Chapter 1 – Tofu & Broccoli
Hero was facing the Gym at Striation City, an old, luxurious building. He was about to fight the first really tough battle of his journey. He was sweating. He was not sure if he would win, but he had faith in his beloved Pokémon, Tofu, a Tepig. He put his right hand on his pocket and touched its Poké Ball. He felt some kind of energy passing from the ball to his hand and he felt excited. He entered the Gym confidently.
A blond man wearing black glasses was right behind the door.
"Hello. Are you looking for the Gym Leader? I'm sorry, but he's not here. He left for a while."
What an anti-climax!
"I'll come back later. Thank you.' Hero said.
He decided to take a walk, so he left the Gym. He wandered on the streets, between tall buildings. Striation was a really big city to him, who grew up in Nuvema, a small town. As he passed by two men he heard one of them saying the word liberation[/i. It remembered him of the last day, at Accumula Town.
A strange man named Ghetsis, who wore king-like clothes and was escorted by other men who looked like knights, spoke to a small public at the town's square about Pokémon liberation. He said Pokémon wasn't happy with humans, therefore should be liberated. But Hero did not tend to agree with him. Tofu seemed to like him.
His thoughts stopped when he saw a guy with a Pansage on his shoulder, a Grass Type monkey. Hero walked excited toward him, who was in the other side of the street.
"Hello! I'm Hero and I challenge you to a Pokémon Battle." he said.
"Challenge accepted, Hero! I'm Mark!"
Hero and Mark faced each other.
"Go, Broccoli!" Mark said.
The Pansage jumped to the floor.
"Go, Tofu!" Hero said as he threw the PokéBall.
Tofu came out.
"Broccoli, Scratch!" said Mark.
Broccoli jumped on Tofu.
"Run, Tofu, run!" Hero said.
Before Tofu could run, Broccoli managed to hit it.
"Retreat and use Ember!"
Tofu retreated and spat a fire ball toward Broccoli, who closed his eyes and growled.
"Oh no! Are you ok, Broccoli?" Mark asked.
His Pokémon looked at him over its shoulder and nodded positively.
"All right! Use Leech Seed!" Mark ordered.
Broccoli picked a seed at the tip of its tails and threw it toward Tofu. As the seed touched it, vines grew from it and wrapped up around the Pokémon.
"Tofu, use Tackle!" Hero ordered.
Tofu ran toward Broccoli, but sowed difficulty to move its legs and breathed hard.
"The Leech Seed is drainig his energy!" Hero exclaimed.
"Broccoli, use Lick!" Mark instructed.
When Tofu got near, Broccoli put his tongue out, showing it was very big, and licked Tofu's chin. It raised Tofu's head and made it rolled backwards. Tofu was knocked out. Hero ran and picked it. He took the vines around it away. Tofu seemed alright.
Hero stood up and shook Mark's hand.
"It was an incredible battle. Congratulations!" Hero said.
"You were good too. Listen, are you going to battle at Striation's Gym?"
"Yes, it's the next place I'll go."
"So I might warn you. The Gym Leader always chooses a Pokémon strong against your starter. You will have difficulty to win if Tepig is the only Pokémon you have."
"Oh! I didn't know it. Thanks for telling me. But now I'm in real trouble 'cause Tofu really is the only Pokémon I have."
"I'll do something for you. You can borrow Broccoli. After you get you badge you give it back to me."
"Will you really do it? I don't know how to thank you!"
"Don't mind it."
XXX
Hero was in front of the Gym. There was a bold look in his eyes. He entered the building.
"Welcome! The Gym Leader is here again!" said the same blond man that talked to Hero earlier. "Do you see the three circles on the floor? If you're ready to challenge the Gym Leader, step on the one that represents the type of your starter Pokémon!"
Hero look attentively at the place. There was a balcony at a corner, a big red curtain hiding the back side of the room, and three circles on the floor in front of it. The left circle had a leaf drawn on it, the middle one had a fire and the right one had a drop. He stepped on the circle that had a fire, then a bell ringed. The curtains opened.
A man was standing at the other end of the room, that was wide and completely empty except by tables besides. The man had green hair and wore waiter clothes.
"Welcome to Striation Gym! I'm Cilan! What's your name, challenger?"
"My name is Hero and I came here to win a Badge!"
"You're very confident but we'll see if you're really good. In this Gym we have a personalized menu."
Another man, who had red hair, and a woman, who had blue hair, came out from behind of Cilan twisting and stopped. Both wore waiter and waitress clothes. While Cilan had a green bow tie, the man had a red one and the woman had a blue one.
"I'm Chili!" said the man.
"And I'm Cress!" said the woman.
"We are siblings!" Said Cilan. "Each one of us train different types of Pokémon. Who you'll fight depends on the type of Pokémon you chose as starter."
"Since you chose a Fire-Type, youll battle against me!" said Cress.
The siblings changed places and Cress stayed at the center.
"The battle will begins when you're ready!" Cress said.
"So let's begin right now!" Hero said.
"I like your excitation! Go, Lillipup!"
She threw the PokéBall and the dog Pokémon came out.
"Go! Tofu!" Hero shouted and threw his PokéBall.
Tofu came out.
"Tofu, use Ember!"
"Lillipup, dodge!"
Tofu threw fire from its mouth faster than Lillipup could avoid it. Lillipup began to burn.
"Come back, Lillipup!" Cress called it back.
"Lillipup is out of the battle. Now Cress has only one Pokémon left!" Cilan commented.
"Go, Panpour!" Cress said.
She threw the PokéBall and Panpour came out. It was a monkey like Pansage, but its fur was yellow and blue.
"You was great, Tofu!" Hero said, and called it back. "Go, Broccoli!"
"He has a Pansage?" Cilan said, surprised.
"Good, boy!" Chili said.
"What are you doing?" Cress asked, looking back at her brother. "You should support me!"
She puffed.
"I don't care what you have. I'm not gonna lose!" she said. "Work Up!"
Panpour was surrounded by a red light.
"Work Up, an attack that raises Attack and Special Attack. It doesn't matter, cause I'll defeat her before she can attack." Hero said, talking to himself like a weirdo. "Vine Whip, Broccoli!"
Vines came from the plan on Broccoli's head and whipped Panpour, that fell on the floor.
"Oh no!" Cress exclaimed. "Are you ok?"
Panpour got up.
"Yeah! Water Gun!" Cress said.
Panpour spat a jet of water that hit Broccoli.
"Right Broccoli, now use Vine Whip on its legs!" Hero ordered.
Broccoli's vines wrapped up around Panpour's legs and pulled the monkey, that fell.
"Don't get up! Just use Water Gun!" Cress ordered.
"Vine Whip!" Hero commanded.
Panpour just raised his head and spat a Water Gun, that hit Broccoli's face. After receiving it, Broccoli shook the water out of his head and used its vines. They trip through the air and hit Panpour. The water monkey tried to get up.
"You're strong Panpour! Resist!" Cress said.
Panpour put force on his arms, then let them fall beside him.
"Panpour was knocked out! Cress is out of usable Pokémon! Hero is the winner!" Cilan said.
Hero ran toward Broccoli and picked it up.
"You won! Yo won!" Hero said, shaking Broccoli, that rolled his eyes.
"Calm down! You're gonna let him dizzy!" said a voice behind Hero.
Hero turned around to see Mark smiling at him.
"Congratulations!" said the boy.
"I couldn't win without Broccoli!" Hero ponderated.
I COULDN'T WIN WITHOUT BROCCOLI
Chapter 2 – Pizza
Hero and Tofu were facing a Tympole.
"I'll get you! Tofu, Tackle him!" Hero said.
Tofu ran towards Tympole, who jumped to his side. Tofu jumped too, and slammed the Tympole. He fell defeated.
"Go, Heal Ball!" Hero said as he threw the Ball. It opened in the air and a red light came out of it, surrounded Tympole and sucked him to the Ball. It fell on the floor and shook itself, one, two times, then stopped.
Hero cheered and greeted Tofu, then called it back. Excited, he ran to get the Heal Ball. He sat on the ground and opened it.
Tympole came out. He stayed away from Hero, looking shyly at him.
"You don't need to be afraid. I want to make friend with you!" Hero said.
Tympole got closer. Hero put his hand upon him, but the Pokémon retreated.
"Ease, ease." Hero said.
He put his hand upon Tympole head and caressed it.
"See? I'm a friend."
A roar sounded.
"Ah… This is my stomach." Hero said, smiling halfheartedly. "I'd like to eat some pizza. I know! Your name is gonna be Pizza! Do you like it? You don't know?"
Hero heard steps. A gang of half a dozen men and women wearing strange clothes that mimicked medieval knight armors came from the trees that surrounded the place where Hero was.
"A trainer!" one of the men exclaimed when he saw Hero.
"Give away your Pokémon!" said a girl bossily.
"Give them away? Why should I do this?" Hero asked, sincerely confused and angry, which he expressed furrowing his brow.
"Because Pokémon are unhappy with humans!" said one of the guys.
"We, Team Plasma, will liberate all Pokémon from their trainers!" said another one. "Go, Timburr!"
He sent a PokéBall that opened, freeing a Timburr. The other Team Plasma members did the same, and now six Pokémon were preparing to attack Hero and Pizza.
"This isn't fair! Damn! This guys don't seem to fight fair!" Hero complained. "Let's go, Pizza!"
He picked Pizza up and began to run in the direction opposite Team Plasma. The Pokémon began to pursue them, as their trainers ordered. A Timburr threw the log he carried at Hero. It hit his right leg's calf. He felt an unbearable pain and heard a crack, then he lost balance and fell on the ground. He plagued. Pizza was hopping by his side. Hero got on his knees and looked back. The Pokémon were very close. He heard a shrilling sound and looked at Pizza. The tadpole was producing this sound shaking its cheeks. The sound was very annoying. It seemed to become stronger, then each time even stronger. A multitude of Tympoles were jumping out of the grass all around, all of them shaking their cheeks.
The Team Plasma Pokémon were running away. They seemed to be hurt by the sound, as if they were receiving a hundred of invisible punches. Hero saw them as they disappeared from sight. Finally, when they were gone, the Tympoles stopped making that sound. Pizza began to shine, and grow. It took the form of a Palpitoad, and the light around him faded away.
"Wow! You evolved! And that way you fought with your pals was amazing!" Hero said. "Ouch! My leg's hurting, I guess I broke it..."
Pizza lowered his midsection like he was going to do a reverence and raised Hero over his head. He began to run with Hero perched on it.
XXX
Pizza took Hero to Nacrene City, then to the hospital. The doctor put the boy's leg in a plaster cast. He couldn't continue his travel while he did not recover completely.
XXX
Watchog fell on the floor.
"Knock out! Hero wins!" said a man with a moustache.
"Well, well, you deserve this!" said Lenora, the Nacrene Gym Leader, walking toward Hero handing him a badge that looked like a book spine. "This is the Basic Badge."
Hero picked it.
"Thank you! This is my second badge. And the first I won thanks to Pizza! OOPS!"
He lost balance though he was using crutches and fell with his back on the floor.
"I guess I better stay sat down through the rest of my weeks here." he stated, on the floor.
