Here's Chapter 5, It's a long one so I divided it into three parts incase you guys want a break or something. 
Jeff finally leaves the town (About time, right?).
I regret not being able to end on a cliffhanger.
Enjoy reading and, as always, reply and/or review.
To Leave the Nest
The two left Professor Birch’s large laboratory and began to walk down the black tarmac. The four o’clock sun shone bright, casting bright beams on the two travelers’ dried, blood stained faces.
“I still don’t understand…why did you let yourself be captured?” Jeff asked Treecko.
Treecko attempted to explain, using various body gestures, that “<Tyrogue had told me that you were only repaying me for saving you and that you didn’t actually want to be friends.>”
“Damn it, Tyrogue,” Jeff grunted “That’s ridiculous, of course I wanted to be friends with you…I think Tyrogue just doesn’t like…” Jeff tried to think of a way to put it lightly, but couldn’t. “…you.”
Treecko shrugged, “Treecko cko tree, treecko treecko cko,” he grinned, trying to say, “<I get that a lot; I think many other pokemon are threatened by me.>”
Jeff and Treecko walked up to his medium sized house. They dragged their war-weary bodies up the planked front steps. Jeff, now on the spacey veranda, opened the white front door and they walked into the rather cramped vestibule.
“Hey mom, I’m back!” Jeff yelled into the house as he entered. “Treecko, this is my home...in the daytime,” Jeff told him, as Treecko jumped down and looked around curiously. He looked to his left and noticed a spread out living room complimented with two opposite-facing leather couches. Behind the green leather couch was a fireplace, which homed a mantelpiece above it. Parallel to the front door was a hallway that led to the kitchen. To their right were stairs that led to the second floor.
“What took you so long?” His mom asked before turning into the hallway from the kitchen. She was a dyed blonde, brown haired woman walked entered and looked at them.
“That’s no Torchi--” Jeff’s mom stopped mid sentence and looked at the scratched up and beaten pals.
“My goodness! What happened to you two?!” She asked, worried.
“It’s nothing; we were on the receiving end of a Fearow’s beak, y’know kind of a male bonding thing,” Jeff replied, calmly.
“Mom, this is Treecko. I decided on traveling with him before I walked out the door today.” Jeff admitted as he introduced them.
“I thought you said that you were getting a Torchic!” Mrs. Growell said, disappointed.
“Mom…never did I ONCE say that I was getting a Torchic! I wanted a Treecko ever since I saw my brother’s, when I was 15,” Jeff replied, truthfully.
“Not even a Mudkip?” She yearned, “Your brother chose a Mudkip!”
“No he didn’t! He chose Treecko…he caught a Mudkip somewhere after saving it… and that was nine years before this guy came along!” Jeff corrected, motioning to Treecko. “I’ve made my choice and I don’t doubt a single thought of it!” Jeff replied, irritated.
To this Treecko smiled, smugly.
“Well Treecko sure is…nice.” His mom lied as she looked at Treecko who lay on Jeff’s shoulder, leaning against his tail and Jeff’s head, with his arms behind his head.
“Is Dad still working at the hospital in Petalberg?” Jeff asked his mom.
“Yes, he is on-call so he and Bayleef will be home later tonight.” His mom replied, walking into the kitchen.
Treecko tilted his head at Jeff upon hearing the odd pokemon’s name.
“Yeah, my dad owns a Bayleef…a grass reptile pokemon, like you. She helps him out at the hospital, healing people’s ailments and wounds,” Jeff explained to Treecko. “You remember Chikorita? She’s now Bayleef,” informed Jeff.
Treecko listened, intrigued, and then went back to poking around the living room. Jeff ran up to his room, packed a few more items, changed into a pair of the same green shirt, and threw two more into his backpack.
Tyrogue entered the living room, from a door leading to the kitchen, with a huge scowl on his face, “<You again,>” Tyrogue growled, cracking is knuckles.
“<That was a pretty low stunt that you pulled last time…>” Treecko began growling in return.
“<Not as low as this!>” Tyrogue roared, swinging his leg sideways, taking out Treecko’s legs.
“<What the hell!?>” Treecko snarled, hitting the hardwood floor, .
Treecko quickly recovered and bounded upwards, knocking Tyrogue into the wall. The two delivered swings and headbutts back and forth, causing pictures to fall from the poorly arranged table.
“What’s that sound?!” Jeff called down from upstairs.
Tyrogue grabbed Treecko by the throat and held him off the ground. Treecko was vulnerable while Tyrogue delivered solid punches to his face, like a hammer beating in a nail. Treecko cringed and the cuts on his face reopened and bled. Treecko held on to Tyrogue’s wrist, trying to loosen his grip. Jeff ran back downstairs and saw Treecko pinned against a doorframe, by Tyrogue.
“DAMN IT YOU TWO, BREAK IT UP, NOW!” Jeff yelled as he ran to them and pried them apart. He pressed them both against opposite sides of a door frame, making sure they wouldn’t start fighting again.
“It’s a good thing that we’re leaving…Tyrogue go back to weightlifting or something,” Jeff commanded, releasing them to the hardwood floor.
Tyrogue grumbled as he walked upstairs and Treecko was on his knees rubbing his red throat, panting from the lack of oxygen. Treecko stood to his feet and ran after Tyrogue, enraged. He lunged up the stairs at Tyrogue, but found himself stopped in the air. Jeff had grabbed one of his two tails. Treecko swung about helplessly, held up by Jeff.
“Treecko…” Jeff glared at him disapprovingly. Treecko swung about trying to free himself and attack the clueless Tyrogue.
“Damnit, Treecko, stop it! It’s over!” Jeff growled.
Treecko continued thrashing for 30 seconds, refusing to give in. Jeff stared, exasperated, at him. Treecko, then, reluctantly stopped, giving in, limply hanging by his tail. He swung back and forth, looking upset.
“Sorry Treecko, I know Tyrogue is an ass hole, but you don’t want to stoop to his level,” Jeff explained. Treecko silently stared at the wall, upside down.
“Are we cool?” Jeff asked Treecko, who still looked angry. Treecko scowled but then nodded, still trying to cool down. Jeff let go of his tail and placed him on the stairs; they continued back down to the hallway.
Jeff looked in the mirror in the main hallway at his battered face.
“I haven’t even left town yet and I already look like I was in the ‘100 Years War’… this is going to be a long trip,” Jeff thought out loud “but, at least I have a cool scar!” Jeff turned to Treecko, smiling.
Treecko, who has now cooled off, forced a smile and motioned his head towards the door, obviously getting a little impatient.
Jeff nodded “We should really be heading off before we start bleeding on the carpet.” Jeff told his mom. “I’m gonna go say goodbye to Tyrogue and then we’re off!”
Jeff walked back up the stairs and called out, “hey Tyrogue…I’m sor…” Jeff stopped in the middle of his sentence as he reached the top of the stairs. He found himself looking at a large brown bodied pokemon with long, flexible, lighter brown, muscular legs. The pokemon’s brown eyes squinted at Jeff, happily.
“Woah!” Jeff yelped, hopping backwards, in surprise at the new pokemon, onto the stairs. Jeff missed a step and found himself slowly falling backwards down the stairs. The pokemon quickly outstretched its foot; it extended and caught him before he hit the stairs. Jeff pulled on the leg to stand himself up. He looked cautiously at the pokemon.
“Ty…rogue?” Jeff asked, inspecting him.
“Lee, Hitmonlee,” it replied, correcting him. He spoke proudly in a low, raspy voice.
Treecko quickly ran to the base of the stairs and called up, with some concern. “Cko Treecko?” he quickly called up.
Jeff frantically covered for himself, “I’m fine, Treecko…go see if you can find my…shoe!”
Jeff didn’t want Treecko to feel ashamed and weak compared to the newly evolved pokemon, who Treecko wasn’t fond of.
“Congratulations, Tyrogue, but I have to go now. For my sakes, don’t come downstairs until we leave, ok? No offense, but I don’t want you stealing our thunder,” Jeff quietly told him. He wasn’t concerned about himself but Treecko, who had been through a lot that day and this was the last thing that he needed.
Hitmonlee nodded and walked back into the upstairs hallway. Jeff jogged down the stairs to Treecko, who waited eagerly in the vestibule.
“Hey mom, I’ll call you and Dad in the pokemon center in the next town…and something happened to Tyrogue!” Jeff called to her as she entered the hallway.
Treecko smirked at Tyrogue’s apparent misfortune, unknowing of Jeff’s true meaning.
“Goodbye Jeff, I’ll miss you, be careful! Take good care of Jeff, Treecko.” She hugged Jeff and told them as they left.
“I’ll miss you too, and I can take care of myself…just because I can’t make an omelet…” Jeff called out to his mom, and cut himself off as he closed the front door.
“Is she serious? Us…be careful?” Jeff muttered to Treecko, who was on his shoulder as Jeff walked down the porch stairs.
To their surprise, a group of people stood at the front of Jeff’s house. Among them were some of Jeff’s friends, friend’s parents, neighbors, Professor Birch, his father, and Bayleef.
“Congratulations or your first pokemon!” They told Jeff, enthusiastically.
“Treecko, huh? Never thought I’d see the day when a trainer from home would choose Treecko over Torchic or Mudkip!” One man in his 30’s stated.
“Be safe and put Littleroot on the map!” another woman encouraged.
Jeff and Treecko blushed; Treecko was especially uncomfortable and unfamiliar with the sudden amount of attention that they were receiving. He was always the odd one out. Treecko and Jeff, filled with shock and embarrassment, had trouble speaking when trying to thank the small crowd. Jeff walked to his father, who had black hair and was still in hospital scrubs.
“What are you doing out of work?” Jeff asked him.
“I couldn’t miss my son starting on his own journey…did you pack the medical kits that I took from the hospital? You look like you’ll need them” He said, inspecting their cuts.
Jeff nodded.
Mr. Growell looked at Treecko. “That’s a really cool pokemon you have there!”
Treecko nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, modestly.
“He sure is!” Jeff proudly told him
Behind Jeff's father stood a large, light green sauropod pokemon. It was Bayleef. It was much larger than it was when it was a Chikorita and had a longer neck. It now had a much longer head leaf and a neckless of green flower buds. Bayleef walked up to Treecko and handed him a flower with one of her vine whips.
“Treecko” Treecko nodded, in thanks. Bayleef blushed a little bit and then backed up behind Jeff’s father’s legs.
“Th-thank you, all…f-for this great sendoff party…thing. I will do a great job with Treecko by my side!” Jeff announced to them, trying not to stammer from modesty.
The crowd applauded and the two blushed as they moved past the crowd and up the north road.
Jeff and Treecko, feeling homesick already, set off into the forest, leaving their hometown behind.
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Jeff and Treecko, walking side by side, left the gates of Littleroot town.
They walked up to a sign on the left side of the road, by the forest. The sign was illuminated dimly by the setting sun, casting and orange glow on it.
“Route 101—Oldale Town” Jeff stated as he read the sign aloud.
“Well…” Jeff looked to Treecko, “We’ve got to start somewhere.” Treecko nodded and they continued on down the rugged dirt path.
Jeff walked, swatting flies away, who were buzzing around him like it was their last supper. “It’s a good thing that this route is pretty short, these bugs are annoying the hell out of me”. Treecko chuckled at Jeff’s annoyance.
“Oh sure, laugh it up. What’s annoying for me is a nice, light snack for you.” Jeff retorted, teasingly.
Jeff looked at his first pokemon and knew by looking at him that they will have an unbreakable bond. They could only hope that their equally stubborn mindsets wouldn’t conflict with each other.
The sun set behind the horizon to their left, causing the sky to grow dark.
“Treecko!” Treecko said pointing forwards. “What Treecko? Do you see Oldale Town?” Jeff asked. “Cko” Treecko nodded.
The night wind rustled the leaves of the forest as the two stared onwards.
“…I’m pretty sure we have to go right!” Jeff looked off pointing in the other direction. Treecko shuck his head and insisted that it was north.
“I’m telling you it is right,” Jeff claimed, becoming hardheaded and disagreable.
“Cko” “Right” “Cko!” “Right!” “CKO!” “RIGHT!” The two argued, getting a little closer and more hostile as they argued. They were practically spitting in each other’s faces by the time Jeff stopped it
“Ok, that’s enough! We’ll settle this with ‘Rock paper scissors’!” Jeff declared.
Treecko nodded and the two readied their hands.
“Rock…Paper…Scissors!” Jeff threw down his hand flat, indicating paper.
Treecko threw down his tail onto Jeff’s hand, slamming it into the dirt.
Jeff cringed and yet out a sharp exhale. He with drew is dirt covered, aching hand from the ground. “Ok…we’ll go your way!” Jeff angrily told him through his gritting teeth. “I guess rock beats paper, too” Jeff mumbled as they began walking.
“And for future reference, ‘Rock paper scissors’ is NOT ‘knucklebones’!” Jeff stated, still sore about losing.
Treecko looked back, grinned, and stuck out his tongue in a mocking fashion.
Jeff grinned and lightly pushed Treecko, coercing. “That’s it! Let’s race!”
Jeff and Treecko then sprinted to the Pokemon center 150 yards, in the clearing, ahead. They neared closer to the door, at full speed, Treecko following Jeff by a few feet. The door was about six feet away.
Suddenly, the automatic door to the pokemon center opened, accompanied by the shrill words, “Tor-chic, tor-chic, tor-chic” Jeff knew what was coming and his heart sank.
“I can’t stop with this much speed,” Jeff thought to himself.
Jeff hurdled over the small, orange chick pokemon, just missing his flame shaped plumage. But instead, Jeff collided with Kristie, who just came out of the pokemon center. The two toppled to the ground.
Jeff helped her up frantically. “Sorry, crap, are you ok?” he asked, clumsily.
“Yeah, I’m ok,” Kristie replied.
“You sure?” Jeff again asked, placing the twig in his mouth after losing it in the fall.
“Wow, Jeff…you look awful!” Kristie said, noticing the cuts on his face.
“Well thanks, I try my best.” Jeff joked.
Kristie chuckled politely as she got up. Jeff blushed, mentally beat himself up, which created a self-loathing face. He turned his head away to Treecko, who just walked in.
As he turned away he slapped his hand to his head and started muttering to himself “Real facking smooth, Jeff, you REALLY put Jim Carrey to shame with that crack,” he placed his head against the metal doorframe of the pokemon center in frustration with himself, waiting for the blush to die down.
Treecko walked up to Jeff, followed by Torchic. Treecko was confused by his friend’s odd, new behavior around this girl, but then he shrugged it off and jumped up onto Jeff’s shoulder.
Jeff turned around smiling, “Oh yeah, Kristie, this is my new pal, Treecko.”
“Tree” Treecko said, acknowledging this apparent acquaintance of Jeff’s out of the corner of his eye.
“Wow, he’s so cool!” Kristie said enthusiastically. “So I guess there was a third pokemon after all.”
Jeff nodded and smiled at Kristie.
“Hey, Jeff, how about a pokemon battle so we can show off our pokemon to each other!” Kristie abruptly said.
Jeff paused for a second and then said “Yeah, sure. Are you up for a battle, Treecko?”
Treecko nodded confidently and said, “Treecko Tree Cko Cko Tree!” as if saying “<You should know by now you don’t have to ask me if I want to battle. I live for battles!>”
“Ok, let’s battle over to the left of the pokemon center” Kristie instructed, walking out of the center.
“Got it,” he replied, walking over and placing his backpack by a tree in the said location.
The trainers and pokemon went to their respective sides. Jeff scanned Torchic with his pokedex. The dex proclaimed in a robotic voice “Torchic, the Chick pokemon. If attacked, it strikes back by spitting balls of fire it forms in its stomach. A Torchic dislikes darkness because it can't see its surroundings.”
“It may have the type advantage, but we can beat it, no problem” Jeff said, reassuring Treecko.
“Let’s get this started!” Kristie called out. “Torchic! Charge him!”
“Toooooor” he said, his voice getting shriller as the chick rushed towards Treecko.
“Treecko, use Leer!” Treecko dug his feet into the earth and stared menacingly at the oncoming pokemon. As Torchic came closer he made eye contact with the lizard and he couldn’t take his eyes off of Treecko’s. Torchic, distracted from his running by the gaze of Treecko, tripped over itself, and fell face first into the dirt.
“Tor!” said Torchic in shock as he drew his beak out of the mud.
“Torchic, quickly, get up!” Kristie called out.
“Treecko, jump up over Torchic and use pound!” Jeff commanded.
Treecko began to run towards Torchic and then he leaped into the air.
When Torchic looked up it could see Treecko’s silhouette jumping in the bright moonlight.
“TOR!” Torchic moaned as the large, muscular tail of Treecko slammed it further into the mud.
“<Direct Hit,>” Treecko called to Jeff, smugly raising one fist up in a victory pose while using the other to place his tree twig in his mouth. He folded his arms and awaited Jeff.
Jeff stood, dumbfounded, “did I just understand what I think I understood?” he asked himself, dazedly.
Treecko looked at Jeff for direction, “<Jeff, the battle’s not over yet! Come on! What’s our next move?!>” Treecko shouted from what should have been “Cko Tree Treecko, Tree! Treecko? Cko cko?!”
While Jeff stared at Treecko, Torchic rose behind the idle gecko.
“Torchic, use scratch!” commanded Kristie.
Jeff snapped out of it, while Torchic began to raise his talons. “Treecko, heads up! Dodge, right!” Jeff heeded.
It was too little too late; when Treecko jumped, Torchic’s claws slashed into his right arm, leaving three bloody claw marks.
“Trrrrr” Treecko grunted, clutching his searing cuts while landing on one knee.
“Hang in there, pal,” Jeff yelled, “Treecko run up that tree to your left!”
Treecko jutted his head to his left, looking it up and down. He nodded and jumped onto the trunk. His hand’s adept grip allowed him to scale the tree like an Aipom. Treecko climbed and disappeared into the darkness of the canopy.
Torchic quickly looked up, turning his head every which way, frantically. Torchic, having very poor night vision, and Treecko, having excellent hiding skills, made it so that Torchic could not spot the well camouflaged Treecko in the dark night.
“Torchic, use ember upwards like a flare!” said Kristie to her daunted pokemon.
“ChicChicChicChicChic” Torchic spat many balls of fire from his mouth upwards, illuminating the tree branches in a blinding orange light.
“Ok, Treecko…NOW!” The small, hidden figure jumped down from atop an orange-lit branch and landed behind Torchic, who still spat flames. Treecko maneuvered his body towards the right, powering up his tail before he swinging it with a massive force. The muscular tail hit Torchic smack across the face.
“TORR” Torchic screamed as it went flying a few meters off to the left, still spitting ember fireballs as it landed. Torchic groaned, a gentle flame still burning inside his mouth.
“Torchic! Are you alright?!” Kristie yelled, concerned. She ran over to her exhausted pokemon and cradled it in her arms.
“Torrrr,” he said weakly.
“Wow, that was a great battle, Jeff,” Kristie smiled, standing up.
“You handled yourself much better than I did out there. I was just lucky,” Jeff reassured her, modestly. Treecko strutted triumphantly over to Jeff, with a proud grin plastered on his face.
“<Are you kidding? We wiped the floor with them.>” Treecko grunted, proudly crossing his arms.
Jeff shot a glare at Treecko, pretending not to hear that. “Ok, lets go back to the pokemon center and get our pokemon healed up, then we should call it a night and rest at the center until sunrise.”
“Sounds good,” Kristie agreed.
Jeff walked up to the counter “Excuse me, can you heal Treecko, here? It’s a minor scratch wound,” Jeff informed the attending nurse.
A cheerful looking women with pink hair appeared, “But of course! We’ll take your Treecko and he should be fine in no time! I’m Nurse Joy by the way!” She said happily.
Treecko shook his head in disagreement, saying, “<It’s just a flesh wound.>” Nurse Joy ignored him and picked up Treecko, who sighed as he was taken to the backroom.
“Thank you, and nice to meet you. I’m Jeff,” Jeff said, before walking over to the video phone in the corner of the Pokemon center. He lightly pressed the numbers on the machine shaped like a TV and called up Professor Birch.
“Hello?” The professor asked with yawn.
“Hey professor, it’s Jeff, I’m here in the Oldale pokemon center,” Jeff greeted him with jollity.
“That’s great to hear. If you hurry, you may catch up with Kristie,” Birch advised him.
“Actually she’s here with me right now,” Jeff said happily. “We just battled and I came out the winner.”
“Good work, Jeff. I knew from the start you and Treecko would make a great team.” Birch smiled, insincerely.
“If you say so, Professor,” Jeff teased. “I have to go now, I’ll talk to you once I catch my next pokemon,” Jeff said before turning off the phone.
Jeff turned away from the blank screen and walked over the white tiled floor to Nurse Joy. Beside her stood with Kristie, who held Torchic. Treecko walked over the floor and crawled up and onto Jeff’s shoulder. Both pokemon were looking as good as before the battle.
“Thank you,” Jeff and Kristie replied.
Jeff turned to Kristie, summing up his courage, and stammered, “Hey…how would you like to travel together at least until the next city?”
“Petalburg?” Kristie asked as she held Torchic, “Sure, why not!”
A wave of relief swept over him. “Great, let’s head out now, then!” Jeff said enthusiastically.
“Ok, I’m much too excited after that pokemon battle to rest anyways,” Kristie agreed.
“Let’s go,” Jeff said to Treecko, who was relaxing on his shoulder.
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Jeff, Kristie, Treecko, and Torchic walked through the glass, automatic doors and turned west. They carefully treaded over the field, which still housed burning blades of grass from the battle. Jeff stomped out a light flame which doubled as a small lamp. The group walked into an open field, heading westward towards Petalberg City.
“So Jeff, I see you didn’t decide to keep your Treecko inside a pokeball, either.” Kristie exclaimed, practically skipping through the dark field.
“Yeah, we decided that it would be better if Treecko stayed out of a pokeball”. Jeff responded.
“I did the same thing with Torchic; I couldn’t bare the thought of not having him with me at all times. He’s so warm and cuddly,” Kristie smiled, cuddling Torchic lightly. She started to go on a rant about how great her Torchic was. Treecko rolled his eyes and Jeff feigned interest.
“Torchic is so cute, kind of like a Piplup…except more so.”
“A Piplup? What’s that?” Jeff questioned upon hearing the pokemon’s name.
“Oh, it’s a small, blue penguin pokemon. They’re mainly Sinnoh pokemon.” Kristie informed before ranting about Torchic.
Jeff let out an informed grunt, remembering back to when he was running to Professor Birch’s lab. He remembered seeing a blue, Torchic-like pokemon riding with the man who he was racing. “So THAT was a Piplup?” Jeff mumbled to himself, Kristie’s harangue was now white noise to him.
“Torchic is also really sweet and fun to hold. More over, Torchic has really ticklish spot behind his ears and…” Kristie rambled, being sucked into her own little Torchic-filled world.
“<Wake me when it’s over >” Treecko said, closing his eyes.
“You got it, Gecks,” Jeff muttered to him, teasingly.
Treecko opened one eye, bothered by the poor nickname, “<Treecko’s fine, thanks,>” then he closed it again.
After a few minutes of walking “And that’s why my Torchic is great,” she finally finished. By now they were half way to Petalberg.
“Wow,” Jeff remarked. “That’s a lot of great things about Torchic,” he pointed out with unnoticeable sarcasm.
“<And don’t you forget it, bub,>” murmured Torchic, sassily.
Jeff started to have a stare down with Torchic. Torchic turned its head, alerted
“What, Torchic, do you see something?” Kristie asked, alerted to her pokemon struggling in her arms.
“<Yeah, it’s a Marill,>” Torchic chirped while it hopped to the ground. The gang looked over at a small, somewhat foggy pond. Ripples emerged towards the edge of the pond. From the center of the ripples emerged two large blue ears with red encasing the insides. The ears twitched as the rest of the body ascended from the water. The Marill’s body was like a blue beach ball with a white stomach. Marill had endearing eyes and a cute smile. It had a very peculiar tail, the tail was crooked in places and at the very end was a large blue ball.
“OH, I want it!” Kristie squealed, yearningly.
“Hey Treecko, you won’t want to miss this battle.” Jeff nudged him with his shoulder.
Treecko awoke from sleep and yawned. “<I might if I can have a few more minutes of rest…>” he replied, sleepy and irritated from the awakening.
“Torchic, use scratch on it!” ordered Kristie to her pokemon.
“<You got it,>” answered Torchic. Torchic rushed forward on the damp grass towards the aqua mouse pokemon.
Treecko and Jeff took a seat on the dirt path, watching the battle taking place near the pond to the right of the road. Jeff scanned the Marill with his pokedex.
“Marill, the Aqua Mouse pokemon: When fishing for food at the edge of a fast-running stream, Marill wraps its tail around the trunk of a tree. This Pokémon's tail is flexible and configured to stretch,” buzzed the monotonous device.
The Marill rolled backwards from the scratch and landed upright. It retaliated with powerful blast of water emitted from the Marill’s mouth.
The jet hit Torchic dead center, sending him flying backwards into the dirt, turning to mud while Torchic slid over it. Torchic groaned while getting up, drenched and muddy.
“<I HATE water,>” growled Torchic, angrily shaking off the water.
“Torchic, Ember,” Kristie commanded.
“Tor tor tor tor tor!” Torchic shot small pellets of orange flame from its mouth. The Marill dodged the attack and the ember hit an unsuspecting pokemon, who was just emerging from the pond. The orange pokemon stumbled backwards. The hit pokemon had a hard, orange shell and a pair of sharp pincers. Atop the pokemon’s head were three sharp, orange horns. It had six legs and a yellow underbelly. The bottom of its pincers were also yellow. The pokemon slapped its fish like tail in the ground, while the blue moonlight reflected off of his wet orange exoskeleton.
Jeff scanned the pokemon with his pokedex. “Corphish, the Ruffian Pokemon: Once it grips prey with its large pincers, it will never let go, no matter what. It is a hardy Pokémon that can thrive in any environment,” finished the monotonous robotic gadget.
The Corphish was hurt by the uncalled for attack and began to yell at Torchic.
“Corphish! Cor!” it angrily said, beginning to rush towards Torchic.
He was about to hit Torchic with a crabhammer attack, when Treecko caught his pincer with his hand.
“<One battle at a time,>” Treecko advised it, preparing to fight.
“<Stay out of this, Twig boy,>” the Corphish growled, quickly retracting his claw from Treecko’s hands.
Treecko let out a huff and dug his feet into the mud.
“Ok, Treecko! Use your pound attack!” Jeff called.
The large tail of Treecko caught the Corphish off guard, causing the hit to send it sprawling.
Nearby, Torchic dodged Marill’s water gun attacks and hit it with a tackle. Marill hit the ground hard and tried to use its tail to get itself up, but collapsed. Kristie threw a pokeball and a red beam engulfed the Marill. The pokeball containing Marill rumbled once, and then blipped, indicating that Marill has been caught.
“Yes!” shouted Kristie.
“<Too easy!>” boasted her Torchic.
Meanwhile, Treecko used pound after pound on Corphish’s tough shell. The attacks were not doing much damage against its thick shell. Corphish used a bubblebeam, shooting many translucent bubbles out of its pincer, which exploded on contact with Treecko.
“<Errrgh,>” Treecko grunted, holding his bruising chest.
Corphish came in with a crabhammer. Treecko jumped up and Corphish missed him and drove his claw into the ground. The impact caused an eruption of soil to fire upwards. Treecko used this to his advantage. He came bursting through the wall of airborne dirt and back flipped, using pound in an uppercut like motion. Corphish was knocked onto his back
“Jeff, do it,” motioned Kristie, motioning Jeff to capture it.
“Wow, really? I suck at throwing,” he gulped. Jeff took the pokeball from his pocket and pressed the middle button, making it bigger. Jeff threw the pokeball with might and precision. The Corphish got himself upright, but the pokeball hit him square in the forehead. Corphish was sucked into the pokeball. The pokeball wiggled 3…4…5…6 times, before the button finally flashed a red color and stopped moving.
“All right! A Corphish! Nice fighting, Treecko,” Jeff remarked.
Treecko nodded. Kristie and Jeff approached each other and congratulated one another on their catches.
Jeff pointed his pokeball at the ground. “Come on out, Corphish!”
“Corphish, Cor,” he enthusiastically smiled as he exited the pokeball.
“Welcome to the team, Corphish,” Jeff warmly told him, crouching down and extending an arm. Corphish smiled.
“<Nice to meet you,>” replied Corphish, shaking Jeff’s hand with his claw. “<My hobbies include being rejected by female Corphish, being alone on Saturday nights, and, like now, making jokes when I’m insecure,>” Corphish grinned, trying to lighten the mood.
“I know you’ve already met Treecko,” Jeff remarked. Corphish turned to Treecko and said, “<Hello again>”. Treecko sighed, not liking the idea of having a team member.
“Anything wrong, Treecko?” Jeff asked the less than amused, grass type.
“<I can work perfectly fine on my own without help of a teammate. No offense, Corphish, but I work better solo and unhindered by others.>”
“Tell that to yourself when you’re surrounded by a group of fire type pokemon,” Jeff retorted, sticking up for Corphish.
Treecko crossed his arms and his face turned to an apathetic look but Jeff could tell by his eyes that he was still bothered.
Kristie decided to wait until they reached the Petalberg pokemon centre to bring out Marill, due to its wounds. The two trainers wandered along the dirt path. Kristie looked at her Marill’s pokeball and then Jeff
“Hey, I think we’re almost there,” Jeff stated, as he could see the tips of the buildings over the tree line.
As Jeff looked ahead, he accidentally stepped on Treecko’s tail. Treecko yelped in pain and then swung his tail, taking out Jeff’s legs. Jeff fell backwards, landing hard on the path.
“Ok, you asked for it!” Jeff grinned. He tackled Treecko and the two began to playfully fight eachother on the ground.
“I hope you’re prepared for the dreaded ‘Tickle attack’!” Jeff laughed, pinning Treecko in the mud. Treecko laughed and landing a hit on Jeff’s face, knocking him off of him. Corphish rammed into the two, knocking them farther in the mud. The three rolled over laughing, while they wrestled.
“…guys,” Kristie thought to herself, shaking her head.
Two young boys approached Jeff and Kristie. One had a yellow baseball cap and had brown hair. The other boy looked younger and wore an orange t-shirt and blue shorts. “Do you two want to battle in a double battle?” the one with the cap asked. Jeff stopped wrestling and stood up, brushing himself off. Kristie looked at her Marill’s pokeball and then her Torchic, who took quite a beating in the earlier battle, with worry.
Jeff noticed this and stepped up. “I’ll take both of you two on,” said Jeff with confidence.
“Ok, but don’t get mad when you lose,” said the other boy.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Go Treecko and Corphish,” Jeff ordered.
Treecko glared at Jeff; taken aback that Jeff thought he needed Corphish’s help to beat two little kids.
“<Let’s give’em hell,>” Corphish battle cried to Treecko, who looked away in displeasure.
“Go Lotad!” said the trainer with the cap. “Go Taillow!” said the younger boy.
A blue bodied pokemon, who had a green, dish-like lily pad on its head appeared next to a dark blue feathered bird. The bird also had a red and white pattern on its chest and neck.
“Taillow, use a quick attack on Corphish!” The boy with the cap commanded.
“Lotad, use astonish on Treecko,” the younger kid told his pokemon.
Taillow took to the air and came zooming towards Corphish, who clicked his pincers, eagerly. Lotad jumped right in front of Treecko, attempting to surprise him. Treecko didn’t give an inch of ground, he didn’t even blink.
“<That was pretty pathetic,>” muttered Treecko.
Jeff yelled, “Corphish, on my signal, harden. And Treecko use Leer and then pound on Lotad!”
Treecko stared down the small pokemon, causing it to back off, frightened He then jumped upwards and slammed his tail down onto the Lotad’s rain dish. This caused a rough head injury, knocking it out.
“<That was too easy,>” Treecko thought, as the boy called back his Lotad.
Taillow came closer and closer to Corphish. As soon as the Taillow was a foot away from Corphish, Jeff yelled out “NOW”. Corphish hardened it shell causing severe recoil damage on Taillow when it hit Corphish.
“Taillow, you ok? Use Peck!” yelled the boy as Taillow got up, shaking its head.
“Corphish, Crabhammer from the side!” Corphish swung his huge pincer, hitting the bird far into the forest.
“Taillow!” yelled the boy, running after his fallen pokemon.
“<This battle couldn't be anymore won,>” exclaimed Corphish happily.
“Great job, Jeff,” congratulated Kristie, “that was great!”
Jeff blushed at her compliment. Corphish looked at him and grinned, seeing sparks fly between the two new trainers. Treecko still didn’t see what Corphish could see.
“<No need to be modest, Jeff, we did great!>” Treecko smirked. That was Treecko’s way of comprehending Jeff’s behavior.
Corphish smiled at Treecko’s naivety and tried to pull his leg. “<Hey pal, did you hear the story of that Cyndaquil named ‘Nye’ and his girlfriend, a Flareon named ‘Eve’?>”
Treecko looked at Corphish with an unamused stare “<Yeah, I also heard that Torchic just wrote ‘gullible’ on the back of your shell…I was in a clan, you know, I’ve seen all the pranks and dumb jokes.>”
“<Can’t blame a ‘phish for trying, can ya?>” Corphish grinned. When Treecko turned his head, Corphish quickly tried to check the back of his shell to see if anything was written on it. To his relief, there wasn’t.
“<So if you were in a clan how’d you end up here?>” asked Corphish, curiously.
Treecko dozed off for a moment and then replied insincerely, “<I’ll talk to you some other time…>”
“<Wow, you’ve managed to guess the last lines said by a girl Corphish on every single one of my dates!>”, Corphish, half joked, straying away from an awkward silence.
They grinned and walked to Jeff’s side.
“Shall we go into Petalburg City now?” asked Jeff, staring at the tall, flashy, unwelcoming city.
The group nodded and walked into the streets of neon signs and office buildings.
