Pokemon: Kanto Adventures!

[MothraRocks]

Dedicated

“Ok, now use Poison Sting Nidorina!” C.C. yelled out, flinging his arm. Nidorina cried out as she opened her mouth, letting a barrage of poisonous white needles upon the Ponyta.

“No!” The young trainer cried out as his Pokémon collapsed, having finally taken too much damage to carry on. The boy sighed as he recalled his Pokémon and walked over to C.C., handing over a bunch of cash. Without saying anything, he turned around and headed back down the dirt road.

“Yeah C.C.!” Alex yelled happily, giving him a high five. “How much do we have now?”

“About 1200 or so.” C.C. said, flipping through the bills, “It’s not much, but it should get us by for a while.”

The gang had left Fuchsia City only two days ago, and were still walking along the dirt path. On their left was the open ocean, sparkling under the bright sun. On their right was a dense green forest, various Pokémon cries emitting from it throughout the day.

“If you guys needed money, you could have just asked me.” Misty said, sitting on a rock.

“Nah, it’s fine. Prefer earning my own money anyway.” C.C. smiled before stuffing the money in his backpack. “So how much longer does this path go on for?”

“Usually by foot it takes three or so days. Luckily we’re having nice weather.” Misty said before standing up and brushing off her pants. “Should we get going? Cycling Road is where you need to head next if you’re going to Celadon.”

“B-but food!” A voice came from the ground.

Misty rolled her eyes. “We just ate Jake! C’mon, let’s go!”

“I can’t! I need food!” Jake exclaimed, over acting, “I think I’m dying! I see a bright light!”

“That’s the sun. It tends to be out during the day.” Alex remarked.

“Fine.” Misty finally agreed, annoyed. She reached into her bag and flung a bread roll at Jake, who happily caught it and began eating. “You and your endless stomach.”

*****
Yuna marched on, happy with her new element jewel in her coat pocket. It had been a tough fight, but she had finally managed to get the Dragonair from the Safari Zone, as well as her personal treasure; the element of Lying. Still, Yuna had this uneasy feeling that those brats were going to mess up her plans, and she had no idea where they were. Or where she was. She simply knew she was on a dirt road next to the sea, with a forest on her right. Clearing her mind, Yuna kept walking.

“Leave me alone!” Came a girl’s voice from the forest. Yuna stopped for a moment and looked; she couldn’t see anything, but was sure someone was in there.
“We’re not messing around!” Came another voice, “Now give us back our Pokéballs!”

It sounded like someone was in trouble. Yuna considered interfering for a moment before pressing on; it wasn’t her problem.

“Now why would we do that?” said what Yuna made out as a man’s voice, “The fun’s only starting!”

Yuna sighed. As much as she didn’t want to care…she did. It bugged her that a man was harassing two girls, and for all she knew, it could be a Team Rocket member. Turning around, she swiftly headed into the forest.

Pushing plants aside, Yuna finally saw three young girls pushed up against a tree. They looked to be about 18, give or take a year. One of them had beautiful red hair, going down to her waist, the one in middle had long curly blonde hair, shining even in the darkness of the forest. The one farthest from Yuna had dark purple hair, not as long as the others, but still surpassing her shoulders. Other than that, the girls looked the same; a pale complexion, eye liner, red lipstick, long eyelashes and nice figures. In front of them Yuna spotted two well-built men, wearing torn leather jackets and sunglasses, as well as having shaved heads. One of them held multiple Pokéballs.

“Did you not hear them?” Yuna said sternly, walking out of the vegetation, confusing the five, “Leave them alone.”

“My, my. More fresh meat.” One of the thugs said before walking over to Yuna, looking down at her. She cringed from the smell; had he not heard of a shower? “Hand over your Pokéballs”

Yuna looked at the palm outstretched in front of her, dirt all over it. She didn’t move, making the man poke her roughly and causing her to nearly stumble.

“I wouldn’t do that.” Yuna glared at the man.

“Ha! That’s adorable. Now do as I say and hand over your Pokémon, and your cash!” The man laughed.

Yuna glared at the hand again, close to her face. Fine, he didn’t want to listen to reason? Yuna didn’t either. Yuna raised her hand and placed it in his palm, confusing the two men.

“What? Lady, I don’t want to dance –“

“Well I DO.” Yuna suddenly said before grabbing his fingers and bending them backwards, loud cracks sounding from them. The man screamed in pain before Yuna punched him across the face, making him double over. Before he could do anything else, Yuna grabbed him by the arm and flung him right over her shoulder and into a tree, a loud ‘crack’ echoing.

“Why you little—“The other man said, alarmed, dropping the Pokéballs and storming at Yuna, grabbing her arm. Yuna turned around and stared at the man.

“Sir, I do not wish to fight. I’m a pacifist.” Yuna said coldly.

“What? A pacifist?” The man asked, obviously confused.

“Yes; I’m about to pass a fist right across your face.” Yuna remarked. Before the man could even process what had just happened, Yuna’s fist came crashing into his mouth, resulting in blood spewing. Not letting up, Yuna quickly kicked him in the crotch, getting the man to cry out and collapse.

“Muk, go.” Yuna said blandly as a Pokéball clicked open, letting out a purple pile of sludge.

“Mukkkkk” Muk gurgled, eyeing the two men. Knowing what had to be done, it raised its arm and fired off a Thunderbolt attack, striking the two men, resulting in them screaming out in terror and pain before falling unconscious.

“Thank you. Return.” Yuna said, no emotion in her voice as Muk was recalled before walking off.

“Thank you!” The red haired girl cried out as she picked up her Pokéballs.

Yuna said nothing and continued walking back to the path. Suddenly, the blonde popped up in front of her, an excited look in her eyes.

“Really, thanks!” She exclaimed, shocking Yuna.

“OK.” Yuna said, annoyed.

“Is there anything we can do for you? Oh there must be! We’ll do anything!” the girl exclaimed again.

“No, nothing.”

“I mean it. We’ll do ANYTHING!” she yelled, almost begging as Yuna walked away.

“Fine, you wanna help me?” Yuna remarked, obviously annoyed, “There are these three brats, that travel together; they have a Charmander, Bulbasaur and a Squirtle. They continue to get in my way, and ruin everything. If you want to help me SO badly, then bring all three of them to me, tied up.”

“Oh, of course!” the blue haired girl cried out again, “We owe you –“

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Yuna mumbled rolling her eyes as the girls quickly dashed off into the woods. She was glad simply to be rid of them. Besides, if Yuna couldn’t deal with those three, she highly doubted three young girls could.

[MothraRocks]

“What is it?” Alex asked, looking down.

“A Pokémon?” Jake suggested.

“No duh,” Misty said rolling her eyes. “It’s a Growlithe, and it looks kind of hurt.”

The four teens continued to watch the small canine Pokémon as it limped along the dirt road, seemingly to nowhere. It didn’t look at them, but they knew it was acknowledging their presence.

“A Growlithe huh? I’ve not seen too many of those before.” C.C. remarked as he pulled out his Pokédex to scan it.

“Growlithe, the puppy Pokémon. Its superb sense of smell ensures that this Pokémon won't forget any scent, no matter what. It uses its sense of smell to detect the emotions of others.”

“Wow, it can smell emotions?” Alex asked, surprised. “How does that work?”

“We’ll have to figure that out later,” C.C. commented as he slipped his Pokédex away, “Right now we need to help it.”

The group silently agreed and headed over to the wandering Pokémon until they were right up behind it. They could now see that its back leg was lacking a significant amount of fur compared to the rest of its body, and had visible scratches.

“Hey Growlithe,” Misty said in a very light and comforting tone, “Are you ok? Your leg doesn’t look too nice.”

To the group’s surprise, Growlithe continued to limp forward as if it hadn’t heard a thing. They momentarily stopped and looked amongst each other.

“Is it deaf?” Alex asked, getting a dirty look from Misty, “No, I don’t mean that in a rude way! I mean really, it might be deaf!”

“Let’s check,” Jake said as he pulled out his Pokédex and held it towards Growlithe. A loading screen appeared for a moment before being replaced by various information.
“Well, it says here it’s a male, its HP is near the halfway mark, it’s a little underweight…nope, nothing’s wrong in the hearing department.”

C.C. turned back around a faced Growlithe’s backside, “Growlithe! Come here, you’re hurt!”

Again, the Pokémon continued to limp away from the group, not even acknowledging their calls. Slinging his backpack onto the ground, and unzipped it, pulling out a Potion. Without saying anything, he hurried next to the Pokémon.

“Here, this will make you feel a little better.” C.C. smiled. Growlithe continued to look ahead, a determined yet glassy look on its eyes.

“Look, just let me, you’ll feel better in no time!” C.C. said enthusiastically as he held out the Potion and squeezed it.

“C.C. no!” Misty called out, suddenly alarmed. But it was too late; the second the spray made contact with Growlithe, the look in its eyes changed to that of anger. In under a second, the Pokémon whipped around and spat out what seemed to be a small ball of fire towards C.C.

“What the hell?!” C.C. exclaimed as he just managed to avoid the attack, fire whizzing by his head.

“Lithe! Growlithe!” The Pokémon barked angrily at the trainer as the back of his throat began to glow, signifying another attack.

“Go Fearow!” Alex called as a Pokéball from his hand popped open, revealing a large brown bird. Without missing a beat, Fearow zipped towards C.C. at incredible speeds, moving him out of the way just as the second Flame Burst was fired. C.C. tumbled along the ground for a second before regaining his footing and staring at Growlithe, who glared back.

“We just want to help you!” Jake called out, Charmander’s tail flame beginning to grow slightly.

Growlithe simply bared it’s fangs at C.C., growling lowly. C.C. stared at it for a second before dropping his backpack and sitting down, leaving a confused look on Growlithe’s face.

“Look. No Pokéballs, no fists, nothing. I’m not going to fight you.” C.C. said calmly. He was secretly scared as hell; he hoped if he showed Growlithe he had nothing to fight with, it would calm down. But that was only a theory.

Growlithe stared for a second as the light in the back of its throat grew brighter. The tension rose for the next few seconds until the light died down, and a softer look crossed his face. C.C. smiled warmly.

“Ok, good. Now just think Growlithe, doesn’t your leg feel a little better after that little squirt of Potion?”

Growlithe pondered for a second. Sure, it felt a little better, nothing phenomenal, but still. Maybe the humans were on its side. Maybe. Sighing, Growlithe limped over to C.C., who silently sprayed the rest of the Potion on. The rest of the group dared not break the silence.

Finally, Growlithe looked up at C.C., an unreadable expression on its face. It simply sniffed the trainer’s knee for a second before turning to its right and wandering into the forest.

“Phew!” Alex said as he recalled Fearow. “I thought you were done for!”

“That was good thinking,” Misty said, “It probably did feel a little intimidated with all of us surrounding it.”

“Thanks,” C.C. smiled before getting up, “But we should get going before its dark.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about THAT.” Came a voice from behind.

The group turned around, only to see three young girls standing in a triangle formation; all looked to be in their late teens, and had vibrant colored hair.

“Excuse me?” Misty asked.

“Come with us now. Or we can do this the hard way.” The girl with blue hair countered, a cocky look on her face.

“What the hell are you on about?” Jake demanded as Alex grabbed a Pokéball.

“Oh right, how rude of us! We didn’t introduce ourselves!” The red head commented, mockingly, “I’m Rose.”

“My name is Fate.” The blonde commented, flicking her hair as she spoke.

“And I’m Mileena.” The girl with blue hair finally said. “Now, come with us.”

“And if we don’t want too?” Jake asked.

The girls turned to one another a smiled before a malicious snicker crossed their faces. Suddenly, they were gone! The group gasped; it was like they had vanished into thin air! Before anyone could call out their Pokémon, Alex felt a hand grab him from behind and yank him down to the ground forcefully.

“Ow!” Alex yelled, getting the attention of everyone. Turning around, they saw that Rose, Fate and Mileena had somehow gotten behind the group, and spread out, their arms crossed.

“Go, Gyarad-“ Misty began to say, but before she could finish, Mileena dashed towards her at incredible speeds, grabbing her arm and twisting it back, making the gym leader cry out in pain.

“Leave her alone!” Jake yelled as he began to race towards Mileena, but skidded to a halt when Fate suddenly appeared in front of him, smirking.

“How’d you-“ Jake began to ask, but Fate was fast; she reached out and grabbed a pressure point on his neck. Jake’s eyes rolled up into his head before he collapsed in front of the girl, unconscious.

“Char!” Charmander suddenly cried out, letting loose a Fire Spin attack, aimed at Fate. The girl gasped as she jumped out of the way, some hairs getting singed. Charmander glared at her a moment, pure anger in his eyes.

“You little pest!” Fate yelled before grabbing a Pokéball and releasing her Pokémon, “Persian! Get rid of it!”

A large white cat Pokémon appeared, with a round ruby on its forehead. The cat Pokémon glared at Charmander for a moment, before purring softly.

“C.C.! Help!” Misty cried before Mileena grabbed the same pressure point that Fate had on Jake, causing her to black out as well. Mileena laughed as C.C. reached for a Pokéball, only to be kicked forward by Rose. The boy stumbled before regaining his balance and grabbing his Pokéball.

“Go, Golbat!” C.C. cried as the ball clicked open, releasing a large blue and purple bat Pokémon, “Use Confuse Ray!”

“Bat!” Golbat cried as a multicolored sphere flew out of its mouth, headed for Rose. The girl rolled her eyes as she vanished once more, the attack slamming into the ground. C.C. looked around frantically; where did she go?

“Looking for me?” Rose’s voice came from behind. C.C. felt a squeeze on his neck before everything started going black. The last thing he saw was Charmander being flung against a tree…and that was it.

[MothraRocks]

Charmander cried out as he slid down against the tree, falling to the hard ground below. Wincing from pain as he pushed himself up, the small orange Pokémon saw Persian creeping towards him, almost looking like it was smiling; Persian couldn’t help but play with its prey. Licking its lips, the Classy Cat Pokémon was ready to move in for the kill.

“Bat!” Golbat suddenly shrieked from behind Persian before firing an Air Cutter attack, forcing it to jump out of the way of the sharp air ‘blades’. Golbat wasted no time in firing a Confuse Ray attack, only to have the second attack avoided as well.

“Sian!” Persian cooed mockingly before taking off into the nearby forest, vanishing from sight. Golbat landed next to Charmander and gently lifted him with his giant wings; Charmander had taken quite a beating, as evident from the scratches all over its body.

Inhaling deeply, Charmander thanked Golbat before stepping forward to face the thugs who had ruthlessly beaten his friends, but instead gasped out of pure shock; everyone but the unconscious Misty was gone!

*****
Yuna just stood in disbelief at the sight that lay in front of her. How, how in God’s good name, had these young girls managed to not only bring these three boys to her, but brought them to her tied up and unconscious?!

“So?” the blonde girl asked, getting right in Yuna’s face, “did we do good?”

“Uh-“ Yuna stammered before being cut off by Rose.

“Fate, get out of her face, it’s so rude!” she demanded, yanking the girl backwards. Fate crossed her arms, a sour look crossing her face before turning away. “Ignore her, she’s quite immature.”

“But, just to be clear here,” Mileena said from under a nearby tree, messing with her hair, “these are the correct boys right? Like, we didn’t just beat up and kidnap random teenagers, right?”

“N-no, these are the ones.” Yuna stuttered again, still bewildered about the whole situation, “It’s just…how did you do it? I’ve never been able to get the upper hand on them.”

“Oh my gosh really? But it was so easy!” Fate exclaimed excitedly and innocently, earning a dirty look from Rose and Mileena.

“We basically just snuck up on them and well, went for the pressure points.” Mileena explained, now filing her nails. “They blacked out and that was that.”

“You could say we’re experts of the human body” Rose gloated, earning an odd look from Yuna.

“Uh…”

“Not like that!” The red head quickly yelled, clearing up the miscommunication between the two, “I mean we’ve been trained to learn all of the strong and weak points of the body. I suppose being a masseuse or chiropractor would have worked out, but we decided crushing our enemies was a lot more fun.”

“Okay, yeah that’s fantastic,” Yuna quickly said in a rude tone, trying to brush them off. “Well, I have what I need, and you’re no longer in debt so off you go.”

Yuna wanted nothing more than to be rid of these girls, they were far too weird for comfort. It was then that the bushes started to rustle, before a large white cat emerged, walking calmly and gracefully towards the group.

“Persian, there you are!” Fate cooed as she coddled the Pokémon, “Did that nasty Charmander singe your pretty fur?”

“What did you just say?” Yuna demanded in a tense voice.

“Oh, well you see, that boy over there in the red had his Charmander attack me, so I sent Persian to make quick work of it, but that other boy, the blonde one I think it was, send his Golbat to attack and –“ Fate explained with an absent minded tone before being cut off abruptly by Yuna.

“So where the hell is the Charmander?!” She asked, griping Fate by the shoulders and shaking her.

“Back on the path where we left him probably,” Mileena said carelessly, now putting on mascara. “No biggie.”

“You MORONS!” Yuna yelled, gripping her head, “you have no idea how fucking persistent that Charmander is! He’ll look day and night until he finds us, and let me tell you, he’s stupidly over powered.”

“Let him,” Rose said confidently, “We’re so deep in these woods he’ll never find us – oh what’s this?”

Rose motioned towards the three boys all tied up, as they slowly began to stir and groggily awaken, their muscles sore.

“Allow me.” Rose said as she approached the boys, ready to put them back to sleep.

“No, let them wake up.” Yuna ordered, “I want them to see this. Meanwhile, you three can go back and deal with the two Pokémon and that girl, she’s craftier than you’d think.”

Nodding at Yuna, Rose motioned the other two girls, who stood up and flicked their hair before all three vanished into thin air again. Yuna then turned back to the three boys just as Jake looked up, his eyes widening in shock and confusion.

“Sleep well?” she asked.

*****
“Charmander!” Charmander called out, his voice echoing through the forest, with Golbat close behind, calling out as well for his owner; the forest canopy was so dense, he had to give up searching by air, and awkwardly walked through the forest with Charmander.

Just then, the bushes next to them began to rustle, causing both Pokémon to tense up and stare down the bush. A second later, a familiar small orange Pokémon burst through, giving a little bark at the two.

“Char, Charmander!” Charmander said loudly, greeting the Growlithe from earlier. Charmander then proceeded to explain the situation that had taken place right after it had left, waving its arms wildly. Shockingly, Growlithe simply shrugged its shoulders and continued on its way; it wasn’t his problem, so why should he get himself involved?

“Golbat, bat, bat, Gol!” Golbat suddenly shrieked, anger obviously in his voice. Growlithe stopped and turned around, letting out a snarl. How dare this bat speak to him so rudely! True, that one boy had managed to heal him a little bit earlier on, but…but…

“Lithe,” Growlithe sighed. He didn’t really have a reason not to help, and hung his head in annoyance. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath through his nostrils, picking up on C.C.’s scent almost immediately. He barked furiously at the other two Pokémon to follow him before dashing into another bush.

*****
“Let us go!” Jake yelled angrily at Yuna, pulling at his ropes in vain.

“Not a chance you little brat, I’ve finally got you.” Yuna said, hand on her hip, smiling. “And this time, there’s nothing you can do to stop me. What about you two? You’ve both been awfully quiet.”

Yuna motioned over to C.C. and Alex, both of which were also tied up to a tree, facing her. Noticing he was being spoken to, C.C. suddenly snapped to attention.

“Huh? Oh sorry, I’m still in shock that this story is actually being updated.” C.C. admitted. Next to him, Alex nodded.

“Guys!” Jake exclaimed, pulling at his ropes some more, “Can’t either of you reach your Pokéballs?!”

“No, my hands are tied up too!” Alex responded, feeling the burn of the rope from turning too much.

“Well, I guess that leaves me with one choice then,” Yuna said, smirking, as she reached for Muk’s Pokéball on her belt.

“No!” Jake exclaimed throwing himself forward, just managing to bite down on Yuna’s ankle. Yuna cried out in both pain and annoyance, kicking the teenager in the face multiple times before he finally let go.

“You idiot!” Yuna exclaimed, rubbing her ankle, “what did you expect to achieve through that?! Go, Muk! Finish these pests once and for all!”

Yuna threw her Pokéball, releasing the foul smelling Muk, who gurgled at the sight of the three helpless teenagers.

“Use Smog to suffocate them!” Yuna exclaimed, followed by Muk emitting a heavy, dark gas cloud from its mouth, covering the three boys in seconds. Yuna could hear their hacking coughs as she began to smile.

“Bat!” echoed a cry right before an Air Cutter attack struck both Muk and the poisonous gas cloud, blowing it away. Yuna and the three boys looked up to see Golbat standing about twenty feet away with Charmander by its side, both glaring angrily.

“Charmander!” Jake exclaimed happily, at ease to know his Pokémon was okay.

“Great job Golbat!” C.C. cheered as Yuna let out a growl of annoyance. “Now, try and get us out of these ropes!”

“I don’t think so! Muk use Thunderbolt!” Yuna ordered, with Muk firing off a blue lightning bolt at the two Pokémon, who barely managed to dodge it. “Try it again, don’t let up!”

“Look out guys!” C.C. cried out as another Thunderbolt flew right over Charmander’s head. Just then, he felt some kind of pressure down at his wrists. Surprised, C.C. quickly looked behind him to see none other than Growlithe chewing on his ropes, weakening them. Seconds later, the ropes around his wrists fell to the ground, allowing C.C. to untie the bigger ones around his body. He turned around and silently thanked Growlithe before motioning over to Jake and Alex, careful not to attract Yuna’s attention.

“Muk, that’s enough! Time for something new!” Yuna angrily yelled “Try a Sludge Bomb atta –“

“They got away!” Rose’s voice echoed through the forest, catching Yuna’s attention, “The Charmander and Golbat already left to search!”

“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed,” Yuna spat in a tone most sarcastic before noticing there were only two of the girls present. “Where’s blondie?”

“Battling the girl, she was waiting for us with her Starmie and Gyarados this time.” Mileena explained in a bored fashion, admiring her nails.

“Ugh, can you girls actually do anything right—“Yuna began to say before hearing one of the brats speaking, causing her to turn around.

“Alright, return Golbat, good job!” C.C. exclaimed before bringing out another Pokéball; “Nidorina, come on out!”

“You too Magmar!” Alex yelled, sending a Pokéball whirling through the air, revealing the ill-tempered Pokémon from the Safari Zone. Upon this sight Yuna had to fight
the urge to physically start yanking her hair out.

“Prove yourself useful for once and do something!” Yuna screeched at Rose and Mileena, both grabbing a single Pokéball.

“Go, Tauros!” Rose exclaimed, a large brown bull-like creature bursting out of the ball, before letting out a loud cry.

“Pinsir, help us out!” Mileena yelled, releasing the horrifying Bug-type Pokémon.

“Tauros, get the Magmar with Take down!” Rose ordered, as the Tauros started to charge, head down, at the flame Pokémon.

“Grab it by the horns!” Alex said confidently, watching as Magmar literally took the bull by the horns, skidding back only a few feet, stunning Rose.

Meanwhile, C.C. was having a bit more trouble with the Pinsir; Nidorina had tried to use Dig twice, but the Pinsir just would glide and quickly move to another position.

“Try a Poison Sting attack!” C.C. commanded, with Nidorina unleashing a volley of white needles upon Pinsir.

“Power through it and use Thrash!” Mileena commanded just as Pinsir began to charge through the Poison Sting, getting right up to Nidorina. Pinsir wasted no time in kicking and punching Nidorina violently, inflicting a lot of damage on the Pokémon.

“Nidorina, return!” C.C. called, gritting his teeth as his Pokémon disappeared in a red light. If only he had a Pokémon that was effective against Pinsir. Golbat was a flying type, but had already sustained some damage from Muk, and he couldn’t really fly in this low forest.

“Growl!” rang a voice down behind C.C., who looked down to see a fired up looking Growlithe.

“Growlithe, you want to fight Pinsir?” C.C. asked as Growlithe let out another determined cry. C.C. let a huge grin cross his face, “Alright! Go Growlithe!”

“Huh, that’s odd” Mileena commented, smiling, “I would have thought Growlithe would have perished from his earlier battle with Persian. Oh well, guess I have to finish Fate’s dirty work.”

“What? You mean you assholes are the reason I found Growlithe in this condition?!” C.C. asked infuriated, “It’s one thing to battle a wile Pokémon, but it’s another to try and inflict long term damage on one!”

“What can I say, we were bored,” Mileena giggled before a stern look crossed her face again, “Pinsir, use Vice Grip!”

Pinsir roared out before charging at Growlithe, the giant appendage on its head clicking menacingly.

“Use Flame Burst Growlithe!” C.C. yelled, recalling the attack that had been used on him earlier. Growlithe jumped into the air before a fiery orb shot forth from its mouth, landing right in Pinsir’s face and sending it flying backwards, with some of the remnants landing on Rose’s Tauros, causing it to momentarily falter. “Fantastic, now use Flame Wheel!”

“Growlithe!” Growlithe called out before cloaking itself and flames and rolling swiftly into Pinsir, knocking it back into a tree, unconscious.

“What?!”Mileena cried as she ran over to Pinsir and recalled him, “but how…”

“Dammit!” Rose suddenly cried out as Magmar delivered a Flamethrower to the face, causing Tauros to faint, “Mileena if you hadn’t let that Flame Burst land, then Tauros wouldn’t have messed up!”

“I think Tauros messed up because it reflects the poor training you’ve done with it!” Mileena retorted, getting a pissed off look from Rose.

“Both of you can-it!” Yuna demanded, “Look up!”

Surely enough, when both girls looked up, they saw that they were surrounded by three angry looking fire type Pokémon, all letting out low growls.

“Do that thing again,” Yuna suddenly said, “where you pinch them and shit and they pass out!”

“We can’t,” Rose explained, “right now, the body is all knotted up from earlier, and the muscles are essentially protecting all the pressure points; all they would feel is a little bit of…well, pressure.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, I should have let you all been mugged earlier.” Yuna said regretfully.

“It’s okay though, we can get you out of here,” Rose said as she and Mileena quickly grabbed Yuna’s arms, surprising her, “but don’t you boys think this is over, no one makes a fool of us!”

Jake, Alex and C.C. all gasped as the three women once again seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving not a trace behind. That was seriously beginning to creep them out. After a few moments, C.C. turned and face Growlithe.

“Growlithe, thank you so much for coming to save us,” C.C. graciously said, petting the Pokémon on the head. Growlithe smiled and rubbed up against C.C.; he didn’t realize that he actually cared for this human until he saw him in trouble! Growlithe let out a little bark as Charmander came over to thank him as well. Jake and Alex smiled at the scene for a moment, just before a horrible realization crossed their faces.

“Misty!” the both exclaimed before turning around and sprinting the way Charmander and Golbat came. C.C. shrugged and ran after them, leaving Growlithe behind with a curious look on his face. Why were humans so odd?

*****
“I’m telling you, I’m fine!” Misty pleaded as Jake and Alex looked all over for scratches. “I knew that at least one of those bimbos would come back here so I used Starmie’s Psychic to trap them and Gyarados to attack.”

“That was pretty clever of you,” Jake commented, trying to imagine the scene as the sunset turned the water orange.

“It was, wasn’t it?” Misty agreed boastfully, “what about you guys?”

“Well Magmar made quick work of the red head’s Tauros, but that was mainly because C.C. had Growlithe use a Flame Burst attack, giving Magmar an opening,” Alex explained as they all walked along a turn on the path.

“Growlithe? You mean the one from earlier found you?” Misty asked turning to C.C., who laughed.

“Yeah, I guess the Pokédex was right about it never forgetting a scent!” he smiled before stopping. “Does anyone else feel like we’re being watched?”

The group turned around, and were shocked when they saw Growlithe standing fifteen feet back, staring at them. How long had it been following them?

“Lithe, Growlithe!” It barked walking up to C.C., “Growlithe!”

“Huh? Growlithe what’s wrong?” C.C. asked, kneeling down.

“I think Growlithe wants to join you,” Misty exclaimed, laughing, “It’s probably worried you can’t take care of yourself!”

“Really?” C.C. questioned before a big grin broke out on his face, “Alright, welcome aboard Growlithe!”

C.C. pulled out an empty Pokéball before enlarging it, and pressing the button against the smiling Growlithe’s forehead, engulfing him in a red light before closing and emitting a low beep. C.C. jumped up in joy, admiring the newly filled Pokéball. He now had five Pokémon!

“Hey look guys!” Alex exclaimed, pointing. Just around the bend, the four could make out a large bridge, shining in the sunset.

“That’s cycling road!” Misty stated happily, “we can cycle on up into Celadon City, or take the newly built monorail.”

“Awesome!” Jake yelled excitedly as he began to run down the path with Charmander right behind him, “Fifth badge, here we come!”

[MothraRocks]

Not So Fun in the Sun!

Jake and C.C. glared at the two opponents that stood across from them, their determination to win burning strong. The people around them all watched intently for the tag battle to continue between the four trainers. After a few seconds of tense silence, Jake finally order a command.

“Butterfree, use Sleep Powder on Sandshrew!” Jake yelled as Butterfree let out a cry and began to flap its wings, a fine green mist showering down on the opposing Sandshrew, causing it to become sleepy.

“Sandshrew, get out of there!” The young blonde boy called out in vain; Sandshrew was getting sleepier and sleepier by the second.

“Magnemite, help Sandshrew and use Thunderbolt!” The other trainer called out.

“Mite! Mite! Mite!” The floating metallic Pokémon cried as its two magnets suddenly flashed to life before firing off two bolts of electricity at Butterfree. At the last second however, a glowing light intervened, stopping the electric attack in its tracks and resulting in a small explosion.

“Great job Growlithe!” C.C. said happily just as Growlithe landed back on its feet, a proud look crossing his face. “Now, use Flame Burst again, aimed straight at Magnemite!”

Growlithe let out a bark before jumping in the air again, his mouth swelling with flames. The gaze between him and Magnemite met for a second before Magnemite realized what a horrendous situation it was in, and quickly veered out of the way. The small ball of fire instead landed on the ground, with some flames landing on Sandshrew, immediately waking up the ground type.

“Crap!” Jake murmured as Sandshrew jumped backwards, out of Butterfree’s reach. He looked over at C.C. and the two smiled, having a mutual understanding of what to do next.

“Ok Sandshrew, use Rollout on Butterfree!” the boy ordered. Sandshrew curled into a ball before rolling quickly at Butterfree and launching itself into the air.

“Magnemite, follow up with Thunderbolt to strike Butterfree right after!” the other trainer called out, with Magnemite obeying. A single bolt of electricity followed behind Sandshrew.

Jake smiled at the opportunity; “Okay Butterfree, hold Sandshrew in place with Confusion!”

“Butterfree!” The small bug Pokémon chirped before its eyes flashed a light blue. Almost instantly, the form of Sandshrew was outline in a similar blue color, suspended in the air. Sandshrew then effectively acted as a shield, blocking the attack by Magnemite.

“Ready? Toss Sandshrew back!” Jake ordered enthusiastically, with the small ground type Pokémon being tossed into Magnemite, both hitting the ground with a thud.

“Growlite, use Flame Burst!” C.C. said as his orange Pokémon roared out before spitting out a bright ball of fire, striking the two other Pokémon. The cries of Sandshrew and Magnemite were heard before fainting, giving C.C. and Jake the win.

The two friends high fived each other before recalling their Pokémon. Jake and C.C. turned around to look at Alex, Misty and the three starter Pokémon, all looking and smiling at them. Rather than a proper battlefield, the battle had just taken place on board the newly built monorail that ran beneath Cycling Road. The monorail, in order to try and prevent boredom from building during the two and a half hour ride, had built a few small battlefields inside for trainers to test their skills.

“Pretty good,” Misty praised, a small smile on her face, “but that was rather risky letting Sandshrew get that close to Butterfree.”

“Are you kidding?! That was awesome!” Alex interjected, “You guys kicked their ass!”

“Thanks!” Jake and C.C. said in unison awkwardly just as Charmander and Bulbasaur came over to their respective trainers.

“It was mainly in due to Butterfree stopping Sandshrew like that,” C.C. explained, “If you manage to shock or surprise an opponent, there’s always that one second opening where you can turn things around. But I agree with Misty, Jake, that was a little risky letting Sandshrew get that close.”

“It’s fine” Jake said in an unconcerned tone, “We won didn’t we? By the way when are we getting to Celadon?” As if his question was heard, a voice suddenly came out of the speakers overhead, with a woman’s voice calmly announcing that they would be reaching the station in fifteen minutes, and for people to get their luggage. Picking up
Charmander, Jake sat down in a seat next to Alex and closed his eyes, determined to relax for what was left of the ride.

*****
Almost thirty minutes later, the four teenagers were walking up a dirt path that ran from the station to Celadon City, grassy fields and trees surrounding them. Obviously with the upcoming gym battle on their minds, that’s all they could talk about.

“So I’m unclear, who’s the one battling this time?” Misty asked, confused.

“I am!” Jake and C.C. both yelled before glaring at each other, “No, I am!”

Misty rolled her eyes at the two boys before Jake spoke up, “Dude, you got to battle last time, I haven’t had a gym battle since Misty!”

“Which, if I remember correctly, you lost.” C.C. said sarcastically, “And we don’t have time to waste in case you lose this time.”

As much as Jake hated to admit it, C.C. was right; the three trainers had fallen behind schedule without realizing it. This meant they no longer had the luxury of staying too long in any places anymore, and had to pick up the pace to ensure they made it to the Pokémon League in time for the tournament.

“Well guys, you don’t have to basically run through Celadon. I know that there’s this mall that--“ Misty started to say as they turned a corner, but stopped abruptly as her eyes went big. “Oh my God.”

Ahead of the four were cars with about a dozen men and women in the blue Kanto Police Force uniform, all surrounding a giant blueish creature that was laying in the middle of the road. Looking to the left, they all saw that the amount of people got very congested as the police helped them one at a time, to squeeze through the small space that existed between the creature’s foot and rocky ledge. It was quite unfortunate that the path had descended into almost a canyon-like formation, large brown rocky walls on either side of the Pokémon.

“What the hell is that that?” Alex asked in an alarmed tone as the others stared on in awe before pulling out his Pokédex.

“Snorlax, the sleeping Pokémon. Snorlax's typical day consists of nothing more than eating and sleeping. It is not satisfied unless it eats over 880 pounds of food every day. When it is done eating, it goes promptly to sleep.”

Even after Alex put his Pokédex away, the group continued to watch Snorlax in shock at how massive the Pokémon was. After a few minutes, a woman with bright blue hair came over to the teenagers. They instantly recognized her as Officer Jenny of the Kanto Police Force.

“Hey kids, sorry about the wait but this is the only way into Celadon from this direction.” Jenny explained before frowning, “And as you can see, we’re not having any luck actually moving Snorlax at the moment.”

“Do you have any idea on how you’re gonna get Snorlax to move?” Jake inquired, as faint snoring filled the air.

“Well, we have a specialist coming later, they’re very used to this kind of situation actually.”

“Really? I never hear about Snorlax blockages.” Alex stated, slightly confused.

“That’s how good they are; they fix up these Snorlax incidents almost as soon as they start.” Jenny explained before motioning them forward, “Now I need you kids to be
careful when passing through that you don’t bother Snorlax; the reason we don’t have people climbing over it is to ensure no damage is brought to the Pokémon.” And with that, Jenny turned around and began speaking to the next group of people that were witnessing the situation at hand.

“Hey guys,” Jake started, looking over at Snorlax, “Would it be alright if I caught up with you later? I think I’m gonna stay here until Snorlax is gone.”

“What? Why would you do that?” Misty asked suddenly.

“Well I mean I’m just curious as to how they’re going to move Snorlax.” Jake explained as he picked up Charmander, “Besides what if the person coming to move Snorlax has some ultra-rare Pokémon or something? I’ve got to see that.”

“You realize that means I get to battle the gym, right?” C.C. asked Jake, just to clarify the situation.

“Yeah, I know,” Jake said, both he and Charmander hanging their heads in disappointment for a second before looking up with determination in his eyes and voice, “But that means I definitely get the next battle!”

“Deal!” C.C. laughed, happy that was all settled. With that, Jake said that he would meet them no later than six o’clock at the Pokémon Center, so they could make their way to the next destination.

*****

Misty, C.C. and Alex all walked through the brightly colored, cobble stoned street, with beautiful purple buildings lining the sides, and various trees and flowers neatly planted through the city. Overhead, a clear blue sky added to the simple city’s beauty, with the sun shining down on the various people and Pokémon.

“Isn’t this gorgeous?” Misty asked excitedly, taking in all the sights the city had to offer, “I always love coming to Celadon.”

“You’ve been here before?” Alex asked before realizing that Misty, being a gym leader and all, must have visited most Kanto cities beforehand. “Do you know where the gym is?”

“Yup, it’s pretty closed to the casino, which is a few blocks down, and then you take a left.” She said before twirling around and facing Alex and C.C. happily. “But before that, let’s stop at the Celadon shopping mall!”

Misty motioned to the left, and the two boys suddenly noticed that there was a fourteen story building right next to them, painted a dark purple with yellow ridges along the numerous windows that covered the face of the building. A few floors up, there was a brightly colored sign that read “Celadon Department Store”. Misty smiled and walked right up to it, the boys in tow. Once inside, Alex and C.C. were taken aback at how massive it was, with escalators, stores everywhere you looked and people walking in every which way direction, caring goods.

“So, we’ll all meet back in a few hours, right?” Misty inquired, starting to head for the elevator.

“No! Misty, we’ve already established that we can’t waste any time in Celadon –“ C.C. started, but it was too late, and Misty was gone. He rolled his eyes and turned back to Alex. “I guess we can shop for an hour or so, now that we’ve lost Misty.”

“Relax, I’m sure the gym battle won’t take that long,” Alex said as they walked over to a floor plan of the shopping department. Their eyes scanned up and down, before noticing something on the third floor.

“Grass Groomers” C.C. read out, “A haven for all Grass Pokémon.”

“You should totally take Bulbasaur there!” Alex said, just as C.C. let Bulbasaur out of his Pokéball, the light taking on his form after a few seconds.

“Yeah I guess so. Would you like that Bulbasaur?” C.C. asked kindly as he picked up his starter Pokémon, who let out a soft cry in response. The three jumped out of surprise when a girlish squeal erupted behind them.

“Oh my gosh, your Bulbasaur is so cute!” cried a girl. Alex and C.C. turned around and saw a young girl with short blueish-black hair standing in front of them, looking endearingly at Bulbasaur. She had wide green eyes, and had a white frilly blouse with a red skirt that reached down to her knees.

“Oh, uh, thanks.” C.C. responded as she reached out to pet Bulbasaur, who happily took the affection. “We were just thinking of taking him up to the groomers –“

“Oh yeah, definitely!” The girl answered enthusiastically, “They only have a salon for Grass type Pokémon unfortunately, but that’s mainly because Grass types are all the rage in Celadon.”

“What? How come?” C.C. asked; he never thought of Grass Pokémon to be dominating popularity types.

“Probably because that’s the type the gym leader specializes in,” the girl answered, taking a step back, “she’s mastered Grass Pokémon and puts on displays and parades with them often, so she’s quite popular.”

“Okay, so she uses Grass Pokémon,” C.C. said to no one in particular, “should be easy enough.”

“You would think so, but she’s no pushover,” the girl said playfully. “Anyway, I’ve got to go. Thanks for letting me pat your Bulbasaur!”

Without another word she turned around and disappeared into the crowd. C.C. focused on what she had said about the gym leader using Grass types, and being now pushover, and started to recall any and all facts he could about Grass Pokémon battle strategies. It was then he remembered Alex was there.

“Oh Alex,” he said turning to him, “What did you think? Do you think the gym leader is going to be that hard or…”

“Huh? Oh yeah. Totally.” Alex said, snapping back to reality, clearly not having listened to a thing C.C. had said. C.C. looked at him funnily for a second before a huge grin burst onto his face.

“Pretty cute, huh?” he teased Alex, who rolled his eyes. C.C. began to laugh, “Dude, were you completely zoned out on her?”

“Let’s just go groom your cabbage.” Alex said, getting a look from Bulbasaur. Alex shrugged and headed to the escalator with C.C. behind, cackling quietly.

*****

Jake stood by officer Jenny, watching as the last of the people were finally escorted over Snorlax, with the giant Pokémon still snoring away, undisturbed by the surrounding events. By his feet, Charmander sat quietly, waving his tail back and forth, a concerned and slightly disturbed look on his face as he continued to watch the slumbering Pokémon.

“Well, that takes care of that. For now at least.” Jenny said with a sigh. “When the monorail comes back we’re going to have to do it all over again.”

“Well, when is the ‘specialist’ going to get here?” Jake inquired; he really wanted to see what this person could do that the police force couldn’t.

Jenny looked as though she was going to say something before her eyes were drawn to something not far off in the distance, with a smile crossing over her face. Jake and Charmander turned around and saw a small blue and white car speeding towards them, skidding to a halt only a few meters away. They continued to watch as a young man got out of the driver’s seat, also wearing the Kanto Police Force uniform, and silently opened up the back door. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen until a little old man emerged, no taller than four feet, dressed in a blue robe, and giant glasses covering most of his face. The most defining feature was a long white bead that reached his knees.

“Thank you so much sir!” Officer Jenny exclaimed as she ran over to him, obvious relief in her voice, “We really need this Snorlax gone, and now. It’s very kind of you to come all this way to help us.”

The old man said nothing and craned his head past Jenny, looking straight at Jake and Charmander silently for a moment. He raised an eyebrow before turning back to Jenny; “Why, that’s no Snorlax, that’s a child and a Charmander!”

“What? Oh, sir no, the thing behind them.” Jenny said, a slight raise of concern in her voice. Once again, the man craned his head and looked, this time at Snorlax, before muttering a barely audible “ah”, and walking towards the creature. He studied it for a few moments before turning back to Jenny.

“Well, I would be happy to wake this creature, and I’m certainly capable of doing it –“ the old man began to say.

“Oh thank you so much!” Jenny exclaimed. Jake rolled his eyes, he wanted to see something already!

“BUT,” he continued, “I think I’ll do that in another two days or so.”

“What?! You can’t, we need it now!” Jenny yelled in shock, confusion and a bit of anger. Before the man could say anymore, Jenny continued, “We have dozens and dozens of people arriving this route every few hours, we can’t wait any longer.”

The old man sighed in annoyance before muttering what sounded angrily and turning back to Snorlax. Then, out of his robe sleeve, he pulled out what appeared to be a flute with a Pokéball wedged in the middle. Jake looked at it curiously; was he going to serenade Snorlax? Bringing the flute to his lips, the old man blew, immediately creating a beautiful, soothing melody that wafted through the air. Jake could almost feel the breeze moving in unison with the gentle song, and felt a sense of happiness and calmness overcome him. Looking down, he saw Charmander with his eyes closed, slowly waving back and forth, and a small smile on his face. Unfortunately, the music only lasted a few more seconds before stopping, and everything returning to normal for Jake.

“Well that should do it.” The old man said in a suddenly annoyed tone, pushing past Jenny and headed for the car, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Without another word, the car door slammed, and sped off into the distance.

Just then a slight grumbling was heard, revealing itself to be Snorlax. Jake and Jenny had big smiles drawn across their face, watching the Pokémon slowly sit up, grunting as it did.

“Well, that’s that!” Jenny said happily as she turned to Jake, “Thanks for sticking around, I appreciate your help. If you’d like, I can give you a ride into tow-“

“LAX!!” Echoed a loud, menacing cry, instantly getting everyone’s attention. Jenny gasped at the sight of Snorlax; he was standing up now, but instead of a content look on its face, its mouth had formed into a nasty snarl, with a red light emitting from its eyes. Snorlax let out another cry before kicking away a police car near it with almost no effort.

“Everyone, take action, now!” Jenny ordered as multiple Growlithe and Fearow were called upon to fight Snorlax. Snorlax wasn’t having any of it though, and quickly fired off a Hyper Beam, the orange beam destroying the road and vehicles in front of it, sending officers and Pokémon alike scattering. It was then that Snorlax turned to face Jake, Jenny and Charmander.

“Oh shit.” Was all Jake managed to say as Snorlax charged up another Hyper Beam.

*****

Alex, C.C. and Misty all stood outside the bright yellow building in front of them, the word ‘Pokémon Gym’ plastered across the front. Along the walls, bright green vines grew, with vibrant red flowers blossoming from them. They stood there silently for a moment before Misty spoke up.

“Well? I thought you guys didn’t have time to waste in Celadon.” She said, obviously impatient.

“We don’t!” C.C. snapped back, “I’m just trying to read myself.”

“At this point you’re either ready or not, standing here isn’t gonna help you.” She said casually before strolling through the automatic doors. C.C. and Alex looked at each other before heading in after her, nerves high.

Once inside, the three looked around; the gym wasn’t too different from the others they’d been in, but it still stood out from a little bit. For one, the battle field wasn’t the usual brown cement battlefield, but rather a big field of grass, kept inside the rectangle it was outlined in. Above them, the ceiling was a giant glass window, allowing sunlight to flutter through.

“I was wondering when you’d get here!” a voice rang out through the empty gym. The three turned and saw a young girl enter from the other side, her bluish-black hair waving from side to side, dressed in a yellow and red kimono. C.C. and Alex expressed shock through the form of their jaws hanging open; it was the girl from earlier!

“Hey Erika!” Misty waved as she made her way to the stands, with Erika smiling and returning the wave. She quickly turned back to Alex and C.C., a mischievous look on her face.

“So who’s challenging me?” she declared. C.C. gulped and took a step forward, but was shocked when Alex cut him off.

“I am!” he announced sternly, shocking both C.C. and Misty.

“Alex, we decided I would battle this time around!” C.C. said, grabbing his arm.

“Dude, come on, please let me,” Alex said in a lowered voice, looking C.C. right in the eye. “I really, really want to battle, please.”

“But it’s a Grass Type gym, and I have like three Poison Types and a Fire Type!” C.C. said in a hushed whisper.

“I know, but please C.C., I need too!”

C.C. stared Alex in the eye for a moment before realizing he was in one of those moods where he wouldn’t let the subject go. He sighed and turned around in annoyed fashion before heading to the stands with Misty. He knew Alex was doing this to try and impress Erika, remembering how flustered he was by meeting her earlier.

“Don’t mess up,” he called before sitting down and folding his arms.

“Gee, thanks buddy.” Alex said sarcastically before facing Erika. “I’m Alex from Pallet Town, and I’ll be the challenger today!”

“Hmm, what a shame. I really wanted to see that cute Bulbasaur in action,” Erika mused as the referee came out to the side.

“This is an official Pokémon League Battle! Three on three, no substitutes from the gym leader. Once all three Pokémon from one side have fainted, the battle is over!” he announced.

“I hope you can keep up! Go Bellsprout!” Erika said excitedly, throwing a Pokéball concealed in her sleeve, popping open to reveal a small yellow and brown Pokémon with two leafs on its side. “Battle begin!”

[MothraRocks]

Alex stared at the little Grass Type Pokémon that stood on the battlefield, wiggling back and forth with its thin body, not breaking eye contact. After a second Alex grabbed a Pokéball from his belt and threw it out onto the battlefield, ready to start the battle.

“Fearow, I choose you!” Alex yelled as the Pokéball popped open, the white light took on the form of the giant brown feathered Pokémon, sitting silently on the field. The ref then called for the battle to begin.

“Bellsprout, use Vine Whip!” Erika ordered, with a single dark green vine shooting out of Bellsprout’s mouth, headed straight for Fearow.

“Dodge it!” Alex called out, with Fearow flapping his wings and taking flight, the vine underneath him harmlessly hitting the ground, “Awesome, now use Ariel Ace!”

“Because we’ve never had a Flying Type move used against us,” Erika said sarcastically as Fearow flew directly upwards, catching Alex’s attention and making him feel slightly embarrassed for some reason.

Once Fearow soared as high as he could in the gym, he immediately tucked his wings in by his side and began to dive downwards headfirst, straight towards Bellsprout, his beak glowing. Bellsprout however, simply stood there, wavering back and forth, quietly calling its name. Erika didn’t seem like she was too worried either, and simply stood there and watched the scene unfold.

“Do it now!” Alex commanded, disregarding the behavior of both Bellsprout and its trainer. Fearow dove straight at the tiny Pokémon with incredible, a look of determination in its eye. Just as Fearow was about to reach its target however, the unexpected happened; Fearow completely missed Bellsprout and instead slammed in the ground, sending grass and dust into the air.

"Row!” Fearow cried out in both pain and surprise as he skidded across the battlefield, leaving Alex speechless. What had happened?!

“How did Fearow miss?!” Alex wondered out loud, watching as his dazed Pokémon got up on its feet. Across the room, Erika giggled.

“Alex, check your Pokédex!” C.C. suddenly called out, also surprised at the sudden turn of events. Alex nodded and whipped out the small red computer and pointed it at Bellsprout;

“Bellsprout, the Flower Pokémon. Bellsprout's thin and flexible body lets it bend and sway to avoid any attack, however strong it may be. From its mouth, this Pokémon spits a corrosive fluid that melts even iron.”

“That’s right!” Erika suddenly called out, “Good luck landing a hit on my Bellsprout, because we’ve trained its evasiveness to ridiculous levels.”

“That’s no problem, right Fearow?” Alex said as his Pokémon spread his wings again, “Take Bellsprout out with a Wing Attack!”

Fearow spread its wings once more and let out a loud, angry squawk before becoming airborne and speeding right at Bellsprout. A second later, Fearow’s outstretched wings began to glow a bright white, his eyes locking onto the wobbly grass Pokémon. Alex watched closely this time, and felt his jaw actually drop open in shock; just as Fearow got close, Bellsprout effortlessly flung itself backwards, doing what seemed to be limbo, and completely avoided Fearow’s attack.

“Fear-ow!” Fearow cried out as it once again slammed into the ground out of shock before skidding to a halt.

“Okay Bellsprout, that’s enough playing around,” Erika said, a sudden, more menacing shift in the tone of her voice, “Take Fearow out using Slam!”

“Sprout!” Bellsprout exclaimed before awkwardly running over to Fearow with its little root-like feet. Without hesitation, and much to everyone’s surprise, Bellsprout suddenly flung Fearow right over its head, and slammed it hard into the ground, getting a cry of both pain and surprise from the bird Pokémon.

“Holy shit, I didn’t know Bellsprout was capable of that.” C.C. said, leaning forward.

“I told you guys, Erika is no pushover.” Misty replied, a hint of worry in her voice.

“Fearow, get up and use Fury Attack!” Alex yelled, just as his Pokémon was slammed into the ground again. Fearow suddenly jumped to his feet and jabbed with his long beak at Bellsprout in rapid succession, but Alex quickly realized this was all in vain as Bellsprout effortlessly bent around every single attack. Alex gritted his teeth in frustration.

“Vine Whip Fearow up into the air!” Erika yelled enthusiastically, throwing her arm in front of her. A single green vine suddenly exited out of Bellsprout’s mouth, and quickly wrapped itself around Fearow’s neck and body, stopping his attack instantly. Bellsprout then flicked his head upwards, sending Fearow spinning and hurtling into the air, completely out of control. Alex decided he had enough.

“Fearow, return!” Alex yelled as he pulled out his Pokéball and pointed it at Fearow.

“Quick Bellsprout, now!” Erika cried, almost panicked. Alex watched as Bellsprout quickly shot out a big cloud of yellow dust, washing over Fearow before he disappeared in the Pokéballs red light. Alex felt his heart sink; despite trying to save Fearow, he was too late again, and now Fearow was most likely paralyzed from the Stun Spore
attack.

“Wow, I was at least hoping you would pose a challenge,” Erika said mockingly as Bellsprout wavered in front of her, “I guess you should have let your friend battle instead, huh?”

“I’m just getting started!” Alex yelled back as Erika smiled. In reality, Alex felt extremely insecure and nervous right now, and silently took in some deep breaths as he thought of what to do next.

“You can really see how stressed out poor Alex is.” Misty said, sympathy in her voice. She and C.C. watched Alex for a few more seconds before Bulbasaur popped out of his Pokéball, wanting to cheer on Alex.

‘Okay… so Bellsprout is fast.’ Alex thought to himself as he tried to think up a new strategy, ‘So straight forward attacking isn’t going to work…or is it?’
Alex suddenly developed a huge grin across his face, surprising Erika, before pulling out another Pokéball; “Magmar, your turn!” The Pokéball clicked open, with the white light taking the form of the massive fire type in Alex’s arsenal.

“Mar…” Magmar said coolly, looking around the battlefield before settling his sights on Bellsprout.

“Ha! You think that massive Pokémon can keep up with Bellsprout?” Erika asked, trying not to laugh, “Please. Bellsprout use Stun Sp-“

Erika shrieked as a powerful Flamethrower attack suddenly hit Bellsprout head on, completely covering it in flames. The attack died down, revealing an unconscious and burnt Bellsprout.

“Bellsprout is unable to battle, the winner is Magmar!” The referee announced as Erika silently called back Bellsprout in disbelief.

“As you may have just learned,” Alex said proudly, “Magmar isn’t the kind of Pokémon to take shit. He likes to finish things as soon as they start. And by the way, your Bellsprout isn’t very good at dodging Special Attacks.”

Erika frowned; “Well don’t get too comfortable, that was the opening act! Vileplume, get ready!”

Erika’s Pokéball popped open and revealed a large blueish Pokémon, with small arms and legs. On top of its head sat a giant red flower, emanating a wonderful scent. Not
wanting to take any chances this time, Alex pulled out his Pokédex almost immediately;

“Vileplume, the Flower Pokémon. Vileplume has the world's largest petals. They are used to attract prey that are then doused with toxic spores. Once the prey are immobilized, this Pokémon catches and devours them.”

“Oh Arceus that’s brutal,” Alex said to himself, although he guessed Erika wouldn’t actually let any of his Pokémon be devoured. “Ready Magmar? Use Flamethrower!”

“Mag-MAR!” Magmar yelled as a thick, steady stream of fire exited his mouth, striking Vileplume square in the face.

“Plume!” Vileplume yelled out in pain as it was pushed back a few feet, but managed to stay standing even after the attack subsided.

“Use Sweet Scent!” Erika ordered. A second later, a pink mist left the flower on Vileplume’s head, wafting through out the gym and creating an amazing smell. Bulbasaur in particular enjoyed this smell and began to drool, grossing C.C. out a little.

“Magmar, don’t fall for it,” Alex warned, “Vileplume just wants to get you in close so it can poison you!”

Magmar didn’t acknowledge that Alex had just spoken, its stubborn attitude showing. However, Magmar did ignore Vileplume’s attempt to draw him in, and stood still, glaring at Vileplume. Despite Magmar giving him attitude, Alex was happy he and his Pokémon were on the same page. Alex then ordered another Flamethrower attack, which again struck Vileplume square in the face, inflicting massive damage.

“Seriously?! What’s with that Pokémon?” Erika yelled in annoyance, actually stomping her foot. “Whatever, Vileplume, are you okay? I need you to use Petal Dance!”

“Vileplume!” The Pokémon cried fiercely, pushing through the pain Magmar had inflicted. Slowly but surely, Vileplume began to spin in place, eventually speeding up. From the top of its head came dozens of what appeared to be pink rose petals, all emanating a faint glow. Following the Pokémon’s movements, the petals eventually
began circulating as well, creating what appeared to be a tornado of flower petals, which began to quickly advance towards Magmar.

“Magmar, stay strong!” Alex ordered, knowing Magmar probably wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way in time. Alex watched as the attack slammed into Magmar, engulfing him completely. Alex clenched his fist as a disgruntled growl echoed through the gym; despite Magmar having the type advantage, the attack was clearly strong enough to inflict some kind of damage.

“Now, use Sunny Day!” Erika ordered as Vileplume stopped spinning suddenly and looked up to the glass ceiling, before letting out a cry. Suddenly, the sunlight filtering through the glass increased dramatically, lighting up every corner of the room, and momentarily blinding Alex.

“Alex, look out!” C.C. yelled, catching his attention, “Vileplume’s ability is Chlorophyll, it increases its speed in strong sunlight!”

“What?! Oh shit.” Alex said as he turned back to the battle unfolding. He was stunned to see Vileplume suddenly race across the field and throw itself into Petal Dance, slamming into Magmar and causing the attack to disappear. Magmar stumbled a few feet back before recollecting itself and glared at Vileplume, who was now stumbling about in confusion as a result of the Petal Dance attack; Alex took the chance. “Magmar, finish off Vileplume with one more Flamethrower!”

Erika gasped in horror as Magmar let loose another barrage of flames, completely covering Vileplume again. Once the flames died down, Vileplume was revealed to be face down and unconscious, charred just like Bellsprout. Erika recalled her second Pokémon as the referee declared Alex the winner of the second round.

“Alright!” Alex said, throwing his fist up in joy before thanking Magmar and turning to Erika, “So what do you think of me now? Pretty good, huh?”

“You’re okay, but I think you should be more concerned with Magmar to be honest.” Erika said slyly, gesturing to the Fire Type Pokémon. Alex looked over and gasped as he saw Magmar slightly wavering, a purple hue to his body.

“She managed to poison him when Vileplume made contact!” C.C. said in disbelief, standing up without meaning too.

“The Petal Dance was just a distraction,” Misty murmured, “Even I’m surprised, that was pretty sly.”

“Magmar, you’ve done well, take a rest.” Alex said resentfully as he recalled Magmar. That was two of his Pokémon now inflicted with status problems, and he was depending on Magmar to carry him through the battle. Erika obviously was prepared to deal with any major threats.

“Now, I want to say that I am relatively impressed with your Magmar Alex,” Erika said to him, a legitimate smile crossing her face, “But you’re still no match for me and my final Pokémon.”

Erika reached into her Kimono sleeve and pulled out her final Pokéball before letting it click open, the white light accumulating into a tall, dense figure. The light died down and revealed what seemed to be a tree with legs and multiple faces on coconuts. Alex raised an eyebrow at the strange Pokémon and pulled out his Pokédex once more;

“Exeggutor, the Coconut Pokémon. Exeggutor originally came from the tropics. Its heads steadily grow larger from exposure to strong sunlight. It is said that when the heads fall off, they group together to form Exeggcute.”

“Now the real battle begins.” Misty said quietly, getting a concerned look from C.C. and Bulbasaur.

[MothraRocks]

Jake skidded to the side, just as another Hyper Beam attack exploded in front of him and Charmander, getting a cry of surprise and fright from the both of them. Looking behind, Jake saw Snorlax lumbering after them, obviously still pissed off from being woken up. At some point during its rampage, he and Officer Jenny had gotten separated; he could only hope she was okay.

“LAX!!” the angry Pokémon bellowed once more before firing another Hyper Beam, which flew right over Jake’s head and exploded on the ground in front of him.

“Shit!” Jake exclaimed as he skidded to a halt before toppling over and letting go of Charmander. Hearing the footsteps get closer, he wasted no time in ordering an attack; “Charmander, use Ember!”

“Char!” Charmander said as a stream of hot air and a multitude of embers struck Snorlax in the face, getting him to falter and stop for a moment. This didn’t last long however, as Snorlax quickly shook its head, breaking the oncoming stream of flames. Angered, he reached down and swatted Charmander to the side, sending him flying in a rocky wall.

“No! Charmander, are you okay?!” Jake called out, worried for his Pokémon’s health. However, Charmander wasn’t ready to give up just yet, and jumped back on his feet.

“Char-man-DER!” The small Fire Type yelled as a thin stream of flames shot out of his mouth and headed towards Snorlax before wrapping itself around the giant Pokémon, creating a wall of spinning flames. Jake knew Charmander was strong, but its Fire Spin wasn’t going to keep Snorlax there forever.

‘We should have just left it asleep,’ Jake angrily thought to himself, realizing all the damage Snorlax had caused would have been avoided, before being struck by an idea.

‘Wait, that’s it!’

Just as Snorlax broke through the Fire Spin attack and began to focus its attention back on Charmander, a Pokéball went whirling through the air, clicking open to reveal Butterfree. Snorlax snarled at this new creature as well, completely unimpressed with its tiny stature.

“Okay Butterfree, use Sleep Powder!” Jake called, with the Bug Type Pokémon slowly releasing a transparent green mist from its wings, covering Snorlax’s face. Jake could seeing the frowning expression on Snorlax’s face slowly fade, with its muscles loosening up; his plan was working!

Butterfree stopped its attack and landed next to Charmander, who happily greeted it before turning back to Snorlax, who looked ready to sit down. Jake breathed a sigh of relief before a snorting sound filled with disapproval echoed from Snorlax. He looked up and saw Snorlax once again frowning at him.

“What?! Why didn’t it work?” Jake asked, confused as he took a step back. It was then he noticed something in the sky; was it him or was the sunlight unusually strong? He concluded that must’ve been why it didn’t work, because the sunlight was to bright and preventing Snorlax from falling asleep.

“Okay…no problem!” Jake said confidently as he pulled out another Pokéball, “Horsea, come on out!”

The small Pokémon popped out of its Pokéball and into Jake’s arms, giving off its sparkling effect from being a shiny Pokémon. Jake then ordered Charmander to hold Snorlax in place with another Fire Spin attack, and for Butterfree to use Sleep Powder, to which the two obeyed.

“Okay Horsea, ready?” Jake asked, looking at the small Pokémon who looked quite nervous due to its lack of battle experience. Jake gave it a reassuring look before giving a command; “Use your ink on its eyes!”

Horsea took a breath before firing its black, sticky ink at the menace, landing all over its eyes, and getting a cry of panic from Snorlax. Jake held his breath in anticipation.

*****
Alex looked at the strange Pokémon that stood opposite from him on the battlefield, its three heads seemingly laughing for no reason. He had to think; Magmar was his biggest hope, and Erika had just poisoned him. Sending Nidorino out crossed his mind for a moment before deducing that Erika was probably prepared for Poison type Pokémon. Alex gritted his teeth, he was running low on options.

“Well?” Erika suddenly said, breaking the silence. Alex looked at her before letting out a small sigh and grabbing a Pokéball from around his belt.

“Fearow, come on out!” Alex yelled has he threw the Pokéball, clicking open to release the large bird Pokémon. Fearow let out a cry as it landed on the ground, glaring at Exeggutor. C.C. and Misty leaned on the edge of their seats in anticipation as the ref started the next round.

“Exeggutor, use Seed Bomb!” Erika ordered.

“Xeggutor!” The Pokémon cried out as it fired a series of large seeds from the palms on its head, all flying in a straight line for Fearow.

“Dodge it Fearow,” Alex said as his Pokémon took flight, resulting in the attack exploding harmlessly on the ground, “Now follow up with Ariel Ace!”

“Fearow!” Fearow screeched as it dove for Exeggutor with its beak glowing. Exeggutor absent minded smile faded and was replaced by an expression of horror before it let out a cry of pain as Fearow struck against its leg, forcing it to fall to one knee.

“Alright Fearow!” Alex rejoiced as his Pokémon returned to the airspace on his side of the field.

“Exeggutor, are you alright?” Erika asked, concerned. Exeggutor grunted before standing up again, obviously bothered by its injured leg.

“Let’s finish this up with another Ariel Ace.” Alex said confidently as Fearow soared to the glass ceiling, preparing to dive bomb Exeggutor again. Once at the top, Fearow turned its whole body towards its opponent and began to dive, its wings spread and beak glowing. Alex grinned in excitement.

“R-row!” Fearow suddenly cried out in a mix of shock and agony, stalling in place.

“Huh? Fearow what’s wrong?!” Alex asked worriedly.

“Man, that Stun Spore is really doing its job.” Erika commented in a calm tone; Alex had completely forgotten about Bellsprout and its Stun Spore attack from earlier! With
that, Erika’s expression turned serious before ordering an attack, “Now Exeggutor, use Seed Bomb again!”

As before, Exeggutor fired off multiple large seeds from its head in rapid succession. Fearow let out another cry as the attack struck him directly in the chest, sending him plummeting from the air. Everything happened so quickly, Alex wasn’t able to come up a plan as Fearow crashed into the ground in front of him.

“Finish it off with a Psychic attack.” Erika growled, almost menacingly. Alex could only watch in horror has Fearow’s body was outline in a bright blue light before being lifted off the ground by Exeggutor’s abilities. Fearow withered in agony for a moment before being slammed into the ground one last time, sending dirt and grass into the air.

“Fearow no!” Alex gasped, but it was too late. Once the dust settled everyone could see Fearow laying there unconscious.

“Exeggutor is the winner, the round goes to the gym leader Erika!” the referee called out as Alex recalled Fearow.

“I will give you props,” Erika said to Alex, “Had Fearow not been paralyzed from earlier, you may have actually beat Exeggutor. You’ve raised your Pokémon well.”

Alex blinked. Erika had just given him a full on compliment, with not a hint of sarcasm. Wait, why was that such a big deal? It was just a compliment. From a girl. A very pretty girl. Who was still looking at hi-

“Magmar, go!” Alex yelled, throwing his Pokéball and distracting himself from his thoughts. As Magmar emerged from its Pokéball, Alex offered encouragement, “Magmar, Fearow just weakened Exeggutor, so it shouldn’t take too much to finish it off.”

“That’s what you think,” Erika smiled, flicking her hair. “Exeggutor, use Synthesis!”

“Tor!” Exeggutor cried as the palm leafs on its head began to shimmer and then glow, pulling in particles of light. Alex watched in shock as all of the injuries Fearow had inflicted on Exeggutor vanished, including the injured leg.

“Whoa, I didn’t know Synthesis could be the effective in healing.” C.C. commented, wide eyed.

“It’s the strong sunlight,” Misty responded as they both looked to the glass roof, “Erika planned this all. As long as Sunny Day is in effect, Alex is in trouble.”

“How long does it normally last?” C.C. asked.

“Usually only a few minutes, but I wouldn’t doubt that Erika probably trained her Vileplume to make an extra-long lasting Sunny Day.”

“Well in that case,” Alex said with a bit of confidence and having overheard the conversation, “we’ll just have to use that to our advantage as well; Magmar use Flamethrower!”

Magmar took in a breath and unleashed a torrent of dark red flames, bigger than usual from the effects of Sunny Day, heading straight for Exeggutor.

“Exeggutor, stop it with Psychic!” Erika commanded. Exeggutor’s eyes flashed blue for a moment before the outline of Magmar’s Flamethrower was also glowing the same color blue, halting it in place.

“C’mon Magmar, don’t give up!” Alex cheered. A drip of sweat rolled off of Magmar’s forehead. Suddenly, the light surrounding Magmar’s attack began to flicker, much to Erika’s surprise.

“What? No, your attack shouldn’t be able to –“Erika started, but stopped as the flames broke through Exeggutor’s psychic encasement, striking the Grass type Pokémon full on.

“TOR!” Exeggutor bellowed through the flames which knocked him backwards.

After a few seconds, the massive fire storm died down, revealing a scorched Exeggutor laying on the ground, groaning. Erika cupped her hands over her mouth in concern as Alex silently cheered for his seemingly inevitable victory. Alex’s joy was cut short when he saw Magmar wavering from side to side and breathing heavily, the poison starting to take its toll.

“Magmar? You okay buddy?” Alex quietly asked, concerned.

“Come on Exeggutor, you can do it!” Erika called out, getting Alex to look over and see Exeggutor standing upright, wincing in pain. “Use Synthesis again!”

“Exeggutor…” the Pokémon murmured as it once again began to heal itself, the injuries fading.

“Magmar, quickly you need to use another Flamethrower attack,” Alex urged his Pokémon, who was seriously not looking so good anymore.

“I don’t think so,” Erika said sternly, “Exeggutor, use Solarbeam!”

“Alex look out!” C.C. called out, concerned. But it wasn’t enough as Exeggutor fired a powerful white beam of pure energy, striking Magmar and sending him flying through the air and into a wall.

“Oh my Arceus!” Alex cried out just as the attack died down, allowing Magmar to slump to the ground, unconscious. He barely heard the referee give Erika the round, he was so stunned at the power of the attack.

“Awesome job Exeggutor!” Erika praised before something caught her attention on Exeggutor’s body. “Wait, what’s that?”

Alex looked up to see what Erika was talking about, and saw her pointing to the side of Exeggutor, where a little black scorch mark was. He looked at it for a second before it flared up, getting a yelp of pain from Exeggutor before dying down just as quickly. A grim look crossed Erika’s face as both she and Alex realized what had happened.

“Magmar left you with a burn, didn’t he?” Alex questioned, even though he already knew the answer, “And Synthesis might restore energy but it can’t heal status problems!”

“Yeah, so what? We’re going to finish you in one turn anyway.” Erika snapped back, obviously agitated.

“That’s nice that Exeggutor got a burn and all,” C.C. commented, “but at this point I don’t think it matters. Alex is backed into a corner, and his powerhouses are down for the count. I don’t think he can stall enough to let the burn make any real difference.”

“Not to mention that Solarbeam can be instantly fired thanks to the sunlight.” Misty said, sighing. “As a gym leader I’m not supposed to pick sides, but I really feel awful for Alex right now.”

Bulbasaur looked over at Misty and then up at C.C., frowning. He then glanced over at Alex, who had just recalled Magmar and was now looking down, stressed and trying to evaluate the situation. Without warning, Bulbasaur pounced out of C.C.’s lap and over the edge of the bleachers, getting a surprised yelp from C.C. for him to come back. Instead, Bulbasaur ran right up to Alex, putting his front feet on his shins, smiling.

“Huh? What is it Bulbasaur?” Alex asked, crouching down, petting the Pokémon behind the ears.

“Saur, saur, Bulba Bulba, Bulbasaur!” The Pokémon said, affectionately pushing up against Alex, making him smile.

“You are not allowed to use Bulbasaur sir.” The referee said to Alex, “Only your own Pokémon.”

“I know, he’s just trying to offer support, sorry.” Alex said as he stood up, feeling a little better. He took a breath before grabbing a Pokéball and throwing it into the field, with the light from it taking on a small stature before fading away.

“Squirtle!” The tiny turtle Pokémon said, determination in its voice. C.C., Misty and Erika all looked on in surprise – did Alex really just send a water Pokémon in?

“Begin!” The referee announced.

“Squirtle use Water Gun!” Alex ordered. A second later, one of Exeggutor’s face’s received a face full of water, the other faces not looking so amused.

“Did you expect that to actually do anything?” Erika asked, “Exeggutor use Stomp!”

Exeggutor’s heads let out a cry before the large Pokémon charged straight at Squirtle, scaring the small Pokémon. Every footstep became louder and louder as Exeggutor got closer, with Alex ordering Squirtle to use Withdraw at the last second.

“TOR!” Exeggutor cried out as it slammed down one of its massive feet onto Squirtle’s shell, the small Pokémon hiding inside.

“That’s not going to work, your burn weakens all physical attacks!” Alex announced, a smile crossing his face, “But thanks for getting in close. Squirtle, use Rapid Spin!”

Exeggutor let out a yelp of surprise as Squirtle began to spin underneath his foot, causing him to lose his balance and topple over, but not before feeling its burn flare up again. Looking up, Exeggutor saw Squirtle jump in the air above him, a stern expression on his face. From the sidelines, Bulbasaur cheered.

“Follow up with Tackle!” Alex called out, resulting in Squirtle slamming into Exeggutor’s face, getting a cry of pain from the Grass Type Pokémon.

“Get rid of it, and follow up with Seed Bomb!” Erika ordered. Squirtle was suddenly struck by Exeggutor’s palm leafs, sending him soaring across the battle field. Squirtle didn’t even have time to recuperate itself before the explosive seeds landed all around him, getting a cry of pain from him.

“Now use Psychic!” Erika said. Alex could only watch as Squirtle was helpless dragged towards Exeggutor by an invisible force. Once Squirtle was right underneath Exeggutor, he was greeted with a kick to the stomach, sending him rolling across the field once more. “You should probably save your Pokémon the pain and forfeit now Alex!”

“I don’t think so!” Alex called back, but had no plan in mind. Erika shrugged and ordered another seed bomb attack which Squirtle dodged.

‘Okay, so far I only have a Tackle and Rapid Spin in,’ Alex thought to himself, ‘And Erika is going to be spamming Seed Bombs and Psychic attacks until she decides to use a Solarbeam…what can I do? She’ll toss us around like a doll with Psychic, and she’s not going to get in close again…wait a minute.’

“Okay Squirtle, use Water Gun again, and don’t let up until I say!” Alex called out, wanting to test out his idea. Squirtle stopped dodging for a moment and unleashed a torrent of water on Exeggutor again, annoying the Pokémon as it struck his face.

“That’s not going to do anything,” Erika groaned, rolling her eyes. “Use Seed Bomb. Exeggutor? Hey, use Seed Bomb!”

Erika continued to order a Seed Bomb attack, but to no avail. Every time Exeggutor opened its eyes to aim, water would force it to close its eyes again, shift between all of its faces. Erika sighed before ordering Psychic. Slowly but surely, the Water Gun stopped an inch above Exeggutor’s face, and began to build up mid-air, being held up by Psychic. Squirtle glanced back at Alex who simply nodded. Soon enough, there was an enormous body of water floating above the battlefield, ranging about 40 feet in diameter.

“That’s enough!” Alex called out, resulting in Squirtle stopping his attack, and breathing heavily.

“Thanks for wasting my time. Now, use Psychic on Squirtle!” Erika ordered. However, Exeggutor frowned and glanced up at the water it was holding up, nervous. “Oh, er, then use Seed Bomb!”

Alex smiled; he was right that Exeggutor couldn’t use Psychic on more than one target at a time. And Seed Bomb was exactly what he expected, and watched as Exeggutor fired multiple seeds a Squirtle. Everything was falling into place.

“Use Bubble!” Alex told Squirtle.

“Squirtle, squirt!” Squirtle said loudly before spewing dozens of shimmering bubbles. To Erika’s horror and surprise, the seed bombs were engulfed in the bubbles and harmlessly floated about.

“That’s some serious bullshit.” C.C. murmured.

“Okay, so what? You have some water and some bubbles, how’s that going to help?” Erika asked, annoyed and confused. Alex just smiled as all the bubbles began to float upwards towards the body of water that Exeggutor was desperately trying to hold up. Erika raised an eyebrow for a moment before gasping at the realization of what was
going to happen; just as the dozens of bubbles touched the Psychic barrier, all the Seed Bombs inside them detonated, shattering Exeggutor’s concentration.

Erika let out a cry of surprise and covered her face as all the Seed Bombs exploded at once sending water spraying everywhere. When she looked back, the field had been covered in a fine mist and steam as a result of the heat from the explosions evaporating the water. She had had enough of these antics.

“Alright, if you’re done playing around,” she said aggressively, “Exeggutor, use Solar Beam!”

“Exeggu-TOR!” The Pokémon cried as its palm leafs began to glow once more, causing Alex to clench his fist and hold his breath. After a few moments, nothing happened.

“Huh? What’s going – oh no!” Erika said, realizing what had happened; it was all a plan, the water, the seed bombs in the bubbles. Alex had tricked her, and now the entire field was covered in a mist, dimming the sunlight and leaving Exeggutor charging its Solarbeam!”

“And now for the grand finale!” Alex announced, eyeing Squirtle, “Squirtle, use Ice Beam!”

“What?!” Erika, C.C. and Misty all echoed. Squirtle smiled before a light blue orb of energy formed in his mouth, followed by three jagged beams of cold energy shooting from it and striking Exeggutor in the head. Exeggutor cried out in agony as it stumbled over backwards, the leafs on its head frozen solid.

Alex grinned at everybody’s reaction; while at the department store he came across a TM section and found the TM for Ice Beam. He at first was hesitant due to how expensive it was – he would explain that to Jake and C.C. later when they asked where all their money went – but finally decided to buy it for the gym battle. Now it was time to finish this all.

“Squirtle, use Ice Beam one more time!” Alex called out. Squirtle let out a final cry before firing a second Ice Beam, striking Exeggutor’s body and sending him rolling right to Erika’s feet, unconscious finally.

“The winner is Squirtle, which means this round goes to Alex from Pallet Town!” The referee announced, waving the green flag in his hand. Alex and Bulbasaur ran out to the field to Squirtle, both overjoyed. Alex picked up Squirtle and gave him a tight hug, which Squirtle returned.

“Great job Alex!” C.C. exclaimed as he and Misty made their way over to Alex.

“Thanks!” Alex said as they high fived, followed by Misty congratulating him for his victory. Alex was so caught up that he didn’t notice Erika had approached him from behind.

“Um,” she said quietly, finally getting Alex’s attention, “good job. That was a well fought battle.”

“Thanks.” Alex said, blushing a little bit; it was all he could muster out.

“It’s obvious you’re a good trainer, and that you care for your Pokémon. I’m sorry for giving you a hard time earlier.”

“Oh, no problem! It’s to be expected!” Alex exclaimed, grinning sheepishly before realizing what he said didn’t make much sense. An awkward silence followed directly after.

“Anyway,” Erika said, breaking the silence after a few seconds, “I’m proud to present you with the Rainbow Badge, as proof of beating the Celadon Gym.”
Erika pulled out a small box from her kimono and clicked it open, revealing three gorgeous multicolored badges, each glimmering and shining. Alex and C.C. couldn’t help but smile stupidly as they picked up the badges, admiring them.

“Alright! That makes badge number five!” Alex said as Bulbasaur and Squirtle cheered.

“That also means it’s time to move out,” C.C. said, “I don’t mean to kill the moment or anything, but remember we have to meet Jake and continue on our way.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Alex said before turning to Erika again. “So, um, thanks for the badges and stuff. It was nice getting to meet you.” It might have been the lighting, but Alex was sure he saw Erika blush for a second.

“Same here.” She responded, smiling, “Good luck on your journey, not that you’ll need it. I look forward to seeing you in the Pokémon League.

“Why don’t you guys go on ahead? I’ll meet you at the Pokémon Center in a bit, that way you can change your clothes and get something to eat if you need too.” Misty said standing next to Erika, “Erika and I need to talk about, uh, Gym Leader stuff.”

C.C. smiled and rolled his eyes before he and Alex turned around and headed out the door with their starter Pokémon. Once outside, the two saw it was 5:45 in the evening from a clock on a nearby building, much later than they had expected. They looked around at the colorful city, which was soaked in orange sunlight from the sunset. With that, they both turned the corner and began headed to the Pokémon Center, talking about how excited they were for the next Gym Battle.

“Ok, so next is Saffron City which is quite close. We should be able to make that walk in a day and a half. Also, we have to remember that –“ C.C. said but was interrupted as someone ran into him from around the corner. After stumbling he looked up and saw a boy with black hair and a Charmander looking at him.

“Jake!” Alex and C.C. said in surprise unison.

“Hey guys! Sorry about not being able to make the Gym Battle, I just got back.” Jake said as he placed Charmander down, who happily walked over to Squirtle and Bulbasaur. “How’d it go?”

“Awesome, I won!” Alex happily said, handing Jake his own Gym Badge.

“You won? I thought C.C. was…” Jake started to say but trailed off, just accepting it.

“What about Snorlax, did you get it to move?” Alex inquired.

Jake and Charmander looked at each other for a moment. “Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“So anyway, Misty is going to meet us at the Pokémon Center soon so we need to get going.” C.C. said as he ushered the others to keep walking.

“Charmander? Aren’t you guys coming?” Jake asked, looking back. The three starter Pokémon were staring off into different directions, like they were trying to hear something.

“What’s with them?” C.C. asked, observing their strange behavior. Just then Jake saw something move in the corner of his eye.

“Huh?” Jake said out loud, looking to the left. There was an empty street, but he knew he had seen something. Without thinking, he started to run in that direction.
“Jake, where are you going?” Alex called after his friend, only to notice the other three Pokémon following him without question.

Alex and C.C. looked at each other before dashing after Jake and their Pokémon. Up ahead, Jake took another left into an alleyway, everyone following his lead. Once there, Alex and C.C. saw Jake and the Pokémon had stopped, looking around. There was nothing there except a few trashcans.

“I swear I saw something…” Jake mused to himself, with Charmander scratching his head in confusion.

“Jake we have to get ready to leave, let’s go.” C.C. said, “We’ve all had a long day and are probably just seeing things.”

“I guess you’re right.” Jake said, a little disappointed. The three teenagers turned around and began walking towards the street again, but were suddenly interrupted as everything suddenly turned white, vanishing from sight. A second later the trio was standing on the roof of some building, overlooking the whole city.

“What the hell?!” Alex shouted as he stumbled backwards and fell down in shock. His friends and Pokémon looked around, confused.

“How did we –“ Jake started to ask but we interrupted by a giggling sound. The three turned around to see the source of the noise, only for Jake to have a pink blur slam into his chest, hugging him.

“Is that…” C.C. started to ask in disbelief.

“Mew?!” The three said in unison, shocked.

“Mew!” Mew said as he let go of Jake and floated between the three trainers, giggling. Mew then noticed the three Pokémon and floated down, smiling and giggling as the starters happily greeted him.

“Mew, what are you doing here?!” C.C. asked, still shocked. That’s when Mew looked up at them with a more serious expression in his eyes. Floating over to C.C., he pulled the teen towards the edge slightly before motioning towards a flashy purple building down below.

“The casino?” Alex questioned, “Does Mew want to gamble or something?”

Before C.C. could make a comment, the three saw the back door of the casino open, with a man and woman dressed in all black walking out. The couple seemed to look around for a moment before walking down the street into a café. But by then the group had already figured it out. They had seen the big red letter on the inside of the door for the brief second it was open.

“Team Rocket.” Jake muttered in disgust. “What are they up too?”