Better Late Than Never - A Journey Through Kanto

Better Late than Never

Hey this is my first fanfic, so before starting the main part of fanfic I thought I would post this intro. It mainly comprises of the three main protagonists 'receiving' their first pokémon, pokéballs and pokédex. Any constructive criticism on my writing style or my story would be greatly appreciated, thanks

Introduction

Our story starts just as the sun was beginning to set in Kanto. A solitary figure was making his way across Route One back home towards Viridian City, the figure was a boy named Ben. Ben was sixteen years old and stood at a little over six foot tall, with an athletic build he had acquired due to his love of sport. His hair was naturally brown but Ben had added blonde highlights to it, and wore it spiked up. Ben was making his way back from Pallet Town, where he had been to wish his friend a happy birthday. He was almost three quarters of the way home, and was quickly becoming bored of the long walk, when suddenly an Ekans shot across the path just a few feet in front of him. This caused Ben to jump, but not as much as what happened next. Just a few seconds later, a Nidoqueen came tearing across the path in hot pursuit of the Ekans. This caused Ben to dive into the grass on the side of the path, to avoid a potentially fatal collision with the rampaging Nidoqueen. He quickly jumped back to his feet and dusted himself down. Looking down a pink coloured egg on the grass nearby caught his eye. Ben immediately recognized it as a pokémon egg, and guessed why the Nidoqueen was chasing the Ekans. The wild Ekans had obviously tried to pinch this egg, but had been caught in the act by Nidoqueen. Ben shot a glance over at the two wild pokémon; Nidoqueen had cornered Ekans and was now bearing down towards the snake threateningly. 'I couldn't, could I?' Ben thought to himself staring longingly at the egg lying on the grass. In one movement Ben stooped down and scooped up the egg before sprinting the remainder of the journey back to Viridian City. 'Hardly the most traditional way of obtaining my first pokemon' Ben thought to himself with a smile, 'But I'll take it!'

As soon as Ben got home, he rang his friend Joe and asked his dad about pokémon eggs, saying it was part of a school project he was doing. Joe's dad was an aide to Professor Oak and knew a lot about pokémon, so was able to tell Ben a lot. Joe's father told Ben that a newly hatched baby pokémon thinks that the first person or pokémon it lays eyes on after hatching is its parent. Excited by this information Ben had carried the egg everywhere with him, determined not to miss the egg hatch. He wasn't going to let this opportunity slip by...

-------------------------------------------------------- a couple of days later -------------------------------------------------------------

James looked out of his window, and saw a red sports car parked outside. He was shocked to see his Uncle Larry step out of it.

"Dad," he yelled, "Uncle Larry's here, and wait 'til you see his new car!"

James leapt up off of the sofa he was sitting on to reveal his well built, 6 foot 6 frame. Despite being so tall and built, James wasn't considered imposing by his friends. He was often referred to as the friendly giant. James had a long fringe and shoulder length brown hair.

"I wonder what he wants?" came James' dads voice, "I guess he's here to apologize for forgetting your birthday on Wednesday."

James' dad wasn't too fond of his brother Larry, because Larry represented the complete opposite of him. While James' dad was an outright professional, Larry lived for the moment and on the edge. He had never been well off before, and James wondered how he had bought a sports car! James let his Uncle in, who enthused at seeing his nephew.

"Jimmy boy! How good to see you," James merely nodded back, he hated being called Jimmy, "You're not still mad I missed your birthday are you?"

James took a deep breath, before smiling and replying, "Of course not, nice car by the way."


"Thanks Jimmy, she's a beaut isn't she," Larry mused looking out at his new car.

"How did you get it Larry?" came a voice from the corridor. Larry looked over and saw his brother in the doorway.

"I'm glad you asked bro," he started, "I had a weekend at Celadon and won big! Hey, that reminds me... Jimmy I've got you a present."

"For me?" asked James surprised. His uncle nodded and took a small parcel out of his pocket. James' heart sank, for a minute he had thought his uncle had bought him something spectacular with his new found wealth. When James unwrapped the present, though, his heart jumped.

"Is this a..." he started.

"That's right your very first pokémon," enthused his Uncle, "Why don't you let your pokémon out and meet him?"

James expanded his new pokéball and released the pokémon inside. There was a blinding flash of light, which shielded James' new pokémon for a second. When the light cleared however, James saw his pokémon in full view. In front of him stood a small brown, dinosaur-like pokémon that wore a skull like a helmet. In his right hand, the pokémon was clutching onto a bone. "Cubone," the pokémon said looking up at its new trainer.

"I know at 16 it may be a little late coming," cam Larry's voice, "but hey, better late than never, right Jimmy?"

James could only nod in agreement, while he looked down at his new pokémon in awe.

-------------------------------------------------------- the next day -------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Joe its James, look I just got given a pokémon by my uncle! He got lucky at the slots and bought me a Cubone out of his winnings! I need you to ask your Dad to get me a pokédex from Professor Oak... Oh and Ben's egg finally hatched, so can you get him one as well?"

Joe couldn't believe it, the three of them had been dreaming for nearly 6 years of getting a pokémon and going on an adventure, and now both Ben and James had got their pokémon at the same time. Joe was the only one left without a pokémon of his own.

"I don't know if Dad will get you one. I mean he's never let me get a pokémon."

"Can you at least try for me?"

Joe agreed to try and get James and Ben pokédex's, but decided against asking his dad. He was in Pallet Town anyway, so he would ask the Professor himself. As he made his way towards the lab he thought about what he would say, then he had a brilliant idea. If the other two were going on a journey, then Joe was going to be joining them. By the time he reached the Professors lab, he had his speech planned out.

He entered and located the Professor. Taking a deep breath he began:

"Professor, could I ask a favour of you?" Joe asked

"Of Course Joe, what is it?" asked the Professor turning around to face Joe.

"It's just that my friend James, do you know James?" the professor nodded so Joe continued, "Well James' uncle won 3 pokémon while he was in Celadon City, and he said James, Ben and I could have them."


"How very generous of him," said Professor Oak.

"Yeah, well I was wondering if you would give us pokédex's to help with our adventure, and if we could use your lab as storage for our extra pokémon?" asked Joe nervously.

"Of course Joe, I can't see that being a problem," said Professor Oak turning around to collect three pokédex's and three trainer ID's, he also handed 15 pokéballs to Joe, five for each of the boys, "Here you go, all you need to become a trainer."

"Thankyou Professor," as he placed all the items in his backpack, "Can you tell my dad where i've gone?"

"Of course Joe," said Professor Oak smiling. Joe thanked the professor and left the lab. Once he stepped outside and rang James, arranging to meet him and Ben in the middle of route One in an hour...

Chapter One - The Road Ahead

Joe ran up Route One as quickly as his legs would carry him, he was exhausted but the adrenaline of starting his journey kept him going. As he approached the meeting point, he saw Ben and James waiting for him with their new pokémon. Ben was sitting on a patch of grass stroking a tiny pokémon on his lap. The small creature looked like a pinky-purple coloured rabbit with large ears, whiskers and front teeth; it also had a small horn on its head. James was standing slightly in front of Ben, looking excitedly for Joe. In front of him stood a small brown, dinosaur-like pokémon that wore a skull like a helmet. In his right hand, the pokémon was holding a bone.

"Hey guys!" called Joe, "Cool pokémon!"

"Oh, hey Joe" said Ben, looking up.

"Have you got them" James asked eagerly.

Joe nodded and pulled the items out of his bag. He handed James and Ben 5 pokéballs each, as well as a pokédex. He noticed he had left his phone in his bag, so he checked it for any messages. He saw that he had an answer phone message, so listened to it...

"Hey Guys listen to this," he said to Ben and James, "It's a message from my dad!" He put his phone on loudspeaker, so that they could all listen.

Hi Joe, it's me. So, I hear you three are finally leaving on your pokémon journey. I just want to tell you how proud I am of you Joe. I assume you all want to challenge gyms and take the Pokémon League challenge. I'll give you some information to help you achieve that goal. The Pokémon League starts 9 months today, on the Indigo Plateau. All registrations must be made at least 1 week prior to the start of the tournament. In terms of Gym's, there are twelve officially licensed Pokémon League Gyms spread over Kanto. If you successfully defeat a Gym Leader, they will give you a badge as proof of your victory. You will need to win a badge from eight of the twelve Gyms in order to gain entry to the Pokémon League competition. Well I hope that helps, and I want to wish you all the best of luck.

"That sounds difficult," said Ben, "We need eight badges? The new guy who took over at Viridian is really good, do you think all the Gym Leaders will be as powerful as him?"

"I don't know..." said Joe uncertainly.

"Well we're not going to find out standing around here!" replied James returning his Cubone to its Pokéball, "Let's get going!"

With that the three boys began their trek along Route One, each deep in thought about the Pokémon League and the challenges they would face trying to reach it.

Chapter Two - A rough introduction

The three boys had all walked this route before to get to Viridian City. They knew it would take them most of the day to reach Viridian. After an uneventful few hours, James decided he was bored and needed to liven things up.

"Okay I am going to catch a pokémon in the next ten minutes," he announced loudly, while releasing his Cubone, "Find me a pokémon to catch buddy."

Cubone responded by whacking the trunk of the nearest tree with his bone. This caused a Pidgey, which had obviously just been awoken from a nap, to fall from one of the branches.

"Hey, way to go Cubone!" called James happily, "Okay start with a Bone Club,"

His pokémon responded, knocking the Pidgey backwards off of its feet with his bone. Cubone set himself into a fighting position, raising his bone and getting ready to battle. . Unfortunately for Cubone, Pidgey are docile creatures. As soon as the Pidgey got to its feet, it decided to avoid the conflict by flying away from James and Cubone. James couldn't believe it and was left scratching his head. Looking back at his trainer, Cubone began to mimic James, and started scratching his skull with his bone.

"What do you know? The bird pokémon flew off..." said Ben sarcastically.

"What and you think you and your baby pokémon could do better?" asked James angrily, "That's it! Your Nidoran's fighting the next pokémon we see!"

Ben looked down at his Nidoran and highly doubted the tiny creature would be able to hold its own in battle. His thoughts were interrupted by a rustling in a nearby bush, and a Rattata stepped out.

"Okay Ben you're up," said James.

Ben stepped forward, not feeling confident of his baby Nidoran's chances of beating the Rattata that was now glaring at him. He then gently placed Nidoran on the ground and took a step back. Nidoran looked back at his trainer confused, but Ben nodded encouragingly and ushered him forwards. The Rattata bared its fangs, which terrified Ben's tiny pokémon and caused Nidoran to run back to his trainer for protection. Ben picked a shaking Nidoran back up, and tried to comfort him.

"Ni, Ni," whimpered the tiny pokémon, shaking his head with tears in his eyes.

"Oh my god, this is so stupid!" yelled Joe throwing a pokéball at the Rattata.The red and white ball hit the Rattata and engulfed it in a red light before sucking the light inside of the pokéball. The ball spun on its axis and then shook from left to right before a beam of red light shot back out. The Rattata reappeared next to Joe, hissed and then ran back into the bushes.

Joe slowly walked over to his pokéball, which was lying on the ground, bent over and picked it up before placing it back in his pocket with the rest of his pokéballs. The three boys just stood there in complete silence, save Nidoran's whimpering, and looked at each other. This wasn't going well.

On the first part, that was really kinda mean of Ben to just take the Pokemon egg and leave the Ekans there to be killed by the Nidoqueen

Looks good, only saw one mistake where you said

"I know at 16 it may be a little late coming," cam Larry's voice, "but hey, better late than never, right Jimmy?"


It should be came not cam right?

But yeah, I like the way pidgey flew off xD Write more :D

OOC - thanks for the reviews guys, I thought this thread had died... anyway heres the next chapter. As always any C&C would be greatly appreciated.

Chapter Three - Down but not out

"What's wrong with you two? Am I the only one who's taking this seriously?" yelled James suddenly, "I mean look at you two. Joe, you don't even have a pokémon! Ben, you have a pokémon, but it's terrified of fighting a measly Rattata."

"Give Nidoran a break!" retorted Ben angrily, "He only hatched this morning. He was never going to be ready to battle already. I wanted to give him at least a day or two to get stronger and more confident, but you made me throw him into battle when he wasn't ready!"

"Don't blame this on me!" yelled James back, "You baby him too much. I mean why do you carry him around the whole time? Why not keep him inside a pokéball?"

"Yeah maybe I baby him a bit... but that's because he is a baby you idiot, he hatched this morning!" said Ben angrily, "He seems happier when he is with me out of his pokéball, so for now that's what I'm doing."


"Calm down!!" shouted Joe. "Come on guys, we've all been friends for years. All we ever talked about was leaving on a pokémon journey, and now we're on one all we're doing is arguing." He continued more calmly, "Okay it's not the perfect circumstances, but we can make the best of this. We always do right?"

Ben and James realised he was right, looked sheepish and muttered a sorry to each other. They decided to rest for a short time to cool off, and James let his Cubone out to play with Ben's Nidoran♂. The three boys watched the two pokémon play, as Cubone waved his bone around and let Nidoran♂ chase it. Soon Nidoran got tired and went back to Ben to be carried, James sighed but refrained from saying anything, and the group set off again.

They moved quickly along the route without any further incident until they reached the very edge of Viridian City. Cubone, who had been walking alongside his trainer, stopped suddenly.

"What's up Cubone?" asked James, looking down at his pokémon. Cubone moved over to a nearby bush and started hitting it with his bone. This forced the pokémon hiding inside to reveal itself. It was a Pidgey, and from Cubone's attitude towards it James guessed it was the one they had fought earlier.

"Okay Cubone Bone Club quickly, before it can get away," called James, he wasn't going to let Pidgey get away again. Cubone rushed at the Pidgey, hitting its wing hard with his bone. The Pidgey backed away from Cubone and tried to fly away again, but as it got a couple of feet above the ground it let out a cry of pain and landed again. Its wing had been badly damaged by Cubones Bone Club attack. "Good work, now it can't fly away" said James happily.

Realising it couldn't get away, the Pidgey tried to launch an offense charging at Cubone for a tackle attack. However Pidgey was slower across the ground than in the air, meaning Cubone had time to counter with another Bone Club that smashed into Pidgey, sending the bird sprawling. Seeing Pidgey was struggling, James flung a pokéball at the bird. The red and white ball flew through the air and hit the Pidgey. The pokéball hit the bird and bounced up before enveloping the bird in a red light, which then disappeared into the Pokéball. The red and white ball dropped to the ground and began tilting side to side. Then there was a 'ping' and the pokéball stopped moving, signalling Pidgey was locked inside of the Pokéball.

"Yeah! We did it!" yelled James happily, "Well done Cubone!" Cubone seemed happy with James' praise and waved his bone in the air in celebration.

Ben walked over to James and offered him his hand. "Great job buddy," said Ben smiling. James took his friends hand and shook it. The two boys smiled at each other and nodded, before James went and picked Pidgeys pokéball up and the three friends continued on to Viridian City.

The final part of the group's journey went very quickly, their spirits lifted by James' successful capture of Pidgey, and they reached Viridian around sunset. They headed straight for the pokémon center, which proved easy enough to find. Once inside, James gave both of his pokémon to Nurse Joy and the boys discussed what to do next. They decided that since none of them were anywhere near strong enough to challenge a Gym Leader yet, they would head into Viridian Forest first thing in the morning.

Just finished Chapter 4...

Chapter Four - The first battle

"Where is he?" asked James, him and Joe were waiting outside the pokémon center for Ben who was late. A few minutes later, Ben came running round the corner carrying Nidoran in his arms as usual.

"You should really put that thing in a pokéball," said James disapprovingly, "Anywhere where were you?"

"I just needed to buy something," said Ben panting heavily, "Shall we get going?"

The boys set off towards Viridian Forest. They all knew this would be the real start of their journey. Viridian Forest was inhabited by many different varieties of pokémon, mostly bug types. The forest would also take a couple of days to walk through, so the boys would have to camp out for at least one, possibly two nights. This was a prospect they were thoroughly looking forward to.

"Tonight we'll have to get a proper fire going, we can roast marshmallows!" said Joe enthusiastically.

Ben and James nodded in agreement, and the talk of plans for camp that night lasted for a good few hours. They suddenly realised that they had walked deep into the forest, and were completely lost. They came to a clearing and decided to stop and try to work out where they were. While James and Joe were reading the map, Ben pulled something out of his bag.

"What is that?" asked James, looking around as Ben placed it on the ground. It looked like a miniature green punching bag.

"It's a training bag," said Ben, "I thought I'd see what attacks my Nidoran knows."

Nidoran, who had been lying on the ground relaxing, looked up at Ben. After a little encouragement from Ben, he stood up and walked over to the training bag uncertainly. Ben pulled out his Pokédex and looked up Nidoran♂ attacks. Ben turned back to Nidoran and smiled, "Ready buddy?"

Nidoran moved closer to the training bag looking nervous, but Ben nodded encouragingly.

"Okay Nidoran try a Double Kick attack," said Ben. Nidoran just looked at its trainer confused. "I guess you don't know that one yet... okay try a Peck attack!"

Nidoran just sat down and shook its head, Ben was beginning to get worried... did his baby Nidoran know any attacks? "O-kay, how about a Poison Sting?" asked Ben. This time he got a reaction as Nidoran hopped back to his feet and sprayed a few needles in the general direction of the training bag, but they all missed. Despite this Ben looked a little happier, "Okay cool, that's a poison sting... got to work on your aim a bit though. Do you know any more attacks?"

"Ni," said Nidoran sadly, shaking his head.

Ben thought for a moment, and then had an idea. "Okay, why don't you try this? Just charge at the bag and ram it with your shoulder," Ben explained. Nidoran looked uncertain, but had a go. He walked slowly up to the bag and knocking it gently with its head.

"No, that's not it... You have to run at the bag quickly and hit it hard," said Ben, "Like this." Ben dropped to his knees and rammed his shoulder into the training bag hard, in an attempt to show Nidoran what to do.

This time Nidoran took a big run up and jumped into the bag, knocking it over. "That's it!" said Ben happily.

"Ni, Ni," said Nidoran, jumping up and down happily.

"There you go buddy, that's two attacks you know already," said Ben encouragingly, "You don't need to be afraid of battling anymore!" This seemed to make his little Nidoran very happy. "Now let's try improving you aim with that poison sting." After half an hour of training Nidoran's aim had improved, if only slightly.

"Okay that's good Nidoran," said Ben, as a couple of needles found their target. He looked over at James and Joe who were just rolling up the map, which Ben took to mean they had worked out where they needed to go. "I think that will do for now, we should get going."

Ben walked over and picked his backpack up and the group was just about to leave, when there was a voice from behind them.

"Hey do any of you want a battle?" This caused Ben, James and Joe to turn around to see where the voice was coming from. Standing there were two boys, who looked twelve or thirteen, and were both wearing the exact same outfit. They were both wearing khaki shorts and a white t-shirt. "How about you big guy?" asked the boy on the left looking at James.

"I've got a better idea," cut in the other boy, before James could answer, "How about a double battle?"

Ben looked down at Nidoran, who certainly seemed to have gained confidence from his training. Nidoran was walking forwards as if he wanted to battle. "Okay I guess," said Ben, looking over at James who looked surprised but nodded.

"Good," said the two boys, sending out their pokémon. A second later a Rattata and a Caterpie were standing in front of the two boys.

"Okay the, Go Cubone," called James, releasing Cubone from his pokéball.

"You ready Nidoran?" asked Ben. The little pokémon nodded, "Okay then start with a poison sting on Caterpie?"

Nidoran shot a number of purple needles from its horn, but the needles flew way left of Caterpie and missed the bug pokémon completely.

"Hey Nidoran knows Poison Sting! Need to work on his aim though," said James laughing, "Oh well... it's a start
I guess. Cubone show him how it's done! Use Bone Club on Rattata."

"Counter with tackle Rattata," called Rattata's trainer. Rattata began to run at Cubone to tackle him. Cubone saw Rattata coming and the tackle only added momentum to Cubone's bone club, as Cubone's bone crashed straight into the oncoming Rattata's face... sending the rat flying backwards. The Rattata struggled back to its feet looking dazed. Cubone then ran in and used a second Bone club attack on Rattata, causing the small rat pokémon to faint.

"Damn, Rattata return."

"Two on one now!" called James happily, "Ben go for it."

Ben looked at Nidoran, who still seemed upset that his Poison Sting had missed Caterpie earlier. "Nidoran use that Tackle attack I taught you." This perked Nidoran up again and he started charging at Caterpie.

"Caterpie tackle as well," called the Caterpie's trainer. Nidoran and Caterpie collided into each other, causing both to be knocked backwards off of their feet.

"Nidoran are you okay?" asked Ben concerned. Nidoran struggled back to his feet momentarily, before collapsing back to the ground. Caterpie however, did manage to struggle back to its feet, however the bug was panting quite hard.

"Cubone finish it with Headbutt," called James. Cubone dropped his head and rammed into Caterpie head first, with its hard skull. This sent Caterpie flying backwards, and when it landed Caterpie was unable to get up.

"Yeah we did it!" yelled James giving Ben a high five, "We won!"

Ben made his way over to Nidoran, and picked the exhausted pokémon up. "You okay?" he asked, "You did great Nidoran. I'm really proud of you." Nidoran looked up at his trainer, smiled and gave a weak "Ni."

"You were great too Cubone," said James to his pokémon, "That Headbutt was awesome wasn't it Joe?"

Ben looked up and Joe was nowhere to be seen. "Where did he go?"

I really like it
"...ran straight into Cubone's bone... which Rattata full on in the face, sending it flying backwards" - I didn't understand this bit though...

I think Joe might find a Weedle or Pickachu, but I might be wrong...

@ZephyrII - Thanks buddy :)

Yeah I just read it back and it's not that well written... I'll edit it now. I was basically trying to say that the rattata's tackle added impact to Cubones bone club attack... but yeah thanks for pointing that out.

Chapter Five - Finally!

"I know how to find him!" said James triumphantly, "Go Pidgey!"

He released his newly caught Pidgey from her pokéball for the first time.

"Okay Pidgey fly into the air and see if you can see anyone around us," commanded James.

Pidgey gave James a confused look before beginning to prune her feathers. James repeated the command, but again got no response as Pidgey continued to prune her feathers. He sighed and returned Pidgey to her pokéball.

"Looks like you've got your work cut out there buddy," said Ben walking over.

"I just need to make Pidgey see that she'll be better off travelling with me than if she was still in the wild," said James knowingly.

"Oh yeah and how are you going to do that?" asked Ben.

"I don't know yet," admitted James, "But I'll think of something. Anyway we need to find Joe, he shouldn't be on his own in the forest without a pokémon."

Ben agreed and the two boys set off in search of Joe. After a short while of having no luck, Joe found them.

"Hey guys," he yelled running over, "You'll never guess what happened to me!"

"There you are!" said Ben happily, "Where did you get off to man? Aah forget it, what happened?"

And so Joe launched into his story.

"Well, I was watching your battle when I saw a Spearow fly overhead. It was flying really low so I thought it would land soon, so I followed it. I thought maybe I'd be able catch it... anyway as I ran after it, I noticed the Spearow was carrying something in its claws. It was a bug, a Weedle to be precise, and obviously the Spearow wanted it for dinner. Obviously the Weedle stung it or something, because suddenly the Spearow dropped the bug to the floor! I ran over to see what was going on, and I saw that the Weedle was in really bad shape. Then the strangest thing happened, the Weedle looked at me and its eyes seemed to be begging for my help. I looked up at the Spearow and saw it was circling above and was just about to dive. So... just as Spearow dived I threw one of my pokéballs at Weedle, I just did it instinctively. Anyway, luckily my pokéball just got to Weedle before Spearow did. So Weedle's going to be okay I think he just needs some rest. And the upshot of all that is... I caught my first pokémon!!!"

"Way to go Joe!" said James enthusiastically, "Not the most conventional way, but whatever we'll take it!"

"Wow, we finally all have a pokémon," said Ben, "It's certainly taken a while!"

The three boys grinned at each other and set off deeper into the forest. After a long day walking, the boys became tired and began to set up camp. Once they were settled, James and Ben asked Joe to see his first pokémon. He happily obliged and pulled Weedle's pokéball out of his pocket releasing his new pokémon. Out of the pokéball emerged a small, yellow Larva Pokémon with a segmented body. It had little pink feet and a pink, round nose. The bug also had stingers on both its tail and head. Ben and James then released their pokémon to meet Weedle, and Nidoran in particular seemed fond of Joe's playful new acquisition. This was probably due to the fact, as James so wisely pointed out, both were poison type pokémon.

After a quick dinner, the boys decided it was time for bed. The short straw decided James would do the first stint of guard duty, so Ben and Joe happily made their way to the tent to get some sleep. James went to sit by the fire, it wasn't long before he realised he was exhausted from the days exertions. He knew he couldn't fall asleep though, he was on guard duty which was a very impota...

zzzzzzzzzz

Cool chapter, I like the way that Nidoran and Weedle get along :D

Keep it up :)

@Cloudyl - Thanks man, yeah I'm tryin to give the characters pokemon personalities, but findin it a little difficult... ah well long way to go, so plenty of time to develop them lol :)

I liked your conclusion to Chapter 5

I found that bit funny!

@zephyrII - Haha, thanks. Here's the next chapter. Once again all C&C will be appreciated.

Chapter Six - Adding a little spark to the team

"Huh?" mumbled James coming to. He heard a rustling noise coming from his right hand side. Realising he had gone to sleep, he jumped up and looked in the direction of the sound. In the light if the fire, he could just make out a small shape looking through his bag. Moving closer he could make out an oddly shaped tail and realised that it was a small pokémon after some food.

"If you want some food, I can get you some," said James softly.

This caused the small pokémon to jump up startled and move closer to James. This moved the pokémon into better light and James got a better look at the pokémon. The pokémon had short, yellow fur and black-tipped ears and an unusual lightning bolt shaped tail. James recognized the pokémon immediately... it was a Pikachu! Unfortunately for James, the Pikachu did not seem particularly pleased to have been interrupted, shown by its cheeks emitting sparks of electricity.

"You want to battle?" asked James, noticing the sparks from the small pokémon's cheeks, "Okay you're up, Cubone!"

Cubone burst from his pokéball and looked at the Pikachu, who immediately released a Thundershock attack. Cubone didn't try to get out the way of the attack, instead he just span his bone and easily deflected the incoming electricity.

"Pika?" cried the Pikachu, surprised the attack hadn't worked.

"That was awesome Cubone!" said James, obviously impressed, "Now, use your Bone Club attack!"

Cubone charged up to Pikachu and swung his bone as hard as he could. The attack hit the Pikachu in the chest and sent the yellow rodent flying.

"Headbutt Cubone," called James quickly, while the Pikachu was still trying to get to his feet.

Cubone dropped his head and charged towards Pikachu skull first. Pikachu had only just regained his feet when Cubone rammed into his side, sending Pikachu sprawling across the ground. James smiled, thinking the battle was over. However the Pikachu got back to his feet, which impressed James.

"We've got a strong one Cubone!" said James, "Use Bone Club!"

Once again, Cubone ran at Pikachu and swung his bone. This time however, the Pikachu jumped above the attack and spun round, whacking Cubone in the face with his tail.

"Cubone are you okay?" asked James, "Finish this with Bone Club!"

Cubone shook off the effects of Pikachu's tail whip and swung his bone at Pikachu, who had not had time to move away again after its tail whip attack. The bone hit Pikachu full on, and sent him flying backwards. Pikachu landed with a thud and just lay on the ground panting heavily. James saw his chance...

"Okay, Go Pokéball!" yelled James as he flung a red and white ball at the fallen Pikachu. The pokéball hit Pikachu and enveloped the pokémon in a bright light, which then disappeared into the Pokéball. The red and white ball dropped to the ground and began shaking from side to side. James held his breathe as he watched the ball shake side to side, before the pokéball emitted a ping and James knew he had been successful. James ran over to the pokéball and picked it up, he then turned to Cubone and congratulated his pokémon on a good job. After the excitement he managed to stay awake for the rest of his guard duty, before Joe came out to relieve him. He strolled over to the tent, still thinking about the Pikachu he had caught. After a few minutes his tiredness got the better of him and he drifted off to sleep.
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The next morning James woke up early and left the tent to see Ben on guard duty, with a sleeping Nidoran in his arms. He made his way over towards Ben to see if there was anything he could do.

"Hey buddy," said Ben, seeing James coming over, "Can you do me a favour and go and get some water from the stream we passed last night?"

"Yeah sure," said James, and he grabbed the water bottles and began the short walk to the stream. When he reached the stream he filled up the water bottles, and was just about to leave when he had an idea. He grabbed a pokéball from his belt and opened it.

"Pi?" said Pikachu looking up at James, then his cheeks began to spark.

"Woah" said James quickly, "Hear me out, okay?"

Pikachu's cheeks stopped sparking, as he looked up at James interested.

"Okay I've got an offer for you..." explained James to his new pokémon, "I saw you going through my bag looking for food yesterday..."

Pikachu looked down as if he was a little embarrassed about this.

"Don't worry it's okay. But you know... if you want food you could just come along with me." said James. This seemed to get the Pikachu's attention. Encouraged by this, James continued, "Yeah, I mean if you were my pokémon, I would feed you all the time. Three meals a day guaranteed."

James looked down at Pikachu, who looked like he was considering James' offer. After a short time Pikachu nodded, which James took to mean he had accepted the offer.

"Really? Cool, well let's get back to camp and have breakfast!" James said happily and he returned Pikachu before picking up the water and making his way back to camp.

After breakfast during which James introduced his new pokémon to the group, which Ben and Joe seemed quite jealous about, the boys continued towards the end of the forest...

I like it but I noticed something. This fic seems to have a new chapter every day. Why not take a few of these really short chapters and combine them into one chapter. That way releasing it every week would be more efficient. Not to insult you I just think you could combine a few of these chapters. (I'm a fan of books like Heart of Darkness which have chapters that are literally 60 pages long so it just annoys me a bit.)

@Ebon Blade - Thank for the advice... yeah I agree the Chapters could be a bit longer. I had already written this one before i read your comment, so its still a similar length to previous chapters. Hopefully the next one will be a little longer though. :)

Anyway heres the new chapter. As always any C&C would be appreciated.

Chapter Seven - Buzz Off

The group left their camp in high spirits, none more so than James. After managing to catch his new Pikachu, he was confident that he could finally get his Pidgey to listen to him. He released Pidgey from her pokéball. As before, the small bird greeted him with a less than welcoming stare.

"Okay Pidgey here's the deal..." James began, "If you agree to be my pokémon then I will take really good care of you and feed you three times a day. What do you say?"

He was sure this would work, after all this was the tactic he had used to make Pikachu listen to him. Pidgey however was less impressed. The small bird turned her back on James and flew into the air. Sighing, James returned Pidgey. He was wondering whether he would ever be able to control Pidgey, when a voice came from behind him.

"Was that your Pidgey?" the voice asked. James turned around and found him facing a small boy with a Spearow perched on his shoulder. His Spearow looked a lot more ferocious than James' Pidgey.

"Yeah, why do you want to know?" James asked.

"Hah. Why bother raising a weak Pidgey, everyone knows Spearow are a superior pokémon!" said the boy smugly, "I'll show you in a battle."

"I don't know..." started James, not wanting to show that he couldn't control Pidgey yet.

"What, are you scared?" said the boy, as Spearow hopped off of his shoulder on to the ground.

No James couldn't resist... "Go Pidgey!" he called, "Now Pidgey we have to work together to beat that Spearow. Okay?"

Pidgey didn't respond to her trainer, as upon seeing the Spearow she had launched straight into a Tackle attack, which Spearow dodged easily. Pidgey circled around and launched straight into a second Tackle attack.

"Hah you can't even control a Pidgey?" laughed Spearows trainer, "What kind of trainer are you? Oh well, Spearow dodge and use Peck!"

Once again Spearow easily dodged Pidgey's tackle, but this time pecked Pidgey in the back with its sharp beak. This sent Pidgey crashing to the ground. She struggled back to her feet and once again launched a tackle attack.

"This is pathetic... Spearow let's end this. Use Agility to get behind Pidgey, then use Fury Attack."

Just before Pidgey could reach it, Spearow disappeared from view. It reappeared behind Pidgey and launched a ferocious attack. Spearow attacked Pidgey again and again, before Pidgey fell crashing to the ground. Pidgey lay there knocked out and Spearow's trainer smirked.

"That was too easy," he said walking away. Spearow flew back to its trainer and perched on his shoulder.

James just walked over to his defeated Pidgey and picked her up. He wished he could have helped her in the last battle, but what could he do if she wouldn't listen to him? His thought process was broken by a loud buzzing noise...

"What's that?" Ben asked.

"Oh god its a Beedrill swarm... RUN!!!" yelled James, returning Pidgey to her pokéball.

The three boys sprinted off in the opposite direction to the buzzing sound. However, the Beedrill had seen them and were gaining quickly.

"We can't outrun them forever!" yelled Ben.

"Then we'll have to battle them!" yelled Joe, "I choose Weedle!"

Ben and James were both reaching for pokéballs to help Weedle, when they realised something... the buzzing noise had stopped. James looked up and saw that the Beedrill had landed in front of Weedle and seemed to have completely forgotten about the three of them.

"Why have they just stopped?" whispered Ben.

"Who cares, let's run while we have the chance!" said James, backing away slowly.

"No wait," said Joe slowly, "I think... I think Weedle is trying to reason with them..."

"What? Is he crazy?" hissed James, "Nothing could reason with those things..."

Despite James' thoughts, Weedle appeared to have managed to calm the Beedrill down. One of the Beedrill then moved forward from the group and went right up to Weedle. Joe gasped, fearing for his pokemons safety, but then Weedle did something very unexpected. He crawled up next to the Beedrill and rubbed up against it.


"Huh?" asked Joe confused.

Then a realisation dawned on Ben, "That Beedrill must be Weedles mother! Think about it... Weedles obviously from this forest and Beedrill is the fully evolved form of Weedle."

"I think Ben might just be right you know..." James agreed.

This changed everything, Joe no longer feared for his Weedles safety, now he feared for his own. What if the Beedrill thought Joe had tried to steal Weedle from her? Joe trembled at the thought. However when he looked back to where Weedle was, he saw the Beedrill returning to the swarm and his Weedle crawling slowly back towards the group.

"Hey, it looks like Weedle saved us!" said Ben happily, "And I think he's decided he wants to stay with you Joe."

"Wow, Weedle picked me other his own mother?" asked Joe.

"Think about it," said James putting a hand on Joe's shoulder, "You saved Weedle's life from that Spearow. It's not really a surprise he feels attached to you is it?"

Joe looked down at Weedle smiling. He sure was lucky to have caught the little bug...

slls81 said:

"This is pathetic... Spearow let's end this. Use Agility to get behind Spearow, then use Fury Attack.".

Click to expand...

I think u meant "get behind Pidgey"

That's all I noticed, good chapter ;)

ZephyrII said:

I think u meant "get behind Pidgey"

That's all I noticed, good chapter ;)

Click to expand...

Eek, yep you're right. Thanks for pointing that out... I'll go change that now. :)

@ slls81: I'm liking this fic so far, can't wait for the next chapter.

@Bemertonboy - thanks buddy :) anyway, heres the next chapter...

Chapter Eight - Solid as a Rock

James looked over at Ben and Joe, who were talking happily. He had been putting off asking this question for nearly a day now, and they were nearly at the end of the Forest. He had to ask...

"Guys," he said to get their attention, Ben and Joe stopped talking and turned to face him.

"What's up?" asked Ben casually.

"Well, it's just that both of you only have one pokémon..." James began, "Not that there's anything wrong with that... It's just that there's a Gym in Pewter City, and the leader battles 2-on-2..."

"Yeah, I know buddy," said Ben. Joe nodded in agreement.

"You did?" James asked confused, if he knew then why hadn't he tried harder to catch another pokémon?

"Yeah, of course I did, I just didn't think that Nidoran would be ready in time to face up to the leaders big Rock-types," Ben explained, "I mean there are twelve Gym's we can challenge, and we only need eight badges. I'll just have to catch you up later on."

James smiled and nodded. A short while later the boys arrived in Pewter City. Looking around, the place seemed dull and dreary. Almost everything was made out of the same grey granite. After a short look around, the boys found the pokémon center and healed their pokémon. After this they headed straight for the Gym.

Opening the door, James called out, "Anybody here?"

A boy in his early teens stepped out and introduced himself, "I am Forrest, the Pewter City gym Leader. Who is here to challenge me?"

"I am," said James, stepping forward.

"Alright big guy," said Forrest, "The match will be 2-on-2... Can we get a referee out here?"

A boy ran out from the back room to referee. He looked a lot like Forrest, but a little younger. James guessed he was a younger brother of the Gym Leader. After he had stated the rules, Forrest started the match...

"Okay, to start I'll use Geodude,"

Forrest released what looked like a floating boulder with muscular arms.

James thought long and hard before, "Cubone go!"

Cubone burst from his pokéball and looked at the Geodude. He then got into a battle stance and waited for James' command.

"Okay Cubone, let's start this off with a Bone Club!" called James.

Cubone charged up to Geodude and swung his bone as hard as he could. The attack hit the Geodude hard, and sent the rock pokémon flying into the wall.

Forrest growled, "Geodude try a Tackle!"

"Dodge and use another Bone Club!" called James.

Geodude shot towards Cubone, but just before impact Cubone sidestepped and hit Geodude with its bone. Geodude crashed to the ground and skidded along the ground. Forrest looked anxiously at Geodude, waiting to see if his pokémon would get up.

After a brief wait, the referee declared that: "Geodude is unable to battle." Forrest sighed and returned his pokémon.

"You may have won that round, but my next pokémon will be much tougher! Go Steelix!" yelled Forrest.

Forrest released what looked like an enormous snake made entirely out of diamonds. The Steelix was enormous! James guessed it must have been at least thirty feet long. He turned around to look at Ben and Joe, who were both just gaping at Forrest's new pokémon.

"It's okay Cubone we can beat this thing," said James, although inside he highly doubted this, let's start with a Bone Club!"

Cubone ran at Steelix, and jumped up onto Steelix's body before leaping again to hit Steelix in the head hard with his bone. Steelix looked slightly stunned by the blow, but quickly shook it off and let out a Gym rattling roar.

"Haha, okay Steelix," said Forrest confidently, "Use your Bind attack."

Steelix grabbed Cubone with its tail, before lifting him up and squeezing hard. Cubone wriggled around madly trying to escape the bind, all the while being squeezed by Steelix. Cubone finally managed to get one arm free and swing his bone at Steelix. The bone connected and caused Steelix to drop Cubone. Cubone landed heavily, and was panting heavily when he got to his feet.

"Steelix Dig!" called Forrest.

Steelix disappeared underground, and James and Cubone didn't have a clue where he would pop up. Forrest smiled, as far as he was concerned this battle was practically over. Then James had an idea...

"Cubone use Focus Energy to locate Steelix," James called. Cubone closed his eyes and focused his senses to try to locate Forrest's Steelix before it surfaced.

"Haha, nice try," said Forrest, "But not enough, Steelix emerge!"

There was a rumbling and Steelix burst through the ground in front of Cubone. Unfortunately for Forrest, Cubone had heard Steelix coming and had used Bone Club on the emerging Steelix. The bone struck Steelix's head and caused the enormous pokémon to collapse backwards with a large crash.

"I... I can't believe it..." muttered Forrest.

"Steelix is unable to battle; the winner of this match is James from Pallet Town!"

James was mobbed by Ben and Joe, who had run over to congratulate him. He then ran over to Cubone and congratulated his pokémon on a great battle. Then Forrest walked over...

"Congratulations James that was a great battle," Forrest began, "I don't know how you beat my Steelix, but you truly earned this Boulder badge."

He handed James a small, shiny badge in the shape of a boulder. James looked down at the badge and smiled, this was the first step of his journey to the pokémon league....