Avon and Marcus - Your unusual adventure

[Arctic Master]

This submission is rated R for some of it's violence and blood. The cursing is censored out, but still can be translated. If you're a minority, under 16 at the least, please do NOT read this story. This is a forewarning.

All comments will be on the second post.

Chapter 1: The beginning of a new, and dangerous journey


In a room of an ordinary, middle-classed home, a black, digital alarm clock was buzzing, loudly, to wake up an average kid, in his bed. The light from the window was also shining down on him; all the elements against the kid, who was trying to turn over and go back to sleep. The kid reached for his alarm clock on his nightstand, having tried to find the "snooze" button. He gave up and ended up throwing the alarm at the wall, breaking it, but having stopped the racket being made. He rolled over, to go back to sleep, but then sprang up, almost out of his bed; having remembered that that day was an important day, for him. He would be getting his first Pokémon.

"Wha- I'm up! I'm up!" The kid grunted, loudly, having pulled himself up, from his lying down position, to sit up on his bed.

The kid was only fourteen-years old, a late bloomer considering what year he's finally getting his first Pokémon; had been waiting for this day for years. He had to finish up middle school, before he could set off for this day.

Being that he just woke up, his hair was a mess and in need of a brush. His brown eyes blinked, tiredly, as they adjusted to the new day. He was in his white T-shirt, and underwear, as he pulled off his covers, to place his feet on the floor. Though, it wasn't floor he had been stepping on.

He blinks twice, to adjust his eyes to the new morning, and to observe what was in his junky room. There were clothes everywhere. There was so much, the floor was buried from all the linen, cotton, polyester and all other kinds of fabrics the clothes were made of. Though, being lazy, he used this as his advantage.

Being partially awake at the time, he slipped on his dark blue jeans he had been stepping on, zipped up his fly and pulled himself up. He took off some of the socks that were hanging on the antenna of his TV and put them on. At the foot of his bed, was the kid's hamper; which the kid then dug into, for his shirt. After a few seconds of searching, he pulled out his army fatigued shirt, with the word "ARMY" imprinted on the front. He put that on, knowing he didn't match, but didn't care; the excitement of getting his first Pokémon now getting to him.

The kid figured he needed something to cover up his mismatching clothes, and spotted his jacket, hanging from the doorknob. He quickly snatched the jacket from the doorknob, threw it up and then let gravity take hold, as he slipped in from the sleeves. He was nearly completely dressed, but saw that his room was messy, as it always was. As a last token of appreciation, for his step-parents, he took all of his clothes and shoved it in the hamper, clearly overflowing it, some of the clothes falling down, near the hamper. The room looked much neater, but the rug looked like it needed a vacuum. The kid shrugs, figuring his step-parents would do that later, when he left.

"At least they can see my floor and dresser top..." the kid said to himself. He shrugged, caring less; he getting his first Pokémon was all he really cared about.

As he exited his room, he jumped into his shoes, which were at the foot of his bedroom door, and tied them. He wandered through the hallways and reached his living room, he saw his mother, knitting, while the father was reading the newspaper. Both of them were by the un-lit fireplace, while the light from the window in front of them seeped through the window shutters. Arctic couldn't get a clear view of them, being that their large chairs were blocking their appearances but he could see his blue, three-pocketed bag, resting near the front door. He was about to go get it but had, swiftly, turned back around at the corner, avoiding his stepmother's peripheral vision, as she turned, slightly, to see who it was.

Not wanting to be spotted, by his parents, the kid stopped to plot. I don't want any of that "We'll miss you" crap, or "Make me proud, son" speeches. I just wanna get the heck outta here! the kid thought.

He looked at his two stepparents, who still appeared to be unwary of their step-son's presence. The kid had planned to make a run for it. He took some deep breaths, as he counted in his head when to go, then ran for the door. He unlocked the lock, then turned the deadbolt over and pulled at the knob with a quick turn; though the door only cracked a little bit, to his freedom, being that the chain was on. He had overlooked the chain on the door, and before he could close the door and pull it off, he knew it was too late.

His stepmother hadn't had to say a word, but merely cleared her throat, having demanded attention. The kid stopped trying to make a hasty getaway, as he loosened his grip on the doorknob. He whimpered like a dog, a bit, and then went back to kiss his stepmother and manly hug his stepfather, good-bye for the time being. The kid grabbed his bag and stepped out the door, closing it behind him, and then snapped his fingers, as he stepped down from his front porch. Not like he could've avoided them, anyway. They knew him all too well.

*********

The kid took his time, as he headed for the laboratory where inexperienced Pokémon for beginner trainers were being distributed. He knew he had plenty of time to get there, being that he turned his alarm on, a good half-hour early; having hoped that he'd get up, before his parents did. As he walked down the road, going down a familiar road with the same houses, big and small, some with square or triangular roofs, others with narrow or wide walkways to their front porches; the kid looks for a certain house.

When he found the house, he turned to it and observed it, as if he had never seen it before. It was larger than most of the houses around, though that being because it was a two-family, two story house. It was a brown color, though a fresh coat of paint was recently put on it. A window was broken on the first floor but that was recently done yesterday, with a baseball.

Though, as the kid waits for his friend, a clatter arose, from the side of the house. Something was going through the garbage cans, as a few of them were overturned and a small, odd, dark blue Pokémon, of a sort, was inside one of the overturned garbage cans, consuming the garbage. The kid could tell who and what it was and who it belonged to, being that that wasn't the first time it had happened.

"Marcus! Munchlax is eating through the garbage!" the kid shouted, to the house. Someone had heard him, and a male's voice shouted back.

"Again?! Munchlax! Get in here! You know not to eat in there!" the voice shouted back.

The Pokémon, obedient to his master, pulled himself out, and revealed himself into the light. It was as small as it looked, being only a measly two feet high, but still a bit chubby. It had two long, but stubby ears, at the very top of its head, with a very round face. Its face was half the color dark blue and the other half, from it's bottom jaw, which two fangs were visible from the bottom, around it's entire lower half of it's head, yellow, which some was also on it's short, stubby neck and in a "drop" shape, on it's chest. The rest of his body, its five-fingered hands and short arms included, was a dark blue, the same color as the top of his head; all except his feet, which were covered by his spiked fur, at the bottom, is also yellow, with three claws for toes.

As it pulled itself out of the garbage can, it let out a large burp, being filled, as it tried to climb back into the window it climbed out of, by stacking up some crates, to level it up to the window. It appeared to be stuck, as it goes through the window, for a minute, then it squeezes through with a "pop" noise, and finally, a thud.

There was a bit of angry shouting, at the kid named Marcus, and at his Munchlax, though both of them were sent out. It was okay, though; they were glad to leave. Marcus was, roughly, the other kid's height and age. He was slightly bigger than the kid, though by width, not by height. Marcus had his long, dyed-green hair in a ponytail, which was originally brown, though his eyes were a lighter shade of green. He appeared to be ready to become a trainer, being that he was wearing a Pokéball holster shirt, over his white T-shirt; or at least he had a place to put all of his Pokéballs. Marcus also wore a pair of brown khaki cargo shorts, which covered more than half of his shin; and below that, on Marcus' feet, he wears a pair of black sneakers, though both sneakers had a red orb on the back of each shoe. Though, apart from the Pokégear, he had on a set of fighting grips, the knuckles of them tipped with leather to make his punches do more damage.

"Ugh..." Marcus groaned, having had probably just woke up and threw on his clothes, "Hello, Avon."

Avon, the kid that had been waiting, and gone through a stunt or two, to try to get past his step-parents, was his name. He's a beginner trainer, looking forward to his first win, and long awaited adventure. And while his straight, stern face was saying otherwise at the time, he had that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. What he didn't know was that what strange things would hit him, next.

Bonk! "Ow!" Avon shouted, being hit over the head, with a strange object. He picks up the metal contraption, that was probably some little kid's bike, "What the hell is this thing?" he asked.

"Who knows?" Marcus said. Avon handed it over to Marcus, who he handed it over to Munchlax, who he handed it over to his stomach. "Crap, I think he might be pooping metal for a week."

*******

"Any ideas on what you might be picking for a starter?" Marcus asked Avon, as the two were on their way down the winding roads to the Pokémon laboratory. The two had already reached the top of a hill, the beige-colored road winding into a descent from a hill, into a thin forest.

"Not a clue. Though, being that we'll both be there early, we can choose whoever we want," Avon said.

"Well, I know I'm getting Charmander."

"But don't you already have a Pokémon? Your Munchlax can be your starter, right?"

"And miss out on an opportunity to get a free Pokémon? I think not!" Munchlax yawns, lazily, as it walked by Marcus' side.

"... Know what? Good point!" Avon raised both of his eyebrows, in shock. Times like those that made him wish he had gotten an egg, when he was seven, and it hatched into something cool. But no, that happened to Marcus, not him. Avon hoped to catch all of his Pokémon, anyway; apart from his first one. He was probably going to pick Squirtle, anyway, being that it was close to his favorite type; that being Ice.

After many winding roads, forests and trees aplenty, the two made it to the laboratory. It was a large, pink colored building, with several windows on the front, a red roof on the top of the building and a thin, yellow windmill, on a white base behind the building. The building was led into welcome with a gray stepping path that was fenced off with a metal gate that was open to new trainers, but only on the road. The greenery wasn't fenced off, on the right side of the building, though was some height off the ground by a cliff, but from the left, the greenery was covered with many bushes and trees, that almost appeared to cover up the sight of the entrance; or at least from where Avon and Marcus approached it.

As they reached the laboratory, they were early, but not early enough. A black, stuck up spiky-haired, tough-looking kid was waiting at the front gates. The guy was leaning back on the gates, wearing a red vest, opened to reveal his muscles; arms crossed, as if he was waiting for the two to arrive. As Avon and Marcus approached the laboratory gates, the bully figure decided to confront them.

"Hey, chumps!" said the kid, "I'm only gonna warn ya once. Once we get in, I'm choosing first."

"On what ground?" Avon asked, "So what if you got here first! Go harass minorities, or something."

"Shut up kid. You're pushing it."

"H-hey! Hey!" called an old man's voice, "There's no need for fighting around here!"

Approaching the road, arms waving by his sides, was a gray-haired Professor of the laboratory. He had on a sheepish smile, quickly approaching the gate and opening it, as he felt that conflict was arising if things weren't broken up.

"Oh shut it, Grandpa!" Jason shouted back.

The old man's voice turned from sheepish to serious, "Now hold it, young man. You should treat your elders with some more respect."

The tough guy scoffed. "Whatever, pops." The kid turned to Avon and Marcus, "As for you two. Big mouth and Knuckles over there."

"We have names, dipstick." Marcus back sassed.

"Whatever. If you pick a fight with me again, I warn you now; ol' timer, there, won't save you..."

The Professor cleared his throat, placing one of his hands in the pockets of his white lab coat, "I'm right here, and I can hear you..." the small group walked up the road, toward the laboratory, "I suppose we should get on with the introductions..."

"I'll go first." Marcus said, "Marcus Lamech, previous resident of Johto, but moved to Kanto, about a few years ago. These gloves are not for show."

"Avon Lorain, adopted resident of Kanto," Avon stated rubbing the back of his neck, "I know the region pretty well..."

"Jason Bullard." The bully kid said, "Pick a fight with me and you won't feel your legs afterwards."

"Alright. Marcus, Avon, Jason. I am Professor Oak. I study Pokémon as a profession. People often refer to me as the Po-"

"Okay, that's enough rambling, grandpa!" Jason rudely interrupted.

"... Well, if we may go on..."

The three enter the laboratory and into the lab area. Meanwhile, Munchlax scampered off on his own somewhere and found himself in the break room. There were a few scientists there on break, with some sandwiches and a few goodies on their plates. Munchlax found the opportunity, stole whatever he could get his hands on and stuff into his stomach. The scientists who were on break double-took to their plates, blinking to the disappearance of their food.

Back with Avon and Marcus, the small group was lead to a glass container that opened up at the push of a button.

"Okay, to the three of you, there are the three starter Pokémon; Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur. You may each take only ONE! No being greedy, Jason."

"Oh pipe down, ol' timer! I already know what I want!" Jason shouted at Prof. Oak. He saw what Avon was going for then side-bumped him out of the way, knocking down both him and Marcus in one bump. He swiped the Pokémon that he saw Avon was going for and, as a friendly gesture, showed the turtle Pokémon to Professor Oak. "Say, Oak, I want this one."

"W-what?! But I was gonna get that one!" Avon shouted, shocked.

"Well, at least he stopped calling me those old names..." Oak muttered. He spoke louder, for Jason to hear. "Um, yes, okay. I suppose you can have it."

"Oh come on!!" Avon bellowed, shoulder-tackling Jason, to take his spot in front of Oak. "You saw me about to take that one!"

"Sorry, Avon, looks like you'll have to take another one..."

"But, Marcus is going for Charmander. That means..."

Professor Oak shut his eyes, and made a pouting gesture, "Looks like you'll have to take Bulbasaur."

Avon slumped down, on his back and groaned. He could hear Jason laughing as he walked out the front door. He muttered a curse to Jason, under his breath, as he took Bulbasaur.

"Hmm... Jason walked out so quickly, he forgot his Pokédex and Pokéballs..."

"Hey, we can split 'em, right?" Marcus asked.

"Hmm... Yeah, I'm su-"

Before he could finish his sentence, another kid had burst in, out of breath. It wasn't Jason, being that his green hair, clearly, gave him away and he was packed to the teeth with supplies for his journey. He threw his supplies down, on the side, as he nearly stumbled down the stairs, trying to speak.

"Sor... ry!" the kid huffed, "I... Sorta... slept in..."

"Wow, do I pity you, kid..." Marcus said, "Some jerk just took the last Pokémon."

"What?!" the green haired kid asked, in shock. After letting it sink in, for a second or two, he groaned.

"Dude, if you want, you can have my Bulbasaur..." Avon said, offering the ball to the green-haired kid.

As the kid saw the ball his enthusiastic blue eyes lit up with a twinkle. "Really?"

Avon withdrew the ball from the kid's reach, "Hell no! Are you crazy?! This is my only means of defense! Sorry, dude, but it looks like you'll have to get your own first Pokémon. As I said, sorry," Avon apologized.

"The early bird gets the worm, or in this case, the Pokémon." Prof. Oak said, making that pout again.

The green-hair kid sighed. "I guess that's okay, I suppose."

"Say, kid, who are you?" asked Marcus.

"Me? I'm Jimmy Polka, the next best Pokémon Trainer!" the green-haired kid, replied.

A few stifled snickers were heard from both Marcus and Avon, as they were refraining themselves from laughing at Jimmy's last name.

"Well, I can't offer you a first Pokémon, but here," Prof. Oak handed Jimmy Jason's Pokéballs and Pokédex, "Take these. You may need them."

"Thank you, sir! I promise! I'll prove all of Pallet town that I'll be the bestest Pokémon trainer ever!" Jimmy said, picking up his stuff and heading out the door. As he does, Avon and Marcus couldn't hold it in any longer and had burst into laughter.

"His last name is Polka!" they both said, in unison.

"What's the rest of it? Polka-dot?" Avon asked. They laughed even harder. Even Prof. Oak managed a chuckle or two.

"Here, you two. Your Pokédexes and Pokéballs," Oak said, then had burst another chuckle, starting to get the joke and laughing mid-sentence, "Now run along," Oak had broken into laugher again, "you two. I have much work to do-hoo-hoo!" Oak turned over and started laughing, "He said "Polka-dot!" Hee-hee-hee!"

The two walked out, still laughing at the Polka-dot joke, not even noticing Munchlax rejoining Marcus at his side.

*********

The "Polka-dot" joke ran on, for almost half the whole walk toward Viridian. Half being that an inspiring new trainer was hurrying down the road behind them.

"H-hey! Wait!" shouted a familiar voice. It was Jimmy again.

"Oh look, it's Polka-do-I mean Jimmy! Yes! Jimmy!" Avon said, correcting himself, still chuckling.

"Hey, I may not have gotten a real starter, like you guys, but I do have my first Pokémon!" Jimmy said. He was holding a Pokéball, in his right hand, thrusting it out to the two boys.

"So, what? Want a battle or something?" Avon had raised an eyebrow.

"Nah, I'm heading down the road to train this little guy! When I feel we've got enough experience, we'll challenge you!" Jimmy ran off toward Viridian.

"Poor kid. It'd be a shame if he always got whupped," Avon said.

"Yeah, I mean..." Marcus started, and then snickered some more, "if his last name wasn't bad enough to tease, imagine if he was just a loser."

Avon nodded. "That would sure blow..."


The two young trainers continue en route to Viridian city. As they pass through the forests and tall grass, they become alert to a sound nearby.

"What was that?" Avon asked, alert to the sound.

"Probably a wild Pokémon," Marcus replied, almost as if he had a good feeling what was going on, "Or a stalker, in the worst case."

Avon was getting anxious, "Let's pray it's not a stalker..."

"It doesn't matter that much to me, anyway..."

As soon as Marcus finished his sentence, a stick-shaped object is hurled toward Avon from the bushes. Avon turned to the object and flinched, but Marcus caught the object and gave it a flick at the end, which revealed the object to be a Chinese fan.

Avon opened his eyes, in shock, "What the hell?!" Avon yelled.

Marcus wasn't fazed. "Cassandra!" he called.

"Cassandra?" Avon asked, now confused.

Out of the bushes appeared a blue haired girl, her hair in long pigtails. Being Chinese inspired, she wore an orange/red dress, wearing wooden shoes called getas. The girl, Cassandra, appeared as gentle as a butterfly, as she walked out of the bushes.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked, surprised to how Marcus had realized who attacked so quickly.

"'Cause I got used to having a stalker." Marcus replied.

Cassandra scrunched her face, "I'm not a stalker! I'm your fiancée!" she replied.

Avon nearly choked on Cassandra's comment, "Fiancée?!" he gave a widened-eye look toward Marcus, "You're not even old enough to marry, yet!" he yelled.

"Last I recall, fiancées get married when they come of age or somethin'," Marcus said, "Anyway, Cassandra, are you kidding or telling the truth?"

Cassandra smirked, smugly, "Didn't we already discuss this? My family bribed yours into getting us engaged."

"And you want me to marry you after you almost killed..." Marcus stopped, to correct himself, "Err... maybe not killed, but hurt my friend, here?" He gestured over to Avon, who started sweating bullets.

"Yes. Yes I do." She replied, plainly. She smiled afterward.

Avon was now nerve-wracked. His eyes widened until he couldn't anymore, and his pupils shrank. He could only mutter his speech, at the girl's current presence. "We'd better get the f*** outta here..." Avon muttered.

Marcus turned to Avon and waved at him, "I'll catch up in a second, Avon." He said, confidently.

"Alright. Now if you'll excuse me..." Avon reared up and then fled, as if hell was an inch away.

Cassandra laughed, "HA! Your friend is a coward for leaving. But now back to our issue. Accept your fate and let's be together like boyfriend and girlfriend, Marcus."

"He's not a coward. He's just..." Marcus stopped to find the right word, "Normal. Look, Cassandra, let me be. And even if I do accept you, what good will that do? We're both fourteen, we need to be like seventeen or eighteen to get engaged."

Cassandra's appearance turned from graceful to wicked, as she heard those words come from Marcus' mouth, "I want you by my side, now and always, like husband and wife."

Meanwhile, Avon had stopped, after getting a good distance away from the two. He turned to see Cassandra and Marcus and knew that Marcus wouldn't accept her terms. He took out his Pokéball and looked at it. Realizing that Marcus could be attacked, just as he was, he ran back, knowing how to stop the argument.

"Cassandra," Marcus said, seeing how vicious she was getting, "I just started my journey, I don't want to start my journey by fighting you. So just leave me be and we can settle this later."

Anger was greatly shown on Cassandra's face, as she took out an umbrella made of bamboo and rice paper, "I'm tired of waiting! I'll force you into being my boyfriend!" she charged in, ready to strike Marcus with the bamboo umbrella.

As she drew in for the attack on Marcus, something unexpected happened. A round object of red and white was thrown from the side of her and made hard, direct contact with her face, knocking her aside and rolling onto the ground. She was in a daze, trying to recover from the blow, as the object clicked as it hit the ground, at Marcus' feet. It was a Pokéball.

The thrower was Avon, having sensed the incoming conflict and attacked Cassandra, in Marcus' defense. Marcus looked at the ball and then saw who threw it.

"Nice timing man," he commented.

"Heheh," Avon chuckled. He picked up his Pokéball and returned it to it's place on it's belt, "Now let's beat it, before she recovers."

"Amen to that." Marcus replied.


**********

 

[Arctic Master]

The two took off, as fast as they could, to get as far away from the dazed Cassandra as they possibly could. They gave Cassandra the slip, but their troubles were just beginning. As the two stopped feeling that they got away, Avon bent over, exhausted.

"Phew..." Avon gasped, out of breath, "I think... we lost her..."

"For now at least..." Marcus said, not as tired as Avon.

"Let's hope that no other crazy stalkers are on our tail..."

"Eh... Yeah, sure," Marcus took a look around.

Avon was surprised of Marcus' comment, "What do you mean by that?"

Marcus sighed. He felt he had to come clean now. "Let's just say I wasn't your average Joe back when I was in Sinnoh or Johto..."

Avon grimaced. "Please, don't tell me you have possible crazy people, like Cassandra, after you..."

Marcus gave Avon a stern look, "Well I've met people ten times worse then Cassandra."

Avon stood up, to continue walking, "You don't say..." Avon was still grimacing.

"I'll take responsibility if something happens." Marcus said.

"Then..." Avon gulped, "Let's hope nothing happens, then..." Avon's eyes widened, "For both of our sakes..."

Marcus nodded, "So let's continue on walking."

The duo continues their quest, Munchlax eagerly at Marcus' side. As they get midway toward Viridian city, Marcus sensed something and heard something else to boot. Having a good idea who it could've been, he held out his hand.

"Stop." Marcus said, plainly. Avon stopped, midway into his step; having grunted as he had stopped. "I sense something wrong, Avon."

Avon backed up a bit. "Oh joy. Can't we get to Viridian, without the risk of getting attacked by some whacko?"

"Not like it's my fault dude." Marcus said, glaring back at Avon.

"I ain't blamin' ya, just sayin'-" Avon stopped, mid-sentence, something having caught his eye in his peripheral vision. Something had shifted in the bushes, along side of them and he had a sudden sense of danger.

"Something happen Avon?" Marcus asked.

Avon could barely speak at first, overcome by the danger. Instead, he pointed toward where he saw the being pass by. "I heard that thing you were possibly talking about... Shuffling through the grass back there..." Avon said, shallowly.

Marcus turned to his Munchlax, "Munchlax, stay alert and tackle anything that jumps or moves out of the woods and/or bushes."

Avon regained his nerve, and called out his only Pokémon, Bulbasaur, "Stay alert..." Avon uttered, scared out of his wits. The Pokémon, Bulbasaur replied by saying his name, the only words it could speak, but agreeing to Avon's command.

Marcus followed up Avon's example and called out his new orange Lizard Pokémon with a flaming tail tip, Charmander, "Charmander, stay close to Munchlax and use Ember on anything that tries to hurt us."

Munchlax and Charmander both nod, in agreement. All of the Pokémon, as well as both of the trainers, were diligently on the alert, looking out for the sudden movements of the possible attacker.

As things seemed to be calming down, something jumped out of the bushes, shouting in a startling fashion, "Good night, Marcus!" the man shouted, jumping out of the bushes as two katanas were brandished in his hands, ready to strike down. Currently, in his way were both Avon and Marcus.

Avon, with much shock, followed his first reaction to jump out of harm's way, "Oh s***!" He cried as he evaded the blow.

"Crud!" Marcus cried, as he dove out of harm's way as well, though rolled back onto his feet. The katana clashed with the ground, nearly hitting Avon's Bulbasaur.

Avon made heavy contact with the ground, as he jumped out of the way. He groaned as he recovered from the fall, "Crud. First it was a crazy girl, now it's a psychopath with a katana. What's next?" Avon complained.

Marcus stood up, "Don't complain."

The two tried to get a good look at the man, but he charged, blindly, at Marcus, with an intention to kill, "Die, Marcus Lamech!" he shouted, swinging his blades madly. Marcus made an attempt to dodge the blows and almost had all of them, except for the final strike, which nailed him good on the torso. Marcus cringed from the pain, and backed away, holding where he was hit as the blood seeped through his hand.

The mysterious man jumped back into his position, the light finally hitting him enough to be seen. He was quite tall, about a foot or two taller than Marcus. He had black, neatly cut hair that outgrew enough to completely cover his right eye. His left eye was black and bloodshot, as he stared at Marcus, with a lust for his blood. Most of his attire was covered by a large, brown trench coat, though the lower sleeves of his pants that were still visible was a sliver color, with armor protected black shoes. The man had stanched back into his place, ready to fight some more. "You've become weaker, Lamech."

"How do you know my name, you...?" Marcus stopped, staggering from the pain, though goes on to shouting his words, "you... you psychopathic katana swinging bastard?!"

The man straightened up, from his stance, "I'll say it only once. My name is Nightmare, but you may have known me as Chase Raghnall."

"Chase? That name sounds familiar, but I don't remember..." Marcus said, trying to ponder who this man was.

The man opened his trench coat, revealing his true appearance as he removed it. An iron glove on his right hand and several pieces of armor cover his torso, Chinese-styled armor; compared to that of samurai armor. All of this above his brown leather shirt, which was his first layer of clothing. Along side of the trench coat were all kinds of swords and weaponry in Nightmare's arsenal. Avon, mistaking the removing of Nightmare's trench coat as a flasher attempt, covered his eyes.

"Oh god!" Avon cried out, shielding his eyes from what he thought was the horror.

Marcus, on the other hand, recognized all of the equipment in Nightmare's trench coat. "You're... a martial artist of sorts? A warrior... a sword wielding..." Then, it hit Marcus, to who Nightmare was, "Wait... Are you that crazy sword-wielding guy from the Johto Martial Arts tournament?"

Nightmare smirked, "Glad you finally remembered me. But since you took a while to remember, I'll just let you suffer by killing your friend here." He fazed to Avon, "Are you afraid of death?"

Marcus realized what Nightmare was doing. "Not that stupid question! Avon, say no! Those who fear death die earlier than those who don't!"

Of course, Avon was too terror stricken to listen to Marcus, and was surprised of Nightmare's question, "What, are you nuts?! Of course, you crazy psychopath!" Avon shouted.

Marcus cringed, though only to Avon planning his own funeral, "Too late..."

Avon turned to Marcus, still with a crazed look on his face, "Well, 'scuse me for living!!" Avon shouted back.

"I see..." Nightmare replied, a sadistic grin sneaking across his face, "You should have taken your friend's advice. No matter..." He dropped his katana and removed several shuriken and a small sword from his trench coat. The sadistic grin only got wider, "Dance, piggy, dance!!" he shouted, as he started throwing the stars at Avon's feet, in a fashion to make him appear to dance. Avon was jumping up and down, for dear life.

"Geez, man!!" Avon shouted, as he jumped.

"Oh not that old fighting style!" Marcus shouted. He went for Nightmare, to stop him, but was blocked off by a large, blue land shark of sorts which blocked Marcus's path with it's fin-like arms. Marcus recognized the Pokémon right away, as a cry of frustration was found in his voice, "Oh come on!!! A Gabite! That's just not fair!" The Dragon Pokémon, Gabite, cried out his name before unleashing a powerful beam from it's mouth. The large beam had hit Marcus and knocked him back, pressed into a tree trunk. Marcus grunted, as he tried to pull himself together.

Avon, realizing this guy was playing for keeps, knew that he was on his own now. And he found his only window of opportunity as Nightmare ran out of shuriken to throw at Avon.

"Oh, no more shuriken to throw at the piggy..." Nightmare said, then switching to attack with his short sword, "Any last words?"

Avon knew this was his chance, "Yeah. Just three..." Avon quickly turned to Bulbasaur," Bulbasaur, Razor leaf!" He cried.

Bulbasaur summoned a few sharp leaves from the bulb on it's back and then launched them toward Nightmare. As they came to him, Nightmare slashed at them, with his sword, chopping them into tiny pieces.

"Gabite! Draco Meteor!" Nightmare firmly commanded. Gabite summoned a meteor shower to attack Bulbasaur.

Avon growled, as the meteors approached, "Bulbasaur, Growl! Then use Tackle!"

Bulbasaur growled in an endearing way, making Gabite slightly flustered. The power of Draco Meteor was lowered a bit but still hit Bulbasaur, almost full strength. Bulbasaur, weak but with an unbreakable spirit, finished his command by charging in and tackling Gabite. Unsurprisingly, Gabite was barely grazed by the attack.

"Your Bulbasaur survived Draco Meteor? Impressive..." Nightmare was impressed. Especially being that the Bulbasaur was inexperienced. Though, he knew this was now the time to finish it, "Gabite use Dragon Claw, full power!"

Bulbasaur fled from the Dragon claw, narrowly evading the attack, as it clashed within the ground. Avon turned to Marcus, who was recovering, starting to panic that he couldn't hold back Nightmare any longer, "A little help here?!" Avon shouted, then turning to Bulbasaur, for another command, "Bulbasaur, Razor leaf again!"

Knowing it couldn't tackle Gabite, Bulbasaur went for it's other available target; Nightmare. It climbed up Gabite's arm and jumped into the air, forming a whirlwind of sharp leaves aimed at Nightmare. To his surprise, Gabite recovered quickly, and batted Bulbasaur aside. Bulbasaur tumbled onto the ground, temporarily out of commission. Nightmare slashed up the leaves, again, rendering the attack useless.

Marcus was still taking a bit to recover, but his Pokémon were still in action, "Munchlax, jump in to take the attack. Charmander... use scratch." Marcus muttered. Charmander ran toward Gabite, scratching madly at it, until it was batted aside, as of Bulbasaur. Munchlax gave Marcus as skeptical look, with the thought that his trainer possibly hated him. Marcus nodded, "As if this isn't suicide, no matter what we do... Fine... Use Metronome." Munchlax wagged its fingers, as it tweaked it's brain to use a move it didn't know.

Bulbasaur stood up, to attack again, gritting it's teeth to bear with the pain of being pushed around and taking a Draco meteor attack. Gabite approached it, ready to finish it with another Dragon Claw, but then was hit by an icy beam, coming from Munchlax. The attack was extremely powerful, but not enough to KO Gabite. It growled, as it looked toward it's new target, Munchlax.

"Tackle Gabite, until you faint..." Marcus commanded. Munchlax groaned, and then charged in for some tackles. Gabite swung and swung, though Munchlax was small and quick, managing a tackle or two before Gabite slammed him onto the ground.

Meanwhile, Nightmare was just about fed up with the nonsense, "I'm tired of this. Prepare to die!" Nightmare dropped his sword and kicked up two of his katanas, from his arsenal trench coat. He charged for Avon, swinging his swords, who, naturally, ran for his life, yet again. "Get back here!" Nightmare shouted.

As Avon was being chased, Marcus recovered though tried to talk himself into remembering how he fought. "Ugh... what I would do to remember my old fighting styles..." Marcus grunted, "I really have gotten stale... but come on... I need to remember or else we're screwed." Marcus went deep into thought, for a few seconds, as his fighting skills came back to him in a flash, "Bingo."

Marcus moved into the clearing, to catch Nightmare's attention from Avon, "Nightmare, this fight is between you and me. So let's settle it like so." Marcus said, sternly and with power in his voice.

Avon continues to get out of Nightmare's swinging range, as Nightmare, himself, stopped, at Marcus' call, "Well, I suppose it's not fun chasing after the weak. But, then again, you're also weak!" Nightmare taunted.

Avon then noticed that Nightmare wasn't chasing him anymore and went to recover his injured Pokémon. Gabite looked over to see Avon recovering Bulbasaur and went to attack him. Munchlax, out of Gabite's grip, picked himself up and then wagged his fingers, using Metronome again. Gabite was ready to attack Avon, when he was struck by a Hyper Beam, himself. Gabite flinched and then fell out in front of Avon, the wind knocked out of him. Munchlax huffed, exhausted but proud of his achievement.

Meanwhile, Nightmare charged toward Marcus, raising his katanas to attack. However, Marcus swayed from the blows and delivered a powerful uppercut with his left. Nightmare turned down, having felt it but still chugging away. He had thrust his sword into Marcus, impaling him on his very side.

"You bastard! Gah..." Marcus grunted, his vision getting hazy from the loss of blood, "... of all the times... Time to go cheap." Marcus then kicked up, hitting Nightmare in his manhood.

"Brutal!" Avon shouted, watching from the sidelines.

However, to Marcus' surprise and Avon's, Nightmare hadn't even flinched. "I've gotten hit there oh so many times I've actually gotten used to it. Now back to my fun."

Nightmare then uses his other sword, in an attempt to cut off Marcus' head. In a last ditch effort, he pulled back, out of the sword impaling him, and out of the fatality reach of the slash of Nightmare's sword as he fell back. He escaped with a cut on the lower area of his cheek, across to the bottom of his chin.

Nightmare was surprised, as Marcus got back up, wounded but still fighting, "So, you're not as weak as I thought..."

Marcus hopped back up, to get a short break, but it was quickly cut short by another one of Nightmare's vertical slashes, "Would it kill ya to try and help me Avon?" he shouted toward Avon, having a bit of difficulty evading Nightmare's vicious attacks.

"Bulbasaur's tired, for Christ's sake! What do you want me to do? Fight him myself?!" Avon asked, shouting back.

"Yes! Or distract him somehow!"

Avon sighed. "You're trying to get me killed..." Avon was about to put down Bulbasaur, to go help Marcus, but Nightmare pointed one of his blades towards Avon, stopping him in his tracks before he got anywhere near the fight.

"You'd better run away kid, but either way you're both death. Once I set my eyes on my victims, I never quit on killing them."

At the same time, Marcus was shouting at Avon, "Are you spilling blood? Did you almost get decapitated?" Marcus asked, getting agitated, "No... So, give me a hand here man! I ain't Jesus, for God's sake!" Marcus then went back to dodging Nightmare's attacks, to which he started attacking again.

Avon growled, lowly, "Fine." Avon placed Bulbasaur down and then picked up the largest rock he could with his strength. Using the rest of his strength, he hurled it at Nightmare's back.

As the rock made contact with Nightmare, he flinched, for the first time, after taking a hit, "That hurt..." he groaned. He turned his head, slowly, toward Avon, his eyes even more bloodshot than before, "I'll make you pay for that!"

As he said that, Avon charged toward Nightmare, hitting him across the face with his bag, which was heavy due to all the things that his step-parents had packed for him. Nightmare stumbled, dazed from the hit, as began to follow up.

"But not before I do!" Marcus shouted, then jumping up and catching Nightmare in a chokehold. Nightmare was struggling back at Marcus, while, in the meantime, Avon saw that his Bulbasaur was standing up. It was exhausted, but ready for one more attack.

"When I say "duck," duck!" Avon said. Marcus nodded to Avon's command, as he turned to his Bulbasaur for one, "Razor leaf now!" Bulbasaur appeared to have been struggling, at first, being exhausted, but then unleashed a small flurry of leaves and launched them towards Marcus and Nightmare, "Duck!" Avon shouted, hitting the dirt.

However, Nightmare wasn't ready to call it quits, just then. "I... I won't be defeated by weaklings!!" he bellowed. He broke Marcus's chokehold and then head butts Avon nearby. He quickly turned to Gabite, who was also recovering, "Gabite! Draco Meteor, once more!" Marcus ducked, from Avon's earlier called attack as the leaves slash at Nightmare, knocking him down.

Gabite recovered enough to unleash his Draco Meteor upon Avon, Marcus and Nightmare. The attack hit near them all, and the impact knocked the three around. Gabite rested, for a second, to regain it's strength. The blast of the Draco meteor, however knocked Marcus hard into the ground, stunned from the impact. Avon managed to roll on the ground a bit far from the action. Nightmare, however, quickly stood up, after being knocked down. He was ready to finish the job.

"It's time I end this!" Nightmare said. He picked up one of his swords and repeatedly lightly stabbed and kicked Marcus around, to add more onto his suffering. Avon was back on his feet and saw that his Charmander was still up and at it and also had been hit by the impact, but had more of a will to fight than Marcus or any of his or Avon's other Pokémon.

"Crap!" Avon shouted toward the Charmander, "Do something already!"

Charmander, with only one thought on how to help his master had made another mad dash toward Nightmare and jumped onto his head. He used ember repeatedly, as Nightmare withdrew a few steps and ran around, screaming and trying to pull the Charmander off of his head. A few seconds of running and he finally did, throwing Charmander hard onto the ground, "Stupid flame lizard. I'll make sure to ends your as well when this is over!"

Marcus was mortally wounded, badly bleeding. He managed to utter words to the nearby Avon, "Avon... Run..." He uttered.

Avon, not wanting to leave his friend to be murdered by that psychopath, Nightmare, instead, tackled Nightmare to the ground. To Nightmare's surprise, he lost his footing, as the boy managed to take him down.

"You brat!" Nightmare shouted, "What did you do that for?"

"Because, if you mess with my friend, you mess with me; and you really deserve it, for all that dancing you made me do!" Avon said, unsteadily, as he gave Nightmare a few punches in the temple. Nightmare turned to Avon, unfazed, as his punched didn't even make the man flinch, "Wha-"

"You have guts, but you lack skill." Nightmare said. He knocked the wind out of Avon, with a punch to his gut, and then pushes him off of him, as he got back up, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a little knat to kill." Avon, persistent to go down, locked his legs over Nightmare's preventing him from moving. Nightmare picked Avon up and stared at him with his cold, bloodshot eyes.

"You're still stubborn aren't you?" Nightmare then delivered a low blow punch to Avon's manhood and then dropped him. Avon crouched up, in a fetal position, bent over and incapacitated. As he approached Marcus, to finish what he started, he caught a slight shuffle in the tall grass. It wasn't a typical wild Pokémon shuffle, but more of a human's, "What the... Gabite, Hyper Beam."

Gabite unleashed another Hyper beam, this time into the grass. It seemed to be a complete miss. From behind Gabite and Nightmare appeared a yellow mouse Pokémon, with red cheeks and a thunderbolt shaped tail. It appeared assertive, for some reason.

"What? Only a Pikachu? Gabite, destroy it. Another Hyper beam." Nightmare commanded.

"That's not your typical Pikachu," said a voice from the grass, "Mike! Agility, then unleash Iron Tail!"

The Pikachu nicknamed Mike dodged the Hyper beam, with extreme agility, almost disappearing from sight from the speed, then appearing above Gabite, it's thunderbolt-shaped tail glowing, as it descended. As it reached it's range, it somersaulted in the air as it swung it's full body at the Gabite, hammering it with his hard tail and head first into the dirt. Due to its condition, and the strength of the Pikachu, it was K.O.ed in an instant. The Pikachu landed on top of the fallen Gabite, striking a heroic pose with it's fists upon it's hips.

Nightmare was furious, "What is that thing?!" He exclaimed, "No rodent should be able to knock my dragon unconscious!"

The owner of the Pikachu stepped out of the forest, revealing himself. From his serious, yet prestige look of experience, he was no novice. He had short, faded brown hair and brown eyes behind his D&G designer glasses. While his facial look had experience on it, his white button shirt and blue, slightly worn jeans spoke otherwise. He raised his eyebrow, at Nightmare, a smirk appearing on his mouth.

"You want to see a real dragon, then?" he asked, recalling his Pikachu and then tossing up another Pokéball. Out of the light of the Pokéball appeared a light green colored dragon, on all fours, and solid red wings on it's back. The powerful dragon Pokémon, known as Salamence, growled in an intimidating way at Nightmare, showing him that the stranger's power was real.

Nightmare groaned. "Ugh...I knew I should've brought along my other Pokémon..."

The teen gave a stern look toward Nightmare, "You can either move along now, or face the wrath of Salamence," he warned.

"You do know that I didn't capture my Pokémon and I've only had them for so long. My game isn't Pokémon battles, it's combat!" Nightmare dropped his weapons and charged at the stranger, barehanded, "Thousand strikes!"

As Nightmare drew close, Salamence took wing and flew above the stranger. The stranger ducked from the blows, occasionally blocking them, and then jumped back from Nightmare, as Salamence swept him off his feet, lifting him up and making Nightmare give the teen his utmost attention.

The teen huffed. "Now, listen, you; Fists or not, you obviously don't know me," the teen thumbed toward his chest, "I'm Marc Anthony, one of the greatest trainers ever known. I'll spare you the self-bio, this time, being that I'm a little short on time." The teen, Marc, then swung his arm away, signaling to Salamence, "So long."

Salamence took Nightmare away, flying incredibly fast and away, from the area. After a while, Salamence came back, obviously having dropped Nightmare somewhere, quite proud of what he did as he smirked widely. Marc merely smiled.

Marcus grunted and then asked the question, "...Are we... safe?" he asked.

"Yeah, you are," Marc replied, having heard him.

"... Avon... How're you holding up?"

Avon was still crouched in a fetal position, unable to move, "Well, I won't be feeling my manhood for a while, but yeah, I'm good," Avon replied, in a low, disdainful voice.

Marcus then grunted in his speech, trying to apologize, "...Avon... I'm sorry for all of this... it was my fault that this happened... I'll become stronger for both our sakes..." Marcus strained himself, trying to get up and only curled up, in agony, "...I'm too tired to get up... these wounds were worse than I thought. Heh... well Avon... I got the point... I won't work as the leading man here so you'll have to... just know that the leading man is nothing without his support... night..." and with that, Marcus fell unconscious.

Avon groaned as well. "Will do," he said, cringing from the pain.

Marc, seeing the whole dramatic scene, scratched his head in confusion, "You guys need a ride to the hospital?"

"... Yes..." Avon grunted.

Marc shrugged and then tossed out a couple more Pokéballs. Out came two bulky Pokémon. One, Rhydon, a large, gray rocky Pokémon with a large drill on it's nose. Two, Torterra, a Pokémon on all fours, a large tree on the left and three large spikes on the right of it's large turtle-like shell. Rhydon placed the two boys and their injured Pokémon, leaving the Gabite behind, on Torterra's back as Marc and his Pokémon began their short walk toward Viridian city's hospital and Pokémon center.
************
Phew... Yeah, this is the end of the chapter here... Long and bloody, isn't it? Heh. Well, at least it doesn't give the same resemblence as a typical Pokémon journey, eh? I mean, how many times do you get to see something like this happen? Not many, I can probably guess... ^_^

The story is a collab project with Deoxy Warrior(or Mklsora) and I. All events, characters and big projects are all planned. Still, the overview's still in it's constructive stages.

Well, anyway, enjoy. And Jax Malcolm, if you're reading this, I told ya I'd improve. And it's less Gary-stuish this time. ^^; I wouldn't recommend taking it apart, though...

 

[Arctic Master]

*uses awesome author powers to revive this story from the dead* ^_^ Yes, the story doesn't end there. It just takes me a while to post, due to both procrastination and lack of motivation. *hearty laugh, which dies down* o_o Err... yeah, the story's not dead. I'll... just post the next chapter, away...

Ah yes, and before I go on, YES, there's a couple of clichés here... >>; Shoot me, I'm not wholly original.
*********

Chapter 2: When the aspiring new trainers want to play...

The rest of the day came and gone. Avon and Marcus, after recovering from their injuries, found out that their bill was generously paid off by Marc. After hearing the news, and where to go, the two moved on to the Viridian city Pokémon Center where, in front of the front doors leading in, a huge crowd was blocking the way.

"What the..." Avon asked, as they saw the crowd.

The crowd, made up of photographers, girls and interviewers, all were stacking up every single inch they could step on. They appeared to be crowded around the lounging area, asking questions and shouting awkward things at the person there. Pushing through and finally getting sight of the person, they see it is Marc.

"Yo, Marc!" Marcus shouted. He had to shout it, being that other people were around, asking questions and shouting obnoxiously.

"Hey! Move it, kid!" shouted someone in the crowd, pushing and shoving.

"Train with me, Marc!" shouted someone else.

"Battle me! I want to test your mettle!" shouted another.

"Marry me!" shouted a fourth, most likely a girl.

"Marc! Is it true that you met some of the legendary Pokémon?" asked an interviewer.

The questions went on. All while Marc was simply trying to have his breakfast. His face looked rather bored, as if this was done routinely. He hadn't appeared to have heard Marcus, as he simply continued eating. Once he finished, he turned to the crowd, took a deep breath, and did something completely unexpected.

"Enough!!" Marc shouted at the top of his lungs. The crowd silenced quickly, "Just... Leave..." He said flicking his wrist away, head bend downward, eyes closed.

The crowd, surprisingly, backed off. Most of the crowd cleared except for those persistent ones, who wanted to train under his mastery; the rest of it being just Avon and Marcus.

"Yo, Marc!" Avon called out to him. He blinked, having heard the familiar, but more robust voice.

"Oh, hey! You two are..." Marc stopped. He snapped his fingers, trying to remember the names, "Avon and... Who are you?"

"Marcus." he replied, feeling somewhat vain.

"Right," Marc nodded, "The nurse at the counter has your Pokémon." He said it openly, however, then turned away and continued dealing with his business as the small crowd of persistent trainers surrounding him, begging to become apprentices.

"Really, what's the deal with the whole "Apprentice" thing, anyway?" Marcus asked. The crowd gasped, as if he had said a dirty word.

"Are you kidding?!" asked one of the trainers, "He's a living legend!"

"No I'm not." Marc said, quickly, mid-sentence of the trainer's compliments.

"He could topple the Pokémon league, hands down!" said another.

"He met with legendary Pokémon, before, and helped them!" said a third.

"And, on top of all that, he has almost every Pokémon, minus the legendaries, that's known to the public! And, somehow, he trains them all to an equal degree!"

"It's nothing a little effort can't hurt. I keep telling these guys that if they want to become stronger, put some effort into it." Marc interrupted, "Hell, some of the trainers told me they were the best of their region, and yet when they fought me and lost, they wanted to learn under me. I shot them down, saying 'If they were the best then I wouldn't need to train you, then.'" Marc nodded, "And those who I have taken under apprenticeship couldn't take the pressure and bailed on me. I'm not going to take anyone who won't look forward to harder challenges."

"Please take me in!" said one of the trainers.

"No! Accept me again! I promise not to quit!" promised another one.

"I want another shot! Please!" said a third.

"No, no and no! Forget it! I'm done with apprenticing you guys I've done before. Just go."

The trainers, who were once understudies of Marc, left in disappointment. The crowd was diminished to three, not including Marcus and Avon.

"We'd better leave him be..." Avon suggested. They both could clearly see that Marc was about to get more problems on his hands. They walked up to the counter, "Excuse me, Nurse Joy?"

The nurse turned to the two boys, wearing a friendly smile, her nurse uniform and a folded white hat with a blue cross imprinted on it. She spoke to the two, with a friendly voice, "Yes, how can I help you today?"

"We're here to pick up our Pokémon, ma'am. A Munchlax and a Charmander for me," Marcus said.

"And a Bulbasaur for me," Avon finished. "They were checked in, yesterday afternoon, right?"

"Oh, right! Coming right up..." the nurse said. She moved into the back room, to collect their teams. As she did, Marcus turned to Avon.

"You remember what I said, right?" Marcus asked, "You're leader of this group, Avon."

"Yeah, I didn't forget," Avon replied, "Luckily, I know where to go. But first, we need to decide on what we're to do..."

The nurse placed down the trays in front of them, overhearing their conversation, "Maybe you should try out for the Pokémon league."

"Pokémon league?" Avon asked.

"I've heard of it. It's a championship involving a series of battles to the top of the region. The Pokémon league is a harsh road to glory, and only one can be champion," Marcus explained.

Avon was surprised, "How do you know about it?"

"When I was looking up fighting contests, that event also popped up. Of course, apart from actually getting to the league, you have to face a series of trainers called Gym leaders, whom they give you badges to access the Pokémon league. Once you have all of them, of a region, you can take part in the Pokémon league."

"However, the date of the Pokémon league is in another few months. If you're planning on getting there, you should train hard," Nurse Joy advised.

"Thanks for the advice, Nurse Joy."

With the advice from the nurse, as well as their Pokémon, the dynamic duo pressed onward to their next destination, Pewter city.
*********

As Avon and Marcus continue their journey, hoping to finish it off on the right foot this time, the inspiring new trainers reencounter another inspiring new trainer, back from his training.

"Hey, guys!" shouted Jimmy, approaching from their rear.

"Hola, Jimmy," Marcus said.

"Sup?" Avon asked, "So, think you're prime time, now that you got that training?"

"Sure am, um..." Jimmy paused. He never got their names.

"Avon."

"Marcus."

"Yeah, Avon," Jimmy said, "I'm ready to give you guys a go!"

He stepped up, his bright blue eyes somewhat glistening from the excitement. He put down his overlarge backpack, and took off his lone Pokéball off his belt. He threw it up and the ball opened up and the light beam from the ball formed summoned the Pocket monster.

A cicada-like Pokémon appeared out of the ball, two whisker-like antennas, arched from its mouth to the ground. It's whitish-gray body somewhat blended in with the white road it stood on, it's brown front claws and green, curled up stubbed wings on it's back standing out to the color of the road.

Avon and Marcus stood, awestruck by how seemingly weak the bug Pokémon looked.

"A Nincada? Are you for real?" Marcus asked. Jimmy nodded. "Avon, who do you think should face him, you or me?"

"Rock paper scissors, dude." Avon said.

They shook their fists at each other, three times, as they initiated the quick game. Avon shot out two fingers, in the shape of "scissors" as Marcus kept his fist clenched, "Rock." Avon shrugged.

"Alright, then..." Marcus said, turning to his challenger, "Jimmy, in the name of Drake the Elite Dragon Master in Kanto, I will beat you."

Jimmy seemed to have flinched, when Marcus said that, "Uuuh..." He stammered, "It-it's not th-th-that s-s-serious, M-Marc-cus."

Marcus tossed up his Pokéball, calling out his Charmander, from before. He felt good to have it again. "Charmander, show him who's boss."

"Nincada! Scratch attack!"

Charmander waited for the cicada Pokémon to approach to bat him back and away, with a swing of his orange tail. Nincada was knocked into the air, and flipped many times, before landing back on it's feet, in a daze, as it stood there, open and swaying it's head back and forth.

"Charmander, unleash Flamethrower!"

Charmander took a deep breath and unleashed a magnificent stream of scarlet flames, as they scorched all in it's path, on it's way to Nincada.

"Nincada! Harden!" Jimmy commanded. Nincada stiffened every muscle in it's body to endure the attack. However, it failed, as the flames died down. Scorch marks appeared all over it's body, as it clenched it's eyes shut, still trying to endure. Succumbing to the powerful fire attack, it collapses, swirls in it's eyes.

"I think he just rolled a critical," Avon commented, from the sidelines.

Jimmy groaned. "After all the training we did..."

"Don't feel bad. It's not that you suck. It's just that Marcus is better than you."

"Yeah..." Jimmy said. He sounded down, but Avon's words seemed to have gotten to him, "Yeah!" Jimmy pointed to Marcus, "Marcus. Avon. Next time we battle, I'll be stronger! You'll see! I'll beat you, one day!"

Jimmy took off to the Viridian City Pokémon center after that battle, though not before recalling his Nincada and picking up his oversized backpack. The two boys remaining gave each other a rather skeptical look. Even Charmander was looking skeptical, at Jimmy's comment.

"He's not going to beat us..." Avon said, with an incredulous tone.

*************

The two boys progressed to enter the Viridian forest. However, down the road, an old rival decided to block their way. As they approached the entrance, they see Jason, the same way they met him the first time, leaning on something that lead onto their progress; in this case, one of the trees that led into Viridian forest.

"Hiya, chumps." Jason said, seeing the two. He waved. "If it ain't old knuckles and chicken wuss!"

"A..." Avon gasped, flabbergasted, "A chicken what?!"

"Leave us be, Jason. Or else you want me to put these knuckles to your face?" Marcus taunted.

"Hey, I'm a nice guy. And besides, I don't beat up on weaklings, until after I beat them in a battle. After all, it's no good if you're Pokémon aren't as intimidating as you."

"That's big words coming from a meathead." Marcus taunted on.

"Shut up, Knuckles!" Jason snatched one of his Pokéballs off of his belt, "Unless you're just too high and mighty, for a Pokémon battle!"

Marcus looked over to Avon, "Should I?"

"Well, you're on a roll, so meh; why not?" Avon said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Alright, then," Marcus turned to Jason, "I'll whup you, like I should've done, back at Oak's lab," Marcus pointed one of his fingers at Jason, "one way or another."

He tossed up Charmander's Pokéball, once again, calling out the orange Lizard Pokémon. Jason cackled.

"Oh man, this will be a snap!" Jason said. He reared back his Pokéball and threw it up, calling out a navy blue colored Pokémon, instead of the starter he chose. It's back shell was a darker brown and it had longer, curlier tails, than the single tail it had as a Squirtle. Needless to say, Marcus nearly choked, at the sight of it.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Marcus gasped.

"What's a matter? Gonna wet yourself?" Jason taunted, "Wartortle! Water gun!"

"Charmander, use Scratch, or something! Just try not to get killed out there!"

Charmander began to charge, however, Wartortle inhaled and then squirted a blast of water to attack. Charmander, seeing the incoming water, turned tail and ran for his life, holding his tail in front of him, to prevent the water from hitting it. The water was pressing down on his back and eventually made Charmander trip and fall, but his flame was still lit. However, Charmander couldn't take anymore, as it lied on the ground, dazed.

Marcus groaned, as he recalled his Charmander. He still had one option left. He placed back Charmander's Pokéball, ready to rear up another one. Jason became surprised.

"What? You're not out of Pokémon yet?"

"I have one more. Munchlax!" Marcus called out his trusted partner, from it's Pokéball. He hadn't released it, since he had gotten it back from the Pokémon center.

"Regardless, it's still going to get it's fat butt munched!" Jason said. He pointed to the Munchlax, "Wartortle, use another Water gun!"

"Munchlax, Metronome!" Marcus said.

As Wartortle took his sweet time to attack, Munchlax wagged one of his fingers, as they glow. When the glowing finished, Munchlax fell onto its back and started to flop around uselessly. This surprised Marcus, because Munchlax was now using the most useless move of all; Splash.

"Horse f***..." Marcus muttered, slapping one of his palms to his forehead.

Wartortle unleashed his Water Gun, as it hit Munchlax, mercilessly. Munchlax was blown toward Marcus, flattened, rolled out and tossed aside; defeated.

"Oh my sweet stars..." Avon said dumbfound, having watched the battle from the sidelines. He was going to make Jason pay. He pulled out one of his Pokéballs, ready for some payback.

"Alright, kid. Now, that my Pokémon have beat yours down, let me do you the honor of letting you feel their pain," Jason said, pounding one of his fists into his palm. As he approached, Marcus held out a hand for him to stop, "Wha-?"

"Say, Jason, I'm feeling generous today and so I'll let you in on a little secret. If you don't wanna lose this fight then simply stay still and let me punch you from there to here," Marcus said. He then pointed a random direction, from behind Jason.

"Where?"

Jason, idiotically, looked back, to see where he was pointing at. Marcus, on the other hand, charged toward him and delivered a mighty hook to Jason's left cheek. The impact of the blow sent him spiraling a few feet away from the entrance, knocking him out cold, for a while.

Wartortle, seeing his trainer downed, had prepared himself for another Water gun, however, staggered, from a hit from behind. Wartortle, paralyzed from the blow from behind, fell forward, revealing a sharp leaf lodged in the back of his shell. A short distance behind him was Avon and his Bulbasaur, who look proud of their achievement and hi-fived each other for it.

"Thanks for that," Marcus said, then recalling Munchlax to his Pokéball, "So, what now?"

"We heal up and then head on out, to Pewter," Avon said. He was about to turn around, but then remembered Jason and Wartortle, "Then again, we don't need to have another tussle with Jason..."

"So, we move on?"

"Yeah. I have some potions and other items to heal up your Pokémon. Once we get a good distance away from this meathead, we'll heal up your Pokémon."

**********

The two boys moved, hurried along their way, into the natural labyrinth that is Viridian forest. They ran a good deal, through the woods, to escape sight of the bully, Jason Bullard. When they ensured their safety, they finally stopped.

As the two rested, Avon took out some medical supplies, for Marcus' Pokémon.

"Alright, now how do we use these?" Marcus asked, confounded on how to use items.

"I believe we spray them on the injuries and they'll have to rest, after that..." Avon replied, holding up a blue spray bottle.

"You mean they still have to rest?"

"Yeah, but the items cuts their resting time and they'll recover faster."

To reduce their weighting time, they both took one of Marcus' Pokémon, each. Avon took Charmander, and Marcus took Munchlax. At first, there was some stinging, and after finishing spraying the contents, relaxation. Marcus recalled his Pokémon, to finish their resting.

"Let's hope the wait isn't long." Marcus said.

Avon read the label on one of the emptied bottles, "It says to give the Pokémon a good couple hours rest, for complete recovery."

Marcus sighed, "Looks like I'm out of commission. Avon, you'll have to do the battling for me."

"No pro-" As Avon stood up and turned around, a brown unidentified Pokémon slapped him in the face, "Oh dear god!!" Avon cried, as he flung back and thumped his whole body on the ground. Marcus got up, to see what was wrong, as a brown, caterpillar-like Pokémon with a small white horn on its head and a large pink nose inched off of him. Avon was so stunned, he couldn't even move.

"A Weedle, dude. You're okay, as long as his stinger didn't hit you..." Marcus said. He looked at Avon, where he got smacked, "He didn't, right?" Avon nodded to agree to not being stung.

"Hello? Is someone there?" asked a girl's voice, from the bushes. She shuffled through them a bit, and stepped out into the open with a sigh of relief. As she appeared out of the brush, she bent over, seeming as though she was out of breath and scared to death. She stood up and moved some of the strands of her brown hair back behind her ear, "Thank the Lord; I've been stuck in this bug-infested woods for hours!"

"Why hours?" Marcus asked.

"Because, there are all kinds of bugs and scary parts of the woods that..." the girl shuddered, "Anyway, my name is Sarah. I started my journey, a few days ago."

Avon, who had been paralyzed from the unexpected Pokémon attack, finally recovered. He blinked at the sight of Sarah, somewhat seeing a resemblance to someone else he knew, most notably her attire. It reminded him a bit of Jimmy, who rocked the usual male Trainer attire of colors of red, black and/or blue; however, Sarah was wearing the usual colors of her trainer gender; light-blue and red. He rose up, no longer stunned.

"Let me guess; A late bloomer as well?" Avon asked. He stood up, slightly taller than her. She looked around Jimmy's height.

As Avon asked the question, she was surprised, "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess. Well, that and you're wearing some sort of spandex." Avon grumbled. The fall seemed to have knocked some sense out of him.

Sarah looked down at her skirt, then closed her legs and pulled her skirt down, so they wouldn't see, "You looked?!"

"I was on the ground and shaken up, due to a random attack of a Weedle. What do you think? I won't follow my natural male instincts?"

As he said that, Sarah delivered a powerful slap to Avon's face that knocked all the senses out of his left cheek. Avon looked dazed, once more, as Sarah reared back from slapping Avon senseless.

"Pervert," she called Avon, "Why don't you get your mind out of the gutter and help me out of here?"

"Why should we?" Marcus asked.

Sarah huffed. "Alright then how about a deal? One of you fights me in a battle. If I win, you guys lead me out of here. If you win, I'll take back what I said."

"And stop being so uptight about a frickin' comment, dammit..." Avon said, recovering his senses from the slap. Sarah reared back her hand, ready for a back-handed slap. Avon flinched and shielded himself from what he thought was to come.

"Well, my Pokémon are in no condition to battle. Avon, there, is the only one who can battle." Marcus gestured to Avon. Sarah laughed.

"You gotta be kidding me. Do you really expect this chicken to win for you?" Sarah asked.

"He's more skilled than he looks. Don't be fooled by first appearances."

"Yeah, take his word for it! He's seen me kick ass and take names, before!" Avon followed up.

Sarah took out a Pokéball from her side, "Fine. But we're playing by my rules." She threw out a Pokéball and called out a Butterfly Pokémon. However, this wasn't the Kanto native version of the butterfly Pokémon. The Pokémon, with wings of colors gray, yellow and red, fluttered it's wings with grace, as it took it's place in the battlefield. The Pokémon had a long line-based mouth that curled in front of it.

"A Beautifly?! Those don't even inhabit Kanto!" Avon said.

"They ran out of starters so my folks gave me a Beautifly," Sarah said and then winking with a touch of charm, "I think it suits me well."

"What a hypocrite," Marcus said, "You hate bugs but yet you own one. That doesn't make sense..."

"Well, this one's different! It's not like those creepy crawlies in this forsaken forest!"

Avon without much of a choice, called out his Bulbasaur, "Bulbasaur, we don't have many options. Our grass type attacks won't do squat against it. Instead, charge up to it and use Tackle!"

"Beautifly! Poison sting!"

Beautifly's mouth straightened out and shot several pins of light toward Bulbasaur. The pins hit Bulbasaur on the forehead, causing him to turn and take the rest of the hits on the side, as an open target.

"Gah... Bulbasaur jump!" Avon commanded. Despite being under attack, it forced itself to jump up and out of harm's way of the poison sting, "Now, stun it with Razor leaf and then tackle it!"

Bulbasaur unleashed a flurry of leaves at Beautifly. The leaves struck Beautifly, knocking it down. As Bulbasaur prepared to charge for the tackle, to everyone else's surprise, Sarah stepped in, to interfere with the match.

"Time out! You broke the rule!" Sarah shouted.

"What rule? What the hell?!" Avon asked. Bulbasaur stopped, as confused as his trainer was.

"Let Beautifly get back up, before you attack again! And another thing! You dodged my attack! You're not supposed to do that!"

"So, what do you suppose I do? Have Bulbasaur stand there and take hits like a dummy?"

"Exactly," she said, plainly, "Beautifly, String shot!"

"Oh yeah, like I really would do that to my Pokémon! Bulbasaur! Dodge again!"

Beautifly spat out a silky string at Bulbasaur; however Bulbasaur, jumped out of the way, yet again. Beautifly continued to shoot stringy webbing at Bulbasaur, and finally clinging it to one of it's hind legs.

"Gotcha. Now, Poison sting again!" Sarah commanded. The needles struck Bulbasaur, mercilessly, as it couldn't get out of the way, due to the string that bound him there. Bulbasaur eventually took enough hits to topple down, altogether, defeated.

"What?!" Avon cried in frustration.

"Yipee!!" Sarah shouted with glee.

"No way! That couldn't have been the end of it!" Avon said, "You jumped in, when I was about to deliver some decent damage! You cheated!"

"I did no such thing. You broke my rules! Admit you lost."

"No. And I'm definitely not leading you through the woods, because I don't lead cheaters."

"Fine. We don't need you. Beautifly, String shot again!"

Beautifly aimed for Avon, bounding him up in string. Avon hopped up and down, trying to get loose; however, Sarah simply pushed him, to make him fall on his back.

"Ugh!" Avon grunted, as he hit the ground.

"Come on, kid. You're leading me out of this natural maze!" Sarah said, "Unless you want to be next."

"Actually..." Marcus said, "I'm traveling with Avon and he knows the region better than I do. I don't know my way through here. And my name's Marcus, by the way."

"So, don't tell me I have to unbind that kid over there, do I?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. Yes you do. Otherwise, you won't get to the other side of this forest."

Sarah grumbled. She helped Avon up, though didn't untie him, "I don't like you and you don't like me. But I need you to get me through this forest. So, if I untie you, will you do it?"

"No!" Avon shouted, angry.

"If you don't, then I'll tickle you until you do."

"Tickling?" Marcus asked.

"Oooh, tickling. I'm really intimidated by tickling!" Avon said. Sarah began tickling, and soon after, Avon was laughing. Beautifly even joined in, to add even more to the torture. Eventually, he came around to helping, because he couldn't stand enough of the torture.

************

"Are we there yet?" Sarah asked.

"No. We still got ways to go," Avon said, leading the way.

"Are you sure we're not lost?!"

"Yep, I'm po..." Avon stopped; "Hmm..." a glint appeared in one of his eye, "It appears we may have taken a wrong turn somewhere..."

Sarah panicked, screaming as she heard the news. "We're lost! We're lost!" she cried.

Avon laughed. Marcus could tell he was joking, as he had seen the glint in his eye, as he was about to speak, "I was just f***in' around... Sheesh, lighten up..."

Sarah punched Avon in the back of the head, "Don't do that! I hate it here! I wish I could've gone some other route!"

"You could've just taken Diglett's cave to Vermilion. But then you'd have to scale the mountains back up to Mt. Moon, and then go through there to get to Pewter."

"How do you know all of this?" Marcus asked.

"I have a map of Kanto carved into the back of my brain..." Avon said, turning to Marcus, and smiling proudly. As he turned around, a green caterpillar Pokémon smacked him in the face, "Oh dear God, again!" Avon shouted, as he hit the ground, as he did before, when he was under attack by that Weedle. He was left in the same state, as last time, as the green, large eyed caterpillar Pokémon crawled off his face.

The Pokémon, unlike the Weedle, had a red fork-shaped feeler on the top of it's head. It crawled toward Sarah and she screamed, flailing her arms, as she ran away from the bug.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" She screamed, as she ran away. She ran back into the bushes. Marcus turned to see if she'd keep running, however, she turned around and had came running back, still screaming her lungs out. As she ran back, she crashed into Marcus, who had barely budged an inch when she bumped into him; however, she fell over, as a result of crashing into him. The bug Pokémon crawled over to Sarah, as she recovered, kicking away from it.

"St-stay back!" she stammered, outstretching her hand to order it to stop, "Stay back!!" she shouted, even louder. The bug Pokémon, oblivious to Sarah's desperate cries, kept crawling closer and had rubbed it's head, affectionately, toward her leg. Sarah turned up her head, feeling faint, "This... is just too much..." she muttered, turning blue and shivering violently.

"It's a Caterpie," Marcus said, "And from the looks of it, he really likes you."

"Odd, because I don't like it..." Sarah said, shivering violently.

By that time around, Avon had recovered from the shock of the second bug Pokémon to attack his face that day. He saw how scared Sarah was to the Bug Pokémon and was getting annoyed of having to hear her scream. He approached the two, with the most bored face he could possibly make, held out a Pokéball and dropped it. The Pokéball, directly above Caterpie, tapped it on the head, turned it transparent and then absorbed it's being into the Pokéball. It shook three times and then clicked, as the Caterpie was caught.

Sarah realized that Avon had caught the Caterpie and scurried and kicked as far as she could from the Pokéball, taking refuge behind Avon.

"Great. You caught it! Now leave it there and let's get outta here!" Sarah said.

"No, I think I'll take this little guy with me," Avon said.

"Why?! It's creepy and gross! And it doesn't even evolve into anything good!"

"Well, ya never know? I could use it for something; or just to scare the crap outta ya, for kicks."

Sarah backed away from Avon, as if he was ready to suddenly attack her, "Yo-you wouldn't!"

"Well, considering that you had your Beautifly string shot me, how about I just return the favor then?" Avon asked. He called out his new partner, Caterpie.

"Eek!" she squeaked, "D-don't even think about it!"

"Relax. I'm no perv, as you think I am. I'm just going to take my revenge, savor the moment and then let you go. String Shot."

The Caterpie shot a barrage of strings from it's mouth, which wrap Sarah up in a bind of some sort. From her mouth down to her ankles aside from her hands, she was wrapped up in the silky thread. Trying to struggle out, she fell back and pulled herself up to a sitting position the best she could. Caterpie looked at its trainer, as Avon nodded "yes," to it's silent request. It crawled toward Sarah's side and rubbed alongside her leg. As she had despised crawling bugs, she closed her eyes and waited for it to be over.

"Well, we mind as well rest, as I savor the moment..." Avon said, sitting down, back against a tree, as he savored the moment.

*********

 

[Arctic Master]

A good minute and a half passed, as Avon finished savoring the moment. Avon rose up from his spot.

"Okay, Caterpie, time to say g'bye..." Avon said. Caterpie looked at Avon, with sympathetic eyes and then crawled back to his master. Avon recalled the Caterpillar Pokémon back to it's Pokéball, "Marcus, call out Charmander, to get her out of there, so we can move on."

"Right." Marcus said. He called out his Charmander, "Charmander, use ember."

Charmander fired small orbs of fire, which burn the silk, on contact. The silk became weakened and Sarah was freed. However, as she got out, she had had enough.

"Ugh! I've had enough of this place, already! Bugs! Perverts! I'm sick of it all! I just want to get to Pewter city!" she shouted.

"I don't know what's the deal with you girls and bugs," Marcus said, "They're not too bad."

"And you boys with bugs. How can you stand them?!" Sarah replied, "They're icky and gross and just..." Sarah groaned in frustration, "I just want to get out of here as quickly as possible!"

As she stormed around, Marcus's Charmander caught her eye. As she saw it, she had gotten a mischievous plot; one that would effectively clear their way and take care of the bugs, once and for all.

"That's it!" she shouted, "Marcus! Get your Charmander to Flamethrower our way outta here!"

"What?!" both boys asked, shocked.

"Wouldn't that both A. Burn down the natural habitat," Avon explained, "and B. Put us all in danger?"

"I don't care anymore! I just want out of this place! I'm sick of looking at it! I can't stand it anymore!"

"Who died and made you ruler?" Marcus asked, recalling Charmander, "And besides, the answer's no. One, I'd like to get through this forest alive, thank you very much. And two, Charmander doesn't have the energy to fight our way through this forest."

"Oh, it's nothing a little pushing can't do to motivate him. Come on, wimp!"

Avon turned Sarah around and made her look into his eyes, showing how serious he was. "Listen, you, I've put up with enough of your nonsense. Come to your senses, or we'll leave you here."

Sarah broke the grip Avon had on her, starting to get paranoid, "Oh no. You're not leaving me here. You're getting me outta here! I'm not staying here a minute longer!"

Avon backed away, near Marcus. The guys realized now Sarah wasn't playing around; and Avon was sure that Marcus wasn't going to raise a fist to her. So, as usual, he did the next best thing, apart from using brute force to solve their problems.

"Hey, Sarah!" Avon shouted, to catch her attention. As she looked, she kicked up some dirt, creating a smokescreen, as some of the dirt got in her eyes, "Let's get outta here!"

"Right!" Marcus said.

The two boys hurried out of the woods, as fast as their legs could take them. Sarah was chasing, a few feet away, angered and crazed. Though, the chase only lasted a few more minutes, before Avon and Marcus finally lost her. However, in the process, they got to the exit of the natural labyrinth. As Sarah saw the exit, her eyes lit up like the full moon, as she saw it. She jumped up, kicking her heels in happiness.

"Yahoo!" she shouted, "I'm finally out! Good-bye bug-infested forest! I'll never see you again!" and after that, she ran out through the forest opening, to Pewter city.

Avon and Marcus pulled themselves out of the bushes. Avon sighed in heavy relief.

"Finally, we lost her..." Avon said, greatly relieved.

"And hey, we even got out of the forest! Now, we can finally rest and get our team healed up!" Marcus said.

"And away..." Avon said, prepared to take another step, "we g-"

"Not so fast!" shouted two voices from the shadows.

"Oh come on..." Avon said, annoyed.

The brush along sides of the exit to Viridian Forest shuffled as two silhouettes rushed out of them and block their path. They then stood straight up, back to back to each other, as the sunlight hit them and revealed themselves to the boys.

"Prepare for trouble..." said the woman on the left. She had a black, one-piece skirt uniform, with a large red "R" on her shirt. Her legs, up to her knees and arms, up to her elbows were covered in long white boots and gloves. She turned her head, as her vibrant purple hair swayed as she turned toward the two boys.

"And make it double..." said the man on the right. He had a black jump-suit uniform, also with the large red "R" on the shirt. However, he had pants, which were tucked into his white boots that just barely cut off above his ankles. His arms were still covered to the elbow with the white gloves. Some of his orange hair swayed as he turned to the boys.

"To infect the world with devastation!"

"To blight all people in every nation!"

"To pronounce the goodness of truth and love!"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

"Kimmie!" said the woman, changing her pose by dropping one of her arms and placing her other hand on her hip.

"Chuck!" said the man, changing his pose with a simple pivot of his foot, to turn his back on Kimmie, though still keep eye contact with the boys.

"We're Team Rocket, circling earth all day and night!"

"So, surrender to us now, or you'll surely lose this fight!"

As soon as they finished, a Pokéball opened up, on Kimmie's side. Out came a red carp-like Pokémon, which flailed about the ground, uselessly. As it does, Avon and Marcus make faces of ridicule.

"So much for a dramatic first impression..." Avon said, gloomily, then twisting his face.

"You said it..." Marcus said.

"Ugh... Curse you, Magikarp..." Kimmie said, recalling the Pokémon back to it's Pokéball, "Anyways, kiddies, here's the deal. Hand over all your Pokémon and we'll leave you alone."

"You guys really think that we, two random kids, whom just started their Pokémon journey, no less than a day, would hand our Pokémon over to some adults in black uniforms?" Marcus asked.

"Yes, because if you don't, we'll take them from you. And you wouldn't like that, now would you? It'd be best to just hand them over to us, rather than having us taking it from you." Chuck said.

"I hope you guys brought your wallets. You'll need quite a sum, if I'm going to sell them to you." Avon said.

"I think you misinterpreted our words. We'll repeat them for you, so you can understand." Kimmie said, getting annoyed, "We're not here to buy your Pokémon off of you. We want them for free. No bargain. No reward. You get Zip. Nada. Squat. Hand them over."

"Or what?" Avon asked, "I wasn't going to sell them to you guys anyway."

The two members in black looked at each other with disgust.

"This kid's pissin' me off," Chuck said.

"Well, we tried askin' nicely. Guess we'll have to take it from them..." Kimmie said. They both grinned, as they turned to Avon and Marcus.

"Looks like we'll have to battle," Avon said.

"But, apart from Caterpie, our Pokémon are still tired," Marcus reminded.

"Crap, you're right. Well, can't you fight them off?"

"My arms are still sore, from when we fought off Nightmare."

"Well, it's either now or never. We'll have to press our Pokémon's abilities, in order to keep them..."

The two boys looked toward the members in black, as they, too, took out Pokéballs of their own.

"Poochyena! Go!" Kimmie cried out.

"Delibird! Let's go!" Chuck cried out as well.

Kimmie called out a small, gray dog-like Pokémon, with a black face. It made an endearing look, as it glared at Avon and Marcus with it's yellow eyes. Chuck called out a red and white feathered bird, with a bag-like tail. It had one of it's stubby, seemingly featherless wings hold it's bag-like tail, while the other wing keep it slightly in the air.

Avon and Marcus called out their Pokémon they acquired from Oak; Marcus's Charmander and Avon's Bulbasaur.

"I know you guys are tired, but try to tough it out. Your future ownership is at stake." Avon said, trying to motivate his Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur swayed a bit, slightly delirious from fighting Sarah's Beautifly. Charmander was the same way.

"Haha-haha!" Kimmie laughed, "This is hardly worth the challenge! Poochyena! Bite attack!"

"Delibird, Present!" Chuck commanded, feeling quite confident.

Poochyena howled, before attacking, then charged toward Charmander and chomped down on it's belly. After being released, Charmander fell back, into a sitting position, defeated. Meanwhile, Delibird threw out small orbs of flickering light from it's bag-like tail, which explode on contact with Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur plopped down, defeated as well.

"Ugh..." Avon groaned, "We're screwed, if we can't fight them off..." He recalled his Bulbasaur, then swapping it in for Caterpie, "Looks like it's all yours Caterpie."

"Munchlax, you'll have to do," Marcus said, calling out his weakened Munchlax.

"Ha! Bite again, Poochyena!" Kimmie firmly commanded, as she pointed to the Munchlax.

"Delibird! Present again!" Chuck commanded, as he pointed to Caterpie.

"Caterpie! String shot attack!" Avon shouted his command.

"Munchlax, yawn!" Marcus said, uneasily. He wasn't too confident, due to Munchlax's condition.

Munchlax pulled itself up and lulled a huge yawn bubble toward Poochyena, as it howled before attacking it. Poochyena, after having been hit by the bubble, started to stumble, feeling drowsy. However, it charged for the attack, biting down on Munchlax and defeating it. Caterpie, however, slowed the two Pokémon up, with its string shot attack, slowing their movements, with gooey string. However, Delibird still managed to take out it's orbs of Present and throw them at Caterpie, which also explode on contact. Caterpie flattened itself on the ground, also defeated.

"Any other takers, or do you believe our power is real now?" Kimmie asked.

Avon and Marcus gritted their teeth, as they growled in frustration. They were both out of Pokémon and clearly outmatched, due to the situation. The situation seemed hopeless, until...

"Nincada! Sand attack!" shouted a voice, from behind them. The two boys looked to see who it was; being that the voice was familiar, and ducked for cover, as they avoided the large amount of sand hurled toward them. The sand hit both Delibird and Poochyena, getting in their eyes.

The voice came from the inspiring new trainer, Jimmy, who's Nincada had kicked up sand, from the ground, to break up the action. Avon and Marcus recalled their Pokémon, letting Jimmy handle the situation.

"Oh, what a cute little kid!" Kimmie said, sarcastically. "You're here to donate your Pokémon to us, right?"

"Wrong! I'm here to fight you! Prepare yourself!" Jimmy pointed to the two opposing Pokémon, "Nincada! Leech Life on Poochyena!"

Nincada latched onto a drowsy Poochyena's back and placed it's two antenna mouths on it, draining the life force out of it. Feeling the pain, Poochyena started to panic and run around, as it was taking the pain.

"Poochyena! What are you doing! Throw it off of you and use bite!"

"Then, Delibird! Use Present again!" Chuck commanded.

Poochyena stopped, abruptly, throwing Nincada off. When it landed, Poochyena bit on it and then tossed it up, into the air, for another attack from Delibird's Present orbs. The orbs hit, though, instead of causing damage, hit and restored it's injuries. It landed, safely, back on it's feet.

"Dammit, Chuck! They recovered!" Kimmie scolded, "Argh! I'll have to do everything myself!" Poochyena, however, yawned, as Kimmie was about to make her next command, "Poochyena, us-" Poochyena then plopped down and fell asleep on the battlefield, "Argh! Poochyena! Get up, you stupid dog!"

"Thank that yawn. Jimmy! Attack it, now!" Marcus said, advising Jimmy.

"Alright! Nincada! Use Leech life again!" Nincada jumped onto Poochyena again and continued using Leech life. As it was about to finish him, Kimmie called it back.

"Argh..." she grumbled, "I mind as well rely on Magikarp."

"And now, for Delibird! Fury Swipes!"

"Delibird! Present again!" Chuck commanded.

Delibird reached into it's bag-like tail, though, before it could pull out any present orbs, two claws of brown slashed at it, in a furious combination. Kimmie was getting anxious. Their prize was getting away.

"Fine! Magikrap! Show me you're not worthless!" Kimmie said, calling out her carp Pokémon again.

Delibird rose up, from the fury swipes attack, gritting it's teeth in endurance. Jimmy was pretty confident he'd win now.

"Alright, Nincada! Fury Swipes! One more time!"

"Magikarp! Tackle!" Kimmie commanded, in a last ditch effort. Nincada had raised it's claw, to scratch at Delibird, again, though looked to it's right to be smacked away, by the pressure of two big pink lips of the Magikarp Kimmie sent out. The Magikarp's attack power was weak, so Nincada shook it's whole body to shrug off the damage.

"Alright! Nice stall there, Kimmie! Now, Present again!" Chuck said, clenching his fist with power. Delibird threw out it's present orbs as they explode on contact with Nincada. It showed signs of injury, that time.

"And now, Magikarp. Finish this with Tackle again!"

Nincada was, once again, attacked by the full-body attack, and knocked back and flattened on the ground, defeated. Jimmy was even surprised.

"Ugh..." Jimmy choked. He sighed, then picking up his Nincada. "Sorry guys, I tried..."

He hurried past the two members in black, finding an opening through their two-man barricade, and rushing to the Pokémon center. The two in black were shocked as he just ran past them, Kimmie turning around to chase after him a bit. After a few steps, and angry shouting, she turned back to the two boys.

"Coward! We'll get him later..." Kimmie swore. She then turned to the boys, with a creepy smile, "Now, will you generously hand over your Pokémon, before we get angry?"

The two boys, without a choice, placed down their Pokéballs and backed away.

"That's right... Know when you're licked," Chuck said, as he recovered the boys' Pokémon, "Now, as we promised, we'll leave you be."

Kimmie winked. "Chao!"

The two members in black recalled their Pokémon and took off, into Pewter.

"Come on! We have to catch them!" Marcus said.

"But, how are we going to fight them?" Avon asked.

"I'll see what I can do... Just come on, before they get away!"

The two boys hurried to catch up with the bandits. However, they were fast and even Marcus, who was more physically fit than Avon, couldn't keep up with these seemingly athletic criminals. The two boys, sore but tired, stopped and watched the bandits disappear down the road. They got away.

"Ugh..." Avon exhaled, out of breath, "We couldn't catch them... All that work, through Viridian Forest... We couldn't save them..."

"Damn..." Marcus gasped, also out of breath, "Looks like we'll have to start all over again..."

Avon and Marcus nodded at each other. Neither of them knew either one of them was to blame, but nothing could be done. Sore, tired and robbed, the two headed to the Pokémon center, defeated.

*************

Night quickly came, as the bandits reached a safe place, away from civilization and hoarding their stolen Pokémon in their arms.

"Heheheh," Chuck chuckled, "Great idea robbing those two trainers of their Pokémon. I'd say this has to be our great first job together."

"And many more to come, my dear Chuck," Kimmie said, "Many more to come."

As they dilly-dallied with their haul, footsteps approached the two as a man, shaded in darkness, appeared before them. He was wearing a trench coat and some sort of mask to keep his face from being revealed. The two bandits looked up to him, giving him death glares.

"Well, what the hell do you want, punk?!" Chuck asked.

"Yeah! If you're apart of Team Rocket, butt out! This is our haul!"

"I believe you're to be returning those Pokémon to their rightful trainers," said the man in the trench coat.

"Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?" Kimmie asked.

The man unsheathed one of his swords, from his trench coat. The two bandits' expressions changed from anger to fear, as the moonlight flickered from the shining edge of the sword. Wet patches formed on Chuck's pants and Kimmie's skirt, as they wet themselves from fear; as the two couldn't take their eyes off the blade.

"You had to ask..." Chuck said, subtly.

**************

The next morning, the two boys awoke to a very sudden surprise. As they slept in, the Nurse burst into their bunkroom, very suddenly, from the surprise.

"Avon! Marcus!" the Nurse cried, "Come quick! Someone brought your Pokémon back!"

The two boys arose from their bunks, Avon clunking his head on the top bunk, from the shock of the news.

"What?!" Marcus shouted.

"D'oh! What?!" Avon shouted, first bumping his head.

Quickly dressing, they hurried out into the blue-tiled hallways of the Pokémon center and to the front desk, where Nurse Joy was holding onto their Pokémon.

"Seriously?!" Avon asked, very surprised to have his Pokémon back, as he took them off the tray. He then rubbed one of them onto his cheek, and then kissed the other one.

"There was a note attached to it. And Marcus..." the Nurse said, handing Marcus a piece of paper, with his name on it, "it's for you."

Marcus took the note and flipped it open. He was shocked to find out the person that returned them, as it was the last person he expected.

"Nightmare..." Marcus said.

"Nightmare?" Avon asked, "It couldn't have been him."

"Listen to what it says." Marcus began reading the note aloud, "'Although we're enemies, I'd rather be the one to take you out. I've done you the favor of rescuing you and your chicken's teams. Don't expect me to do it again, though.
-Nightmare."

"Ugh..." Avon groaned, "What a harsh way to do us a favor..."

"Well, regardless, we got our team back." Marcus said, "Though, just to be sure... Call out your Pokémon."

The two boys threw up their Pokéballs, calling out their respected Pokémon, from before they were stolen. It was real; Nightmare did help them out.

"Well, I guess he wasn't pulling our legs..." Avon said, relieved.

"They should be all healed up, after resting all night," Nurse Joy added, "You can use them for battle, today, if you wish."

"Thanks. Then, for starters, we should go for the gym, here, in Pewter city!" Avon said.

"Already?" Marcus raised an eyebrow, "We still got time. What's the rush?"

"Well, it's true we did just get them back. But then, it would be a waste, if we didn't get back to training to beat the gym here. After all, we need to get to the Pokémon league."

"Very well, I suppose." Marcus nodded. "How about a one-on-one battle, to get everyone back on their feet?"

"Hey, I'm up for that!" Avon said, "But first, breakfast and the bathroom. Can't battle on an empty stomach and full bladder."

"Seconded on that." Marcus said. They recalled their Pokémon and hurried to the nearest bathroom.

***********

Ending chapter 2. Once again, I've done it again, I think... o_o" Hope it's good enough, this time. Or, in the worst case, doesn't suck...

 

[Arctic Master]

Chapter 3: Marcus and the Chef

"Charmander! Ember again!" Marcus firmly commanded.

"Bulbasaur! Dodge it and then Razor leaf!" Avon commanded, after that.

After breakfast and bathroom breaks, the two boys began practicing against each other, for their big Gym matches. Their Pokémon each launched projectile attacks at each other from a far distance to easily dodge their attacks. Currently fighting were Charmander and Bulbasaur, launching ember and razor leaf attacks at each other, while Avon's Caterpie and Marcus' Munchlax waited at their trainers' sides, slightly flustered from fighting. The trainers practiced vigorously, prepping their Pokémon for this, hoping they could beat it on the first try.

As they practiced, two girls approached the Pokémon center, from the rear, as the two trainers trained. One was blonde and the other was a brunette. The blonde was much older than her traveling partner and had a look of much experience. She appeared to be wearing a small, white jacket over her sleeveless shirt and skirt combination, the jacket the only thing seeming as though it lets her skin breath.

The brunette looked highly uncertain of things and seldom exasperated. She appeared to be wearing some sort of school uniform, though it looked old, preserved and just perfectly fitting her. However, apart from her outfit, she stood out by having a strange, diamond-shaped necklace, snug around the base of her neck.

The two girls approached the practice battle, from behind Avon, as they wait, patiently, for the right moment to stop their battle. When the time came, Marcus spotted them and pointed in Avon's direction for him to look.

"Pardon us, boys," said the blonde, politely interrupting their practice.

"Sorry, ma'am," Avon replied, sheepishly. He and Marcus halted the battle as the two girls entered the Pokémon center. The brunette stopped and gave both of the boys a saddened sigh of envy, before entering.

"I suppose that's enough practice for the battle anyway," Marcus said, "We don't want to tire them out, before we fight."

"Right," Avon nodded in agreement. "Come on back, guys..." Avon said to his Pokémon, returning them both to their Pokéballs, "We'll rest up, first, then head on out to the gym."

As the two entered the Pokémon center, they caught a small group of male admirers gawking over the two girls in their peripheral vision, who entered seconds before them. They paid them no mind, afterward, as they stepped to the desk, to have their Pokémon rested up for the big match. As they chatted, Nurse Joy overheard their chatter, and approached them, to point out a very important fact.

"Wait," she interjected, "Are you registered for the Pokémon gym challenge?"

"'Register'?" Avon asked, "We have to do that, before we battle the gym leader?"

"Yes. Otherwise the battles will not be official and your entry to the league will be voided," the nurse replied with a nod.

Avon and Marcus were stunned. The Nurse, back in Viridian didn't say anything about registering. However, Nurse Joy simply smiled sheepishly.

"It's okay. We just need your identification and you can register now, with no problem."

Avon raised his hand. "Uhh, I don't quite have any I.D. cards on me..." he muttered.

"Same here," Marcus added.

"It's alright. Your Pokédexes should have that information, for you."

Avon popped it open, and pressed one of the buttons on the flap of the Pokédex door.

"The profile for the Pokédex is not available." The dex said, in a male machine voice.

The very words shunned Avon. Marcus had the same problem. The Nurse frowned.

"Oh dear," she said, acknowledging the obvious, "Professor Oak must've forgotten to fill out the information."

"He did WHAT?!" Avon and Marcus shouted, to their dismay.

The Nurse took a step back, raising her hands, hopefully, to stop the incoming conflict. "N-now, now, it's not a huge problem," the Nurse said, sheepishly, "We can fill the information out now, if you want. And once that's done, you can sign up for the league. Is that okay?"

The boys calmed down, relieved. "That's a relief..." Avon followed with a sigh.

"The worst we thought would happen would be to travel all the way back to Pallet, to get this profile done."

***********

The boys had their profiles quickly done, and their registry ensured. And the process only took a few minutes, all while their Pokémon rested up for the big battle, that very same day. The two walked out of the Center, Avon ready to take on the world.

"Say, what makes you so happy?" Marcus asked.

"Well, this gym should be easy," Avon said.

"I wouldn't be too sure, Avon."

"I'm sure. I have a great advantage, with my Bulbasaur. Grass beats both Rock and it's other half, ground types. So, I can win this..."

"However, Gym leaders aren't like regular trainers, as you know. I'm sure they know how to deal with their weaknesses."

Avon nodded. "Right. We took the same class..."

The two stopped, as they approached a pathway, lined up with rocks along the sides. The path led to a large building, seeming as though it was made from a large rock, from the look of it. It had, in large letters, the word "Gym" on it, meaning it was as it stated; the boys' first gym.

As they walked in, the gym was nearly pitched black. All except for one area, at the other end of a gym, where a man, a little over the age of the two boys, with brown, ascending spiky hair, meditated on a small platform of rocks, made into a seat of some sort. It appeared that his eyes were closed, but he looked up to acknowledge the boys' presence.

"Welcome to the Pewter city Gym," he said, "I'm Brock, the leader."

"Avon Lorain," Avon said.

"Marcus Lamech," Marcus said, afterward.

"Trainers, do you think you have what it takes to earn your first badges?"

"Of course we do! Now, get up and let's battle!"

Brock stood up, as the lights came on, revealing an arena of some sort, in the middle of the room. The arena, inspired by the Gym's type, had rocks of many shapes and sizes scattered all over the field, as obstacles. As the field lit up, a man, in a black and white stripped shirt, with a matching hat, rushed to the side of the field. He was the official judge of the match.

"There are some standards, for this match," he said, "One, only one trainer may take on the gym leader, at a time. Two, the challenger is allowed substitutions, but not the gym leader. Finally, the match will be a two-on-two battle, and a winner is declared if both Pokémon are unable to battle," The official turned to the boys. "Now, which one of you two is first?"

Avon stepped up. "That would be me. This battle shouldn't take to long to finish," He said, confidently smirking, as he tossed Bulbasaur's Pokéball up and down, in one hand.

"Don't think that just because you have an advantage that you'll beat me..." Brock warned. Avon wasn't heeding it at all. "Geodude! Let's roll!"

"Bulbasaur! Come out!"

The two threw their Pokéballs out onto the field, as the light from each Pokéball emerged from the Pokéball and materialized into that called Pokémon, as it hit the arena floor. Avon's choice was, as stated, Bulbasaur. Brock's choice was a gray rock-like Pokémon, with two arms at each of it's sides, tipped at each end with large fists half it's size.

"The first match between the challenger's Bulbasaur and the gym leader's Geodude will now," the official said, raising his flags to each of the trainers battling, "Begin!"

"Bulbasaur, start things off with Razor leaf!"

"Geodude, Rock throw!" Brock commanded.

The battle was on. Geodude, quickly, picked up a nearby rock, half it's size and threw it at Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur's leave sliced the rock into fragments, however the smaller rocks still struck Bulbasaur. It shook it off, ready for more.

"Bulbasaur, charge toward it and use Tackle!"

"Geodude! Tackle too!"

The two clashed in a tackle attack, as Bulbasaur's attack barely phased it, and Bulbasaur is batted aside. It was injured, but no where close to being out.

"Avon, you know normal attacks have little effect on Rock Pokémon!" Marcus commented, on the side. Avon seemed to know that, as he didn't comment back, but continued to focus on the battle.

"Bulbasaur, Tackle again!" Avon commanded.

"You really should listen to your friend. Geodude! Tackle, once again!"

Bulbasaur charged toward Geodude, but as he does, a glint appeared in Avon's eyes, "Jump! Now!"

Before contact was made, Bulbasaur leaped over Geodude, him having expected contact with Bulbasaur. It was wide open, in the back, for a powerful attack.

"What?!" Brock asked, shocked. He hunched his eyebrows, as if his eyes were wide open.

"Now, Razor leaf again!" Avon commanded, with power.

Bulbasaur turned, in the air, and unleashed another flurry of leaves, to strike Geodude, as it turned to face the attack and struck down with a mighty blow. The impact of the blow sent Geodude spiraling to a rock on Avon's side, and completely shattering the rock. Geodude's eyes were swirling, revealing his defeat.

"Geodude is unable to battle. Bulbasaur wins the round." The official said.

Brock smiled, at Avon's triumph, as he recalled Geodude. "I see how you operate, now. You put me into thinking that you didn't know what you were doing. Then struck with power. Nice tactic."

"Thanks for the compliment. Now, to finish this battle."

Brock nodded. "I can see you have confidence. However, this next Pokémon's gonna rock you!"

Brock threw out his Pokéball as the Pokémon materialized larger than Brock's Geodude. A large, Snake, it's segments all made of circular rocks of shapes and of colors of a shade of dark gray. At it's head segment was a pair of eyes, it's toothless mouth and a large, sharp and flat horn bulging from the tip-top of it's head. It lets out a mighty roar, as it fully forms, then turns down to intimidate it's opponent, who was more than ten times less it's size.

"Bulbasaur, don't be intimidated. Stay cool and you can win." Avon encouraged. Bulbasaur nodded.

"Onix! Tackle attack!" Brock commanded.

"Bulbasaur, dodge it!" Avon followed up.

Bulbasaur leaped out of harms way as the Rock Snake Pokémon charged, head first, to Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur landed on one of it's segments and scaled down them.

"Onix, follow it up with bind!"

Onix turned in it's lower body, to curl up and ensnare Bulbasaur. However, Bulbasaur jumped to a nearby rock, and lands on the ground safely, as it's tail failed to grab onto Bulbasaur.

"Bulbasaur, turn and use Razor leaf again!"

"Onix! Burrow underground to evade!"

Onix did as it was told as it reared back to evade the flurry of leaves summoned up by Bulbasaur and then thrust it's head down, into the arena floor, burrowing down under. Bulbasaur began to look around, for it's enemy.

"Bulbasaur, don't stand around! Jump onto a rock and wait for him to come back out!" Avon commanded. Bulbasaur leaped onto the top of the closest rock he could, and stood there, awaiting it's foe. The battle seemed stand-still, until the ground beneath Bulbasaur's rock began to collapse. "Alright, Bulbasaur, now jump off and use Razor leaf!"

Bulbasaur leaped off, as Onix thrust through the ground, shattering the rock that Bulbasaur had been standing on. As it turned to face Bulbasaur, it, instead, took several sharp leaves to it's lower segments. It roared in pain, as it took the powerful hit, though stood up, not ready to give up, just yet.

"This battle isn't over yet, Avon! Onix! Use Rock Tomb!"

"Bulbasaur, get behind a rock! Now!"

Bulbasaur hurried to a rock, as several segments from Onix's body were thrown toward Bulbasaur. Four of the large rocks surrounded Bulbasaur's rock. From the look of it, Bulbasaur had been hit; however, Bulbasaur leaped out of the rock barricade, unharmed.

"I missed?!" Brock asked, shocked of the results.

"Aye. You did," Avon agreed, "Bulbasaur, finish this with Vine Whip!"

A long, slender vine was unleashed from Bulbasaur's side, as it lashed out and smacked it on one of it's middle segments. The impact of the attack sent Onix smack dab into the ground, eyes clenched tight as it's body shook slightly, as it attempted to get up. Five seconds pass and Onix wasn't able to get up. Avon had won the battle.

"Onix is unable to battle. The winner of the gym match is Avon Lorain!" the official said.

"Ha-haaa!" Avon exclaimed, with glee. "Just as I thought!"

Brock smiled again, as he recalled his Onix . "Good job, Onix. Take a rest." He looked up and approached Avon, as he and his Bulbasaur smiled proudly, "You're impressive, Avon. I enjoyed fighting you. As the rules state, you deserve this badge, for beating me."

Brock handed Avon a small, octagon-shaped badge. It was a gray color and glimmered, slightly, from the light in the room.

"The Bolder badge," Avon said, "The very first badge, and the first step into the Pokémon league."

"Heh, you know your stuff, as well," Brock said, "I hope your friend gives me just as much as a challenge as you, though." Brock looked toward Marcus, "Give me a few minutes to rest up. Then come back and challenge me."

"Right..." Marcus said, not as confident as Avon.

*********

"Just think," Avon said, holding up his badge to the sunlight, as the two left the gym for the Pokémon center, "Only seven more badges to go."

"Yeah, Avon," Marcus said, I ain't so positive on winning my first gym battle, on the first try. My Pokémon are at a disadvantage."

"Right... Still there's a chance. I mean, you don't always win, on the first try but hey, if you have an advantage and you know what your doing, it can happen."

That was it. Marcus barely knew what he was doing. He was much better at fighting that at Pokémon battling. As they reached the Pokémon center, an odd guy, in a yellow jumpsuit was asking around for a trade. He had green hair and his eyes were a brown color. He had somewhat of a resemblance to Jimmy, but more sure of himself.

"I'll trade anyone for a shiny Pokémon!" the guy shouted, repetitiously, "Any Pokémon that's a different color than it's original!"

As he proclaimed about trading for a rare colored Pokémon, Avon gets an evil idea. A devilish grin crept along his face, as he thought of it.

"Say, Nurse," Avon said, suddenly, "Can I get back my Caterpie and some..." Avon looked at his Pokédex, quickly checking the different color scheme for Caterpie, "golden yellow paint?"

The Nurse was starting to see through Avon's ploy, "You're not thinking about ripping off that kid, are you?"

Avon acted innocent. "Me? Of course not! I'm a good person, and I know that isn't right! I need the gold paint for my... shoes! Right! I wanted to paint a part of my shoes with golden yellow! I wouldn't even think about ripping someone off with a golden yellow painted Caterpie, to pull it off as a shiny!"

The Nurse wasn't buying the act but simply sighed, as she held up a finger and went into the back room to fetch the golden yellow paint.

"You are both clever and evil, Avon." Marcus commented. Avon took a bow.

"Gotta be in it to win it, Marcus." Avon rose up, from his bow, "It looks like I'll be a bit busy with ripping someone off. I'll see if I can catch your match after the trade's done."

"Right..." Marcus said. He sighed. "I'm hoping luck's with me..."

Marcus took his leave. The Nurse arrived back, with the paint and Avon's Caterpie. But before handing Avon the supplies, she forewarned him.

"Remember. No ripping people off... I'm watching you..."

"Right. Right," Avon said, as the Nurse handed Avon his Pokéball and the paint. With that, he quickly fled to the boys' bathroom, where he took out a brush, from his bag, and the initiative to paint both part of his shoes, with the paint, and Caterpie's body.

***********

Marcus arrived at the Rock gym, Brock already having taken his place on his side of the field. Marcus wasn't prepared, in every sense of the word, for the fight, in terms of his spirit and his Pokémon.

"Are you ready, Marcus?" Brock asked, as Marcus stepped through the door.

"I suppose..." Marcus said, uncertainly.

Brock didn't quite know what was wrong, but didn't worry too much about it. He called out his first Pokémon, Geodude, again. Marcus called out Charmander.

"A fire type against a Rock type?" Brock asked, "You are aware that you're at the disadvantage, right?"

"It was either that or Munchlax. I have nothing else."

The official was also waiting, and raised his flags toward the two battlers. "You both know the rules, already. Begin!"

"Geodude! Rock throw!"

"Charmander! Metal Claw!"

Geodude threw a nearby rock, half it's size, toward Charmander. As it comes hurdling toward him, Charmander's claw begins to glow, as it raised it's arm. The rock came close and was broken into several large chunks as Charmander cut through them, with ease, not even taking damage.

"Nice. Steel is super effective against rock types. However, Geodude defense curl!"

"Charmander, Flamethrower!"

The flames engulfed Geodude as they are expelled from Charmander's mouth. The flames left scorch marks on Geodude, burning him.

"Alright! Now, Metal Claw!"

"Don't get your hopes all high, now! Geodude, Rock throw again!"

Charmander repeated the process of slashing through the rock thrown at it, with it's metal claw. However, Brock seemed to have wanted that.

"Now, Tackle."

Geodude charged for Charmander, ramming into him and knocking him down. The burns were hurting it, and cut it's power. Charmander quickly recovered off the ground.

"That all you got?" Marcus asked, getting confident. "Metal Claw, once more!"

Charmander made a direct hit to Geodude, this time, knocking him out.

"Geodude is unable to battle! Charmander wins the round!"

"Yes!" Marcus said. Charmander huffed, in exhaustion. Attacking Geodude took a lot more than he thought. When Marcus saw that, he knew that Onix was going to be worse.

Brock recalled Geodude. "Your Charmander has guts, I can see. However, Onix is going to rock you, now!"

"Can you please cut it with the "rock" puns?" Marcus requested, "Now it's just starting to get annoying."

"I won't make any promises," Brock said, then calling out Onix. The large Rock snake glaring down at Charmander.

"Charmander, Metal claw again!" Marcus commanded.

"Onix! Double edge!" Brock commanded.

Charmander went for the attack, though Onix charged, head in, to attack Charmander. Onix's attack sent Charmander flying, as it made contact with Onix; Metal claw hadn't even fazed him. Charmander hit the ground, hard, and struggled to get back up.

As that was happening, Avon was now entering the Gym.

"Whew! Hope I didn't miss anything!" Avon said, out of breath.

"Nice timing!" Marcus said, "As always."

Avon scanned the scene. "Sheesh, you're taking quite a beating, aren't you?"

"You don't have to rub it in..."

"I held the trade off for later, to see this. Come on. You can't get your ass kicked, now!"

By that time, Charmander fully stood up, ready to fight, once more.

"Okay, now Rock tomb!" Brock commanded.

Charmander jumped away, from the falling boulders, released from Onix's segments. As the rocks dropped down, Charmander tried, desperately, to dodge them, however, one of them clipped his leg, and hindered it's running speed. Three more rocks closed it up within, trapping him and rendering him helpless.

"Ugh!" Marcus grunted, "Metal claw, again!"

Charmander slashed the rocks, clearing the way. The rocks were now rubble, after the Metal claw attack. However, Charmander was exhausted.

"Onix! Finish it with Screech!"

"Charmander, Flamethrower!"

In time, Onix emitted an ear-splitting screech so powerful, the shock waves even shattered the windows in the gym, from the incredible blast. Apart from that, the power of the attack sent Charmander flying toward a rock and smashing into it. Onix ended it's attack, as Charmander was defeated, lying within the pile of rubble of the shattered rock it had collided with.

"Charmander is unable to battle. Onix wins the round!" the official said raising a flag toward Brock.

Marcus recalled his Charmander, with a sigh. "It's official. I lost..."

"Hey!" Avon interjected, "It ain't over 'til it's over, dude! You still have a chance."

"Right..." Marcus said, almost ludicrously. He knew this was already over. Reluctantly, he called out Munchlax.

"Onix! Double Edge!"

"Munchlax, use Yawn! And quickly!"

Munchlax wasn't quick enough to unleash the attack, and as a result; Onix quickly charged toward Munchlax and crashing into the ground nearby it; the impact of the attack giving enough force to knock Munchlax off it's feet, and briefly into the air. It was merely a feint, for Brock's real attack.

"Alright, Onix, now, Bind!"

While Munchlax was still getting back up, Onix's tail segments wrapped around Munchlax and squeezed hard. Munchlax tried to pull out but, in the end, ended up flailing it's arms about, helplessly, crying for help.

"Munchlax! Use Metronome! Now!"

Enduring the attack, it tried, desperately, to wag it's fingers, as they began to glow. When the glowing ceased, Munchlax took in some sunlight into it's mouth, prepping for a powerful grass attack. Brock sensed something about to happen.

"Uh-oh! Onix! Bail on the attack and burrow underground!"

Onix, in an instant, also sensing the attack, released Munchlax and dug it's way underground. As it does, Munchlax landed on it's feet and fired the powerful beam from it's mouth. However, because Brock had Onix dig underground, the attack barely clipped it's last segment of rock, on it's tail. There was a moment of anxiety, for Munchlax, though the moment ended, when the ground beneath Munchlax collapsed and Onix emerged through it, striking Munchlax from below. Munchlax toppled over, on the ground. It tried to get up, once more, but failed in doing so, and plopped back down, defeated.

"It... looks like Munchlax is unable to battle." The official said, "The winner of the match would be the gym leader!"

Brock seemed more stern about Marcus losing, than his triumph.

"I can see you had the entire disadvantage, during that battle. And the Metronome was sheer luck. However, you're welcomed to try again, later... if you want..."

Marcus hadn't said a word. Avon was just as speechless, though more surprised than Marcus.

"I did say winning in one shot doesn't always have to happen," Avon reminded. Marcus walked away, not saying anything, "Don't worry, Brock, he'll be back. He just needs a bit more training is all."

Avon gave Brock a thumbs up before heading out after Marcus. It was going to take some food, a few words of encouragement and more training to get Marcus back on his feet.

************

 

[Arctic Master]

The boys took a break at the Pewter city diner, where Marcus filled up his stomach, while trying to get over his loss. He remembered his promise he made to Avon, after they got attacked by Nightmare, promising that he'd get stronger for both of them. He, at that moment, wondered how he was going to get any stronger, if he couldn't even get past the first gym. As he thinks, Avon patted him over the shoulder.

"You know," Avon said, "You were doing good, until you got slammed by that Onix." Marcus said nothing, "Dude, the gym leaders don't live up to their names for nothing. They're tough. Especially if you don't have a type advantage. Just try to train as hard as you can, so you can beat them."

"You can say that. You have the advantage..." Marcus said, in much disbelief that he can win.

"Well, I can't dawdle all day. That kid that'll trade me for my "shiny" Caterpie is still up for my offer. I'll get back to you, on your dilemma. See ya."

Marcus sighed, as Avon took his leave to rip off a trainer. As he sat to his dismay, a friendly waitress in a blue uniform that served him his food became his shining light of hope.

"Hey," she said, being friendly, "I couldn't help but overhear you lost to the Gym leader of the town."

"Aye..." Marcus said, downy. Munchlax appeared out of his Pokéball, feeling just as down as Marcus. However, his expression changed quickly, as he saw food, and started chomping away at it.

"I think I might know someone who can help ya with training for the Gym challenge. Won't cost you any extra."

At the sound of those words, in the waitress' first sentence, a shining glimmer of hope showed in Marcus' eyes. He was given an opportunity he couldn't blow off.

"Where can I see him?" Marcus asked, desperate for training.

"Well..." the waitress glanced at the kitchen window, "He can't be disturbed, now. However, come back later tonight, after his shift, and I think I can get him to agree."

"Right. Thanks..." Marcus stopped, then glanced at the waitress' nametag, "Betty."

"No problem, kid," she replied, happily, "A good deed a day brings happiness to stay."

Before preparing to take off, Munchlax ripped an enormous belch, which completely broke through the sound barrier. It was long, repulsive and reeked of onions. Those in the restaurant stared at Munchlax, repulsed or nearly ready to vomit. As Marcus paid for his food, and left with Munchlax through the front door, the guy closest to the door opened a bag and spewed heaves of his lunch into the bag.

Marcus raced back to the Pokémon center, nearly overjoyed that he was going to get some proper training for his Gym battle. As he pushed through the doors, of the Pokémon center, nearly colliding with the two girls they met before, he caught sight of Avon and the guy that wanted to trade, in front of a large machine, with two circular vents, almost mirror-like from each side of the machine. Below the circular vents was a Pokéball of each trainer, placed in a holder of sort, awaiting for the process of the machine.

The green jump-suited kid pulled down a lever and the Pokéballs were sucked into the vents. White silhouettes of each Pokémon appeared on the screen, in between the vents and edge to their other ends. The other trainers' Pokéballs each appeared on each of the opposing trainers' side and drop, safely, into the trainers' holder.

"Ha!" the green haired trainer said, taking his new "shiny" Caterpie. "Thanks, friend, for the shiny Caterpie! I hope you treat my old friend, Gligar, with respect."

"No, no." Avon said, taking his new Pokéball, with the other trainer's Pokéball, "Thank you, kid. And I will."

The two trainers bid their farewells, and went their separate ways. Avon began to chuckle. "Suck-er..." he said, in a mischievously low, sing-song voice. He then saw Marcus, who was a lot cheerier, now. "So, what's been going on, while I was busy making a trade?"

"I got a mentor, to train me for the first Gym challenge."

"Great! Now here's a question," Avon raised one finger, "What am I to do? I got nothing doing, in terms of waiting for you to beat the gym. And to be frank, I'm ready to move on."

Marcus's expression changed, quickly, to concern. "So, we're going to split?"

Avon nodded. "I suppose I can wait. But I'm only giving you until the day after tomorrow, to beat the gym. After that, I'm movin' on."

"Thanks. I promise, the next gym battle I have, I won't lose, Avon."

**********

Night quickly fell, and Marcus was back at the closed diner. As silently promised, Betty was waiting for Marcus, and appeared to be waiting for someone, at the front door.

"Okay, Betty, I'm here. Where's the guy that'll train me for the gym battles?"

"He's still wrapping things up in there," Betty replied, thumbing to the door of the restaurant. "He'll come out, in a few seconds. It's only a matter of time..."

"What do you mean by that?"

Betty hadn't had to say a word. She counted off her fingers, from three to one, and then pointed to the bushes, on cue. A handsome looking guy appeared from the bush, with flowers and chocolates in both of his hands, and a brown leather jacket hung along his arm holding the flowers. He had a both determined and desperate look on his face, a sweaty white T-shirt and working jeans; as he approached the two, his long, messy brown hair swaying back and forth. Once, after charging in, nearly catching Marcus off guard, he then stopped in front of Betty and then bent down on one knee, holding the flowers toward her.

"Please, Betty!" the guy begged. "Please, go out with me!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!" A powerful voice bellowed from inside the restaurant. Betty sighed, having gone through this event routinely. Marcus was shaken up a bit, due to the sudden shout, as was the man asking Betty out, who immediately dropped the candy and stood up, quickly. The man double-took to both of his sides, and then took off running, knowing someone would be following him, after hearing the scream.

The restaurant doors burst open and a large, sweaty guy holding a meat cleaver appeared, face red with anger and eyes shut close with sweat. He appeared to have a chef attire, with a white apron and a chef's hat on top, covering what little hair the fat man had. He chased after the male, stepping on the box of chocolates in the process, with the intention to scare him away at the sight of the meat cleaver. Marcus jumped, at the sight of the fat guy.

"Who the hell is that?!" Marcus asked, surprised beyond relief.

"Dear ol' overprotective dad," Betty replied, gloomily placing one of her hands to her cheek. "He terrorizes all who wish to date me..."

The chef arrived back, shortly after having lost sight of the man; his meat cleaver still clenched in his hands. His eyes were opened, showing his pupils to be a beady-like black. He was out of breath, surely, his physique weighing him down. He arrived back, huffing, as he succeeded in driving the man away, wiping at his thick moustache with a finger.

"Oh, who's this?" the chef asked.

"An acquaintance. He needs help beating Brock," Betty explained.

"Another one?" the chef asked, straightening out his back, "Just get a water type, or something? I need to close up shop. I'm ready to hit the hay..."

"Sir..." Marcus said, disappointed, "I don't have either of those."

"Well, then..." the chef turned to Marcus, showing very little interest. "What do you have? The typical wild Pokémon, from around these parts?"

"Just my starter and a Charmander, sir."

The large man turned to Marcus. "Show me."

Marcus called out his Charmander and Munchlax. "Squirtle and Bulbasaur were taken by a friend and some bully, earlier. And plus, I wanted Charmander, from the beg-"

The chef seemed to pay a definite interest to Munchlax, who let loose another repulsive burp, like earlier that afternoon. Somewhere in the town, the same man who vomited the time Munchlax did it before, was waking up to another barfing session.

"Whoo!" the chef gasped, waving his hand over his face to waft the smell. "So you're the Munchlax that made that loud burp! I say, jolly good show! Ha-ha-ha!" the chef laughed, jollily.

"Huh." Marcus said, also wafting the smell from his face.

"You said it." Betty said, nasally, holding her nose, to keep from smelling it.

"So, you said you couldn't beat Brock, is that right?" the chef asked.

"Uh, right!" Marcus agreed, "He whupped me, last time..."

"Being that he had a Munchlax, and you had problems dealing with your first gym," Betty added, "I figured you could train him to beat Brock. So, pop, whadda ya say?"

The chef seemed to sway a bit, from exhaustion, "Urgh... I need to sit down. Let's discuss our terms inside."

The three entered the restaurant doors and sat down at one of the guests' tables. Marcus explained his situation and how the whole battle had gone in disaster. He then explained his situation with Avon, if he couldn't finish the gym challenge, within two days; being that Betty had established relevance with that of the chef's old friend, when he was his age.

Apart from all the explaining, the chef happily agreed to train Marcus, though starting the next morning; being that he was tired and wanted to sleep. With a new hope and a second and possible only chance to beat the gym, Marcus could soundly sleep that night.

***********

The next day, the restaurant was closed for the morning and Marcus was instructed to head to the back. The Chef and Marcus stood at their positions, as if they were prepping for a battle. Betty was sitting on a stump, nearby, still in her uniform, watching the session go.

"Okay, sir," Marcus said, "How do I beat a Rock type, with the Pokémon I have? I mean, the only unreliable move I can possibly use is Metronome. And using it could result to using something as great as Solarbeam, or something as crappy as Splash."

"Yes, Metronome is all up to chance, which is why you won't be depending on such a move," the chef replied.

"... Say what?"

"Allow me to demonstrate. Snorlax!"

The chef tossed up a Pokéball of his own. The light formed into a large fatter Pokémon than both Munchlax and the chef combined. In fact, the Pokémon was in Munchlax's evolutionary line. In colors of teal and white, mostly white along the belly, it stands tall, on it's round feet. It had two fangs bulging from the bottom of it's mouth, much like it's predecessor, though it appears to have closed eyes.

The Snorlax pulled himself to his feet, seeing his pre-evolution, and preparing for battle.

"This attack may be powerful, but it is dodgeable. Time it right and you can counter attack with that of your own. Mega Punch!"

The Snorlax reared back his fist, as a white orb of light appeared at it's claw handed fist. It swung down it's fist, unleashing the blow to Munchlax, who dodged with a simple jump back as the attack made contact with the ground.

"Munchlax! Counter back with Mega Punch too!" Marcus commanded.

Munchlax swung back his fist, his attack performing differently than that of it's evolutions. His entire fist glows as he swung it to Snorlax, punching it wide in the gut as it straightened out and took the blow. To Marcus' surprise, and of Munchlax's Snorlax didn't appear to have felt a thing. Snorlax let it's gut burst out and threw Munchlax back. Munchlax kept itself from overbalancing, after being thrown back from the

"Keep at it. Mega Punch!" the chef commanded.

"Munchlax! You too!"

Snorlax was powerful and delivered some fierce blows, however, Munchlax was small, nimble and quick. However, while being able to dodge, it's downside was failing to do damage at all to Snorlax, as it continued to attack him in the gut.

"It's no use!" Marcus complained. "Snorlax is too strong to feel anything in his stomach."

"And it's the same way with Brock's Pokémon. Frontal assaults have little effect, even with the Mega Punch. However, both Snorlax and Brock's Pokémon share a same tribute. Watch my attack closely, and see why I say you can counter the attack with that of your own. Mega Punch again!"

Snorlax charged up another attack, ready to use his Mega punch upon Munchlax.

"Ugh, I don't see a point in this..." Marcus complained.

It was then he remembered something about the attack that seemed familiar to him. He remembers when Brock's Onix charged in for Double edge, which it drew in, head first. Snorlax did the same thing, when the Mega Punch hit the ground. He knew where to hit it, now; the face.

"Munchlax, dodge it, then charge in and aim the Mega Punch at Snorlax's face!" Marcus commanded, firmly.

Munchlax jumped back and then charged in, as Snorlax's fist hit the ground. As he rose up to with draw his fist, Munchlax unleashed his Mega Punch upon Snorlax, which seemed to show some effect upon damaging it. The force of the hit knocked Snorlax onto his back, and dropped him to the floor.

"My word," the chef said, "The boy figured it out!"

"What about Snorlax?" Betty asked. He wasn't moving at first, stunned from the shock of taking the hit. However, a few seconds past and Snorlax was now sleeping.

"He always does that. Now, Marcus. That technique is your only chance at dealing some decent damage to Brock's Pokémon. Use the technique to your advantage, and you shouldn't lose."

"I will, sir!" Marcus said, he and Munchlax bowing respectfully. "And thanks again!"

Marcus and Munchlax headed on back to the Pokémon center, to rest up for the match. As he did, the chef recalled his Snorlax and Betty got up from the stump.

"That was pretty nice of you, daddy!" Betty said.

"It was nothing," the chef said, "I just didn't want the boy to end up like me. A fat old man working like this and chasing after boys waiting to date my daughter, for a living!" Betty only smiled at the chef's comment, "Now, hurry along, darling. I gotta start up the grill for the breakfast shift!"

*********

Marcus arrived at the gym, now with a more confident look. Avon tagged along, to see how his training session had went out for him. Brock was back in his sitting position, waiting for challengers, however, the stadium floor was still set out, as it was before.

"So, you're back, huh?" Brock asked, "Aah, I can sense your determination, this time."

"'This time,'" Marcus said, raising Charmander's Pokéball, "will be different. I have a trump card with me, this time."

"Hope so. This match might be a bit more interesting than your last."

The official appeared to have been asleep in a chair, somewhere in the dark, but had woken up to the acknowledgement that the challenger was here. With that, he quickly got up and took his place on the field.

"Err..." he said, sheepishly, "Sorry you had to see that. Anyway, you all remember the rules. The match is a two-on-two. Substitution is allowed by the challenger. First to knock out each of the opponents' Pokémon wins." The official raised his flags, "So, without further ado, the match between the challenger, Marcus and the gym leader, Brock will now begin!" he rose his flags, signaling the beginning of the match.

"Geodude! Let's go!"

"Charmander!"

The Pokémon were called out, the same as before. Brock's Geodude, against Marcus' Charmander. They glared at each other, ready to take the orders from their trainers.

"Geodude, start it off with Tackle!"

"Charmander, flamethrower!"

Charmander unleashed his flamethrower first, the flames engulfing Geodude. However, Geodude pressed on, still managing to tackle Charmander. Unluckily, Geodude didn't sustain burns, like in the last battle.

"Geodude, rock throw!"

"Charmander, dodge it!"

Geodude threw rock after rock toward Charmander, who dodged them all, uneasily. It ended up charging toward Geodude, to avoid anymore rocks thrown at him.

"Alright, Tackle again!"

Marcus seemed to realize how to take advantage of the situation. "Charmander, Metal Claw, now!"

Charmander's arms took a white glow, as it clawed toward the Geodude, furiously, with it's Metal claw attack. Geodude was pretty weak, after taking such a powerful attack.

"Taking advantage of what was coming to you. Nice," Brock complimented, "However, Geodude, Rock throw again!"

"Not this time! Charmander, quickly! Flamethrower!"

Instead of the usual orange flames that was flamethrower, twirling, bluish-yellow flames were shot from it's mouth, causing heavy damage to Geodude, as it picked up a rock, to throw it. The rock it even picked up was disintegrated, from the attack. Geodude rolled onto it's back, it's two arms lying helplessly at it's side.

"What was that?" Avon asked, surprised.

"Dragon rage," Brock said, sternly. He hadn't expected that attack.

"Geodude is unable to battle!" the official said, "Charmander wins the round!"

"Yes! It learned Dragon rage!" Marcus said, proud of his new attack, as Brock recalled his Geodude.

"I'll have to say, Dragon Rage will be tough to beat. However-"

"Don't say it!!!" both Marcus and Avon exclaimed, interrupting Brock in the middle of his rock pun.

"... Onix! Let's go!"

It seemed like the first match, all over again. Onix appeared from it's Pokéball, it's incredibly large size intimidating Charmander.

"Here we go..." Marcus muttered under his breath. "We can do this..."

"Onix, Rock Tomb!"

"Charmander! Dragon Rage again!"

The bluish yellow flames danced as they were unleashed upon Onix. However, Onix managed to duck from the attack, then throwing it's rock segments toward Charmander. Nicked in the leg, as of before, Charmander played Army dodge ball, trying to dodge the remained of the attack. It succeeded, just barely.

"Onix! Now! Double edge!"

Charmander, being attacked at it's blind spot, was knocked clean into the air and took a hard landing, on the way back down onto it's back. It winced, from the attack, unable to get back up, though failed in doing so, being completely exhausted.

"Charmander is unable to battle! Onix wins the round!" the official judged.

As Marcus recalled his Charmander, his confidence dropped a bit. Even with the new technique, he questions if he has yet mastered it. He wasn't sure if he could do it.

"So, I guess it's crunch time now," Brock said, crossing his arms, feeling confident.

"It is," Marcus replied, "Munchlax, you're up!"

Marcus called out his Munchlax, who looked up to the opponent, feeling confident that he now knows how to beat his opponent.

"Come on, Marcus!" Avon cheered. "Knock that pile of rocks about some!"

"Onix! Rock tomb again!" Brock commanded.

"Munchlax, dodge the attack!"

Munchlax took cover behind the rocks on the arena floor, the attack missing Munchlax, however, still sealing him in between the thrown rocks. Munchlax crawled out of the rock barrier, unmarred.

"Onix, charge in for a double edge!"

Marcus' eyes began to light up, as of Munchlax's. This was their chance to let him have it.

"Munchlax, dodge it-!" Marcus commanded, then cutting himself short. Munchlax leaped above the shockwave delivered from the impact of Double edge, his fist glowing with the charge of the Mega Punch.

"What the-?" Brock asked, getting anxious.

"Now! Mega Punch!"

Onix rose up, to see what was going on, and was hammered down with the attack. It reared back some, to avoid any more, but Munchlax pursued and kept on swinging, delivering hook after hook of Mega punch. Munchlax touched back onto ground after delivering an eight-hit combo, Onix in much of a daze. Brock was helpless.

"Finish it! Mega Punch, one more time!"

Munchlax held onto it's shoulder as it rotated it's other arm, rearing up for the punch. When it was ready, it stopped as it was reared back, fist glowing with the power, and delivered a powerful uppercut to the Onix's chin. The attack sent Onix thrown up and back, finally hitting it's side. Marcus smiled, as he saw it in Onix's clenched eyes and painful moaning. He had won.

"It appears..." the official was nearly speechless, "It appears that Onix is unable to battle! The winner of the gym match is Marcus Lamech!"

Marcus never thought he'd hear those angelic words. He pumped both of his arms, in triumph. "Yes! Yes! Yesyesyesyes!!" Marcus said, repeatedly.

"Huh. Onix, take a rest." Brock said, recalling his defeated Rock Pokémon. Once Marcus calmed down from his victory, he approached him, his fist clenched with his earned badge, "Nice job, Marcus. That Mega Punch really turned the tables in your favor. Well, you really earned this one. Here." He held out his hand, opening his clenched fist to reveal the badge he desired so.

"Thanks, Brock. It was a rough battle, all the more; but worth it," Marcus said, as he took the badge, clenching it in his fist with triumph.

"And you doubted yourself, saying that you couldn't do it..." Avon said, crossing his arms.

"Well, I wish the both of you good luck," Brock said, as he took his place back to sitting on his rock throne.

"Thanks, dude." Marcus said, then turning to Avon, "And as you would usually say, 'and away we go!'"

"... I think you should leave stuff like that to me..." Avon said, a bit annoyed that Marcus wasn't saying it right.

**********

The two boys healed up, and went for the next route, Route 9, immediately, that same afternoon. Avon had gotten the strangest feeling to head out, immediately, leaving little time for resting up at the Pokémon center.

"I just got a feeling, is all..." Avon replied, when Marcus asked why they were leaving.

"Is the rip-off thing starting to haunt you?"

"Nothing like that. Still... I just got a bad feeling..." Avon sighed. "Well, since we're off again, I mind as well say this. I'm surprised how long it took you to actually beat the gym leader."

Marcus stopped. "But I had the type disadvantage. And you even said it yourself that beating the gym leader on the first try wasn't always possible."

"Still, it just dawned me how long it took us to leave Pewter. Heck, I could've been all the way to Vermilion, by now."

Avon continued on walking. However, Marcus wasn't going to take the comment, hands down. He called out his Munchlax.

"Use Mega punch."

Avon had heard the command, but turned around to see where it was aimed at. To his misfortune, Munchlax's fist made powerful contact with Avon's cheek, at the utmost sucker punching Avon, for the comment.

********

Meanwhile, in Viridian forest, the kid in the green jumpsuit was training his "shiny" Caterpie, managing to defeat a trainer's Weedle with it.

"Ha-ha!" he said, confidently, "Just think. It's only a matter of time before you're fully evolved and become a shiny Butterfree! Ooh, I can't wait to see that happen!"

Caterpie couldn't wait for that either, as it smiled happily, at his trainer. At that instant, he started to glow and take form into a cocoon shape of sorts. The very moment enthralled the green jumpsuit trainer.

"He's evolving!" he said, huffing his breaths and hyperventilating from the excitement. He pointed to the opposing trainer, "Pinch me, fool, I'm must be dreaming!"

The trainer backed away and fled for his life. The green jumpsuit kid looked at his fully evolved Pokémon and the very shock of seeing it's not-so-shiny colors turned his expression to a sulked, jaw-dropping moment.

"What the heck?! What is that?!" the green jumpsuit kid asked. He took out a water bottle and sprinkled it on the golden painted areas. The areas started to run off. The kid smeared at it, with two of his fingers, and acknowledged it's contents. "Paint?!?!" he screamed, to the top of his lungs, his voice echoing through the forest.

Back at the restaurant, Betty appeared to have heard something, which sounded like screaming.

"Say, dad," she pulled up the topic, "did you hear something, just now?"

"Can't hear a thing, while the grill is hot!" the chef said, the loud sizzling from the many foods on the grill drowning out any sound he could hear.

Betty shrugged, figuring it had nothing to do with her, and turned to the customers, ready to serve them.

 

[Ru-Kun]

Can I just say this if you post only like 1 chapter a day then it will leave people wanting to read the next one, when you do this more people will comment and read your story. Other than that it is quite good.

 

[Astinus]

If I may interject for a second:

Arctic Master did only post one chapter today. Look at the time stamps. He did two posts today, and the last time before that was September 24. He just posted twice today because his chapter broke the character limit for posting, and he had to split it in two.

So, he only did post one chapter. He said so on his first post today, calling it "Chapter 3". The next post just starts right off from where the previous one is cut off.

But, yeah. Only one chapter posted today. It's just that they're long.

 

[Arctic Master]

Aye! ^^; And thank you for your comments. The story's being planned out as we go, in a sesne. However, it still needs a tad tuning up...

Warning: The following chapter is rated R for a few events that occur in the story. If you're a minority, please do not read this chapter. If you think you're mature enough to handle the read, by all means, go right ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you, though...

Chapter 4: On the road to Cerulean City... with distractions

After bandaging up from a Mega Punch to the face, Avon, along with Marcus, continued their journey along Route 9. However, their journey was about to take an unexpected turn, as something was going down on Route 9.

"Geez, man..." Avon groaned, his left check bandaged up. "Why ya hadta do that?"

"Well, you know what they say," Marcus replied, "Some people you can talk to and others you have to beat the crap out of to prove your point."

"Be glad you're physically tougher than me..." Avon muttered, "I think you probably broke my jaw..."

Marcus was about to reply, but something had caught his earshot.

"What was that?" Marcus asked.

"What was what?" Avon replied with a question of his own.

"That voice... did you hear... grunting?"

"Mind me; I don't have supersonic hearing..." The sound was heard again, now catching Avon's ear. "Wait I heard it; A grunt of distress, right?"

"Right!" Marcus replied. He took a few steps forward and focused, to figure out which way it came from. He heard the grunt again, though he had a good feeling where it was coming from, "Over there."

Marcus pointed in direction and the two were off to figure out who was in trouble. Cutting through the brush and trees, they found out that someone was in trouble. That someone was Sarah bound to a wooden post and gagged, grunting as she tried to slip her way past her binds, failing miserably. She looked up to see the boys; to which Avon was smiling smugly.

"So, all dressed up and nowhere to go, huh?" Avon said, smugly. Sarah gave Avon an aggravated growl, being she couldn't do anything else with the bandana over her mouth. Marcus pulled the bandana off of the way of Sarah's mouth, and she spat out a cloth to her side.

"Get me out of here! Quickly!" she replied, as she finally had the gag out of her mouth.

"Why? No doubt that some guy you beat in a battle did this to you," Avon said.

"I'm serious! Quickly, before they come back!"

"Right," Avon said, with a prolong "i", "And I'll really help you, after you nearly kicked our asses in Viridian Forest. I say we go, Marcus. Sarah's wasting our time."

"What?!" Sarah felt as though she took a stab wound. She heard distant rustling from behind her, and a smirk of betrayal was brought up as the two boys walked away. "Oh boys?" she asked, in a sing-song voice, almost giddy of her revenge.

"What now?" Avon asked, annoyed, "I thought I told y-"

Avon's statement lost all power, even if he meant to simply leave Sarah there for her captors. A small group of odd men, in capes, glasses and straw hats appeared behind the post of the bound but traitorous Sarah. In the trees, nearby, were bugs of spiders, caterpillars and all different sorts. The sight had only one word for all of the figures within the area; creepy.

"Oh s***..." Marcus said, as he turned to look, as well.

"Turns out these freaks actually think I'm some sort of goddess. So, they'll do whatever I tell them to."

"We will protect the idol of our Tree Goddess!" said one of the men in capes.

"Oh come on. We'll roast your little bugs," Marcus said, taking out Charmander's Pokéball. Though, has he does, the Pokéball is snagged by a web and yanked back, into the Bug Pokémon's clutches. "Wha-?"

"Careful, they have Pokémon that can exploit your Pokémon's weaknesses," Sarah added, "Also, the green haired one's a fighter. Take him down first!"

Avon quickly grabbed for one of his Pokéballs, "Oh, no ya don't, co-"

As he made a shot for trying to call out his Pokémon, he had similar results of Marcus. Though, despite putting up more of a fight, to keep his Pokémon, the Bug Pokémon pulled together and all yanked at the webbing, both taking Avon's Pokémon and overbalancing Avon.

Meanwhile, Marcus attempted to charge in and attack the group of men, with his fists, being that his Pokémon wouldn't have made it out of their Pokéballs in time. However, to his dismay, the spider-like Pokémon formed a quick weaving of a web net; sticking Marcus to it before his fists was in range. The boys' offense was gone, and it was too late to run.

"Oh sh-" Avon managed to utter, before taking a blunt blow to the head. He blacked out, after that. Marcus took a similar blow, also falling unconscious.

Sarah was unbound but now acting as though she was the men's superior officer.

"Might want to take their other Pokémon away from them too," Sarah suggested, "And do you have a way to sap their strength, so they won't be running off, anytime soon?"

"Yes we do, milady," one of the men replied.

"Good. Use it. Now, where are we going?"

"To our hidden village, within Mt. Moon," another man replied, "Tonight, we will all worship your Excellency, O great one..." he, as well as several others bowed before Sarah.

"Tree Goddess... Tree Goddess..." they chanted, as they rose up and bowed before the girl; both having flattered her and creped her out a little.

**********

A moment of travel passed as Avon and Marcus came to. What Avon and Marcus happened to have been in was in a jail of some sort. The cell walls were made up of either leaves or hardened webbing. Behind the leaves, there were signs of cracked concrete. The walls that were made of hardened webbing could be seen through, as Marcus was in a cell next to Avon.

"Ugh..." Avon groaned, still lying on the ground. "Where the hell are we? And why do I feel like my bones are made of my mom's delicious jello?"

"Last I remember those hooded bug guys in green capes jumped us..." Marcus muttered, in a cell next to Avon. He tried to raise his arms but failed in doing so as it collapsed over his chest. "And Sarah, the little b****... she ratted us out."

Avon examined the ceiling of the cell, being the only other direction he could look. Two green spider-like Pokémon, from before, were watching him from above, making sure they wouldn't pull a fast one on the clan of bug worshippers. Not like they would, anyway; the boys felt extremely weak.

Minutes after awakening, and getting little feeling back in their muscles again, two of the men in green capes approached both of the boys' cells.

"Announcing the arrival of the Tree Goddess," the man at Avon's cell said.

"Prisoners prepare yourselves for bowing to her in submission." The other said. The two men stood aside and turned to the door, then getting on their knees and bowed slowly, to the approaching Sarah.

Sarah had come in, wearing a different set of clothes. Her clothes were of inspiration of her own Beautifly, being a bug type Pokémon. The tank top she wore had on the design of it's patterned wings, and the mini-skirt she wore was of the colors gray and white. She still kept her same pair of shoes, however, to get around. At her side, her Beautifly fluttered above her shoulder in glee, while behind her two more bug worshipper guards. She stopped in-between the two cells, then turned to each of them.

"How's it going, boys?" Sarah asked, smirking devilishly. "Enjoying your cells?"

"SARAH, YOU BI-" Avon started to shout, though was painfully interrupted, by a jab on the forehead from one of the nearby guards' staves. The strike, though fairly weak, still knocked Avon over.

"Mind your manners, scum!" he said, defensively. "Know who you're talking to! This is your Goddess so bow to her, you worthless street scum!"

"So what, Goddess Sarah?" Marcus asked, "You got your laugh, now let us go."

"Can't do that, Marcus," Sarah said, with a wink. "There's a party, tonight, and you guys are invited."

Avon recovered, "Count me out... I'd rather be carving out the initials on my own grave than go to a party where you run it."

"Such a shame..." Sarah giggled, "Because if you don't go to the party, you'll miss out on eating for the day."

"As I said, I'd rather starve than go to a party where you're even in the same existence than I..."

"Silence, you knave!" the guard scolded again, once again jabbing Avon in the forehead with the staff. "Where are your manners?!"

"Enough, Lief," Sarah said, lowering the staff with her hand. "His ignorance will be atoned for later in his workload."

"Workload?" Marcus muttered, raising an eyebrow.

"Are both of these allowed to still come?"

Sarah nodded. "Of course," Sarah turned in her heels, toward the only exit of the cells, "Everyone, let's go on with our preparations for the party."

Sarah and most of the guards had left. However, two guards, carrying large knives and wood blocks arrived to the front of their cells. They tossed each of their items toward Avon and Marcus and kept their stern faces as they gave the items confused looks.

"You two are to make carvings of worship to the Bug Pokémon or the tree Goddess, "the man said," No slacking off for you, boy..." He was referring to Avon, who looked endearingly at the knife.

Avon raised the knife and pointed it to his heart. "Urge... to kill self... rising..."

Marcus did nothing to stop Avon, being that he was both out of reach and that a similar event such as this had happened before. The guards looked as though they were about to panic but Avon dropped the knife with a gasp and a round of huffing. Marcus merely nodded.

"Some day, but not today..." Avon sighed.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! To work!" the other man shouted.

Marcus grabbed his tools and the two boys began cutting aimlessly at the wooden block; most probably due to the fact that they didn't want to carve anything of Sarah or of the bug Pokémon around them.

***************

Night fell quickly, as the two boys' skills with carving out things in wood improved, being that they had nothing else to do. However, they were scolded, for not doing their job and sidetracking.

It was then that the boys were summoned to the party; even though at first, Avon was reluctant to go. However, after Marcus reminded them of having "real food" at the party, and Avon having not eaten anything all day, he rose up, seemingly full of energy, raring to go to the party.

The party, once arriving, was strangely... quiet. It was far from classy, being that Bug Pokémon were swarming the ceiling, mainly around a post along a scaffold. Facing right of there, Sarah was sitting down on a throne of some sort, gleefully awaiting the two boys; her Beautifly fluttering with as much glee as she was. However, whenever she took her glance at the post, from the look on her face, she was feeling uneasy.

"And now, for that buffet table!" Avon shouted, as he made a jump for the table. However, he was briefly yanked back, by several shots of webbing, preventing him from even getting close, and landed with a thud on his dairy-air. "Ow!"

Sarah's attention shifted back to the two boys. "Ah, right!" Sarah cleared her throat. "Before you two eat you must bow to me, before you do."

"... That's it?" Avon scoffed, "Shoulda said that in the first place!"

"Hold!" Sarah had outburst, mid-way of Avon's bow. "You, street rat, need to show me some respect!"

"What?!"

"With the bow you must also say "Sarah is the greatest and best trainer in every way possible, over me. And doesn't cheat, either." Once you do that, then you can eat."

"What?!" Avon shouted, prolonging the "a," "No way am I saying something like that! One, it's a total, oblivious lie; and t-" Avon received another jab of a staff, this time to the temple. "Ow! F***!! Stop doing that!"

"Fine. Don't say it... I guess you won't eat, then..."

Avon grumbled, as everyone moved to the buffet table, Avon bound to one place by a tough line of webbing. As Sarah moved past him, Avon held out his hand to stop her.

"Wait..." Avon grumbled, submissively. He then muttered something even lower than what anyone could hear.

"What?" Sarah asked cooingly almost ready to hear him squirm and admit it.

"Sarahisthegreatestandbesttrainerineverywaypossibleovermeanddoesntcheat..." Avon muttered quickly.

"I'm sorry in English, not in speed dimension."

Avon swallowed his pride. "Sarah... is the greatest and best trainer in every way possible, over me..." Avon swallowed hard, "And doesn't cheat... either..."

Sarah jumped for joy finally hearing the words she wanted to hear come from Avon's mouth. "Say it again!"

Avon gave Sarah a harsh glare. "I said it once; how many times do you want me to say it?!"

"Until I'm satisfied," Sarah waited to hear it again, but Avon fell silent, still glaring harshly at Sarah, "What? If you want to eat t-"

"Sarah, I will not say it again."

"Then I guess you'll go hun-"

"Dammit, Sarah, get me the f*** outta here!!" Avon bellowed in Sarah's ear. Her guards immediately rushed to her aid by shoving the back end of their staffs into Avon skin, subduing him easily due to his condition. It only lasted for a second or two, but even so, Avon learned his lesson.

"On second thought, cut him loose. One time is enough." Sarah said, nonchalantly, trying to clear out the ringing in her ear with her pinkie finger.

The bug worshippers cut Avon loose and pulled the slightly dazed Avon up. Marcus was already getting to know some of the guys as if they were at a party of some sort. In a sense they were but not upon their will. After the party ended, things were getting a tad insane.

"And now, it is time for the Goddess ceremony!" said one of the head bug worshippers. "We will now relinquish our celebration of finding the tree goddess and begin the ritual for our Tree Goddess' gifts upon us!"

Sarah, suddenly, felt a shock. The men never told her anything about that. "Wh-what?! What's this about?!"

"Why, you're the reincarnation of our Tree Goddess. Currently, you show your exterior image, as the Pokémon you're dressed up as. Now, you must open your layers and provide for us, O great one..."

Sarah suddenly felt sheepish and ready to flee. She suddenly jumped from her seat, backing away from the men in green capes. "W-well, that's nice and all but I just remembered that I'm late for that... that thing! Yeah! So, if you nice gents would be so kind as to let me outta here, I'll be sure to come back and visit sometime! Yeah! Right!" Sarah turned and waved, "G'bye, everyone!"

Sarah hurried to the nearest exit, as fast as she could. However, a few of the bug worshippers stepped in front of the exit, then outstretching their arms to block the way. Sarah skidded on her shoes a bit to avoid colliding with the men, now starting to panic. A few more men in capes blocked her way back, so they could close in on her, marching to close her in. Sarah looked toward her Beautifly and was about to call out a command, however, found that it was taken down by the worshippers' Pokémon.

Avon, while Sarah was running around to avoid being caught, looked to one of the men with a broad smirk. "Say, can I go get my camera? It's in my bag."

"Sure," he said, "It's in that room, right of this one, just before coming in. All of your stuff is in there. Just hurry back before the ritual begins."

"Will do." Avon gave the guy a thumbs up and then hurried to get his camera from his bag. By the time he had gotten back and turned it on, the other bug worshippers had captured Sarah and brought her to the head of the clan. "This is gold." Avon said, snapping pictures. "You sure this is allowed? I'm gonna post these on the internet after this is done."

"Yes, yes! Show others the beauty of Bug Man Religion!" the man said, enthralled by the thought of how others would agree with the religion.

Sarah was stripped down to her undergarments and then tied down to the post on the scaffold in the middle of the large room. She was also gagged, due to her constant screaming of hopes that the bug Pokémon would fall on her, but the worshippers already had a good idea what was going on.

The next thing that happened was not for the faint hearted or new guys in the room. Sarah then had tree sap dumped over her shoulders in slow but large gooey amounts. To avoid suffocating her, they rubbed more of it onto her face, evenly layering it around her eyes, nose and around the gag. The men backed away and watched from afar.

The bug Pokémon, who were once crawling on the ceiling, dropped or fluttered down toward Sarah, and once landed, whether on or near her, they began sucking on the sapping that was drenched upon Sarah. Avon and Marcus watched in horror, the bug worshippers watched much to their enjoyment, and Sarah was screaming, to the best of her ability under her gag; horrified of the entire swarm of bug Pokémon upon her.

************

The boys, back in their cells late that night, only listened, agonizingly, to the sounds of Sarah struggling in her bindings in the cell across from them. Had she taken the deal a bit more seriously, she'd be sleeping in a more comfortable bed. However, the trust fund had shifted to their favor as some of the guys promised the boys their Pokémon back tomorrow. After everything was sound, and Sarah finally falling asleep, or having appeared to be, Avon got up.

"Marcus, you still awake?" Avon asked.

"Yeah... the scene back there won't let me sleep all that great..." Marcus replied.

"You know, as much as I love to see Sarah tormented, that much was a tad too much for my tastes. Even that, Sarah didn't deserve..."

"Agreed. But what do you suppose we do? It's not like we can fight back... It's a thousand of them against us, even with Charmander. We wouldn't even make it through the front door..."

"Right... Looks like Sarah's doomed to suffer from this pack of bug worshippers..."

Marcus then heard something. He really never paid any mind to what sounds were outside of his cell, being that there was a lot of movement around, from the joy of finding their Tree Goddess. However, it was the sound of water, he heard. He could've sworn he heard it before, but it was so loud, he paid little mind to it. He looked out of his cell window and saw it, from the very right, almost into a blind spot in the window; a river of a sort, on the very far end of the small civilization of small stone-like buildings. The sight of it sparked up an idea in Marcus.

"Avon, get some sleep. Tomorrow night, we're all bailing this joint."

"What?" Avon asked, shocked at Marcus' statement.

"Just try to sleep. I got a plan for tomorrow's evening; to which we're bailing out of this join. We're going to get our Pokémon tomorrow morning, right?"

"Right... But I still don't see wh-"

"As I said, just get some sleep. Tomorrow morning, while we're working on our wood carvings, I'll tell you what our plan is.

**************

Despite the image of last night's ritual burning in Marcus' head, he was able to soundly sleep on his plan, feeling more confident than usual as he worked. When the two boys woke up, the next morning, they had gotten their Pokémon back, as promised, though they were used for helping them with the woodwork if they could. During the time, Avon managed to get to know his new partner, Gligar; whist Marcus was whispering his plan to his team.

Sarah had been removed earlier, before the two woke up, but from the sound of things in the background, she still wasn't cooperating with the bug worshippers' ideals and putting up a fight to anyone trying to force her into them. While Avon seemed a bit worried as he made a carving of Spinarak, the green spider-like Pokémon that was common in the building, Marcus happily carved on his wooden block, carefree of what he was making. He just knew that this was their night to freedom and could care less about getting scolded at all.

Before they knew it, night had come around. They recalled their Pokémon as Marcus kept a confident smirk that read "follow my lead," as the two went to the party that was set up, just like last time. However, this time, Sarah was tied to the post on the scaffolding earlier, this time. She wasn't released at all, to have something to eat and was already gagged. As the crowd began to gather for tonight's beginning of the ritual, in which large, red cricket-like Pokémon with brown moustaches were playing music for Sarah, Marcus pulled Avon aside.

"Avon, remember that room you went in to get your camera? Go there and get all of our stuff now. Wait for my signal to head out the window near there. We'll be out soon."

"Right..." Avon said, nodding in agreement. He passed by the two guards by the door, requesting that he'd get his camera again. The two men raised an eyebrow each but had let him pass. Marcus' smirk had gotten wider as he saw that things were going as planned. The music from the cricket Pokémon ceased, and the ritual was ready to begin again. After saying what was said the previous night before, it was now time for the stripping.

"Say, Marcus," one of the bug worshippers said, "Since you're the new guy, you should have the first honors."

Marcus smirked, almost as if he was following his perverted instincts. They were making it too easy. Marcus approached poor Sarah, preparing his hands as if he was going to make a grab for Sarah. She gave Marcus a very scared look, terrified of it all. Marcus winked to Sarah, out of sight of the other men in green. He took hold of Sarah's shirt, though quickly, after that, withdrew his arm to his belt and tossed out Charmander.

"Now, initiate the plan!" Marcus shouted, then running behind the post to untie Sarah.

Charmander spewed flames all around the post, both obscuring the sight of the bug worshippers and drawing them back, away from the scaffold. Sarah was quickly untied and then pulled away, Charmander tailing close behind. The bug Pokémon on the ceiling of the room was falling as well, unable to take the intense heat from the flames. Marcus headed toward the exit door, heading down the flight of stairs, to the ground floor. So far, the escape was going as planned, and their obscuring ruse worked like a charm.

***********

 

[Arctic Master]

Tch, I can never not go over the character limit, on the first try. =/

*************

A few minutes or two earlier, Avon was busy gathering their things, as well as Sarah's clothes and items. Luckily, they were all conveniently in one place so Avon hadn't had to search long for the things that belonged to them. He easily packed them all in his bag and then tried his best to place all of the three's bags onto his back or front, the best he could.

After all that was done, Avon peeked out the door, though the guards were still there. Avon was wondering why it was taking Marcus so long to sound the cue, whatever it might have been. His hopes were answered.

"Now, initiate the plan!" Marcus said, from the other room. Soon after that, the sounds of the flames were heard and the guards that were guarding the door quickly left their posts.

"That must be the signal!" Avon said, then calling out Bulbasaur. He exited the room and turned to the window on the immediate right of him. He opened it up and then lifted Bulbasaur to grab hold of the building across from the alley below with Vine Whip.

However, as he readied himself to jump out, three bug worshippers hurried out and spotted Avon about to jump.

"Wh-what?!" shouted the man.

"Well, I can proudly say I hated it here. So, with that comment I follow with so long, suckers!" Avon said, then jumping out, laughing maniacally, while holding onto Bulbasaur. However, as things could imagine, Bulbasaur couldn't support the extra weight onto him, let alone Avon. Instead of swinging straight to the building's roof, Avon instead, swung to the wall, "No, no, no!!" Avon could shout, before colliding with the wall. "Oooh..." he groaned.

To his dismay, he had let go of Bulbasaur and took a two story tumble. He screamed on the way down, but landed with a thud.

"Ow... my back..." Avon muttered. To add insult to injury, Bulbasaur had let go from fatigue and landed on Avon's stomach; had not the weight of everyone's stuff been bad enough. "D'ooof!! Bulbasaur! Ugh..."

Avon recovered slowly, as Sarah and Marcus were a few feet away, Charmander still tailing behind them. They spotted Avon pulling himself up.

"Avon! Come on! They're right behind us!"

"Easy for you to say!" Avon snapped back, getting up with a groan and then picking up his Bulbasaur who had retracted his vines back into the side of his bulb.

The men on the third story window spotted the other two, having watched Avon make a monkey out of himself. They watched as the three ran off, unable to stop them until the flames decimated.

"Th-the prisoners are getting away! And they've got the Tree Goddess!" the man shouted. "Catch them before they escape!"

********

Marcus was leading the way, his Charmander recalled back into his ball. After all, he was the man with the plan. The boys reached the docks of the river in the cave, stopping before jumping in the currents.

"Alright, we gotta swim our way out!" Marcus said.

"What?!" Avon retorted. "Why not just hijack a boat or something?!"

"We need a key for that. And even if we found one, we don't have time to check every boat!"

"B-but..." Sarah stammered, "I-I c-can't sw-swim!"

"You better learn now!" Avon shouted, "It's either that or having these bug worshippers dump sap on you again!"

Sarah shrieked and then jumped into the water, without a second thought. Avon and Marcus jumped in afterward, rescuing Sarah, before she drowned, in remembrance that she couldn't swim. They treaded on the currents in the water, that being their only option to keep Sarah afloat.

However, their retreat wasn't going along so swimmingly. Soon after them, three boats with the Bug worshippers after them. They looked very determined to bring them all back.

"Ah! No!" Sarah screamed. "I don't wanna go back!"

Avon reached for Gligar's Pokéball, "We're not going back. Gligar!" Avon tossed the Pokéball up, the Purple flying scorpion Pokémon taking wing and gliding along a small wind. "Gligar, quickly! Attack with Poison sting!"

The bug worshippers took out their Spinarak, and the evolved forms of them, Ariados. The Ariados were much like the Spinarak, however, they were much larger and had a red and black color scheme.

"String shot. Keep them from getting away!" commanded one of the bug worshippers. Gligar went to attack, however, instead, went for dodging incoming string shot webs from the foes. It retreated to the three trainers. Avon sighed.

"You tried." Avon said, recalling Gligar back to his ball. "Let's try Bulbasaur, now!" He replaced him with his partner Bulbasaur, who had been released onto his head to keep dry. "Bulbasaur, try to give us some distance! Use Vine whip!"

Bulbasaur unleashed his vines, yet again, however, attempting to push the boat of the bug worshippers away, to keep them at bay. However, the Spinarak and Ariados were still launching webbings at them, and one of them latched onto one of Bulbasaur's vines.

"Ugh! Bulbasaur! Razor Leaf to cut you loose!"

Bulbasaur unleashed more sharp leaves, though it took a couple of shots to cut it loose from the webbing. However, to their benefit, a stray leaf was avoided and struck the engine, slowing them down.

"Argh! No!" shouted one of the men in green. He looked ready to jump in.

"Oh no ya don't!" Avon shouted, "Bulbasaur, whip him back!"

Bulbasaur, as the boat was drifting farther away from the three, unleashed his vine to the fullest it could go, to smack the man in green back into the boat. As they drifted away, they all sighed in relief, finally having gotten far enough to make a large break for it. They had finally gotten away.

************

By the time the trio got out of the cavern river, night had already fallen. The three drifted for a few more minutes before attempting to swim to land. They were soaked to the marrow but finally free.

"Oi..." Avon gasped, "I hope you guys have plastic in your bags to protect your stuff. Otherwise it's soaking wet and probably not usable anymore."

They both gave Avon their thumbs up, acknowledging that their bags were protected on the inside with plastic.

"Th-thanks for saving me, you guys..." Sarah said, with relief. However, Avon and Marcus each gave Sarah a good slap in the face on each cheek. "Geee-yaaaaaaaow!!" she screeched, placing her hand on both of her cheeks. "What was that for?!"

"For getting us in that mess in the first place!" Marcus scolded, his hand still reared back, as if he had just slapped her.

"Well, you guys didn't help me!" she said, cheekily, "And you already know me. You follow my rules or you suffer the consequences."

"Consequences my butt..." Avon said, throwing Sarah's backpack to her. "Just get to a Pokémon center or something. Let's just put this whole mess behind us..."

"Wait! Where's my Beautifly?!" Sarah cried, seeing that it wasn't on her belt.

"I packed it in your bag. They were stupid enough to put it's Pokéball in the same place as all of your other stuff. Trust me; they didn't do the same with our Pokéballs, otherwise we'd be outta here already..."

Sarah gave Avon a low growl; and just when she was getting a new found respect for Avon.

"Fine!" she huffed and turned her back toward the two boys. She got dressed out of the boys' sights, as they recuperated and made sure everyone was okay and fed. She stepped out, back in her old clothes, "I'm off. I'll leave you boys to do whatever!"

Sarah stomped away, still angry at the previous event; she'll never forgive those two. Avon and Marcus each sigh, being that the trauma was all over. They moved along a bit, to get out of the broad moonlight, so their pursuers wouldn't see them, and then set up camp near the river, not wanting to go through the route to get to Cerulean yet. The Bug worshippers' boat passed twice, and after about an hour's wait, they weren't coming back. After that, Avon and Marcus started up a fire and rested there in the woods. Before going to bed, however, they chat, letting all of their Pokémon out to rest up near the fire.

"Sheesh, I don't see how we'll ever understand that girl..." Avon said.

"You mean Sarah, right?" Marcus asked, then nodding. "She seems to inflict more pain on you than she does me."

"Because she's evil and hates my living guts..." Avon sighed. "Why did we even bother rescuing her?"

"Because, at the time, you didn't want her to go through that..." Marcus shuddered. Avon followed up after him.

"Thanks for that disturbing image..." Avon went to his camera and deleted all of the pictures that he took while in there. "That's a memory to stay out of my head..."

Avon fell back, onto his sleeping bag, "I'm hittin' the hay... See ya tomorrow, and hope that s*** doesn't go wrong this time..."

"Please..." Marcus jumped into his sleeping back, "As if this journey hasn't been going wrong from the beginning."

Their Pokémon lied nearby or on top of their trainers, depending on their weight, and slept there for the rest of the night. The fire that was once roaring was now dimming down and decimating, the night sky enveloping the boys into darkness.

 

[Neiko Star]

This is good. :) Keep it up.