Chapter 8: Viridian Forest

I yawned as we walked. I wasn't sure how long we were walking. All I know was that we were walking due to the many trees that we have passed since I had broken out of my pokeball. And, the best thing was that I had Charcoal out here with me to talk to, plus the Skitty who seemed to have calmed down for the time being. Both Charcoal and I were glad about that. Then, a question hit me, one that I had the desire to ask.

"Hey Charcoal," I said.

"Yeah," Charcoal said.

"Where are we?"

"Viridian Forest."

"Viridian Forest?" I repeated.

"You know, the forest that's named after Viridian City," Charcoal said.

"But why's it called Viridian Forest?" I questioned. "What's it so famous for?"

There was a moment's pause as Charcoal crossed his arms and shut his eyes, thinking about the answer. "You know," he said a few moments later. "I'm not absolutely sure about that."

"Ha!" Skitty laughed. "That proves you don't know everything in the world."

"I never said I knew everything," Charcoal said.

"We'll see about that," Skitty said. "What's one plus one?"

"Two?" Charcoal questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"What's the pre-evolved form of a Caterpie?"

"There is no pre-evolved form," Charcoal said.

"What's the square root of pie divided by two thousand times sixteen?" Skitty asked, looking back at him and smirking.

"What kind of question is that?" Charcoal asked, looking quite bewildered.

"A question way out of terms, if you ask me," I said.

"My point proven," Skitty said. "You don't know everything."

I just stared at Charcoal who pointed at the Skitty while using his other paw to make a circling motion all the meanwhile looking at me. I nodded, agreeing with him. The forest, I took notice of, seemed to be growing rather dark the more we walked on. Before I could voice out my question, Skitty groaned and asked, "How much further are we going to walk?"

"Judging by how dark it's quickly becoming, I'd say we would be stopping very shortly," Charcoal told her. "Unless our trainers plan on pulling an all nighter just to get to Pewter City."

"Well I hope we stop soon," I said. "It's been a while since I got to do some night hunting."

"What's night hunting?" Skitty asked, falling back to walk along with Charcoal and I.

"Night hunting is something dark type pokemon tend to normally do," Charcoal explained. "Dark type pokemon walk about at night and hunt other pokemon for food. And that's something Zack does."

"Wait!" Skitty said, looking over to me. "You mean that Zack is a dark type pokemon?"

"You didn't know?" I asked, a little surprised.

"I always thought you were a psychic type," Skitty said.

"He's part psychic," Charcoal said. "The other part of him is dark."

"So he's a dark type and a psychic type," Skitty said. "Dark, psychic. He's a dark psychic. I always had a thing for dark psychics."

"You also have a thing for anything that rouses your curiosity," Charcoal said.

"Not true," Skitty said.

"Blue ball," Charcoal randomly said.

"I LOVE blue balls!" Skitty cheered. "They're so round and blue. You know that blue is my favorite color, right?"

Charcoal sighed as I silently chuckled. A thought then came across my mind, one that I didn't think of asking earlier. "Say Charcoal, where is it we're going?"

"Pewter City," Charcoal said.

"What's in Pewter City?" I asked.

"That's right," Charcoal said more to himself than me. "You were in your ball when it was discussed. Our trainer saw a poster for some sort of Pokemon League or something."

"Pokemon League?" I questioned.

"I'm not quite sure, but I think it's just a championship to see which trainer and their pokemon can be the best," Charcoal said. "But to get to the Pokemon League, trainers have to battle eight different Pokemon Gyms in eight different cities. Each gym has a different element type the pokemon have to battle to earn a badge of the gym. Once all eight are collected, then the trainers get to go to the Pokemon League."

"Now that sounds interesting!" I said, feeling a spark of excitement flow through my body. "I have to battle these gyms and get to this Pokemon League."

"Don't forget that I'm on your team too," Charcoal reminded me.

"Oops," I said with an embarrassed smile. "Forgot about that. Sorry. But what about Laura's team? Are Skitty and Ted doing the gyms as well?"

"We're not," Skitty said. "Laura's not much into battles such as gyms and all that. She just likes to sit on the sidelines a lot, but she still trains us in her spare time."

"Right here will do," my master suddenly said, all of us stopping in a small, open clearing. "This will be a perfect spot to sleep for the night."

"Are you sure?" Laura asked, looking rather nervous. "I-I'm not use to sleeping outdoors."

"Don't worry about a thing," my master said with a smile. "As long as our pokemon are out, we'll be safe from any pokemon that wanders into our tent."

"Are you sure?" Laura asked.

"Positive," my master said, still smiling as he got out a pair of sleeping bags. "Good thing I brought along a spare." He handed Laura his other sleeping bag.

"Well," I said, stretching. "If it's all right with you guys, I think I'll just take my leave. Be back in the morning."

"Hey Zack," I heard my master call out to me, causing me to look back at him. "Where're you going?"

I heard Charcoal sigh, "Humans," before reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a red, handheld device.

"Huh!?" my master said, looking down at him. "Charcoal!?" Charcoal opeend up the device and used his paws to work it before handing it back to our master.

"Umbreon, the dark type pokemon," a computerized voice spoke. "Umbreon is one of seven evolutions of it's pre-evolved form of Eevee. Umbreons are normally known to wander during the night to hunt for food."

"Oh!" my master said, looking quite surprised about this. Laura busted out laughing at that point, prompting my master to ask what she was laughing about.

"I...can't...believe...you...have...a pokemon...who's...smarter...than...you!" Laura laugehd in between gasps of breath. "It's embarrassing!"

All I saw of my master before I turned away laughing out loud was his face turning very bright red. "Even your pokemon think it's hilarious!" she said before continuing her laughter, one of which echoed across the vast darkness of the forest I blended into as my night hunting began.