War of Hope | Rated: PG

[Aethelstan]

WAR OF HOPE
-Cool Graphic Coming Soon-

This is a fic I've been working on for a while. I've been putting off putting this on the internet, but I've been going over this first chapter a lot, and I think it's ready for public exposure. Check back to this first post when there are more chapters up, this will become an index soon. Also, I make my expectations really low when people rate my work, so be as harsh as you want in your reviews. And I'd really like reviews, how else can I become less of a horrible writer?
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Chapter 1​

A Weekend Trip​

"Enjoying our little adventure, James?"​

"Boy am I ever!" James said, smiling widely. He and his Grandpa John had been camping for the weekend, and they were taking one last bike ride through the woods.​

"Hey wanna race?" Grandpa called out through the trees.​

"Sure!" was the cheery reply.​

"OK then, we'll start at the edge of that hill!" A few yards ahead, there was a steep slope, curving wildly down to narrow creek.​

They each pedaled hard, in attempt to reach top momentum once they hit the hill. James' heart was beating hard, faster and faster; he was sure he could feel it beneath his dark green shirt and black denim vest.​

"You're pretty fast for an old man!" James mocked.​

"Watch you tongue or I may have to run you off the road!" Grandpa said, laughing.​

James laughed; his bright green eyes glistened in the sun, and his loose bandana and jeans flapped in the wind;​

"Wah!" James yelped, narrowly missing a large indent in the hill.​

"Watch yourself!"​

"I know what I'm doing, you're just distracting me!"​

"Sure I am, that's the whole point!"​

The two kept taunting the rest of the way down, until James really did hit a bump and flew face first into the creek.​

Grandpa quickly braked, and shouted, "James, you alright?"​

James turned around, sat up and laughed, "Of course, I won!"​

"Only because you're young and have abnormally long legs!"​

James grinned. He always liked it when someone brought up his height. He was only ten years old, and he already was nearly five feet tall. He pretty much shot straight up one summer, and came back to school the tallest in his class at 4'11".​

"Besides," Grandpa continued, "from where I'm standing, I think I'm glad I didn't win!"​

Grandpa pulled James out of the water, and the two walked their bikes back to camp. The campsite they were visiting was almost overloaded with trees. There were little patches cleared so people could set up their tents, but other than that there were very few open areas and you had to hike through dense forest to get anywhere. It didn't matter where they were though, James loved spending time with his grandfather. He had a warmth about him that was hard to explain; perhaps it was his white bushy mustache and grandfatherly look (which was appropriate, for obvious reasons), or maybe it was him always cracking jokes and making you smile. James stopped to roll up the pant legs of his jeans; they were waterlogged and weighing him down.​

Grandpa stopped to wait and was about to poke more fun at James, but instead of a joke, out came, "James! Don't move!"​

Although surprised, James obeyed, but his curiosity tugged at him. There was an odd sound behind him that was slowly growing louder. Finally he had to quietly utter, "Grandpa, what's going on?"​

"There's a giant Beedrill, right behind you!"​

James kept perfectly still after hearing this, although it took all his will power to keep from turning to see.​

"Grandpa, please tell me you're joking…"​

"I wish I was…" Grandpa whispered. He paused, trying to think of a plan least likely resulting in a mauling. "Ok, this may sound crazy, but stay there, I need to go grab my belt. Don't… move… a muscle."​

Whenever Grandpa mention his belt, he was referring to his Pokémon. He always brought them with him on a brown, leather belt, but had thought it too bulky to be worn biking. James wished he had his own Pokémon, but even if he had already received his first Pokémon, until now, he wouldn't have thought it necessary to bring Pokémon to these woods. The area had been declared completely devoid of wild Pokémon.​

The loud sound behind James, which now was obviously a loud buzzing, had been scaring the wits out of him this entire time, and finally he couldn't take it anymore.​

"YOU WERE RIGHT GRANDPA, THIS WAS CRAZY!" James shouted, not to anyone in particular since his grandpa had disappeared into the woods, and started running off toward his campsite.​

The Beedrill followed in close pursuit. All James could do was run, and think to himself, "Why does it always have to be Beedrill!? This has to be the most clichéd instance in the history of emergencies!"​

As James approached the camp, he heard a panicked voice. "I thought I told you not to move!" Grandpa of course.​

"Pfft, yeah right! It's a Beedrill for Arceus' sake!​

"You have a point!" Grandpa shouted, then declared, "Electivire, go!"​

Grandpa hurled a red and white orb that split open when it hit the ground. The beam that shot out quickly took the form of a tall, yellow Pokémon with black stripes, with a tail resembling two black cords coming out of it's back.​

"Electivire, Thunder Punch!"​

Electivire wound back, sparks flying off his fist. James had to duck out of the way to avoid the powerful, electrically charged punch. The Beedrill did not take the impact well. He flew backward into a nearby tree but quickly sprang back up, while simultaneously firing small, pin like projectiles from it's upper stingers.​

"Electivire, counter with a Swift attack!" Grandpa shouted​

Electivire began firing small bolts of lighting at Beedrill from his tail. The two attacks somehow almost completely bypassed each other, inflicting small wounds upon both parties.​

"Electivire, see if you can finish it off with a Thundershock attack!"​

Instead of the conventional firing electricity through the air, Electivire stuck the two prongs of its tail onto Beedrill and started pumping electricity into it's body. The Beedrill made a short yelp of pain, then fell to the ground.​

James stared blankly at the unconscious Beedrill for several moments before quietly saying, "That was scary."​

"No kidding, but you have to wonder why there was a Pokémon here in the first place, besides any trainer's Pokémon, this feller' shouldn't be here." Grandpa inquired, poking the Beedrill with his toe.​

James thought about it, then replied, "Well, it's not like they monitor this area 24/7. Maybe a careless trainer just released him here by mistake, or he got lost and flew here from his natural habitat. There are Beedrill nests in the forests several miles from here.​

Grandpa was silent as he pondered these possibilities, then said thoughtfully, "Hmm, you're probably right. C'mon, let's get back to camp and pack up." ​