"Rise and shine, sleepy ol' Snorlax!"
Groaning and grunting, I buried my head deeper into my wing. "I'm tired, Sky," I mumbled. "I flew all the way from Viridian Forest to Violet City yesterday. You can organize the hunting and scout patrols."
A shrill, high-pitched laugh echoed around me, joined in by a slightly deeper chuckle. "Oh, Thunder," a familiar voice giggled, "Don't you know where you are?"
Startled, my eyes flew open. Scanning the area, I saw that I was in a forest – one that looked and felt different from Viridian Forest. Sure, there were trees in this forest all right, but these trees felt softer and spongier. I was sitting in a nest on a branch of the tallest tree, and right across from me, Falkner and Lightning sat on a larger branch, laughing loudly like two obnoxious Ash Ketchums. Oh, I thought, embarrassed. I'm in the indoor forest in the Violet City gym.
Lightning stopped giggling for just a while to say, "Remember, Thunder? We're going to Azalea Town today. And why did you call me Sky?"
"Sky's my best friend and deputy back at Viridian Forest," I replied. "I'm sorry. I thought you were Sky."
Lightning giggled a little, and then suggested, "Want some breakfast?"
"Sure," I exclaimed eagerly. Lightning flapped swiftly down to a food bowl at the edge of the indoor forest and pointed to it eagerly.
Nodding, Falkner nimbly climbed down the giant tree. He was surprisingly agile for a human, and apparently had better tree-climbing skills than Bugsy. I chuckled lightly to myself as I thought of the stories I heard of the small, purple-haired Azalea Town gym leader who often got stuck in trees.
As soon as Falkner was out of sight, I glided down to a food bowl next to Lightning's, the one I had used yesterday. "So," I chattered, "How do we get to Azalea Town?"
"Oh, we just fly south from here until we come to a huge cave, then fly west until we see the town," Lighting said good-naturedly. "Falkner and I have been there several times for training."
In a moment, Falkner returned with his special bird Pokemon food. I gobbled it up greedily – for some reason, today's food tasted even better than yesterday's. When not a single crumb remained in my bowl, I stretched myself out and hopped over to a door at the edge of the indoor forest. The door was marked with a cloud, so I was almost certain that the door led outside into the free, open air.
When Lightning finished his meal, he and Falkner joined me by the door, Lightning with the tracking device around his neck. Falkner sighed and rested his hand on the doorknob. "Well, you two, good luck!" he exclaimed. Then his tone and expression sharpened as he lectured, "Remember, you guys, eat well, drink well, get plenty of sleep, ask for help if needed, and pace yourselves! Be sure not to get into any unnecessary fights, fly in bad weather, of get your feathers dirty. Most importantly, you two, STAY AWAY FROM ELECTRICITY AT ALL COSTS! And remember, nothing can break a bird Pokemon's wings. Stay strong! Now, I guess you may start your journey."
With one mighty push, Falkner shoved open the door – it did indeed lead to miles upon miles of seemingly endless blue sky, dotted here and there with fluffy white clouds. A warm breeze buffeted my feathers, cleansing them from the dust they had accumulated from being indoors for so long. Falkner hugged Lightning for one last time – I swallowed hard, reminding myself sharply how deeply Lightning's departure would affect the Violet City gym leader. Then, surprisingly, Falkner threw his arms around me and hugged me too. I didn't know why, but it felt warmer than any of the hugs I'd ever received, probably because it was my first trainer hug in a year. I shuddered, remembering that this would also be the last trainer hug for a long, long time.
Then Falkner stepped back; Lighting glanced at him uncertainly, and Falkner nodded curtly. With one mighty beat of my wings and one strong spring from the ground, I was flying, flying southward in the beautiful blue sky. Soon Lightning was flying alongside me, his longer plumes streaming in the warm breeze.
As I flew farther and farther away from Violet City, with its giant buildings and busy people, I listened as Falkner's calls of farewell dwindled and fell silent. With my eyes, I scanned the distant ground for the unmistakable red hat of Ash, but saw nothing except for the hard, brown soil of the lonely country road.
"I'm bored."
Lightning's voice broke the holy silence of the simple route and the surrounding forest.
I turned and faced him. "Why don't we talk a little, then?" I suggested. "You can tell me a bit about yourself and how you manage to defeat formidable foes in gym battles."
Lightning laughed good-naturedly. "Oh, my strategy is mostly speed and determination," he declared. "Falkner and I have the strong determination to prove that bird Pokemon do stand a chance against electricity. Add that to Agility, Quick Attack, and Roost, and Falkner pretty much has victory in his hands. Why, I even managed to defeat Ash's Pikachu when Ash battled us."
I nodded. "Wow, that's cool!" I exclaimed. I giggled lightly. "I wonder why Ash wouldn't evolve his Pikachu into a powerful, swift Raichu."
"Some trainers are like that. I heard that Bugsy wouldn't even evolve his Metapod into Butterfree. What's the point with that?"
"Maybe Bugsy just spends too much time getting stuck in trees," I joked. Lightning and I laughed so hard, we almost crashed into a nearby tree.
We talked and laughed for a while, but soon I was beginning to get hungry. The lazy white circle of the sun hung directly above the forest as I veered away from my main course, settling onto a tree in a large forest. My vision sharpened as I searched the forest for tasty Bug Pokemon.
Lightning flapped down and landed next to me. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Searching the forest for Bug Pokemon," I muttered.
Lightning pecked me sharply on the neck; I jumped up at the surprising pain of the attack and yelped, "Ow! What did you do that for?"
"Are you crazy?" Lightning shrieked. "We can't eat Bug Pokemon! Sure, I'm hungry, too, but can't we just find a lake and catch a Magikarp or something?"
I shuddered at the thought of the slimy, slippery fish sliding into my belly. It would taste awful, if it didn't evolve into Gyarados first. I winced as I imagined a giant, ferocious Gyarados, roaring angrily and mauling Lightning and I with swift Ice Fang attacks. "No!" I screamed out loud. "We are not hunting for a slimy Magikarp or a repulsive Goldeen!"
"Come on, Thunder!" Lightning pleaded. "I really don't want to hunt for Bug Pokemon. And really, Magikarp taste good! They're really exciting to hunt, too – my flock hunted them all the time, back when I was a wild Pidgey."
"Well, Pidgeot don't hunt slimy Magikarp, and that's that!" I snapped.
Lightning growled angrily. "Stop being so adamant, Thunder!" he hissed. "You should at least try to hunt some Magikarp!"
I turned away, hissing angrily. There was no way Lightning could possibly make me eat a disgusting Magikarp. Focusing my senses, I spotted a Caterpie, crawling on the short grass a next to a small tree. I bunched my muscles, getting ready to dive onto the bug and finish it off…
Suddenly, a huge, intimidating Ariados dropped in front of Lightning and I, hissing and spitting furiously.
Lightning emitted an unusual high-pitched scream: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The Ariados scurried up the silk thread it had created in a single heartbeat, while the Caterpie darted, panicking, down a burrow. Other rustling sounds nearby signaled that other Bug Pokemon were also fleeing to their homes.
I whirled around and faced Lightning angrily. "Why did you do that?" I hissed. "Hunting is difficult! It is not a game where you scare away all the prey! Now all the Bug Pokemon have run away, and they probably won't come out of their hiding places for a long time."
Lightning shrank away, plastering himself to the tree trunk. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you my secret," he whimpered. "I am horribly scared of Bug Pokemon."
"You are WHAT?" I screamed.
"I am horribly scared of Bug Pokemon."
I paused for a while, trying to make sense of Lightning's words. Then, I laughed so hard, I almost fell off the branch. I just couldn't help it. "A bird Pokemon, scared of bugs?" I giggled. "You must be joking."
"I'm not!" Lightning hissed. "If you just listen to me, I'll tell you why."
Sighing, I tried hard to stop laughing, then asked, "So? Why are you scared of Bug Pokemon?"
Lightning stared at his feet, shuddered, and took several deep breaths. Wow, he looks scared, I thought. He must be very brave if he can tell me his greatest secret, even though he's scared to tell it.
"All right, so this happened in the early days of Falkner being a gym leader," Lightning began. "I was still a Pidgeotto, and Falkner wasn't as smart, tough, or kind as he is now.
"One day a small boy with long, dark purple hair came to challenge Falkner to a gym match. The boy confidently said that all of his Pokemon were Bug Pokemon, which of course was predictable, because the boy was carrying a large bug net. This made Falkner overconfident, and he challenged the boy to a One-on-Two match – Falkner was certain that I alone could defeat two Bug Pokemon. He was wrong.
"The boy's first Pokemon was a Caterpie – 'How funny', Falkner sneered. He commanded me to finish it off with Gust – but that Caterpie was surprising fast, perhaps even faster than Ash's Pikachu. That worm used String Shot, and pretty soon, my whole body was wrapped in that sticky silk, trapped and unable to move."
"Ouch, that must hurt!" I exclaimed in horror.
Lightning nodded sadly. "I was completely immobilized," he groaned. "I could only struggle pitifully as the small boy recalled his Caterpie and sent out an imposing Scyther. The next thing I knew, that bug was slashing me furiously with its two horrible blades, and the next thing I knew after that, I was lying on a bed in a Pokemon center."
"Yikes," I whispered. "So that's why Bug Pokemon make you nervous." A flush of guilt enveloped me from the tip of my beak to the tip of my tail, and I promised to myself that I wouldn't ever be so thoughtless again.
Lightning stretched out his wings, relieved, as if his burden were finally lifted from his back. "Well, at least Falkner understands how I feel," he declared. "And that boy eventually became the Azalea Town gym leader."
"Wow, so Bugsy actually defeated a Pidgeotto with relative ease, using only Bug Pokemon," I breathed. "He didn't become Gym Leader for nothing."
Lightning nodded quickly. Springing into the air, he called, "Now do you want to hunt some Magikarp? Really, if you don't know how to, I can teach you."
"No way!" I yelled angrily. Why did he have to bring this subject up again? "You can go eat your slimy fish if you want. I'm staying here to hopefully get some bugs."
Lightning shrugged and flew swiftly away.
Good riddance, I thought angrily. Now that all was peaceful, I concentrated hard, trying to spot some Bug Pokemon. Luck was not on my side, however, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see or hear any Bug Pokemon anywhere in the forest – Lightning had scared all of them away with his scream. After wandering the woods for a long while, I groaned, defeated, and flapped back to the tree Lightning and I were sitting on.
Surprisingly, Lightning was already sitting there. "Guess what, Thunder?" he teased. "I managed to catch a huge Magikarp at a nearby lake. And now, I'm full and you're not. If you hadn't been so adamant, then maybe you wouldn't be so hungry now!"
I opened my beak to protest, but before any sound came out of it, a huge, ferocious roar sounded not too far away. Startled, Lightning and I whipped our heads around, and almost screamed at what we saw. Not too far away, towering out of a small lake (it was probably the one Lightning caught his Magikarp in), was a furious, gigantic blue serpent. Its eyes blazed with hot fury, and its mouth gaped open, revealing a set of sharp, gleaming white teeth.
"It's a Gyarados!" I screamed in horror.
To be continued…