Disclaimer: I dun own pokemon. You should all know that by now.

Rating: PG-13 for language, pokemon violence. A pokemon journey from a 
teenager's point of view.

"Tales for the Road"
by A.C

Chapter Two
An Encounter of the Rocket Kind

~ ~ ~

I was walking down the road from Tangerine Town for a good couple of hours. The 
trees on the direct outskirts of the city were the usual forests you find in the 
mountains; thick, with plenty of pines and a good number of Oak and Maple thrown 
in for variety. They came, fast and thick, to the very edge of the town and 
stopped abruptly where they collided headfirst with a clean-cut grassy clearing. 
On the other side of town, the forest continued as though it had never been 
stopped and spread off into the distance. Behind which, miles away, the Geode 
Mountains rose proudly above, casting shadows hundreds of miles long.

Further onto the path, the further south I traveled, the trees thinned out and 
the pines vanished to be replaced with bushes and even more leafy trees. Unlike 
the town, the dirt path down the middle eventually faded into the forest. The 
trees weren't as thick, and rays of sunlight broke through to set dappled 
patterns on the forest floor. The path was wide and long and rather straight, 
with little to see or do for miles.

Soon after we had set off from Tangerine Town, I had decided to see what pokemon 
I got. Imagine my surprise when, from that dirty hunk of junk, the small, lithe 
form of a yellow pokemon appeared. Large diamond-shaped ears tipped its head, 
and it waved a small black flag-shaped tail. Its entire body was covered in 
yellow fur, save for its neck, which was surrounded with a black fringe-pattern. 
The pokemon was only about a foot high, but very energetic. I had gotten none 
other than a Pichu.

So, my Pichu was riding along on my shoulder and I was walking down the road 
from Tangerine Town for a good couple of hours when the pokemon emerged from 
hiding to hunt for lunch - or, more likely, breakfast. I had eaten pretty bloody 
early that morning... but we were still startled when a Sentret suddenly leapt 
from the undergrowth, a berry clasped firmly in its front paws. It saw the two 
of us and gave a squeak of surprise.

"Argh!" I yelped, jumping badly and dislodging Thundari (that was my Pichu's new 
name, by the way) from my shoulder. She leapt down gracefully to the dusty path, 
shooting me an annoyed look but fixing her gaze on the Sentret. I didn't want to 
waste time screwing around with my Pokedex, so I commanded; "Thundari, get it!"

"Chu!" she called back, dropping down to all four's and charging. The Sentret 
gave another squeak - one of terror - and dropped the berry it had been holding. 
Yet before it could dart back into the undergrowth, the Pichu had slammed into 
it and sent it tumbling backwards. In a flash, both were back on their feet and 
facing each other.

"Tackle it again, get a grip on it!" I shouted. Thundari lunged - the Sentret 
rolled - and she missed, sliding face-first in the dirt before picking herself 
back up and leaping around to face its opponent again. Her cheeks sparked, and 
before I could scream for her to stop, she unleashed a Thundershock. It was my 
turn to dive to the ground as electricity flew everywhere. A few minutes later, 
I leapt back to my feet and looked around. The Sentret had vanished.

"Damn," I murmured to myself. Thundari was looking dazed by the blast of 
electricity she had just created, but quickly shook her head and glanced around. 
But no such luck, the Sentret was long gone. She bowed her head and grumbled a 
barely audible: "Chu."

"Come off it," I said to her, grinning, "Not like Sentrets are exactly hard to 
find. Beside, there's a ton of other pokemon here." She perked up, jumping back 
onto my shoulder and batting at the scarf around my head. "Don't touch the 
scarf," I remarked, nonchalantly, looking around for more pokemon as I continued 
down the path.

We went like this for another good hour and found quite a few other pokemon, 
including another few Sentrets, some Pidgeys and a Weedle. Thundari beat them 
all and, unfortunately, grew no more skilled at her electricity. We did, 
however, find a way around it. She only had to be in direct contact with a 
pokemon and could shock them without shocking anything else within a two mile 
radius. We had some trouble with the Weedle and its horn (imagine a dangerous 
game of Marco Polo. Guess who was it? I'll give you a hint; it was poisonous) 
but a kick from me sent it flying.

Unfortunately, noon had come and gone pretty fast, and it was beginning to reach 
into mid-afternoon. I hadn't caught a new pokemon and the two of us were 
starving, but I was determined to press on, as if the next step would bring us 
to Cerise City or another pokemon. I had sunken into some kind of stupor, gazing 
blearily ahead, my feet moving automatically. I wouldn't have seen another 
pokemon even if I had stepped on it.

"Pi!" Thundari hissed in my ear. I jumped again and looked around at her, only 
to direct my gaze upward at her instruction. There, sitting placidly in a tree 
directly above us and completely oblivious to its surroundings, was a Caterpie. 
Its huge eyes were closed in bliss as it munched cheerily on a few green leaves 
on the branch it was seated upon. I deftly plucked a pokeball from my waist, 
took aim, and threw the pokeball underhand into the tree above.

There was a startled squeak, the hollow, resounding sound of a pokemon being 
recalled, a click and the red and white pokeball fell back down in front of me, 
which I caught easily. The pokeball shook a few times and eventually gave up. I 
beamed at Thundari, who had on a very Pichu-ish smirk.

"That had to be the easiest capture in the history of pokemon."

She giggled, ears twitching and tail waving like the stiff flag it resembled. I 
re-attached the pokeball to my belt and continued on as if nothing had happened, 
but with a sudden burst of energy. Things were looking up.

~ ~ ~ 

We stopped to make camp that night, feeling no closer to Cerise City. I released 
Thundari and my new Caterpie (whom I dubbed Sunflash after some consideration) 
to gather firewood. Getting a fire started in itself was a challenge, and it 
wasn't until I remembered how forest fires started with a strike of lightning 
that Thundari used her wild Thundershock to get us a flame. We ate a simple 
dinner and went to sleep.

The next morning, we awoke, packed up and set off once again. We ran into a few 
more wild pokemon and I divided up the fights amongst Thundari and Sunflash. We 
progressed, but very slowly and with little difference.

Noon was arriving again and we hadn't had breakfast, so we were all starving. 
Sunflash had disappeared into his pokeball, Thundari slipped into my backpack, 
leaving me to do all the walking. Once again, I had fallen into a stupor of 
staring and walking, hoping the path wouldn't end on the edge of a cliff - I 
would walk right over without noticing. A small hill rose up in front of us, so 
I had to snap awake to climb it, but once I had scrambled my way to the top, I 
looked down to be greeted with the sight of a large city.

"Thundari," I announced, elbowing my backpack. I heard a disgruntled "Pi!" and 
she poked her head up, ears twitching as she peered over my shoulder. She gave a 
weary cheer and I grinned as I began scrambling my way down the hill and into 
the city. We wandered around amongst tall buildings and people. One good thing 
about the city; no one seemed to care a weary and dirty trainer had just 
wandered amongst them. People rushed by without a glance in my direction, and I 
was gazing around for a PokeCenter when I ran into someone.

I looked 'round to apologize, but realized it was a small little eight year old 
boy I had run into. I looked back up, intending to ignore him and continue in my 
search, when he opened his smart little mouth and snapped in an embarrassingly 
high voice; "Watch it!"

I looked down at him, incredulous. "You watch it," I snapped back. My God, the 
children of today were so bloody *rude*...

He glared at me, but before I could flip him off he moved around me and vanished 
back into the crowd. So I continued on, gazing around, until I finally spotted 
it. I had to run across the street and fight my way through another crowd, but 
eventually I made it inside and stumbled up to the desk. On the other side of 
it, a pretty red-haired nurse looked up at me and smiled. Nurse Joy. I knew at 
least one of them to be in every single bloody PokeCenter. 

"Hello, and welcome to the Cerise PokeCenter! May I help you?"

I opened my backpack and lifted Thundari out, putting her on the counter, and 
then shoved Sunflash's pokeball into her paws. She looked around, bewildered, 
and then fixed her gaze on me. "Take a breather - I'm getting you two healed." 
She nodded and looked to Nurse Joy with a cheerful, "Pichu!"

"Heal them, will you?" I asked her. "They're exhausted."

"So are you," she noted as she lifted Thundari in her arms, "They're showers and 
beds in the back available to trainers and a café out here in front. Why don't 
you get yourself cleaned up? Your pokemon will be in tip top shape in no time."

I nodded and stumbled my way to the back, where I cleaned up and flopped onto 
one of the beds. Before I knew it, I had fallen fast asleep.

~ ~ ~

I woke up with a start, as if someone had snapped their fingers in front of my 
eyes (my mom's favorite method of waking me up). I lifted my head, looking 
around the room. It was as empty as it had been when I first came in, but 
something was different. Beyond the door and hallway, the PokeCenter was silent. 
A glance out the window told me it was nowhere near night, but it was as if the 
center had suddenly shut down.

I stood and crept my way to the door, peeking out. Ah, now I could hear it. 
Voices from the main area. I began heading down the hall when I realized exactly 
what those voices were saying.

"Sam, you got the door?"

"Yeah, Vince. C'mon Nurse, hurry it up! We don't have all day!"

I froze and peered my head around the corner. Two people were standing - a girl 
and a guy who looked in their late teens - one by the door, one in front of the 
desk facing Nurse Joy. The nurse was standing, looking utterly terrified, and 
hadn't moved. The guy facing her had on a black and white uniform - more black 
than white - with a large letter R on his chest and blonde and brown spiky hair. 
The girl had on a similar uniform, with long light blue hair pulled in two 
pigtails, and was leaning against the door, glancing out of it ever so often.

"We said move it!" the guy snapped, pulling out a pokeball and releasing a 
Growlithe beside him, "Or do we have to burn the whole place down?"

I snorted. Somewhat of a criminal myself (or at least in the way I thought and 
operated), I knew they wouldn't do that. There was something in here they wanted 
and they weren't leaving or doing anything to the Center (save, perhaps, closing 
it down) until they go it. The Growlithe growled, its hackles rising, and I 
suddenly hoped it wouldn't smell me.

I leaned back in the safety of the corridor and looked around, thinking fast. If 
my pokemon were healed, I could take these clowns on and hopefully chase 'em 
out. How would I get to the back area? The only door I knew of was in the front 
behind the counter, but perhaps there was a back way in. I hurried back down the 
corridor, peeking in every door. And finally I came to a room with all sorts of 
pokeballs lining the wall. I spotted a gold and white one and snatched it, and 
grabbed the two beside it. I hoped one was Caterpie - the other could help me 
out despite what it was.

I ran back out and down the hall, pausing to peek once again around the corner. 
Nurse Joy hadn't moved, the Growltihe was still out and the crooks hadn't done 
anything new or fishy. I grabbed Pichu's pokeball and hurled it around the 
corner, yelling; "Thundari, Thunderwave!"

I watched as the gold and white pokeball opened and my faithful Pichu leapt out, 
instantly filling the room with a paralyzing explosion of energy. There were a 
few startled yells and then a yip as I knew the Growlithe was hit. Eventually 
the electricity faded, leaving Thundari sitting there surveying the damage with 
a shocked look on her face.

"Argh... stupid.. Pichu..." I heard the girl growl, "Vince! There's a trainer 
back there!"

"Very good," I said sarcastically, stepping form my hiding place to stand beside 
Thundari, "You get a cookie."

"Sam, I thought you said the center was empty!?" the guy called Vince wailed, 
throwing her a half annoyed, half angry look. He got a furious glower in return.

"I told you to check it!!!" she screeched at him, stumbling to her feet, "So, 
kid, you think you have what it takes to take on Team Rocket?"

"That depends," I said, watching as Vince also clambered to his feet, using the 
counter to steady himself, "If you two morons are Team Rocket then, yeah, I 
think so."

The girl called Sam fixed me with a piercing, furious glare and I shot her my 
world-famous evil-eye in return, cautiously releasing Sunflash and the other 
pokemon beside me. I glanced down at it and saw it to be a Rattata, which looked 
around as if startled and finally caught a sight of me. It gave a murmur of 
puzzlement and blinked at me through red eyes. I ignored it, though, for the 
Rockets had straightened up and joined together in the center of the room, 
struck a pose and began a circus act unlike anything I'd seen before.

"To attack the world with hate and fear!
To steal from the people far and near!
To take over and attain the world's greatest power!
To build up strength to our greatest hour!
Samantha!
Vincent!
Team Rocket will forever remain at the top!
In our pursuit to win - we will not stop!"

They finished, arms outspread in a joyful pose, and froze in that position. I 
blinked at them, amazed at this enormous and obvious display of stupidity - the 
worst I had ever seen. "*God*," I said slowly, utterly shocked, "You two are 
hopeless! And you're supposed to be thieves? I've seen more threatening 
*trees*!!"

It was true. When I was eight, I got lost in the woods and ran into the scariest 
tree on the face of the earth. Now, I don't think it was all that scary, but 
when I was eight it was pretty terrifying. It was big, black, skeletal and was 
making a weird hissing noise at the time.

Vincent and Samantha looked crushed, but that feeling quickly faded into disgust 
and offense. I smirked slightly, wondering faintly if they had enough self-
esteem left to finish the theft. But they quickly got over it.

"You little brat!" Sam snarled, grabbing two pokeballs, "You won't be so smug 
about Team Rocket when we're through with you! Shellder, Mareep, GO!"

Vince glanced back over his shoulder as he released a Bulbasaur, looking in the 
direction of his fallen Growlithe. It was trying to stumble back to its paws, 
wincing and electricity tingling through its fur. "C'mon, mutt," Vince snapped, 
"Snap out of it! That Pichu can't even control its electricity!"

I wasn't going to wait for Team Rocket's team to get all together. "Sunflash, 
tackle that Bulbasaur! Thundari, get the Shellder, Quick Attack! Rattata, Hyper 
Fang!" My two pokemon sprang into action, but the purple rat looked up at me, 
ears twitching, narrowing its eyes slightly. I stared down at it and finally 
demanded; "Please!!?" With a shrug of its shoulders, it ran forward.

Unfortunately, our first wave of attack didn't go so well. Thundari's Quick 
Attack would have worked on any other pokemon except a clam. The Shellder merely 
bounced off the wall and clattered away, unharmed, leaving a nasty bruise on the 
Pichu's forehead which she touched gingerly, grumbling. Sunflash wasn't fast 
enough, and the Bulbasaur had wrapped it up in its vines before it had gotten 
within six feet. The Rattata was the only one who managed to get his attack in, 
but the Mareep quickly retaliated with a well-aimed Thundershock.

"Thundari, get the Mareep! Hurry!"

She had been glaring the Shellder down when she heard her name being spoken and 
turned around. Before the electric sheep could register what was happening, 
Thundari had and pulled it off. She whipped around on her haunches and just 
bolted towards the Mareep, not caring if her blunt attack hurt her more than the 
sheep. She was just a yellow streak across the floor before brutally slamming 
into the electric sheep: Sam, Vince and I all winced with a resounding "Unnn..." 
The Mareep slid across the floor, bleating.

Thundari started towards the Bulbasaur to assist Sunflash, but was hit and sent 
sprawling across the floor with a Water Gun from the Shellder. I heard a squeal 
of pain and looked towards my Caterpie to see it being squashed like the bug it 
was. "Rattata!" I screamed, pointing to Sunflash - "Help!"

With a hiss, it obliged and lunged forward, sinking its fangs into the grass-
type's vines. With an annoyed growl it released its hold on Sunflash. 
"Bulbasaur, get the rat!" Vince yelled. The grass type obeyed, advancing on its 
new target with a tackle attack. But now that it was free, Caterpie hit the bulb 
pokemon from behind with its own tackle. Bulbasaur turned, but only to get a 
face full of sticky string.

Meanwhile, Thundari had slammed into the opposite wall from the Shellder's 
surprise attack, but she leapt back to her feet and shaken the water from her 
fur. Certain that Caterpie could take care of the grass type, I looked back at 
the Shellder and noticed it looked afraid to get too close to the Pichu. Perhaps 
it wasn't as dumb as its owner. Speaking of which...

"Shellder you coward, clamp its head off!" Samantha shouted furiously. I stared 
at her, dumbstruck for a moment, then shook my head. They made it so easy for 
me...

I watched lazily as the clam flung itself forward, opening its shell wide. 
Thundari merely sat on her back haunches and watched calmly as the Shellder 
latched onto her head. There was a pause, in which Thundari had a Shellder for a 
head, and then her entire body lit up with electricity and I could hear her 
muffled "Chuuuu!"

She kept up the attack for an entire minute and finally relaxed. The Shellder 
paused, still clinging feebly to her neck, and then loosened its grip and 
clanged to the floor, smoking slightly. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to 
bask in a smooth defeat of her opponent - the Growlithe had gotten over its 
paralysis and leapt forward, breathing flames fit to bake.

"Rattata, Sunflash, finish it off!" I called over to the other two, who were 
taking turns taunting the Bulbasaur, tackling it and enduring its vines. Both 
drew back, and finally lunged forward with a final attack. With twin tackles 
from both sides, the grass type couldn't take anymore and fell to its knees. A 
furious Vince recalled it, and turned his attention to his Growlithe. "Ember 
attack - fry that mouse!"

I heard Thundari's cry of pain slightly before the crack of electricity - for a 
horrifying minute, I was afraid she had lashed out with her uncontrollable 
electricity, but then I realized Sam's Mareep had redeemed itself, lunging 
forward and attacking both Sunflash and the Rattata. They were already exhausted 
from taking down the Bulbasaur, and while the Rattata managed to stay up, my 
Caterpie slumped over, defeated.

"Sunflash, return!" I called, "You did just fine. Rattata, speed up! Quick 
Attack!" Without waiting to see how Rattata's attack went, I shifted back to 
Thundari, who was struggling against the Growlithe's flames. "You can do it, 
Thundari! Quick Attack!" She obeyed, leaping back away from the fire and then 
lunging forward, darting back and forth before slamming into the fire puppy. I 
was so engrossed in the fight between the electric mouse and the fire dog that I 
only managed to hear the growing sound of a bleating sheep, glance down and jump 
out of the way as a ball of yellow fluff went shooting past, narrowly missing me 
by inches and wailing all the way. It eventually slowed and lay still until Sam 
recalled it, and I recalled a nearly unconscious Rattata.

I looked back to my Pichu to see her and the Growlithe staring each other down. 
The fire dog's fur was tingling with electricity - apparently she had gotten 
close enough for a controlled Thundershock - and the electric mouse had various 
burns across her body. Both looked tired and on the verge of defeat, but the 
determination gleaming in their eyes showed they'd fight to the death. Or to 
unconsciousness.

"All right Thundari, long range! Thundershock!" I only saw her anxious face 
glance back at me, shining with disbelief for a fraction of a second, before I 
threw myself to the floor. A moment later, I heard the resounding "Chuuu!" and 
felt my hair stand up slightly as electricity filled the room above me. I heard 
pained yelps and the Growlithe's whining before all sound faded.

I looked up cautiously to see an unconscious Growlithe and two rather charred 
Rockets, blinking as though struck by lightning - and in a way, they had. 
Thundari was sitting on the floor, panting, but managing to glare at the two of 
them in a sort of savage pride. Finally, they pulled themselves together; 
Vincent recalled his final fallen pokemon and the two of them fixed their 
furious gazes on me.

"You think you're finished with Team Rocket?" Samantha asked in a venomous hiss, 
"Don't get too comfy - you'll see more of us again!"

"Yeah, behind bars!" I shot back, but I hadn't even finished when the two of 
them suddenly ran towards the door. Startled by this surprisingly un-impressive 
act of retreat, I didn't even start after them until they were at the door. 
"Hey! Cowards! Get back here!" But, unfortunately, they could run fast and were 
out the door in a flash. I followed, but when I emerged into the brilliantly lit 
streets of Cerise City, there was no sign of them. "Dammit!" I snarled, turning 
and heading back into the center.

Inside, Nurse Joy seemed to have regained herself. She was crouching over 
Thundari, who looked utterly exhausted. Starting to feel worried, I rushed 
forward, but she stood again and gave me a reassuring smile. 

"Your Pichu will be fine, she's just tired out from that battle and using so 
much electricity. Give her the rest of the day to recover and she'll be as good 
as new."

I nodded and bent down to scoop her up in my arms; "Nice one, Thundari. You 
showed those clowns." She grinned weakly, her cheeks sparking a bit, and I 
recalled her into her golden pokeball before handing it, along with Sunflash and 
Rattata's pokeball, to Nurse Joy. "Think you can fix them up a bit?"

"Certainly! You saved this entire PokeCenter - you deserve a lot more than just 
that! There weren't any other trainers here, but hundreds of pokemon. You just 
saved over six hundred pokemon!" She beamed at me, like it was the ultimate 
accomplishment of the world. I just blinked.

"Uh... thanks," I replied, once again showing off my brilliance and wit (not). 

I hung around the PokeCenter the rest of the day, lazily wandering between the 
small café, the shower, the bedrooms and the recovery room, peering in 
impatiently on my pokemon; who were fully healed now, just sleeping (lazy bums). 
Nurse Joy bustled around, making calls to the police and trainers to assure them 
the center and the pokemon were just fine - all thanks to me, so she said. She 
also wouldn't leave me alone about some sort of prize for my 'heroic act'.

"I'm so sorry, Comet, but I really don't have anything I could give you! Wait 
for Officer Jenny to get here - maybe she'll have an idea..."

Assuring her I didn't need a prize grew really old really fast, and I began 
considering breaking into the back, snatching my pokemon and leaving before 
Officer Jenny did get there. I wasn't exactly thrilled about meeting her - I 
have a sort of phobia for police. Either that or I just don't like 'em. But 
before I had the chance to dash into the back, Jenny arrived.

"So you're the trainer who saved the center?" she asked me as she walked in the 
door, "Excellent work. Apparently those two Rockets have been hanging around 
lately. More like pests than anything to be concerned about." With that, I had 
to agree. And then Nurse Joy came from the back with my two pokemon finally 
rested - Thundari looked ready to take on a few hundred more Rockets.

"Oh, Jenny, you're here! I see you've met Comet - don't you think she deserves a 
reward for saving the pokemon?"

I stifled a groan, as Jenny looked to me thoughtfully. "Yes, you're right. Let's 
see..." after a few minutes, she snapped her fingers, startling me. "I've got 
it! Here - this was for one of the station's Growlithes, but you deserve it 
more. Maybe with it, you can do a lot more than the police can." She reached 
into her pocket and pulled out a Firestone. My jaw dropped upon seeing it, as 
she pushed it into my hands.

"But - I can't - I mean, the police need it..."

"No, take it. I insist. And here; how many pokeballs you got left? Four? Take 
another four - gifts from Cerise City."

Yeah, I'll admit - I'm modest. But I'm not dense, and when I see a good offer - 
damn, I take it. So, I faked a bit of reluctance and received my prize for being 
the hero for the day and, after thanking them both, I headed out with Thundari 
on my shoulder and Sunflash's pokeball at my waist.

We were on the way out of town when my mind began to drift back to the previous 
incident, and I remembered how the only way I found my pokemon was thanks to 
Thundari's golden pokeball. And this gave me an idea, as we passed by a small 
hardware store on the way out. So I stopped in and bought a bucket of black 
paint.

"Pi pichu?" Thundari questioned as I took a quick break in the city square, 
pulling out my four old pokeballs and four new ones, along with her own golden 
pokeball and Sunflash's. 

"I figure this'll come in handy in the future," I explained as I began painting 
over the white part of the pokeball, "If I need to find you guys fast, I'll know 
to look..." I paused as I finished the first pokeball, and then held it up. The 
red part remained the same, but the white had been replaced with black, "... for 
the red and black pokeballs."

I finished re-painting my ten pokeballs, let them dry in the blazing sun and 
packed up my stuff and, with a last glance to Cerise City, headed out once 
again.

~ ~ ~