Viridian Forest

[Rukor]

Jack sighed, "I've been on enough expeditions to with Sar to know that the fires won't spread here. The forest is far too green at this time of year." He turned to the Growlithe, "Come on Sar. Might as well speed this up then." As he ordered the Pokemon to use kick sand on the forest floor.

[Dav Flamerock]

“There’s a difference between a forest fire and a regular fire, and trust me, you don’t want either one on public property.” Alex nodded to them. “Well, good luck on whatever it is you two are doing. I’m off to find some pokemon, since you’ve scared them all away from here.”

With that, the youngster waved at them and turned to go, heading back up the trail towards the main avenue.

[Dav Flamerock]

“Well there aren’t a whole lot of pokemon around, now that we’ve scared them all away,” Fiona pointed out as she recalled her staryu. “Perhaps we should try somewhere else.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Jack’s voice sounded rather disappointed, even a little angry. “Come on, let’s get back to the path and go find some other trail to search.”

The two returned to the main path and were following the map that Fiona had been given to the closest trail. Just as they were about to reach the next trail, Jack stood up straight and said suddenly, “Some rangers are on their way over. Go down the trail now and hope they haven’t seen your cyndaquil.”

Fiona looked up and saw the four rangers making their way down the path towards her and Jack. Clutching Cyndi suddenly close against her chest, Fiona slipped off the path. “What about you?”

“I’ll talk to them. No need for you to be involved.”

With that, Fiona turned and departed into the forest.

[Onstarr]

Fiona quickly jogged down the path, escaping the gaze of the rangers. "Cyndi, wha'd you have to do that for!" She berated her pokemon before ducking back into the forest, following the trail from afar, "Now we have to get back to the city, common girl lets go."

OOC: Dav, reactivate that "Meet the Pokemon" request.

[Dav Flamerock]

The pair hiked through the forest for a good ten minutes before they finally heard the rustling of a pokemon. Stopping and paying close attention to the undergrowth, Fiona spotted a small green figure meandering through the branches at about eye-level. After a moment she recognized the caterpillar pokemon.

[Onstarr]

Fiona released her Staryu once more, "Hey Starry, you up for a new friend?"

The Staryu simply nodded in response, a nod of approval. It knew a fight was coming.

"Good, then tackle the Caterpee!" Fiona gleefully called.

The Staryu started to spin in circles, midair, before lashing out at the caterpillar and colliding with its head. A critical hit of sorts. Before the monsterous bug hot back onto it's suction cups Fiona managed to hit it with a Pokeball.

[Dav Flamerock]

The staryu stood by the pokeball as it trembled and then fell still. Fiona stepped up to it and picked the red and white object, clipping it to her belt.

[Onstarr]

Fiona took Staryu's ball from her belt and returned it home before continuing her journey though the forest, just off the main road into the city. She would have to remember to train and feed her new Pokemon... "Oh crap! I need some Pokefood!"

And she was off to the mart.

[Dallas Mathews]

The group of pokemon trainers, Edwin in the lead made their way through the forest. His Pidgey sat on his shoulder, keeping a sharp eye out for pokemon, and his Machop walked beside him doing the same. His Vulpix remained inside its pokeball because it was still very timid.

Edwin sighed. The day was getting hot, the only solace being the tall, leafy trees blocking out the sun. They hadn't seen many pokemon thus far, and none that were close enough to fight or capture. Then again, they were still near the edge of the forest, so it wasn't likely it'd be teeming with pokemon.

Suddenly, his Pidgey chirped in alarm. Edwin stopped walking to look at her. The pokemon seemed frightened, somehow. He looked to his Machop, who pointed up.

Edwin looked in the direction that Machop indicated, and saw a faint shadow through the leaves of the trees above them. He brought out his pokedex and pointed it upwards, hoping it could see through the glare.

"Pidgeotto, an evolved form of Pidgey. It is armed with sharp claws and dives from the sky to capture its prey. Unlike the more gentle Pidgey, Pidgeotto can be more dangerous. Approach with extreme caution." the Pokedex spouted.

Above them, there was a loud screech, and the shadow suddenly started to get much larger. The Pidgeotto was diving towards them.

"Uh oh." Edwin said, much more calmly than he felt.

[Eiji]

Keira craned her neck backwards looking into the canopy of the forest. She'd passed through here on her way to Pallet Town, but the huge trees still amazed her. She wished Blaze could see it, but didn't want to take the chance of him burning the forest down with his tail. That meant that now was a good time to train Mona; she'd have to eventually anyway.

Her daydreaming stopped when Ed pointed at the bird. She could tell it was getting larger and Keira quickly ran to the side of the path. There was a small tree here and she ducked behind it, hoping it hadn't picked her out of the crowd of people to attack. This was her best option at the moment; she couldn't use Mona against a pidgeotto, it would just eat her. Blaze was her only real defense. Keira kept his pokeball in her hand, ready to release him if she had to, although she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

[Whizzles]

A pokeball knocked against the side of the pidgeotto's head, knocking its head sideways as though it were a heavy baseball. Sid stood fifteen feet away, completing the follow-through to his pitch. A crimson flash exploded, reflecting off the grass and trees. A second later, Sid's bulbasaur stood between the group of trainers and the fierce bird.

The pidgeotto glared from Sid to the bulbasaur before taking flight upwards. Sid watched its graceful rise, but cringed at its downward strike. It drove into the bulbasaur's back, crushing the creature into the ground. It took off again, rapid enough that it was nearly impossible to track. Not long passed before it came in for a second swipe at the bulbasaur. This time, however, the grass pokemon managed to swipe at the bird's tale with its claw, causing the bird to screech in agony.

The bulbasaur rose, glaring at the bird. Its expression was one of pain mixed with determination, though it caused Sid to realize that perhaps this wasn't one of those challenges he could take single-handedly.

"Guys," he yelled, his voice cracking slightly in panic. "A little help here?!"

[Eiji]

Keira pressed the button on Blaze's pokeball, releasing the fire pokemon. At first he looked unsure of what he was fighting, but then quickly spotted the bird. He ran out to join Sid's bulbasaur, but Keira wasn't sure as to how to attack.

"Blaze, try catching it on fire with your tail the next time it makes a pass! Just watch out for its beak!"

[Shardi]

"Tag-in! Let's go, Atlas!" Diz exclaimed, throwing a pokeball into the air. The little orb grew and burst open, a red beam of light materializing his Sandshrew. Realizing that even with three pokemon fighting the Pidgeotto, they would need a strategy to defeat it. And just like that, Dizben had one.

"Atlas, use defense curl, and make sure it's super-tight." Diz said, Atlas nodding as he took form. That done, Diz turned to Edwin. "Edwin, do you think your Machop is powerful enough to throw Atlas at the Pidgeotto?"

[Dallas Mathews]

"Good idea, Diz! Machop?" Edwin asked. By way of answer, Machop easily lifted the curled up Atlas. Edwin smiled.

"Pidgey! Get above it, and use gust to slow it down so Machop can get a clear shot!" Edwin ordered, and Pidgey reluctantly flew off his shoulder. It seemed unwilling to fight the much more powerful Pidgeotto, but it obeyed. As the Pidgeotto made another pass at Bulbasaur, Pidgey, from above, launched a well aimed gust of wind. Since it came from above, and Pidgeotto was already flying low, the larger pokemon crashed into the ground, even though the gust wasn't very powerful. Angrily, Pidgeotto jumped off the ground, glaring at Pidgey.

"Now, Machop!" Edwin shouted, and Machop launched Atlas as hard as he could, which was pretty hard when you consider that a Machop can easily toss around an adult human.

[Shardi]

The force behind Machop's throw was very impressive. While not a particularly damaging blow, it WAS enough to make the Pidgeotto rethink attacking for a moment. Atlas knocked into the slowed pokemon, knocking it backwards into a tree. The Pidgeotto gave a pained cry before flapping back into the air, making a new target.

((Eh, didn't really know what else to say/do.))

[Dav Flamerock]

The pidgeotto swooped at bulbasaur a second time, claws drawing thick green blood from the grass pokémon. However, just as it passed the bulbasaur, a gust of wind buffeted the bird into the ground, enraging it further. Immediately, pidgeotto pushed to its feet and alighted again, only to be struck by the bullet-like sandshrew which machop had thrown. Crashed against a tree, pidgeotto found itself battered and weakened already, though its desire to live was still strong. Allowing Atlas to fall to the ground, the wild pokémon sent a buffeting wind at the weaker pidgey, knocking Edwin’s pokémon against a tree, as hard as it had been knocked just moments ago by Atlas.

[Dallas Mathews]

"Machop, catch Pidgey!" Edwin ordered, face full of worry for his bird pokemon. Machop leapt forward, catching Pidgey before it smashed into the ground. The feathered pokemon remained limp in Machop's arms, and Edwin used its pokeball to recall it, hoping it was alright.

Unfortunately, the Pidgeotto didn't have any sympathy for the wounded pokemon, and continued its attack, even more unfortunately, with Machop and Pidgey out of the way, it was free to attack Edwin. His eyes widened as the Pidgeotto dove towards him, talons gleaming. With no time to dodge, he braced himself, preparing for the worst.

"Butterfree, Stun Spore!" came a commanding voice from somewhere behind Edwin. A large, butterfly like pokemon, presumably Butterfree, swooped out of the treeline and flapped its wings, releasing a cloud of spores which enveloped Pidgeotto. Its muscles seized up, and it crashed to the ground, skidding to a halt in front of a surprised Edwin.

"Now, Confusion!" Butterfree's eyes began to glow purple, and a faint purple aura surrounded it, as well as the stunned Pidgeotto. Suddenly, the Pidgeotto was thrown backwards by some invisible force, smashing into a tree. The glow around both of the pokemon stopped, and the Pidgeotto slumped to the ground.

"Ha!" A red and white pokeball flew past Edwin, impacting the battered Pidgeotto. It bounced off, and opened, enveloping the Pidgeotto in a bright red light. The Pidgeotto was sucked into it. The button flashed for a moment, but after a short struggle, the weakened Pidgeotto gave up, and the pokeball lay still.

Edwin turned, and saw a tall, blonde haired man walking past him. He had arrived while the rest were distracted with the Pidgeotto, driving a park registered golf cart. A beautiful brunette woman sat in the side of the cart. Edwin turned his attention back to the man, who was now picking up the pokeball.

"Uhh, who are you?" Edwin asked, uncertainly. He wasn't sure on the niceties of pokemon battling, but he was pretty sure it was unsportsmanlike to capture a pokemon that someone else was battling with, even if they were losing. Still, he wasn't about to start an argument with someone who just saved him a great deal of pain.

"My name's Gary Oak. Remember it. It's gonna be famous some day." Gary inspected the pokeball, and then clipped it to his belt, apparently satisfied with whatever he saw. "You kids shouldn't be this deep into the forest. It can get pretty dangerous out here, unless you're with a skilled trainer such as myself."

Edwin narrowed his eyes. Gary couldn't be more than a year or two older than any of them! "Listen, Gary, we appreciate your help, but we're quite capable of taking care of ourselves."

"Ha! That's not what I saw! Your pathetic pokemon couldn't even scratch that Pidgeotto, let alone any of my pokemon!" Gary laughed. Edwin fought the urge to punch him in his face.

"Gary, comon, let's ditch these losers! I want to hurry up and get to Pewter City!" the woman who had arrived with Gary whined, hanging out of the golf cart.

"Yeah, lets get out of here! I don't even know why I wasted my time in the first place!" Gary stalked past Edwin, somehow making the action of jumping into a golf cart look arrogant. "Smell ya later, punks!" Gary shouted as he accelerated past the group and out of sight.

"What an idiot. I hope we don't ever see him again." Edwin said, kneeling down to check his Machop. It was slightly wounded, and tired from the battle, but Edwin eased its pain with one of his potions. He wanted to use one on Pidgey, but he thought it would be better if he left it in its pokeball until they got to a PokeCenter.

[Eiji]

Blaze snorted, watching the golf cart move off into the forest. Keira could tell that he was frustrated; he hadn't been able to hit the bird pokemon in the fight, simply because he had no way of reaching it. This seemed odd to her; he had a flame on his tail, why couldn't Blaze blow fire out of his mouth? She shrugged mentally, resolving to work on this once they got to Pewter City.

Keira returned Blaze to his pokeball, then commented on the guy that had the butterfree. "Well, he seemed kind of nice when he wasn't being a jerk," she said, turning to Ed. "I doubt we'll see him again. He'll probably be leaving Pewter by the time we get there."

[Shardi]

"No...something tells me we'll be seeing Oak again." Diz commented, recalling his sandshrew. He sighed heavily with the acceptance that there were somethings the team couldn't face. Atlas was the stronger of the two pokemon Diz had, but even with the combined efforts of everyone, they were barely able to put a dent in the Pidgeotto. Switching to his Spearow Diz threw the pokeball up, hearing the familiar caw of his bird pokemon. Summoning it down, the Spearow roosted on Diz's shoulder as it investigated the surrounding area.

Looking over at Edwin, Diz offered what little help he could. "Edwin, your Pidgey got pretty battered in that encounter. Do you need a potion?"