Ike Ketchum: The Journey Begins
Part 2
Note: I do not own Pokémon.   I haven’t mentioned that yet; I figured that was obvious. But just in 
case, I thought I’d mention it this time.

That night, Ike reflected on his progress so far.  He had captured Mankey, a Pokémon which gave 
many new trainers a very hard time.  He had spent the whole day training it, and it learned Seismic 
Toss.  At first, Mankey was hard to manage.  It had a terrible temper and it had no respect for Ike.  But 
after it knocked Ike on his butt several times, and Ike refused to let up, Mankey seemed to develop a 
strange understanding with him.  After that, Mankey and Sasha trained together for the rest of the 
day.  Ike had both Pokémon team up together against other Pokémon in the wild, then he had them 
battle each other.  Sasha tired faster than Mankey did, because it wasn’t used to battling yet.  Since 
Ike had no Pokedex, he wasn’t sure of his Pokémon’s levels, but he estimated that Mankey was at 
about level 16 already.  Sasha wasn’t much past level 5; Ike was pretty sure of that.  It seemed as if she 
wanted to be babied, and she didn’t have any truly strong attacks yet.  Ike reflected on the weak 
Pokémon he had encountered in the wild.  He had seen Rattata, and Pidgey.  He wondered how his 
father’s Pikachu could have been injured so badly by such wimps.  Was he really such a novice? Did he 
know nothing of Pokémon?  Whatever, Ike thought.  Then he rolled over and went to sleep.
Ike awoke to the sound of raucous cawing.  Groaning, he sat up to find what was disturbing him.  
There, perched in an oak tree, was a very menacing looking bird Pokémon.  It was small, and brown 
with red wings.  It had spiky looking feathers on its head, and a hooked beak.  Ike knew exactly what 
Pokémon it was.  It was a Spearow.
“Sasha, this is your territory!” Ike announced. “Get awake and Thundershock that infernal Pokémon 
that woke me up!”
“Pika…,” Sasha agreed groggily.  She sat up, eyes lidded.  Her black-tipped ears twitched twice.  With a 
loud whine, she yawned and stretched.  Then she shook her head to knock some of the sleep out.  
Slowly, she approached the oak tree.  “Pikachu,” she said, and sent a half-hearted jolt toward the 
Spearow.  The attack didn’t even reach halfway up the tree, and Sasha didn’t even seem to notice.
“What are you doing, Sasha? Wake up!” Ike yelled.
Sasha blinked.  Then she scowled.  “Pikachuuuu!” she yelled.  This time her attack shot up the trunk of 
the tree, singeing the bark.  The Spearow let out a throaty cry, and then it dove down at Sasha, 
pecking her head.  Sasha yelled out in pain, and Ike ordered her to execute another electric attack.  
She obliged, and the Spearow screamed again.  Then it fell to the ground, twitching, its feathers fried.
“That’s what you get for disturbing my sleep!” Ike declared, throwing a Pokeball.  The middle button lit 
up, and Ike smiled one of his brief smiles.  “Good job…,” Ike began, but when he turned around, he 
saw that Sasha had gone back to sleep.
Later that morning, after Ike had fed himself and his Pokémon, he started back out on his journey to 
Pallet Town.  He knew he needed to get some distance today, because he hadn’t made much time 
yesterday.  This day was just as glorious as the day before, but Ike was focused this time.  He refused 
to let himself daydream.  He had been excited that he was on his own, and that his mother couldn’t 
tell him what to do.  His non-attention had gotten him a rock in the face.  He knew better now.
At about midday, Ike had come upon some shrubbery.  He figured it was a good place to rest, because 
it was a good area to let his Pokémon forage for some natural food while he relaxed a little.  He let all 
his Pokémon out, including Spearow, and was doing just that, when he noticed that the bushes were 
shaking violently.
“Sasha, come here!” Ike called.
“Pika?” Sasha said, coming to her trainer.
“Shock those bushes. I want to know what’s in there,” Ike said.
Sasha did so, and they heard a loud “RATTATA!”  Then, two tiny pink Rattata fell out, unconscious.  
“Pika!” Sasha exclaimed.  The two Pokémon were obviously just babies, and Sasha was upset that she 
had attacked them without warning.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. They’re just stunned. They’ll live,” Ike told the Pikachu.
Ike should have been worried about it.  At that moment, they heard another cry.  This cry was no cry 
of pain.  It was a cry of anger.  And it was directed at Ike and Sasha.
Raticate came out of the bushes that the Rattata had been paying in.  And unlike them, Raticate was 
not injured in the least.  Ike knew that it was the mother of the babies that they had attacked.  He also 
knew that it looked like a strong Pokémon.
“Sasha, lower its attack power! Use growl,” Ike commanded.
Unsure of itself, and wary of this new threat with the enormous teeth and mean eyes, the yellow 
mouse let out a very cute growl.  Raticate, not one for being charmed, jumped Sasha immediately.  It 
sunk its teeth into her little body and flung her to the ground.  Sasha was defeated.
“Sasha!” Ike screamed.  Panicked, he returned her to her special Pokeball. “I know you don’t usually 
go in here, but this is an emergency,” he said to it.  To Raticate, he said, “So, you wanna play that way? 
I’m not afraid to hurt you like you hurt Sasha!”
With that, he called Mankey from its foraging place and ordered it to use Karate Chop on Raticate’s 
substantial teeth.  The rat Pokémon easily evaded the attack.  Then it bit tackled Mankey hard. 
Mankey fell to the ground, but it pushed itself back up angrily.  Turning red with rage, it went into a 
fury-swipes frenzy.  But the Raticate was much too fast for it, and it tackled Mankey to the ground 
again and again.  Finally, the pig monkey was too tired to attack anymore, and it fell to the ground, 
exhausted.  Ike called it back to its Pokeball.
I know I weakened Spearow a lot before I caught it, but maybe it’s built its strength up enough to 
handle this thing, Ike thought.
“Spearow, come to me!” he called.
Spearow wheeled over Ike’s head, letting out an acknowledging cry.
“Peck attack!” Ike ordered.
Spearow dove into the attack, aiming straight for the rat’s head.  With one deft stroke, Raticate 
slapped Spearow between the eyes with its tail.  Stunned, Spearow flapped its wings quickly just to 
stay airborne.  Raticate saw its opportunity and attacked with a jumping bite.  Spearow crashed.
Ike returned Spearow, knowing he was in trouble.  All of his Pokémon were out of commission, and he 
was alone with the tough rat Pokémon.  He knew he could not outrun her.  He knew he was going to 
have to think of something, but he was frozen with fear.  He stood there staring at the fat-looking 
Pokémon for what seemed an eternity.  This is it, Ike thought.  I’m going to die.  And then, without 
furtner ado, Raticate jumped.