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Link to BeginningLink to Pt. IVI sat down at behind the trees in the same flowery garden that I had rested in earlier in the day, and was silent, thoughts racing through my mind. That man must have turned me in, I though… He was the only other person I saw in the forest, and the only person who could have seen me. I let out my Pokémon one by one, so I could tell them what happened. Somehow, they understood something was up. I spoke softly.
"Guys, we're in a bit of trouble. I saw a poster in the Pokémon Centre. A wanted poster. And its me that's wanted. Right now the poster only has an image of me, so you're all safe for now. Nevertheless, we'll all have to lay low as we head for the next city. I don't want all of us getting caught up in this mess."
I turned to each Pokémon one by one, and spoke to them.
"Amber," I said to Amber. "It wasn't your fault, its okay. That fire was an unfortunate result of our battle with Cyan. I'm sure things will return to normal later."
I looked at Pierce.
"You fought well against Geodude. I'm proud of you. But you were in a very sorry state. You chipped one of your fangs, and the nurse said your skull was fractured, and that you were lucky not to have perished. I'm glad you're safe now."
I smiled and gave him a hug. He squeaked in return.
"And you," I said, turning to my third Pokémon. "You've only just joined us, but we're friendly. I hope you like us. Now that you've all had some fresh air, I'm going to return you to your Poké Balls, and start heading to the next city."
I retuned each Pokémon to their respective Poké Balls, saying their name each time. I stood up, and looked at the flowers. They looked so pretty. I knelt down to take in a whiff of the scent. It smelled amazing. Feeling better, I headed out of the park, cautiously taking note of my surroundings. No one was around, so I relaxed.
I saw a small building as I was walking towards the outskirts of the city. It had 'Pewter Police' embossed in gold lettering on the door. I don't want to hang around here, I thought, and continued walking, but stopped when a few posters caught my eye on a billboard next to the building. I looked over both posters. They were both 'wanted' posters. The poster on the left was identical to the one I had seen in the Pokémon Centre. However, the poster on the right was what garnered my interest.
"Notice," I whispered to myself. "Thieves have been stealing Pokémon fossils from Mt. Moon. Please call Pewter Police if you have any information."
Interesting, I thought. Pokémon thieves? I didn't think such people would exist. I should head off now, I don't want to stay in one location for too long at a time.
I proceeded to take down the poster with my image on it, and stuffed it into my bag, albeit in a neat manner. As I did this, I noticed some fine print on the remaining poster.
"We suspect a Pokémon gang may have something to do with these reports."
A Pokémon gang? I wondered about this as I started walking again. A gang of thieves? Sounds like some form of organised crime has been happening in Kanto. I wonder why I never heard about this back at home, in Pallet Town. I made a mental note to ask my mum about this next time I called her, and stopped, to focus on where my current location was. I was standing at the edge of the footpath, where the stoney path met with a sand path. I saw a man in a white coat running down the path, heading towards the city where I was. It looked like he was holding something. I wondered what could cause such a rush. Just as I thought that, I watched the running man step wrong, and he came tumbling down at my feet. Indeed, he had been holding something.
"Are you okay?" I asked the man, and tried to help him up.
He brushed some dirt off his white coat as he replied, "Why, yes, thank you miss. I just had a fall. Where did it fall?"
He spotted the object that had fallen out of his grasp earlier as he fell, and ran over to pick it up. I heard him muttering.
"What happened?" I asked. I couldn't quite discern what his mutterings were.
"It's them!" he said. "They've come again."
"Who?"
"Team Rocket."
"Team Rocket?"
"Yes. They have been stealing our precious fossils, and disrupting our studies in Mt. Moon."
"Your studies?" I was a bit confused.
"I am a researcher at Pewter Museum specialising in Pokémon fossil study. This here is the only fossil that I've managed to salvage from our excavation site before we were attacked."
He beckoned to the rock he was holding. I looked at it. Normal enough, I thought, it just looked like a normal rock. He turned over in his hands, and I caught a glimpse of unpolished yellow, before it was replaced by more rock.
"This fossil is unlike any other we've ever seen before, and its important I can get data on what Pokémon this used to be. I must go now. Thank you for helping me."
He turned to leave, but stopped.
"What is your name, young girl?”
"Um." I wasn't sure whether I should reveal my real name, although I didn't notice anywhere that my name had been on the posters.
"It's Lavender," I said.
"Thats a nice name," replied the researcher. "Maybe our paths will cross again. Good luck on your journey, Lavender."
He ran off towards the museum, and I turned towards Route Three.
***
The walk was long, and tiring, but the air was not unpleasant.
It's getting dark, I thought, looking at the setting sun over the mountains. I'm going to need to speed up.
"HEY!!!"
I couldn't tell where that voice had come from.
"GO CATERPIE!!!"
What? I still couldn't see anyone. Where had that voice come from? I'd heard the sound of a Pokémon being released from a Poké Ball too, but where?
I rounded a bend, and met eyes with a trainer.
"IT'S YOU!!!" He shouted in my face.
"What? How do you know me?" I was quite disgusted at his tone, and his breath was absolutely terrible. The Caterpie by his side didn't make me feel any better.
"You will pay," he said, his voice full of anger. But anger for what reason? I thought.
I tried to walk past him, but he wouldn't budge, and the ledges on either side of him were too big to climb over. I didn't want to embarrass myself as I had in Viridian City. I guess I'll have to battle him.
"Can you move? Please." I urged him.
"NO! I will defeat your Pokémon for what you did."
"What?" I didn't understand any of this.
"Now, send out your Pokémon. Caterpie, you go first!"
Caterpie moved forwards, and the look in its eyes made me feel sick, and I knew what this trainer was talking about.
"Go Swift!"
I threw my Pokéball, and out flew Pidgey, forming in a bird from the red light emanating from the ball.
"Caterpie, use String Shot!" yelled out the trainer.
The Caterpie reared up and shot out a white fluid from its mouth at Swift.
"Swift, use Gust!" I called out.
Swift stopped midair, and rapidly flapped his wings, sprouting a miniature tornado that caught the Caterpie's string.
"Now use Wing Attack!"
Swift turned midair and flew straight towards the Caterpie. His wing connected with its face, and a green ooze squirted out of Caterpie. Swift landed and shook his wing, before folding them against his body and hopping back to me. The trainer looked at me, eyes widened in shock. We both stared at the Caterpie, a green liquid oozing from the face of the flailing mass.
"Caterpie!" The trainer cried out, and ran to kneel beside it.
After a few moments it lay still, unmoving. The trainer turned his head to me, tears in his eyes.
"Avenge Caterpie! Go Metapod!"
A green, leafy looking crescent emerged from the Poké Ball.
"Metapod, use harden, and keep using it!" The trainer sounded exasperated.
Metapod glowed a silver colour, similar to Brock's Onix had.
"Swift, come back," I whispered to him. "You've done your damage, and I'm afraid you could do worse."
I returned Swift, and was about to send Pierce into battle, but recalled he probably still wasn't in a condition fit for fighting.
"Come on out Amber," I said, simultaneously releasing Amber into battle. "Be gentle Amber."
Amber snorted a puff of smoke from his mouth, and looked over at the still glowing Metapod. The trainer had his hands clenched into fists, as if he were concentrating on something too.
"Amber, use Scratch."
Amber clawed away at the Metapod, but his results were futile. He just kept bouncing off, with no apparent damage being done to the Metapod at all. I quickly whipped out my Pokédex to see all the attacks that Amber had currently learned. I spotted the attack I know would work.
"Amber, user Metal Claw!"
Amber drew back his right hand, which was now glowing. I felt a small spark of joy wash over me, as I saw this was indeed the attack I thought it was.
Amber's hand closed in, and there was an ear splitting scratching sound, like steel scraping over steel. Amber repeated this three more times, until the Metapod stopped glowing. I felt another spark of joy, and looked at the trainer, who seemed relaxed now.
"Metapod," he softly said. "Your time has come."
What? I thought, Metapod couldn't have-
I was stopped mid-thought when Metapod started glowing again.
"Amber, Metal Claw again!" I said to Amber.
Amber landed a strike down the middle of Metapod, opening a big gash in the middle. Instead of green fluid pouring out as had happened with the Caterpie, still lifeless on the ground, a winged Pokémon emerged, accompanied by a brilliant white light.
"Goldfree!" The trainer sounded happy this time. "Goldfree, help me capture this trainer!"
Capture? Why would he want to capture me? Pokémon get captured, not trainers!
"Amber!" I called out, but it was too late.
"Good job on Sleep Powder Goldfree," called out the trainer. "Now use Poison Powder!"
"Amber, stay together!"
It was no use though. Within moments, Amber was sound asleep. I had to withdraw him from battle before Poison Powder took effect.
"Swift, come back out!"
Once again, I released Swift into battle with this trainer. Swift was still quite energetic, and immediately swooped down to where the Caterpie carcass lay, and began pecking at it.
"Swift…" I called out in dismay. "Now isn't the time to eat. We have to defeat Goldfree!"
Swift looked up at me and tilted his head, a bit of bug innards hanging out of his mouth.
"Goldfree, stop it!" The other trainer shouted out. "Use Sleep Powder!"
"Swift, watch out! Repel the powder with Gust!"
Swift jumped up, suddenly aware there was a battle in progress. He began to flap his wings rapidly, creating a miniature funnel of air, and directed the gust at the oncoming powder. The powder dissipated in the wind.
"Swift, Wing Attack now!"
The gust had barely settled down, and Swift was racing towards the Goldfree. His wing connected with Goldfree's wing, and slit the right wing into two sections. The Goldfree lost some altitude, obviously wounded by this assault.
"Again Swift!"
Swift turned around and few back at Goldfree again. Their wings connected again, but this time Goldfree's left wing was hit. It lost more altitude.
"Goldfree!" The other trainer shouted up at it.
"Swift, finish it off!"
Swift turned around and sped straight towards the falling Goldfree. They connected, mid air, a sickening crunch could be heard upon the impact. The mass was flying too fast, and before I knew it, the opposing trainer had been knocked to the ground, having taken a Goldfree and Pidgey to the head at high speed.
I walked up to the trainer, apparently unconscious on the ground, a broken Goldfree just to his side. Swift got up, and hopped over to me, a look of victory on his face. The fading light cast a shadow over it, creating an eerie image in my head.
“We need to get going to the next Pokémon Centre,” I said to Swift. “But we can’t leave them here like this.”
Swift walked over to the Goldfree and started pulling it away.
Guess I’ll start too, I thought to myself, and took the trainer by his shoes, and dragged him behind a nearby ledge, out of view of the main path.
“This should do the trick,” I said, observing the trail in the dust created from the dragging the bodies. “Need to do something about that,” I told Swift, beckoning to the aforementioned trail. “How about, use Whirlwind, and disrupt the dust.”
Swift flew up, and started up a dust storm. I covered my face, trying not to inhale anything, or get anything in my eyes. I waited for a minute, until Swift had finished, then waited for the dust to settle.
“Looks good! Now lets get going!”
I started walking, but Swift chirped out behind me, scratching at the ground. I turned around mid step, to see what the issue was. Even in the dim light, it wasn’t hard to see the imprint of my shoes on the ground, leading from my current position to an unconscious boy. I nodded at Swift, who once again whipped up a storm.
I called out, “Lets do this until we get to the main path again.”
It didn’t take long, but the sun had completely set now. I thanked Swift for his work, and returned him to his Poké Ball, and followed the path, hoping all the trainers had gone home for the day.
***
The walk was quite uneventful, not a soul was in sight, trainer or Pokémon. I reached a sign, telling me Mt. Moon was up ahead. Finally, I thought, almost there. I started to walk off again, but heard a sound behind me. I stopped, frozen on the spot, a sudden sense of terror that I may have been followed this whole time. I whipped around, Poké Balls at the ready, but no one was there. Just grass swaying in the slight breeze. I peered through the darkness, seeing if there was something I hadn’t seen. I was right, something was there, over by the cliff, but unmoving. I crept over to it, careful not to make too much noise. I identified the mass as a Pokémon. I wasn’t sure it was alive, except for the soft whistle it made with it’s breathing. I’ll leave it be, I thought, and turned around.
“SCANNING INFORMATION,” came a voice from my bag. It was so sudden I tripped and fell. I heard a growl behind me, and saw the Pokémon I’d encountered staring at me with red eyes. I made out a horn on its head, but didn’t have much time before it charged. I hurriedly grabbed the first Pokéball i touched and threw it at it.
“GO SWIFT!”
But Swift didn’t appear, and the ball collided with the horn. There was a reddish light, and I watched as the Poké Ball absorbed the Pokémon, and started shaking. The click broke me out of my stupor. I stood up and picked up the Poké Ball, feeling somewhat heavier than before. Had there always been this weight difference? I thought to myself. No, stop thinking such trivial matters, its getting later and I’m getting more tired. I scurried back through the grass, not looking back for fear I’d be attacked by another Pokémon, and ran towards the direction of Mt. Moon Pokémon Centre.
It was a quick fifteen minute walk, but I saw how late it was when I checked in, and rented a room in the centre dormitory.
Doesn’t seem like Pewter Police has reached this centre yet. I smiled at the thought, as I left my Pokémon in the nurse’s care, and headed off to bed, but not before a long, warm shower.
Link to Pt. VI
