| Pokemon Neo
Part 18: A Jungle Out There © 1999-2000 Willow McCall “Hey, cool,” Petra commented, staring at the TV screen as she and Aidan had been doing all morning. Aoife had been training for her battle at the Celadon Gym, and Sora had been shopping. They had met up again for lunch, and now the whole group was back in the hotel. “What’s so cool?” Aoife asked, wanting to be included. “Bill’s show is on,” Petra said. “Remember Bill?” “Bill?” Aoife repeated, suddenly panicky. “I almost forgot! It’s the 8th of the month again, which means I have to send Pele back to him.” “Why?” Aidan asked; he hadn’t been with them long enough to know about Pele. “Bill gave Pele to me,” Aoife explained. “It’s for his study on twin Pokemon. He wants to compare Pele to its twin, who’s living a different lifestyle, and see the differences." “Cool idea,” Aidan said. “Listen, when you call him up, can I talk to him?” “Sure, what for?” Aoife questioned. “I want to be a Pokemon researcher too,” Aidan said proudly. “So I think we’d have a lot in common.” “Cool,” Petra said. “I don’t want to be a researcher, I want to be a breeder, but researchers and breeders work together a lot, you know? Except breeders work more with the Pokemon as an individual, whereas researchers are into the scientific stuff.” “Oh,” Aoife said. “Well, I gotta go to the Pokemon center and send Pele to him. Coming, Aidan?” “Yeah, just a minute,” Aidan said, grabbing some Pokeballs and heading out with Aoife. “She’s lucky,” Sora commented once they had left. “Getting to be alone with him and all, I mean.” “You really like him, don’t you?” Petra said seriously. “Yeah,” Sora said, almost apologetically. “Ever since I first saw him and his brothers.” “So, no hope for me, huh?” Petra joked. Sora winked. “Not exactly. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find someone someday.” “_You’re_ lucky,” Petra said, turning Sora’s statement around on her. “To find someone you like that you have an actual chance with.” “What’re you saying,” Sora said, “you have a chance with anyone you meet. And if they don’t like you, their loss.” “Thanks,” Petra smiled. “Maybe she’s right, maybe there is someone out there who’s right for me.” “Hello, Aoife,” Bill’s image on the videophone said. “Glad to hear from you. You here to send me Pele?” “Yeah,” Aoife said, depositing Pele’s Pokeball in the transport slot. “And I might as well give you some of my others, since I’m not going to need them in my battle in the Celadon Gym. Let’s see, Bellsprout wouldn’t be any good against plant Pokemon, and neither would Cubone, or Shellder…I have to keep Chu-Chu, though…” Aoife stopped, realizing what Bill probably had before she even started speaking. “Oh my god, only one of my Pokemon would be really effective against the grass Pokemon at the gym. And that’s Spearow.” She looked at Spearow’s Pokeball sadly. “Aoife,” Bill said, “why don’t you keep Pele for now? Just while you battle, I mean. Then after you get your badge, tomorrow you can give it back. Okay?” “No,” Aoife insisted. “You need to study Pele now. I can battle without her.” “If you say so…” Bill said. Aidan, sensing Aoife’s and Bill’s conversation was coming to a close, jumped in front of the phone, effectively knocking Aoife over. “Hi, Bill!” he greeted his idol enthusiastically. “You don’t know me, but I’m a friend of Aoife’s and I want to be a Pokemon researcher!” “I think I’ll leave them alone for now,” Aoife mumbled, walking off. She left the Pokemon Center and headed back for the hotel. On the way, she saw a sign that interested her. “Rent-A-Mon,” she read. “Sounds like I could use that.” She stepped inside and said to the woman at the desk, “Hi, can you tell me about your services?” “Of course,” the woman said pleasantly. Aoife guessed that she wasn’t from Team Rocket, so she was sure it would be safe. “At Rent-A-Mon you rent a Pokemon for as long as you like. They’re all at very high levels, however, you’d have to be an excellent trainer in order to control a rented or borrowed Pokemon, of course, because they would have been trained by a different trainer and not used to your commands. Would you like to borrow one of our Pokemon?” “Worth a try, I guess,” Aoife agreed. “Do you have any fire Pokemon?” “Lots,” she nodded. “Let’s see…at the moment we have a Vulpix, a Growlithe, a Charmeleon, and a Ninetales that aren’t in use.” “What’s the most powerful out of all of those?” Aoife asked eagerly. “Our Ninetales,” she said. “It’s at Rainbow Level, and it has the attacks Fire Spin, Ember, Fire Blast, and Flamethrower.” “Wow,” Aoife said. “Lots of powerful attacks. How much?” “1400 yen a day,” she said. Aoife laid down 1400 yen. “I’ll take it!” “You did WHAT?” Sora and Petra exclaimed (Aidan was still out talking to Bill). “What else could I do?” Aoife countered. “I had to give Pele to Bill, and I have practically no other Pokemon that are any good against grass-type!” “But still,” Petra said. “It’s someone else’s Pokemon, Aoife. Maybe it belongs to the company, or it belongs to you now temporarily, but someone else trained it and that’s all that the Pokemon itself is going to remember. Ninetales aren’t easy to handle anyway.” “Yeah,” Sora added, “and this way it’s like you’re not doing the work yourself. You’re just leeching off of the work some other trainer did on the Pokemon and using it as yours.” “I have to get this badge,” Aoife said for the hundredth time, although they were even starting to convince her a little. “And I have to get it now, because I have to turn Ninetales in again at 11:00 tomorrow!” (Who's that Pokemon? It's Ferneon!) Once they were at the gym, Petra had already forgotten all about Aoife’s “cheating”, as she called it. “Wow, there are only girls in this gym!” she gushed, taking in the beauteous site. “Isn’t this great?” “Not so great for Aidan,” Sora said, distressed that Aidan couldn’t come in because only girls were allowed inside. For male challengers at the gym, they had to fight outside in the fields, or in the attached greenhouse. Aoife was just excited about the battle, but deep down still feeling guilty. “I kinda wish I had Pele here,” she thought. “Then it would be like I was really battling. Now it’ll be like I’m fighting for someone else.” “Hi,” she greeted the receptionist. “I’m a challenger. I’d like a match, please.” “And so would I,” Petra jumped in. “I’d like to—mmphmr!” Sora grabbed Petra away and covered her mouth before she could say anything suggestive. “Right this way,” the receptionist said. Aoife followed confidently, and Sora behind her still holding back Petra, who was making eyes at the receptionist’s backside. They came into a large greenhouse room filled with all sorts of plants, and female trainers around training various plant Pokemon. Sora couldn’t restrain Petra any longer and she went tearing around the gym, after anything that was human and female (except of course for Aoife and Sora). “Um, Erika?” the receptionist called into the jungle. “Challenger here for you.” “Yes?” the gym leader, Erika, said, emerging from the bushes. As many know the Celadon Gym is also used to manufacture cosmetics made from plant Pokemon products. This would explain why she still looked only a few years older than she did when Aoife’s father had come to earn his badge. Erika was able to divert Petra’s attention from the other trainers. “WOOOOOOW!” she exclaimed. “You’re so beautiful, you’re exactly like Dad said you were, I can’t believe it…” Erika held up a hand to silence Petra. “I’m also 39.” Everyone (except for the gym’s female trainers, who already knew) nearly collapsed from shock. “39????!!!!” “Well, uh, you’re very well-preserved for your age…” Petra tried to save herself, then mentally kicked herself afterwards. “Well-preserved? God, Petra, she’s not a mummy.” Sora hauled Petra off to the bleachers, and on the way she glimpsed Aidan watching through the greenhouse window. Unfortunately, so did one of the trainers, who marched out muttering something about dealing with another voyeur. “You would like a battle?” Erika asked the obvious. “Yes, please,” Aoife said. “Very well,” Erika agreed. “What do you say to a three-on-three battle?” “Might be hard with only three,” Aoife pondered. “But that’d be okay.” Erika made a production of throwing her Pokeball, doing graceful turns and twists. “Ferneon, I choose you!” “Ferneon?” Petra repeated. “Isn’t that the new Eevee evolution they discovered?” Her suspicions were confirmed when a grass Pokemon that looked like an Eevee appeared. It had leaves instead of fur, two big leaf ears, and a grassy tail. “Fern fern!” it cried. “Easy,” Aoife said. “Just one Flamethrower from Ninetales will work. Go, Ninetales!” She threw her Pokeball, trying to emulate Erika’s graceful throw, but ended up falling all over herself. “Um…ouch.” “Nine!” Aoife’s borrowed Pokemon said, leaping out. “How cute!” Erika grinned. “And impressive. Ninetales can be difficult to catch and raise.” The Ninetales, however, was not so happy. It wasn’t used to this environment, so it hid behind a bush. “Um…Ninetales?” Aoife ventured, approaching the Pokemon. Sensing it was scared, she tried to be as polite as possible. “Would you mind doing a Flamethrower attack now, please?” “Tales,” Ninetales shook its head. “Pleeeease?” Aoife knelt before the fire Pokemon and clasped her hands as if she were praying. “Come ON, Ninetales, please?” “NIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!” Ninetales blasted Aoife with Flamethrower, probably thinking, “Well, you did say do Flamethrower, didn’t you? Be careful what you wish for.” Aoife coughed a puff of smoke. “Or not.” Erika looked confused. “Well, it’s still a battle,” she justified. “Ferneon, Sleep Powder!” “Ferneon,” Ferneon leaped forward and sprinkled sleep powder at Ninetales. It had the desired effect, and Ninetales was out of commission. “Return, Ninetales,” Aoife sighed. “Okay, Chu-Chu, you ready?” “Pi!” Chu-Chu hopped forward and assumed a fighting stance. “Oh, no,” Sora moaned. “Didn’t she learn ANYTHING from fighting Treagle?” “Guess not,” Petra said, watching Ferneon chasing after Chu-Chu, trying to tackle it. “Bad match,” Aoife realized, a little too late. “Come on back, Chu-Chu.” “Chaa!” Chu-Chu squeaked, scrambling from Ferneon’s Razor Leaf just in time. “Only one left,” Aoife said. “Go, Spearow! Use your…let’s see…Fury Attack, I guess.” “Spear! Spear!” Spearow cawed, repeatedly firing sharp feathers at Ferneon. “Fern!” Ferneon dodged the attack. “Vine whip, Ferneon!” Erika commanded. Ferneon extended its vines and used them to snare Spearow, then slam it on the ground. “Speeee…” Spearow groaned. Aoife returned it. “Guess that’s it,” Aoife said dejectedly. “It’s all right,” Erika said cheerfully. “I’ll let you come back some other time for a rematch. Would you like that?” “Sure, I guess,” Aoife said. She and her friends left the gym and headed back for the hotel. “This sucks,” Aoife muttered. “Aoife? Is that you?” a muffled voice came out of the trash bin along the side of the road. “What the heck…” Aoife, Sora, and Petra went over to the bin. Someone was pounding on the side of the bin, yelling, “Get me out of here!” “I don’t know,” Petra said suspiciously. “Could be Team Rocket.” “It’s not,” Sora said, lifting the lid. “It’s Aidan.” Her suspicion was right, as Aidan clambered out of the bin, wet and covered with garbage. “What happened to you, man?” Petra asked. “I was watching Aoife’s battle through the window,” Aidan explained. “Then some girls from the gym came and threw me in here. Guess they thought I was a Peeping Tom or something.” “Oh,” Sora said. “That’s stupid. Although after seeing Petra going crazy once we got inside the gym, I can see why they’d have to be careful about that.” “Hey,” Petra protested. “I can’t help it. Leave me out of this.” “So how’d the battle go, Aif?” Aidan asked, as they continued along towards the hotel. “It didn’t,” Aoife said. “Ninetales just hid in the bushes, and when I tried to get it to attack, it blasted my head off.” “So I guess that thing on your neck right now,” Sora commented sarcastically, “it’s not your head, right?” Aoife hit her playfully and then continued. “Tomorrow when I go to turn in Ninetales I’m gonna call Bill again and see if he’s ready to give Pele back yet.” Aidan paid attention when Aoife mentioned the name of his fellow researcher. “Do you think I could…” “Yes, Aid, you can talk to Bill,” Aoife said. “Cool,” Aidan grinned. “Honestly,” Sora shook her head. “Erika did say I could have a rematch,” Aoife said to the Celadon Gym’s receptionist the next day. “I’m ready to face her again.” “If she said so…” the receptionist agreed, leading them once again into the gym. Except this time it was just Sora and Aoife; they had left Petra and Aidan at home so they wouldn’t cause any trouble. “I’m back, Erika!” Aoife announced, stepping into the thickly vegetated arena. “And I have a different, unbeatable Pokemon than the last time you saw me.” “Really?” Erika said, entering the ring. “Oh, you’re the girl with the Ninetales who wouldn’t obey you.” Aoife waved it aside. “That was just an accident,” she said. “Don’t judge me just by that one battle. I’m much better than that.” “All right,” Erika said. “Three on three again. And I’m sorry to say so, but I don’t believe I will lose. Go, Weepinbell!” “Hmm…” Aoife checked her Pokedex, which said, “Weepinbell. The flytrap Pokemon. Can catch small insects in its mouth, and also uses its mouth to launch Acid attacks.” “Better watch out for that acid, Aif,” Sora coached. “It’s really dangerous for your Pokemon.” “I won’t be beaten by any acid,” Aoife said confidently, “or anything at all. Go, Pele!” “Interesting Pokemon,” Erika said. “Weepinbell, Razor Leaf!” “Pe! Le! Pe!” Weepinbell threw three sharp leaves at Pele, who jumped over each one. “Watch out, Pele!” Aoife cried, as the leaves boomeranged back. “Behind you, they’re coming back!” “Leeee!” Pele squealed, ducking down so that the leaves flew harmlessly over her. “Now use Fire Spin!” Aoife said. “We’ll beat that flytrap.” “Pe-LEEEEE!” Pele cried out, breathing fire as though she were a medieval dragon. The plant Pokemon withered under the flame, and Erika had to return it. “Good work so far, Aoife,” she congratulated her. “Now here’s the Pokemon you couldn’t beat yesterday. Go!” “Déjà vu,” Aoife muttered as the grass-type Eevee evolution popped out and started charging Pele. “Fire Punch, Pele!” Pele attempted to Fire Punch at Ferneon, but couldn’t get close enough to it. Finally Pele just hopped onto Ferneon’s back and scorched it at point-blank range. “Great move!” Aoife cheered. “Ferneon, return!” Erika said. “That was good, but there’s one more. This is my first Pokemon, so I’ve been training it for many years. Go, Vileplume!” A purple Pokemon with a giant red-and-yellow spotted flower on its head waddled out of the bushes. “Kinda funny looking,” Aoife commented. “Pele can beat it, though. Just use Fire Spin again, Pele!” “Vileplume, Petal Dance!” Erika commanded her flowery Pokemon. Vileplume began to dance around, flinging petals everywhere in a more graceful version of Razor Leaf. “Now, Pele!” Aoife said. “Ember attack!” Pele managed to burn away all the petals, but Vileplume was unaffected. “Shoot,” Aoife said. “Fire Spin, Pele!” “Pele pele!” Pele opened its beak and stirred up a tornado of fire, effectively burning the Vileplume, enough for Erika to return it. “Good work, Aoife,” Erika said. “Don’t worry about Vileplume, it’ll be okay after a couple of Burn Heals.” “Thank you for the match,” Aoife said. “Now do I get the badge?” “Of course,” Erika smiled. “Here you go.” She handed Aoife a badge shaped like a flower, with each petal a different color. “The Rainbow Badge.” “Thanks,” Aoife said, then skipped off cheering, “YAHOO! I got my…uh, how many badges do I have so far? Oh yeah, six. I got my SIXTH BADGE! WOOHOO!” Sora followed after Aoife, back to the hotel. “I hope she’s learned something out of all this,” she said to herself. “That just because a Pokemon is strong, if it’s not yours, it’s no good.” Author's Notes Aoife was a much better loser in this one, I think. I was forced to settle on a name for my Leaf Stone Eevee creation, so I hunted around in the thesaurus and found the word "fern", thus "Ferneon". Plus a reference (sorta) to Ash's Charizard problem, not actually stated but it's a parallel. And Aidan's as bad with Bill as Tracey is around Professor Oak, as you can see (he even has a Bill haircut, which I didn't actually do on purpose, it's just a weird coincidence). Heh, I found it kinda funny when he ended up in a Dumpster. back |