Aoife traveled through the Viridian Forest, tired, wet, and cold.  “We’ve been in here for two hours,” she complained, “and still no sign of Pewter City.”
 “Kaaaa…” Chu-Chu whined, plopping down on a rock.
 “Good idea, Chu-Chu,” she said, sitting on a low-hanging tree branch to rest.  “Let’s take a break for a while.”
 “Rattata, rattata,” a Rattata muttered, scrambling across the path in front of them.
 “A Rattata, cool!” Aoife said, getting up off the branch.  “I heard these Pokemon are good.  I gotta catch one!”  Chu-Chu jumped up, and Aoife ordered it, “Chu-Chu, thundershock!”  Chu-Chu used its powerful electric attack on the Rattata, and it was weakened, but not weak enough to catch. 
 “Hmm…this might be difficult,” Aoife commented.  “Go Nidoran!”  She released her other Pokemon from its Pokeball.  “Quick Attack!”
 But the Rattata was faster, and it used its Quick Attack on Nidoran before it could attack.  “Nido,” the Pokemon said; it had been knocked over from the Rattata’s attack.
 “Don’t give up, Nidoran!” Aoife called to it.  “You can do it!  Try your Quick Attack again!”  The Nidoran jumped up and ran towards the Rattata, plowing into it. 
 “Okay, thanks, Nidoran!”  Aoife threw an empty Pokeball at the Rattata, and it went inside.  The ball twitched for a minute, then the button on the front turned white and it stopped moving.  “YEAH!” Aoife cheered.  “I caught…a Rattata!”  She did a victory pose, picking up the Pokeball and making a V with her fingers.
 “Rattata are boring,” a voice said.  Aoife turned around to see a girl with blonde hair in pigtails wearing a pink dress.
 “Who are you?” Aoife asked.
 “My name is Lucy,” the girl said.  “I watched you catch that thing.  I don’t like to catch Pokemon, especially not in this forest.  I hate the outdoors!  I get all dirty out here!” she squealed, frantically brushing dirt off her clothes, fixing her hair, and polishing her shoes.
 “If you don’t like getting dirty, then why the heck do you train Pokemon?” Aoife asked, finding Lucy a little annoying. 
 “Because they’re so cute!” Lucy said.  “I like Clefable the best.  I really want one, but I don’t know how to get one.”
 “How about a Pokemon battle?” Aoife suggested. 
 “I don’t really like battling either,” Lucy said.  “My Pokemon get dirty, and I have to make sure they look cute all the time.”
 Aoife frowned, not liking this girl’s method of raising Pokemon.  “Is that all you care about, your Pokemon’s looks?” she asked.  “Hmph.  I bet your Pokemon aren’t even any good either.”
 “Meanie!” Lucy shouted at her.  “Fine, I’ll battle you.  Just to prove that cute Pokemon are better than that ugly Rattata you have.”  She threw out her first Pokeball.  “Jigglypuff, go!”
 “Jigglypuff?” Aoife repeated.  “Dumb pink thing.”
 “Puff!” the Jigglypuff fumed, puffing up and trying to look threatening (which wasn’t working very well).
 “Okay, fine, I’ll humor you,” Aoife decided.  “Go Rattata!”  The Rattata jumped out of its Pokeball.
 “Jigglypuff, sing!” Lucy directed.
 Aoife nearly fell over laughing.  “Sing?” she giggled.  “You’re going to have your Pokemon sing?  What good will that do?”
 “Jigglypuff, jiggly…” the Jigglypuff sang with its haunting voice. 
 “Rat…rattata…” Rattata yawned, collapsing on the ground.
 “Rattata!” Aoife cried out. 
 “Jigglypuff’s sing attack will put Pokemon to sleep,” the Pokedex said. 
 “Return, Rattata,” Aoife said.  “Go Chu-Chu!  Thunder attack, quick, before the Jigglypuff can start singing again!”
 “Pika…CHUUUU!”  Chu-Chu used its attack on the Jigglypuff, who soon fainted.
 “Well…you were just lucky, that’s all,” Lucy said.  “But I have a Pokemon that’s really lucky!  Go Chansey!”
 “Chansey?” Aoife repeated.  “She’s using all those pathetic little girlie Pokemon that are pink and can’t do any really strong attacks.”
 “We’ll see about that!” Lucy said.  “Chansey, egg bomb!”
 “Chan-sey!” Chansey cried, flinging eggs at Chu-Chu.
 “Kaaa!” Chu-Chu said, running from the eggs with its arms over its head.
 “Don’t run, Chu-Chu!” Aoife yelled.  “Electric attack!”
 “Pi…chaa,” Chu-Chu sighed.  The electric generators in its cheeks gave off a spark, and it electrocuted the Chansey.
 “Chansey, soft-boiled!” Lucy said.  The Chansey jumped up, and almost immediately returned to full health.
 “Crud,” Aoife muttered.  “It can rejuvenate itself.  Okay, strongest attack, Chu-Chu.  Thunderbolt!”
 “Chuuuu!” Chu-Chu said, electrocuting the Chansey again but with a more powerful charge.  “Chansey,” the pink Pokemon said, before collapsing on the ground.
 “Chansey, return,” Lucy said.  “Okay, one more, and you aren’t going to beat this one.  Go Clefairy!”
 “Another stupid little pink puffy thing!” Aoife cried, throwing up her hands in exasperation.  “Are you a serious trainer or do you just want to collect them like they’re stuffed animals or something?”
 “Clefairy?” her Pokemon said, emerging from its Pokeball.
 “I’ll show you,” Lucy said.  “Clefairy, Metronome!”
 “Huh?” Aoife asked, searching through her Pokedex to find out what it was doing. 
“Clefairy’s Metronome attack is totally unpredictable,” Dexter said.  “It could end up doing any Pokemon attack.”
The Clefairy waved its fingers back and forth, and ended up shooting fire at Chu-Chu.  “Chuuuu…” Chu-Chu said quietly, its fur blackened.  Chu-Chu had been burned, and unfortunately so had the trees behind it.  Lucy’s Clefairy had started a brushfire.
“Great!  Now look what you did!” Aoife shouted at Lucy.
“Me?  You were the one who wanted to battle!” Lucy yelled back, trying to get the blame away from herself.
“But it was your Clefairy who started the fire!” Aoife pointed out.  “It’s entirely your fault and you can’t deny that.”
“Need some help?”  Fawn and company had come up the path behind them.
“Not from you, no,” Aoife replied.
“Then who’s going to put out the fire?” Lucy asked.  “I don’t have a single water Pokemon who could do it!”
“Me either,” Aoife said.
“Willing to admit defeat yet?” Fawn asked.  “You do need my help…or maybe Steve’s help.”
“Fine,” Aoife muttered, hanging her head.
“Go Squirtle!” Steve yelled, throwing his Pokeball.
“Squirtle!” said his Pokemon, using its Water Gun attack to put out the fire.
Lucy was all over Steve.  “Thank you so much for saving me from that barbarian over there with the Pikachu…” Aoife glared at her upon hearing this, “and putting out that fire!  You saved my life!  Here, it’s the least I could do to give you my number…”
“No thanks,” Steve replied.  To Aoife he said, “It was my pleasure to rescue you, miss.  We should go out sometime.  Would you like my number?”
Aoife grinned.  “Cool, I can make Fawn really jealous by flirting with her guys,” she thought.  “That’ll show her!”
But before Aoife could take advantage of the opportunity, Fawn whipped out her patented Anime Guy-Whacking Mallet® and smacked Steve with it.  “Leave him alone.  He’s mine.  Come on guys, we gotta get out of here.”  The boys picked up the platform that she rode on and carried her off again.
 “Okay, time to finish this battle,” Aoife said, a bit disappointed that she couldn’t get Steve’s number.  She took out a potion and a burn heal that she had gotten in Viridian and squirted them on Chu-Chu, who regained its health and was ready to battle again.  “Chu-Chu, thundershock!”  The electric mouse released its attack on the Clefairy, and the Clefairy fainted.
 “I won!  Yeah!” Aoife cheered.
 “Pika-pika!” Chu-Chu said.
 Lucy’s lip trembled, and she started crying.  “You tomboyish beast, you made all my Pokemon faint!  I hate you!”  She ran off in the general direction of Viridian City.
 “What a wimp,” Aoife said.  “Now how do we get out of the forest…”
 Chu-Chu had wandered off by itself for a while.  It heard a rustling in the bushes and looked to see what it was. 
 “Spearow!” the thing in the bushes cawed.
 “Piiii!” Chu-Chu cried, thundershocking the bush.
 “Spearow…” the thing said.  A Spearow fell out of the bushes, drained from receiving Chu-Chu’s attack.
 “Chu-Chu?” Aoife turned around to see what Chu-Chu was doing.  “Hey, a Spearow!  Good work, Chu-Chu.”  She took another Pokeball out of her bag and threw it at the Spearow, who was caught.  “Yay!  Thanks a lot, Chu-Chu!”  She hugged her Pokemon, who replied, “Chuu!”
 Suddenly, Aoife heard a mooing sound behind her.  She looked, and it was a Tauros.
 “Cool,” she said.  “I’m going to catch this too!  Go Chu-Chu!  Attack it!”
 “Pika…” Chu-Chu hesitated.
 “What’s wrong, Chu-Chu?” Aoife asked.  “Come on, you can’t be scared of this Tauros.  If I’m going to be a Pokemon master you’ll eventually have to fight all the Pokemon, right?  Better start now.”
 “Pika, Pikachu!” Chu-Chu argued.  “Pikapi, chu pikachu, pika!”
 The Tauros mooed again, then ran at them. 
 “Hey, what’s the big idea, Tauros?”  Aoife and Chu-Chu escaped from the Tauros up a tree, but the Tauros wouldn’t give up.  It head-butted the tree, trying to knock them out.
 Then a boy appeared from the bushes.  He had on a Spanish bullfighter’s costume and carried a red cloth.  “Tauros, return!” he cried.  The Tauros did as it was told.
 “Hey, thanks,” Aoife said, climbing down from the tree.  Then she noticed his unusual costume.  “You’re a matador?” she cried in outrage.  “You actually participate in those primitive bullfights?  Do you even realize what the word matador means?  It means murderer!  Those fights are animal cruelty!  You have no right to—”
 “Hey, just a minute,” the boy said.  “I’m not a bullfighter.  My name is Juan, and I train Tauros.  That’s why I dress this way, and the red cloth is so they’ll obey me.”
 “Oh,” Aoife said sheepishly.  “Um…sorry.  I’m really sorry I exploded like that, I just can’t stand cruelty to Pokemon.”
 “Me neither,” Juan said.  “And I apologize too, for my Tauros.  When it heard you wanted to capture it, it got a little mad.  But it’s not your fault, you didn’t know it wasn’t wild.”
 “Oh,” Aoife replied.  “Well, I’m Aoife Ketchum, and I’m from Pallet Town.  I’ve just started Pokemon training, and I want to be the Pokemon Master like my dad was!”
 Juan looked interested.  “Really, your dad was the Pokemon Master?”
 “Yeah, he—” Aoife started, but was interrupted by Bonnie and Clyde jumping down from the trees.
 “Prepare for trouble!” Bonnie said.
 “And make it double!” Clyde added.
 “To rule the world with greatest power!”
 “Stalking around at the midnight hour!”
 “To denounce the greatness of evil and sin!”
 “With our Pokemon we’re sure to win!”
 “Bonnie!”
 “Clyde!”
 “Team Rocket, flying in the night!”
 “Surrender now or you’ll lose the fight!”
 “Vulpix!” Clyde’s Vulpix, Sundance, said, jumping down from his shoulder. 
 “Oh, you’re the ones who tried to trade me that goofy Magikarp for my Nidoran?” Aoife said.  “And you’re Team Rocket, those criminals that Dad was talking about.  Coincidence, huh?”
 Bonnie and Clyde ignored her.  “Come on, Mr. Bullfighter, hand over the Tauros or we get violent.”
 “Yes, our boss wants a Tauros,” Clyde said, “and you specialize in Tauros, so only the best for the boss!”
 “You’re not getting them,” Juan said.  He released three of his Tauros from their Pokeballs.  “Tauros, tackle them!”
 Bonnie threw her Growlithe into battle.  “Ember, Growlithe!”  The Growlithe breathed fire at the Tauros, and they were badly burned.
 “Great!” Bonnie said.  “Let’s take these Tauros and get them back to the boss.”
 “You’re not getting these Pokemon!” Aoife said, standing in between Team Rocket and the Tauros to block the Tauros from further attack.
 “Let’s see you try to stop us,” Bonnie said, amused.
 “Okay, I will!” Aoife agreed.  “Go Spearow!” 
 “Spearow!” the bird Pokemon said.
 “Spearow, Mirror Move!” Aoife said.  The Spearow turned the Growlithe’s ember attack back on it, burning Growlithe, Sundance, and Team Rocket.
 “Looks like Team Rocket’s blasting off again!” Bonnie yelled, running in the opposite direction.
 Clyde followed her, carrying Sundance and saying, “But Bonnie, how can we blast off again if this is the first time?”
 “Shut up and just agree with me!” Bonnie snapped, as they retreated into the forest.
 “Thanks, Aoife,” Juan said.  “You saved my Pokemon and I.”
 “It was the least I could do,” Aoife said.  “Here, I have some Burn Heals for those Tauros…”  She took some burn heals out of her bag and gave them to Juan, and he used them to heal his Pokemon.
 “How can I repay you?” Juan asked.
 “Oh, that’s not necessary…” Aoife said.  “It would be nice, but I’m just being polite and saying that you don’t have to.”
 “No, I will,” Juan said.  “I’ll show you the way out of this forest, that’s what I’ll do.”
 “Really?” Aoife replied.  “Cool, I’ve been wandering around in here for the longest time.  Thank you.”
 “Sure,” Juan said.  He led Aoife and Chu-Chu down the path that led to Pewter City.  “This is Pewter City,” he said..  “There’s a gym here, so you could get a badge.”
 “Oh, thank you so much!” Aoife cried.  “Thank you thank you…here, I should give you something to repay you…”
 “Oh, no, please,” Juan said.  “Anyway, I live here, so if you need my help again you’ll know where to find me.”
 “Thanks a lot, Juan!” Aoife said.  “Really.  Well, I gotta go earn a badge now, I’ll see you again sometime, I hope.”
 And Aoife set off to the Pokemon center to heal her Pokemon, then to Pewter City.  All she knew was, she was never going through that forest again unless she had a guide with her, like Juan or someone else knowledgeable, or at least not without a map. 
 

Author's notes
So what's up with Lucy and Juan?  Stock characters.  The kind you only see for one episode, like Dr. Proctor and some of the gym leaders like Koga.  And I made up a new Team Rocket motto for B and C (not Butch and Cassidy, Bonnie and Clyde, but I just noticed they have the same initials, huh?).  It sucks.  But that's okay since it's supposed to be cheesy like that.  And Sundance, as in the Sundance Kid (another outlaw type person).  If you've ever played the game, Lucy's supposed to be a lass like the ones in the game.  Only likes cute Pokemon, is all fussy and stuck up, and stuff like that.  I find them extremely annoying, but that's another thing.  And where was the Who's That Pokemon?  There was no place to suitably stick a break in the story, so I'll just tell you what it is.  It's Tauros.

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