kate's words" Kate happily says before she teleports away.

Back down on the forest floor, John has been making good progress with navigating through the forest on his own. John was able to find a source of water within 2 hours of his hike since he caught Monarch. Using both his Water filter and canteen, he was able to get two units of water in his canteen, completely filling it up. Another uneventful 2 hours pass by as John travels through but soon stops in a small clearing.

"This looks like a good spot to stop for the night," John says as he finds a nice even, flat spot. John sets down his backpack and starts to step up his tent for the night, however, he misreads the manual that comes with the kit as he tries to figure out how to put it all together. After 2 hours of work, John finally has his one-person size tent set up but it looks very uneven and not very sturdy. John just shrugs his shoulders and starts to gather sticks and makes a makeshift fire pit. With what little wood he can gather John tries to start a fire by trying to copy how he saw it done on TV but no matter how hard he tries to literately rub two sticks together, he can not get his campfire going.

Defeated John pulls out Blaze's Pokeball and calls out the Charmander as the sky is starting to turn orange. Blaze appears with a "Char char!" and happily looks up to John waiting for instructions from his trainer.

"Hey Blaze, this. . . . . Is kinda of embarrassing but, can you use your tail flame to set that pile of sticks on fire?" John asks the Charmander as he points to his mediocre firepit. Blaze looks at the said firepit and then back at John. Getting a gist of what John is trying to tell him Blaze turns his back towards the stick pile and waves his tail to the wood as the flame at the tip glows brighter. In no time a little fire starts.

"Alright, thanks, buddy!" John says as he quickly gets out a small camping kettle and sets it over the flame while pouring half of his canteen's worth of water into it. He then takes out 5 collapsible bowls and sets them out as Blaze sits next to the campfire and watches John prepare a water bowl and 4 bowls of food for the entire team. Once his Pokemon's meal is ready he calls out the rest of the Pokemon out of their Pokeballs.

"Alright guys, dig in!" John says as he sits down on the forest floor and waits for his water to boil. Right away Blaze, Holly, and the new member Monarch the Caterpie begin to eat their food with a water bowl to share between them and Brisby. The Rattata on the other hand, walks over to Monarch and sniffs at him since this is the first time she has seen him. Monarch looks up from his bowl of poke-chow and lets out a confused squeak as he tilts his head at her. Brisby looks up to John and lets out a "Ratta ta ta Rattata!" at him while pointing her right forepaw at the Caterpie as he just looks back and forth between the two.

"Oh him? He's Monarch. He's a very tough Caterpie that we encountered earlier today. He's our newest teammate!" John said. Without making another sound Monach just goes back to eating his food. Brisby watches him for a bit longer before she starts to eat from the one unclaimed food bowl. As John checks his water he notices that not only is it barely getting hot but the campfire is starting to die down.

"Oh no no no no!" John cries out loud as he tries to fan the flames to keep the fire going but it's too late. All the sticks he has gathered have already been burnt up. John has no choice but to use the heated water he already has to cook dinner. Making himself a batch of undercooked instant ramen.

Once his Pokemon finish their food and their fill of water. John returns Monarch back into his ball for rest and recovery while he lets the rest of his Pokemon stay out. Holly hops over to John, nuzzling his leg as a way to say thanks for the meal before she runs after Blaze as the two start to play around the camp. John smiles at the site before he notices Brisby has taken a spot to sit up on a nearby stump. John walks over to Brisby and sits down next to her and pets her head. Brisby just leans her head into the pets but tries to keep a natural face as she tolerates the show of affection from her trainer.

"You're starting to like me, ain't you?" John asks with a smile. Brisby gave no sign of acceptance or denial to John's questions.

"Oh know you are. Somehow I can tell you are starting to become my friend just like Holly and Blaze are." John says as he looks over at the two mentioned Pokemon as Holly tackles Blaze. However, John notices the sky is starting to grow dark as the orange light is slowly turning into a deep purple above the tree line.

"We better hit the hay. Hey Blaze, Holly, it's time for bed. Wanna sleep in your Pokeballs?" John asks. Both Blaze and Holly stop their little play chase and run over to their Trainer and the Rattata. The two both give their cry of a response as they nod their heads.

"Alright then. See you guys tomorrow." John said as he pulled out their Pokeballs, but before he could return them, Holly hops into John's lap, pressing the whole side of her body up against his belly and nuzzles him.

"Aw thank you. You have a good night too, Holly." John says with a smile as he pets the Nidoran's head before he calls her back into her Pokeball. John calls Blaze back into his ball as well before he turns back towards the Rattata:

"Do you wanna sleep in your Pokeball too?" John asks Brisby. Brisby just only gets up. Makes 3 circles on the stump before she sits down on her hunches and chatters a "Tata!" at him. Indicating that she wants to sleep on the stump for the night.

"Are you sure it's safe out here for you?" John asks again. A little concern for a little purple Pokemon. Brisby just stares at him, standing her ground.

"Well if you change your mind you can always come into the tent," John says as he walks over to his small tent. Brisby looks at the unstable structure and flinches at the sight, preferring to sleep on the stump rather than a canvas shelter that looks like it could collapse. John climbs in and zips the opening flap of his tent close but leaves the opening big enough for Brisby just in case. Rolling out his sleeping bag, taking his shoes, socks, and jeans off, and leaves them next to his backpack, John slips into his sleeping bag and listens to the sounds of the forest at night outside, his little Rattata watchdog curls up into a ball as she gets some rest. John is not sure how much time passed by as the ambiance lures him into a relaxed state before he drifts off to sleep, dreaming of winning big at the Indigo Plateau League tournament and standing alongside with one of the greatest Elite trainers of all time, Lance.

The next morning, John wakes up after a long rest as he stretches in his sleeping bag. Before climbing out and putting his clothes and shoes back on. After putting his backpack on John starts to open the flap to his tent only for the entire thing to collapse on top of him. Brisby jumps up awake on her stump as she looks around for the cause of the sudden noise only to spot the downed tent with her trainer buried in it. At first, the Rattata just stares in concern for her Trainer as John starts to thrash about in the tent until he finally pulls himself out of the mess. Brisby just stares for a couple of seconds longer until she rolls onto her back laughing.

"Hey, that's not funny!" John scolds the laughing Rattata who is holding her belly with her forepaws until she got control of her fit of laughter.

"Well did you had a good night's sleep last night?" John asks. Brisby rolls back onto her paws and stretches out with a yawn before she sits down on her hunches, looking ready to go.

"I'll take that as a yes," John says as he starts cleaning up the mess that was his tent. It takes him an hour to put his tent away and rearrange the polls so the whole set can fit back in its carry sleeve with John grumbling about how "There's gotta be an easier way to do this.". Once all of John's camping gear is packed away John calls out Blaze and Holly to do some experience training for another hour before John continues on his trek through the forest with all of his Pokemon returned into their balls.

As John walks through the forest, he passes a tree in which another Caterpie jumps out of the tree and lands on his backpack as it tries to get at John's Oran berry.

"Hey get off me!" John yells out. He raises his right arm and swats the Caterpie off his backpack in an unarmed attack. This however upsets the Caterpie as it wants the berry that is in John's backpack and any other kind of food that it can find. The Caterpie suddenly jumps up and tackles John in the chest. John grunts in pain but he is too heavy for the Caterpie to knock back.

"Alright if that's how it's going to be," John says he pulls out a Pokeball and calls out Brisby. Right away the Rattata notices that her trainer is under attack by a wild Pokemon. She however is not having it as she puts as much power into her hind legs and slams into the wild Caterpie. Knocking her back 2 meters as she causes massive damage to the Caterpie with a critical hit. As the Caterpie lands on the forest floor hard, knocked out.

"Wow, nice job Brisby," John says as he kneels down to pet the Rattata: Brisby herself looks rather prideful as she takes in the praise for fainting a Pokemon with one hit.

"Say wanna hang with me for a while?" John asks the Rattata. Brisby just runs up John's arm and climbs onto his shoulder where she braces herself for a ride.

"I'll take that as a yes," John says with a chuckle as he continues his way through the forest. However, as he rubs his hurt chest with his left hand John gets turned around as he starts walking more west than north as he stumble about. Brisby however doesn't even notice that they are heading the wrong way. John however does find another pond of water after a few hours.. As he sets up his Water Filter to gather fresh water Brisby jumps off his shoulder and starts drinking from the pond.

"Thirsty huh girl?" John says to the Rattata as she laps up the water. John then calls out Blaze and Holly. Blaze lets out his normal greeting cry to John as Holly hops over to John's leg and nuzzles him.

"Hey guys! Need a water break?" John says as he laughs. At this, both the Nidoran and the Charmander notice the pond before them and join Brisby in taking a nice long drink from the pond. As John fills up his canteen, he notices the sky is starting to turn orange.

"Wow, how long have we been walking?" John asks as he puts the cap back on the canteen. "Hey guys wanna camp here for the evening?"

Blaze gives out a "Char char!" as he carefully steps away from the pond. Holly however is jumping up and down squeaking out a "Nido! Nidoran! Nido!" happily. Brisby just finds a spot to sit down, watching the two.

"Well, Brisby I Need a tiebreaker here," John says towards the Rattata. Brisby cleans her face and whiskers before she walks over to cute and happy Holly and sits down next to her.

"Well, I guess that settles it. We are camping here then. Now don't worry Blaze I won't set camp too close to the water." John says as he walks over to the Fire-type, kneeling down and petting his head. Blaze leans into the pet as he lets out a cute drawn-out "Char". John walks a few feet away away from the pond and finds a nice flat, and dry place to set up camp. As he starts building his tent he tells Holly and Blaze about his encounter with another Bug-Type Pokemon and how easily Brisby took care of it. From the way he tells the short tale he is giving Brisby a lot of praise. The Rattata is starting to understand John's words and his praise for her as she starts to blush and rubs the back of her head in embarrassment as her Trainer praises her to her Teammates.

It takes John an hour to get his tent set up but this time he is able to understand the manual and is able to set up his tent properly. Making a campfire, however, is not the same case as it becomes a repeat of the night prior with him taking an hour to try to ignite a spark by rubbing two sticks together with the same kind of debris that he gathered for his last fire. As John is about to give up and ask for Blaze's help again he hears some rustling coming from a bush.

As he stops and holds his breath to see what will come out. All of a sudden a little mouse-like Pokemon comes scampering out of the underbrush and heads for the pond. It has pale yellow fur, with its collar, a small square-like tail, and the tips of its large ears are black with pink circle marks on its cheeks. To John, it looks very familiar to him but different at the same time. As the tiny mouse Pokemon gets a drink of water, it suddenly hits John. Before him is a Pichu, a pre-evolve form of Pikachu. An Electric-Type Pokemon. John can easily tell that its ability is Static, and this Pichu is a level 5 female and most likely a Naive nature at that. John keeps an eye on the little Pokemon as he sets out bowls of food for his Pokemon as Blaze goes ahead and sets the pile of twigs on fire.

Once John serves Blaze, Brisby, and Holly their share of Pokechow, he pulls out one more bowl from his bag and slowly walks toward the Pichu before he stops.

"Hi, little buddy," John says as speaks softly but loud enough for the Pichu to hear him. The Pichu stops drinking from the pond and looks up towards John, tilting her head with one ear flopping down as she wonders why a random human is trying to talk to her.

"Nice to meet you. I'm John. I'm not going to hurt you. I want to be your friend. I bet you are hungry." John says as he sets the bowl down and pours a potion of Pokechow into it. John is hoping that his skills in PokePsychology can earn him a new friend in the form of this wild Tiny Mouse Pokemon. John however just stands up and stays right next to the bowl of food. To the Pichu, this triggers her species instincts that John is trying to lure her in for a trap or challenging her. Her cheeks start sparking with electricity before she shocks John with a Thundershock from 2 meters away from him. John lets out a cry of pain as the Pichu does a good amount of damage to him.

Blaze quickly notices that his trainer is in trouble and rushes over and gets in between him and the Pichu. Blaze raises a claw and uses Scratch on the Pichu, the Pichu cries out as she is dealt with a lot of damage but her body sparks as the Charmander's claws makes contact with her body. As Blaze finishes his attack his body sparks as he flinches as he becomes paralyzed from the Pichu's static ability. Bribsy comes running over around John's side just in time to see Blaze becoming paralyzed from striking the Pichu. She skids to a halt next to Blaze as she wags her tail with Tail Whip and lowers the Pichu's defense. The Pichu is starting to become scared as Pokemon that she is not familiar with are suddenly ganging up on her.

"Ow that hurt. Guess we have to do this the old-fashioned way." John says as he pulls out an empty Pokeball. John tosses the Pokeball at the Pichu in an arch over Blaze's head. It hits her right between the ears on the top of her head and she is sucked into the ball by a beam of light. The Ball shakes 3 times with each time the capture button flashes yellow until it clicks and the light turns green.

"Alright, I caught a Pichu!" John calls out as he jumps up in victory. Holly who was about to join in the fight also cheers from her spot next to her food bowl. Brisby sighs in relief for another quick fight. John scoops up Blaze into his arms and takes him back to his little camp and sets him down next to his food bowl.

"You did good Blaze. Go ahead and eat your food and take a long rest." John says as Brisby walks over and joins them for dinner. As the three Pokemon start to eat John takes out another bowl and fills it with Pokechow before letting out Monarch to eat as well. While the four Pokemon starts eating John sets up his kettle to try to boil water for his own meal. Once he has all that set up he walks over to the 5th bowl of Pokechow and brings it over to the group. He takes out the Pokeball and releases the Pichu next to the food. The Pichu shakes her head from the new feeling of being in the ball before she notices John.

"Hey there, you're a pretty tough little Pokemon you know that?" John says as he kneels to her. The Pichu lets out a confused "Chu?" as she tilts her head to the side.

"Here go ahead and eat," John says as he jesters to the bowl next to her. The Pichu looks down and notices the bowl before she starts to dig into it greedily.

"You kinda cute too. How about I call you Sparks?" John laughs as he smiles. The Pichu lets out a "Pi!" as her cheeks spark with electricity, making Monarch jump in freight as Holly and Brisby suddenly stand up, ready for a battle.

"Hey hey, girls. There's no need for another fight. Let's just try to enjoy our dinner." John says as he tries to defuse a possible in-team fight. Holly and Brisby settle down and go back to their food as the Pichu now known as Sparks just lets out a confused "Pichu?", wondering if she did something wrong. After one meal of Pokechow and another round of undercooked cup of ramen as once again the fire burns out before the water can truly come to a boil. John calls both Sparks and Blaze back into their Pokeballs as the sky is starting to turn dark. John then kneels down to check on Monarch's facial injury. John can see that the needle-wide holes are starting to heal and close. He can barely make them out.

"Looks like you're healing nicely Monarch," John says. This is the most interaction that he had with Caterpie since he caught him yesterday. Monarch lets out a little screech of joy as he wiggles his first pair of sucker feet.

"I think one more night of rest should do it for you. I'll see you in the morning." John says as he recalls Monarch back into his Pokeball. Seeing that their Trainer is about to call it a night, Holly and Brisby run over to the entrance to John's tent as they both sit there and wait for him.

"Hmm? Do you girls wanna sleep in your Pokeballs as well?" John asks. Both the Nidoran and the Rattata seem to protest as they both paw at the tent.

"Oh? You both want to sleep with me tonight?"John asks as he walks over to them. The two female Pokemon both let out a squeak that seems to say "Please.".

"Okay okay, Let me open up the tent first," John says with a chuckle. As soon as he unzips the opening flap both Pokemon rush into the tent which only makes John laugh. John follows the two Pokemon as they wait for their trainer in the two back corners of the tent. John carefully sets his backpack down to one side as he rolls out his sleeping bag, making sure he doesn't smack the two Pokemon with it due to the limited space in his one-person tent. Once he closes up his tent. John strips off half of his clothes like the night before and slips into his sleeping bag. As he gets settled in Holly comes over to him and nuzzles his cheek.

"Hehe ok ok. I love you too Holly. Good night girl." John laughs at the cuddly Pokemon before she finds a spot by the sleeping bag to lie down and snuggles against John. To John's surprise, however, Brisby takes the other side of him and lies up against his side.

"Well, this is a new thing from you, Brisby," John says as he reaches out of his sleeping bag and pets the Rattata. Brisby however this time nuzzles into the hand with a pleased look on her face. She is starting to show how much she likes the attention from her trainer.

"I take it we are now friends huh? That's good. Good night Brisby." John says as he settles back into his sleeping bag. Brisby lets out a "Tata." in return before closing her eyes. John follows his two Pokemon into sleep as they rest through the night. This time John has a dream that he is standing on the champion's platform cheering along with Blaze, Holly, and Brisby, sharing his greatest victory with his Pokemon friends upon the world stadium.

The next morning John wakes up with a yawn and a stretch. As he does so he wakes up Brisby and Holly who both seem to have a good night's sleep with their trainer. As John groggily puts his socks, jeans, and shoes back on before rolling up his sleeping bag.

"Good morning girls," John says as he pets the two Pokemon. Holly gives out a cute "Nido!" as she nuzzles his hand. Brisby just lets out a please squeak as her own head is petted by their trainer.

"Alright let's get this day started and check on everyone!" John yells out as he shakes off the morning cloud of sleep and fully wakes up. He unzips the tent and he and all of his Pokemon exit the tent before John takes a half hour to break it down and store it away in his backpack. He then returns Brisby back into her Pokeball and calls out Blaze. The Charmander lets out a yawn as he is waking up himself.

"Hey, buddy! How are you feeling this morning?" John asks Blaze as Holly watches off to the side. Blaze lets out a "Charmander!" as he flexes both arms showing that the previous evening's paralyze has passed and he is back to full health again.

"That's good Blaze. Ready to take on the day today?" John asks. Blaze lets a "Mander!" as he cheers and pumps a fist claw into the air.

"Now that's what I like to hear! But today I have a different morning training retain. If it's ok with you? I wanna focus on our newest members this morning." John asks Blaze. Blaze lets out a "Char Char!" as he nods.

"Alright, I'll see you later then buddy," John says as he recalls Blaze back into his Pokeball. John then pulls out Monarch's Pokeball and calls out the Caterpie.

"Hey, Monarch! How are we feeling today?" John says as he kneels down to examine the Bug-type's face. Monarch just tilts his head to the side as he looks up at John confused. John can see that the Caterpie's injury is now fully healed.

"It looks like you are doing a lot more better," John says with a smile. Monarch just only continues to stare up at John. John reaches down and gently pets the Caterpie's red antenna. The Caterpie lets out a little squee as it finds being petted by that spot quite enjoyable.

"You like that huh buddy? Well, let's check up on our other new team member." John says as he pulls out Sparks's Pokeball. The Pichu appears in a flash of light next to Monarch as she lets out a yawn herself.

"Good morning Sparks! How are we feeling today?" John asks the Pichu. Sparks just cleans her face before letting out a long drawn-out yawn as she is still waking up for the day as well. It seems that a good night's sleep helped her recover all the damage that she took from Blaze's Scratch attack.

"Well, I hope you are ready because it's time for you and Monarch to do some Team John training! You two Holly." John says as he calls out to the Nidoran. Holly jumps over to the other 2 Pokemon, eager to go and please her trainer. For an hour John trains the three Pokemon, improving on Monarch's acrobatic skills and giving the Caterpie, Nidoran, and Pichu a little experience. Once training is done John returns both Monarch and Sparks back into their balls but as he pulls out Holly's ball the Nidoran runs over to John, placing her front paws on his shin as she looks up at him with a begging face as she let's out a "Ran Ran! Nidoran!" over and over again.

"What's wrong girl? Do you hang out with me today?" John asks as he gets down to one knee. Holly answers by jumping up into his arms and nuzzles his chest.

"Okay Okay. I won't put you back into your ball. You can hang out with me unless you get hurt, ok?" John laughs at the Nidoran's affection, thinking that she might be still worried after the day before. Holly looks up at John with her big adorable red eyes as she squeaks out a "Nido!" at him.

"Very well but stay close to me and try not to get lost," John says with a smile as he pets the Poison-Type. John sets the Nidoran down before they start to walk away from the pond. Holly ever being the cute and cuddly Pokemon that she is keeps ahead of John as she jumps, bounds, and hops over small bushes, and tall grass. However, as she tries to jump over a bush taller than 3 feet she ends up landing into the bush. John seeing this quickly rushes over to said bush.

"Holly, are you ok?" John asks as he quickly starts pulling the leaves and branches aside to find his little companion unharmed but stuck upside down in the bush. Holly blushes a little as she bashfully rubs the back of her head as she lets out a little embarrassed squeak as if she is trying to tell John "I meant to do that". John just chuckles as he pulls her out of the bush and carries her in his arms as he continues to walk on.

"Well be careful the next time you get the zoomies," John says as he holds her chest to chest, to avoid her back spikes from stabbing him. Holly nods at John's words before giving his chest a little nuzzle.

"You are so lucky that you are so cute," John says as he boops her nose with his index finger. Holly goes cross-eyed as she tries to look at her own nose before she lets out a little sneeze. As John is paying more attention to the antics of his Pokemon, John's foot gets caught on an above-ground tree root as he trips. Caught off guard John lets out a loud surprise yell as he tries to right himself only to fall on top of Holly who tries to jump out of his arms but fails to react in time. Before John completely face plants into the ground and japs Holly's back spikes into the ground, John thought he saw something that looks like an orange sun, quickly flying up and above the forest treeline and away. John groans as he picks himself up and looks down at the flattened Nidoran.

"Hey, are you ok? You're not too hurt are you?" John asks Holly. The Nidoran replays with a groan.

"Baka!" before John could apologize to his Pokemon, he hears the angry voice of another boy. All of a sudden something wooden smacks against John's shoulder hard as John lets out a yelp of pain. John quickly stands up and faces his attacker. Another boy his age, wearing brown pants, black hard-toe hiking boots, a green Keikogi, and a Straw weaved, Jingasa hat. Right in the front of the hat, made with green straw, is an image of a beetle with its elytra open part way and wielding a wooden sword.

"What the heck is your problem kid?!" John yells out as he rubs his sore shoulder.

"You cost me a rare catch! I had a Volcarona within my sights! A Pokemon that was never spotted in this region before and you scared it off! Not only that but your clumsiness resulted in your own Pokemon becoming hurt!" the boy says as he holds the tip of his Bokken to John's face.

"I didn't mean to hurt her!" John argues back.

"It doesn't matter if you did or did not! The point is you are the one responsible for hurting your Pokemon! Just as much as you are responsible for scaring off my quarry! That is unforgettable! I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!" the boy said as he put his Bokken away and pulls out a Netball.

"Fine, I accept your challenge and I wager. . . . " John stops in his tracks as he thinks over with how much money he has left. If he loses he can't just risk a large sum of what he currently has on hand right now. "I wager 100 Poke!"

"Ha this battle was just for honor but if you are gonna go with such a low wager then I'll wager 400 Poke!" the boy announces. With that, Holly gets up on her feet and rushes to John's side.

"Then I'm starting off with my Nidoran, Holly first!" John says as he takes a couple of steps back.

"Be warn if you try to run off during this battle then you will have to answer to my blade!" The boy steps back as well before he releases the Pokemon inside. In a flash of light, a green spider-like Pokemon appears with 6 yellow and black legs, red fangs, and what appears to be a face pattern on its abdomen. John recognizes it as a Spinarak, the same Pokemon that is on Flash's shirt.

Right away Holly acts first before John can issue a command as she raises her front paw and scratches the Spinarak across the face with a Scratch attack, dealing some damage to the spider Pokemon.

"Alright, Holly! Use Growl next!" John cheers from his spot as he pumps a fist forward.

"Slow her down with String Shot!" the Bug Samurai boy calls out.

The Spinarak hisses as it sprays out a cone of spider silk at Holly. Covering her in the sticky thread.

"Shot just hang in there, you're doing fine Holly!" John yells out.

"Hit her with a Poison Sting attack!" the boy calls out as he waves his hand in front of him as if he is slashing the air in front of him with his open palm.

Despite her speed being reduced by the spider's silk, Holly is still faster than the Spinarak as she acts first and growls at the spider, making him flinch and lowering his attack. The Spinarak however retaliates as it flexes its Fangs and sends out a spray of poisonous needles at Holly. The Nidoran grunts as she takes only half the damage that the Spinarak tries to deal onto her due to her type.

"Hit it again with your Scratch attack!" John calls out.

"Use String Shot again!" the Bug Samurai orders.

Holly once again raises her front paw to scratch at the spider but it ducks under her attack and her paw gets stuck against the branch of a nearby brush by way of the spider silk that is covering it. The Spinarak laughs at its opponent's failure as it tries to cover Holly in more spider silk however its fit of laughter made it fire its String Shot down at the ground in front of him. Feeling stupid the Spinarak glares at the Nidoran as it is now enraged.

"Growl at that Spider again! You can do this!" John calls out as he cheers for Holly.

"Don't give in to your anger! Use String Shot!" The Bug Samurai calls out as he notices the angry look on the spider's face. Even its face pattern looks unhappy and enraged.

Holly looks over her shoulder and growls at the spider before she can pull her front paw free from the bush and rip a little of the spider silk off her paw. The Spinarak however ignores his trainer's orders and proceeds to attack Holly with a Poison Sting attack. Hitting her in the shoulder as the Nidoran frees herself from her sticky situation. As his attack lands, the Spinarak can calm himself down and snap out of his enraged state.

"One more time Holly, Hit him with a Scratch Attack!" John Says as he calls out.

"Now that you have cleared your mind, use String Shot" ordered the Bug Samurai.

Holly winces from the pain of the last attack but she scratches at the Spinarak nonetheless but only for her attack to do little damage to the spider. The Spinarak lets out an annoyed hiss before coating Holly in another layer of spider silk. John seeing that Holly is in a tough spot recalls her back into her Pokeball and calls out Monarch to take her place.

"Give that spider a taste of its own medicine Monarch! Use String Shot!" John calls out to the Caterpie.

"Attack with your Poison Sting!" the Bug Samurai orders out.

Monarch rears up and sprays out a cone of his own silk, slowing down the Spider Pokemon. The Spinarak hisses angrily at the caterpillar as it fires its own Poison Sting attack at him. Monarch winces in pain but tanks the hit as he is still standing strong.

"Now tackle it, Monarch!" John calls out.

"Slow it down with String Shot!" Ordered the Bug Samurai.

Monarch suddenly tackles the Spider Pokemon, Knocking it back into its own trainer's chest in a soft thud as the Bug Samurai was not hurt at all by the impact. As the Spinarak lands on the forest floor and sprays out a cone of spider silk and coats the Caterpie in it.

"Get on its flank and Tackle it again!" John calls out.

"String Shot one more time" the Bug Samurai orders.

This time the Spinarak reacts first as it covers Monarch in another layer of sticky spider silk. Monarch rushes around and tackles the Spinarak on its right side, sending it rolling for about 2 meters before it stops.

"We're in the slow game now Monarch. Use Tackle again!" John Commands.

"Keep your distance and use Poison Sting!" the Bug Samurai orders

The Spinarch keeping to its trainer's orders moves back 3 meters until it's next to a patch of tall grass before it turns to face Monarch and fires its Poison Sting attack at the Caterpie. Its venomous needles hit its target but once again, Monarch tanks the hit. Monarch tries to catch up to the Spinarch but his slow speed has him going 4 meters per 11 seconds now and is in no way of catching up. John releases this and he follows Monarch around the tree, knowing now that there is no way the Caterpie is now going to catch up to the Spinarak as he calls Monarch back into his ball and calls Holly back out again to take his place.

"Keep close to the creepy crawly and use Scratch" John calls out

"Keep your distance don't let that Nidoran near you and use Poison Sting!" the bug Samurai calls out.

Holly rushes the Spider Pokemon and Scratches his face with her front paw, dealing a decent amount of damage as the Spinarak is starting to look not so good. Without trying to disengage from Holly the Spinarak tries to move away from Holly, however, this gives the Nidoran an opportunity to struggle to attack the spider as she rams into the retreating Bug Pokemon with her head, just barely doing enough damage to faint the Spinarak.

"Good job Holly! Now return and get a good rest for now." John says as he returns Holly back into her Pokeball before he calls out Brisby. "Keep your guard up and be ready for anything!"

"Looks like you're not such a Baka after all, however, you can't stand the might of my next Pokemon!" the Bug Samurai says as he recalls the down Spinarak. He moves 3 meters towards the southwest before he throws out another netball and a medium size Pokemon appears. Another green bug-looking Pokemon with four insect-like wings. a reptilian-looking head and its forearms are large scythe blades.

"Use Quick Attack!" the bug samurai orders.

Before the Rattata can react, the larger Pokemon is already on her in the blink of an eye and slams into her. Making the Rattata to twist her ankle in a bad way as she cries out in pain. Brisby notices that this new opponent is going to be a pain to take down not only with its high speed but also with its high attack and high defense. While holding her injured paw up to avoid putting weight on it Brisby wags her tail at the large bug Pokemon to lower its defenses if only just by a bit. Trying to bind some time Brisby races around the tree that they are battling near, placing herself right where John used to be at the beginning of the battle. John unable to get a good reading on the opposing Pokemon pulls out his Pokedex and scans it. The small red compact device beeps as it reads out the info with the picture of the Pokemon displayed.

Scyther: The Mantis Pokemon. A bug and flying type. It leaps out of tall grass and slices prey with its scythes. The movement looks like that of a ninja.

"Oh no, this is not good. Hang in there Brisby and keep your distance!" John calls out to his Rattata in a panic.

"Ha, only a Novice panics during a battle! Go Scyther don't let that rat get away! Use Quick attack again!"

Once again before Brisby can react the Scyther is quick to catch up to her as he speeds around the front of the tree and slams into her torso hard. The impact of its attack results in two things in Brisby to snap as she cries out in pain before she crumbles to the ground, and faints.

"Oh no Bribsy!" John cries out seeing how hard the Scyther hit her. He quickly rushes over to her and calls the down Rattata back into her Pokeball. He glares up at the Scyther before him as he puts Brisby's Pokeball back onto his belt pulls out Sparks's, and calls out the Pichu.

"Alright, Sparks we gotta outpower this big bug! Use Thunder Shock!" John calls out.

"Weaken it with Leer!" the Bug Samurai orders as he runs over closer to action, stopping next to a patch of mushrooms.

The Scyther glares towards Sparks and John. With John standing right behind Sparks, he gets caught by the Scyther's range of its Leer as well as lowering both his and the Pichu's defense. Sparks puffs up her chest as she tries to make herself look bigger, as her cheeks sparks with electricity and she lets out a cry as she zaps the Scyther, dealing massive damage to the Scyther as its electrical powers char the Bug-Type's wings.

"Yeah, that's it! Hit it again with another Thunder Shock!" John cheers out to the Pichu.

"Stop it with Quick Attack!" the Bug Samurai orders out.

Before Sparks could blink the Scyther slams into the Pichu. Sparks let out a cry of pain as her chest swells and a large jolt of pain rocks her shoulder before she feels her arm become numb and hangs limb at her side. The little electric type was hit with a lot of damage but she is barely hanging in there as she glares at the Scyther. Her cheeks sparks but the pain from her chest forces her to wince, leaving her unable to release her attack.

"Oh no this is not good," John said to himself, realizing that Sparks was not going to be able to take another hit he recalls her back into her Pokeball and sends Monarch back out. "Hang tough and use Tackle!"

"Down that worm with Quick Attack!" the Bug Samurai orders out.

During the time that Scyther was taking back its stance, The Pichu that he just slammed into was suddenly replaced by a Caterpie. As soon as the Caterpie materializes out of his Pokeball he slams into the Scyther, doing a little damage but the Scyther, now heavily wounded thanks to Sparks Thundershock is barely hanging in there. The Scyther however glares daggers at the Caterpie and slams into the smaller bug Pokemon in the blink of an eye. Monarch tanks the damage he receives by almost half but a large bruise has formed on his exoskeleton.

"Just a little longer! Use Tackle again!" John calls out.

"I said take down that worm! Use Quick Attack again!" calls out the Bug Samurai

As soon as the Scyther lands and is about to prepare another Quick Attack, Monarch slams into its midsection, leaving a cracked exoskeleton as the Scyther falls over and faints.

"Yeah, way to go Monarch! John calls out. He pulls out a potion from his backpack, places the nuzzle against the button of Spark's Pokeball, and applies the medicine to her to heal her. Unknown to him the Pichu's injuries don't allow her to take the full benefit of the Potion. The Bug Samurai recalls his down Scyther before pulling out another Netball. He throws it towards John and Monarch and materializing out of the ball comes a heavy-looking 4-foot-tall blue beetle-like Pokemon as it stands before the Caterpie.

"Now I have saved my strongest for last! Go and use Horn attack." Calls out the Bug Samurai.

Just out of panic, Monarch sprays out a cone of caterpillar silk onto the beetle, slowing it down. The beetle however does not like the fact it was greated onto the battlefield with a face full of sticky thread and glares down at Monarch. It brings its head back and slams its Hercules beetle-like horn down onto the Caterpie with a loud thud. As it pulls its horn away, Monarch is seen in a tiny cater in the forest floor, fainted and a couple of his exoskeleton sections are cracked as well. John recalls Monarch back into his Pokeball as he starts to get worried. Not sure what he is dealing with John sends Sparks back out again,

"Keep your distance, disengage, and keep using charm," John calls out to the Pichu.

"Hah, foolish! Keep Close and use Horn Attack!" orders the Bug Samurai.

Sparks, who is still nursing a dislocated arm runs past John and heads east for a couple of meters before she turns back and winks at the large beetle as she squeeks out a cute "Chu". The Beatle looks shocked at the cute action but catches up to the Pichu on foot. It swings with its large horn and slams it against Sparks as she feels another snap in her chest as she faints. The beetle flinches however as sparks race over his body, Sparks Static ability had paralyzed the larger Pokemon.

"Oh no! Sparks!" John cries out as he recalls the heavily injured Pichu back into her Pokeball. Now starting to panic John calls out Holly once again. "We have no choice. Use Scratch!"

"Defeat that Nidoran with one blow! Use Horn Attack!" the Bug Samurai calls out.

Holly raises her claws and swings at the beetle but her claws bounce off the beetle's body as her attack does no damage. The Beetle just smirks as he manages to find the strength to raise its horn and slams it against Holly. The Nidoran let out a cry of pain as a large bruise now starts to form on her hind leg as she dealt with massive damage. John seeing no way to win against this beast of the bug quickly pulls out Holly's ball and recalls her back inside of it. Rather than to call out Blaze. John raises his hand above his head.

"Stop! That's it. . . . . I. . . . . I submit defeat." John says as he lowers his head in shame. "There's no way me and my Pokemon can defeat your last Pokemon."

"Very well." the Bug Samurai said as he recalls his beetle Pokemon back into its Pokeball and walks over to John. True to his word John gives the boy 100 Poke for losing the unfriendly match.

"Why did you and your Pokemon go so hard on us? The last trainer I battled didn't." John asks as he looks at the tiny crater that the beetle left after one of its Horn Attacks.

"It's quite simple. If you haven't figured it out by now, not all trainer battle encounters that you will face will be friendly. There are those that will do harm to you and your Pokemon whether it be greed or just for the fun of it. Me and my Pokemon don't hold back due to that fact. I trust you have bandages to help heal the injuries that your Pokemon received from my Heracross?" the boy asks as he pockets the money.

"Um, actually no I didn't think about that when going through a forest that has a large amount of Caterpie and Weedle," John says as he glances around, seeing only a lone Caterpie in one of the nearby trees as he glances around. In a flash of movement, the boy draws his Bokken from his Obi and brings it down hard on the side of John's arm.

"Ow! Hey, what was that for?!" John yells as pain shoots up his arm.

"Baka! If you truly cared about your Pokemon not only would you have prepared to buy potions but also bandages! You risked the chance of getting your Pokemon hurt and injured by believing that going through even a forest like this would be like a walk in the park! You are arrogant and reckless!" The boy says as he yells at John. He then points in a direction. "The closest Pokemon Center from here is that way about a day and a half travel. Now get out of my sight and go heal your Pokemon!" the boy placed his Bokken back in its place, tucked away in his Obi before he starts to walk away.

"Hey, ain't you going to show me the way instead of pointing in a diction?!" John yells back at the boy. The Bug Samurai only stops and looks over his shoulder.

"No! Me and my Pokemon may have injured most of yours but I am still upset that you cost me a chance to catch a Volcarona. Just keep the sun on your left in the morning and the sun on your right in the afternoon and you will be there without getting lost." With that, the boy continues to walk off further into the forest alone. John grumbles as he nurses his hurt arm but his ego is more bruised than his body. However, the boy was right. His Pokemon are badly hurt and he needs to get them healed and fast and so he walks off towards the direction he was instructed to go. John will try to remember this encounter to learn from his mistakes. Not just the battle itself but the battle of the mind. Hopefully, this is a hard lesson for him to not take things lightly and make reckless decisions such as underpreparing. But one can only hope, as the journey continues.

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Scene Playlist:

A wagged battle - Pokemon anime soundtrack, Scramble
One on one - Undertale OST, It's Raining Somewhere Else
Battle for the Berry - Undertale OST, Enemy Appoaching
A critcal Pitch - Final Fantasy OST, Victory
Kate the Mew - Cupcakes 8-bit version
Viridian Camping - Night Time Forest Nature Ambience Michael Ghelfi Studios
Battle Against the Samurai - Undertale OST, Spider Dance

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First off I would like to appolgis for the amount fo time it took for me to get this chapter out due to it being in Editing Limbo. I lost cotact with the edtiter for about mounth ago from some unknown reasons. It could be due to IRL stuff such as illness, overwork job or many other things but I can't be too sure. However due to lack of contact and how long It's been since I posted a new chapter, I decided go about another means of getting this chapter ready for post. Chapter 4 is finished right now but it is not ready to be posted yet but it expect it to come out soon once I have it edited. Speaking of Chapter 4 just to give you all a heads up, there will be minor background retcons due to me forgetting to take notes of the story progression and/or me changing up for a better succuess/failure battle situration.

Once again I would like the thank blindwolf87, Lycris and XD-385 for consulting on my little project.