Riley's Pokemon Journey! ~Part 2~

I had never known such heck as the amazement of my choice by Proffessor Oak. He lectured me for hours it seemed, raving about what a mistake I could be making, and how it could affect my journey. I got so tired I eventually sat corss-legged in the grass next to Charmander, who crawled over and sat down in my lap in front of me. To my relief Oak shook his head, smiling.
"You may be making the right choice after all." he said, grinning.
He gave me Charmander's pokeball from his pocket.
"You both better behave!" he warned. "Because if gym leaders call me saying you've lit fire to thier gyms, we may have a problem."
"Ok." I said with a nod.
"Char!" Charmander said, nodding. Oak stared at Charmander and shook his head, baffled.
"I'll just never understand..." then he dismissed us with a wave of his hand. "Go on then!" he laughed. "You're not my problem anymore!"
I grinned, and stood, shaking hands with Proffessor Oak. I almost leapt straight up into the air as Charmander scrambled up my leg, across my back and onto my shoulder, where he hung on tightly with his front claws on my shoulder and his back feet resting on my backpack. Oak and I laughed, then he wished me luck and disapearred into his house.


We travelled all afternoon, Charmander sitting contenly on my shoulder, occasional spouting little spurts of flame into the air, causing me to laugh histerically at his spirit. We soon came to a fork in the road. I stopped.
"Hmmmm" I said quietly, "To the left it says Newleaf Village, but to the left is some forest..." I peared closer to the sign, made of old, rotted wood. "But someone scratched the name out!" I stepped back. "How odd... Charmander, which way do you think we should go?" I glanced over my shoulder, and cried out as to my astonishment I realized Charmander wasn't there. I glanced around frantically, and saw Charmander was running off down the path to the left. "Charmander!" I called, sprinting after it. Sadly, I never noticed the skull and crossbones next to the name of the woods...
DeAdWoOd FoReSt.

"Charmander! Stop!" I called frantically as I sprinted down the trail. Charmander's glowing tail iluminated the ever growing darkness as the trees around us grew thicker and blotted out the sun. The path grew narrower, until I was soon fighting the tall grass and branches scratched at my face. I came upon Charmander, and made a dive, and to my relief my hands closed tightly around its squirming torso. I landed hard and skidded across the ground, rolling onto my back to keep Charmander from the same fate; it fought valiently between my fingers.
"Charmander! What was that for? Why'd you run off?"
"Char Char! 'Mander char man!" Charmanded said, trying to pry my fingers off its stomach. I stood up, and dropped it in irritance. It landed at my feet with an oomph!
"Never do that again!" I said, putting my hands on my hips and leaning down closer to it. Charmander glared at me, then pointed frantically farther into the woods. My expression softenend and I gazed at it quizically.
"Huh? What's wrong? Is there something back there?" Charmander nodded frantically.
"Show me!" I commanded, and Charmander took off again through the woods with me at his heels. I fought hard to keep up through the thick trees and bushes, but I slid to a stop and grabbed Charmander as we reached the edge of a clearing, bushes concealing our position.
""Mander char!" Charmander said, pointing.
"Oh no." I breathed.
In the middle of the clearing was a pack of poochyena. There were at least five or six, and they had, cornerred against a boulder, a pikachu, that had taken a massive beating and could hardly stand, its legs quivering as it held its stance against the poochyena. They closed in, snarling and growling as the pikachu panted, one eye bruised and forced closed, one back leg so batterred the pikachu couldn't stand on it. Suddenly, one of the poochyena lunged. I muffled a cry as the pikachu's eyes blazed with the electricity withiin.
"Pika!" It cried, and an electric shock exploded from it and paralyzed the poochyena, yet almost instantly the rest of the pack dove at the pikachu, and I watched in horror as the pikachu was thrown violently against the rock. It tried to rise to its feet and failed.
"Pika..." It murmerred weakly.
Suddenly, Charmander was no longer at my side, but in the clearing.
"Charmander!" It cried savagely.
"Charmander no!" I whisperred, but it ignored me, its eyes like live flame as it stared down the pack. The poochyena turned from the wounded pikachu and surrounded Charmander in a horseshoe, snarliing and growling threatenningly. Charmander held his ground.
Suddenly, there was a flash of red from the side of the clearing, and I gasped as the poochyena parted to allow a large growlithe to pass through. Obviously the leader of the pack, it gazed smugly at Charmander, baring its teeth. I couldn't watch this.
I leapt from the bushes. The poochyena yelped in shock but didn't leave thier places. The growlithe's eyes narrowed.
"Let's do this Charmander!" I said confidently. Charmander nodded; the poochyena backed away and left only the growlithe in the circle. The growlithe and Charmander slowly circled each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Suddenly, thr growlithe lunged, fangs bared.
"Charmander, dodge!" I commmanded. Charmander leapt out of the way with surprising agility as the growlithe crashed to the ground where Charmander had been. I leapt to its feet, snarling, and made another dive at Charmander. It danced away again.
"Charmander! Scratch!" I called. As the growlithe hit again, Charmander slashed at it with its talons and raked across the growlithes nose, leaving long gashes across its face. The growlithes eyes blazed, and Charmander cried out as the growlithe barrelled into Charmander and sent the little pokemon skidding across the ground. It leapt to its feet in time to see growlithe barring on it again.
"Hang in there Charmander!" I called. "Quick! Use flamethrower!" Charmander openned its jaws and a blast of swirling fire flew from its jaws. Growlithe stopped short and let out its own blast of fire. They met in midair and waverred between both pokemon. Charmander was sweating, growlithe was shaking slightly.
"Go for it Charmander! Maximum power!" I shouted.
Charmander's eyes glowed bright red. "CHAAAAAAAAR!" It roared, and a wave of fire erupted from its mouth, completely englufing the growlithe. The pokemon was sent slamming into a tree, where it sank to the ground. It tried to stand.
"Quick, Charmander! Headbutt!" I called, but Charmanded was already there and slammed into growlithe, sending it sprawling into the bushes. The poochyena, seeing thier leader defeated, took off into the grass in a frenzy of yelps and yips. The growlithe followed after them.
"Great job, Charmander!" I shouted, sweeping it up in my arms. Charmander was extremely pleased with itself.
"Char man!" It said.
Suddenly, my eyes fell on the motionless Pikachu.
"Oh my gosh," I said, letting Charmander down and rushing to the Pikachu's side. Gently I reached down and picked up the little pokemon, cradeling it in my arms. Suddenly, its eyes shot open.
"PIKACHU!!!" It cried, and I saw stars as my vision went white and wave after wave of eletricity swept through me. I gritted my teeth, clutching the pikachu.
"I... won't.... let.... you... go!" I said through clenched teeth. Relief came to me as the pain subsided, and the weak pikachu ended its attack. It sighed.
"Chaaaaa..." It murmerred. I stood, holding the Pikachu against me.
"Don't worry," I promised, "you're going to be ok!"