Emberwilde Comes: Viridian Forest

 I tossed a pokeball at another Caterpie only to watch the ball shake once before the green worm broke out and scurried away.

"Dammit," I said to myself as I wiped the sweat from my brow. I left Pallet Town for Viridian City at dawn hoping to take down the gym leader that morning and make my way through the Viridian Forest by the afternoon. Instead Emberwilde and I found the gym closed and the gym leader gone. Deciding it best to move on to the next town, we headed into the Viridian Forest. Based on the map given to me by Professor Oak's neighbor, it appeared we were only halfway through. A middle-aged woman about the same age as my parents, she caught me just before I left Pallet Town and handed me a map and some supplies. She said her son was on his way to become a Pokemon Master, whatever that was. Back in the Tartarus Isles Pokemon were the masters and we lived under their rule.

"Nice try, moron," said a voice hidden in the trees. I turned back to see another boy with a straw hat and net walk into the clearing. "You can't just throw a pokeball at a pokemon and hope to catch it. You need to weaken it first."

I nodded and turned to walk away. "I know but Lord Emberwilde refuses to assist me in this task. I'll just have to keep trying to catch pokemon this way."

The bug catcher sprinted in front of me, cutting off my escape. "Sounds like your pokemon is a little full of itself. My super bug pokemon will show him the smallest fighter can have the strongest sting," he said as he pulled a pokeball from his belt.

I shook my head and turned again to leave in another direction. "No thanks. Emberwilde doesn't waste his time with weaklings, and I wouldn't want you or your pokemon to get hurt."

"Is that what happened to your arm? Your pokemon decided to bite the hand that feeds? If you battle me, I'll be sure to put him in his place." The bug catcher tossed the pokeball in front of me. "Weedle, I choose you."

The Weedle appeared in the grass in front of me waving the single spike on its head menacingly. Before I could remark that back home even newly hatched weedle are twice that size, Emberwilde emerged from the pokeball on my belt. The Charizard put himself between me and the other boy, completely ignoring the stinging worm. Then he let out a roar that shook the leaves off of the trees around us.

The bug catcher fell over in shock. "Oh jeez, a Charizard. Are you kidding me!" He pointed his pokeball and reabsorbed his weedle as Emberwilde stalked toward him. "Hey man, I didn't mean nothing by it. You can do whatever you want." Then he turned and ran, a few coins falling out of his pockets as he fled.

I stooped over to pick up the coins, perhaps enough to buy me a room and a meal in the next city. "Unfortunately we can't go back to Viridian City right now, in case the authorities are still looking for whoever burned down part of the Viridian City gym," I said to Emberwilde.

Emberwilde let out a snort, black smoke drifting from his nose. "A champion should always be available for when a challenger knocks," he said.

I just shrugged my shoulders knowing it was pointless to argue with our clan champion. "Well most people remarked on how immaculately dressed Mr. Giovanni always is. I hope he can afford to rebuild the damage."

The two of us continued walking along the path toward Pewter City. We spotted a couple more bug catchers hiding in the trees, boys and girls with bug nets, but they took off running once they noticed Emberwilde. As welcome as it was not to be confronted by children every few feet, it was also a little unnerving for the Fire Lord to be walking with me.

"Lord Emberwilde, if I may ask, you typically don't leave the pokeball except to fight other pokemon. Would you not be more comfortable riding in the pokeball while I traverse the rest of the forest for the two of us?" I turned to Emberwilde but did my best not to meet his gaze. Nervously I reached with my right hand to rub at my bandaged left arm.

"That boy challenged you, taunted you. A challenge and insult against one goes against the rest of the clan as well." I looked up as Emberwilde spoke, his fangs mesmerizing. Then I caught his eyes looking down at my bandages, and he stiffened slightly before turning away and starting back along the path. "And you've been marked as one of the clan. I shall not allow those weaklings to challenge us."

Marked, I thought, stunned at his words. I looked down at the dirty white wrapping covering the burns suffered when I tried to save both of our honor at the Choosing Ceremony. Markings bestowed by the Clan chief or a lesser lord was usually a sign of great honor, only given to those deemed worthy or who have completed a great task or trial. Is that what Emberwilde thought this was? I saw it as a mark of shame against the two of us, disgusted every time I gazed upon my seared flesh when I changed the bandages.

I was broken out of my brooding by a caterpie dropping off a branch, bouncing off my head, and landing on the ground in front of me. I took another empty pokeball from my belt and tossed it at the pokemon. I watched it shake once, twice. Then it jumped up and opened again to release the pokemon. The caterpie crawled quickly away. Frustrated, I kicked at the dirt. Several paces ahead of me, Emberwilde let out a snort of amusement.

My anger surged up and got the better of me. "Well how about some damn help! You talk about the honor of our clan to not suffer these challenges yet you also refuse to battle anyone you deem not worthy of your time. Well if we're going to make it through the Kanto region we'll need to work together with other pokemon."

I glared into Emberwilde's eyes for a second or two before remembering my place. Immediately I dropped to my knees and bowed my head. "I'm sorry Lord, forgive my words spoken in haste. I merely meant to convey that if you would assist me in capturing a few of these Kanto pokemon, they can assist you as underlings to battle in those challenges you deem beneath you. And I personally will see to it that they are trained up to our clan standards."

I waited for a second or two if perhaps today would be the day my Lord took my head into his jaws. His talonned feet filled my view as I waited, terrified. Inch by inch, I raised my head and took in the full beast. His knees, his belly, his his tattooed chest, his fangs, then finally his eyes. They stared at me with a fury I'd only seen once before, at the Choosing are Ceremony. Then, abruptly, he turned, knocking me aside with his wings. The flame of his tail grew slightly. Emberwilde let loose a jet of fire igniting a half acre of the forest directly in front of us. Then he turned to me, let out a huff and disappeared back into his pokeball on my belt.

I stared in awe at the inferno blazing in front of me, feeling the heat on my face. I stood back in the trees, watching the fires until eventually they burned themselves out. As soon as it was safe to enter, I picked my way though the ashes, doing my best to avoid any hotspots or flare-ups.

In the ashes, I knocked over a charred log to expose a nest of caterpie. Almost all of them had fainted from the fire attack. One of them looked up at me and shot me in the chest with a string shot attack. I picked up the caterpie and placed it on my shoulder.

"Do you see the power, the raw destructive force that Emberwilde of the Celestial Inferno clan has brought upon your home?" I said as I spun myself so the Caterpie could look at the scorched earth. "Do you want this kind of power too?" I grabbed an empty pokeball from my belt and held it up to the green worm's face. I watched as its eyes looked from the devastation of the forest then back to the pokeball. It lurched forward, tapping the ball with its head. The ball activated, capturing the caterpie inside it.

With one pokemon captured, I scoured the forest remains in search of other pokemon that survived Emberwilde's attack and willing to fight. I found a few more and hoped they would be enough for now to get me though to Emberwilde's first gym battle in Pewter City.

 

Ugh, research is boring. So, obviously I fell behind again in writing this ongoing fan fic. Also, if you made it to the end, and why wouldn't you unless for some reason you skipped to the last part where I write about the behind-the-scenes stuff, you realize that I just couldn't decide what other pokemon The Bearer (I really need a name for the main character) should catch in the forest and for multiple reasons. Since I'm not doing any planning, what I write should basically be considered canon as I go along since it would be weird for me to start a chapter months later with "Hey remember when I said ___ several chapters ago? Well, I changed that so now believe this new thing." Though that is something that may happen anyways now that the next chapter should be the battle against Brock. Also, I couldn't remember what other pokemon are found in the Viridian Forest. Obviously there's Pidgey but I was always a bigger fan of Spearow. And I don't want him to catch pokemon just to have them. There should be something significant about them. And yes, I do have some sort of plot line thought up involving Caterpie. There's also the problem that The Bearer isn't a normal trainer. Is he still limited to the 6 pokemon rule? Do his pokemon go to Professor Oak or should he still hold onto every single one of them (and thus be a bit stingier about catching pokemon), or during this whole story only be allowed to hold onto 5 other pokemon and release them as he goes along? These are other stupid questions I'm trying to answer for something that isn't even marketable. Unless someone from Nintendo is reading this, then give me a call, I'll work for cheap though I also work really, really slow. And finally, if reading this felt a bit choppy, it's because I had a whole chapter written and then found out that the Viridian Forest actually comes AFTER Viridian City, so I had to go back and redo it. Ugh research is so hard.