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[Pokémon] The Aura of Innocence (PG-14)

  • 5
    Posts
    15
    Years
    • Seen Oct 18, 2011
    Chapter 2 is now up, could someone please explain to me how to hyperlink my chapter titles to the post that chapter is in?

    Essentially this is something that I have been thinking about for awhile now but only really sat down to write in the past week.

    While this is very standard OT sort of stuff to begin with it does pick up by Chapter 4 if you'll bear with me that long.

    Please be critical with reviews, as I do want to make this as good as possible.

    Chapter 1 - Arrogance
    Chapter 2 - Horror

    Chapter 1 - Arrogance

    "The Pokemon World is still reeling from the death of the esteemed Professor Rowan . The seventy-eight year old, who died last night, contributed in leaps and bounds to our understanding of Pokemon evolution in a way that will surely have him remembered for many years to come. There is much speculation as to who will takeover his research and funding following his death. We are now going live to a reporter in Sangdem Town…"

    The T.V. blared noisily in the background as he took a final look around his bedroom, his own private little space in the world. The house fell silent as he gathered his bag and turned off the T.V. while throwing his bag over his shoulder. He walked down and out of the house, slamming the door with what seemed a slightly ominous sound to him, but then again his imagination was probably kick-started by nerves to some degree. Yes Arthur thought to himself, I'm just being a melodramatic Prima Donna. After all people do this every year.

    -----

    "Where is he?" Ella leaned on the wall outside the lab, sitting and enjoying the early morning sun. Of course she was the first one here, she thought, smirking. Thomas had arrived about ten minutes ago and now they were just waiting for Arthur, but even if he were here it wouldn't matter yet. The Professor was inside talking to a trainer, who looked a few years older than them and examining something she couldn't see. Normally she didn't mind being outside the lab, because she generally saw some rare, or foreign pokemon she would normally never see. Today though, today she was too excited to sit still and look around. She was going to get her own pokemon! A shadow fell over her, jarring her out of her reverie.

    "Where's your boyfriend?" Thomas quipped. Thomas had always been a friend, ever since they were little, but when Arthur had arrived a few months ago and they had been spending their time as a threesome, instead of a twosome, he had been just a bit… distant. Now though she was probably not going to see him for months after they reached the first gym she lamented to herself

    "I don't know Thomas, jealous?" she finally said after sort of collecting her thoughts.

    "Woah, defensive much?" he said, taking a step back "Anyway did you see that Dragonite flying north earlier? Flew right over me when I was running here! That's gotta be a good sign, right?" he grinned nervously, signs of their less familiar relationship showing.

    "Yeah man," he seemed to relax when she engaged him, "I actually think I saw it taking off from the lab!" she said as she pushed herself from the ground, dislodging some pebbles down the grassy verge around the lab.

    "No way! Probably was some powerful trainer like Lance! How sick would that be?" he said, getting all wrapped up in some day dream of mighty happenings in in their small town, just like they would play when they were kids.

    "Hey there's Arthur!" he shouted just as the door of the lab opened and the Professor emerged, followed by that trainer he had been talking to. She only got to see a large rip down the back of his canvas jacket and a shock of wavy black hair before he moved back inside the lab.

    "Ah excellent, we're all here," the Professor exclaimed, beaming at them as Arthur ran up, puffing and panting, "well come inside all of you, there's some last minute things that I need to explain." The professor steered the three through the cluttered lab, with it's gleaming white tiles and banks of computers towards the more homely back of the lab. Making their way through this they entered into a room none of them had ever been allowed in, with rows and rows of shelves with hundreds of occupied pokeballs. Behind her she herd a sharp gasp, and she turned to see Thomas standing there, staring at the hundreds of pokemon in wonder and amazement. As the Professor chivvied them through this room to the living room, she caught the unconcealed looks of excitement upon the faces of her companions as they all dropped down onto a sofa facing the Professor who was in his regular chintz armchair. Sunlight streamed through the high arched eastern windows, making the room slightly sticky and uncomfortable. Already Arthur was twisting a strand of his curly golden brown hair around a finger, betraying his nervousness, while the Professor seemed quite happy to just sit there in silence for a moment. Then the other trainer strode through the door and handed the Professor three pokedexes and pokeballs. Getting a closer look at him Ella saw that he was probably slightly taller than Thomas and while he may have been good looking, it was all marred by the still visible signs of adolescent acne. Turning her attention away from him she saw the Professor take a deep breath in, no doubt for one of his rambling speeches Ella thought, and then he begun;

    "First, I feel I should introduce Lewis here. He just delivered some updated parts for the pokedex. These updates will-"

    "Yes, but does this have any real effect on us Professor? Can't we just have our pokemon? Pretty please?" Arthur interrupted cheekily, his blue eyes flashing as he said this. The Professor seemed to be swelling up to explode, Ella thought as she looked on horrified by how much this would delay getting their pokemon now. Arthur couldn't sit there for 5 minutes while the Professor explained about this Pokedex stuff. No. He had to piss off the Professor and now they would have to sit through some 40 minute lecture about manners. She was going to kill him when they got out of here.

    "Professor Oak, you know that these three are only here for their pokemon. He's just saying what they were all thinking Sir, and don't worry I'll explain it all to them on the road when their attention may be a tiny bit more focused." The other trainer, Lewis, Ella corrected herself, interceded in a surprisingly posh voice for such a scruffy looking trainer, and Ella felt a surge of gratitude for him as he had obviously seen the Professor puffing up for a lecture.

    "On the road?" Thomas cut in, "So is he starting his pokemon journey with us now?"

    "No, nothing like that, mate," Lewis answered for the Professor, "I'm just heading north as far as Rota, and unless you are planning to swim south to Cinnanbar you'll all be heading to Viridian at least, right?"

    "Well I doubt my lungs could cope with that really, so right you are." Thomas said, flashing Lewis a broad grin.

    "Well that's something that you can all figure out as you said, on the road. Lewis you are, however, quite right and as these two fine young gentlemen will no doubt agree first choice should go to the lady in our midst." The Professor turned to Ella as he said this, proffering her a choice between three poke balls, through the translucent red tops of which she could see the miniature forms of a Bulbasuar, a Charmander and a Squirtle.

    "Actually, Professor, we already agreed on who would receive which pokemon before we got here," Ella explained, "Charmander for me, Squirtle for Thomas and Bulbasaur for Arthur."

    "Well, that's very sensible of you all," said the Professor while handing the poke balls to the appropriate people, "that does save me the near unavoidable tantrums that at least one new trainer always has at not getting the pokemon they wanted. However, as Lewis essentially pointed out earlier none of you really care about the reveries of an old man, so the very best of luck to you all!"

    -----

    "Hey, beautiful, want to have a drink with the next champion?" Arthur span round on his stool to see some douche with over gelled blond hair leering at Ella. Not on my watch, he thought furiously, leaping off his chair. No way was some random dude going to come in and get off with Ella.

    "Actually dear I'd rather drink a bucket of cold sick if it's all the same to you." Ella replied without even looking at the guy, who looked rather affronted. Arthur made to sit down again, smirking, when the guy leaned forward to brush a lock of Ella's short chocolate hair behind her ear.

    "Come on darling, I just got my 8th badge from Viridian Gym and I want to celebrate!" The blonde guy said while flashing a toothy smile at Ella. Now this pissed Arthur off. While a few guys had come and hit on Ella, this guy was the first one who had been really persistent. Arthur could understand it, since even at sixteen Ella was, as his mother said, very mature which did slightly annoy him since despite all three being the same age people constantly thought Ella was a few years older than them. Throw that together with some short shorts and a tight black tank top and you had a recipe for disaster in any bar really.

    "Look mate she said no, so back off, yeah?" Arthur said, giving the guy a shove in the chest for emphasis.

    "Oh look at Mr Tough Guy," the blonde guy sneered, "want to battle about it pip squeak?" He menacingly pulled an ultra ball from his belt. Now when Arthur thought back on this later he was never able to explain to himself why he didn't just say no. He reasoned that since Lewis had left them in a bar with an open tab for 3 hours alcohol probably had quite a lot to do with what came out of his mouth.

    "Yeah fine dickhead, lets go outside!" He slurred slightly as he said this, vaguely aware that Thomas was now standing behind him, trying to ascertain what was happening. "Come on lets go!" Arthur shouted cockily while walking towards the doors. Behind him Arthur heard Thomas telling Ella that they should let Arthur sort out his own mess. Fine you coward, Arthur ranted in his head as he pushed open the doors.

    The cold air outside was like a slap in the face, and served to sober up Arthur just enough for him to realise that he had probably made a massive error. As the blonde guy followed him through the doors and opened his ball to reveal a Skarmory, Arthur realised he had definitely made a massive error. Arthur looked around nervously, hoping beyond hope that someone might intercede on his behalf. To his dismay the streets of Viridian were near deserted at this hour, not that it would have mattered anyway. The city got a massive traffic of trainers, due to the Gym, Trainer House and it's proximity to Indigo Plateau. Arthur had broken out in a slightly nervous sweat. Sure Lexy, his Bulbasaur, had gained a few levels on their way up route 1. Hell it even knew vine whip now. Still there was no way it could beat that Skarmory. He nervously released Lexy from it's ball. The blonde guy grinned arrogantly and opened his mouth to no doubt utter some disdainful comment, until a shout broke through the preternatural silence of the night.

    "Oi!" The voice came from behind Arthur and was accompanied by the sound of heavy footsteps running towards him. "Why don't you fight someone a teeny bit more experienced mate?" The voice, which Arthur had finally placed as Lewis', said with ill-concealed contempt in his voice.

    "Whatever posh boy," the blonde guy jeered, "I'll deal with the pip-squeak next."

    "Arthur get out of the way," Lewis said calmly, tossing a poke ball down, to reveal an Espeon. "This will only take a second."

    "Yeah cos' that lil runt is dead," the blonde guy said, "Amminios, Drill Peck!" At his order the steely bird rose up into the sky, then swooped down with it's sharp beak extended like a javelin towards Lewis' Espeon.

    "Valerius, Detect!" The forked tail of the violet cat stiffened at this command, and then, when Arthur was so scared for it that he nearly looked away, Valerius shimmied gracefully to the left of its opponent, leaving the hapless Skarmory to plow its beak deep into the concrete of the pavement.

    "Now, Valerius, Zap Cannon!" With this, the small feline seemed to spit a ball of crackling electrical energy at the trapped bird, which was struck square between its wings serving to dislodge it from the pavement and send it into a tumbled heap on the floor. For a moment it struggled to its feet and Arthur found his heart swelling for this plucky bird but then its eyes glassed over, and before it could begin to fall again a thing stream of red light hit it as the blonde guy returned it to its ball.

    "Woah I was just messing around, chill out" the blonde guy muttered.

    "Really?" Lewis sneered sarcastically, "I thought my 'lil runt' was dead and then you were gonna deal with Arthur here? Or are you gonna leave now? Think about it really hard mate and then run along, okay?" With that, he turned and steered Arthur back into the bar. Once they were inside Lewis turned to Arthur, who was already cringing from the tongue lashing the blonde guy had been given. To Arthur's immense relief he had a smile on his face.

    "So Arthur, you just beat a trainer with 8 badges mate! How does that feel?" Lewis said, grinning from ear to ear.

    "What…" Arthur started before Lewis cut across him.

    "Well I assume that's what you want Ella to think, right?" Without waiting for an answer Lewis, darted head of him through the second set of doors, Valerius bounding ahead with him, to regale everyone with tales of Arthur's unlikely victory against insurmountable odds.
     
    Last edited:
    Hi, I'll be your reviewer this evening. Mistakes are highlighted in red, most mistakes I'm commenting on in bright green.

    "The Pokemon World is still reeling from the death of the esteemed Professor Rowan. The seventy-eight year old, who died last night, contributed in leaps and bounds to our understanding of Pokemon evolution in a way that will surely have him remembered for many years to come. There is much speculation as to who will takeover his research and funding following his death. We are now going live to a reporter in Sandgem Town…"
    When writing numbers, I suggest you use the actual words instead of numerals. People don't say '78'; they say 'seventy-eight'.

    The T.V. blared noisily in the background as he took a final look around his bedroom, his own private little space in the world. It fell silent as he gathered his bag and turned it off while throwing his bag over his shoulder.
    I think you could've used a better word here as, how it stands now, it seems like Arthur's talking about the bedroom, not the television.

    He walked down and out of the house, slamming the door with what seemed a slightly ominous sound to him, but then again his imagination was probably kick-started by nerves to some degree. Yes, Arthur thought to himself, I'm just being a melodramatic Prima Donna. After all people do this every year.

    -----

    "Where is he?" Ella leaned on the wall outside the lab, sitting
    (and?) enjoying the early morning sun. Of course she was the first one here, she thought, smirking. Thomas had arrived about ten minutes ago and now they were just waiting for Arthur, but even if he were here it wouldn't matter yet. The Professor was inside talking to a trainer, who looked a few years older than them and examining something she couldn't see. Normally she didn't mind being outside the lab, because she generally saw some rare, or foreign pokemon she would normally never see. Today though, today she was too excited to sit still and look around. She was going to get her own pokemon! A shadow fell over her, jarring her out of her reverie.

    "Where's your boyfriend?" Thomas quipped. Thomas had always been a friend, ever since they were little, and when Arthur had arrived a few months ago
    they got on fairly well but he had been just a bit… distant.
    I'm assuming you're talking about Thomas and Ella, but the way the sentence is worded, it makes it sound like you're talking about Thomas and Arthur.

    Now though, she was probably not going to see him for months after they reached the first gym.

    "I don't know Thomas, jealous?" she finally said after sort of collecting her thoughts.

    "Woah, defensive much?" he said, taking a step back "Anyway
    , did you see that Dragonite flying north earlier? Flew right over me when I was running here! That's gotta be a good sign, right?" he grinned nervously, signs of their less familiar relationship showing.

    "Yeah
    , man," he seemed to relax when she engaged (him?), "I actually think I saw it taking off from the lab!" she said as she pushed herself from the ground.
    This sentence is a bit confusing because you have Thomas as the subject right after Ella speaks. Something like, '-she engaged him, and he seemed to relax,' would be better suited.

    "No way! Probably was some powerful trainer like Lance! How sick would that be?" he said, getting all wrapped up in some day dream of mighty happenings in their small town, just like (how?) they would play when they were kids.

    "Hey
    , there's Arthur!" he shouted just as the door of the lab opened and the Professor emerged, followed by that trainer he had been talking to. She only got to see a large rip down the back of his canvas jacket before he moved back inside the lab.
    Alright, so Thomas is day-dreaming and then suddenly he shouts as he see's Arthur. That's fine, but there's no transitional sentence; it just seems a bit jarring.

    "Ah excellent, we're all here," the professor exclaimed, beaming at them as Arthur ran up, puffing and panting, "well, come inside all of you, there's some last minute things that I need to explain." Arthur gave her a quick hug as they dropped onto a sofa in the comfier part of the lab.
    Hmm, this seems a bit abrupt. More description of the lab would be nice, like describing the messiness and general activity of the lab, or machines and Pokeballs littering the shelves. Something like that.

    "First, I feel I should introduce Lewis here. He just delivered some updated parts for the pokedex. These updates will…"
    Instead of having ellipsis, maybe a hyphen would be a better choice because ellipsis is more like something trailing off than being interrupted.

    "Yes, but does this have any real effect on us Professor? Can't we just have our pokemon? Pretty please?" Arthur interrupted cheekily. The Professor seemed to be swelling up to explode, Ella thought as she looked on horrified by how much this would delay getting their pokemon now. Arthur couldn't sit there for 5 minutes while the Professor explained about this Pokedex stuff. No. He had to piss off the Professor and now they would have to sit through some 40 minute lecture about manners. She was going to kill him when they got out of here.

    "Professor Oak, you know that these three are only here for their pokemon. He's just saying what they were all thinking Sir, and don't worry I'll explain it all to them on the road when their attention may be a tiny bit more focused." The other trainer, Lewis, Ella corrected herself, interceded in a surprisingly posh voice for such a scruffy looking trainer, and Ella felt a surge of gratitude for him as he had obviously seen the Professor puffing up for a lecture.

    "On the road?" Thomas cut in, "So is he starting his pokemon journey with us now?"

    "No, nothing like that
    , mate," Lewis answered for the Professor, "I'm just heading north as far as Rota, and unless you are planning to swim south to Cinnanbar. You'll all be heading to Viridian at least, right?"

    "Well I doubt my lungs could cope with that really, so right you are
    ," Thomas said, flashing Lewis a broad grin.

    "Well
    , that's something that you can all figure out as you said, on the road. Lewis you are, however, quite right and as these two fine young gentlemen will no doubt agree first choice should go to the lady in our midst." The Professor turned to Ella as he said this, proffering her a choice between three poke balls, through the translucent red tops of which she could see the miniature forms of a Bulbasuar, a Charmander and a Squirtle.

    "Actually
    , Professor, we already agreed on who would receive which pokemon before we got here," Ella explained, "Charmander for me, Squirtle for Thomas and Bulbasaur for Arthur."

    "Well
    , that's very sensible of you all," said the Professor while handing the poke balls to the appropriate people, "that does save me the near unavoidable tantrums that at least one new trainer always has at not getting the pokemon they wanted. However, as Lewis essentially pointed out earlier, none of you really care about the reveries of an old man, so the very best of luck to you all!"

    -----

    "Hey
    , beautiful, want to have a drink with the next champion?" Arthur spun around on his stool to see some douche with over gelled blond hair leering at Ella. Not on my watch, he thought furiously, leaping off his chair. No way was some random dude going to come in and get off with Ella.

    "Actually
    , dear, I'd rather drink a bucket of cold sick if it's all the same to you," Ella replied without even looking at the guy, who looked rather affronted. Arthur made to sit down again, smirking, when the guy leaned forward to brush a lock of Ella's short chocolate hair behind her ear.

    "Come on darling, I just got my 8th badge from Viridian Gym and I want to celebrate!" The blonde guy said while flashing a toothy smile at Ella.

    -
    "Look
    , mate, she said no, so back off, yeah?" Arthur said, giving the guy a shove in the chest for emphasis.

    "Oh
    , look at Mr. Tough Guy," the blonde guy sneered, "want to battle about it, pip squeak?" He menacingly pulled an ultra ball from his belt. Now, when Arthur thought back on this later he was never able to explain to himself why he didn't just say no. He reasoned that since Lewis had left them in a bar with an open tab for three hours alcohol probably had quite a lot to do with what came out of his mouth.

    "Yeah
    , fine, dickhead, let's go outside." He slurred slightly as he said this, vaguely aware that Thomas was now standing behind him, trying to ascertain what was happening. "Come on, let's go!" Arthur shouted cockily while walking towards the doors.

    The cold air outside was like a slap in the face, and served to sober up Arthur just enough for him to
    realize that he had probably made a massive error. As the blonde guy followed him through the doors and opened his ball to reveal a Skarmory, Arthur realized he had definitely made a massive error. The blonde guy grinned arrogantly and opened his mouth to no doubt utter some disdainful comment, until a shout broke through the preternatural silence of the night.

    "Oi!" The voice came from behind Arthur and was accompanied by the sound of heavy footsteps running towards him. "Why don't you fight someone a teeny bit more experienced
    , mate?" The voice, which Arthur had finally placed as Lewis', said with ill-concealed contempt in his voice.

    "Whatever
    , posh boy," the blonde guy jeered, "I'll deal with the pip-squeak next."

    "Arthur
    , get out of the way," Lewis said calmly, tossing a poke ball down, to reveal an Espeon. "This will only take a second."

    "Yeah cos' that lil runt is dead," the blonde guy said, "Amminios, Drill Peck!" At his order the steely bird rose up into the sky
    then swooped down with its sharp beak extended like a javelin towards Lewis' Espeon.

    "Valerius, Detect!" The forked tail of the violet cat stiffened at this command, and then, when Arthur was so scared for it that he nearly looked away,
    it shimmied gracefully to the left of its opponent leaving the hapless Skarmory to plow its beak deep into the concrete of the pavement.
    Using 'it' makes it seem like the subject is Espeon's tail instead of Espeon itself.

    "Now, Valerius, Zap Cannon!" With this, small feline seemed to spit a ball of crackling electrical energy at the trapped bird, which was struck square between its wings serving to dislodge it from the pavement and send it into a tumbled heap on the floor. For a moment it struggled to its feet and Arthur found his heart swelling for this plucky bird but then its eyes glassed over, and before it could begin to fall again a thing stream of red light hit it as the blonde guy returned it to its ball.
    It's = it is.
    Its = possessive.

    "Woah, I was just messing around, chill out," the blonde guy muttered.

    "Really?" Lewis
    sneered sarcastically, "I thought my 'lil runt' was dead and then you were gonna deal with Arthur here? Or are you gonna leave now? Think about it really hard, mate, and then run along, okay?" With that, he turned and steered Arthur back into the bar. Once they were inside Lewis turned to Arthur, who was already cringing from the tongue lashing the blonde guy had been given. To Arthur's immense relief he had a smile on his face.
    How can you sneer sarcastically?

    "So Arthur, you just beat a trainer with 8 badges mate! How does that feel?" Lewis said, grinning from ear to ear.

    "What…" Arthur started before Lewis cut across him.

    "Well I assume that's what you want Ella to think
    , right?" Without waiting for an answer, Lewis darted head of him through the second set of doors, Valerius bounding ahead with him, to regale everyone with tales of Arthur's unlikely victory against insurmountable odds.
    Alright-y, there's the spelling and grammar mistakes done. I suggest you look over your chapter before you post it to catch these pesky errors.

    A problem that I got while reading the chapter was that a lot of things weren't clear. Like, how old are your three main characters characters? If they're going into bars, they're certainly not ten, but that just brings up another question on why aren't they ten? That's the age trainers go out on their journeys, so what reason do your characters have of apparently waiting so long? Also, I suppose the bar the characters were in was in Pallet Town, but you don't really describe much.

    And that brings up another thing. While I thought you described Skarmory's defeat pretty well, you don't describe generally too much. Skarmory itself wasn't that described and other than Ella's dark brown hair and Lewis' scruffiness, I have not a clue what your characters look like. You don't need to describe them all out, but at least a vague description would be nice.

    Other than that, that's all I can really say. It's looking interesting so far and I'm wondering what Rowan's death has to do with the story. I'll be looking forward to the next chapter. Good job! :)
     
    Sorry about the many its and it's screw ups, my word processor has that irritating habit of correcting everything to it's from its. As for the death of Rowan and why the characters are so old, I'll expound upon those in the next chapter or two to a certain degree.

    Thanks a lot for the review, much appreciated.
     
    Chapter 2 - Horror

    The forest was alive with noise, the cries of pidgey and spearow, the rustling of leaves as caterpie and weedle crawled along branches and twigs in the high arched canopy of the forest. Dappled patches of sunlight broke through the thick foliage here and there, the dust kicked up from the well trodden path dancing in these shafts of golden light. To Ella it was as beautiful as anything she could have imagined, only spoiled by the bite of her overworked limbs. A day of walking through Viridian forest and a night sleeping on the hard floor had left her muscles stiff and tight. She stretched her tired legs out on the ground and arched her aching back against the gnarled oak she was leaning on. Yes, she thought, this is nice this moment of peace. Far better than the hours of mind numbing walking, which left her feet blistered and her shoulders raw and chafed from her heavy pack. None of her dreams of her journey had accounted for this. No she had thought it would all be glorious gym battles and contests. A murmur of voices and the tramping of feet through the undergrowth made Ella open her eyes and force herself to her feet. She cast her eyes about, trying to put faces to the disembodied sounds. A little way off to the left, through a tangle of twisted boughs, she spotted Arthur and Thomas bantering about some recent occurrence as they picked a path through the roots and plants littering the forest floor. As they drew closer she began to discern more from their conversation than an incoherent babble.

    "Ah man I so nearly had it!"

    "Yeah whatever man, keep telling yourself that."

    "Shut up dude, I haven't seen you trying to catch anything yet!"

    "Yeah, well I'm not the idiot who used up all their poke balls and has nothing show for it, am I?"

    By this point they had reached the clearing where she was waiting with their bags. Arthur stepped forward into one of the shafts of sunlight, turning his sandy brown curls golden for a second. The contrast between him and Thomas was startling for a second, Thomas' lanky figure and obsidian black, straight hair juxtaposed to Arthur's stocky physique. Thomas threw her now full canteen over to her, before continuing to bicker with Arthur.

    "So how did Arthur waste all of his poke balls then?" She joined their conversation, deciding to try to stop them arguing for the rest of the day.

    "Basically Arthur decided to be a big man and tried-"

    "I saw a badass politoed," Arthur cut in across Thomas, "and I thought it would complement my team really well so-"

    "He wasted all of his poke balls without weakening it properly." Thomas finished for Arthur with a gloating smile on his face, "Anyways, where is Lewis?"

    "I'm here," Lewis' voice sounded from behind them, coming out of the opposite side of the clearing, "I was looking for these," he said showing them an armful of berries, "miracle berries." He gave them all a small grin as he said this.

    "What the hell are miracle berries?" Arthur inquired with a slightly confused look on his face.

    "Well, they're a stronger variant of lum berries, which allow for the total curing of more serious status ailments such as toxic poison or electrical paralysis. Sort of like a natural full heal." Lewis informed them all before continuing, "In fact they only grow in some parts of Kanto and Johto, which is why they haven't entered into competitive battling use to the same degree as their weaker cousins."

    "So lum berries can't cure more serious status effects?" Ella asked with a similarly blank look to Arthur's.

    "No, generally they will just weaken it, so toxic poison would have the same effect as regular poison after a pokemon consumed a lum berry." Lewis said, before bending down to his pack and storing them in a berry case. "Now," he continued, "whats this about Arthur wasting all his poke balls? Oh **** do you guys not know how to catch pokemon properly?"

    "Well don't you just have to weaken the pokemon and then throw the balls at it?" Lewis gave a chuckle as Arthur said this, before giving a sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose in a way that reminded Ella of how Professor Oak would take a deep breath before imparting some nugget of wisdom.

    "Essentially, no." Lewis ran a hand through his dark brown curls before continuing, "Catching pokemon in real life is, surprise surprise, harder than catching pokemon in the gameboy games. I mean if you guys had more than glanced over your pokedexes it does actually explain this in the novice guide. So yes you do have to weaken the pokemon, inflict status on it if you can as well, but the main thing I imagine you guys missed out on is the sweet spot."

    "Sweet spot?" Thomas and Ella said this near simultaneously. Their eyes met and quick grin flashed between them, before they turned their attention back to Lewis.

    "Yeah, it's the spot where a pokemon focuses their energy. Look it's probably easier if I just show you." With that Lewis pursed his lips and let out a long low whistle. A rustling in the bushes drew their eyes, and then a ratatta burst through the leaves into the clearing. It squinted in the bright June sunlight and glanced around, as though disoriented as to how it got there. Lewis threw the poke ball he had been holding onto the ground, and in a flash of white light a jynx appeared.

    "Airmid, Lovely Kiss!" Lewis gave the order as the pokemon was still materialising and before the ratatta had time to acclimatise itself to this new threat, the jynx was on it, planting a loud and wet kiss on its face. The ratattas eyes closed dreamily and its legs gave way, leaving it to fall to the ground with the air whistling slightly as it passed through the purple rodents over-large front teeth.

    "Now watch," Lewis said this while pulling a poke ball from his bag, "a ratatta focuses most of it's energy through its front teeth, which is what it uses for the majority of its attacks, so if you can get the poke ball to strike it there," he threw the ball, "you are far more likely to catch it than if it hits the back or stomach." The poke ball hit the dozing creatures front teeth and opened, enveloping the rat in bright light before snapping shut. It shook weakly from side to side, then remained motionless. The button on the ball glowed red briefly, signifying a catch, then returned to it's natural white. Ella released the breath she hadn't even realised she was holding, as Lewis returned his jynx to it's ball and stooped to pick up his new acquisition. He opened the ball, releasing the ratatta onto the dry ground, before taking the still open poke ball and pulling the two sections apart, cracking it along the hinge. He prodded the still sleeping rodent with his foot and it started awake. With no further prompting it shot off into the undergrowth, obviously keen to avoid anymore encounters with unfriendly faces.

    "All that and your not even going to keep it?" Arthur exclaimed.

    "No, I only caught it for a demonstration to you guys. I don't have time to train it, so it would probably end up in a lab back in Sinnoh, sitting in a poke ball on a shelf. Much better for it to roam around here." With this he picked up his pack, before saying, "Now if you guys don't have anymore questions we should probably get going. There will no doubt be some interesting pokemon deeper in the forest for you all to try your luck on." He turned and starting walking towards the edge of the clearing and down the path that would lead them, ultimately, to Pewter city. With a groan the three of them picked up their packs and stomped grudgingly after him.

    -----

    The stars glittered in the clear night sky. The fire crackled merrily, a pot bubbling above it. Ella, Thomas and Arthur had all let their pokemon out, and they were scampering about the clearing where they had made camp, along with Valerius. Thomas looked up from flicking through his pokedex and saw Ella tickling the budew she had caught earlier that day, familiarising herself with her new catch. She caught him looking and smiled, a warm and open smile he thought. Thomas thought about calling over Ardacos, his new scyjun, but he just looked so happy wrestling and playing with Lexy and Eburovic.

    "Do you guys have any idea how lucky you are, getting to start your journey the way you did?" Lewis' voice cut across the crackling of the fire.

    "How do you mean? We had to wait an extra 6 years because of all that nonsense with the Rockets back when we were 9! Where was the logic in that? And how in the world was that lucky?" Thomas replied hotly, with a frown on his face.

    "It was a pretty sensible move on the part of the government to be honest. Alot of the rank and file Rockets were kids who had gone off with a Pokemon as soon as they got their trainer license at the age of 10, and when they came to the realisation that they weren't going to be the next Champion coupled with the fact that most of them had only been to school long enough to acquire very basic reading and arithmetic skills and next to no useful education. Joining an organisation like the Rockets was the most obvious route for most of them. As for being lucky you guys get to start out your journey with a pokedex and a pokemon that has been bred specifically to be incredibly loyal to their first trainer. That puts you head and shoulders above basically any other newbie trainer in Kanto. I mean think of those kids who start out with a pidgey, who hates them for snatching them away from their family, who have no idea of the moves it knows or anything." Lewis responded blithely.

    "Okay sure," Ella stopped grooming her budew and joined in, "getting our pokemon from Professor Oak does give us a hand, but is the pokedex really so useful? I mean its all pretty basic information…"

    "What!" Lewis seemed shocked by this, "The pokedex lets you see your pokemon's health and your opponents hea-"

    A scream shattered the quiet tranquillity of the evening.

    "Stay here!" Lewis bellowed this at them, before sprinting into the trees in the direction of the scream with Valerius by his side. In seconds he had vanished in the tangled forest.

    Ella and Thomas jumped up, obviously they weren't going to stay here, Thomas thought disdainfully. They returned their pokemon to their poke balls, then Thomas called to Arthur to follow them before they dashed into the woods in the same direction Lewis had gone.

    As they stumbled and kicked their way through the under growth the screams and shouts grew louder, then stopped altogether. How the hell did Lewis get through here so fast, Thomas thought. By the time they had been walking for about ten minutes, they were in a far thicker section of forest then they had camped in and Thomas was beginning to think they would probably not find the source of the commotion. Ella stuck out her arms, hitting both him and Arthur in the chest, stopping them.

    "Listen." Ella breathed the word out. Thomas strained his ears and over the rustle of the forest, the cries of hoothoot and noctowl, he caught the murmur of voices. They crept forward and as they drew closer the voices became more distinct.

    "…doing here?" Thomas recognised Lewis speaking.

    "Well we had some business in these parts, and thought we would have some fun while we were here." A deep chocolaty female voice sneered.

    As they approached the clearing the voices were coming from Thomas saw Lewis standing opposite a beautiful looking woman, a similar age to Lewis, looking to be about eighteen, and a tall dark skinned man of an indeterminate age. Between them stood a gengar and a luxray on their side, facing Valerius. Across the clearing from where they were hiding a small group of Bug Catchers were crouched, huddled in fear, surrounding one of their number who was bleeding profusely from his right arm.

    "Now are you going to have your clumsy back up come out, or shall I just burn the forest around them." The tall man said this in a deep sonorous voice. Lewis cursed and called for them to come out.

    "How did you know we were there?" Arthur blurted this out.

    "Well, you made more noise than an exploud being beaten to death." The tall man spat this at them with obvious contempt.

    "Lewis, you have really surprised me." The beautiful woman said, "Bringing us some innocents to play with and a Guardian. You really are to kind."

    Without responding Lewis threw a poke ball forward, while Valerius spat a ball of dark, pulsing energy at the woman's gengar. "Get them out of here!" Lewis thundered, pointing at the Bug Catchers while jumping aside from a thunderbolt. They started to run across the clearing. Pausing to look back to the battle, Thomas saw that Valerius was making short work of the opposing gengar, while the luxray was firing shots at a circling white shape, a pokemon Thomas did not recognise, keeping it at bay. No matter how the white shape ducked and swerved it could not make it inside the wide protective circle of the luxray. Looking past the pokemon Thomas saw that Lewis' opponents were looking worried, knowing that they were fighting a losing battle.

    "Leave Mimi, you always knew you couldn't win. Adam isn't here to protect you anymore." Lewis said this in a surprisingly calm voice given the situation, "Cygfa, Aura Sphere!" A bright pulse of blue light sped from the mouth of the white shape and Thomas head began to pound, as though someone was pressing on it from all sides.

    He glanced across the clearing to where Arthur and Ella were trying to move the Bug Catchers into the forest, with little success. He ran across to them, each step making his head thump and increasing the pressure. His skin began to burn and itch, as though it were on fire. Glancing back to the battle, he saw the luxray running this way and that, trying to avoid the bright blue ball of light. Looking at it made his head pound more. Glancing at the pokemon's trainer, Thomas saw the tall man looking panicked. Then the tall man looked towards the group on the other side of the clearing and grinned. Turning from the battle the tall man drew back his arm and cast it forward, as though throwing something. Instead of something coming flying from his hand, bright yellow and red flames spilled forward, rushing towards the Bug Catchers, Arthur and Ella. Ella. Her name resounded around his head. Not sure what he was going to do, not sure if he would even make it on time, he was running. To get in the way. To stop the fire. To protect her.

    By some miracle he got there, in between her and the fire. His head pounded. The flames roared towards him. He threw up his hand and he felt a strange draining sensation inside of him. His arm burned. A flash of light. Then nothingness.

    -----

    Well theres chapter 2, reviews and criticism will be very much appreciated.
     
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