TEEN: - Ongoing Never in the Wrong Time or Wrong Place (14A)

[Griff4815]

Rated 14A (or PG-13) - Violence and gore, language, some mature themes, and sexual innuendo.

Genre- Action/Adventure, Drama, some Romance.

You probably already know this but I still have to say:
“Example” is for humans and pokemon speaking their native tongues.
“<Example>” is for Pokemon translated into English.
“Example” is for people/pokemon in thought.

I'll add each chapter once I feel it is done to it's best, so don't get too impatient as I have most chapters done and just need some editing.

I'll add the Disclaimer/Author’s Notes later

The prologue is much, much shorter than my usual chapters, since it's only here to set the mood and anticipation for the story. Oh and I know I'm not supposed to call the Prologue "Prologue" but I wanted to put it there for formality. Once I post the first few chapters, the prologue will seem more in place.

Prologue​

Everything was a dark green and brown blur in my eyes. I ran through the eerie, misty forest, bounding over roots and branches. There were few beams of light trying to enter the forest; they were clearly seen in the haze.

I knew I was being chased, I could sense it. Beside me was a moving shape…maybe a figure. It blended in with the forest but had blur of red with it, as it ran by my side, as if a piece of the forest was running with me.

I felt myself trip over a root and fall face first into the leaves and dirt. I tried to get up and move forward but my legs wouldn’t let me, they couldn't move. I used my right arm to try and crawl forward.

The dim figure in front of me extended its hand. I tried to reach out and grab it but I couldn’t reach. I looked up and saw a beautiful girl, who I knew, beside the figure. She smiled sweetly at me. I tried to grab for them but the two continued to be forever out of my reach. I tried to get up again but my legs were limp so I fell back to the ground.

I heard whispers and high, raspy shrieks of a creature surrounding me. They gradually grew louder and I struggled, helpless.

I looked down at my left arm and saw a gigantic gash appear down my left bicep. It didn’t bleed but I could see the insides of my arm, revealing veins, muscle, and tissue. I, horrified, continued to try to stand up and run.

The shrieks echoed all around. I could see the glint of a metal blade in the corner of my eye. I closed my eyes as I heard the “swish” of it. I felt a stinging pain my head as I then heard a final shriek. Then I saw whiteness.

 

[Griff4815]

The Launch of a Journey​

“PIDGEO, PIDGEO, PIDGEO”

Those are the words that Jeff heard as he awoke in a puzzled daze. Jeff twitched uncomfortably; this wasn’t the soft cot that he fell asleep in. He opened his eyes, revealing his iris to be green with a tint of yellow surrounding the pupils.

There was a bright light shining from the windows, piercing into his confused cornea, causing his pupils to grow smaller and constrict in miosis. He squinted and he darted his eyes around. He found himself lying on the cold, wood paneled floor of his room.

A sharp pain in the back of his head caused him to cringe.

The pain would return every few seconds along with the obnoxiously loud words “PIDGEO”. It was as if this unknown force was mocking him.

Jeff lazily rolled from his side onto his back. The pain did not return as he had expected it to, a few seconds later, although the sound “PIDGEO” still loudly hollered.

“What a weird dream!” Jeff thought, comprehending the intense dream that he had awoken from.

He got up onto one knee and his hands. Lying to his right was an opened copy of “Catch-22,” by Joseph Heller, as well as the “Hoenn Edition to the Guide of Starter Pokemon,” by Professor Birch.

As he lazily read the name “Professor Birch” he remembered that the man was the local pokemon professor for his small but lush hometown of Littleroot. He also taught Jeff in high school, about the many different aspects of pokemon.

“I must have fallen out of bed” Jeff thought to himself, remaining on one knee.

He looked to the side of his end table and saw that the cause of the pain in his head was brought on by his Pidgeotto alarm clock, which was lying sideways on the floor. The wooden bird extended and contracted, and squawked from its static perch on the clock.

He held the back of his head. His hand going through his dark brown hair, which is light and somewhat dense; reminiscent to Paul McCartney’s hair in his early years, with the hair overgrowing in the back.

Jeff tried to get his bearings. His eyes darted to the window, which had a leafy tree branch brushing up against the glass. His eyes then looked to the beige wall of his room.

On the wall were two movie posters, tacked to the drywall. One was poster was advertising “Lone Wolf” starring Duke, the Mightyena. The poster showed a Mightyena separated from its pack, walking away from them with a snarl on his face.

The poster to the left of it was entitled “The Last Tree”. There was a picture of a Grovyle slumped against a tree, looking off, deeply, into the distance. “Starring ‘Nychus the Grovyle’. A thought provoking, breathtaking ride!” read a review.

Those were two of Jeff’s favorite movies; both were action/dramas.

He idly fondled a long, lance-shaped leaf of the dragon tongue plant, beside him, as he stared at his wall.

Jeff continued scrolling his eyes along the wall. He stopped at a calendar. He focused in on his birthday, which was a few weeks away. Jeff would become 17, shortly. A square on the calendar caught Jeff’s eye. It was today’s date circled in red marker.

Jeff blinked in revelation. “Today’s the day I get my first pokemon!” Jeff thought to himself.

Jeff looked at the sideways clock on the ground and his eyes widened.

“Oh crap, I’m REALLY late!” Jeff groaned, frantically sitting upright.

Jeff double checked the clock that lay sideways on the ground

“Oh, never mind. I thought the minute hand was the hour hand, again. It’s really just 8:15.” Jeff thought to himself, grinning and relieved as he stroked his small, overgrown goatee, which was morning shadow.

Jeff got to his feet and stretched, growling in a low tenor voice, as he did so.

He walked up to his wall mirror and admired himself. He was shirtless and wore green plaid PJ pants. He looked in the mirror at his 6 foot tall, 125 pound stature. Jeff had a strong muscular build and a good, sturdy posture.

Jeff flexed his chest and smiled proudly. “Not bad, Jeff!” he thought to himself, as he carefully inspected his muscles in the light.

Jeff walked over to his tidy dresser and began to get changed.

Jeff slowly got changed into his favorite set of clothes. This attire was his green T-shirt, a pair of roughed up, blue soccer shorts, holey socks, and sunglasses.

“It’s finally happening…I’m going to leave town on my own pokemon journey, like all of my friends before me did.” He thought as he poked his head through his forest green shirt.

Jeff has many friends who are aspiring pokemon masters/coordinators. Most of them have already set out on their journey during high school with their very own pokemon. They have been successful at doing what they do best…fight and show off.

“I should make a good first impression for my first pokemon,” Jeff thought picking up his electric razor. “…nah, they won’t care about morning shadow, it’s not a job interview,” Jeff smiled, dropping his electric razor with one hand and stroking his small goatee with the other.

The reason Jeff did not start his pokemon journey when he was 10 was because he knew that most of the kids who set out at that age didn’t last very long as a trainer. So he decided to learn more about them and how to responsibly care for them, attending Professor Birch’s lectures.

“I guess I should at least put on deodorant,” He thought to himself, picking up a stick of deodorant. He rubbed the ‘Forest fresh’ deodorant on his underarms and checked the smell.

Jeff took one arm of the sunglasses and placed it onto the collar of his green shirt, so that they hung from his neck.

“I’m going to compete in the Hoenn League. I don’t really care if I win the league or not, but I do love battling and it’s an excuse for me to go out on an adventure and make new friends with pokemon, as well as meet my old friends. And if I DO win…and she is watching…”

Jeff beamed as he rechecked his wallet.

Jeff comes off as modest, but really he is an incredibly proud and stubborn individual and would not do anything that would compromise his pride. If Jeff was at a huge disadvantage in a game and was offered some help or a bonus, he would turn it down without thinking twice.

Although Jeff has a posse of close friends, he has always made himself a bit of an odd man out and a lone wolf in the group. When his group of friends are laughing and playing he would always be a little bit off to the side, calmly relaxing and pondering about whatever is in his mind. They didn't seem to mind his lonerish ways, though.

Jeff walked towards the door of his room, but stopped and turned.

“Oops, almost forgot.”

Jeff went over to his wooden desk. The desk consisted of a backpack, a PC, old research papers about pokemon, and a cactus.

He picked up his back pack which carried a few potions and antidotes, a great deal of saved up money, a sleeping bag and pillow, one of his Dad’s medical kits and about 3 weeks worth of light meals to be rationed.

He looked to the right of his PC, and picked up this odd twig, which was straight and had a smaller branch coming off of it diagonally, and let it rest in his mouth, habitually.

Jeff would travel with that odd tree twig in his mouth everywhere. Only he and one other knew where it came from…

Jeff exited his room and walked over the dull carpet, turning left to the stairs.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw a purple figure standing on the stairs.

“Yo, Tyrogue, I’m finally going,” Jeff smiled to the superpower pokemon, who was the size of a child. Tyrogue smiled, wished him luck, and continued walking past Jeff and into his parent’s room.

“Tyrogue!” Jeff called out, “I left the dumbbells in my room, but the barbells are still there, though!” Jeff explained to the pokemon, who decided to go body build.

Jeff walked down the stairs and went towards the vestibule, which was home to shoes and coats.

He slipped on a pair of white and green New Balance shoes.

He turned and yelled calmly into the kitchen to his mom, Mrs. Growell.

“Hey, Mom! I’m going to Professor Birch’s lab to get my pokemon, I’ll be back…”

“Alright, dear!” She replied from the kitchen. “Won’t you have breakfast?”

“Nah, I’m too excited to eat right now!” Jeff called back, heart racing.

“Did Dad and Bayleef leave for the hospital yet?” Jeff asked

“Yes, you just missed them!” She shouted back, preoccupied with making coffee.

“Ok…” Jeff replied, somewhat glumly. “Well I’m going now, I’ll come back before I leave town!”

“Bring back a cute pokemon!” Mrs. Growell told Jeff as he entered the cluttered vestibule.

“I have something else in mind” Jeff muttered to himself, turning the brass doorknob.

He stopped in the doorway, taking a deep breath, before walking calmly out the door to his first pokemon.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

He walked up to his wall mirror and admired himself. He was shirtless and wore green plaid PJ pants. He looked in the mirror at his 6 foot tall, 125 pound stature. Jeff had a strong muscular build and a good, sturdy posture.

If he's 6 feet tall and only 125 lbs, he's not going to be "strong and muscular", but rather super skinny and bony.

 

[Griff4815]

I suppose thats a good point.

Next chapter coming soon.

 

[Griff4815]

This chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but it gets down what needs to be seen.

Tell me what you think

The Roots of a Friendship​

Exactly 1 year ago

The tale of how Jeff got that distinguished twig was a memorable one, especially since the twig was not the only thing he discovered that day. Jeff was out in the forested grasslands outside of Littleroot Town, exploring. Jeff was some distance away from the town. He slid his backpack off of his arm and threw it carelessly on the grass. He leaned back against a tree, which stood beside a small, tranquil lakeside, when a Zigzagoon came up to him, curiously.

Zigazagoon sniffed around, inspecting his apple. Jeff put a hand up to motion that he was friendly. He decided to crouch down in front of it and feed the creature some of his apple that he didn’t finish. Zigzagoon began to happily munch on it, but then it looked up as a large shadow was cast over it as well as Jeff’s back. It dropped the piece of apple that was in its mouth and started to panic, running around in zigzags and then out of sight.

“What’s wrong?” Jeff asked, confused.

As Jeff noticed the creature run and the moving shadow behind him, a large chill went down his back. He could hear a *whish* as if a sword was being swung in the air. His instincts got the better of him. Jeff speedily stood up and turned around and saw a giant scythe ready to fall towards him. Attached to the scythe were a long green arm and the enraged face of a giant bug pokemon. Jeff remembered Professor Birch talking about a pokemon like this in one of his lectures. He recalled him saying something about it having a blinding fury towards the color red. Of course, Jeff decided to where a red t-shirt for his hike that day, but instead of beating himself up about it, he decided to take action.

As the scythe began to be brought down, Jeff nimbly jumped to his right and he instinctively punched the creature in the face with his right arm.

“Scyyythe!” It stumbled back a step and then lunged, even angrier, towards Jeff. “THER!!”

The terrifying mantis brought its claw down on Jeff. The blade slashed from Jeff’s left shoulder, cutting diagonally down the bicep, the gash ending above his elbow.

“GRAAAAAAGGHHH” Jeff yelled in blinding pain. Jeff clutched his slashed bicep, turned, and ran behind him.

Jeff hobbled away from the pokemon, who was recovering from the powerful slash. Jeff ran with all of his strength into the forest, hearing the terrifying cries of the bug pokemon echoing all around him. He ran over lush ferns and hopped over roots, clutching his bleeding arm as he went. Jeff dove behind this huge, lush, towering tree, which had many thick branches attached to it. Jeff was bleeding profusely from his arm. He pressed his back up against the tree and looked over his shoulder to his right. Jeff could hear a rustling above him, he looked up and saw leaves move and then nothing. The giant bug was nowhere to be found. But then Jeff looked to his left and saw the sneering face of the giant green bug right in front of him.

The pokemon grunted in his face and Jeff’s heart sank. The only thing between him and the scythe was a small twig, attached to the tree beside him about at Jeff’s scalp level.

“SYYYTHHHE” the creature wailed as its scythe began to fall towards Jeff.

“This is it, I’m dead,” Jeff thought as he leaned there, helplessly.

Jeff, who was in shock from the wound, kept his eyes only on the twig in front of him, trying to face his fate with as much courage as possible. He could see the twinkle of the scythe and it got through about halfway into the twig and then stopped.

Jeff looked towards the creature. Its eyes were wide, jaw open. Jeff looked down, puzzled, and saw a small green lizard, with a sturdy red chest, who had its two large, dark green tails embedded into the bug’s abdomen. “Treecko Tree” it said calmly with a high tenor voice. The giant creature doubled over and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Jeff stared in a respectful awe at this unlikely hero. He tried to get up to walk over to him, but Jeff was in too much pain to move. Instead, Treecko walked over to Jeff. Jeff looked at the lizard, with a large, relieved grin and held out his right hand. The lizard looked at Jeff, grinned and held out his large tail, in response

“Treecko Tree” The lizard said as the two shuck hands…err, tails?

The shock adrenaline began to cool down and Jeff became aware of the seething pain in his arm. Jeff then fell over on his right side, in pain. Treecko rushed over to his side and saw the open wound; it bleeded badly. Treecko licked Jeff’s wound, swashed the blood around in his mouth, and then spat it out. Treecko used that method to check if there was poison from Scyther’s attack in Jeff’s bloodstream.

“So you’re a Treecko, huh?” Jeff asked him, cringing as he admired the small, green savior. Treecko nodded and spat out the remainder of the blood and indicated that there was no poison present.

“Don’t Treecko usually live in packs?” Jeff continued to attempt small talk.

Treecko opened his mouth to respond but then turned away.

Treecko climbed up the tree and brought back a vine, a few large leaves, a thorn, and slender strips of birch bark. Treecko hastily tied the vine around Jeff’s left shoulder, just above the wound, in an attempt to cut off the blood circulation in his arm, to staunch the bleeding. Treecko then forcefully pressed the leaves to the wound, using them as bandages. As soon as the bleeding stopped, Treecko stuck the thorn at the end of the long bark rope, he used that to stitch Jeff’s wound closed.

“You sure know a lot about first aid," grinned Jeff, wincing as the thorn and bark entered the edge of his gash, " But why are you helping me? You don't know me!” Jeff asked as bit the inside of his cheek, looking at Treecko, confused.

“Treecko Cko Treecko!” Treecko grinned and helped him to his feet.

“Thank you for saving me. I hope we’ll meet somewhere again.” Jeff thanked him as he stood, wobbly.

The Treecko nodded, waited until he was sure Jeff could walk, and climbed the tree, which Jeff was backed against, roosting up on a large branch. Jeff looked at the twig, which was straight with a branch protruding diagonally from it's side; almost like a "Y", which was half cut off. He decided to break it off to take it with him. This was so that he would never forget the day that a Treecko that did not know Jeff, and who Jeff did not know, saved him.

As he slowly, and somewhat glumly, went back to the town, he looked back at the Treecko sitting on the branch looking off into the sunset. Jeff was surprised to see that the Treecko had also placed an identical twig from the same tree in his own mouth.

Jeff began to think, “Perhaps we were not so different after all…”

 

[XD375]

I've been reading this for about a week now, although I've had no time to comment...

It's getting good, and I know he plans on getting Treecko, but is Treecko not a cute Pokémon?

 

[Griff4815]

...erm, well...IMO I wouldn't call a Treecko 'cute'. Especially in comparison to a...Torchic or something, but they are pretty cool. 'To each their own' I guess.

 

[Griff4815]

Chapter 3 is up.

This is a longer chapter. It's a continuation of the last flashback. I'm sorry it's taking so long to get the show on the road and it SEEMS that this chapter isn't really needed but the events in this chapter were kind of detrimental to the next one. Plus it adds some good character interactions and dynamics for the story.

Retributions​

1 Year Ago, later that night.

The cool, night breeze irritated Jeff’s crudely stitched gash. He poked at it, idly, picking at the dried blood that formed a still trickle down his arm; like sap on a tree trunk.

Jeff slowly limped over the forest bed, sticks broke and leaves crunched beneath his heavy feet. Every so often, he turned his head around; paranoid of more pokemon who didn’t think red was his color. He heard a light scampering in the brush around him. He decided to pick up the pace through the forest path. Jeff hobbled through the forest until he could see the orange street lights shining through the trees.

“I’m finally home, then…” Jeff spoke with a subconscious, Scottish undertone in his voice, but his bass Canadian-Western accent usually suppressed it. He looked back at the dark, misty forest.

As Jeff turned his head back around, a Zigzagoon jumped out in front of him, smiling. “Zigza!” the furry, brown and beige critter barked, happily.

Jeff jumped back a step, in surprise, and then smiled. “You again!” Jeff recognized the pokemon that he had fed earlier.

“Zig…” the pokemon beamed expectantly.

“You still hungry? Sure, I’ll leave the whole ‘abandoning me when I was about to die’ incident behind us…” Jeff teased.

Zigzagoon looked down, guiltily.

“Seriously though, it’s no problem, I’ll see if there’s anything left in my bag…” Jeff reassured, grabbing for the strap of his backpack, but he grabbed only cloth from his shirt.

Jeff turned his head to find that his backpack was not on his back. Jeff recalled back to where he met Treecko.

“Ugh, damnit…sorry bud, I forgot my backpack back at the lake. Now I have to go get it.” Jeff explained to the disappointed pokemon.

Zigzagoon nodded and gestured Jeff to follow him back into the forest. Jeff slowly followed Zigzagoon though the under brush.

Jeff saw familiar trees and grass patches while they slowly trudged. They both heard a rustling in the bushes to the right of them. They stopped dead in their tracks. They could hear a deep panting coming from the nearby bushes.

“What if it’s Scyther?” Jeff thought, his legs beginning to tingle and gain adrenaline from the idea of the returning terror. The rustling grew louder; so did the panting. Zigzagoon snarled and put on a menacing face for Jeff. He growled but he could feel his small legs trembling in fear; he caved in terror and bolted away.

“Coward!” Jeff called to him. Jeff stepped backwards but his equilibrium was still off from the blood loss. He fell down hard on his tailbone. Jeff could now see bright green moving in the bushes. Jeff braced himself and closed his eyes.

He awaited the blade as a doomed king awaited the guillotine. But nothing came; no pain, no “whish”, no Scyther. Jeff opened his eyes and saw the green silhouette of Treecko standing over him, his backpack in hand. The moonlight shined upon the Treecko, illuminating a healed scar down his green collarbone, which Jeff did not notice before.

A wave of relief swept over Jeff.

“It’s you again!” Jeff exclaimed, overjoyed, “…nice twig,” Jeff smiled, gesturing to the identical twig in his mouth.

Treecko grinned and handed the backpack to him. “Treecko Tree Tree Cko,” Treecko smiled, dropping the heavy backpack.

“You didn’t have to find me to give this back! I was perfectly capable…” insisted Jeff.

“Treecko Cko Tree Treecko” Treecko laughed, mockingly.

“I only fell down once!” Jeff defended his view. “…But, really, thank you,” Jeff graciously thanked, picking up the backpack with his right hand.

Treecko turned to go back to his massive tree, he began to walk back into the thick brush.

Jeff called to Treecko before he was camouflaged by the plants, “hey Treecko…how would you like to come back to my home for some food?”

Treecko pondered for a minute and then his stomach growled loudly. He blushed and nodded, his stomach sealing the deal.

“Hah, great! I’ll lead the way back!” Jeff beamed as they tromped back the way Jeff came. They walked through the underbrush until Jeff tripped over a white spiky rock. Jeff groaned as he rolled on his back to see what he tripped on. That white spiky rock had angry, red eyes!

“Is that a…Silcoon…or a Cascoon…or something?” Jeff thought out loud, scrambling away from it. Treecko nodded and stepped backwards.

From behind the Silcoon came a red and white bug, a Wurmple. The Wurmple, who was friends with the Silcoon, began to yell at the two.

Treecko began to yell back at the two bugs, “Tree Tree Cko Cko Treecko!” he retorted, angrily.

Treecko had obviously struck a nerve with Wurmple. Wurmple let out a stream of white silk from his mouth, which wrapped around Treecko’s legs, tripping him to the ground. Treecko groaned and then he tried to rip the string shot tying his feet. Wurmple shot out a volley of purple pins, from his mouth, at Treecko. Jeff jumped between Treecko and Wurmple. He ripped the silk string from Treecko’s legs and picked him up. Jeff was aware of the poison pins coming at him from behind him, but he forced himself to protect the helpless Treecko, who was very weak to those attacks. Normally Jeff wouldn’t be so brave and reckless as to do this, but this time was different.

Five purple pins dug into the back of Jeff’s right calf. Jeff let out a throaty growl, falling to his right knee, dropping Treecko. Treecko maneuvered around Jeff and ran at the Wurmple and Silcoon, pounding them with his tail meters away into the forest. Treecko ran back to Jeff, who looked at his red, swelling leg.

“Treecko Tree Tree?” Treecko asked quickly, gesturing to Jeff’s bag.

“Tools? Medicine? Antidote?” Jeff asked him, frantically trying to interpret him, “Yes, I think!” Jeff gave him the go ahead to dump out the bag.

Treecko scrambled through the cluttered items and found only tweezers and water.

“Treecko cko!?!” Treecko reprimanded him for not bringing good medicine.

“Who carries around poison antidotes, anymore!?!?” Jeff shot back.

Treecko ignored that and walked up to Jeff’s wounded calf muscle. He used the tweezers to pull out the five needles. With each needle, Jeff grimaced; blood and a foreign yellow substance seeped from the holes.

Treecko indicated that Jeff’s leg was, indeed, poisoned.

“Damn…what can we do? We have no antidotes and we won’t make it to town!” Jeff sputtered with panic in his voice.

Treecko raised a finger, telling Jeff that he had a last chance idea.

Treecko picked up the silk, that Wurmple shot, and tied it tightly above Jeff’s knee, cutting off the blood circulation from the leg to the rest of the body.

“Ok, so now the poison will only eat away at my leg!” Jeff grunted, starting to feel the burning poison in his veins. He looked down and saw that his leg was turning a sickly yellow color.

“Treecko Tree!” Treecko gestured, pointing at his mouth and pointing to the wound.

Jeff looked at Treecko, skeptically, “Uh, Treecko…contrary to what our mothers tell us, kissing wounds doesn’t actually make them heal faster” Jeff explained.

Treecko slapped his head and began to make the gesture to his mouth, then Jeff’s leg, then made a passing motion behind him.

“Ohh, you want to get the poison out, yourself?! No! Don’t do anything that will involve you getting poisoned instead!" Jeff stubbornly ordered, shutting down Treecko’s idea before he could pitch it. The poison began to slowly burn inside Jeff’s leg, causing the puncture wounds to swell out and ooze.

“Please, quickly think of something else!” Jeff urged, cringing. Treecko rubbed his chin in thought and then raised a finger in enlightenment.

Treecko quickly looked around at the ground for things he could use. He picked up a handful of small, red-speckled green leaves, a very thin, long reed, a wooden bowl from Jeff’s backpack, and a small rock. He threw the leaves into the bowl and began to grind them with the rock. He ground the leaves into a thick, white paste, added more leaves and repeated the process until there was a decent amount of paste in the bowl.

“What is that, some kind of antidote?” Jeff questioned, now beginning to see the bowl in double vision. His sight seemed to begin to amplify the light of the world, the midnight darkness began to seem more like dusk.

Treecko nodded and sucked the medicine into the straw-like reed, which he put in his mouth. He removed the reed from his mouth and put a finger over the end of the straw to ensure that the medicine wouldn’t drip out.

Jeff stared at Treecko nervously, who counted down with his fingers before he drove the reed into where the wounds were. He let go of the top of the reed and began to blow hard into the reed. Jeff grimaced as the substance entered his blood stream. He could feel the crudely made medicine compromise his poison-flooded blood. Treecko took the reed out of his leg and could see a mixture of blood, poison, pus, and medicine drip from the wounds, creating an cloudy, orange solution. Lastly, he tied a leaf tightly around the wounds and folded his arms, proudly.

“That was a cool survival technique...did you come up with that yourself or did you have friends or family teach you?" Jeff commented. Treecko stalled and chose not to answer, "I really don’t know how to thank you…I owe you two!” Jeff thanked and smiled, some color returning to his face. “If you keep saving me I could probably nominate you to get you knighted!” chuckled Jeff, weakly.

“Cko Tree” Treecko said as he put up one finger, reminding Jeff that he saved his ass from Wurmple, so therefore, only one.

Jeff smiled at this as he tried to get to his feet. Treecko held and supported Jeff’s wounded leg as he stood. Jeff fell back against a tree and slumped to the ground, unconscious. After, what seemed to Jeff like ages, he awoke and struggled to sit upright. His arm and leg still seared with pain. He quickly looked around him, no Treecko in sight.

“Tree…Treecko?” Jeff called out in a raspy voice, his mouth was very dry.

“Cko? Treecko?” Jeff heard a voice reply from above him. Treecko stared down at Jeff from a branch of the tree, which Jeff slept against. It was still night so Jeff could only see the yellow glint of his eyes. Treecko hopped down the tree and, once again, helped Jeff stand. They began to slowly walk through the forest towards Jeff’s house, into the dark, misting forest. After a painstaking half hour, they finally reached the edge Littleroot Town.

“Follow my lead,” Jeff advised weakly.

Jeff, followed by Treecko, passed Professor Birch’s lab, all but one light was off and it was closed for the night. They walked down the straight, dirt road towards Jeff’s house. By now the streetlights were off and the streets were deserted.

“Peaceful, isn’t it?” Jeff asked Treecko. Treecko remained silent and looked around, ponderously.

They walked up to a medium sized home with white panels and a black roof. Treecko helped Jeff up the stairs and Jeff withdrew a key from his pocket. He inserted the key stealthily into the slot and slowly clicked it open.

Jeff and Treecko walked quietly straight, down the dark hall, to his kitchen. Mud and leaves, from their feet, littered the hallway when they walked to the tiled kitchen. Jeff turned on a light and saw Tyrogue standing on top of the tiled counter, staring accusingly.

“Ty Tyrogue Rogue Ro Tyro!” Tyrogue reprimanded Jeff for being so late.

Jeff looked at the time on the stove and it was 2:34 AM.

“Sorry…I got held up,” Jeff explained, brandishing his scarred arm and wounded leg.

Tyrogue looked worried. “It’s nothing, really,” Jeff assured him.

Chikorita, a small, green, quadropedal reptile, walked into the room from a door to their left, rubbing her eyes with a vine whip. She waved her large leaf, that jutted from her head, behind her, revealing sharp but endearing red eyes. She looked around and then stared at Treecko, who was idle behind Jeff’s leg.

Tyrogue also saw Treecko and hopped down from the counter, parallel Jeff and Treecko, ready to fight.

“TYR!” He yelled as if yelling “INTRUDER!”

Tyrogue ran towards Treecko, fists up. Treecko prepared to defend himself. Chikorita let out a vine whip from the darkness and restrained Tyrogue’s arms before he could attack Treecko.

“Woah Woah! Settle down, man! Treecko, here, saved my life twice. I brought him back here as a thanks. Tyrogue, why don’t you make us some sandwiches? You do owe me one after losing that arm wrestle last week…” Jeff grinned.

Chikorita released Tyrogue, who scowled and reluctantly opened the fridge, which was in the right corner of the kitchen, and took out supplies.

Treecko rechecked Jeff’s leg wound to make sure it wasn’t badly infected. As Treecko and Jeff were distracted, Tyrogue slipped a few extremely hot peppers into their sandwiches. He then walked over to the two and handed them a plate with two large sandwiches on it, with an impish grin. Jeff thanked Tyrogue and the two dug into the food. To Tyrogue’s dismay, Jeff and Treecko were unmoved by the hot peppers.

“Hey Tyrogue, this is really good! I should beat you in an arm wrestle more often!” Jeff grinned as they finished up the food and left the kitchen.

Chikorita began to laugh at Tyrogue’s failed attempt at the prank. She was answered by a cold glare.

“Hey Treecko, I’m going to go up to the washroom to put some disinfectant on these wounds, feel free to get acquainted with Tyrogue and Chikorita,” Jeff clarified.

Treecko decided to hang about, solitary, in the hallway, deciding to keep to himself rather than branch out to the other two pokemon. Tyrogue walked up to Treecko and outstretched a hand. Treecko stared at the hand and then back up at Tyrogue.

“<Ok…anyways, my name is Tyrogue. It’s nice to meet Jeff’s two time savior,>” Tyrogue kidded himself through his teeth.

“<Uh huh, I’m Treecko,>” he replied, without enthusiasm. Tyrogue was taken aback by this attitude, but he still tried to pretend to be nice.

“<So you really saved Jeff twice, huh? He must really owe you,>” Tyrogue exclaimed, with a hidden agenda.

Chikorita eyed them from the kitchen.

Treecko shook his head, “<Well technically he saved me once so he only…’owes me’ one,>” he explained.

“<I guess he thought that this visit would make up for it, then,>” Tyrogue grinned.

“<What do you mean?>” Treecko questioned.

“<Well you just met Jeff, so you wouldn’t know…>” Tyrogue began, “<Jeff is a very proud guy, he can’t let a good favor towards him go unrewarded. He would feel as if it’s charity, which he finds insulting to receive,>” Tyrogue explained, twisting the truth.

Treecko began to think, “<…I thought he was being generous because he wanted to be friends,>” he said, beginning to question himself.

“<Well you’d think that…but really…no. Trust me, I’ve known Jeff for a long time, he hates owing people and hates even more to be owed,>” Tyrogue bluntly put it. "<He's a bit TOO generous in terms of being repayed!>" smiled Tyrogue.

Treecko’s heart sunk, “<I shouldn’t be surprised…no one seems to really want me…>” he apathetically muttered.

Tyrogue patted his back, “<c’mon pal, don’t be so hard on yourself,>” Tyrogue feigned encouragement. “<My advice, get out of here before you accidentally save him again…or vice versa,>” Tyrogue muttered with a proud scowl.

Treecko began to walk towards the door, head dragging slightly. Chikorita glared at Tyrogue, who beamed happily back at her; his plan had worked! Jeff walked down the stairs beside them.

Treecko, hurt, began to exit the front door.

“You’re going now?” Jeff asked glumly.

Treecko nodded and began to walk outside. “Treecko Tree,” he sadly thanked Jeff for the food.

“Here, let me walk with you to the edge of the forest.” Jeff offered.

The two walked down the unlit road and towards the dark forest.

Chikorita looked menacingly at Tyrogue, “<That was pretty low, you jerk. What’s your problem with Treecko, anyways?>”

“<The minute I saw him, I hated the ugly arsehole, did you see the way he ignored me?>”

“<I guess I shouldn’t be surprised…his collected solitary attitude must be very threatening to your strong, alpha male masculinity…just like with Jeff and that Alan guy from down the street…>” Chikorita grinned slyly.

“<Cram it, Chikky!>” Tyrogue shot back.

“<Aw, did I strike a nerve?>” Chikorita mocked “<But seriously, why’d you have to go and do that? I liked him; I thought he was cool and cute and handsome and…>” Chikorita gazed off, starry eyed. Tyrogue looked sick to his stomach as she spoke. "<You're not jealous...are you?>" Chikorita prodded.

Tyrogue turned from a light shade of purple to red, "<Pah, right! Think what you like but I hope to Arceus that I'm never like him...and besides, you can forget about the wedding bells, sis, because he ain’t coming back!>” Tyrogue smirked, evilly.

Jeff and Treecko had walked in silence the entire time until they reached the forest edge and stopped.

“We’ll meet again…” Jeff reassured “I’ll try and meet you at your tree sometime.”

The two locked on each other’s eyes and nodded. Treecko slowly trudged off into the forest and Jeff limped back to his house.

After five minutes of walking, Jeff turned his head back and looked at the forest. He saw a brief flash of light in the forest as he turned his head back forward. He walked up his steps and collapsed on the porch, slumped against the metal railing.

He stared off into space until he saw Professor Birch proudly march by him, a pokeball in hand.

“Hello there, Jeff!” greeted Professor Birch, smugly.

“Hey there, Professssss…” Jeff fell on his back, falling into sleep. When Professor Birch galumphed off, Jeff stared up at the stars and finally fell asleep on the hard, wooded porch.

Tyrogue opened the door and found Jeff wiped out. He dragged Jeff inside and placed him on a couch in the living room, to the left of hallway. Jeff went to the hospital in the morning, as well as to visit that old tree. Little did he know, he would be very disappointed.



4 Months Ago

“I can’t believe it!” Jeff grunted, punching air in a martial arts stance; one foot forward and one foot sideways. “Do you think he just upped and left?”

“Rogue, tyrooo tyrogue!” Tyrogue shrugged and urged Jeff to focus.

Tyrogue, who belonged to Jeff’s family, tutored Jeff in the martial arts as well as training. Every second day they would work out and body build every muscle. Every other day would be for the training of various basic and complex martial arts.
This was in anticipation for beginning his rough journey.

The lights were turned off and it was night time, they were practicing fighting in the dark. This helped to improve the awareness of the senses other than sight. Jeff stepped forwards towards Tyrogue, who aimed a punch for his face. Jeff deflected the punch with his left and landed a punch of his own with his right. Tyrogue was thrown backwards, but used the momentum from the force to land on his hand and bounce back at Jeff, feet first. Jeff flew backwards and landed on the practice mat, in a room similar to a small gym.

Jeff got to his feet and wiped the blood from his lip. He stepped forwards, ready for more. Tyrogue turned on the lights, raised a thumb and pointed with it behind them, indicating that they should have a break.

“You’re sure growing strong…I wouldn’t be surprised if you evolved soon,” Jeff complimented. He looked down, a lot on his mind.

Jeff walked over to the side of the room and poured water on himself.

“I’ve been going to that tree twice a week for the past 8 months; he wasn’t there each of the times. Did I say something that offended him? Maybe he found a new home or maybe he’s…no! He’s probably around, he’s just out!” Jeff complained, in denial.

Tyrogue looked down, guiltily. Tyrogue gave him a light punch of encouragement with the words, “tyr-ro-rogue, tyro,” he tried to reply, realistically but optimistically, telling him to move on.
The two went down to the kitchen to add ice to their cuts. The glass door at the back of the kitchen led to their nature-ridden, small backyard.

“Rogue Ty Tyro?” Tyrogue asked as he splashed water on his face. He has questioned whether he had decided what starter pokemon he wanted yet.

“Treecko…” Jeff mumbled, “I don’t know about it, anymore. At this point it could be just about any of them!” he explained, contemplating the options.

As Jeff downed an entire glass of water in one gulp he noticed something moving outside. Tyrogue saw this too and ran to the door, followed by Jeff. They opened the glass door and looked outside.

“Tyrogue? Ro! Tyyy!” called out the pokemon, calling out for them to show themselves. There was no reply. Jeff saw movement in the tree and then something bound from the branch to over a fence and away. Jeff shoved through Tyrogue and ran over to the wooden fence. He jumped up and supported himself with his arms, looking around the backyard behind him. After scanning the area for minutes, and closing his eyes to hear better, Jeff jumped down and trudged back inside with Tyrogue.

“<It was probably just a Pidgey,>” muttered Tyrogue.

Jeff sensed that something was at the glass door, behind him. But, he quickly turned around, saw nothing and heard a light scampering.

“Yeah...it was probably a Pidgey,” mumbled Jeff, disappointed.

The two wobbled off to their respective beds and fell asleep. Jeff had still dreamed of seeing that Treecko again, but his quest for going out of his way to look for him was over.

 

[Griff4815]

Chapter 4 is up and running.

This was the first chapter that I have written but I have done quite a few edits. Forgive the sappyness in the chapter. The chapter is longer because I merged two chapters because I wanted to get the characters out of the frying pan ASAP (but I didn't rush it)

Please review and tell me what you liked and what can be changed. I'm willing to improve.

The Revival of a Friendship​

Present day

Jeff quickly jogged down his front steps. He took a left turn, jogging down the asphal, towards Birch’s Pokemon Lab.

Jeff went from a steady jog to a sprint towards the lab, aware of the time. “The early Taillow gets the Wurmple,” Jeff thought to himself, speeding up. A guy on a bike, who had a small, blue, flightless bird hanging onto his shoulder, began to pass Jeff. Jeff smirked at the guy, and began to have a race with him. The guy was unaware of Jeff beginning to surpass him as Jeff neared the lab. The distance to the building shortened as he ran. He was almost there! Jeff looked at the guy, who looked back, and smiled. But then, what appeared to be a Torchic crossed his path.

“Tor-chic. Tor-chic. Tor-chic,” it chirped obliviously, as it walked.

Jeff couldn’t slow down. He hit it and his legs went sailing backwards as he went flying onto the dirt road. He landed with a skid, dirt chalking his face and knees. Jeff lay sideways on the ground and saw the guy and his strange pokemon ride past the lab, dismount their bike, and walk into the forest.

“Ughhh, you ok?” Jeff asked the Torchic who was standing at his feet, pretty PO’d.

“Chic! Tor Tor Chic! Chic!” It peeped angrily.

“I can only assume that’s something mean” Jeff said with a half-smile.

As Jeff dusted himself off and saw a person jogging towards him. A girl Jeff’s age, whom he recognized, came running up to Torchic.

“Torchic, I told you not to go running ahead of me like that!” She reprimanded it, as she cradled Torchic in her arms.

“Tor…” Torchic said, looking at the ground, ashamed.

“Sorry about that si-…Jeff!? How are you?” The girl asked happily to Jeff.

The wind blew through the girl’s somewhat short brown hair, but it was dyed a reddish-brown color. Jeff stood taller than her, she being about 5’9” in height, with an incredibly cute face. A wave of joy swept over Jeff, seeing as he has had a huge crush on this girl ever since they took a Pokemon Biology class together last year, taught by Professor Birch.

“Hey there…Kristie, I’m fine. It’s no big deal; I shouldn’t have been rushing to the lab so quickly,” Jeff said apologetically but trying to sound as calm and confident as possible. “Speaking of which, you must have been coming back from there. Did you choose Torchic, here?” Jeff asked.

“Yes I did, he’s so cute too,” Kristie replied.

“Yeah, he’s great,” Jeff humored her. He then realized that other trainers must have gone to the lab, too. “Oh, are the other two pokemon still available?” Jeff asked, worried.

“Other two? There was only one other pokemon there; a Mudkip, and Alan took that one.”

“What!?! But…hmm, I’m going to find out what’s going on!” Jeff exclaimed, before entering the lab.

“Bye, Jeff,” said Kristie politely.

“Catch ya’ later, Kristie,” Jeff sputtered.

As Kristie went out of earshot Jeff muttered to himself, “Fack! Smooth, Jeff, real smooth…” Jeff mentally beat himself up, kicking a stick that lay on the ground. He opened the glass door.

“Professor Birch?” Jeff called out into the lab. The lab was dimly lit by a fluorescent light. It was cluttered with notes, large machines, and white boards.

“Oh no! Not already!” Birch muttered, nervously. “Over here, Jeff!” Birch replied with a sigh, “I suppose you’re here for your pokemon.”

He was looking under desks and inside drawers, frantically for something. Professor Birch was young and had longer brown hair as well as a brown beard. He was one of the younger pokemon professors.

“Professor, Kristie just said that there were only two pokemon available here. What happened to the Treecko?” Jeff asked, Butterfrees flying around his stomach when he nervously awaited the answer.

“Follow me, and I’ll show you,” Birch said, extending a hand to the door.

Professor Birch led the way into the forest, a block away from the lab. Jeff followed him into the familiar terrain.

“Hopefully this will be a Treecko who DOESN’T eat and run!” Jeff thought, begrudgingly.

They went further into the forest. Jeff started to get his bearings. He recognized the lake that they approached. About half a kilometer right would take them to the tree where Jeff met that Treecko.

Birch, sure enough, signaled to turn right. Jeff the feeling remained while they neared closer and closer. They tromped over leaves and roots, onwards. The towering tree was in sight. The lofty maple tree had thick branches, strong enough to support a human. It had green leaves and low, easily climbable branches.

“I’m sorry, you said we were going to get Treecko, the third starter pokemon? It seems pretty impractical to leave a pokeball in the middle of the forest,” Jeff pointed out, trying to dismiss the possibility that they were here for the same Treecko.

Birch stopped at the base of the tree and pointed up. Jeff looked up and his eyes widened and his heart jumped. Jeff saw the same Treecko that he saw one year ago from today. He could tell from the twig in the gecko’s mouth. Jeff was about to call up to him, but he stopped when he saw Treecko facing a Fearow, fists up, in battle stance.

“But how was he caught?” Jeff thought to himself.

Jeff looked to Birch who exclaimed “That Treecko comes out here every time I free it from its pokeball and fights any pokemon that sets foot near the tree. This is the place where I personally caught it. I’m afraid that Treecko or the other pokemon will be seriously hurt. But there’s nothing I can do. That Treecko is very stubborn and must be very sentimental.”

“I can relate” Jeff thought to himself.

Jeff looked up and saw that Treecko began to take quite a beating from the large, jagged, beak of the Fearow. Treecko stumbled backwards, crying out from the blows.

“NO!” Jeff yelled, and Jeff quickly took off his backpack and began to climb the tree.

Luckily for Jeff, the tree had a low canopy, making him able to climb it very speedily. Jeff began to scramble up the tree, putting hands and feet on every conceivable branch to move quickly.

“Jeff, no! What are you doing?!” Birch called after him.

Jeff reached the large branch where the two were fighting. Jeff balanced behind the Fearow, near the trunk. Treecko was backed away from the trunk and Fearow was blocking it’s way to the main trunk, while laying a barrage of pecks on Treecko.

“Cko, cko, cko, cko” Treecko would wince in pain with each beak strike.

Jeff tried to get between Treecko and Fearow. Treecko’s blood began to drip from Fearow’s long beak.

“Cut it out, Fearow!” Jeff shouted.

“Fear?” Fearow looked back at him, annoyed, and then planted a lightning quick drill peck on his face. “ROW!”

Jeff recoiled backwards, almost losing his balance. His cheek seared with pain and he could feel warm blood trickling down his chin.

“That’s it!” Jeff grabbed the Fearow by the throat and threw it back against the tree trunk, which connected the branch to the tree. The branch they stood on was about 2 and a half stories off of the ground.

Fearow growled in pain, watching Jeff approach Treecko on the branch.

“Treecko, quick, get on my back, I’ll take you to safety!”

“Cko!” the Treecko said, disagreeing and shaking its head.

Fearow, again, went in to attack Treecko. Jeff moved in front of the bird to protect Treecko. Fearow instead started to peck at Jeff, furiously.

“You’re badly hurt! And you don’t stand a chance against that Fearow!” Jeff said, gritting his teeth.

Treecko tried to get past Jeff, who blocked the way as well as the attacks.

“Treecko, if you’re as stubborn as I am, we’re going to be in big trouble!” Jeff angrily exclaimed.

“<What do you care? Just as long as your conscience and pride are free of guilt…>” Treecko yelled.

Jeff could not understand what Treecko had just said, but the tone had caused Jeff to be taken aback by it, nonetheless. Jeff turned his back to Fearow’s pecks and picked up Treecko, to protect him. Treecko struggled to get out of Jeff’s grip and fight Fearow.

“Treecko, I’m not doing this because I owe you, I’m doing this because I don’t want you to get hurt!” Jeff yelled, in pain from Fearow’s attacks.

Treecko looked at Jeff with a new found respect, but still tried to get free of Jeff, to protect him and fight off Fearow.

The Fearow finished its fury attack on Jeff, and flew backwards, leaving Jeff and Treecko scratch-ridden and bloodied from the volley. It backed against the tree, as Treecko got free of Jeff’s hold and approached it. It had a malicious twinkle in its eye. Just then, Fearow started to Drill peck the branch in front of it. Jeff and Treecko knew what was coming

“Jeff, get down from there! Quick!” Birch called up.

As he finished that sentence the branch gave way beneath Jeff and Treecko.

“Treecko!” Jeff yelled as the two began to fall. Jeff grabbed onto Treecko and pressed him against his chest. Jeff, then, curled up to protect Treecko from the impact of the fall. Jeff grunted in pain as, about half way down from the branch they were on, he hit a branch which broke with the impact.

They then started to hit the softer, weaker branches below. The leaves and twigs whisked up, hitting them as they fell. A sharp branch whipped up Jeff’s face, leaving a bleeding scar.

Jeff held tightly to Treecko as they braced for the impact of the grass, below. Then “THUD,” Jeff landed on his side, and Treecko rolled from out of his hands about a foot over. The two groaned in pain and gasped for air. Treecko struggled to crawl over to Jeff to make sure that he was ok.

“Treecko?” said Treecko, checking Jeff’s pulse. Treecko then licked Jeff’s bleeding cut, affectionately.

“I’m ok, Treecko…thank you,” Jeff replied, sincerely.

Treecko smiled, crossed his arms, and shook his head. “Cko, Tree, Tree, cko,”
as if saying, “<Don’t thank me, thank you.>”

Jeff and Treecko’s eyes met, they grinned, and shook hands, nostalgically to the time they met.

“Call it even, this time?” Jeff asked, “Cko!” Treecko replied, agreeing with a large smirk.

Professor Birch came running over, saying “Thank goodness you two are ok.”

“Yeah I… hey, is that Fearow mocking us?” The Fearow was squawking the “Nana nana booboo” taunt at them.

“Cocky bastard,” Jeff and Treecko thought to themselves.

“We’d better get back to the lab where I have some strong potions, you two could really use them” Birch noted.

They nodded and helped each other to their feet. Treecko began to fall forward, exhausted. Jeff stuck his foot out and Treecko slumped over his shoe. Jeff lifted his foot up and picked up Treecko in his hands. Treecko grinned and closed his eyes from exhaustion.

Treecko rested, cradled in Jeff’s bruised arms, and they started to limp back to the lab. They wandered, exhausted, back to their hometown.

They got back to the lab and Jeff took the potion. He read the directions and sprayed the potion on Treecko’s wounds and then his own.

“Professor Birch, what am I going to do about finding a starting pokemon for my journey?” questioned Jeff, nervously.

Professor Birch looked down at Treecko and sighed, “I think he has found you, Jeff. I’m afraid you’re stuck with Treecko here. I don’t get any more sets of starters for another month, you should probably wait that long.” Professor Birch remarked.

Treecko shot Birch a glare. Jeff ignored the Professor’s heeding words.

“You know where and when I found Treecko?”

Jeff shook his head. “I found Treecko just outside of Littleroot, exactly one year ago. I think he was heading back to that tree. When I tried to catch him, he didn’t even put up a fight!” Professor Birch explained.

Jeff’s jaw dropped, “that was the day I met Treecko! That flash of light was Treecko being caught in a pokeball?!”

Jeff quickly turned to Treecko, “All that time I waited for you and you just let yourself be captured?”

Treecko was shocked by this and began to open his mouth to defend himself but was interrupted by Professor Birch.

“Oh wait a minute!” The professor beamed, “I remember I do still have an extra Torchic and a Mudkip in my desk!”

He ran over to his desk, pulled out two pokeballs and released Mudkip and Torchic.

“Tor!” the orange chick cutely chirped.

“Kip Mudkip!” the mudfish smiled enthusiastically.

The two tried to seem more appealing than Treecko, who stood there with a disheartened and apathetic look on his face. He knew that with those two here, he would never get picked.

“<This won’t be a new feeling for me,>” Treecko apathetically, yet morosely thought as he awaited the usual feeling of being discarded as a starter for the choice of Mudkip or Torchic.

“<If I didn’t let myself be captured, then Jeff wouldn’t be pissed off at me and he might have actually considered taking me. Instead, you’re going to be stuck back here with these clowns. Arceus, you’re a bloody idiot, Gri…er, I mean Treecko,>” Treecko reprimanded himself as he watched Jeff inspect Torchic and Mudkip.

“<Enjoy your trip, Mudkip or Torchic. Take good care of him…you idiots,>” Treecko told the others, with the exception of the insult, which he muttered to himself.

Torchic and Mudkip put on their best show faces, battling for the spotlight.

“So what’s your choice? Mudkip or Torchic?” Birch asked.

Jeff then felt a tugging at his pants, which were dirtied from mud and blood. Jeff looked down and it was Treecko. Treecko wanted to make a last ditch effort to be chosen before being returned to the dark confines of his pokeball.

Jeff ignored the other two pokemon and kneeled down to Treecko’s level.

“You mean you would seriously want to leave your tree and come along with me?”

Treecko looked off in the distance for a few seconds and then it nodded.

“Then I’ve made my decision! I want Treecko!” Jeff smiled, not second guessing a single second.

Torchic, Mudkip, and Professor Birch all sighed heavily in disappointment.

Treecko’s jaw opened in shock. “<Was this guy serious? He really wants to pick me over them?>”

Treecko then beamed and climbed up Jeff’s arm, clinging onto his shoulder. He then hugged Jeff’s head with joy. This uncalled for affection caused Jeff to smile and blush in response.

“<This really is the happiest day of my life,>” Treecko thought as he continued hugging Jeff’s head.

“<Ok, time to stop being so affectionate,>” Treecko then recovered from the joy and climbed back down to the floor, as Professor Birch came up to Jeff and patted him on the shoulder.

“Ok Jeff…your funeral, here’s your pokedex and 5 pokeballs. Once you catch 6 pokemon, all other pokemon you catch, before the Hoenn League, will be returned back here and put on the ranch outside,” Professor Birch explained.

“Gotcha,” Jeff replied and then frowned, “…why do you dislike Treecko so much?”

“I’ll tell you later. Now let me return Treecko with your 6th pokeball.” Professor Birch instructed.

“Well actually…” Jeff began to say.

Professor Birch shot a red beam from the pokeball to Treecko on the ground. Treecko gracefully avoided the beam by jumping.

“Stay still, Treecko!” Professor Birch ordered, growing frustrated.

He tried to recall Treecko again. Treecko dodged it, and ran up Jeff’s arm and perched on his shoulder.

“Treecko, let’s not go through this again!” Professor Birch sighed, exasperated.

“What’s the problem?” Jeff asked.

“Treecko hates being kept inside his pokeball,” he explained

Jeff nodded, empathetically.

“I’ve had Treecko for 10 months and not single trainer chose Treecko.” Professor Birch exclaimed, throwing Treecko’s pokeball between his two hands, nervously.

“I don’t see why not!” Jeff exclaimed, genuinely confused. “Who couldn’t love this guy?” Jeff motioned to Treecko who still clung to his shoulder.

“I usually can only be shipped one starter pokemon of each type at a time. So I was stuck with Treecko, who wasn’t exactly popular among trainers.” Birch groaned.

“You had extras of Mudkip and Torchic” Jeff pointed out.

“That’s because I lied about giving away my last shipment. Plus, those were the only back ups,” Birch grumbled, looking at the two starters who played tag with each other in the lab. Torchic, chased by Mudkip, tripped and almost fell into a bunch of stacked up files.

“Careful, you two!” Birch advised the two, who stopped dead in their tracks and nervously grinned.

Treecko rolled his eyes, unamused by the antics of the duo.

“But why don’t people like Treecko, here?” Jeff asked, patting Treecko with his right arm.

“Treecko has an exceptionally independent and stubborn personality. Most trainers are overwhelmed with pokemon like that, especially when it’s a starter. Additionally, he doesn’t exactly flow well with the trainers and doesn’t try very hard to be chosen.”

“I’ll do perfectly fine with Treecko! Besides, you can’t disregard a pokemon based on their personality!” Jeff insisted.

Birch nodded and gave him a look that said “If you say so.”

“A rebel, huh? I like the sound of that…”Jeff thought out loud. To this, Treecko puffed up his chest, proudly, and fiddled with his tree twig in his mouth.

“Hold still,” Professor Birch told Jeff, aiming the pokeball.

He shot the laser but Jeff side stepped so that the laser wouldn’t hit Treecko. The laser instead shot into Jeff’s eye. As Jeff doubled over in pain, Treecko spat out his twig at Professor Birch, hitting him in the face. Treecko then jumped from Jeff’s shoulder, whacking the pokeball from Birch’s hand with his tail, and he managed to catch the twig before it hit the ground.

“You see what I mean, Jeff?!” Birch angrily exclaimed.

“Arghhh…Arceus!” Jeff swore as he clutched his eye, in pain. “You have to be more careful! You could have burned my retinas! Can you check inside the pokeball and see if you accidentally captured my optic nerve?!” Jeff replied, angrily holding his eye.

“Ugh, sorry Jeff…” Professor Birch apologized. “Need some water?”

Jeff shook his head and smiled.

“Are you sure that you want Treecko?” Professor Birch asked, pleadingly.

“I couldn’t be surer!” Jeff grinned. “Treecko and I are going to have quite the fun adventure!”

“Ok then…” Birch murmured

“Wow, you’re really fast, Treecko.” Jeff pointed out, thinking back to when he hit the pokeball.

“For future advice; when you’re bored and you have your pokeball out…don’t experiment by zapping yourself in the eye with it…you probably WILL lose it next time,” Birch advised.

“Good to know!” Jeff replied, sarcastically.

Treecko smirked at Birch, who was obviously very annoyed with him.

“Please, Treecko, just go in your pokeball!” Birch begged him.

Treecko sighed, hung his head, and finally submitted to the professor’s demands. Treecko suddenly had a sad aura around him as he walked towards the professor. The professor picked up the pokeball and aimed it at Treecko, who had shut his eyes tightly and had a chill go up his spine.

“Wait!” Jeff interrupted Birch, who was about to activate the laser.

“You want to say something to Treecko before I return him?” the Professor asked.

“Yes…I never actually planned to keep Treecko in his pokeball.” Jeff smiled, rubbing the back of his head.

Treecko and Professor Birch looked at him with a look of disbelief.

“Come again?” Professor Birch asked.

“I remember the feeling of being confined and helpless, and I hated it…”

Jeff continued his story, “I remembered back when I was young when I was trapped in a cupboard after accidentally locking myself in, during a game of hide and seek. I wasn’t planning on keeping Treecko in a pokeball for the same reason. I feel that I can read Treecko very well and have a feeling he has that same fear.”

Treecko smiled and nodded, admitting to it.

Jeff smiled back “Therefore, I won’t force you to be kept in a pokeball!” He offered, sticking out his arm.

Treecko beamed coolly, enjoying the idea. Treecko jumped onto Jeff’s arm and climbed back up to his shoulder.

“You two really are…made for each other” Professor Birch smiled. “Not one trainer, other than you, Jeff, would have settled for, let alone be happy with that Treecko. Also the way you two cared for each other back with Fearow…astounding, you two already have a great bond like a chain!

They blushed a little and Jeff added “Let’s just say that we’re like old friends.” Jeff smirked at Treecko, who grinned back.

“Well let’s go Treecko,” Jeff began to turn around.

“Treecko, Tree” Treecko replied, relieved that he has a good trainer and friend.

“<I don’t think I could have asked for a better trainer and companion, who knows…this may actually be…fun,>” Treecko thought to himself.

“I’ll keep in touch once I get to the next pokemon centre, Professor, later.”

And so the two new best friends went to Jeff’s house to see his mom before leaving town.

 

[Griff4815]

Here's Chapter 5, It's a long one so I divided it into three parts incase you guys want a break or something.

Jeff finally leaves the town (About time, right?).

I regret not being able to end on a cliffhanger.

Enjoy reading and, as always, reply and/or review.

To Leave the Nest​

The two left Professor Birch’s large laboratory and began to walk down the black tarmac. The four o’clock sun shone bright, casting bright beams on the two travelers’ dried, blood stained faces.

“I still don’t understand…why did you let yourself be captured?” Jeff asked Treecko.

Treecko attempted to explain, using various body gestures, that “<Tyrogue had told me that you were only repaying me for saving you and that you didn’t actually want to be friends.>”

“Damn it, Tyrogue,” Jeff grunted “That’s ridiculous, of course I wanted to be friends with you…I think Tyrogue just doesn’t like…” Jeff tried to think of a way to put it lightly, but couldn’t. “…you.”

Treecko shrugged, “Treecko cko tree, treecko treecko cko,” he grinned, trying to say, “<I get that a lot; I think many other pokemon are threatened by me.>”

Jeff and Treecko walked up to his medium sized house. They dragged their war-weary bodies up the planked front steps. Jeff, now on the spacey veranda, opened the white front door and they walked into the rather cramped vestibule.

“Hey mom, I’m back!” Jeff yelled into the house as he entered. “Treecko, this is my home...in the daytime,” Jeff told him, as Treecko jumped down and looked around curiously. He looked to his left and noticed a spread out living room complimented with two opposite-facing leather couches. Behind the green leather couch was a fireplace, which homed a mantelpiece above it. Parallel to the front door was a hallway that led to the kitchen. To their right were stairs that led to the second floor.

“What took you so long?” His mom asked before turning into the hallway from the kitchen. She was a dyed blonde, brown haired woman walked entered and looked at them.

“That’s no Torchi--” Jeff’s mom stopped mid sentence and looked at the scratched up and beaten pals.

“My goodness! What happened to you two?!” She asked, worried.

“It’s nothing; we were on the receiving end of a Fearow’s beak, y’know kind of a male bonding thing,” Jeff replied, calmly.

“Mom, this is Treecko. I decided on traveling with him before I walked out the door today.” Jeff admitted as he introduced them.

“I thought you said that you were getting a Torchic!” Mrs. Growell said, disappointed.

“Mom…never did I ONCE say that I was getting a Torchic! I wanted a Treecko ever since I saw my brother’s, when I was 15,” Jeff replied, truthfully.

“Not even a Mudkip?” She yearned, “Your brother chose a Mudkip!”

“No he didn’t! He chose Treecko…he caught a Mudkip somewhere after saving it… and that was nine years before this guy came along!” Jeff corrected, motioning to Treecko. “I’ve made my choice and I don’t doubt a single thought of it!” Jeff replied, irritated.

To this Treecko smiled, smugly.

“Well Treecko sure is…nice.” His mom lied as she looked at Treecko who lay on Jeff’s shoulder, leaning against his tail and Jeff’s head, with his arms behind his head.

“Is Dad still working at the hospital in Petalberg?” Jeff asked his mom.

“Yes, he is on-call so he and Bayleef will be home later tonight.” His mom replied, walking into the kitchen.

Treecko tilted his head at Jeff upon hearing the odd pokemon’s name.

“Yeah, my dad owns a Bayleef…a grass reptile pokemon, like you. She helps him out at the hospital, healing people’s ailments and wounds,” Jeff explained to Treecko. “You remember Chikorita? She’s now Bayleef,” informed Jeff.

Treecko listened, intrigued, and then went back to poking around the living room. Jeff ran up to his room, packed a few more items, changed into a pair of the same green shirt, and threw two more into his backpack.

Tyrogue entered the living room, from a door leading to the kitchen, with a huge scowl on his face, “<You again,>” Tyrogue growled, cracking is knuckles.

“<That was a pretty low stunt that you pulled last time…>” Treecko began growling in return.

“<Not as low as this!>” Tyrogue roared, swinging his leg sideways, taking out Treecko’s legs.

“<What the hell!?>” Treecko snarled, hitting the hardwood floor, .

Treecko quickly recovered and bounded upwards, knocking Tyrogue into the wall. The two delivered swings and headbutts back and forth, causing pictures to fall from the poorly arranged table.

“What’s that sound?!” Jeff called down from upstairs.

Tyrogue grabbed Treecko by the throat and held him off the ground. Treecko was vulnerable while Tyrogue delivered solid punches to his face, like a hammer beating in a nail. Treecko cringed and the cuts on his face reopened and bled. Treecko held on to Tyrogue’s wrist, trying to loosen his grip. Jeff ran back downstairs and saw Treecko pinned against a doorframe, by Tyrogue.

“DAMN IT YOU TWO, BREAK IT UP, NOW!” Jeff yelled as he ran to them and pried them apart. He pressed them both against opposite sides of a door frame, making sure they wouldn’t start fighting again.

“It’s a good thing that we’re leaving…Tyrogue go back to weightlifting or something,” Jeff commanded, releasing them to the hardwood floor.

Tyrogue grumbled as he walked upstairs and Treecko was on his knees rubbing his red throat, panting from the lack of oxygen. Treecko stood to his feet and ran after Tyrogue, enraged. He lunged up the stairs at Tyrogue, but found himself stopped in the air. Jeff had grabbed one of his two tails. Treecko swung about helplessly, held up by Jeff.

“Treecko…” Jeff glared at him disapprovingly. Treecko swung about trying to free himself and attack the clueless Tyrogue.

“Damnit, Treecko, stop it! It’s over!” Jeff growled.

Treecko continued thrashing for 30 seconds, refusing to give in. Jeff stared, exasperated, at him. Treecko, then, reluctantly stopped, giving in, limply hanging by his tail. He swung back and forth, looking upset.

“Sorry Treecko, I know Tyrogue is an ass hole, but you don’t want to stoop to his level,” Jeff explained. Treecko silently stared at the wall, upside down.

“Are we cool?” Jeff asked Treecko, who still looked angry. Treecko scowled but then nodded, still trying to cool down. Jeff let go of his tail and placed him on the stairs; they continued back down to the hallway.

Jeff looked in the mirror in the main hallway at his battered face.

“I haven’t even left town yet and I already look like I was in the ‘100 Years War’… this is going to be a long trip,” Jeff thought out loud “but, at least I have a cool scar!” Jeff turned to Treecko, smiling.

Treecko, who has now cooled off, forced a smile and motioned his head towards the door, obviously getting a little impatient.

Jeff nodded “We should really be heading off before we start bleeding on the carpet.” Jeff told his mom. “I’m gonna go say goodbye to Tyrogue and then we’re off!”

Jeff walked back up the stairs and called out, “hey Tyrogue…I’m sor…” Jeff stopped in the middle of his sentence as he reached the top of the stairs. He found himself looking at a large brown bodied pokemon with long, flexible, lighter brown, muscular legs. The pokemon’s brown eyes squinted at Jeff, happily.

“Woah!” Jeff yelped, hopping backwards, in surprise at the new pokemon, onto the stairs. Jeff missed a step and found himself slowly falling backwards down the stairs. The pokemon quickly outstretched its foot; it extended and caught him before he hit the stairs. Jeff pulled on the leg to stand himself up. He looked cautiously at the pokemon.

“Ty…rogue?” Jeff asked, inspecting him.

“Lee, Hitmonlee,” it replied, correcting him. He spoke proudly in a low, raspy voice.

Treecko quickly ran to the base of the stairs and called up, with some concern. “Cko Treecko?” he quickly called up.

Jeff frantically covered for himself, “I’m fine, Treecko…go see if you can find my…shoe!”

Jeff didn’t want Treecko to feel ashamed and weak compared to the newly evolved pokemon, who Treecko wasn’t fond of.

“Congratulations, Tyrogue, but I have to go now. For my sakes, don’t come downstairs until we leave, ok? No offense, but I don’t want you stealing our thunder,” Jeff quietly told him. He wasn’t concerned about himself but Treecko, who had been through a lot that day and this was the last thing that he needed.

Hitmonlee nodded and walked back into the upstairs hallway. Jeff jogged down the stairs to Treecko, who waited eagerly in the vestibule.

“Hey mom, I’ll call you and Dad in the pokemon center in the next town…and something happened to Tyrogue!” Jeff called to her as she entered the hallway.

Treecko smirked at Tyrogue’s apparent misfortune, unknowing of Jeff’s true meaning.

“Goodbye Jeff, I’ll miss you, be careful! Take good care of Jeff, Treecko.” She hugged Jeff and told them as they left.

“I’ll miss you too, and I can take care of myself…just because I can’t make an omelet…” Jeff called out to his mom, and cut himself off as he closed the front door.

“Is she serious? Us…be careful?” Jeff muttered to Treecko, who was on his shoulder as Jeff walked down the porch stairs.

To their surprise, a group of people stood at the front of Jeff’s house. Among them were some of Jeff’s friends, friend’s parents, neighbors, Professor Birch, his father, and Bayleef.

“Congratulations or your first pokemon!” They told Jeff, enthusiastically.

“Treecko, huh? Never thought I’d see the day when a trainer from home would choose Treecko over Torchic or Mudkip!” One man in his 30’s stated.

“Be safe and put Littleroot on the map!” another woman encouraged.

Jeff and Treecko blushed; Treecko was especially uncomfortable and unfamiliar with the sudden amount of attention that they were receiving. He was always the odd one out. Treecko and Jeff, filled with shock and embarrassment, had trouble speaking when trying to thank the small crowd. Jeff walked to his father, who had black hair and was still in hospital scrubs.

“What are you doing out of work?” Jeff asked him.

“I couldn’t miss my son starting on his own journey…did you pack the medical kits that I took from the hospital? You look like you’ll need them” He said, inspecting their cuts.

Jeff nodded.

Mr. Growell looked at Treecko. “That’s a really cool pokemon you have there!”

Treecko nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, modestly.

“He sure is!” Jeff proudly told him

Behind Jeff's father stood a large, light green sauropod pokemon. It was Bayleef. It was much larger than it was when it was a Chikorita and had a longer neck. It now had a much longer head leaf and a neckless of green flower buds. Bayleef walked up to Treecko and handed him a flower with one of her vine whips.

“Treecko” Treecko nodded, in thanks. Bayleef blushed a little bit and then backed up behind Jeff’s father’s legs.

“Th-thank you, all…f-for this great sendoff party…thing. I will do a great job with Treecko by my side!” Jeff announced to them, trying not to stammer from modesty.

The crowd applauded and the two blushed as they moved past the crowd and up the north road.

Jeff and Treecko, feeling homesick already, set off into the forest, leaving their hometown behind.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeff and Treecko, walking side by side, left the gates of Littleroot town.
They walked up to a sign on the left side of the road, by the forest. The sign was illuminated dimly by the setting sun, casting and orange glow on it.

“Route 101—Oldale Town” Jeff stated as he read the sign aloud.

“Well…” Jeff looked to Treecko, “We’ve got to start somewhere.” Treecko nodded and they continued on down the rugged dirt path.

Jeff walked, swatting flies away, who were buzzing around him like it was their last supper. “It’s a good thing that this route is pretty short, these bugs are annoying the hell out of me”. Treecko chuckled at Jeff’s annoyance.

“Oh sure, laugh it up. What’s annoying for me is a nice, light snack for you.” Jeff retorted, teasingly.

Jeff looked at his first pokemon and knew by looking at him that they will have an unbreakable bond. They could only hope that their equally stubborn mindsets wouldn’t conflict with each other.

The sun set behind the horizon to their left, causing the sky to grow dark.

“Treecko!” Treecko said pointing forwards. “What Treecko? Do you see Oldale Town?” Jeff asked. “Cko” Treecko nodded.

The night wind rustled the leaves of the forest as the two stared onwards.

“…I’m pretty sure we have to go right!” Jeff looked off pointing in the other direction. Treecko shuck his head and insisted that it was north.

“I’m telling you it is right,” Jeff claimed, becoming hardheaded and disagreable.

“Cko” “Right” “Cko!” “Right!” “CKO!” “RIGHT!” The two argued, getting a little closer and more hostile as they argued. They were practically spitting in each other’s faces by the time Jeff stopped it

“Ok, that’s enough! We’ll settle this with ‘Rock paper scissors’!” Jeff declared.

Treecko nodded and the two readied their hands.

“Rock…Paper…Scissors!” Jeff threw down his hand flat, indicating paper.

Treecko threw down his tail onto Jeff’s hand, slamming it into the dirt.

Jeff cringed and yet out a sharp exhale. He with drew is dirt covered, aching hand from the ground. “Ok…we’ll go your way!” Jeff angrily told him through his gritting teeth. “I guess rock beats paper, too” Jeff mumbled as they began walking.

“And for future reference, ‘Rock paper scissors’ is NOT ‘knucklebones’!” Jeff stated, still sore about losing.

Treecko looked back, grinned, and stuck out his tongue in a mocking fashion.

Jeff grinned and lightly pushed Treecko, coercing. “That’s it! Let’s race!”

Jeff and Treecko then sprinted to the Pokemon center 150 yards, in the clearing, ahead. They neared closer to the door, at full speed, Treecko following Jeff by a few feet. The door was about six feet away.

Suddenly, the automatic door to the pokemon center opened, accompanied by the shrill words, “Tor-chic, tor-chic, tor-chic” Jeff knew what was coming and his heart sank.

“I can’t stop with this much speed,” Jeff thought to himself.

Jeff hurdled over the small, orange chick pokemon, just missing his flame shaped plumage. But instead, Jeff collided with Kristie, who just came out of the pokemon center. The two toppled to the ground.

Jeff helped her up frantically. “Sorry, crap, are you ok?” he asked, clumsily.

“Yeah, I’m ok,” Kristie replied.

“You sure?” Jeff again asked, placing the twig in his mouth after losing it in the fall.

“Wow, Jeff…you look awful!” Kristie said, noticing the cuts on his face.

“Well thanks, I try my best.” Jeff joked.

Kristie chuckled politely as she got up. Jeff blushed, mentally beat himself up, which created a self-loathing face. He turned his head away to Treecko, who just walked in.

As he turned away he slapped his hand to his head and started muttering to himself “Real facking smooth, Jeff, you REALLY put Jim Carrey to shame with that crack,” he placed his head against the metal doorframe of the pokemon center in frustration with himself, waiting for the blush to die down.

Treecko walked up to Jeff, followed by Torchic. Treecko was confused by his friend’s odd, new behavior around this girl, but then he shrugged it off and jumped up onto Jeff’s shoulder.

Jeff turned around smiling, “Oh yeah, Kristie, this is my new pal, Treecko.”

“Tree” Treecko said, acknowledging this apparent acquaintance of Jeff’s out of the corner of his eye.

“Wow, he’s so cool!” Kristie said enthusiastically. “So I guess there was a third pokemon after all.”

Jeff nodded and smiled at Kristie.

“Hey, Jeff, how about a pokemon battle so we can show off our pokemon to each other!” Kristie abruptly said.

Jeff paused for a second and then said “Yeah, sure. Are you up for a battle, Treecko?”

Treecko nodded confidently and said, “Treecko Tree Cko Cko Tree!” as if saying “<You should know by now you don’t have to ask me if I want to battle. I live for battles!>”

“Ok, let’s battle over to the left of the pokemon center” Kristie instructed, walking out of the center.

“Got it,” he replied, walking over and placing his backpack by a tree in the said location.

The trainers and pokemon went to their respective sides. Jeff scanned Torchic with his pokedex. The dex proclaimed in a robotic voice “Torchic, the Chick pokemon. If attacked, it strikes back by spitting balls of fire it forms in its stomach. A Torchic dislikes darkness because it can't see its surroundings.”

“It may have the type advantage, but we can beat it, no problem” Jeff said, reassuring Treecko.

“Let’s get this started!” Kristie called out. “Torchic! Charge him!”

“Toooooor” he said, his voice getting shriller as the chick rushed towards Treecko.

“Treecko, use Leer!” Treecko dug his feet into the earth and stared menacingly at the oncoming pokemon. As Torchic came closer he made eye contact with the lizard and he couldn’t take his eyes off of Treecko’s. Torchic, distracted from his running by the gaze of Treecko, tripped over itself, and fell face first into the dirt.

“Tor!” said Torchic in shock as he drew his beak out of the mud.

“Torchic, quickly, get up!” Kristie called out.

“Treecko, jump up over Torchic and use pound!” Jeff commanded.

Treecko began to run towards Torchic and then he leaped into the air.
When Torchic looked up it could see Treecko’s silhouette jumping in the bright moonlight.

“TOR!” Torchic moaned as the large, muscular tail of Treecko slammed it further into the mud.

“<Direct Hit,>” Treecko called to Jeff, smugly raising one fist up in a victory pose while using the other to place his tree twig in his mouth. He folded his arms and awaited Jeff.

Jeff stood, dumbfounded, “did I just understand what I think I understood?” he asked himself, dazedly.

Treecko looked at Jeff for direction, “<Jeff, the battle’s not over yet! Come on! What’s our next move?!>” Treecko shouted from what should have been “Cko Tree Treecko, Tree! Treecko? Cko cko?!”

While Jeff stared at Treecko, Torchic rose behind the idle gecko.

“Torchic, use scratch!” commanded Kristie.

Jeff snapped out of it, while Torchic began to raise his talons. “Treecko, heads up! Dodge, right!” Jeff heeded.

It was too little too late; when Treecko jumped, Torchic’s claws slashed into his right arm, leaving three bloody claw marks.

“Trrrrr” Treecko grunted, clutching his searing cuts while landing on one knee.

“Hang in there, pal,” Jeff yelled, “Treecko run up that tree to your left!”

Treecko jutted his head to his left, looking it up and down. He nodded and jumped onto the trunk. His hand’s adept grip allowed him to scale the tree like an Aipom. Treecko climbed and disappeared into the darkness of the canopy.

Torchic quickly looked up, turning his head every which way, frantically. Torchic, having very poor night vision, and Treecko, having excellent hiding skills, made it so that Torchic could not spot the well camouflaged Treecko in the dark night.

“Torchic, use ember upwards like a flare!” said Kristie to her daunted pokemon.

“ChicChicChicChicChic” Torchic spat many balls of fire from his mouth upwards, illuminating the tree branches in a blinding orange light.

“Ok, Treecko…NOW!” The small, hidden figure jumped down from atop an orange-lit branch and landed behind Torchic, who still spat flames. Treecko maneuvered his body towards the right, powering up his tail before he swinging it with a massive force. The muscular tail hit Torchic smack across the face.

“TORR” Torchic screamed as it went flying a few meters off to the left, still spitting ember fireballs as it landed. Torchic groaned, a gentle flame still burning inside his mouth.

“Torchic! Are you alright?!” Kristie yelled, concerned. She ran over to her exhausted pokemon and cradled it in her arms.

“Torrrr,” he said weakly.

“Wow, that was a great battle, Jeff,” Kristie smiled, standing up.

“You handled yourself much better than I did out there. I was just lucky,” Jeff reassured her, modestly. Treecko strutted triumphantly over to Jeff, with a proud grin plastered on his face.

“<Are you kidding? We wiped the floor with them.>” Treecko grunted, proudly crossing his arms.

Jeff shot a glare at Treecko, pretending not to hear that. “Ok, lets go back to the pokemon center and get our pokemon healed up, then we should call it a night and rest at the center until sunrise.”

“Sounds good,” Kristie agreed.

Jeff walked up to the counter “Excuse me, can you heal Treecko, here? It’s a minor scratch wound,” Jeff informed the attending nurse.

A cheerful looking women with pink hair appeared, “But of course! We’ll take your Treecko and he should be fine in no time! I’m Nurse Joy by the way!” She said happily.

Treecko shook his head in disagreement, saying, “<It’s just a flesh wound.>” Nurse Joy ignored him and picked up Treecko, who sighed as he was taken to the backroom.

“Thank you, and nice to meet you. I’m Jeff,” Jeff said, before walking over to the video phone in the corner of the Pokemon center. He lightly pressed the numbers on the machine shaped like a TV and called up Professor Birch.

“Hello?” The professor asked with yawn.

“Hey professor, it’s Jeff, I’m here in the Oldale pokemon center,” Jeff greeted him with jollity.

“That’s great to hear. If you hurry, you may catch up with Kristie,” Birch advised him.

“Actually she’s here with me right now,” Jeff said happily. “We just battled and I came out the winner.”

“Good work, Jeff. I knew from the start you and Treecko would make a great team.” Birch smiled, insincerely.

“If you say so, Professor,” Jeff teased. “I have to go now, I’ll talk to you once I catch my next pokemon,” Jeff said before turning off the phone.

Jeff turned away from the blank screen and walked over the white tiled floor to Nurse Joy. Beside her stood with Kristie, who held Torchic. Treecko walked over the floor and crawled up and onto Jeff’s shoulder. Both pokemon were looking as good as before the battle.

“Thank you,” Jeff and Kristie replied.

Jeff turned to Kristie, summing up his courage, and stammered, “Hey…how would you like to travel together at least until the next city?”

“Petalburg?” Kristie asked as she held Torchic, “Sure, why not!”

A wave of relief swept over him. “Great, let’s head out now, then!” Jeff said enthusiastically.

“Ok, I’m much too excited after that pokemon battle to rest anyways,” Kristie agreed.

“Let’s go,” Jeff said to Treecko, who was relaxing on his shoulder.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeff, Kristie, Treecko, and Torchic walked through the glass, automatic doors and turned west. They carefully treaded over the field, which still housed burning blades of grass from the battle. Jeff stomped out a light flame which doubled as a small lamp. The group walked into an open field, heading westward towards Petalberg City.

“So Jeff, I see you didn’t decide to keep your Treecko inside a pokeball, either.” Kristie exclaimed, practically skipping through the dark field.

“Yeah, we decided that it would be better if Treecko stayed out of a pokeball”. Jeff responded.

“I did the same thing with Torchic; I couldn’t bare the thought of not having him with me at all times. He’s so warm and cuddly,” Kristie smiled, cuddling Torchic lightly. She started to go on a rant about how great her Torchic was. Treecko rolled his eyes and Jeff feigned interest.

“Torchic is so cute, kind of like a Piplup…except more so.”

“A Piplup? What’s that?” Jeff questioned upon hearing the pokemon’s name.

“Oh, it’s a small, blue penguin pokemon. They’re mainly Sinnoh pokemon.” Kristie informed before ranting about Torchic.

Jeff let out an informed grunt, remembering back to when he was running to Professor Birch’s lab. He remembered seeing a blue, Torchic-like pokemon riding with the man who he was racing. “So THAT was a Piplup?” Jeff mumbled to himself, Kristie’s harangue was now white noise to him.

“Torchic is also really sweet and fun to hold. More over, Torchic has really ticklish spot behind his ears and…” Kristie rambled, being sucked into her own little Torchic-filled world.

“<Wake me when it’s over >” Treecko said, closing his eyes.

“You got it, Gecks,” Jeff muttered to him, teasingly.

Treecko opened one eye, bothered by the poor nickname, “<Treecko’s fine, thanks,>” then he closed it again.

After a few minutes of walking “And that’s why my Torchic is great,” she finally finished. By now they were half way to Petalberg.

“Wow,” Jeff remarked. “That’s a lot of great things about Torchic,” he pointed out with unnoticeable sarcasm.

“<And don’t you forget it, bub,>” murmured Torchic, sassily.

Jeff started to have a stare down with Torchic. Torchic turned its head, alerted
“What, Torchic, do you see something?” Kristie asked, alerted to her pokemon struggling in her arms.

“<Yeah, it’s a Marill,>” Torchic chirped while it hopped to the ground. The gang looked over at a small, somewhat foggy pond. Ripples emerged towards the edge of the pond. From the center of the ripples emerged two large blue ears with red encasing the insides. The ears twitched as the rest of the body ascended from the water. The Marill’s body was like a blue beach ball with a white stomach. Marill had endearing eyes and a cute smile. It had a very peculiar tail, the tail was crooked in places and at the very end was a large blue ball.

“OH, I want it!” Kristie squealed, yearningly.

“Hey Treecko, you won’t want to miss this battle.” Jeff nudged him with his shoulder.

Treecko awoke from sleep and yawned. “<I might if I can have a few more minutes of rest…>” he replied, sleepy and irritated from the awakening.

“Torchic, use scratch on it!” ordered Kristie to her pokemon.

“<You got it,>” answered Torchic. Torchic rushed forward on the damp grass towards the aqua mouse pokemon.

Treecko and Jeff took a seat on the dirt path, watching the battle taking place near the pond to the right of the road. Jeff scanned the Marill with his pokedex.

“Marill, the Aqua Mouse pokemon: When fishing for food at the edge of a fast-running stream, Marill wraps its tail around the trunk of a tree. This Pokémon's tail is flexible and configured to stretch,” buzzed the monotonous device.

The Marill rolled backwards from the scratch and landed upright. It retaliated with powerful blast of water emitted from the Marill’s mouth.
The jet hit Torchic dead center, sending him flying backwards into the dirt, turning to mud while Torchic slid over it. Torchic groaned while getting up, drenched and muddy.

“<I HATE water,>” growled Torchic, angrily shaking off the water.

“Torchic, Ember,” Kristie commanded.

“Tor tor tor tor tor!” Torchic shot small pellets of orange flame from its mouth. The Marill dodged the attack and the ember hit an unsuspecting pokemon, who was just emerging from the pond. The orange pokemon stumbled backwards. The hit pokemon had a hard, orange shell and a pair of sharp pincers. Atop the pokemon’s head were three sharp, orange horns. It had six legs and a yellow underbelly. The bottom of its pincers were also yellow. The pokemon slapped its fish like tail in the ground, while the blue moonlight reflected off of his wet orange exoskeleton.

Jeff scanned the pokemon with his pokedex. “Corphish, the Ruffian Pokemon: Once it grips prey with its large pincers, it will never let go, no matter what. It is a hardy Pokémon that can thrive in any environment,” finished the monotonous robotic gadget.

The Corphish was hurt by the uncalled for attack and began to yell at Torchic.

“Corphish! Cor!” it angrily said, beginning to rush towards Torchic.

He was about to hit Torchic with a crabhammer attack, when Treecko caught his pincer with his hand.

“<One battle at a time,>” Treecko advised it, preparing to fight.

“<Stay out of this, Twig boy,>” the Corphish growled, quickly retracting his claw from Treecko’s hands.

Treecko let out a huff and dug his feet into the mud.

“Ok, Treecko! Use your pound attack!” Jeff called.

The large tail of Treecko caught the Corphish off guard, causing the hit to send it sprawling.

Nearby, Torchic dodged Marill’s water gun attacks and hit it with a tackle. Marill hit the ground hard and tried to use its tail to get itself up, but collapsed. Kristie threw a pokeball and a red beam engulfed the Marill. The pokeball containing Marill rumbled once, and then blipped, indicating that Marill has been caught.

“Yes!” shouted Kristie.

“<Too easy!>” boasted her Torchic.

Meanwhile, Treecko used pound after pound on Corphish’s tough shell. The attacks were not doing much damage against its thick shell. Corphish used a bubblebeam, shooting many translucent bubbles out of its pincer, which exploded on contact with Treecko.

“<Errrgh,>” Treecko grunted, holding his bruising chest.

Corphish came in with a crabhammer. Treecko jumped up and Corphish missed him and drove his claw into the ground. The impact caused an eruption of soil to fire upwards. Treecko used this to his advantage. He came bursting through the wall of airborne dirt and back flipped, using pound in an uppercut like motion. Corphish was knocked onto his back

“Jeff, do it,” motioned Kristie, motioning Jeff to capture it.

“Wow, really? I suck at throwing,” he gulped. Jeff took the pokeball from his pocket and pressed the middle button, making it bigger. Jeff threw the pokeball with might and precision. The Corphish got himself upright, but the pokeball hit him square in the forehead. Corphish was sucked into the pokeball. The pokeball wiggled 3…4…5…6 times, before the button finally flashed a red color and stopped moving.

“All right! A Corphish! Nice fighting, Treecko,” Jeff remarked.

Treecko nodded. Kristie and Jeff approached each other and congratulated one another on their catches.

Jeff pointed his pokeball at the ground. “Come on out, Corphish!”

“Corphish, Cor,” he enthusiastically smiled as he exited the pokeball.

“Welcome to the team, Corphish,” Jeff warmly told him, crouching down and extending an arm. Corphish smiled.

“<Nice to meet you,>” replied Corphish, shaking Jeff’s hand with his claw. “<My hobbies include being rejected by female Corphish, being alone on Saturday nights, and, like now, making jokes when I’m insecure,>” Corphish grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

“I know you’ve already met Treecko,” Jeff remarked. Corphish turned to Treecko and said, “<Hello again>”. Treecko sighed, not liking the idea of having a team member.

“Anything wrong, Treecko?” Jeff asked the less than amused, grass type.

“<I can work perfectly fine on my own without help of a teammate. No offense, Corphish, but I work better solo and unhindered by others.>”

“Tell that to yourself when you’re surrounded by a group of fire type pokemon,” Jeff retorted, sticking up for Corphish.

Treecko crossed his arms and his face turned to an apathetic look but Jeff could tell by his eyes that he was still bothered.

Kristie decided to wait until they reached the Petalberg pokemon centre to bring out Marill, due to its wounds. The two trainers wandered along the dirt path. Kristie looked at her Marill’s pokeball and then Jeff

“Hey, I think we’re almost there,” Jeff stated, as he could see the tips of the buildings over the tree line.

As Jeff looked ahead, he accidentally stepped on Treecko’s tail. Treecko yelped in pain and then swung his tail, taking out Jeff’s legs. Jeff fell backwards, landing hard on the path.

“Ok, you asked for it!” Jeff grinned. He tackled Treecko and the two began to playfully fight eachother on the ground.
“I hope you’re prepared for the dreaded ‘Tickle attack’!” Jeff laughed, pinning Treecko in the mud. Treecko laughed and landing a hit on Jeff’s face, knocking him off of him. Corphish rammed into the two, knocking them farther in the mud. The three rolled over laughing, while they wrestled.

“…guys,” Kristie thought to herself, shaking her head.

Two young boys approached Jeff and Kristie. One had a yellow baseball cap and had brown hair. The other boy looked younger and wore an orange t-shirt and blue shorts. “Do you two want to battle in a double battle?” the one with the cap asked. Jeff stopped wrestling and stood up, brushing himself off. Kristie looked at her Marill’s pokeball and then her Torchic, who took quite a beating in the earlier battle, with worry.

Jeff noticed this and stepped up. “I’ll take both of you two on,” said Jeff with confidence.

“Ok, but don’t get mad when you lose,” said the other boy.

“That shouldn’t be a problem. Go Treecko and Corphish,” Jeff ordered.

Treecko glared at Jeff; taken aback that Jeff thought he needed Corphish’s help to beat two little kids.

“<Let’s give’em hell,>” Corphish battle cried to Treecko, who looked away in displeasure.

“Go Lotad!” said the trainer with the cap. “Go Taillow!” said the younger boy.

A blue bodied pokemon, who had a green, dish-like lily pad on its head appeared next to a dark blue feathered bird. The bird also had a red and white pattern on its chest and neck.

“Taillow, use a quick attack on Corphish!” The boy with the cap commanded.

“Lotad, use astonish on Treecko,” the younger kid told his pokemon.

Taillow took to the air and came zooming towards Corphish, who clicked his pincers, eagerly. Lotad jumped right in front of Treecko, attempting to surprise him. Treecko didn’t give an inch of ground, he didn’t even blink.

“<That was pretty pathetic,>” muttered Treecko.

Jeff yelled, “Corphish, on my signal, harden. And Treecko use Leer and then pound on Lotad!”

Treecko stared down the small pokemon, causing it to back off, frightened He then jumped upwards and slammed his tail down onto the Lotad’s rain dish. This caused a rough head injury, knocking it out.

“<That was too easy,>” Treecko thought, as the boy called back his Lotad.

Taillow came closer and closer to Corphish. As soon as the Taillow was a foot away from Corphish, Jeff yelled out “NOW”. Corphish hardened it shell causing severe recoil damage on Taillow when it hit Corphish.

“Taillow, you ok? Use Peck!” yelled the boy as Taillow got up, shaking its head.

“Corphish, Crabhammer from the side!” Corphish swung his huge pincer, hitting the bird far into the forest.

“Taillow!” yelled the boy, running after his fallen pokemon.

“<This battle couldn't be anymore won,>” exclaimed Corphish happily.

“Great job, Jeff,” congratulated Kristie, “that was great!”

Jeff blushed at her compliment. Corphish looked at him and grinned, seeing sparks fly between the two new trainers. Treecko still didn’t see what Corphish could see.

“<No need to be modest, Jeff, we did great!>” Treecko smirked. That was Treecko’s way of comprehending Jeff’s behavior.

Corphish smiled at Treecko’s naivety and tried to pull his leg. “<Hey pal, did you hear the story of that Cyndaquil named ‘Nye’ and his girlfriend, a Flareon named ‘Eve’?>”

Treecko looked at Corphish with an unamused stare “<Yeah, I also heard that Torchic just wrote ‘gullible’ on the back of your shell…I was in a clan, you know, I’ve seen all the pranks and dumb jokes.>”

“<Can’t blame a ‘phish for trying, can ya?>” Corphish grinned. When Treecko turned his head, Corphish quickly tried to check the back of his shell to see if anything was written on it. To his relief, there wasn’t.

“<So if you were in a clan how’d you end up here?>” asked Corphish, curiously.

Treecko dozed off for a moment and then replied insincerely, “<I’ll talk to you some other time…>”

“<Wow, you’ve managed to guess the last lines said by a girl Corphish on every single one of my dates!>”, Corphish, half joked, straying away from an awkward silence.

They grinned and walked to Jeff’s side.

“Shall we go into Petalburg City now?” asked Jeff, staring at the tall, flashy, unwelcoming city.

The group nodded and walked into the streets of neon signs and office buildings.

 

[Griff4815]

Chapter 6

I'm going to start sending the chapters to the beta readers after this chapter. I wanted to get this one out this weekend so I'll contact the BR in the weekdays.

None of the following events is based on personal, real life experiences, in case any of you were going to ask.

I described all of the newly introduced pokemon and I think I got rid of all the numerals (Excluding the '102' in 'Route 102')

The title is indeed a verse from "Karma Police - Radiohead". It suits the kind of ironic, fate-themed chapter.

And, as always, read, review, and most importantly...enjoy.

And This is What You Get…​

The two travelers and their pokemon walked into the brightly lit city, the night highlighting the neon. They turned to their right. It was about two AM when they walked into the pokemon centre of Petalberg city, which had a blinding, white light emitted from its internal heart. Petalberg City was a huge place in comparison to Littleroot or Oldale town. It was complimented with a few skyscrapers, many high rises, and company buildings; it was the Manhattan of Hoenn. The three pokemon were a little overwhelmed by the massive city.

The first thing Jeff did when he entered was ask Nurse Joy to heal his pokemon. Jeff handed Corphish to Nurse Joy for healing. Treecko denied the offer to he healed; he insisted that he was fine, patting his bruised, red belly.

Jeff noticed a picture on the wall with over twenty different, deep pink-haired girls who looked exactly the same, standing in front of a medical university. They were all Nurse Joys! Jeff was truly surprised.

As Jeff gave Nurse Joy his pokemon he motioned to the picture, “so are all of those your sisters?”

“Yes, as well as cousins and second cousins,” Nurse Joy replied. Jeff nodded, interested at the odd family.

“Nurse Joy…can I talk to you in private for a second?”

“Of course, right this way!” she replied with a motherly smile. They walked, with Corphish, into the back room of the center. Corphish was placed in a large sized, glass recovery tank, for healing his wounds. The tank stood in the middle of the tiled room and it stood above the floor on a plaster pedestal. There were tubes leading from the sides of the tank to the floor around the pedestal. Nurse Joy opened the door at the front side of the tank and put Corphish in it. A yellow liquid began to fill the tank, through the pumps.

“What is that?” Jeff looked with some worry, while Corphish was submerged in the liquid.

“That’s a state of the art Osmosis Facilitation Submerger; it’s a machine for healing water-type specific pokemon. Your Corphish is our first official patient to undergo the treatment; he should come out fully healed and completely revitalized.

“I see… I have kind of a weird question to ask you… ” Jeff shifted slightly in his spot. “How come, all of a sudden, I can understand what my Treecko and Corphish… and even my… friend’s Torchic are saying? Am I going crazy or do I have some sort of special gift? And how come, with my family’s pokemon, I never could understand them?”

“Oh, no need to worry; it’s fairly common with trainers, although it is rather rare with beginner trainers, which you are, correct?”

“Yeah, I am. But why can I?” Jeff asked with high curiosity.

“If you have a genuine bond with your very first pokemon, and you really, truly care for them, a little switch will flip on in the ‘Broca’s Area’ of your brain that will allow you to understand pokespeech. It’s quite bizarre, really. Neurologist have studied this factor and have discovered only a little to the reason of this. Usually it takes awhile for this skill, or bond rather, to develop, especially in beginner trainers who just start and have a shaky relationship with their pokemon, but in your case it seems it has happened really quite quickly! You should consider yourself lucky.”

Lucky.

The concept of luck was foreign to Jeff, especially since he almost always seemed to be down on his. Sometimes he thought that fate had a vendetta against him or that fate was making him suffer as a way of course-correcting other beneficial events; kind of like a way to even the world out, with light and dark.

“Well, I guess Treecko and I have been through a lot together,” he smiled, his confidence was building.

“It really shows, too. I can tell by looking at the two of you that it’s like you’ve been friends since childhood... erm, where is your Treecko, exactly?” The Nurse Joy asked.

Jeff leaned back and peered out the door, leading from the main lobby to the back room. He saw Treecko resting lazily on the front counter, with his hands behind his head. Jeff quickly turned his head around when a sharp “BING” was emitted from the revitalization tank that Corphish was in. The fluid from the tank was now gone. The door of the glass tank opened and Corphish shot out of it with great force. Corphish, in the air, grabbed onto Jeff, causing him to fly backwards to the ground. Jeff hit his head on the base of the wall.

“DAHH,” cried out Jeff from the shock of the blow. Corphish danced, or at least tried to dance, around on Jeff’s stomach.

“Well, you’re sure a lively bugger,” Jeff told him, as he rubbed the back of his aching head. Corphish swung his claws up to the right twice, up to the left twice, forwards in a series of bizarre double uppercut-like movements, and then repeated the movement. Jeff, who was very confused, couldn’t help but smile at Corphish’s attempt to dance.

“What exactly are you doing?” he asked the dancing, hard-shelled pokemon.

“<I love…this song... >” Corphish merrily exclaimed, pausing to do a rather intense, passionate, upwards claw movement.

Jeff listened intently for the song in question. There was nothing except the chirps of a Pidgey coming from the main lobby.

“I didn’t think you were such a fan of the ‘Pidgey-with-a-sprained-wing orchestra’,” Jeff stated, questioning his taste in music.

Corphish stopped dancing and blinked. “<Right, I’m only supposed to dance when I’m listening to music which ISN’T only inside my head.>”

“In fact…maybe not even then,” Jeff poked fun at his dancing skills.

Corphish began to impersonate a soap opera star; he walked forward on Jeff’s chest, slapped a wet claw across Jeff’s face, and stomped out of the room and into the lobby.

“So I guess that medicine causes pokemon to get the equivalent of DRUNK?” Jeff, who rubbed his red and wet cheek, said to the stunned Nurse Joy. “Actually, Corphish, himself probably didn’t help much,” he said rather sheepishly.

He followed Corphish out of the door, walked over to the video phone, carefully pushed each number key with the same degree of force, and phoned up Professor Birch, like he said he would.

“Hey, Jeff?” Kristie called over to him from the door of the pokemon center. Jeff nodded in acknowledgement. “I’m going to go for a walk with Torchic; I’ve always wanted to see ‘the Big Melon’,” She called to him, referring to the illustrious city of Petalberg, which was nicknamed that.

“Ok, Kristie…” he answered before pausing. Jeff yelled, “Be careful,” but was too late to the draw, since by the time he got the words out she had already left the center, with Torchic.

“Damnit,” Jeff muttered. Professor Birch finally picked up the phone; he had obviously been fast asleep.

“Do you realize it is a little past midnight?” The professor stated in a tired daze.

“Sorry, Professor. I assumed you were up late studying nocturnal pokemon, again. It’s me, Jeff. I’m in Petalburg City now,” he greeted.

“Is that so…you’ve caught your first pokemon, then?”

“Yeah, a Corphish! He’s pretty awesome,” Jeff responded. Upon hearing his name, Corphish came running over to the video phone. Freshly healed, he introduced himself, heartily.

“Wow, that’s great Jeff. I actually got off the phone awhile ago with Alan…Alan Jant, you know, one of your friends? He said he was in Petalberg too,” Birch exclaimed.

Alan Jant was an old rival and friend of Jeff’s. The two would always compete against each other in sports, games, and now pokemon. The tension between them was high…for Jeff, at least. He really didn’t care for Alan’s alpha male tendencies. After a game of pictionary went awry the two haven’t seen each other in some time.

“Really…” Jeff said to himself, “I’ll have to find him to challenge him to a battle.”

“Well I’m right here,” A strong, deep voice said from behind him. Jeff turned around and it was Alan, grinning. Alan brushed a hand through his short blond hair. He was six foot two, standing a little higher than Jeff on the leveled, tile floor. He was of middle weight and good muscular build. He smiled a large, competitive smile, and had a light sun tan.

“I’ve got to go professor, bye” Jeff quickly said as he hung up. Jeff turned around and walked up to Alan, followed by Treecko and Corphish.

“Alan…” Jeff nodded, somewhat coldly.

“Jev…” Alan nodded in return, addressing Jeff by his group nickname. “You’re looking good…NAHT!” he mocked, somewhat good-naturedly.

Jeff faked a grin and grunted out his nose.

“So how about it? Want to battle?” Jeff asked.

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind beating you again, *cough* pictionary *cough*,” Alan scoffed.

“Then let’s take this out back, behind the center, then,” Jeff told him with a determined tone. “…And that picture looked NOTHING like a Wingull,” he carped as he went through the pokemon center door, thinking back to the pictionary incident. When Jeff walked behind Alan, he clenched his fists and hit them together in an angry, taunting way.

“This is the chance I need. My luck is up and my pokemon are in great shape. I can hit two Taillows with one stone; I can beat Alan, and as soon as I do so, I’ll have enough confidence to tell Kristie how I feel about her! Maybe if she sees how good of a battler I am she’ll ask me out before I get a chance to,” Jeff pondered to himself with lifting optimism, smiling as he walked.

The two faced off in a small plane of grass.

“Ok,” Alan began. “Let’s get a two on two battle started!”

“Typical…Alan calling the shots,” Jeff whispered to himself. “Why not three on three?” he asked in defiance, just to spite Alan.

“Do you even have three pokemon?”

I shot a glare into his deep, blue eyes. “Do you?”

“Mebbe,” he grinned, enlarging a red and white pokeball in his hand. “Choose your two pokemon!”

“Rip ‘em apart, Corphish!” Jeff ordered with fervor.

“<Could I be anymore ready for battle?>” Corphish yelled, merrily. Jeff sighed as he awaited Alan’s choice.

“Go get him, Dustox,” Alan called. A purple bodied moth pokemon appeared on the field. “DUSS” it hissed. It flapped its green wings, which had red circular patterns on each wing, to stay airborne. It has yellow antennae and spotted, malicious-looking yellow eyes.

“Use confusion,” Alan ordered. Dustox’s eyes began to glow a purple color; it flapped its wings and a wall-like, rippling, purple wave engulfed Corphish. Corphish looked down and saw his body glow a purple aura, as well. Corphish, against his will, was lifted off of the ground by Dustox’s psychic powers.

“<H-hey, Dus…t-t-tox…look a…f-flame! Bet…ter go fly innn…to it!>” Corphish struggled to mock, while his body was being overwhelmed with an invisible force.

“Corphish, regain control and use bubblebeam!” Corphish struggled and tried to point its pincer towards Dustox. After much strength, Corphish managed to point his pincer towards Dustox’s general direction; the scattershot should take care of the rest.

“<Take THIS!>” Corphish cried as he fired a burst of bubble beam. The bubbles exploded on the flying bug, causing Dustox to fall backwards and lose its concentration. This allowed Corphish to fall to the ground, unrestrained by the psychic pull.

“Now fire bubblebeam while running towards it, Corphish,” instructed Jeff.

Corphish began to scuttle quickly; he opened his claws again and released translucent, blue orbs from them, causing Dustox to be distracted with dodging the bubbles. The Dustox swerved back and forth, not paying attention to the closing in Ruffian pokemon. When Corphish was in the range of using a close quarters attack, Jeff yelled, “Ok! Crabhammer!”

Corphish jumped up and swung his pincer, knocking the moth pokemon out of the sky, making it fall heavily to the ground. Its fragile body remained still and unable to continue.

“Return Dustox,” Alan huffed grumpily, “good try.”

By now a decent sized amount of spectators had gathered to the sidelines to watch.

Alan enlarged another pokeball. “Now go, Mudkip!”

A quadruped, blue pokemon appeared on the grass. The Mudkip had a large, white tailfin. Its large round head had another big, blue fin on its forehead as well as large, orange whiskers on its cheeks. Its cute stature didn’t mean that it was a pushover.

“Ok, Corphish,” Jeff waited and thought for a moment, “Don’t give it time to breathe; use a vicegrip on Mudkip’s tail!”

“<You got it,>” answered Corphish. Corphish rushed forward and landed a direct clamp on Mudkip’s tail.

“Kip!” Mudkip yelled in pain, as its tail and hind legs was held off of the ground by Corphish. The fin was in a crushing hold.

“Mudkip! Use mud slap!” Mudkip used its forelegs, which were still in the ground, to kick up mud, which got in Corphish’s eyes. Although blinded, Corphish still kept up the grip.

Corphish wandered around aimlessly, holding Mudkip with one claw and trying to wipe the mud from his eyes with the other.

“No!” Jeff exclaimed in frustration, “return Corphish, good job!” Corphish dropped Mudkip to the ground and stumbled over to Jeff’s voice.

“Ok, Treecko, You know what to do! Don’t let up!”

“<Gotcha,>” the eager Treecko said, placing the twig in his mouth.

“Mudkip, mud slap again!” Mudkip began to spit brown globs of digested mud from its mouth.

“Treecko, use pound!” Treecko used its tail to whack the oncoming globs of mud away, his instincts taking control before Jeff could even finish the sentence.

“Now! Quick Attack, left!” Treecko ran up along Mudkip’s right side and lunged towards him causing a great hit, which knocked Mudkip back against a tree.

Just then, Kristie came back from her walk and entered the surrounding crowd.
“What’s going on here?” she asked the man next to her.

“A pokemon battle, it’s really intense; they’re both down to their final pokemon.” He replied, earnestly watching the fight.

“…is that… Jeff?!” She asked, shocked. “Who’s he battling?” She asked herself, trying to identify the character who commanded his Mudkip while shaded over by the night shade.

Mudkip used tackle, hitting Treecko in the chest, hard. Treecko was hit to the ground. He clutched his chest but quickly shook it off, trying not to show weakness.

“Get your bearings, pal!” Jeff encouraged his pained friend. Treecko got up on one knee, panting.

Mudkip began to spit globs of mud from its mouth, at Treecko. Treecko jumped and ducked from the projectiles, gracefully, but he was caught off guard; a ball of mud hit Treecko square in his mouth. Treecko fell backwards to the ground and grunted out his nose, unable to speak due to the mud filling his mouth. He began to gag and spatter mud from his mouth; he was choking.

“Treecko, no! Are you ok?” Jeff called out, troubled.

Treecko nodded and got to one knee, still spitting out more mud. Treecko struggled to breathe, his face was turning red. Suddenly, the corners of Treecko’s mouth started to glow from behind the glob of mud. “What is that?” Jeff consulted his pokedex. “Bullet Seed, a special move that can be learned by Treecko,” it buzzed, spewing information.

Treecko moved the twig he kept in his mouth and moved it to the side, making room. “Cko, cko, cko, cko, cko, cko,” Treecko spat while he shot out glowing white seeds and the remaining mud from his mouth. The attack hit Mudkip, seriously hurting it, but Treecko was also blown back 2 feet by the recoil of the surprising, new attack.

“Mudkip let’s finish this! Tackle!” Alan commanded.

“Treecko, quick get up!” Treecko rolled over and climbed up on his knee while Mudkip approached quickly from behind him.

“Treecko, look out!” Jeff called out. As the Mudkip jumped to hit Treecko in the back, Treecko nimbly sidestepped to the right and stuck out his left arm. Treecko clothes lined Mudkip right in the face, causing it to fall, with a deep thud, on its back. It spat out a blood stained tooth, in defeat.

“Good effort, Mudkip,” Alan said as he recalled Mudkip.

“Awesome job, Treecko!” he complimented, when Treecko walked to his side.

“<Ugh, it tastes like Mudkips,>” Treecko complained, spitting out mud from his mouth.

“Well, I guess you won that battle, Jeff.” Alan said, walking up to Jeff. Jeff walked towards Alan, meeting him halfway.

“I guess I di… ” Jeff was distracted as Kristie came running towards him as if ready to hug him. His heart began to race and a wave of joy swept through his veins. Jeff was confused by the action but he wasn’t complaining; he outstretched his arms, overjoyed to return the gesture. But instead of coming up to him, Kristie ran right by him and started to run to Alan.

They embraced.

“Alan! I knew I’d meet up with you eventually. I’ve missed you!” Kristie said affectionately.

“I’ve missed you too, Kristie! Let’s travel together from now on! It was a mistake leaving a day before you did!”

Jeff could feel his heart shatter in tiny pieces and then felt a searing pain in his chest and head. His jaw was left hanging wide open and felt as if everybody except for him, Kristie and Alan completely disappeared. The lonely darkness of the night scratched mockingly at his skin.

Corphish walked up to Jeff and tugged on his leg, trying to comfort him.

“<Jeff, you did a really good job with that battle! We owe you!>” Treecko congratulated.

Jeff remained staring at the now kissing pair.

“<What’s wrong, pal? … Jeff?>” Treecko looked at Jeff’s dumbstruck face.

Corphish gave Treecko a look that said, “<Leave the guy alone.>”

Treecko looked at the couple and examined the look on his friend’s face. He finally figured out what was going on.

“Ohhhhh,” Treecko quietly muttered in revelation. “Oh…” Treecko sadly murmured, looking at Jeff.

Corphish turned to Treecko, gestured at Jeff and then to the kissing couple, and said “<Did YOU know that this was going on? Because I sure didn’t!>” Corphish said sarcastically.

Treecko ignored him and looked up at his trainer, concerned. Jeff slowly walked towards the couple who were now one, his fist clenched. Jeff cringed while he walked, the two still were kissing. He raised his right arm and fist and drew it back.

“<Let him have it, Jeff,>” Treecko called to him. Jeff didn’t hear or chose not to.

He was going to wait until Kristie retracted from the painful embrace to punch Alan. The kiss seemed like infinity to him. Finally, Kristie pulled back from Alan for a moment, to gaze into his blue eyes. This opened a clear pathway for his fist. He tried to move his arm but it was frozen in place. He looked at his reared back, right arm; it was trembling. Jeff tried with all of his might to punch Alan but he found himself unable to carry on with the attack.

“<Wow, a real life human battle! Maybe we can yell commands to him like he does to us!>” Corphish said with some happy anticipation to Treecko.

“<Corppy, what’s wrong with Jeff? Why hasn’t he punched Alan by now?>” Treecko asked his new teammate, who was still wiping mud off of his face.

“<Beats me, do you think he doesn’t want to hurt Alan? Or that he feels bad about doing it? Maybe he’s waiting for us to tell him one of his attacks,>” he replied.

“<I don’t think so. He REALLY wants to punch Alan,>”

Jeff tried to force his fist upon Alan, again, but his arm stayed immobile. Alan and Kristie turned to look at Jeff.

“Jeff…what are you doing?” asked Alan in confusion, looking at the frozen arm. Jeff was overwhelmed with rage as Alan spoke, but he still couldn’t punch him. Jeff looked at Kristie; what was left of his heart now replaced the Adam’s apple in his throat. He quickly turned away and stormed through the crowd, pushing people as he went. He tramped into the middle of the road, nearly being hit by a taxi, and towards the archway, which led back into route 102.

Treecko turned to Corphish “<You stay here with them!>” gesturing to Kristie, Alan, and Torchic.

“<Shouldn’t someone who actually knows what’s going on talk to Jeff, instead?>” insisted Corphish.

“<Look, I can talk with him. The last thing that he needs is a sarcastic one-liner or a reference to a TV show!>” Treecko retorted.

“<Fine,>” he muttered while Treecko ran into the forest. “<Oh, settle down, Paulo and Rachel…>” Corphish grumbled to the couple.

Torchic blinked and stared at Corphish, confused.

“<What? Does nobody watch TV?>” Corphish asked in frustration.

Treecko took off after Jeff. Jeff ran into the forest, leaned up against a secluded tree, and looked off into the stars; thinking with sadness and anger. Treecko, being as fast as he was, managed to catch up with him. Treecko climbed up on Jeff’s shoulder and patted him on the back, comfortingly. Jeff got up, sweating and veins pulsating in his head from anger. His teeth were clenched so hard that he almost bit the twig in two. Jeff turned around and punched the tree behind him. He groaned from pain as he stared at his bleeding knuckle.

“<Are you ok?>” asked Treecko, caring for his hurt friend.

“What the hell soes it look like?” Jeff retorted, angrily clenching his fists. "A broken heart isn't exactly the same as a scraped knee!"

“<I’m sure this must be hell, but there will be other girls. Hell, I haven’t found someone who I loved as much as you liked her, you should consider yourself lucky.>”

“Lucky? LUCKY?!"

The words pierced him like a lance.

"You say that because you’re the only one of your species in this general area! You don’t have to compete for women! You probably take and leave as you please...like Alan, would!” Jeff snapped back. The taken aback Treecko, for once, looked worried as the two sat against the tall oak tree. A long awkward quiet ensued from the outburst.

“<Well…actua…>” Treecko began, breaking the silence.

“No, look…I’m sorry,” Jeff apologized, interrupting him. He dug his forehead in his hands, trying to keep himself together. A few minutes of Jeff holding back tears passed, while Treecko sat quietly beside him.

Jeff, calming down, told Treecko, “Come on; let’s go back to the pokemon centre for some sleep. I have a lot of thinking to do.” Treecko looked into Jeff’s green, glazed over and reddened eyes, and nodded solemnly. Jeff stood up and began to slowly pace back towards the city that reunited two lovers; his most hated friend and his favorite acquaintance. He would never forgive the vile city for arranging that fateful meeting.

They walked under a large archway that said “Welcome to Petalberg, the city where dreams come true!” They entered the neon-lit street and turned right, into the pokemon center. Jeff and Treecko found Corphish resting on a couch inside the pokemon centre. Jeff and Treecko collapsed on the couch with Corphish. On the couch across from them slept Kristie, Alan, and Torchic. He attained the familar wave of envy and pain, to which he quickly looked away. Treecko and Corphish slept soundly. He looked at the two and smiled at their apparent innocence. Before Jeff succumbed to sleep he made a huge decision.

--------------------------------------------------

The next day, Jeff woke up and walked over to Kristie, who sat on a couch, next to Alan, in the pokemon center. She stood up and met with him. He was unable to look her in the eyes when talking to her. He explained to her, “Kristie, I’ve decided to continue the rest of my journey alone.”

Kristie replied, confused, “Jeff, are you sure? You could always come along with me and Ala...”

Jeff cut her off with a quick, but stubborn, “I’m positive!” He couldn’t bear to hear her utter that name. “I’m sorry, I have to go…goodbye,” he quickly spat out as he and his pokemon turned to exit the pokemon center.

“Later, Jeff,” Alan called to him. Jeff shot him a piercing, dagger-like glare, but he knew that if he looked at him too long he might lose it. He had to bite his lip to keep himself from going off on a yelling and cursing spree on Alan. He struggled even to stop himself from saying something vile and offensive to him. Jeff shakily reached for the door.

Kristie said words that made him stop dead in his tracks when he opened the glass door.

“I’m going to miss you, Jeff.”

Jeff shut his eyes, nodded, and quickly left the house of healing, repentantly leaving his deepest crush behind him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Griff4815]

On a Wing and a Prayer​

The trio left the pokemon center, leaving behind Kristie, Alan, and Torchic. Corphish nested on Jeff’s backpack, while Treecko walked along side them. While they were walking on the long, populous street, Jeff felt as if every person that they passed knew about what happened and was mocking him. He avoided all glances and eyes. They walked by skyscraper after skyscraper, high rise apartment after high rise apartment. To their left, the roads sloped down, creating a hill that led to the commercial docks of Petalburg. The city was scattered with large office buildings and businesses, reminiscent to a Saffron City by the sea. They continued to solemnly walk along the seemingly endless street. They passed a gym, to their right, whose sign said “Under Construction!” There were large yellow cranes lifting big planks of wood into the half made gym.

Jeff turned and walked towards the active construction site. He approached a Machoke wearing a yellow hard hat. The worker pokemon, who carried a large, metal girder over his shoulder, had a purple-gray skin tone and housed massive muscles. He looked very similar to a human except he had three crests on his head.

“Excuse me,” Jeff piped up to get the superpower pokemon’s attention. “What’s going on here?” he asked, pointing to the gym.

“<If you’re a trainer you’re out of luck, kid. This gym is undergoing renovations. The next closest gym is the one in Rustboro; through Petalburg Forest. If you like swimming then you could try the gym in Dewford, which is right across the sea and down the road. I recommend swimming; it will give you more exercise!>” the Machoke told him.

“Thanks, I’ll try Rustboro and then Dewford. Hang in there… I know I need to,” Jeff answered with sadness.

Machoke sweat dropped and continued moving the girder.

Past the gym they could see the gates of the town, leading towards the beach and Petalburg Forest. The trio made it past the gates and out of the city; they were now faced by a large beach and calm blue shores in front of them. They looked on and saw people relaxing; there were people sunbathing, humans swam along side water pokemon, a game of beach volley ball was going on with humans and pokemon. Jeff looked at them enviously.

“They’re all so happy and without worry… ” Jeff thought before turning his head.

To their right was a dirt path leading to a dense forest. They followed the pathways until they reached the massive woodland.

“This must be Petalburg Forest,” Jeff said glumly, peering into the darkness. “Let’s go.”

The trio entered the forest. Murky roots and vines littered the base of the trees. The thick, tree canopies made it impossible for light to enter. It was as if the sun dared not enter the woods. Mist fogged them from any long range sight. The situation suited Jeff’s mood.

They walked through the wooded area. Around them they could hear the trills of birds and the hisses of bug pokemon. Above flew a beautiful, elegant airborne bug. The patterns on its wings were dazzling. Treecko remained calm, but kept up his guard. Who knows what pokemon were hostile and what pokemon weren’t? Corphish rode on Jeff’s back, merrily enjoying the view; it was very rare that he got to be this high up.

“<Giddy up, Jeff!>” Corphish cried, poking Jeff’s head with his claw.

“Y’know, Corphish…its not exactly EASY carrying you and this hiking pack, among other things. How much do you weigh?!” Jeff groaned.

“<I’ll have you know that I’m a very nice size for a Corphish of my stature!>” Corphish shot in reply.

Jeff raised an arm in an ‘L’ shape, indicating them to stop.

“Ok, its lunch time,” he said in a disheartened, monotone voice.

Corphish jumped off of his backpack and landed on the ground. Jeff zipped open the backpack and took out three sandwiches. Corphish shoveled the entire sandwich in his mouth and his face lit up.

“<Yes! I get caught by a trainer who gives us REAL food as opposed to that lame, store bought riceballs!>”

Treecko wandered off from them while he ate. He didn’t linger far, but just enough so that he was away from the crowd. He looked up and noticed a red and white pattern moving from tree to tree in the air. Whatever it was seemed curious about the food. Meanwhile, Corphish was hopping around as if in an action movie. He opened his claws and shot bubblebeams at the treetops. He fired with both his claws and shot in all directions.
“<Take this! And this!>” Corphish yelled as he aimed at the high tree branches above.
The bubbles exploded on contact with the limbs of the tree. He did a barrel roll in the grass and fired at the top of the tree that Treecko was looking at.

“<Could I be anymore awesome?>” he said cockily. Just then, a red and white pattern emerged from the darkness and the floating chips of bark, which were ripped from the trees during the bubble attacks. Surrounding the outlined figure was a series of dark, hazy blue feathers. It appeared injured from the attack. It fell from its perch but righted itself in the air. It circled the trio in a hunter-like fashion. Jeff recognized the pokemon as a Taillow, like the one that he battled against before Petalburg…when times were simpler. Jeff was impressed by the forked tail of the pokemon; it was much longer than the one he had seen before. The angered Taillow squawked for the aid of his comrades. Three Taillows appeared from the misty forest and descended upon the three intruders.

“<Corphish, you idiot!>” scolded Treecko. Treecko threw the remainder of his sandwich with striking dexterity at the lead Taillow and hit him in his face. The Taillow managed to stay afloat, but was obviously enraged. Treecko assumed a battle stance and awaited the oncoming enemies.

“<Hey! I didn’t know that this birdbrain would sit around WAITING for me to attack him! Nice throw by the way, Babe Ruth, that Taillow is still picking ham out of his beak!>”

“Corphish, return!” Jeff frantically called, shooting the pokeball.

“<What are you doing!? We need Corphish’s help to fight…as big of an idiot as he is! Although, I think I can take all four of them, solo!>” insisted Treecko confidently.

“No! We’re running!” Jeff ordered adamantly. He scooped up Treecko and began running before Treecko could make a move. They took off into the forest, pursued by the small flock of angry Taillow.

“<Jeff what are you doing? We’ve never run from a fight and there are only four of them! You could catch one!>” Treecko protested, as they continued to be chased by Taillows.

Jeff ignored him and held him tightly, running with all of his strength.

“<What the hell are you doing? Let me down, now!>”

“No way!”

“<I swear to Arceus, Jeff, if you don’t stop running…>” Treecko threatened, wedging out of Jeff’s grip.

“What are going to do? Shout at me?”

Treecko had had enough; he pounded Jeff across the face with his tail, causing them both to fall into the mud.

“What the hell was that?!” shot Jeff, with a large, red, tail imprint across his mug.

“<THAT’S what I’m going to do! Now you better get up and help me battle, or else I’ll do it solo!>”

“No, I’m not letting myself force you or Corphish battle for my personal gain again! I don’t want to put you guys in danger,” Jeff angrily yelled.

“<Don’t give me that crap! We chose to come with you and battle along side you! If we don’t fight we’re going to be bird food, so STOP feeling sorry for yourself and DO something! We care about you enough that we’ll battle to save you, so give us a chance, or you might as well paint targets on our heads,>” Treecko yelled, angrily.

Jeff sat there in shock for a moment. He looked up at the descending Taillow.

“Treecko, it’s not that simple!” he yelled in retort.

Treecko huffed, annoyed and insulted by the ‘retreat order’.

“<I’ll do this myself…>” he growled, walking past the dumbstruck Jeff.

Treecko stood in front of the diving Taillow, making himself the target for attack. Unflinchingly, he spat many light green, high powered seeds at the flock, it hit the lead Taillow that Corphish hit, and scattered the rest of the Taillow. The injured Taillow let out a cry and began to fly in a downward spiral. He landed in front of them, skidding in the dirt until he reached a halt.

“<There, my work’s done, so do your job!>”

Jeff raised a pokeball-wielding hand and reared it back. He noticed his arm began to shake again. Treecko looked up and noticed this as well.

“<Jeff, throw the ball!>”

“I… can’t. I can’t take another pokemon away from its home!”

“<Jeff, if you don’t catch that Taillow right now… he’s going to wake up, call for help, and then we’ll be up to out necks in Taillows! So throw that damned ball!>”

Jeff still stalled. He looked up at his hand, and then down at the Taillow who tried to support itself on one wing. He took pity on the sad sight and slightly lowered the ball. Taillow opened his mouth in the preparation of a shrill peep. Treecko noticed this, sighed, and took matters into his own hands. He whacked the ball from Jeff’s hands and then batted the ball again, before it could hit the ground. The ball rolled quickly and hit the Taillow before he could let out a chirp. Taillow was engulfed in a red light and sucked into the ball. The ball wriggled and rolled about the forest floor, refusing to lock. It was obvious that the Taillow really wanted out. After much struggle, Taillow gave in and the ball locked shut.

Treecko picked up the ball and threw it to Jeff. “<Now was that so hard?>” Treecko spat in a dislike of the human’s attitude.

Jeff pined and sat on the earth, cross-legged. He looked somberly at Taillow’s pokeball before releasing it. The blue feathered bird appeared on the grass in front of them.

“Hello, Taillow, sorry about that,” Jeff greeted the irritated bird pokemon.

“<I have a name you know, stupid human!>” Taillow shot back, not expecting Jeff to understand him.

“You have a name?” Jeff asked the irked bird, confused by the response.

The Taillow’s eyes widened and he became flushed. “<You…understood me, human?>” he asked awkwardly.

“Yeah, I did.”

“<Every human I’ve seen was unable to understand their pokemon, though,>” he explained.

“I guess I’m luc… different,” Jeff corrected himself in reply.

“<Well you shouldn’t expect that every single pokemon’s name is their species name. It’s just…how you humans would say… ‘Straight up ig’nant’,>” replied the Taillow, making quotation signs with his wings. “<How would you like it if I called you ‘human’ everytime I address you? It’s kind of insulting!>”

“I’m sorry. What is your name?” Jeff answered warmly.

“<My friends called me Daedalus…but I guess I’m stuck with you now.>”

Jeff crouched to his level and extended a hand, “I’m Jeff, nice to meet you, Daedalus.”

Daedalus rolled his eyes and reluctantly shook the hand with his wing in retort. Jeff shot a glare at Treecko. “Well, Daedalus, I plan to make this journey as painless as possible for you.”

“<Bloody fantastic!>” thought the defeated Taillow. “<I’ve been captured by a human; I really let my boys down. Now who will lead them and guide them when things get rough? I can’t believe this!>” He held his face with his wing in pure frustration. “<The only bright side is that I can tell the human exactly how I feel and he won’t pretend to listen and then make me do a loop-dee-loop.>”

After awhile of being perched on Jeff’s shoulder as they walked, Daedalus asked, “<Aren’t you going to put me back in my pokeball or something?>”

“Not unless you want to…>” Jeff replied.

“<You put the orange bugger, who hit me, back in his pokeball,>”

“Yeah, I didn’t really think you two would ‘hit it off’ so well…” Jeff attempted the joke; but the delivery was poor due to his saddened voice. “I hate to ask but can you show us the way out?”

Daedalus reluctantly nodded and pointed his wing from his collarbone perch. Jeff and Treecko followed the unhappy guide’s directions.

Daedalus began to think, “<isn’t this poetic? I’m being forced to show the human the way out of my home so that he can take me with him! This human called ‘Jeff’ seems rather depressed, too.>”

They walked for ten minutes before the light of day could be seen in the distance. Something moving in the dark popped out in front of them. Jeff and Taillow jumped back at the action of the figure. They carefully inspected the human. A boy about Jeff’s age and height stood before them. Covering his blond, curly hair was a large, sun hat. Beneath his hat was a boyish face that had a large grin spread across it. He had a green bandana tied around his neck. There was a single pokeball attached to his belt, which divided a white t-shirt and green soccer shorts. He blocked their path with a large, staff-like stick.

“Can I help you?” Jeff asked the stranger in irritation.

“No… but I can help you… battle me,” the guy said with an all-knowing voice, guised with a crooked smile.

“I’d rather not; I just want to get by,” replied Jeff, trying to move by the stick. The teen raised the stick, stopping him.

“You will get by me once you fight me in a pokemon battle,” he explained, the smile still glued in the same spot.

“Look! I’m not in the mood to battle, so just let me by!”

“That’s exactly the problem,” the mysterious guy grinned. He took the pokeball from his belt and threw it on the ground in front of him. What appeared in the darkness was an intense flare of light. Jeff and Daedalus squinted since their eyes weren’t used to the luminosity, but Treecko gazed straight into the beam, unbothered by it. The light dissipated and a ball, the size of a beach ball, appeared on the ground; it span around in circles. The ball was a tan color and it had brick-like scales on its stiff back. The sphere stopped rolling and the pokemon came from out of its folded position. The pokemon had a white underbelly, a strong tail and legs, which had sharp claws for digging, and a cute shrew-like face with beady black eyes.

“If you can beat Deyja, my Sandshrew, with any of your three pokemon, then you can go on your way.”

“I’m thrilled that you want to battle me, but I’m sorry; I’m not fighting you!”

“I’m afraid that’s not up to you.” With a smile, he pointed his finger, “Deyja, use scratch on Daedalus!”

Jeff’s eyes widened at the command. “How does he know his name?” thought Jeff to himself.

"<Jeff?!>" chirped a worried Daedalus, who was perched on Jeff's shoulder. He quickly darted his head at him.

The Sandshrew lunged at Jeff, who leaned back in an attempt to dodge. Deyja jumped on Jeff’s chest, which acted as a platform as he leaned back. He scrambled up the green shirt and jumped, head butting Daedalus from the perch. Daedalus fell to the ground, followed by Deyja, who jumped on his wings, pinning him down. Deyja began to scratch at Daedalus; dark blue feathers, with tints of crimson, shot up after each swipe.

Jeff looked on, dumbstruck and pathetic, at the mouse pokemon who was tearing his new teammate apart. Daedalus lay there, twitching and wincing, helplessly. Jeff could see his contempt, it was like he was thinking, “<Oh great, I’m just another pawn in this guy’s game of chess.>”

“<Jeff, are you going to just watch this?!>”

Jeff ignored Treecko and looked on. He whimpered, “Dae…Daedalus…” The Taillow’s wide eyes began to close as he slipped away. Jeff ran over to Daedalus, nudged the Sandshrew off of him, and picked him up. He clutched the bird tightly to his chest; Daedalus’ blood soaked his green shirt. Daedalus opened one eye and looked at Jeff.

"<What...>" he began weakly, and then continued, "<kind of trainer are you?>" Jeff only gulped in response

“So, will you fight me with your Corphish or should I sic Deyja on your Treecko before you finally decide to battle?”

Jeff's stomach churned in self loathing, while he looked at the badly wounded Daedalus. How come he kept letting his pokemon down? “I guess I have no choice. Why are you doing this and how do you know I have a Corphish?” Jeff grilled, cradling the wounded Taillow.

The guy remained silent. He just tipped his hat and continued to grin.

Jeff gently placed Daedalus and his backpack on the ground next to him

“Treecko, give Daedalus a potion! Come on out, Corphish; I guess we have to battle.”

Corphish emerged from the red beam and stood, facing the Sandshrew.

“<Somebody call PBS because Hammie the Hamster escaped and now he’s a hardass!>” Corphish taunted his opponent.

“Corphish… uhh… use… erm… ” Jeff acted as if this was his first battle and he had never seen a Corphish in his life; too much was racing in his mind.

“<Jeff, you must be a Russian dictator…because you are STALIN’.>”

Right as Corphish finished the joke he found himself being blindsided by Deyja. Corphish was knocked sideways and stopped at the base of a tree. He groaned and got to his many feet using his claw. Corphish raised his pincers in front of him.

“You’ve got to take control, man! Your pokemon need you just as much as you need your pokemon!” advised the odd stranger. “Now I’ll give you one moment before Deyja uses swift!”

The Sandshrew reared back his head.

“Corphish use… use… ” Jeff stammered. He had no confidence in what move he should make. What if he said the wrong move and Corphish was left vulnerable? What if he made a decision that killed Corphish?!

Deyja jerked his head forward, spitting out many shiny, star-like blades. The stars cut into Corphish’s sides before disintegrating into sparkling dust. The volley worsened and Corphish struggled to stand.

“Corppy, no!” Jeff called, returning Corphish to the security of his pokeball.

“So now your Treecko…I hope you’ve learned something from your Corphish’s defeat,” the sagely guy scolded.

Treecko stepped forward, towards the Sandshrew. He moved the twig from one side of his mouth to the other, hoping that Jeff would come to his senses.

“Deyja, use dig!” The mole pokemon dug fiercely in the earth with his sharp talons. In a matter of seconds he was completely underground. Treecko looked around him; he was on his sharpest guard.

“Now, use sand tomb!”

Treecko could feel the earth become soft beneath his feet. He tried to jump but a pair of claws grabbed his left foot and dragged it down, under the mud. With one foot completely submerged, Treecko could not free his foot. He angrily looked around him in anticipation for the next attack.

“<Jeff, I could really use your help here… or are you a coward?>” Treecko growled.

Jeff stared on as his friend was helpless. “I can’t let him get hurt! But, what can I do? I’m just a failure. This creep is playing for keeps and if I lose my best friend then what do I have? Think, Jeff, think! How can you help?”

Jeff’s train of thought was distracted when soil exploded from behind Treecko. In the wave of earth was Sandshrew about to attack with razor sharp claws. Jeff knew that he had to help. He subconsciously pushed his love and confidence issues to the side of his mind and before he realized it, he felt words leave his throat and his tongue sound out words!

“TREECKO, BEHIND YOU!!! USE BULLET SEED!!” Jeff yelled in a furious fervor, spitting wildly as he roared.

Treecko jutted his head behind and saw the beige figure lunging at him. He spat out an intense spray of light green bullets. They hit Deyja, throwing him backwards.

“Keep at it! Don’t let up!”

Treecko continued firing, without stopping even to gasp for air. The light green seeds created dirt clouds around the Sandshrew, The smoke created a mask over the battlefield. When the dust cleared, Deyja was crawling back to the outsider, badly injured.

“Congratulations, Jeff; you pulled yourself together and managed to defeat Deyja. My name is Chad, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Chad,” beamed Jeff. He walked over to Treecko, kneeled down and hugged him.

“<I’m happy you’re back to your fighting self, too, but what have I told you about hugging in public…or private for that matter?!>” Treecko grumbled uncomfortably.

“Sorry, I’ll have to watch that,” he smiled in reply.

“<And while you’re at it…want to get my leg out of the ground?>”

Jeff nodded and began digging at the dirt around Treecko’s leg. After a large pull Jeff got Treecko out. Treecko dusted his leg off and folded his arms. They turned around to talk to Chad, but he had completely disappeared from sight.

“What a weird guy…”

Daedalus hopped over to the two; he had completely recovered with the potion. He hopped onto Jeff’s shoulder and Jeff grabbed the bag before they headed towards the exit. When they left the woods the light burned their eyes.

“I think we should stop a few minutes so that we can adjust to the light. I think I’ll heal Corphish while I’m at it.”

“<Doesn’t he have a name?>” Daedalus chirped.

“He wouldn’t tell me. Treecko wouldn’t tell me his either,” answered Jeff suspiciously, as he released Corphish. Jeff applied the potion to Corphish’s cuts. “Oh yeah, Corppy, this is Daedalus; he was the Taillow you hit while you were being ‘Bruce Wayne’.”

Daedalus nodded in acknowledgement.

“Careful, Daedalus, he jokes…”

“Cor, corphish cor, corphish, phish?” he said to Daedalus. This translated to, “<Could you be anymore of a bird!?>”

Treecko sighed, “<That catch phrase will never get old,>” he muttered sarcastically.

“<What’d you say?>” Corphish became irked at Treecko.

“<I said your jokes are old and repetitive,>” Treecko smirked, confidently.

“<What the hell is your problem?>” Corphish spat, taking offense to the insult of his pride and joy.

“<My problem is that your damn antics almost caused Daedalus and his buddies to kill us!>” Treecko quickly retorted, scowling.

“<Aw, what’s wrong? Did you hear a tree fall in the forest?>” mocked Corphish.

“Hey you two!” Jeff tried to interrupt but they ignored him.

“<Didn’t you say you were too pathetic during mating season to get a female Corphish?>” Treecko growled, stepping forward. His smug grin stayed on his face while he approached his orange rival.

“<Listen, salad ass! That’s a completely different subject!>” Corphish shot back, clicking his claws together, preparing to fight.

“<Settle down you two, NOW!>” Daedalus twittered with annoyance.

Treecko and Corphish shot him a cold glare. They stepped forward and Corphish threw the first punch, hitting Treecko in the jaw. Treecko stumbled back but quickly recovered and tackled Corphish backwards into the dirt. Jeff ran over to the two rolling around on the ground and tried to pry them apart but he ended up a claw and tail in the face and legs. The simultaneous blows sent him flat on his back.

“What the HELL, guys!” Jeff shouted as the two began to fight on top of Jeff’s chest. Treecko swung around, slamming his tail hard into Corphish. Corphish flew backwards, hitting Jeff in the face, before sprawling down the hill. Treecko jumped down the hill after him.

Jeff put his shirt to his bleeding lip as he got up and looked at Taillow. “Welcome to the family, Daedalus,” Jeff growled, “Now let’s go get those idiots back!” Daedalus nodded and flew after Jeff, who began to slowly traverse down the hill.

Corphish and Treecko found themselves tumbling over dirt and on the riverside. One of them would get up to run but the other would drag them back to the ground and they would keep fighting. The cycle continued; they became slowly more bruised and beaten. Over the sand they rolled until they were past a sign that showed a picture of a man and pokemon crossing a line with a red X drawn over them.

They panted heavily, still throwing punches at the other, until they were under a tree with a large branch reaching over them. They stopped, stood up, and panted with a scowl imprinted on both of their faces. They were being watched. Treecko stepped backwards onto a hidden noose in the sand. The rope shot upwards, snagging Treecko’s tails and one of his legs. He dangled upside down from the tree, and Corphish walked beneath him and began to laugh hysterically.

"<What's the big idea?!>" Treecko growled.

“<Not so cool now, are ya?>” mocked Corphish.

“Treecko cko cko!” Treecko grunted and swore at Corphish, swinging around to try to get free.

“<Maybe I’ll use you as a piñata!>” Corphish continued laughing.

Treecko struggled and then glared at Corphish. He opened his mouth and fired a bullet seed down, causing Corphish to jump backwards. When Corphish dodged, he activated a trap oh his own; a net came shooting up from the hidden sand, ensnaring Corphish. Treecko grinned at Corphish, who got his comeuppance.

“<So now I’m trapped too, congratulations,>” Corphish scowled. “<I might have gotten you down too, if you begged.>”

“<Oh yeah?>”
“<Yeah, ‘Tree Hugger’!>”

“<Why don’t I swing over there and pound you into Corphish soup?>” Treecko shouted back from the suspended rope.

“<Well, Tarzan, in that cozy rope I’d like to see you tr…>” Corphish was cut off and knocked out by a speedy blunt blow to the head.

Treecko looked around and struggled, confused since he didn’t deliver the blow. He looked at the branch above and saw a purple fist come towards him. The blow smashed him down the face. The beaten up wood gecko, too, hung there unconscious.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Jeff ran down to the beach where they fell. Daedalus perched on his shoulder as they stepped in the sand. In the sand they could see small blood spatters and sand sifted in a struggle. Jeff noticed the sign and asked, “Do you think they went in there?”

The Taillow nodded and they slowly traipsed through the sand. Jeff lifted up his foot and began to place it back in the settled sand.

“TAILL!” Daedalus trilled, outstretching his wing, warning him not to place his foot down.

Jeff froze and retracted his foot, carefully placing it in his old footprint. Jeff kneeled down and touched the snare trap in the ground.

“<Look over there,>” Taillow pointed, “<drag marks!>”

“<There’s something that lives here who is very protective of its territory. I don’t think he wants uninvited visitors,>” warned Daedalus, “<You follow your footsteps back to the other side of the sign. I’ll scout around from the air; I think he has them…>”

Jeff nodded and did as told, while Daedalus took flight.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Treecko briefly opened his eyes. He found himself lying next to an unconscious Corphish; both were being dragged in a net over the ground and through the forest. The pain in his head worsened as they went along. He looked up and saw a large, purple blur clutching the net. He weakly tried to resist but then a small rock, lying on the path, collided with his head. A searing pain in Treecko’s head caused him to fall back into unconsciousness.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Awhile later, Treecko felt an annoying prodding at his head. He opened his eyes and saw a dim orange outline hovering over him. He got up and looked around; beside him was Corphish and on all sides were wooden bamboo bars, creating a dome cage in the middle of the forest. On the other side of the bars was a small wooden shack made of bamboo in the shape of a box.

“<What the…>” Treecko groaned, rubbing his swollen, bleeding head.

“<They don’t have room service, I’ve checked,>” grumbled Corphish, who stood beside Treecko, shaking on the bars.

Treecko jumped upwards, slamming his tail on the roof, trying to break it. Corphish flew up with Treecko, as he jumped. The bar remained sturdy. Treecko landed gracefully and Corphish fell onto his head, his horns digging into the dirt.

“<I’ve also tried that, Twig Boy,>” Corphish growled “<We’re not moving an inch. Oh, and F-Y-I; my claw and your hand are tied together, so don’t go prancing around like you’re starring in ‘Rent’,>”

Treecko looked down and saw rope tying his right hand tied to Corphish’s left claw.

“<Terrific…>” mumbled Treecko grumpily.

“<A little help?>” Corphish asked, struggling to get his horns from the ground.

Treecko coolly unleashed his frustration and swung Corphish out of the ground with his arm and tail. Corphish hit the side of the cage and slumped to the ground.

“<I said ‘give me help’, not ‘give me hell’!>” Corphish angrily held his head, threatening Treecko with his claws.

Treecko ignored him. “<These bars really won’t budge,>” exclaimed Treecko, ponderously.

“<I KNOW! Why don’t you hit me against the bars HARDER?!>” Corphish sarcastically suggested.

Treecko ignored him and angrily placed his hands to his thighs, “<This is just like a pokeball.>” he shuddered.

“<Except there’s no refund if we break it…and you’re here,>” Corphish joked but then went back to anger. Corphish poked Treecko’s chest with his claw, “<This is all your fault!>”

“<Back off, pal! You’re as much to blame as I am!>” Treecko grunted, wiping blood from his mouth.

“<Could this be anymore your fault?>” Corphish shot back.

Treecko snarled and held his arm up against the cage wall, causing Corphish to dangle off of the ground. Treecko reared his fist back, ready to punch him. Corphish clamped his claw around Treecko’s neck in retaliation.

A deep voice came from beside them, on the other side of the cage.

“<What’s wrong? You two thieves not getting along? Well you’d better suck it up and get used to being cell mates!>” chuckled a massive purple pokemon. He had large ears, and massive claws, tail, and stature. There were large purple spines running down his back and his nose was home to a horn bigger than Corphish’s head.

“<That’s a Nidoking!>” whispered Corphish to Treecko.

“<You’ve got it all wrong, we’re not thieves.>” Treecko attempted to explain to the angered land owner.

“<And if we were, we’d probably rather be doing the 'two claw discount' at the Pottery Barn,>” Corphish joked.

Treecko glared at Corphish, “<You don’t get to talk anymore!>”

Nidoking frowned and crossed his arms. “<My ass! You expect me to believe a story from a pokemon known as ‘the ruffian pokemon’?>”

“<Really, we’re telling the truth…>” Treecko insisted.

“<Cram it, lizard lips! You’re pretty shifty yourself, what with that twig in your mouth; you look like a juvenile delinquent!>” Nidoking interrupted.

“<Shifty, huh?>” Treecko grinned to himself, taking it as a compliment. Corphish rolled his eyes.

“<Give us freedom or give us d…>” Corphish began to intone, but Treecko shoved his head into the dirt before he could finish that sentence.

Nidoking walked up to the bamboo cage and leaned up against the bars, peering in like a scientist to lab rats. “<You think you can live in my territory and expect to get away with it?!>”

Treecko remained silent and stared frigidly through the wooden barriers into the brown eyes of the Nidoking. The Nidoking stared tauntingly back at him. Treecko’s collected rage surged into the glare that was direct at their captor. Nidoking actually stepped backwards when Treecko concentrated the defiant stare. His yellow, squinting, enraged eyes said with the gaze “<We ain’t done, pal.>”

When Nidoking retracted from the stare, he chuckled at himself for having been intimidated. “<What are you afraid of? After all, look at the size of them…and they are in a cage, what could they possibly do?>” the Nidoking thought.

“<You two thugs stay put until I get back…as if you have much choice!>” Nidoking continued to snigger as he stomped off into the forest.

“<What was that?!>” accused Corphish, spitting out dirt.

“<That was ‘saving us before you could put that idea into his head’!” Treecko spat, annoyed.

Treecko rubbed his raw ankle and left tail. He then folded his arms and turned to Corphish, “<What the hell do we do?>”

“<Well I’ve got to call in sick to work and then we can order a pizza, maybe have ourselves a nice night of talking about our feelings,>” Corphish kidded.

“<I’m being serious! This is exactly why we’re in this mess in the first place and why Nidoking won’t believe our story! Your jokes have gotten us in all this crap. Now we’ve been captured and we may never see Jeff or that Taillow again!>” Treecko yelled, walking towards Corphish, menacingly.

“<Hey,>” Corphish chuckled, nervously, “<what happened to your ‘as cool as a cucumber’ attitude?>”

Before Treecko stepped closer, they stopped seeing that a shadow cascaded on the ground of the cage. They looked up and saw Daedalus roosted on one of the bars of the dome cage overhead. He was perched directly above Corphish.

“<G’day, mates! Here’s ‘that Taillow’ you’ve been talking about,>” he chirped, grinning.

“<Oh, please don’t!>” Corphish begged “<I just got my shell ‘Squirtle-waxed’ at the salon, yesterday!>”

“<Took you long enough,>” Treecko grinned “<Where’s Jeff?>”

“<I told him to stay back at the beach, the ground is laced with traps everywhere!>” Taillow replied, “<Hell, there’s probably surface to air missiles around here!>”

“<Well we sure didn’t notice!>” Corphish spat, sarcastically.

“<How do you expect to get us out of here?>” Treecko asked.

“<Can’t peck through it…I have no idea,>” Daedalus shrugged, apologetically.

“<Think, you bird brain! You’re a leader so lead!>” Corphish coerced Taillow, who perched on the wooden cage.

“<Don’t rush me; I’m not good in these situations!>” Taillow shot back.

“<Or what? Will you go all ‘Alfred Hitchcock’ on our hides?>” Corphish spat in return.

“<Damn it, Corphish, piss off; he’s trying to help!>” Treecko glared at him.

Daedalus raised a wing with an idea, “<Howabou…>” he was suddenly cut short. Daedalus gasped as he was grabbed by a giant, purple hand, which appeared out of nowhere. Nidoking walked out from underbrush with a triumphant grin. He squeezed Daedalus, winding him, and then slammed him into the ground, as if scoring a touchdown of a football game. Daedalus lay in the dirt, unconscious.

Nidoking lifted the cage slightly and kicked Daedalus under it. Treecko and Corphish looked on, shocked, at the body of their only hope.

“<I’m sorry, was I interrupting?>” Nidoking asked, spitting out poison pins to the ground, triumphantly.

“<Look!>” Corphish began to explain, “<we weren’t here to take over your home or steal anything, we were fighting and we rolled onto your territory!>”

“<That’s too bad…trespassing in my territory; punishable by thrashing!>” he chuckled. “<I think you two have had enough time to think about what you’ve done…the pain begins.>”

Nidoking walked towards the cage, fist raised. Treecko whispered to Corphish, “<Listen, he’s beyond reason now. We have to work together to attack him at just the right time…on my signal…open fire at his face.>”

Nidoking began to swing his tail at the cage.

“<NOW!>” Treecko yelled. They shot bullet seed and bubblebeam through the bars of the cage. The projectiles hit Nidoking in the face, knocking him off balance. His tail’s path was changed so that it struck the cage just above their heads. They ducked as the upper half of the cage was shattered into splinters.

“<Argh, my eye!>” Nidoking yelled, holding his bleeding right eye and stumbling backwards, blinded. A slow trickle of scarlet blood leaked from the covered eye.

Treecko boosted Corphish out of the cage before jumping out himself. Treecko then passed Daedalus over the broken bars to Corphish on the other side. Treecko jumped over and landed beside Corphish. Nidoking stumbled towards the three and he fell to the ground in between them, separating Treecko and Corphish from Daedalus. Nidoking tried to stand up, in between them and Daedalus. Treecko and Corphish ran at Nidoking and clothes-lined him, using their rope-tied arms. Nidoking fell back to the dirt, holding his neck while the duo made it to Daedalus. They put his wings around their shoulders, supporting him as they began to run.

“<Wake up, pal, we need your eyes,>” Treecko muttered to Daedalus.

“<Hey, buddy,>” Corphish smiled at Treecko, “<I guess now that we’re outta there this makes you a ‘FREEcko’…>” Corphish found his own joke very funny as they continued running.

“<I’ll put the whole ‘salad ass’ thing behind us if you never say that again…buddy,>” Treecko grinned.

Daedalus slowly came out of the daze as they ran through the forest.

“<Trap ahead, two meters,>” murmured Taillow, weakly.

They dodged the pitfall and followed Daedalus’ navigation.

“<Left, straight, keep going, trap, trap, right, straight,>” Daedalus spat out directions as he struggled to stay conscious.

They exited the forest and saw the sign on the beach. They crossed the invisible line and saw Jeff pacing back and forth. They ran up to him and embraced him, after placing Daedalus in the sand. Jeff quickly dropped to the ground to check Daedalus’ wounds. Daedalus spat out a bit of blood and muttered “<How you doin’?>” in a state of shock.

“What happened!?” Jeff asked, concerned. He examined the three bloodied pokemon. He immediately dropped his backpack and shoveled through the bag for potions.

“<If I have to tell this story one more time…>” Corphish joked.

Treecko eyed Corphish, warily. He was unamused by the joke but decided to let it pass.

“<Daedalus is in need of professional medical attention, but Corphish and I could use some basic first aid…oh and can you untie us while you’re at it? I’m beginning to smell like seafood.>”

Jeff took out a knife and cut the rope binding Treecko and Corphish together. He then looked at the two and asked, “are you guys cool?”

Corphish and Treecko’s rivalry lit again. They began to stare into the other’s eyes. The stare down lasted for a minute before the two simultaneously grinned and shook hands.

Jeff beamed, happy the two reconciled. “Good, because that was pretty dumb crap you guys pulled back there, you could have gotten the other killed!” Jeff reprimanded them for their behavior.

They looked down, ashamed, and apologized to the other. Jeff dressed their wounds with a potion and small bandages, which were just big enough to staunch the flow of blood. Jeff perked up, “Let’s head into town before whatever it was that took you guys comes back! And seriously…what happened?”

They nodded and followed Jeff up the hill and back onto the road, outside Petalburg Forest. Jeff cradled the injured Daedalus in his arms, while the four crossed the bridge over the sparkling water. Corphish filled in Jeff on what had happened. To which Jeff replied, "that must have been quite the fun."

"<Yeah, being trapped, beaten, beaten some more, and perhaps a third time is just like going to Six Flags over Celadon,>" Corphish weakly smiled.

As they walked over the bridge, the sun began to set behind the four, creating an orange shimmer in the waves. Treecko and Corphish stared at each other as they walked, side by side. They’re eyes met and they grinned, achieving a brand new respect for the other. What started as a shaky acquaintanceship would soon become a powerful, bonded comradeship.

********************************

Author’s notes:

-This chapter is the first official beta’d chapter. Beta’d by diamondpearl876 (Who did a very good job at that)

-Now at this point I know it seems like I’m just making Ash’s Advanced Generation team, but that’s simply not the case. I’m simply using those who best help the plot (Most of them happen to be my favorites). So far, I like how it’s working out. And don’t worry, the next pokemon will not be a Torkoal, a…Donphan, or anything like that.

-A few new recurring supporting characters are introduced.

-I’ve decided against ending on cliffhangers often so that when I DO end with cliffhangers, it will really grab people by the nose and hit them in the arse (or so the saying goes)

This was a pretty fun chapter to right because I love working with my characters and giving them dynamics and fun interactions. That’s one of the main reasons I write.

Anyways, Read. Review. Enjoy

Cheers, Griff4815