Two Pairs

[Trainer Sonjo]

Sonjo took to the benches, waiting for his pokemon to also be healed. "Sky Uppercut, huh? Combusken also knows that technique. It's one of his favorites, actually. He store at the bird's pokeball, then at the pokecenter service counter. "Unfortunately for him, he could never turn down a challange."

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie grinned, sitting between the two.

"And Rai could never resist issuing one," She chimed, faintly amused. "She has this primordial need to spar with others. Like Charles needs his naps, Mischief needs his croissants and Espeon needs to be left alone."

The light went off, signalling Joy's return. Carrie gratefully accepted Rai's Pokeball, taking a few minutes to stare. With a sigh she put it away, instead bringing Jolteon out to accompany her.

The battle-scarred dog gave her a cool acknowledgement upon forming, but the twinkle in his eyes showed his happiness at seeing her. Carrie scratched him atop the head.

"We ready to go?" She asked the others.

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Combusken was trailing behind, having several different bandages around his head and arms, along with a few patches of gause. Despite his wounds and bruses, the fire bird was cheerfull. Sonjo recalled him, and sent Riolu out in his place. (Seeing as he must still be sore.) The little blue pokemon observed it's surroundings, and scurried upon the boy's shoulder.

"We're ready here." he replied.

 

[Prodiguy]

Michael nodded, returning Dragonair to her Pokeball, and smiling. "Yeah, I'm ready... Not like I have much to do in Kanto anyway. Caught as many Pokemon as I wanted, travelled to every gym I wanted, at least SAW the Pokemon League.. Hell, catching Gyarados was one of my main goals, and that's accomplished." He stretched his arms, still rather sore but, other than that, healing.

"So, we leaving now?"

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie smiled at him, nodding. She waved to Nurse Joy as she left, and once outside made a straight beeline for the northern exit to the town.

"We should get to Pewter sometime during the late afternoon if we move quickly," She told them. "I know my way through, so it shouldn't be too hard."

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Sonjo rested his arms behind his head, carefull not to knock over Riolu. "Should we take the shortcut? It'd be a lot faster if we were to travel through Veridian Forest." The sun was now peeking over the tall trees, a few Pidgy and Sparow flapping past it. His companion yawned slightly.

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie considered.

"Maybe," she said, then smiled. "It would be faster. It depends on whether you want to see the scenery or not, and besides, the vegetation there is hard to squeeze through."

She shrugged, passing by the last building in town. They were now officially on the next Route.

"Make your choice. Forest or shortcut?"

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Sonjo took a second thought on this. "Well, the forest would be a nice place to take a look at now that you bring it up. I vote for the scenic route." he said. He whistled an upbeat tune he had picked up from his adventures in the Sinnoh region, having precise timing on each note.

 

[Prodiguy]

Michael shrugged. "Whichever. I mean, it isn't like it's very likely we're going to be attacked by ANOTHER flock of Pidgey, and if we really needed to get through somewhere, I'm sure Blaziken could cut us a way..."

He glanced at the route, smiling. "At least Snorlax aren't attracted here often... THAT would be too annoying... Everything but Salamence has trouble moving those things, and the only reason Salamence can is because its curved head helps the rolling part..."

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie smiled as the image of a Salamence head-butting a rolling Snorlax over a cliff into the ocean crossed her mind.

"Scenic route it is."

She started down the road, bypassing the secret entrance to the shortcut. The grass was a bit taller around this area, but she pushed through with no problem, rolling her eyes when a small family of Rattatas squeaked and fled before her feet.

She looked over her shoulder.

"It'll take some time for us to go through, so anyone got a topic of conversation we can use to pass the time? And no 'I Spy', either."

 

[Prodiguy]

Michael grinned, a look of 'Drat.' coming over his eyes as he followed behind.

"Alright... Uh... Yeah, you know what? I don't start topics. Not very good at it. I mean, I Spy would be my choice, but since Miss Mystery here outlawed THAT, I guess Sonjo is gonna have to come up with it."

He chuckled, glancing at the male trainer. "So Sonjo? Topic of discussion? Hmm???"

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Sonjo looked over his shoulder. "Topic?" He was tempted to ramble on and on about Professor Oak, but Riolu glared back at him, as if he were saying 'Try again, pal.' "How about when we just started our adventures as trainers? It's been a long time, but I can remember throughly." A few Pidgey flocked off into the sky as they approached them.

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie smirked over her shoulder at him, one hand coming to rest on her hip as she walked.

"'Miss Mystery'?" She asked, one eyebrow meeting her hairline. She cracked a fiendish grin. "More like 'Miss Murder'. You know, like the song?"

She was sure if Rai was here the creature would have tried to knock herself unconscious. It seemed Carrie was as bad at jokes as Michael was.

Carrie paused, sighing as she looked at the sky through the trees.

"Where I started as a trainer, huh? Well, it was in Pallet. I had been taking care of an Eevee I had found in the woods nearby a few weeks prior, and I took him with me when I went to Oak's to get my 'First Pokemon'. He was out--again--so I got a Pikachu he had in the wings instead."

"What about you?"

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Sonjo laughed to himself. "Well, it started when Professor Birtch needed help with pokemon research on the field. When I'd got to him, he was being traced up a tree by a wild Poochena!" His face purked up, remembering his panic. "He said to take a pokeball out of his bag and fight off his pursuer. I picked Torchic, and battled it."

He laughed even more remembering that Birtch had been bitten on his behind before he got there. "Good times."

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie grinned slightly, turning past a thick cluster of trees.

"After that, I headed off to Viridian. It wasn't hard to get there, and I was upset to find the Gym Leader wasn't there. I went on, and got lost in this very forest. I stayed for what was probably five days before I made it out. As a result I made sure to come back and have the whole area memorized, since I have to pass through to get home."

 

[Prodiguy]

Michael closed his right eye, seemingly a habit he formed as he thought. He then chuckled, shrugging. "Nothing big, really. One of Oak's 'give the kids Pokemon and send them off' days as usual. I did get to fight his grandson... His Squirtle almost managed to beat Charmander if it hadn't been for the whole jumping-on-the-shell-and-riding-into-the-wall thing the little fire-lizard thing pulled."

He grinned, grabbing a single Pokeball from his belt and looking at it thorougly. "This thing has gone through so much, I'm surprised it even trusts me any more. It lost its flying abilities a while ago, and it fought Blaziken in Combusken form at least once in a serious fight... Didn't MEAN to fight him but, eh, what'cha gonna do?"

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Sonjo looked over at Micheal. "You got to battle Blue when he just had a Squirtle? I had to battle him at Viridian as the Gym leader." He remembered Blue's Blastoise, it was fairly powerfull though nothing compared to his own Pokemon. "Didn't he used to be the Kanto Champion?" The group approached the entrance that lead to the forest, the doors wide open.

 

[Prodiguy]

The trainer chuckled, his eyes resting on the Viridian Forest's gate. "Nah, not JUST Squirtle. I fought his Wartortle once, but yeah, I heard he was the Champion, at least for a while. I can't remember the name of the one who beat him, but I do remember seeing him at least once in Pallet... Eh, he was running too fast to recognize correctly."

His head turned, humor leaving his face. "I hate this place. 'Natural maze' is right. Plus, I always get attacked by bug-type trainers here... And I don't even know why! Usually, they're kids I've already fought, so they KNOW I have a Charizard, and yet, they keep challenging me... It's sad."

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Sonjo rolled his eyes. "Bug catchers can get annoying. All they ever use are generic bug Pokemon like Butterfree or Beedrill." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "They all share the weakness. Combusken got tired of fighting them and even refused to battle them any longer." He laughed slightly.

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie was silent for a moment.

"You mean Red, right?" She asked, referring to the rival of Blue that most people in Kanto had heard of. "I fought him when I was exploring Mt. Silver in Johto. But I didn't fight Blue at the Gym. He was still getting his badges then, I think. I fought Giovanni instead."

She grimaced. Jolteon growled low in his throat at the memory.

"Him and his stupid Ground Pokemon...He was tough. Really tough."

"Anyways," She continued, stepping over a large root creeping into the road, "the bug trainers are rather annoying. That's why I always walk around with at least one of my buddies out. It warns them to keep away."

The sun was high in the sky now, announcing the arrival of the afternoon. She sighed, putting a hand to her growling stomach.

"Should we stop for lunch?"

 

[Prodiguy]

Michael looked between the two, grinning again. "I find him to be an enigma, then. I don't know WHAT his name is, and I'm not even gonna try and figure it out beyond what he said it was."

At the mention of food, he waved his hand. "Nah, I'm good personally. Had some lunch in Lavender a while ago... I wouldn't mind sitting down for a while though. I mean, sure, we only left the Pokemon Center a while ago, but who knows, maybe a random Groudon will attack! How fun would THAT be... T'would suit most of my luck today too..."

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

"Groudon?"

Carrie decided not to ask. Instead she sat down on the ground, Jolteon laying down by her side. She opened her bag and pulled out some sandwiches she had made the night before...

Jolteon whined at her. Carrie rolled her eyes and pulled out a bag of beef jerky, opening it and setting it on the ground before him. He yipped happily and dug his head into the plastic container.

Carrie offered some sandwiches to the other two.

 

[Prodiguy]

"Oh... Have you ever been to the Hoenn region? Even if so, you might not have been there during the ground-water crisis thing... Pokemon controlling earth and water, evil team trying to use them for bad purposes, the usual. See, Team Magma had control of Groudon, this big dinosaur-looking earth-manipulating thing, and Team Aqua--" Michael began, but at the mention of a sandwich, his eyes lowered slightly.

"Well, I DID say I wasn't hungry, but..." He bowed his head in thanks, taking the sandwich, and smiling. "Legends and evil teams throw up some bad hunger sometimes."

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Sonjo took one of the offered sandwhiches. But instead of eating it himself, he gave it to Riolu. He seemed to be rather hungry at the time, so it'd be fit for a Pokemon his size. He happily took a nibble. He took out a cup of Beef Ramen and a Thermas of hot water he kept in the warmest pocket of his backpack.

"Allow me to explain further. You know criminals like Team Rocket, right? Well, Magma and Aqual were like them, only more powerfull and goals more threatening. Both of them battling for controll, so they sought legendary Pokemon to topple their foes and conquer the world. As Micheal explained, Team Magma seeked Groudon, as Team Aqua wanted Kyogre: a Pokemon rumoured to have controll over all sources of water in the world. Or at least, that's what I've heard..." He poured the water into the opened cup, and waited untill the noodles softened.

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie smirked, rolling her eyes.

"I know all of that, sillies," She admonished. "You didn't give me a chance to tell you so. I was just stating my disbelief of Groudon appearing is all."

Jolteon mimicked her, rolling his eyes as he pulled his head out of the bag. It was already empty.

"Besides, I've had more experience with 'evil teams' than I'd ever like to remember," She continued. "Remember when I said I fought Giovanni for my badge in Viridian? Well, he didn't play fair. He had at least three other Rocket members fighting with him. Not to mention the issues with Celadon and Saffron..."

Carrie shook her head. "And then there was the whole thing with Mahogany Town and Goldenrod's Radio Tower. They're just all over the place, I guess."

She bit into her own sandwich, considering. "But don't you think it's weird? There's always one bad group or another out to ruin the world."

 

[Prodiguy]

"Oh yeah, always an evil team..." Michael continued, rolling his own eyes as he frowned. "Hell, I've heard of yet ANOTHER in some other region... Sinnoh, I think it was called. I didn't pay much attention to the name of it. Anyway, yeah, like, 'Team Milky-Way' or whatever it is. I bet you, at some point, they'll pull out some Legendaries, try and take over the world and or universe with 'em, and then get foiled."

He leaned back, closing his eyes, smirking. "Wonder what they'll be... Moltres? Zapdos? Nah, those birds are too 'old school' for those regions... How about the dogs? I don't remember them being used yet... If they exist, anyway... Ooh, what about that super-rare Pokemon people talk about? Mew?"

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie smiled, getting into the joke.

"No, too close to Mewtwo, and Rocket already used him. Maybe Deoxys or Rayquaza?"

Jolteon pawed at her, a rumble telling her they should get moving. She scratched him behind the ears to make the dog settle down.

"Still, it's become so common that nobody pays any attention to it anymore. It's all 'Oh, Team Rocket has taken over the Radio Tower? Meh, we'll get around to it eventually, we have a robbery in progress right now,' or something along those lines."

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Sonjo took a pair of chop sticks out of his pocket, and snapped them apart. "Team Galactic. I've dealt with them in Sinnoh myself. They wanted to create a new world for themselves by wiping all other living things out of existance. Their leader, Cyrus, attempted to use legandary that created the Sinnoh Region. Though, they've been stopped more or less. I've helped a girl by the name of 'Dawn' regain her pokedex. We've been rivals ever since."

Riolu took another heaping bite of his sandwhich, and Sonjo slurped on his noodles. "It's a shame, really. Team Galactic still has a tower in Veilstone, yet nobody seems to care enough to meddle with them."

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

"It's because everybody's become too used to it to care unless their daily routines are disrupted."

Carrie finished off her sandwich and stood, stretching her arms high above her head. She checked her watch; 1:34 P.M.

"If we want to get to Pewter by nightfall we should start moving. We haven't passed through the second half of the forest yet, and the thick foliage there will slow us down."

Jolteon gave a sharp bark, as if saying 'Finally you got off your lazy butt!' and bounced to his feet, eager to go. Carrie rolled her eyes at him.

"You're just full of energy."

 

[Prodiguy]

Michael rose to his knees, still smiling. "Unless they could find themselves to that huge tower-thing in Hoenn, I doubt they'd have Rayquaza... Plus, if he's as strong as people say he is, I doubt that the latest 'team' could catch him. Also, Deoxys seems just a LITTLE bit out of ANY team's league, unless they get REALLY lucky. Hell, I've never physically encountered the thing, so I doubt they will enough to catch him. Her. Whatever it is."

He stood, stretching, and slipping the half-eaten sandwich into a pocket of his backpack. "I haven't actually heard from Rocket in a while. I battled Giovanni once at Silph Co., but that's because I heard I needed a Silph Scope to identify those things in the upper levels of Pokemon Tower... Didn't really help much. I mean, the cloak around what are mainly Gastly doesn't change much but their illusionary hands and tails."

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie stood a bit away, waiting for Sonjo to finish his lunch and join them.

"I went to get a Scope, too, and I thought it was worth it. I got to help that Marowak mother. Don't you think that makes it worth it?"

Jolteon growled at her, giving a clear message that he didn't agree. After all, he was the one who had to fight Giovanni's Pokemon, not her.

Carrie shrugged, reminded of something. "Mike, didn't you say you needed to get Blaziken a fight soon? Perhaps you could have a match with one of us when we get to Pewter. Joy will referee, I'm sure."

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Sonjo quickly finished his Ramen, and kept a hand on the cup it was in. "Sorry, about that. We'll start hiking out of the forest now." Some Caterpie came rustling out of the tall grass, and quickly crawled across the path to the other side. Riolu was still working on his sandwhich, dropping crumbs on the ground with each bite. "Let's go, then."

 

[Prodiguy]

The fighting fire-type's Pokeball on Michael's belt shook extra hard, and he grabbed it, chuckling. "Yeah, he gets a little... Tense when he doesn't get a good fight in. Even if he loses, he just has to let off steam once in a while- No pun intended." He took the ball up, and threw it down letting the humanoid fire-type from its home, and the second it hit the floor, it leaped into the air, fist bright, doing an open Sky Uppercut attack on the air. It landed, smiling and laughing its name as it then began kicking the air.

"...Uh... Yeah, haven't got him out in a while... I mean, I haven't been in a real battle that I've needed him for." At this, Blaziken glared at him coldly, halting his kicks. "Uh, no insult intended. Meant that I didn't want you burning any bugs or birds to a crisp."

Satisfied, the fire-bird performed and roundhouse kick to the air again, and then stood still, breathing heavily.

"I swear, he's going to tire himself before we even GET to Pewter..."

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie continued down the path with the two boys following, Jolteon at her heels. She chuckled at the Blaziken's behavior.

"Now, where was I in my story?" She said aloud to herself. "Oh, yeah, my battle with Brock. That was perhaps one of the toughest Gym Battles I've ever fought. Jolteon got one of his scars in that fight."

Jolteon's muzzle twitched, in silent acknowledgement of the old slashes across his nose.

"I couldn't use Raichu--at that time a Pikachu--in the fight, so I had to rely on the other Pokemon I had--my Eevee, my Nidoran (female), my Pidgey and my Mankey. Mankey was easily the most effective, though Eevee held his own really well. It was unfortunate, though, that he couldn't dodge in time to avoid Onix's tail from whipping him across the face."

 

[Prodiguy]

"Oh Brock, how I just LOVED our battle... Fire versus Rock? Not very nice..." Michael then began grinning like a maniac, looking at his Charizard's Pokeball. "Of course, Charmeleon at the time decided to learn Steel Claw at that moment. I didn't realize Steel attacks hurt Rock at first, so when he used it on a wild Rattata, I thought 'Oh, that's pretty... Not very useful though.' So, go to Brock's for, what, the third battle? Charmeleon used Steel Claw on Onix when I told him to use Ember..."

He chuckled again, looking back up. "Whenever Charizard uses moves that I don't tell him to now, I just kind of go with it."

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Brock, eh? Hearing this reminded his battles with Roxanne. "Oh, wow. That reminds me of my first Gym battle, with Roxanne. She also had rock-type pokemon. At the time being, I only had Torchic and Beautifly with me. So, as you could figue... It was pretty tough." His face shifted downwards. "It was pretty devastating on us. Time afdter time again, we were conquered, and Torchic didn't take it so well either..." He sighed.

"One day, in the middle of our training, a miracle occured. My pal Torchic evolved, becoming what he is today. He could preform double kick, now, and we had finnaly prevailed over Roxanne."

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

Carrie scratched at her face absently.

"I think everyone's first Gym battle is one of their toughest. I mean, it's when you're first really testing your skills as a trainer, right?"

She sighed. "Anyways, after that I went off to Mt. Moon, and had my first encounter with Team Rocket. They weren't much back then, but by the time I hit Celadon they were like the Pokemon Mafia. Well, anyways, I went through and got to Cerulean. Things got a lot easier then."

 

[Prodiguy]

"Well, good for you. Mt. Moon was pretty uneventful- Found some scientist who was hogging a few fossils, took one, went on to Cerulean... Oh I HATE Misty... At that point, I had Charmeleon, Geodude, Jigglypuff, Paras, and Clefairy. I had Pikachu, but I hadn't been training it... I still have it back at Oak's..." Michael groaned, gripping his head. "Her Staryu was easy enough- Because Charmeleon prefers Special Attacks, Ember took it down easy enough... But Starmie... Oh, how that destroyed my team before Paras evolved... Stun Spore and Sleep Powder really helped..."

 

[Carrie_Slovak]

"I didn't have any issues. A few well-placed electric attacks took them down. It wasn't until I got to Surge that I had a problem. Mankey kept getting paralyzed, and those Body Slams eviscerated my party. I had to fight him three times to win."

Jolteon scoffed. Carrie interpreted it as 'The first time was only to judge his strength.'

 

[Trainer Sonjo]

Riolu finsihed his sandwhich now, patting his stomach and whiped the crumbs off of his mouth. "My second Gym battle wasn't as dramatic as Roxanne. Brawly had fighting pokemon, which was pretty fun for Combusken. His Makuhita put up a good fight, though." It was nice to remember something like this. "The only draw-back was that the whole place as pitch black, I often bumped into walls while I was there."