Pokemon: LeafGreen

[Achamo-chan]

This is old. Really old. I think this made its FF.N debut on the day the game it was based on was released... nobody read it there, and chances are nobody's going to read it here. Oh, well... PG-13 for later happenings. It's PG right now...

1: VS Horsea ;116;

"Clef... Cle-faaa!"

"Cleffa! For heaven's sake, shut up!"

"...clef..."

It was night in Viridian City, and the moon was full...

Living hell for Leaf.

"Cle... Clef-fa! Clef-fa! Clef-"

"WHAT did I just tell you?!"

The brown-haired girl's normally hyperactive Cleffa just got worse on nights like this... to darken Leaf's mood, her shopping was nowhere near finished. Four bags of groceries were in her hands, a yellow shoulder bag purchased for the upcoming school year inside one and various foodstuffs in the others. Cleffa bounced around her in circles.

Above her, a Pokeball fell...

"Apples, salad mix, milk, eggs, bread, orange juice, half-and-half...

fell...

half-and-half, come on... oh, I knew I forgot something!"

fell...

"Eh, it can wait until tomorrow. Mom's always saying she needs to cut back on how many cups of coffee she drinks..."

and hit Leaf on her plastic party hat, bought on a whim at the supermarket.

"What the heck..."

She trailed off when she saw just what had hit her.

"A Pokeball? Whichever butterfinger dropped this'll probably come looking for it..."

She looked up at the darkening sky that it had come from to find a steep cliff, many miles high.

"...then again, it wouldn't hurt to look at it while I wait." She put down the bags in one hand carefully, not wanting to spill eggs all over the place, picked up the Pokeball, and grinned- the boys in her class always battled with their Rattatas and Pidgeys, but she'd always beaten them with her trusty Cleffa. A new Pokemon to add to her roster- if there was a Pokemon in here- would tick them off very much indeed! She'd give the trainer five minutes, but until then...

She dropped the rest of her bags and struck a pose that she'd seen some caped guy on TV use. He'd defeated his opponent without breaking a sweat--maybe this was the new 'in' pose of the year? Good to remember to use on those dumb boys at school when they challenged her, anyway. Getting more into the act, she planted one foot behind her and prepared to throw the Pokeball, in a perfect imitation...

...and stopped mid-throw. What was in here, anyway? That guy had yelled out his pokemon's name--Dragonair, she was sure--and then thrown it whilst yelling, 'GO!' Leaf hadn't a clue as to what was in here... but that was what improvisation was for!

"Whatsit, GO!" She threw the Pokeball-

"Bulba?" A small green pokemon with a bulb on its back materialized in a flash of white light. The pokemon looked up at Leaf's strange position--she still hadn't finished throwing--(what had he done after this, anyway?) and stood there staring like a deer in headlights. Cleffa poked it once, seemed to shrug, and continued bouncing.

Leaf finished, taking a more relaxed position. "What?" she asked, noticing the small pokemon's stare. She didn't have any more time to comment on this, though...

"Little girls like you shouldn't be out this late..." Leaf whirled to see a man with a blue seahorse at his side. The man was dressed entirely in black, except for a red R. A red R... wait, isn't that the sign of-

"T-Team Rocket..." Team Rocket was an urban myth; a near-legendary gang that stole pokemon and various other items that tickled their fancy- children, even! Leaf's mother had never been fond of her battling, and had tried to use the criminals as encouragement to stop ('If you continue like this, Team Rocket will kidnap you as walk home and turn you into a pokemon!' 'Yes, Mom...'). Leaf had never listened- but now, her mother's prediction could be coming true! "What do you want?" The girl's face paled slightly as she took a step backward, pink skirt flying in that same direction due to the evening breeze.

"What do you think? Give me that Bulbasaur!" The Rocket Grunt signaled to his Pokemon with his hand as he said, "Show her we mean buisness, Horsea!" The dark interior of Horsea's snout was beginning to light up. It was obviously gathering energy for something... but what? Leaf's expertise was limited to Pokemon found in the nearby forest and a few she'd seen on a field trip to a gym in Pewter City--and this was definitely not one of those! She quickly thought of an attack.

"Uh... Bulbasaur, Tackle!" Luckily, Bulbasaur knew the attack, and it charged toward Horsea, knocking it to the floor just in time for an enormous burst of light to fly harmlessly into the air. It got up and managed to balance itself precariously on its tightly curled tail, barely weakened by the attack.

This won't work... What if that light hits my Pokemon? I've got to think of a plan... If he wanted the Bulbasaur, then she'd have to protect it! "Cleffa, Pound! Make sure that you protect Bulbasaur!" Cleffa raced toward Horsea as fast as it could on its stubby legs and slammed its fist into the aquatic Pokemon. It flew backwards a little, but got back up.

"Horsea, Smokescreen!" Horsea filled the area with smoke, blinding everyone. Bulbasaur looked back at its new mistress, realized that she really didn't know anything about the art of special attack, and did it anyway, extending two vines from the base of its bulb and using them to find Horsea. Soon, the attack connected, and the other vine joined the first, holding it in place while the Seed Pokemon hit it repeatedly with Razor Leaf. With each hit, Horsea squealed, but soon, its cries died down.

When the smoke cleared, all Leaf saw was that Bulbasaur was holding a knocked out Horsea up with two vines extending from the base of its bud. Having seen his supposedly strong Pokemon completely defeated in such a short time, the Grunt was in a state of disbelief.

"How could Vine Whip do that much damage? Horsea, return!" Despite his defeat, he grinned at the girl. "Don't look so cocky. You're pretty good, but that doesn't mean you can beat our boss." He pulled out a strange ball and threw it down, causing smoke to fill the area. "I think that I'll be seeing you around," he said as the thick, gray smoke concealed him entirely. When it dispersed, the Grunt was gone.

Leaf laughed, "And every time you do, I'll be ready and waiting to cream you again!" Tired, the girl gathered her belongings and looked up at the sky to check on how late she was running. Startled by how black it had become, she carefully gathered her grocery bags and ran towards home at top speed, knowing that her mother would only get angrier as it got later...

Sure enough, a worried and angry Marion Rosales met her daughter at the door of her spacious house in downtown Viridian. The Rosaleses were well-off, and Marion had never really understood why Leaf wanted to go out into the world for something akin to her brother's old bottlecap collection. Besides, considering how many went missing each year, it was much better for Leaf to stay home, where nothing could get her! At least, that was the idea... but not everything can go according to plan...

 

[Twilight Absol]

Hmmm....there isn't enough plot given at the beginning for me to comment on, but so far, I guess its ok. There is some humor, and I like how she had a cleffa at the beginning...hope that cleffa stays with Leaf through the entire journey!

 

[Olyon]

cool, i like how this is turning out, im guessing you were in a rush to finish otherwise it shud have been a little longer. But anyway, i like the way you write and i really like how you gave cleffa a good personality, i can tell that its gonna be a funny pokemon. Good so far, but next time, try to write a bit more.

 

[Achamo-chan]

That didn't take long to fall into oblivion...

Twilight Absol- Somebody read it! The plot doesn't really start happening until the end of the nine-chapter duration, but there isn't anything I can do about that. [SPOIL]Cleffa doesn't last long, unfortunately...[/SPOIL]

Olyon- Two people! The first two chapters are both short. The rest are nice and long...

Edit: This chapter has been merged with Chapter One. Nothing to see here, move on...

 

[Breezy]

I'm not too fond of all the ellipses you used in the first and second chapter (where you trail off in thought when there wasn't much thought to be trailed off... on heh ^^; ). I'm all for it of course, but you should only use it when it's needed and not when it's something like:

This won't work...

or

"Little girls like you shouldn't be out this late..."

because it kind of sound like the TR guy is unsure, but then again, it can also mean he's up to something. Gah, I hope you know what I mean lol.

A Pokéball falling from the sky like it was meant to be? Kinda sounds like Holes.

Leaf sounds like an interesting character who's determined to be better than those who disapprove of what she does by mimicking that of others. ^_^ 'Course, you might want to develop her a bit more, but so far, she's good. I like Cleffa too! Don't [insert spoil here] her!

What confuses me is how Horsea is next to the TR's side when it doesn't have legs. o.0

LaTeR dAyZ!

 

[Twilight Absol]

In my onpinion, I think you can do with longer chapters and a bit more description, and I'm also sad to see cleffa {spoiler}

 

[Achamo-chan]

I can put off Cleffa's

Spoiler

for four more chapters. Keep in mind that, in Leaf's world, there are one hundred and fifty Pokemon documented by scientists. Most importantly, Oak doesn't know it exists, so his Pokedex would probably malfunction at first sight.

Twilight Absol, the rest of the chapters will be longer. Ch.3 might end up short if I take out Cleffa

Spoiler

ing, though.

I'm going to be interested in your reaction to someone in the last two chapters, Breezy... but that's not the point. First of all, thank you so much for reviewing this. Explanation for the Pokeball is simple- there was once a story to accompany this one, and in the one chapter I wrote for it, this happens:

"Charmander, Tackle him!" Charmander slammed into the Grunt, knocking him off the cliff- but the bag was falling too! The last Pokeball flew out of it, making its way toward what looked like a white-and-red striped target... or was that a hat? Fire groaned as the Pokeball scored a bull's-eye. He was in trouble now...

The ellipses improve a lot over time. Horsea is bouncing on its tail to stay upright.

 

[EvilPokemons]

Yeah would be good

Edit by Nara_Shikamaru: Yeah, this might be a somewhat new concept, could you like, not spam please? k thanks.

 

[Achamo-chan]

vs Clefairy ;035;

"No!"

"But, Mom, if I left, I'd be famous... well... sometime!"

"What if that doesn't happen? NO. Period." No matter how much Leaf begged her mother, she refused to let the girl go on a Pokemon journey... Maybe it really was pointless to ask. Sighing, she walked down the hall and up a spiral staircase, emerging on the second floor.

Her room was the first one to the right. She walked in, switching on a five-headed floor lamp with green and blue shades in the corner. The room was pretty much clean, except for the desk; this was where a television, a Gamecube, and a lot of food wrappers resided. Cleffa and Bulbasaur waited for her; she only kept them in their Pokeballs when she was in school (but Cleffa had always 'accidentally' come out when someone else's Pokemon did) or in a building that didn't allow Pokemon. She flopped down onto her bed, watching her two Pokemon with some interest. Bulbasaur seemed to be shyer than Cleffa, and sometimes the Starshape Pokemon's antics scared it a bit. Hm... What if a Pokemon's personality affected the way it battled? Maybe she was just thinking too much. Yeah, that was it!

She sighed. In three days, school was starting, and there was no way that she'd spend those final days of freedom sitting at home! Leaf got up. "Bulbasaur, Cleffa, how about we go out somewhere? Especially since you haven't seen any of Viridian, Bulbasaur!" The Pokemon both nodded, Cleffa jumped onto Leaf's head, and the three went downstairs. She looked over at her mom. "I'm going out, okay?"

Her mom looked up from the newspaper. "Be careful, honey! Oh, and don't forget the half-and-half!" Leaf blew a kiss to her, and she left. Viridian had very crowded streets, but was still a great place to live- there were movie theaters, a huge shopping mall that allowed Pokemon and had everything one could ever wish for, a Pokemon Gym (none of the boys in her class had ever won there, but that really didn't say much), an arcade, a candy store, a trick shop... even a shop with gourmet Pokemon food!

A little bit of window shopping, school supply purchasing, and sightseeing later, Leaf sat on a park bench and laid Bulbasaur on her lap. "That was only a little bit of the shopping district... Cool, huh?" The little Pokemon smiled and nodded, giggling as she rubbed it behind the ears.

She looked up. To her surprise, she was at the location of her battle yesterday. A tree had fallen down, and some of it seemed to sparkle... strange. Setting Bulbasaur down, she walked up to it and noticed that the sparkles were caused by little pieces of machinery, the largest of which looked like a directional controller found on handheld games. The controller was attached to a black-and-red base with tiny wires coming out of one side. Most of it was circular, but the side with the wires was square. Maybe it attached to something? Leaf pictured a large mecha controlled by the tiny part- maybe not. The other sparkles were similar. Some of them were red, black, or just pieces that went on the inside (these looked very complex), and some were shards of glass. These also came in different shades, though only two this time: clear and blue. While the clear ones were flat, the blue ones seemed circular, and had some wires stuck to them- she wouldn't pick the glass up, that was for sure.

She sat down next to the tree and began to pluck a few of the red and black pieces out... then stopped, noticing a rustle coming from the nearby bushes. After the Team Rocket members last night, she didn't want to take any chances...

"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip to check the bushes!" The Seed Pokemon's two vines plunged into the bushes. After a thorough search, it retracted them and shook its head, having found nothing. Leaf sighed. It was just needless paranoia...

"Surprise."

Maybe not. Leaf whirled around to see the same Rocket she'd beaten last night with backup. The brown-haired girl stood up. If it was a battle they wanted, a battle they'd get... The familiar Rocket released his Horsea while the other three released their Koffing, Grimer, and Zubat.

"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip on Horsea! Cleffa, Pound on any of the others!" Bulbasaur picked up Horsea and slammed it into the ground repeatedly as the Dragon Pokemon did the old squeal-annoyingly-and-do-nothing routine. While Leaf wasn't looking, though, it shot a few Razor Leaves at Horsea to finish up the process of sending it into dreamland.

The Rockets called out various poison attacks, and while Cleffa was getting battered by them, Bulbasaur hardly noticed them. Noticing this, Leaf called out an attack.

"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip all of them!" Bulbasaur used one vine to knock Zubat out of the sky and another to deal with Koffing and Grimer, but the Pokemon easily recovered. Apparently, that wasn't what made Bulbasaur resistant to those Pokemon...

"Cleffa, Pound on Grimer! Bulbasaur, Tackle on Koffing!" More poison attacks came from the other side. Bulbasaur was doing well, but Cleffa was starting to get tired. Its trump card wouldn't work here, either- it seemed similar to Bulbasaur's attacks- and Leaf was starting to get worried. After getting hit with a Sludge, it fell down, coughing- and began to glow strangely. Leaf gasped. Was this what it was like when Pokemon died? The glowing Pokemon became larger. It grew small wings, and its stubby arms became slightly longer, with three-fingered hands. The glow died down, and the Pokemon got up and grinned. "Clefairy!" it shouted, running toward Grimer and slapping it repeatedly. That must be Doubleslap! its mistress thought happily to herself. Grimer quickly fainted, and Ekans was soon finished off too. Now, all that was left was Zubat...

"Bulbasaur, pull Zubat down with your vines! Cleffa- no, Clefairy, Doubleslap!" Bulbasaur's vines tied the Bat Pokemon's wings to its back, slamming it into the ground where Clefairy finished it off. The Grunt sighed and recalled it.

"So, you think you're good, having beaten us twice?" He smirked. "In a week, come to the Viridian Gym. Then you'll really get to see the power of Team Rocket..." He threw down a small black ball, and the area was filled with smoke. When it cleared, he was gone.

Clefairy looked up at Leaf and smiled happily, hopping on one foot to the other. Soon, it was bouncing around as usual- it had evolved, but Clefairy was the same old Cleffa inside...

"Clefair-y! Clefair-y!"

"Ugh..."

 

[Achamo-chan]

Clefairy stays evolved, because we're over a third of the way done anyway and I've lost my readers around the exact same point I did before.

VS Rhyhorn ;111;

It had been a week since Leaf's battle with the Rocket Grunts... and now, it was time to face whatever challenge they had planned for her. Not that she was worried, of course- she thought her two encounters with them had told her all she needed to know. They were simply weak, annoying, and used way too many Poison-types. A few hard hits, and they would be down and out, and she could go home and do her homework...

Oh, how wrong she was.

She stood in front of the Gym, a large, run-down building. Huge, circular holes were in many of the windows, as well as one of the walls, and any windows that hadn't been broken were cracked... it gave her the creeps, that was for sure. A signpost in front said "Viridian City Gym" and nothing else.

She took a deep breath and went inside...

...and a terrifyingly huge, rocky Pokemon stared her down, grinning at its new prey. Leaf screamed and it charged. Just when it was about to use its large horn to smash her into a bloody pulp, a burst of white light quickly recalled it. Laughter came from the depths of the Gym, but she couldn't see the person it was coming from.

A man's deep, baritone voice. "Release your Pokemon." Leaf sent out Clefairy. "Both of your Pokemon." Bulbasaur followed. "Tell me- what do you see Team Rocket as?"

Leaf considered her options- Maybe this is someone against Team Rocket - and smirked. "An annoyance. They just like to creep people out." More laughter. Giving this guy sass had definitely been the wrong answer.

"Then you misunderstand what those agents were for. They have a lot to learn... as do you." Very much the wrong answer. "Your opponent will be Rhyhorn-" the same pokemon that had been at the door reappeared and roared- "and you may use both of your Pokemon against it... not that it'll make any difference as to whether or not you'll win. Begin."

Beginning to panic, Leaf yelled, "Clefairy, Magical Leaf! Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" Leaves of various colors- mostly yellow and red- winked into existence around Clefairy, and it pointed them toward Rhyhorn. The Spikes Pokemon was only annoyed by them and Bulbasaur's two vines, which were hitting Rhyhorn repeatedly without any effect. It charged at Bulbasaur and knocked it out before it could dodge. Clefairy kept using Magical Leaf after Magical Leaf, but it had no effect on the charging pokemon... and soon Clefairy was unconcious too. Leaf recalled them both as Rhyhorn pounced upon what would have been her pokemon, but was now just empty air. It turned for her, slobber coming from its mouth... but it was again recalled, leaving a puddle of saliva on the floor. Scared out of her wits, Leaf ran for the door as the man's laughter pounded in her ears, running for home-

She reached it after a few minutes of running. She let herself in, locked the door, and sank to her knees, gasping for breath. Things were normal here... There was her mom, sitting at the table. She was probably really caught up in bills to not notice her... but this was important. Leaf walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Mom?" No response. She shook her shoulder and almost fainted.

The blank face of a stuffed dummy stared back at her, its blonde wig falling off. A note was pinned to its chest...

Leaf,

Your mother will be fine... for now. She tells me you wish to go on a journey. Why don't you? Collect the seven badges of Kanto other than the Earth Badge and return to the Viridian Gym. I doubt you have been much of a challenge for me

This was before her battle... while she was at school, they'd done this. Why hadn't she come home first, why?

and I'm not quite sure if you ever will be, however... the police will be warned about this, and they'll be coming soon. They'll want the Viridian Gym Leader there, of course...

He'd be there, whoever he was, and chances were he would frame her. She wasn't safe here...

I think you had better get packing.

What choice was there? There was more to Team Rocket than Leaf had thought, and there was no way that she could beat them now. She went to her room and dumped the schoolbooks that had been in her yellow bag out onto her bed. Having never gone camping, she was putting in various things such as money, her favorite blanket, pillow, and Pikachu plushie, and the Potion she had gotten as a souvenir from the Pewter Gym, ranging from useful to completely useless. Her next stop was the kitchen downstairs. Only a few fruit snacks made it into her bag before she heard sirens, and she dashed out the door and away.

It was the journey she had always wanted... but she had never thought it would be like this...

 

[purple_drake]

hmn... this is an interesting start to a pokemon journey... being forced into things, no matter how much you want them, is always a bummer.
I'll be interested to see how this journey turns out...

 

[Achamo-chan]

I'm back, and things are about to get (and stay) interesting! Funnily enough, Weedle's in the smilies box instead of...

VS Caterpie ;010;

Leaf walked down the Viridian street that would take her out of town with mixed feelings. Here she was, setting off on the journey she'd always wanted... but now she really was leaving, and all she felt was guilt...

"Oof!" While lost in thought, she'd bumped into some old guy drinking a mocha latte. Making sure it wasn't spilling, he set it down and then...

"You must be a trainer!" Leaf noticed with slight concern that he was almost finished with his (rather large) drink. She tried to sidestep him, but it was no use as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Well, then, do I have the gadget for you! It's a Teachy TV!" He shoved a heavy, 'portable' TV into her arms, and she fell down from the thing's weight. He seemed completely unfazed, bending over to talk to her. "You press that button there and it helps you with battling stuff! No need to thank me for it!" With that, he grabbed his mocha and set off, singing Aratanaru Chikai off-key as he went. Leaf got up slowly, dragging the Teachy TV up with her.

"Ugh... You're not welcome!"

Leaf made it to Route Two, made sure that nobody was looking, and promptly dropped the TV Tutor in the grass, accidentally beaning a Caterpie on the head. Noticing that she had a Pokeball, she shrugged and captured the Worm Pokemon without much of a struggle, putting it with her other Pokeballs.

After some thought- it had been at least thirty minutes since the fight, they had to be concious by now- she released Bulbasaur and Clefairy. Sure enough, they were awake... but on further examination, weren't quite ready for battle. Viridian had a Pokemon Center, but there was the chance that the Gym Leader from before would be around. Who knew what he would do when he saw her? She would have to press on and hope that they became healthier as she went. Sighing, she recalled them and walked toward the guardhouse that seperated Route Two from Viridian Forest.

---

The first thing Leaf noticed when she entered the guardhouse was the fact that there was no guard; there was a sign that notified her that he would be back in five minutes. The next was a tiny Pokemon that slightly resembled a Pikachu, except that it was smaller and its ears were much larger in comparison to its body than a Pikachu's. It stared up at Leaf curiously, the red circles on its cheeks sparking with electricity...

"Peach!" The Pokemon looked over at the girl who had called its name. The first thing Leaf noticed about her was her hair- both girls' hairstyles would be almost exactly the same if not for Leaf's hat and shorter strands of hair. The other girl scooped the little Pokemon up in her arms, lovingly scolding it. "I told you not to run off, and look what you did! I was worried sick about you... but running off and trying to Thunderbolt people?! I oughta- YEOWCH!" The Pokemon had given its trainer a small shock, slightly charring her blue skirt (which looked exactly like Leaf's pink one, except for the color) and white blouse. When she recovered, she finally noticed Leaf. "Oh, I'm sorry! My name's Lacielle."

Leaf blinked. Trying not to sound rude, she began to ask, "Uh... what kind of-"

"-Name is Lacielle?" The girl in question laughed. "Don't worry, I get that a lot. I don't know what my parents were thinking when they named me... Everyone calls me Lass, though," she said, grinning.

Leaf smiled back. "My name's Leaf. Nice to meet you!" Looking back down at Peach- she had never heard of or seen a Pokemon quite like it before- she asked, "So, what kind of Pokemon is that?"

"It's a Pichu! I found it in the Viridian Forest a few weeks ago. Not many people even know they exist, it seems. Maybe that's a good thing- it's kinda free-spirited, if you know what I mean. It obeys my commands in battle, though, and that's all I can ask for." The (slightly one-sided) conversation turned to other things. A few minutes later, Lass got back on track, continuing, "Anyway, you're going through the forest too, right?" A nod from Leaf. "Well then," she said, just as cheerful as always, "why don't we go together? It can't hurt... pleeeeease..." Another nod from Leaf. Lass looked back at something over Leaf's shoulder. She then told the other girl, "You go on ahead. Don't worry- I know this place pretty well..." A giggle. "I think."

Leaf couldn't help feeling slightly overwhelmed by Lass's chattering, but, hey, she seemed to know what she was talking about. "Um... okay..."

Lass, busy looking over Leaf's shoulder, snapped back to attention at the other girl's words. "Right! Hurry up now, ya don't have all day! Go! Go! Go!"

Leaf walked out of the guardhouse and into Viridian Forest. She wasn't two steps away when a loud explosion was heard from inside. Something told her that it was better Lass than herself...

"Uh... hi." For the second time that day, her thoughts were interrupted. This was caused by a boy about her age, wearing a red baseball cap. A breeze rustled his brown hair and red-and-white vest, from which the sleeves of a black T-shirt protruded. He was kneeling on one blue jean-clad knee, searching. On his feet were strange shoes that looked expensive. His face was smiling at her in a typical lost-new-trainer way (tons of them had asked her for directions before), but his amber eyes were distressed. "Have you seen a Metapod or a Pikachu around here? I've been looking for a while, but all I can find are Weedle and Kakuna."

Leaf looked down at him quizzically. "You can find Metapod everywhere. As for Pikachu, just give it a little time, and one'll turn up..."

Some of the distress traveled to his face. "I have to get them today! It's really, really important!"

"I'll help! It's okay!" Leaf said quickly. The boy's smile reappeared, this time traveling up to his eyes. Leaf began, "Well, Metapod is green, right?" She paused to mentally kick herself. This was getting off to a bad start... Quickly, she added, "And it usually sticks to trees. So, all we have to do is search the trees in here," she said, tapping one nearby for reference, "and we should have a Metapod!" A few minutes of searching, and...

"Finally!" The boy had found a Metapod on a tree, and he quickly sent out a Rattata. "Super Fang!" Rattata sank its sharp teeth into Metapod, and it dropped off the tree, severely injured. The boy tossed a Great Ball at it, and the Cocoon Pokemon didn't even struggle as it was captured. The boy pocketed it. "Now, all we need is the Pikachu." He took out a small, corked vial filled with pink powder. Noticing Leaf looking at it curiously behind him, he explained, "It's a Sweet Scent. Just like the attack, except stronger. If this doesn't bring out a Pikachu, nothing will." He uncorked it.

"Whoa!" Leaf was shocked for good reason- what had to be every wild Pokemon in the forest was coming in their direction! She saw a black-and-yellow ear among the sea of bugs, and released Bulbasaur. Thankfully, it was back to full health, and plucked Pikachu out of the crowd with its Vine Whip. The boy seemed more interested in Bulbasaur than Pikachu now, though. He quickly caught Pikachu, then pocketed the Super Ball containing it.

"Thanks for your help...but, where'd you get Oa- that Bulbasaur?"

After some thought, Leaf decided to tell the truth. Fidgeting with one of her strands of hair, she said, "I know this sounds kind of crazy, but it fell off a cliff when I was coming home from the grocery store."

He gasped. "Then that's-" He was interrupted by Lass's reappearance. As she cheerfully kicked bugs left and right to clear a path, she said, "Hey there, Leaf! Looks like you've gotten yourself a boyfriend!" As Leaf blushed, the other girl continued, "Wow, we're almost to the end of the forest! You sure did walk fast! Now, let's get on out of here!" With that, she walked toward the guardhouse at the end of the forest. Leaf turned around to say goodbye to the boy...

He was gone. Realizing that Lass was almost out of the forest, Leaf ran to catch up to her. Another long conversation began, and soon Leaf forgot about the boy entirely...

---

Guess who?

 

[purple_drake]

Ooooh @.@ Who? Who? Who?
Is it Red from the manga or Ash from the anime? or someone else?

 

[Achamo-chan]

Thanks for reading! I'm glad you like it! Our mystery boy's a new character- if I were using Ash or Red, I'd have Blue and Green as the other two. Leaf Green, ____ ___, _______ ____. (The number of blanks is the number of letters.)

 

[purple_drake]

Oh, of course *rolls eyes at self* I shoulda known you'd want to keep with the series names... and don't you mean the number of blanks is the number of words?
Anyway... Fire Red... and... hmn, there isn't a remake of blue... so... Ocean Blue? ^.^ Or you go completely different and say Lightning Yellow or something...
Anyway... why was he so anxious to get those pokemon that day?

 

[Achamo-chan]

Ding-ding-eep! There're seven letters in the last word. _______ Blue. As for why he had to catch those Pokemon, you'll see... it made a little more sense when I had that other fic. Oh, well. Gym Battle~!

VS Onix ;095;

The night of Lass and Leaf's arrival at the Pewter City Pokemon Center...

"Trash... waste of space... Geez, Leaf, have you ever gone camping before?"

A shake of the aforementioned's head served as an answer, and Lass sighed. After learning that Leaf was new to traveling, the other girl had decided to show her some traveling tips, which included what to pack in bags.

"See, you're supposed to organize things, so they're easy to find. Take this Potion, for example. It should probably go in an outside pocket, like..." She found a moderately large pocket. "This one! The Antidotes and Awakenings and other stuff like that go there too. Big things should go in the middle, and Pokeballs in another outside pocket." After this organization, there was much more room in Leaf's bag, and Lass moved on to another topic (or four), which soon segued to...

"So, why are you traveling, anyway?" The question had come out of nowhere, and Leaf paused a bit before answering.

"I'm collecting the Gym Badges." Silence. Finally, there was laughter from the other side.

"You think you can get Badges? Some people have trained for years and have been unable to get all of 'em! The Leaders aren't your average trainers- they may specialize in one type, but the Pokemon they have are usually super-strong. However..." She grinned, and motioned for Leaf to come closer. "Much as he's loathe to admit it, the Leader here, Brock, is probably the weakest of the lot," she whispered. "He uses Rock-types, so if you have the right Pokemon, beating him'll be a cinch! For example, your Bulbasaur is a Grass-type, right?" Leaf nodded in reply. "So, it probably knows Vine Whip and maybe Razor Leaf, both of which are great against Rock Pokemon."

"All right... but, why are you whispering?"

"See that kid?" Lass motioned toward a little boy with a Sandshrew sitting at the table next to them. "Look at his sleeve."

Leaf gasped. "That's the Boulderbadge!"

"Mm-hm. That kid is Brock's Gym Trainer. If he hears us saying that Brock's weak, he'll really get ticked off... or, that could be a different Gym Trainer than the one I'm thinking of. Anyway..." She yawned. "I'm going to bed. You should too, with that Gym battle coming up tomorrow!" With that, the two trainers decided to get some sleep...

---

The next morning, Leaf and her Pokemon were in front of the intimidating stone building that was Pewter City Gym, being subjected to Lass's long, long pep talk. As their mistress listened intently, slightly nervous, Clefairy bounced around, excited, while Bulbasaur decided to introduce itself to Caterpie. The Worm Pokemon was looking around in awe, having never seen a city before. Bulbasaur tapped it on the head, and it looked at the Seed Pokemon in shock for a few seconds before curling up and passing out on the ground. The Grass-type gasped. If Leaf saw Caterpie...

It was a beautiful day at the large building. Bulbasaur's master was happily working on the odd machine that he'd always had for as long as she could remember, and Bulbasaur's usual playmates were elsewhere, being taken care of by the girl with brown hair. Having nothing to do, Bulbasaur was playing tag with a Rattata that usually snuck in and a Caterpie that was kept around the lab. A Weedle was sitting on a table, sleeping. Rattata raced toward her, and she ran off as fast as she could, not even noticing the table until she crashed into it.

"Bulbasaur! What are you doing?" Her master had set the machine down, and was now looking angrily at her. Rattata had scampered off once the table had collapsed, and Caterpie was looking at Weedle with wide eyes. The master picked Weedle up, and Bulbasaur noticed that it was curled up. He winced. "It's dead..."

The brown-haired girl came in with her Jigglypuff then, and Bulbasaur had been sent with her to dust after a severe scolding. She never forgot that day...

"So, anyway, that's all there is to it!" Lass finally finished. Leaf smiled at her blankly (half of it had gone completely over her head) and turned to her Pokemon. Bulbasaur had a huge, goofy grin on its face that screamed something wrong had happened, and it was patting Caterpie on the back with a vine. The green Pokemon was suspiciously curled up, balancing on the feeler on the top of its head and the tip of its tail. It suddenly woke up and looked happily at Bulbasaur, and the Seed Pokemon stared at it in disbelief. Clefairy had ignored the drama taking place to its left entirely, and soon rode an extra-high bounce onto Leaf's head, hugging her hat to stay on.

Leaf sighed. "Well, here goes..." She pushed the doors open and walked inside. After her eyes had become adjusted to the dim lighting, she noticed that, like the outside of the building, it had a stone motif, with its rock walls and path. Sand surrounded the path, and at the end of it was a large slab of granite with one raised pillar at its right, which a person that had to be the Gym Leader stood atop. Wondering where Lass was, she nudged the door, which didn't budge. So, they only want one person at a time... Probably to prevent coaching. She took a few steps forward and...

"Hold it right there!" She'd been too busy looking at the decor to notice the eight-year-old with a Sandshrew standing at the left fork in the path. He rushed up to her and boasted, "You're lightyears from facing Brock! I'll be more than enough for you!" Leaf nudged Caterpie forward with her foot, despite its protests, while Sandshrew hopped in front of its trainer.

"Caterpie, Tackle!" The Worm Pokemon inched slowly toward its foe, paused at the yellow Pokemon's foot, and pathetically leapt a few centimeters forward, slamming into Sandshrew right between its eyes. The little mouse squealed angrily as its trainer watched in shock, completely forgetting that his Pokemon needed an order.

Leaf grinned. "Another Tackle!" Caterpie once again launched itself forward, hitting Sandshrew's soft belly. The Mouse Pokemon glared up at its master while it was down, and the boy suddenly realized that his Pokemon was getting clobbered by a weak little bug. The aforementioned bug slammed into Sandshrew again and it closed its eyes, either unable to battle or unwilling and faking it. The boy, obviously upset, recalled it.

"Oh, and by the way," Leaf said once the trainer had forked over the customary money, "don't lightyears measure distance?" The boy pouted, not wanting to admit that he was wrong, and shuffled back to his spot, leaving Leaf free to face the Gym Leader without any further delay...

Caterpie turned its head upward, and silk began to spew from its mouth as it began glowing. When both the silk and the glow had stopped, a Metapod stood in Caterpie's place- and suddenly toppled over, landing face first on the ground. Leaf was surprised at its fast evolution, but knew that it wasn't much good for battling Rock-types and recalled it. She walked up to the Leader, who looked down at her.

"I am Brock of the Pewter Gym! I battle with Pokemon who have rock-hard strength, defense, and determination!" He jumped down from his pillar, landing right in front of a slightly startled Leaf. "The best Pokemon in those categories are, of course, Rock-types!" He withdrew a Pokeball from his brown jacket and called out a Geodude. The small, rocky Pokemon was released in a burst of light, and it cracked its knuckles and growled.

Leaf ran to the other side of the granite battlefield. "Bulbasaur, you're up!" The Seed Pokemon hopped forward, ready for battle.

Brock made the first command. "Geodude, Rock Throw!" The Rock Pokemon separated into tiny pieces that slammed into Bulbasaur from all directions, and it wailed in pain as the rocks reformed into Geodude, completely unfazed by what it had just done.

Leaf gasped. "Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" Her Pokemon shook any effects off and slammed both of its vines into Geodude at the same time. The attack slammed into Geodude, leaving huge dents in the Rock Pokemon- two from the actual attack, and one from slamming into the wall, where it fell down and didn't recover. Brock recalled it, seeming to be completely unsurprised at his Pokemon's defeat.

"Fine... but how will you do against this? Onix!" The Gym shook as the pillar unearthed itself, revealing it to be an enormous snake made entirely out of rocks. The horn on its head scraped the ceiling as it reared up and roared. "Onix, Bind!" The huge Pokemon plunged downward and curled itself around Bulbasaur, squeezing the tiny Pokemon hard as it struggled.

"Razor Leaf, Bulbasaur!" Onix relaxed its grip on Bulbasaur after getting hit with five or six sharp leaves, allowing the Seed Pokemon to jump free. However, the attacks were starting to take their toll- Bulbasaur was panting from exhaustion. Leaf doubted that it would be able to dodge another attack...

"Rock Throw!" The huge rocks that made up Onix separated and slammed into Bulbasaur one by one. By the end of the attack, the tiny Pokemon was unconcious. Leaf recalled it silently, upset about losing it before Onix became tired. If Clefairy wasn't able to weaken it enough, there wasn't much hope...

"Clefairy, you're up! Magical Leaf!" Shimmering leaves in fall colors appeared around Clefairy, and it pointed them toward Onix. They hit the Rock Snake Pokemon hard, eroding away more of its energy.

Brock looked up at his Pokemon, assessing the damage done. Apparently deciding that it wasn't enough to worry about, he ordered, "Rock Throw!"

"Clefairy, dodge it!" Clefairy had always been a nimble Pokemon, and this talent was coming in handy as it bounded from spot to spot, dodging every rock flying at it. Brock growled.

"Rock Tomb!" Onix pulled up a huge chunk of granite with its tail and hurled it toward Clefairy. The Fairy Pokemon didn't leap out of the way fast enough, and its leg was caught underneath the rock. At its master's command, Onix went in for the final blow-

"Clefairy! Magical Leaf Onix in the face!" The leaves flew into Onix's eyes, and it roared in pain before charging- at air. The blinded Pokemon thrashed dangerously, completely out of Brock's control, before slamming into the wall with a loud crash that shook the Gym and knocked it out. Brock returned it to its Pokeball and sighed. He took something out of his pocket and gave it to Leaf. It was a shiny grey octagon made out of stone. The back was made of metal, and there were nearly invisible hooks to securely attach it to whatever its owner wanted.

"The Boulderbadge. It lets you use Flash anytime. It's yours, along with the TM39, Rock Tomb." The TM was a tiny cube about the size of the Badge with the number 39 on it. This too was given to Leaf. "That was a great battle. I have no doubt that you'll do well in the Gyms ahead."

Leaf smiled. "Really? Thanks!" After saying goodbye to Brock, Leaf left the Gym, ready for some peace and quiet after the battle... and bumped right into Lass and her congratulations speech, even longer than the first one. However, this one allowed the white-and-red-hatted girl to get some 'passionate quotes from the Champion' in as they made their way to the Pokemon Center to heal Leaf's Pokemon before setting off in the direction of Mount Moon.

 

[purple_drake]

Hmn, not bad, but could be better; both battles seemed a little too easy and short, you should work on that. Also you might want to avoid using lines straight out of the game, try making it slightly more original. ^.^ But I like the fact that Lass has taken the place of the usual advice guy, and it was interesting to see a bit of Bulbasaur's past, I wonder what's going to happen next with that?

 

[Achamo-chan]

For some reason, a year ago, I thought that copying words from the games would be neat. It happens for a reason in this chapter. The next Leader wasn't even going to be at her Gym, so I wanted to do it while I still could, I guess. I'm not sure where I was going with Bulbasaur's past... [SPOIL] anyway, GLIIIIIIIIIIITCH![/SPOIL] The fun stuff happens in two chapters. Here's a short little boring ol' setup one...

VS Jigglypuff ;039;

It was a lovely spring morning. Pidgeys were chirping, and the sun was shining down on Route Three, the dirt road out of Pewter City, which was currently being traveled only by Leaf. Lass had told her that she'd needed to buy something in Pewter. According to the blue-skirted girl, Leaf wouldn't be too far when she caught up... it had to be a much longer path than it seemed to be.

A little boy walked up to Leaf. "Hi! I like shorts!"

Leaf blinked. "Um... that's nice..." She walked off.

"HEY!" Leaf jumped, startled by the boy's yelling right behind her. "What do you think you're doing, walking away from a battle?" Leaf turned around and saw that the boy had sent out an Ekans- her least favorite Pokemon. Grumbling, she sent out Metapod...

---

"What's wrong with you? You're not wearing shorts!"

Seven battles later, Leaf was growing more and more annoyed by the little short-wearing brats. They always told her something about the great euphoria that was wearing shorts and inexplicably battled her... worst of all, there weren't any bushes large enough for her to change into the ones in her bag so they'd leave her alone. The only thing to do was to battle them... As Metapod defeated another Ekans, something inside of it began to glow. The glowing thing forced its way out of Metapod's lifeless shell and stopped shining, revealing itself to be a purple-bodied butterfly with red eyes and black and white wings.

"Wow! A Butterfree already?" Lass had finally caught up to Leaf, wearing, much to her chagrin, denim shorts. Leaf was about to say something to the other girl, but never got the chance as Lass suddenly ran off, screaming what sounded like "Jigglypuuuuuff!!" as she chased a pink Pokemon with a curl of hair atop its spherical body. It watched with huge, green eyes as Lass pounced... and jumped away just as it would've been caught, leaving Lass to land on the ground. The girl got up, dusting herself off, and turned to face Leaf, yelling, "What are you waiting for? Help me catch that Jigglypuff!"

"Uh... why don't you just use a Pokemon?" Embarrassed by Leaf's statement of the obvious, Lass released Peach from its Pokeball and began the pursuit.

As soon as she had vanished behind a few trees, a boy- the same one from Viridian Forest, actually- came out from behind the bushes right next to them. He looked at Lass's retreating figure and laughed, taking another of his Great Balls out of a pocket inside his vest. Something told Leaf it held the Jigglypuff from before; he didn't seem to be very particular about what kinds of Pokemon he caught.

To her surprise, he released it- sure enough, it was the Balloon Pokemon- and pulled out a small, red device. There was a blue crystal on its left side, and a beam of light shot from it, scanning Jigglypuff. The light winked out, and the red thing beeped, obviously finished. The boy did something else, but Leaf couldn't tell what it was from where she was watching. Satisfied, he put his little toy in his pants pocket and dropped the Great Ball.

Just then, Lass chose to make her ill-timed reappearance, and the boy stomped on the Great Ball twice, crushing it, and fled.

"Did I miss something?" Leaf shook her head, surprised. Lass then noticed Jigglypuff staring after the boy, gasped, and threw a Pokeball without delay, capturing it. "You're mine!"

---

A few minutes later, the two trainers had reached a Pokemon Center, where, to Leaf's surprise, a middle-aged man operated the restoration machine, not a Nurse Joy. After being asked about this anomaly by Leaf, Lass answered, "Really? That's the first time I've noticed that... come to think of it, there wasn't one in Lavender Town, either." She then looked over at the television, which was currently on a news channel covering a recent Team Rocket attack on some bank, and she fell into an odd trance, ending their conversation.

As they waited, Leaf looked outside, where the massive Mount Moon loomed over the building. Her eyes traveled from the highest of its peaks to its base, where she saw a girl clad in a skintight black jumpsuit with short sleeves heading towards the huge, rocky mountain. Her skin was pale, and her strangely worn shoulder-length brown hair dull and matted, not to mention the tattered black-and-white gloves worn on her hands, the only things she wore that weren't completely black. A homeless person, maybe? She walked toward the wall of the cave...

...and, to Leaf's amazement, passed right through it, simply vanishing into it like she was walking through tall grass. Halfway through, for some reason, she stopped and turned around. The reason was made clear when she amazingly picked Leaf out of the small crowd at the Pokemon Center, looking straight at her with cold, blue eyes. She then walked into the cave, never breaking eye contact until she'd vanished completely.

The man shut the machine off, and Lass nudged Leaf to get her reacquainted with reality. "Excuse me, but your Pokemon are fully healed," he said, setting a tray of Pokeballs on the counter.

Lass smiled and thanked him as she took her Pokemon, and Leaf did the same, her voice shaking after seeing the strange girl...

 

[purple_drake]

XD I love the lines right out of the blue... 'I like shorts!'
And Lass is just hilarious... ^.^ it's a very appealing, ditzy kind of humour.
Since you said this is a kind of filler, I won't mention the length
But that boy... ooh, there's something up with him

 

[Achamo-chan]

Yeah, there's definitely something fishy about him... chapter after this is when all the fun stuff happens. Now, to hurry up and get to the fun part... but we need another filler to get the ball rolling. If I ever revise this, I'll merge all of these fillery chapters, I swear...

VS Geodude ;074;

Mount Moon was a stereotypical cave: dark, dank and creepy, with Zubats everywhere and only torches mounted on the walls to ward them off. Luckily, it was supposedly pretty short, so Lass didn't have to worry about the bad air and Leaf didn't have to worry about the distressing thought of being in the same slightly smelly cave as a 'ghost dressed like it's from 'The Matrix', as Lass had called what the other girl had seen... but she'd seemed pretty solid for a ghost, and Leaf was still uncertain about her.

A few minutes passed, and they'd managed to get lost, making Leaf force herself to get the enigma out of her mind...

---

One hour later, Leaf and Lass had managed to get themselves on the right track, or so they thought, and find their way into a small, pitch-black cavern...

"Lass, are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Do you want the truth, or the- oh, never mind. Peach, Flash!" The cavern lit up with a blinding light emanating from the Pichu...

...awakening every Zubat on the ceiling. Screeching loudly, the bloodsucking Pokemon chased the two and their light source out of the tunnel and back into the larger area of Mount Moon. The two were still feeling lost and a bit frightened, so they went over to a portly hiker to ask for directions.

The hiker held up his hand, either telling them to stop where they were or making a lousy pose. "Oh, no, I'm not just any hiker! I am..."- he paused for a drumroll, which never came- "The Moon Stone Hiker of Mount Moon!"

"Wha..."

The hiker ignored their looks of disbelief. "Geodude, go!" The Rock Pokemon flexed its nonexistant muscles and banged its completely smooth head against the wall, causing no damage to either rocky surface.

Leaf groaned. There are way too many trainers like this... "Okay... Hiker. Bulbasaur!" She threw the Pokeball into the middle of the field, where it released Bulbasaur. It looked its opponent over and yawned. The Geodude stared at it in disbelief, not believing that anything could be stronger than it was, and continued with its muscleman poses.

"Razor Leaf!" The sharp leaves flew from Bulbasaur's bulb faster than Geodude could comprehend. It gasped as the leaves slammed into it and wordlessly fell to the floor, unconcious, while Bulbasaur's projectiles fluttered down around it. Hiker recalled his Pokemon.

"Fine. See this ladder behind me? It leads to a lower floor. Follow the tunnel to another ladder, go down it, go to the inclined area, get out on the other side, and follow that raised part until you reach the exit." After giving the information, Hiker left in a huff. Lass and Leaf shrugged and carefully climbed down the ladder.

And two pairs of eyes watched them...

---

The journey along the tunnel was uneventful, and the two girls weren't planning on having to deal with anything on their way out of Mount Moon. However, this was not to be, as Lass hadn't gone down more than four rungs on the ladder down when she came back up as fast as she could, three Rocket Grunts trying to get up the ladder at the same time after her.

"Peach, Thunderbolt!" Newly released from its Pokeball, Lass's Pichu unleashed ten thousand volts of electricity on the trio of Rockets, and they fell down, unconcious. The blue-skirted girl thought for a moment. Her mind made up, she finally said, "I think you should take Peach for a little bit."

"But... why?"

"Peach is the weakest of my team, and you have stronger Pokemon than I do," she explained, recalling it. "Your Pokemon can keep her safe against those nasty Team Rocket members!"

Leaf stared at her like she had just swallowed a Kakuna whole. "Since when are we going in there with Team Rocket?"

Lass sighed. "Just do it while you- I mean, we- have the nerve, okay?" She shoved the other girl down the hole first, Peach's Pokeball following Leaf in a short plummet...

...right into a sea of Rockets.