Unions of Friendship

by leonardonl

20 years after Mewtwo was born and the legendaries awoke, the world seems to be at peace once more. Lenny, born south of Pallet, travels through the Pokémon world, making friends and challenging gyms, with the ambition to become Master. But when the whole world is at peace, might there be a evil slumbering, waiting, somewhere within the world?

1. Birth of a team

The Pokemon world has changed after the adventures of Ash and Pikachu. 20 years ago, when Ash Ketchum and his well-known yellow rodent set out of Pallet town to start their journey, they did not know that the world was at a turning point. It could be send into destruction or annihilation, or form a new balance.

The creation of Mewtwo by team Rocket put the world at a tipping point: the balance so carefully created by Arceus and his legendary pokemon was upset. One legend after another emerged from its slumber, upset by the actions of human organizations from team Rocket to team Galactic.

Not only were the organizations a threat, the uncontrolled legendaries were so focused on reestablishing the balance, that they themselves were capable of turning it over the other side.

By a mere chance of coincidence, or maybe it was the influence of a higher power, Ash was there at every turn. By following his heart and trusting in the capabilities of his friends, he saw the world at peace again.

A peace greater than ever before.

Different regions now worked together in a way they never did before. Different pokemon species were exchanged across the regions. The higher variety of available pokemon created more joy for both pokemon and human. The exchange of research results created technological progress in a fast pace and in this world the people and pokemon flourished.

But finding peace might be harder than keeping peace. And when everything is well organized and focused on maintaining peace with external actors, a cancerous evil might be lurking within, hidden, ambitious, unbeknownst to anyone.

It is at this time that a new adventurer from Pallet dreamed of having his very own set of pokemon friends. But it all started on a boring day in high school.

(Authors note: I have been greatly inspired by Traveler by the Straight Elf, as every Fanfic writer is. For me this is the best pokemon fanfic out there and I would gladly recommend it to all of you. You might see the similarities and for that I do not apologize. The pokemon world holds many heroes and many stories. The Straight Elf inspired me to tell my take on this amazing world. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Traveler.)

It was a sunny day, especially considering it was only early March. Lenny Naighfield sighed as he looked out of the window. Two more hours and he could go home. He hated theoretical lectures like this one, he had expected way more from 'advanced pokemon evolutions'.

Basically everything that the teacher was saying he had already read a thousand times in his dad's pokedex or in one of the countless books he and his father had at home. They only covered subjects like growth during evolution. Lenny had hoped to learn more about what triggers evolution. He was especially interested in uncommon evolutions like Machoke to Machamp. Instead, the lecturer was describing what happened inside a Metapod during its transformation to Butterfree. Luckily, this was his last year in high school. Just a few more months before he could travel the world was all he was thinking.

Lenny was almost seventeen year old, the age that you were allowed to become a trainer, if you graduated from high school that is. It used to be something around ten or eleven, but ever since an eleven year old kid got involved in too many dangerous situations regarding team Rocket, the League had upped the minimum age and didn't give licenses that easy anymore. You needed to prove that you were both mentally, physically and intellectually capable of taking care of yourself and your pokemon, before you could get your license. Those tests were held over the years at the trainer focused courses at the school, and Lenny was nearly finished. That eleven year old kid that was the reason to change the rules, was from Pallet too, now that Lenny thought of it.

Lenny wasn't really from Pallet though, he just attended school there. He and his father lived on a small, nameless island a bit to the south. Of course his parents' pokemon lived there as well. The island was small and they were the only people living on it. Lenny really liked the solitude. The only friends he cared about were the pokemon that lived with them, he was never really comfortable around people.

"Alright class, you can go now. The Indigo League Conference features Gary Oak today, so you probably all want to watch it."

The class cheered and all ran out to go home and sit in front of the television. So did Lenny, though he first took out his phone and called home. Of course his father didn't pick up, he was currently in Hoenn to give a lecture or something.

The phone rang, once, twice, before it could ring again he could hear the click indicating somebody had answered and immediately he could hear the chippering of the Taillows. Now all Lenny had to do was walk to the beach and wait for Lapras to come pick him up.

Once Lapras came close to the shore, she fired a playful ice beam at Lenny, announcing her presence. Lenny smiled and threw a stone towards the Lapras, which she easily shot away with a small water pulse. Even though Lapras was almost thirty year old, she was still very playful. Lenny always loved going on daytrips with her.

Somewhere along the way to the island he noticed Swellow and the two Taillow flying over. The Taillow were a few months old but were already great flyers. They always made sure to show it, even now they were chasing and evading each other, doing loopings and corkscrews. Swellow was just taking a casual flight to stretch her wings.

The moment he came home he ran towards the TV, only slowing down to scratch Azumarill behind her ears. Gary had a pretty easy opponent, it was still early in the Conference after all. His Umbreon had no trouble dealing with a Gloom, a Butterfree and Bellsprout. It was expected though, Gary was around 30 years old and left Kanto for a while to travel through the other regions. Now that he returned he was one of the favorites to win the conference.

"Am I still on time?" Lenny turned around at the sudden words, to see his father standing there, next to his Gardevoir. She was so adapt at teleporting that there wasn't even a flash of light or a whisper of sound. She and his father just appeared out of thin air. Leonard Naighfield had thick messy brown air and intelligent blue eyes that were behind a small set of glasses. He wore a comfortable hoodie, instead of his suit or lab coat that he usually wore when on business travels.

"No, it just ended. It was a boring match though. Umbreon tore all his opponents apart in seconds."

"That's not what I meant silly. It's your birthday today!" His dad smiled at his confused face.

Lenny quickly looked over to the calendar and indeed, he turned seventeen today! His dad had been gone for two weeks and he didn't bother keeping up with the date.

"And when somebody has his birthday, he gets a present. Son, before I give it to you, I want you to know that I'm very proud of you. You're officially reaching maturity now, but you were already mature at such a young age. The way you got a hold of yourself after…. we lost mom." Leonard swallowed a block in his throat away before continuing:" Just know that I love you and am proud of the man you've become. I am sure you will be a great trainer. And for that you need a starter of course…." He said while he took off his backpack and opened it in front of him. Lenny held his breath while waiting for the next words.

"I know you've been thinking about one of the Taillow, but this egg contains a pokemon that I'm sure you will love and you will be great together." Lenny's gaze moved from his father to the egg he was holding. It was faintly reddish or orange colored, with a white rugged line in the middle.

"Dad, thank you so much! This is the best gift ever. What pokemon does it contain?!" Lenny shouted out in excitement, while he jumped over the couch to run towards his dad to hug him and grab the egg.

"You'll see for yourself. It is already pretty close to hatching. I'll give you one hint though, it likes being in the sun and the sand, so it will probably hatch sooner if you spend time with it on the beach.

Congratulations little one. I am sure all your pokemon will love you as much as we do.

"Thanks, Gardevoir." Lenny replied to the tall psychic.

"Well I guess we should have a nice and fancy dinner right? How about we fly to Cinnabar?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea dad! You should change though, you smell." Lenny smiled and immediately tried and failed to dodge the punch his dad threw at his shoulder.

"Next time if you joke like that I'll have Breloom Focus Punch you."

"Then he first has to go through my own Pokemon!" Lenny exclaimed while stroking the egg, he noticed that it felt slightly rough, like sandpaper.

«»

During the dinner they mostly talked about the upcoming trainer journey Lenny would be starting in June or July. This was the time the school finished and his starter would probably be old enough to start battling by then.

Together they decided that it would be best if he started going north, to the mainland. He could go south and start at Cinnabar, but his starter probably wasn't going to be strong enough to carry him across the vast sea, and it wasn't likely that it would be a water or flying type anyway.

After that was decided, Lenny asked his dad about how he started his journey. He had heard the story a thousand times, but never got enough of it. His dad was from Lilycove city, in Hoenn. When he was twelve he got an Absol, his starter. He was never very ambitious as a trainer, he just loved spending time with his pokemon. He had settled for a few months in Dewford, raising his Ralts and Shroomish there along with his Absol. He had traveled all over Hoenn, catching a Marill, Swellow, Swablu, Slugma and Sealeo along the way. Then he started challenging gyms. After he obtained six badges, he lost to Norman and decided to become a gym trainee at his gym. He stayed a year before he got tired of living in the forest and wanting to challenge the Ever Grande Conference. He obtained all the badges this time and ended up in the last eight of the conference. This got him a job invitation to become a Hoenn Pokemon Ranger. As a Ranger he wandered through Hoenn with his pokemon, helping whereever he could, before he met what would be the love of his live, Lenny's mom, and her Lapras.

They met at an interregional meeting about how pokemon affect the climate or their surrounding habitat. His mom was a researcher under Professor Oak at that time. Quickly after the meeting, his dad went to Kanto and they lived in Pallet for many years while they both worked for Professor Oak, his dad as a Ranger for the Oak parcel and the surroundings of Pallet. Once Lenny's mom got pregnant they bought this little island and started their own research on pokemon migration and habitual influences.

It was mostly his mom's research, Lenny's dad was uneducated but had years of practical experience with pokemon. During the time with Professor Oak he helped a lot with the research, though he always liked to be outside in the Parcel better. But ever since his wife died, Lenny's dad spend more time on the research, trying to finish her lifework. He was often away for his work, ever since Lenny was around 9 years old. But he always left some of his pokemon at home, and Lenny was always able to take care of himself.

After finishing their dinner, they flew back to their small island home. Leonard jumped on the back of his majestic Altaria and Lenny on the back of Swellow.

«»

It could be so many things. Vulpix, or maybe a Paras because of the sand. Or a Krabby! They are red with white too. But his father wouldn't give him a Krabby, there were tons of them around here. No it is something else. Maybe a Corphish then!
What if it was a Cindaquill, or a Slugma, just like his dad had one. Lenny always had slightly favorited fire types. It would make sense though if it was from Hoenn.

But there were probably people from all over the world participating at his father's lecture. It could be from Sinnoh or Unova just as easily. A Pansear! Lenny once saw one on TV, those were pretty strong. Could it be?
Lenny sighed and leaned back in the sand. He had been going over this for a few weeks now, laying on the beach on the eastern side of their island. When he was in class, he paid even less attention than he used too, always having the egg close to him. At first his classmates surrounded him, all curious about the egg. But after a few times they lost interest, since it still hadn't hatched.

Most of his classmates went on the field trip with Professor Oak and a Parcel Ranger to catch their first pokemon. There were a few kids that would get one of the Kanto starters from Oak, but that was only for kids who had great grades and showed a deep affection to pokemon and even then there was a lottery with hundreds of other kids from all over Kanto. Other classmates received a pokemon from their parents, who would buy them from a breeder, or went to catch them further out. And there were the classmates that didn't want to go on a training journey and went into business or university.

His thoughts were suddenly disturbed by a crack. Lenny looked around, expecting to see one of the Taillow crack something. Instead he saw a crack running over the length of the egg. Crack. Followed by one more. Lenny's heart shot inside his throat as he watched the hatching of what would be his starter. He could hear a faint squeak from inside.

The top of the egg was lifted and showed a big round head. It had big black eyes with white pupils on it, and a zigzagging mouth. After the head came a round body, with four small, stumpy legs. His body was a very deep orange, close to red actually, all over. Except for its belly, which was white as bone.

"Inch", it squeaked as it noticed Lenny, who was in agape.

The Trapinch, for that it was as Lenny recognized immediately, started licking the membrane of his body before it nestled itself in the sand. Lenny smacked himself to the head, how could he forgotten about the possibility of it being a Trapinch. His final evolution is called the elemental spirit of the sand, which should have been a clear clue. Well it didn't matter anymore, he had a pokemon and it was a Trapinch! It would grow to be a freaking dragon type!

"Hi little buddy, I did not expect you to be a Trapinch, but I'm so glad you are. We are going to have a great time together aren't we?" Lenny moved closer towards the Trapinch. It nodded in approval, though it looked a bit confused at Lenny.

Lenny went to sit next to it and thought of everything he knew about Trapinch. They were originally from Hoenn, they could be found in Unova and Kalos as well, maybe in Sinnoh too, he wasn't sure. His dad would love this, Trapinch was one of the most migrated Pokemon, though it was still very rare in Johto en Kanto. Once they found a territory they stayed there, always in deserts. There was often only one Flygon in a desert, but there could be dozens of Vibrava's and hundreds of Trapinch.

Trapinch liked to bury themselves in the sand when they're resting, and they hunt the same way. They lie in a hole and wait for a prey, mostly small desert insects, to fall down. Their jaws are strong enough to crush rocks. And it was obviously a ground type. He could learn a pretty solid and variated move set, especially once he unlocked his dragon abilities through evolution to a Vibrava.

Lenny's Trapinch was about 8 inches high, but it could grow to 3 foot if it got the right nutrition and it wouldn't evolve.

Trapinch suddenly lashed out to catch a fly and made a rumbling noise, which must be a sniffle, at Lenny's shocked face.

"Come, let's get you some food and introduce you to my dad and his friends." Lenny said as he stood up and left the beach, the Trapinch wobbling behind him, still uneasy on his feet.

«»

"Here is your Pokedex, make sure to learn as much as you can and always remember to be save."

"Yes Professor Oak." Came the reply from a dozen voices as one.

All of Lenny's classmates that had passed the test to get a trainer license were here with their pokemon. Most of them had a Pidgey or a Rattata, one kid had a Growlithe, Lenny saw a Geodude, a Poliwag, there were two Nidoran for twins from his class as well and there was a very lucky kid who received a Kanto starter. There was one kid who had a Pikachu, probably hoping he would become a local legend like Ash Ketchum.

Everybody left and most of his classmates went back into town. Lenny walked up to where his father was waiting with his Absol and Gardevoir.

"Son, there is nothing else to say. Make sure to call regularly, and know that I'm proud of you no matter what. Just treat your pokemon like you've always treated mine, as friends and family. They will be partners for life. Let the journey be the goal."

Lenny nodded and hugged his dad and Gardevoir, before he turned to face north, and pulled his cap over his eyes. With Trapinch beside him, he left Pallet Town, for who knew how long.

When they were only two hours out, he encountered one of his former classmates, Victor. He was the one in class who always tried to get the teacher's attention, though he was not even that smart. He was just an ass-licker with the teachers, though he was a jerk against the rest of his classmates. It worked out for him though, since the one that got a starter from Oak.

Lenny was walking past a clearing where Victor was relieving himself against a tree. Once he noted Lenny he shouted: "Hey Hoenn boy, shouldn't you go west, to your home region?"

Trapinch started growling next to him, but Lenny just wanted to get to Viridian City before the end of the day. "Get lost Victor." And he walked on.

"Where are you going Hoenn boy, do you have the skills to match that talk? Come on, battle me with your Hoenn pokemon."

Lenny sighed. He wanted to show Victor what he was capable of. He had carefully trained his Trapinch in the last two months, ever since Trapinch wasn't a baby anymore. It was already double his height since it first hatched. So he had an advantage on Victor, who just got his pokemon a few days ago. But he had no idea which pokemon Victor had, it could be a Squirtle for all he knew, and that would prove a rough start of his journey because of the advantage on Trapinch. Besides, the starters from Oak were probably just as prepared for the journey as any other pokemon.
But he wasn't one to walk away from a challenge, and Trapinch was certainly not.

He jumped in front of Lenny and growled at Victor, producing a sound like two rocks scraping over each other.

"Bring it on, douche." Lenny had given him his answer.

Victor grinned and released his Charmander. The Charmander jumped up and down in excitement from being released.

"Focus Charmander, we've got to beat Hoenn boy and his sand-ball."

Lenny didn't react to the insult. Instead he ordered Trapinch to use his mud-shot. Trapinch opened his mouth and shot a stream of the mud and water that he stored in his body at the Charmander. It hit him straight in the belly, sending him back a few meters.

"Charmander use your ember!"

A few weak fires left Charmander's mouth and were aimed at Trapinch. "Evade with Quick Attack". Trapinch was surprisingly fast, even more so when he entered his quick attack. This would tire him more quickly, but enabled him to increase the energy flow to the muscles in his legs for a short period. He dodged the flying embers and hit Charmander on his right flank.

Charmander dropped to the floor and grinned as he got up. He looked weary.

"Charmander, use scratch."

"Trapinch use bite."

Both the pokemon ran towards each other, Charmander with his left arm forward, his claws looking sharp. Trapinch tried to dodge it by jumping over the Charmander, but he failed and Charmander managed to scratch Trapinch on his softer belly. However, Trapinch was now behind the Charmander and quickly turned around and closed his jaws around the base of Charmander's tail.

Charmander twitched and turned, slammed his arms around, but they were too short to hit Trapinch and there was nothing he could do. Trapinch wouldn't let go until he had won this fight.

Charmander started to cry out in pain, before Victor ended his suffering by retrieving him.

"You just had a head start Hoenn boy. Next time we'll beat you."

"Yeah whatever Victor." Lenny walked towards his Trapinch and lifted him. "I'm proud of you buddy, that last move you pulled was really smart!"

"Inch." Exclaimed the Trapinch happily.

Lenny laughed. He turned around as he heard a cough around him. "Here are your winnings". Lenny looked surprised, first at Victor, after that at the money in his hand. He remembered that you're supposed to give price money to your opponent when he beats you, unless when you're under a three hundred pokedollars.

Lenny nodded. "Thank you Victor, good luck on your journey."

"You too Hoenn boy," there was a hint of respect in Victor's voice, though it was gone when he added "next time I won't go easy on you." With that he walked away.

"We just won our first match!" Lenny was still happy with this win. Trapinch showed that the training with Absol paid off, his quick attack was a great asset for the otherwise limited Trapinch who relied mostly on physical attacks. Quick attack would help him get close and his jaws were fatal to any pokemon that got a limb between them.

"Do you want to rest in your pokeball now for a while?"

Trapinch nodded approvingly, he couldn't really walk as fast as Lenny, and while he managed to keep up for the last two hours, the battled had tired him. And Lenny figured he needed to up his pace a bit to be in Viridian before dark.

Nothing eventful happened for a few hours until he came close to a river where he filled his water bottle. He let Trapinch out of his Pokeball to drink too. Trapinch could go a week without water, but the mud shot attack used some of its reserves and he wanted to fill it up as soon as possible.

While they took a quick rest at the river, he noticed a girl with a fishing rod and a Poliwag happily jumping around her. Lenny decided against battling her because he figured that he would have no chance against a water type, not until his Trapinch was better trained at least.

Just as he was about to continue his journey, a furious looking Raticate jumped out of the bushes and used a hyper fang attack on the unaware Poliwag. He shouted a warning but it was too late and the Poliwag was hit pretty badly. Blood was streaming from the three thick cuts on his back.

"Trapinch get in there and quick attack on that Raticate." Lenny said while running towards the scene.

Just as the Raticate was jumping with another hyper fang, Trapinch hit him in the side with his head.

"Feint attack now Trapinch."

Trapinch used dark energy to disappear from the sight of the Raticate, and only reappeared while it hit him straight in the face. Lenny could see it all happening, for the dark energy only affected the affected pokemon.

By now the girl with the fishing rod had turned around and looked scared and pale, though she quickly regained herself once she figured what was going on. "Poliwag water gun!"

The Poliwag struggled but managed to hit the Raticate from the side with a drop of water, though it didn't do much. Even after it got hit three times already, the Raticate still looked furious, it was probably way older than the inexperienced Trapinch and Poliwag.

"Trapinch use a mud shot." Lenny shouted by now, sensing the dangerous situation they were in.

Trapinch lifted his front legs and just as he dropped to fire the mud-shot, Raticate got close with agility and bit his right front leg. Trapinch tried to shake him off but the Raticate was too fierce, even a new water gun didn't help.

Lenny suddenly thought of something he had read somewhere: "Trapinch bite his whiskers."

And Trapinch did, complete tearing it off. Raticate released Trapinch and ran away, seeming disorientated and bumping into a tree. He left a trace of blood.

"Good job Trapinch!"

"What did you do to the Raticate?"

Lenny turned around to look at the girl and he immediately noticed how pretty she was. She had long greenish hair that ran all the way down her back. Her green eyes fitted her hair color and her body was slim but with some nice curves. She was way prettier than any girl from Pallet Town. Lenny blushed as he sudden realized she was still waiting on an answer.

"I uhm.. I remembered that Raticate uses their whimpers for balance, so I figured that we could use that against it. Don't worry though, it will grow back in a few days."

"That's smart of you! Cute pokemon you have there by the way, it is not from Kanto right?" The girl said while she went to sit on her knees and petted Trapinch.

"No he's from Hoenn originally. I got him as an egg. You should probably check on your Poliwag by the way, it looks pretty bad." Lenny said, suddenly shocked by the amount of blood that covered Poliwag's back.

"Yeah you're right. Thanks for rescuing me!" She recalled the Poliwag and walked over to him. She got close and went to stand at the tip of her toes and kissed Lenny's cheek, which immediately burned up.

"If you ever get to Cerulean gym, ask for Myreen!" With that she ran towards her bike that stood along the tree line and raced in the direction of Viridian.

"You did great again little buddy." Lenny said before he recalled Trapinch. He was still a bit flabbergasted about what happened back there. This could be the start of a romantic knight's tale he thought to himself. He smiled before he shook it off and walked towards Viridian again.

The rest of the day brought no encounters with other trainers or anything else exciting and when they arrived in Viridian the sun turned the evening sky a deep orange with red hues. Lenny went straight to the Pokemon Center to have them take a look at Trapinch leg, where some bite marks were clearly visible. The nurse Joy treated it and said all would be fine with a night's rest. Lenny went to his assigned room and after a shower he dropped exhausted on the bed, his Trapinch curled up beside him.

«»

Lenny woke up pretty early. He always did. At home he always made a round to feed all of his father's pokemon before he had breakfast himself and went to school. Yesterday he went to bed very early and so it turned out that he was the first having breakfast in the cafeteria of the pokemon center.

Trapinch's leg was completely healed. The pokemon center had some basic pokemon food, but Trapinch had quite an unique diet, that was unavailable in Kanto since Trapinch were very, very rare here. They didn't even have it in the greater pokemon stores.

So Lenny took some of the basic food, added some small dried grasshoppers and a bit of rocks and sand. The sand was for the same reason as the water, Trapinch used it for the mud-shot and besides it kept his teeth sharp. It also had a nutrition value for Trapinch, since it used the minerals in the rocks and sand to strengthen its body. The grasshoppers were for muscular development and Trapinch loved the taste.

After Trapinch had its fill they headed out. The Viridian City gym was currently closed. Gary Oak had ended up as second in the Indigo Conference and was assigned as the new gym leader. He would start in a month or so but Lenny didn't want to stick around here and wait. Many of his classmates did though and for that reason a lot of them stayed at home in Pallet to train there until Gary was accepting challengers.

Lenny just thought of it as a nice reason to go home somewhere during his journey. He wanted to catch at least one more pokemon before he challenged a gym anyway. That's why he would go west today, to route 22. Lenny heard there were a few pokemon there that were stronger than the average pokemon in this part of Kanto. He was sure Trapinch was up for it.

They would spend the day there and buy some supplies in Viridian before they would go on to the Viridian forest tomorrow. Viridian was way bigger than Pallet and the shops here had everything. Well that was except Trapinch food.

They left the pokemon center and went to route 22. At first they encountered only Pidgey's and Ratatta's, but as the morning passed trainers started showing up. Most of them had Pidgey's and Ratatta's as well and Trapinch had no problems with that. There was one trainer with a Butterfree, that used sleep powder and thus caused Lenny to admit his first loss.

While Lenny waited on Trapinch to wake up, he thought he might as well try his luck on fishing in a nearby pond. A water type would be very useful to have against the Rock Gym in Pewter City. After catching a few Magikarp Trapinch woke up and watched Lenny sigh while he threw the rod again. This time it got pulled underneath the water surface with a force that startled Lenny. This was certainly not a Magikarp.

After a battle that lasted a minute, Lenny managed to retrieve a rod and by doing so he threw a Goldeen on the grass. And it was an angry Goldeen. It immediately spat water at Lenny and he toppled over backwards. Trapinch shot a mud-shot that covered Goldeen's eyes with dirt. The Goldeen used its water sport attack to create a rain like effect, Lenny was soaked and Trapinch was not really hurt, but definitely uncomfortable by the water.

"Quick attack Trapinch, hit it hard!"

Trapinch raced towards the Goldeen in an orange blur, dodging bubbles along the way. He jumped to tackle the Goldeen with full force, but the moment he pushed himself from the wet ground, his feet slipped away and he clumsily crashed into the Goldeen. The power behind the crash was enough to push the water type in the water, but the chances of catching it were gone now.
Lenny didn't care, he was just happy that the fish pokemon was gone. He went to get a towel from his bag, luckily it was waterproof, and he did so he turned his back towards the pond. He shouldn't have.

He heard a splash and turned around to see the Goldeen with a glowing horn flying towards him. He didn't have time to dodge. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact, but it didn't come. Trapinch was just in time to shoot a mud-shot at the Goldeen that changed its course, so that the Goldeen landed next to him. Trapinch immediately went on and fired a stream of sand from his mouth, causing a sandstorm. Goldeen was buffeted by the sandstorm! Trapinch went into the sandstorm and used bite on the Goldeen. Goldeen flailed but it failed, Trapinch wouldn't let go.

"Throw it into the water!" Trapinch struggled to get Goldeen to the water side and let go of it there before he tackled it, sending it flying into the water with a big splash.

"Good job, now let's get out of here before it comes again." Lenny took his bag and quickly ran back towards the road, Trapinch was close behind him. They didn't stop before they were at the roadside. After catching his breath and drying himself, Lenny scratched Trapinch underneath the base of his neck, where his skin was soft.

"I don't even want to catch an angry pokemon like that, besides is Goldeen pretty useless outside of the water. Thanks for saving me buddy. You beat a water type! When did you learn sandstorm by the way? Have you been training on your own?"

"Inch. Trapinch!" His friend replied.

"What do you think? Can you do some more battling before we're heading home?"

"Trapinch!" Trapinch heavily nodded in approval and made a grumbling noise.

They had a few more battles that were no trouble at all for Trapinch. He was not very fast or durable, but when he landed a hit it could be ending the match due to its sheer strength and power. His low speed was the main reason that Lenny had him learn quick attack and it had proven to be some well invested time with Absol. His mud shot was not really powerful yet, but it was useful to distract opponents and lower their accuracy by splashing mud in their eyes. It was also the only range attack available to him. Well, in fact, he had sandstorm now too, that could be pretty useful, especially when they would face a flying pokemon like Butterfree again.

It was already far past noon when they decided to head back to Viridian to get the needed supplies, mostly antidotes. Lenny recalled Trapinch and started walking.

"Hey, you are a trainer right? I challenge you!". A kid with a yellow short and a blue shirt suddenly jumped from behind a rock, he had probably been camping.

Lenny released Trapinch and the kid released a hairy Mankey. That was one of the stronger pokemon that only resided here. The kid had probably just caught it and immediately wanted to use his fighting monkey.

The Mankey was strong, but Trapinch was stronger. The battle was a few minutes in and the Mankey was trapped in a sandstorm. Trapinch used quick attack to finish this battle, he build up speed, but the moment he was about to hit, Mankey spinned out of its way and Trapinch crashed into a rock.

He looked dazed for a moment. Just as Lenny was about to give a new command to Trapinch, an angry roar caused the Pidgey to fly out of the surrounding trees. From behind the rock came a Primeape, the evolved form of Mankey. Lenny knew what he had to do. He ran like a maniac.

The Primeape came after them in a rage. When Lenny passed the kid he shouted to him to make a run for it. The kid hesitated a second before he turned on his heels and followed Lenny and Trapinch. The Primeape was catching up on them though and he didn't seem to be planning on slowing down.

Suddenly a black flash came towards them. This couldn't be good, Lenny thought. But it couldn't be worse than the insane Primeape in his back so he just kept running. The black flash went right past them, the wind it created swept Lenny's cap from his head. Lenny turned around to grab it and saw the black flash take form and crash frontally into the Primeape, throwing it a dozen meter back.

An Umbreon! It was so fast it was just a blur, but now he could clearly see the yellow markings on its body. It fired a concentrated beam at the Primeape that hit straight in its body and made it drop on one knee. Primeape was angry, but it knew when he had found his match. He shuffled off. Lenny grabbed his head and turned around as he heard someone approaching.

It was Gary Oak, the Gym leader!

"Are you alright kid?" He asked with authority in his voice.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks."

"How did it get so angry? I've heard stories of this Primeape before and I want to send him to the League, it is too strong and violent for this region. It almost killed a small girl a couple of weeks ago while she was on a school trip."

"That kid and I were battling and then my Trapinch hit a rock, I guess the Primeape was resting there somewhere, next thing I knew he was chasing us."

"Hmm alright, well you should probably head back kiddo, I'll take care of it." Gary said with a frown.

"Yes. Thanks again." Suddenly Lenny thought of something. "Hey Gary," Gary turned around at his shout, "When will you open the gym again?" .

Gary smiled: "First you should get stronger. I am not planning to go easy on anyone. But this city has been too long without a gym leader. I need to take care of some things first. Like this Primeape. Come back when you have more pokemon, and you should probably evolve them too."

"I will, you better prepare yourself." Lenny said more joking than being arrogant, though he was determined to come back here one day and beat Gary.

«»

The next morning announced itself with a ray of warmth upon Lenny's face. He had left the curtains open, waking up was always easier for him in sunlight instead of to the beeping sound of an alarm. He quickly arose, said good morning to Trapinch and went into the bathroom to shower and shave. Once he was finished, he packed all his stuff, checked the drawers one more time and closed the door behind him and Trapinch.

Today they would venture into the Veridian forest.

After their encounter with Gary yesterday, they went to the different stores and bought everything they needed to last two to three weeks in the forest. Lenny treated himself with a tasty meal in a restaurant, he had made enough winnings that day to afford some luxury. The evening was spend with watching a battle on TV and scrolling through the Pokedex. He read a lot about the forest and the residing pokemon, before closing his eyes early in the evening.

"Good morning, you're up early." Nurse Joy said with a smile as Lenny and Trapinch came down the staircase. She looked tired, she had probably been up all night and Lenny hoped for her sake that she would be replaced soon.

"Yeah, today we're heading into the forest. Viridian is a nice place, but we would like to challenge gyms as soon as possible to see where we are." Lenny replied while grabbing a cup of coffee. He would first prepare Trapinch' breakfast before having his own.

Nurse Joy told them to watch out for the Spearow, especially if there was a Fearow with them. They were pretty rare, but it was just after brooding season so they would be very fierce. But that was the case with most parental pokomen at this time a year.

It was the reason why there were so many weak pokemon around, most of them just hatched this spring, it now being early in July made them still very young and therefore weak. The northwest of Kanto was generally a place that many pokemon types used as a brooding place, due to the highly forested areas and the absence of very large or industrial cities. The downside was the over-protective parents. That could be the reason that the Raticate attacked that pretty girl back at the river side yesterday, now that Lenny thought of it. He just had to be on his guard.

He thanked Nurse Joy and headed north. Before they entered the forest there was an old bald man, taking his Rattata for a stroll, he asked if Lenny knew how to catch pokemon and if he had enough antidotes with him. Lenny appreciated the concern, but was eager to enter the forest and did therefore assure the man that he would be fine, before saying goodbye and move on.

The first days in the Viridian forest were pretty uneventful. Lenny usually had Trapinch out of his pokeball for a few hours in the morning. But Trapinch wasn't built for long walks and tired after a while. He was never too tired to fight though. The many bug catchers in the forest were actually starting to get annoying. They just send out swarms of Caterpies and Weedles, they were barely worth the time and effort. There were some with more variety though, some trainers had Spinarak, Pidgey, Spearow, Rattata or Hoothoot. A few trainers had evolved stages of the bug pokemon or a Pidgeotto. There was even one trainer with a Stantler and a Sentret.

Trapinch was getting stronger and stronger. This time he had no trouble with a Butterfree, because of his sand storm technique. Even though it was a ground type move against a flying type, and therefore theoretically shouldn't harm the Butterfree, the sand accompanied by the winds made Butterfree lose his control and throw him through the air. While all the time the sand slapped into his body. This gave Trapinch the opportunity to get in close and finish it with bite or quick attack. The Hoothoot were a challenge because of their psychic abilities, but once Trapinch resisted and got to an attack, they would go down in one hit most of the time.

It was usually dangerous to be camping on your own, especially with just one pokemon. The world was full with poachers or small gangs. It was even more risky because Trapinch was rare in Kanto. But the forest was filled with rangers and other senior citizens of the area. They didn't battle the inexperienced trainers, but just spend their free time in the forest to guide them and help the wild pokemon if needed. This all made that Lenny had no trouble sleeping at night. Besides, he was used and even liked the solitude of being alone.

He usually stopped walking around 7 pm, had some dinner and trained a bit more with Trapinch. He had him work on his ground control techniques that would be helpful against Forrest and his rock type pokemon. To broaden the range arsenal of Trapinch, Lenny had tried to turn his rock slide attack in combination with its mastery of ground and rocks to create a rock throw attack. Trapinch could stamp the ground to raise small rocks, but still missed the control to hurl them at a target. Once he hurled a stone a few feet away, but it went far wide of the tree he was aiming on. This move relied on the elemental powers that some pokemon had within them. The Trapinch line had this pretty strong, but it would mostly not be unlocked until he would evolve. Lenny tried to get Trapinch to tap into the power within him, but Trapinch found it hard to reach this powers and even harder to control them.

At this moment it did not matter. Trapinch had a natural resistance to rock type attacks and ground types were not very harmful either. Of course it was still going to be a gym fight so Lenny was taking no risks and was preparing Trapinch to the maximum. They always kept an eye out for pokemon that would be a nice addition to his team. But most bug-type pokemon were pretty weak and Lenny didn't want to catch a pokemon just for the idea of catching something. He thought about a Ledyba, but they were pretty rare in these forests and whenever he saw one, they quickly flew off. A Hoothoot was an option too, but they hid during the day. Lenny was seriously considering staying up one night to try and catch one. Spinarak were actually pretty strong compared to most Kanto origin pokemon, but to be honest, Lenny was afraid of spiders. Of course he could try and catch a flying type, such as Pidgey or Spearow. But growing up with a magnificent Swellow, Lenny thought they looked pretty dull. So there were actually a few options he seriously considered, but he did not find the right fit just yet.

After a few days in, Lenny and Trapinch arrived in the thicker part of the forest. It had been a warm and moist day and he decided to take a little break before continue walking for a few more hours. They spotted a big tree with a picnic table in front of it, an ideal place for a meal and a quick rest. Trapinch lay down on a thick layer of moss, not yet hungry. They hadn't had a single battle all day, for there were barely trainers here and the wild bug pokemon usually hid whenever they saw Lenny passing by.

Lenny had finished his oatmeal with milk and honey and went to sit against the big tree next to Trapinch. For some reason he could not put his mind at ease. His mind kept racing from place to place, not even slowing enough to even acknowledge what Lenny was thinking about. It was not distress about the upcoming match with Forrest. He had about two more weeks before he would arrive in Pewter, and besides, he was fully confident that Trapinch would be ready by then. On top of the progress Trapinch made, he also had a type advantage being a ground type.

No, it was something else that put him at unease, something that he had no control over.

Just as Lenny was about to wake Trapinch to continue their journey for the day, he felt a comforting breeze, accompanied by a sweet smell and soothing voices. It comforted him so much that he did not even stop to think about where it came from. Lenny closed his eyes and leaned back against the tree. His mind finally in a blank, dreamy state. His head filled with dreams of riding on his father's Walrein, or jumping in the cloudy wings of Altaria. Satisfaction filled Lenny as he fell asleep.

Lenny awoke with a slicing pain in his head as something fell out of the tree above him, on his head and ended in front of him. It was a big grey pine cone. He could see another one that just bounced of Trapinch, who screeched as he was awoken so violently.

Laughter came down upon them from the tree underneath which they slept. Lenny angrily got up to see who was pranking him. Before he even got the chance to look at the tree, the two pinecones suddenly opened their red eyes and jumped away from Lenny and Trapinch. They were not quick enough to evade the Mud Shot Trapinch shot after them.

Lenny quickly pulled out his pokedex and scanned the pine-cone like pokemon. Pineco:
It hangs and waits for flying insect prey to come near. It does not move about much on its own.

The display showed Pineco evolutionary line and the typing. He was interrupted by the laughter coming out from the direction of the tree. He saw three small Oddish looming there, still singing their song and keeping the sweet scent up. They probably added sleep powder in the breeze before. Hovering above them, he saw a Ledian that was laughing out loud. Despite his anger, Lenny couldn't help but think that a Ledian might be a useful addition to his team. Especially against Forrest it would be useful to have someone that could learn fighting type attacks.

He was reaching for an empty pokeball as the Ledian pointed two of its four arms at him, as in challenging him. The Oddish stood behind him, backing him up.

Trapinch went to stand protectively in front of Lenny, not afraid to face those opponents. The Ledian said something towards the Oddish, who all stepped back.

Lenny eagerly told Trapinch that he could do this and Trapinch looked just as ready for a fight. Just as Lenny ordered a sandstorm, the Ledian used a quick attack to get close to Trapinch. It hit him in the side with a punch from one of its small arms and was followed up by an air slash, which left a bleeding swipe on Trapinch' thick skin. The Oddish and Pineco on the side were cheering their buddy up. The fighting Ledian backed down and allowed Trapinch a moment to regain himself.

This time Trapinch started a sandstorm, but the Ledian quickly flew upwards and fired another three slashes of air at Trapinch..

"Dodge it and use feint attack!"

Trapinch was hit by the first air slash, but quickly recovered and dodged the next two. He used his feint attack, but it was easily evaded by the Ledianf. The wily pokemon countered with a double mach punch straight on Trapinch' back. Trapinch let a high pitched wail.

This Ledian was too quick and too strong. He saw Trapinch was in pain and needed to come up with a strategy quickly. The sandstorm was troubling the Ledian slightly, and it went down to stand on the ground, while Trapinch was struggling.

"Trapinch, use sand tomb with full force!" Lenny heard the panic in his own voice as he ordered his friend in a desperate attempt to set things right. Trapinch his sand tomb attack was something they trained on. It might be something to at least slow the Ledian down.

Trapinch raised himself on his two hind legs, before slamming his front legs down with force, even though his one hurt leg obviously pained him. The ground rippled, like when a stone is thrown into the water. When the wave reached Ledian, sand sprung up around Ledian, that subtly jumped up high and flew with both fists on its right arms burning, towards Trapinch, and hit him straight under the chin.

Trapinch was thrown against the tree, which caused more Pineco to rain down. Lenny gasped and ran to Trapinch. His friend opened his eyes warily, before closing them again. Lenny recalled Trapinch and turned to face the Ledian.

"You had your gest, now let me leave."

The Oddish that were on the side watching were laughing at his words, but Ledian nodded and silenced the others with a movement of his hand. It stepped aside and allowed Lenny to leave the area.

After his initial anger and concern faded, Lenny thought it might be a valuable lesson for both him and Trapinch to lose and lose hard. Trapinch was just not up for the challenge and it was a tough, but fair reminder that they still had a long way to go before they might even dream of greatness. Trapinch' wounds would heal, except the one in his pride. Lenny figured that Trapinch would think of this as if he failed to protect Lenny. Lenny would talk with Trapinch later that night before they would go to sleep.

«»

The next few days they did not encounter another human. Apparently Lenny just left before the masses of young trainers would swarm out, or maybe the density of the forest just hid people that he did not even know they were there. They had just started the after-dinner-training-session and Lenny was thinking of pushing Trapinch far. Ever since he had lost to Ledian Trapinch worked harder than before. Lenny was just giving an instruction as he was interrupted by a loud squeak accompanied by some softer and higher pitched ones. It sounded like it was close to the clearing they decided to camp in for the night.

"Let's go check it out buddy." They moved through the vegetation towards the softer squeaks that still filled the air. When they got closer they could hear a weak buzzing noise too. As the sounds got louder and louder, Lenny distinguished the cries of Pidgey, after walking 50 meters more, they arrived at the edge of a clearing which surrounded a big tree in the middle. There were multiple Kakuna hanging from the tree and Pidgey sat high upon the branches. They all looked at a fight that was going on between a Pidgeotto and a green blur that went way too fast for Lenny to follow it.

The green blur went around the Pidgeotto a couple of times, before diving in close and landing a few hits. As it slowed down a bit, Lenny saw two blades instead of arms. They kept hitting the Pidgeotto until it squeaked one more time. The blade pokemon backed off and the Pidgeotto took to the skies, the Pidgey following him. It seemed like it was a dispute for this territory and it was settled now.

As the green blur slowed further until it stood still and watched the flying types fly away, Lenny scanned it with his Pokedex.

Scyther, the Mantis pokemon. Bug and Flying type. Scyther is blindingly fast. Its blazing speed enhances the effectiveness of the twin scythes on its forearms. This pokemon's scythes are so effective, they can slice through thick logs in one wicked stroke.

Wow, that sounded like a strong pokemon. Lenny knew a very little bit of Scyther for they were rare. He actually thought they only lived in the Safari zone in Fuchsia city. He hadn't read anything about them in the pokedex indexes of Viridian forest either. Lenny was sure that he wanted this pokemon on his team though. He quickly thought of a strategy, a bug/flying type combination, so it was very vulnerable to rock type attacks. Unfortunately, Trapinch wasn't very experienced with his Rock Slide attack just yet. It cost him a lot of energy to hurl a few rocks, and even then he was very inaccurate. They hadn't trained on the attack yet for it would do no good against Forrest. Lenny regretted that decision now.

The Scyther was already panting because of his fight with the Pidgeotto. Trapinch probably wouldn't have a chance if it was on his prime, but right now Trapinch could have a shot.

"Alright buddy, are you up for this?" Lenny whispered softly and Trapinch nodded in reply.

"Good, I want you to hit it with a rock slide. I rather have you created less and smaller rocks but hit him, instead of creating a lot and powerful ones but miss. After that try to trap it in a sand tomb and hit it while it's struggling. This must wear him down enough for me to throw a ball at him. Understood?" Trapinch nodded and walked out of the vegetation.

"I have faith in you." Lenny said before Trapinch concentrated on carrying out his attack.

He raised three rocks, each the size of a pokeball. They trembled slightly before Trapinch hurled them at the Scyther, who stood with his back towards them. The first rock flew past Scyther, this alarmed him and he quickly turned a round. While he did so, the second rock came at him. It would've hit him on the back, but because he was just turning it hit him on one of its four wings. It seemed like it was broken by the impact and it remained in a twisted angle. The third rock was almost casually swept away by the Scyther.

The Scyther seemed furious, it shot forward, propelling himself with his three good wings. Trapinch shot out the Sand tomb and Scyther was trapped within. It still managed to hit Trapinch with a false swipe. Trapinch was staggered by this and needed a second to regain his footing, but with effort he kept the Sand tombup around the Scyther. It shot a mud shot into the sand tomb. Lenny couldn't tell if it had hit or not. Trapinch seemed to know where the Scyther was however and prepared a quick attack into the sand tomb. As he went in, Lenny lost sight of him too.

After a few moments that seemed like hours, the sand subdued and he could see both Scyther and Trapinch iron gazing each other. They both were worn down, but determined to not give up. Lenny was very impressed with the Scyther, it had taken quite a few hits from Trapinch, and maybe from the Pidgeotto too. It had an iron will to be still fighting. A bite mark could be seen on its upper leg. Trapinch was slightly looking better. He was bleeding from a large cut on the top of his back, it wasn't deep but it proved how sharp Scyther's blades were.

"Trapinch, use dig and rock slide!" Lenny hoped that Trapinch was still up for this. Dig was one of the moves that they had trained in the last week. It could be useful against Forrest, but it also made him vulnerable for powerful moves like earthquake. He was not sure yet if he would use it, but it gave a variety to Trapinch' moveset. Trapinch would use his strong jaws to dig a tunnel and get underneath his opponent. This time however, as he was sure Trapinch understood, he would go behind the Scyther and launch a rock slide at his back. Lenny hoped that the rock slide would hit for if it didn't he was finished for sure.

Trapinch quickly dug a hole and disappeared. The Scyther looked like it could collapse every minute if it wasn't for its willpower. He would not give up as long as it was still standing. It looked around, looking for his opponent. Suddenly, Trapinch busted out of the ground, throwing rocks, dust and dirt up as he did so. Because the Scyther was so barely touching the ground, Trapinch had to orientate himself for a short moment. This gave Scyther the time to react. It flew forward with his one good upper wing glowing white: a wing attack!

Trapinch hurled the rocks that were thrown up as he surfaced towards the Scyther. Lenny couldn't see the impact of the collision, as the dust and dirt were still around the Trapinch. Once it cleared, he could see both Trapinch and Scyther on the floor. Both trying to get up, but both were out of energy to do so. Lenny quickly threw a pokeball at the Scyther.

It wobbled once, twice. And one more time before the button made a clicking sound. Lenny jumped out of the bushes in excitement. "Great job Trapinch, you were amazing!" He screamed out as he ran towards his friend.

Once back at the camp he dug a hole in the ground for Trapinch to sleep in, Trapinch always liked to be surrounded by dirt and today he definitely deserved it after that fight. Lenny thought about releasing his newly caught pokemon, but decided to make a phone call to his dad first.

"Hi Lenny, I hadn't expect you to call before you arrived in Pewter. You are not there yet right?"

"No, I'm still in Viridian forest. I have caught a Scyther here!" Lenny couldn't hide his excitement any longer.

"Ah so that's why you're calling. It is most curious for a Scyther to be in Viridian forest. Decades or even centuries back, there were a lot of swarms in the forest. But Scyther were a price hunt for poachers due to their blades. That is why they were all caught and moved to the Safari Zone, were they could be better protected. Last I heard of it the Scyther were reintroduced to the wild life again after they rounded up team Rocket. But I am sure that they have not yet been released in Viridian.
I guess this Scyther came back here out of instinct. There are a few reasons why awild Scyther could be apart from a swarm. Scyther always reside in swarms and have one leader. This leader is always the most powerful Scyther. Any other of the swarm can challenge him to a duel, and if the challenger wins, the former leader is exiled from the swarm. But if the challengers loses, he will be exiled as well. The last possible explanation could be that this specimen is the son of the leader and thus a threat to its leadership. It has been noticed before that a leader sends its own son away from the swarm. So based on this presumptions, I guess you'd have a very powerful specimen. You should be careful around it, as I said, Scyther swarms are based on power. So if you prove yourself to be weak it will not obey you. How did you manage to catch it anyway?"

"I saw it battling a Pidgeotto, which it won fairly easy. After that he was tired nonetheless and Trapinch hit one of his wings with a rock slide. After that the battle got extremely intense and Trapinch was great. It ended in a draw but I managed to catch it. I want to read some more pokedex entries on Scyther before I turn in for tonight. Thanks dad, you've been a great help. Say hi to the rest of the family."

"Take care son. Call me when you get to Pewter. Goodnight."

"Goodnight dad."

The pokedex confirmed what Lenny's dad had said. Lenny also looked up the learn set for Scyther and was pretty satisfied with it. Most of his attacks relied on using its supreme speed and his sharp blades. Lenny was sure to use this as best as he could.

He decided that he wanted to talk to the Scyther right now. Even though Trapinch was of no help if things went south, he had a better shot when the loss was still fresh in Scyther's mind. Besides, he was fairly sure that the Scyther at its best would beat his Trapinch at his best.

The scarlet light lit up the now dusky sky, before it took Scyther's form and released him from its ball. It looked around confused, probably never experienced this before. Then it focused with a cold look in his eyes upon Lenny.

Lenny stared back just as coldly while he spoke: "Scyther, you've proven yourself to be very strong. Only a few pokemon can hold up to my Trapinch, and you did so after defeating a Pidgeotto." He knew that he was bluffing a bit, but he needed Scyther to think that it was not yet strong enough. The Scyther just gnarled.

"Look, my Trapinch has beaten you. I know you are cast out of your swarm." Lenny waited a second to see if Scyther would fight this claim, but the Scyther just kept staring. "So even though you're very fast and your blades are sharp, you are not strong enough. But I can make you stronger, stronger than you could ever imagine. We will battle gyms and go to the Indigo League conference, everyone will see what a magnificent Scyther you'd become. Are you willing to train with me so we'll both grow stonger? We will create a new family, where you will be one of the strongest fighting members."

Scyther gnarled again. It seemed unimpressed by Lenny's words. Lenny kept his stare just as cold. The staring contest last a few minutes, before the Scyther seemed to consider Lenny's words and eventually nodded.

"Great, let me scan you with my pokedex so I'll get to know you better." Lenny took his pokedex from his belt and pointed it at the Scyther. After a moment it beeped and started talking.

Scyther, the Mantis pokemon. Lenny touched the 'specific individual information' button instead of the general info. This Scyther is male. He is between one and two years old. His ability is technician and he knows the moves Leer, Vacuum Wave, Quick Attack, Focus Energy, Silver Wind, Pursuit, False Swipe, Agility, Wing Attack and Fury Cutter.

This was even more than Lenny had hoped for. Those are some very powerful attacks, even more so if Scyther put his inhumane speed behind it. The technician ability empowered him to turn even his weaker attacks into fatal ones for most pokemon.
"Scyther, I'm sure we will get along fine. Would you like a name?" Lenny asked. He had never given Trapinch a name, at first he wanted to wait for Trapinch to develop his personality, which took some time after he just hatched. After that he was so used to calling him Trapinch that he didn't think of it again.

The Scyther nodded slowly. Now came the hard part. Lenny thought of what I knew of Scyther, they were generally pretty aggressive and sometimes even vicious, though this Scyther didn't seem to be so. He had let the Pidgeotto go without unnecessary hurting it after all. He kind of looked like an armored bug, with a very cool looking reptilian head. A white scar that crossed his left eye made him look even more dangerous. He was broad in the shoulders and his long limbs ended with his blades. He looked both strong and graceful. His blades were sharp and Lenny saw how deadly they could be. That was it!

"What do you think of Fiore? He is considered as one of the best swordsman that ever lived, always carrying his blade sharp and proud."

"Scythe!" Was exclaimed by the green pokemon with enthusiasm. Apparently he thought of it the same as Lenny, a subtle name, that sounded elegant and powerful. After the newly named Fiore gave his approval, Lenny told him to turn around so that he could take a look at the broken wing. Bug types always grew and evolved pretty quickly. Scyther grew fast, but only a very few of them evolved into Scizor, due to the need of a metal coat. His regeneration was the same as most bug types' however. Therefore the wing was already party fixed, though it still had an awkward angle.

"Fiore, this doesn't look too good. I need to break your wing again, so that it would have the right angle. Then I can make a splint so it will grow right again."

Fiore was not very amused by this, but after consideration he nodded his head in approval.

Lenny was uncomfortable by having to break Fiore's bone, but he knew that he needed to do it, due to his pokemon biology lessons. It would take at least a week to get to a pokemon center, he was in the middle between Viridian and Pewter. The sooner he would do it, the better his wing would grow back right.

He warned Scyther, who cringed as Lenny took a hold of his wing. The wings were small and fragile, the bones were way as thick as a human's ribs. With a quick and unexpected snap Lenny broke the wing. He screamed just as loudly as Scyther did.

He breathed heavy, he hoped he'd never have to do this again. Fiore probably thought the same of it. It was a great sign of trust that he allowed Lenny to do it though. Lenny got a shirt from his backpack and an iron bar that was used to strengthen his backpack. He figured that his backpack would be slightly more uncomfortable, but it would hold and Fiore's injury was more important anyway. He placed the iron plate along Scyther's whole wing and tied it tightly with the shirt. Scyther was in pain but he let Lenny continue. Lenny gave him an Orange berry after he was done. Trapinch had found a tree full of them this afternoon. It would ease Fiore's pain, for at least a bit.

"Maybe it's better if you rest in your pokeball for tonight. You cannot lie down for at least two or three days I think. Don't try to fly either, it will dislocate the bones again."

Scyther was unamused by this, but seemed to accept his fate. Lenny recalled him and tiredly went to his sleeping bag. He was gone in a minute.

«»

Fiore and Trapinch didn't really get along so far. Fiore somehow resembled a mantis that Trapinch thought of as so tasty. Besides, his first friend wasn't used to share Lenny's attention. It also had problems with the lack of respect that Fiore had for him.

Lenny was careful to not let Fiore and Trapinch go head on each other. Rivalry was fine, as long as it resulted in them both trying hard to become the best they could be. They were still a team and they had to behave like one, even though they didn't like each other.

Fiore was different as Trapinch in personality as well. Trapinch was proud and protective and very friendly. Fiore was more competitive, cocky and a bit of a loner. Lenny could understand though, he had always liked the solitude as well. Fiore never really sought to impress Lenny, he had a very strong internal motivation to become stronger. Lenny thought this was a result of being defeated and exiled as at its swarm. It was not so much that Fiore didn't like Trapinch, it was more that he didn't care. Maybe he didn't think Trapinch was that impressive after all.

Fiore's wing was fully healed. Lenny could still feel a small ball of bone on the spot where the breach had been, but it didn't hinder Fiore in the slightest. They had started battling but none pokemon so far had even managed to hit Fiore. He was just too fast for all the untrained pokemon that were native to Viridian forest.

The evenings were still spend in the same matter. Dinner, training, reading the pokedex. Lenny found out that two Elite Four members from different regions had a Scizor on their main team. He also found that Scizor were not necessarily more powerful than Scyther, they just had different weaknesses and strengths. They would lose speed but gain a far stronger armor, and the steel type had several bonuses, but Lenny hadn't made his mind up just yet which one was better, or more useful. Well, he didn't really need to worry about it just now. Maybe he never even gets a metal coat, and he would let the decision to Fiore anyway.

Trapinch however already showed a lot of signs of coming close to evolving. His skin was a deep red when he first hatched. Then it had shifted to orange and now it was getting paler, it prepared himself to get the sand-color that Vibrava had. His head grew a bit smaller and Lenny could feel very small stumps on his back where the wings would grow. Finally, his hide had grown much thicker and was even rougher, Lenny couldn't rub him anymore without peeling the skin of his hand.

Lenny wanted Fiore to perfect his wing attack, but there was no space in the forest to fly around, so he decided to teach him double team instead. It was not like the double team that psychic types could produce. Fiore's double team was formed by moving around really fast, slowing down creating, an image that would linger for a few seconds. Fiore could not control his illusionary Scyther's though, it was just a defensive tactic for now.

Trapinch training was still focused upon his control of the ground. Since Fiore was largely ineffective against rock type pokemon, Trapinch needed to be strong enough to defeat possibly all of Forrest's pokemon. The training consisted of both endurance and a new move. Trapinch had used crunch in a battle against a Pikachu, but Lenny decided to not further develop that move just yet, for it would do little against an Onix or Geodude with a skin hard as rocks.

They had been in the forest now for two weeks, and it would probably take two more days for them to get to Pewter city. Lenny was relieved when they'd left the heavily vegetated center of the forest. He grew up on an island, always having a far and wide view and a clear view of the sky. The forest was so dense that the sun sometimes couldn't penetrate the rooftop of leaves for days. It was always dark and dusky. Lenny got a bit claustrophobic of being there for so long and was happy and relieved when he could finally see the sky again.

Fiore of course was at home in the forest, but Trapinch felt the same as Lenny. Back on the island Trapinch spend most of his time at the beach, where there was ton of sand to play with. His kind was at home in deserts and even though he had no trouble with the general climate in Kanto, the air in the forest was to enclosed for him and the earth beneath their feet too caught between the roots of all the trees, Trapinch liked loose dirt and sand.

But that was all behind them now. The trees grew sparser and sparser and so did the wild pokemon. The last few days they did encounter more trainers that just went in the forest to train or catch more pokemon. Those trainers were usually weak and did not dare to go far in the forest. Often when Lenny had Fiore walking next to him they ran away before even shouting a challenge.
Today Lenny had Fiore out as they walked through the forest, which was alternated by grasslands at this point. One of the grasslands contained a big herd of Tauros and Lenny figured he might buy some fresh supplies at the farm that was in the middle. Even though he was getting close to Pewter, he had his fill of all the energy bars and dried berries he had eaten. It would be nice to have a glass of cold lemonade and something else for dinner for once. It was only a detour of at most an hour anyway.

Once he got closer he noticed a figure walking towards him, probably a farmer or something. The sun was hanging low for it was still early in the morning and therefore he couldn't see more than a silhouette.

"Hey, Lenny, is that you?!" The silhouette shouted at him from two hundred feet away. Lenny was confused, who that he knew could possibly be here? He didn't recognize the voice either.

"Yes, who are you?" He screamed back. He lowered his cap and made out a red sweatshirt with black pants on the stranger. His face was still unclear though.

"It's me, Brendan Birch!"

Lenny was very surprised to hear this. Professor Birch had been a friend of his father for years and he had seen Brendan a few times before when they visited Hoenn. Brendan was around eight years his senior and always helped Birch at the lab. He wanted to become a researcher too and therefore was always interested in the research of both his and Lenny's parents.

A few seconds later he could make out Brendan's face. Once they crossed the remaining distance they shook hands.

"So you're a trainer now too, aren't you?" Brendan asked, nodding at Fiore.

"Yes, this is Fiore. My second pokemon." Fiore snarled at this remark.

"He looks pretty big. Where did you get him?" Lenny had to acknowledge that Fiore was fairly large indeed. He was around four foot tall and came to Lenny's shoulders. His shoulders were broad and overall he looked very strong.

"I met him a week ago in the forest. I was very lucky for normally they don't reside here." Lenny said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Wow I bet you are."

"So what about you Brendan? What are you doing here?!"

"I'm here to help your dad out for a few months. Didn't he tell you? I guess he has a bit more trouble with you leaving the house than he admits." Brendan said laughing, more joking than serious. "His research is very interesting and it gives me the opportunity to explore a different region. I went to the Pewter museum first and am now moving to Pallet."

"You have to say hi from me to dad!"

"So I take it you're going to Pewter to challenge Forrest? I met him, he's a really cool guy. Around your age I guess."

"Yes, I want to see how far I can make it in competitive battling this season."

"That's great, how about you test your strength against me first then?"

"Game's on."

Brendan was never a competitive battler, but he had travelled all over Hoenn and he probably had some strong pokemon anyway. This was going to be the best fight Lenny had in a long time he guessed, maybe the best fight he ever had.

"How many pokemon do you have, Lenny?"

Lenny replied and so they decided to have a two on two game.

Lenny send Fiore forward and released Trapinch so that he could watch the first part of the battle. Brendan released a Grovyle, it was a little more than half the size of Fiore, but it was probably very strong and well trained.

"Quick attack, Lamina!" Brendan shouted at his Grovyle.

"Vacuum wave, Fiore!" Lenny shouted at the same time.

Grovyle shot forward straight at Fiore. Fiore sliced his blades at the same moment, drawing the air towards him and sending a wave of vacuum straight at Grovyle. This caused the Grovyle to propel himself forward due to the lack of air resistance. Fiore stepped aside and Grovyle ran into the wall that now had double the air resistance. It was not a very powerful attack, but it was useful to disrupt the opponent. Due to Fiore's technician ability is was more powerful though.

"Silver wind now Fiore!"

The Scyther shed some of his old scales off and blew them forward with a few clasps of his wings. This created a thin silvery dust that was breathed in by the Grovyle and the scales made small cuts in his lungs. For a pokemon this was not very harmful and would heal with a night's rest. What it did was making the hit pokemon short on air for the rest of the fight.

It was even a bug type move and therefore highly effective against the grass type.

Grovyle turned around. Hurt but still willing to fight.

"Grovyle, use your Agility and Magical Leaf. Then Sunny Day and Synthesis."

Lenny had no experience with any of these moves. He knew that agility would raise the speed of Grovyle, and he was already as fast as Scyther. That worried him. Before he could think of an effective counter strategy, Grovyle's eyes glowed for a brief second before he slammed his arms towards the Scyther, by doing so the leaves on his wrists released shining leaves that covered the whole area. Scyther was hit and due to Grovyle's ability that upped grass types moves when his health was low, it hit even harder.

Then Grovyle's eyes glowed again and he looked up, Lenny and Fiore were blinded by the light of the sun, which shone brighter than before. As the light faded, Grovyle looked to be recovered of his injuries again.

This fight would be a lot harder than any other Lenny had been in, even though he had a type advantage.

"Fiore, Fury Cutter!" This was a technique that was a signature move for Scyther. Bugsy, the Johto gym leader developed this move with his Scyther. Lenny had trained for some nights on it with help of his pokedex, which contained multiple instruction videos by Bugsy itself. The idea was simple, as a Scyther used his speed combined with its blades, it cut the opponent. By using its speed it could cut another time at the exact same spot, which doubled its power. With each successive cut the affected pokemon would get more and more hurt. Because most pokemon could not match the speed of a Scyther, this move could end a lot of pokemon if done right. Fiore was not even close to perfection with this move, his accuracy was still way too low. But the aggressive nature of Fiore made sure that whenever he hit, he hit hard. It might be enough to take down the small and physical vulnerable Grovyle.

Fiore took a second to look at his opponent and examined his weak spots, before he propelled himself forward with his wings and sliced his blade at the weaker points. Fiore cut the Grovyle three times just below its left shoulder, too quick for Lenny's eyes to follow.

"Use leaf blade to push him backwards, Lamina!" The leaves on Grovyle's arm turned into something that looked like a sword and with its left arm it blocked Scyther's blade. For a moment they were in a stalemate. BUntilGrovyle struck Fiore straight in the body with its other arm, sending him back a dozen foot.

"Finish him now with Thunder punch!" Brendan shouted, clearly exited by the heat of the battle.

Lenny needed to act quickly, if the Thunder punch hit Fiore it would be over.

"Double team and wing attack!" Scyther gave no hint that he had heard the order, except he quickly flew to the side and flew circles around the advancing Grovyle. He went so fast that the buzzing noise was almost overwhelming for the human ears. Grovyle looked around confused as he was surrounded by six identical Scythers and tried to find the one it should hit.

Suddenly the real Fiore revealed himself behind the Grovyle and flew forward. His wings glowing white. Fiore flew low to the ground and hit the Grovyle straight at the back of his head. Grovyle collapsed and Fiore went after him with his blades glowing; another fury cutter.

Brendan quickly recalled Grovyle because he was in no shape to continue the battle.

"Hey, calm down, it is just a friendly match." Brendan shouted accusingly at Lenny.

"Fiore, return." Lenny sighed with mixed feelings. This was the first time Fiore was really tested, and he passed without doubt. Grovyle was a very strong opponent but Fiore proved himself to be stronger. Lenny was proud of that. But on the other hand he was really concerned with the aggression that Fiore showed after Grovyle went down.

"Great battle Lenny! I thought you said you only just started?" Brendan said with a grin, seeming at ease again. "I know you only just caught that Scyther, but you have to make sure to control him. Against weaker opponents he might go too far if you do not teach him to respect the battle rules." His face was now dead serious.

Lenny only nodded. He knew Brendan was right. He looked to his side as Trapinch took the battlefield, impatient to prove himself against an experienced trainer.

"You took out my starter, now it's time for me to take out yours!" Brendan shouted, a joyful determination on his face again, as he released his strangely looking pokemon. It was a yellow, quadruped pokemon. It had a hump on its back with a hole in it and the hump was covered in a greenish color. The eyes looked like it was about to fall asleep. But Lenny was sure he should not underestimate it. He scanned it with his pokedex. Brendan gave him the time to do so.

Numel: The Numb pokemon. Numel stores magma of almost 2,200 degrees F within its body. If it gets wet, the magma cools and hardens. In that event, the pokemon's body grows heavy and its movements become sluggish.

So it was a fire/ground type. Trapinch had no way of cooling the Numel down or wet him, unfortunately, for it sounded like an easy win if he could do so.

Instead Lenny thought about hitting it hard. Trapinch his defenses were still weak. So he had to strike hard and fast before the Numel could hit Trapinch. Trapinch took an aggressive stand while gazing the Numel down. The Numel just looked dumbly back.

"Mud shot and follow up with a quick attack!" Lenny pointed at the Numel while giving his friend orders.

Trapinch released a stream of mud that hit the Numel straight in its face. While the Numel blinked to get the mud out of its eyes, Trapinch sprinted forward with a quick attack that hit Numel just below its throat.

"Great job buddy! Finish it with a bulldoze!" Lenny felt the victory was closed and wanted to press his friend on.

The Numel was still blinking, but otherwise seemed to not even notice being hit. As Trapinch jumped in the air to come down with force and send the ground wrinkling towards the Numel.

As he was at his highest point Brendan gave his first orders to Numel: "Lava Plume straight forward, now!" Numel bended forward and while he did so a splash of boiling lave came out of the crater on his back, it filled the field just as gravity brought Trapinch down again.

Trapinch was used to hot temperatures in the desert, but the 2200 F that came out of Numel burned his feet and immediately upon landing, he yelped and jumped back to safety.

Lenny worriedly looked at his partner, his feet already scorched. It must hurt for him to even stand on his feet. This greatly disabled him and almost all his move relied on physical hitting his opponent. If Lenny and Trapinch wanted to win, they needed to finish this fast before the pain became too much for Trapinch.

Before Lenny thought of a new order, Brendan ordered a flame burst attack from his Numel. The camel like pokemon again bended over to fire a shot of flames from his insides.

Suddenly Lenny thought of a strategy. "Aim your rock throw at the opening of Numels bulk." Immediately Trapinch stamped the ground and raised a small rock by doing so. Lenny could see him biting through the pain. With a thrust of its head, Trapinch send the rock flying in a straight line to the hole in Numel's back, where the first flames were erupting from.

As the rock was getting close to Numel, it started to wobble, before hitting the green skin a few inches from the hole. The flames were now erupting and engulfed all over Trapinch and the surrounding area.

When the stream of flames stopped, Lenny was surprised to see his friend still standing. The burn marks covered his body and created an ugly looking skin. Trapinch was barely holding on, but he refused to give up.

The deadly determination inspired Lenny to continue. If his friend refused to lose, he would not let him down.

"Let's give it one last shot! Feint attack, don't hold back!"

Trapinch ran towards the Numel, the pain hindering to get to his normal speed. The Numel's sight was blocked by the dark energy that Trapinch had summoned and it did not see Trapinch coming until it threw his full bulk into the magma pokemon. Just a moment before impact, Brendan told Numel to endure the hit. It stopped swinging its head around to lose the cover over his eyes and braced himself. Even though Trapinch gave it his all, the Numel remained standing.

"Magnitude Numel." Brendan said with excitement. He knew this fight was over.

Lenny told his friend to jump up as he saw the tremor coming. Trapinch tried to hurl himself into the air, but only got off a few inches due to the immense pain that now overwhelmed him from his feet up. The magnitude lasted far longer than his jump and gravity was cruel enough to throw him down in the middle of it.

As the ground returned to its normal state, Lenny ran towards Trapinch. Numel remained at his place, a dumb look on his face. Brendan came to Lenny and Trapinch as well.

"Here, have my burn heal. The salve should close these wounds in a few hours and by the end of the day your Trapinch should be completely healed again."

Lenny thanked Brendan and anoint Trapinch with the burn heal. When he was done he returned his still unconscious friend.

"You know Lenny, that Scyther of yours is really impressive. There are not a lot of pokemon that can outmatch my Lamina, let alone match it in terms of speed. But as I said before, you have to control it. Your Trapinch is promising. I have seen my fair share of Trapinch in Hoenn, but you do have a fine specimen. Make sure to let him rest in the sand every so often, this will greatly increase his sand and ground control. And I am quite sure that at this stage of his development, you can up his mineral intake. It might harden his body and thus increase his durability."

"Thanks! That's a great advice. I was looking for ways to improve his ground control. I think it might be the key to beating Forrest."

"Of course that will be your next step. You should head to the farm ahead of the road, there is a boy of about your age that also wants to challenge Forrest. You might learn from each other." Brendan recalled his Numel and turned to Lenny again.

"Thanks for the battle Brendan, in the forest there were not much trainers, let alone trainers that proved to be a real challenge."

"Thanks to you too Lenny, every now and then it is nice to see my pokemon unleashing their full potential. And don't let your confidence get down over losing to Numel. He has been ready to evolve for years now, but we decided not to. I like having my slightly dumb friend around, it keeps reminding me that knowledge is not the key to happiness, even though we researchers often think it is."

Lenny let this sink in for a moment, not sure what to reply.

"Anyway, I have to get going, I see you around Lenny!"

"Say hi to dad from me!" Lenny shouted to Brendan's back, who waved in terms of a reply.

Lenny shrugged. It was time for the next step in his trainer career. He had proven himself to be promising, but to win badges he should heed Brendan's advice. He needed to control Fiore and help Trapinch become stronger. But he had left the forest behind himself and it looked like it was going to be a sunny day.

With a smile on his face and determination in his stride, he walked towards the farm.