-Forest fires, dark caves and yet another gym battle. Well, it's all in the life of a Pokemon trainer. Second in a series

"Jeez, this shortcut seems longer than the actual way." Nightslice muttered. The Scyther hacked several small shrubs out of the group’s way.

"Cause we’re totally lost." Kris crumpled the map in her hand and tossed it aside.

Firestorm, leading the way with his flaming tail, stopped and turned around.

It could be said that he was pretty normal for his species, except for the fact that he could speak the human language, an ability shared by Nightslice.

A metal mask, exposing only his left eye, covered the left side of Firestorm’s face. Some nasty old injury, he’d told his companions, from long ago.

"So now what?" the Charmeleon asked, "find our own way through this blasted forest?"

"Guess so." Kris replied.

"Well, that’s just Prime." Firestorm muttered. (I’ll assume you know where this quote came from)

"So, go figure out something, cause my shoulders are aching." Nightslice indicated the backpack that was strapped between his wings. "What’d ya put in here, gold bars?"

"And what happened to the loudmouth who said he’d easily carry the pack for a week."

"Hey, you conned me into it!"

"Cut it out." Kris said as she stepped ahead of the two, "besides, it’s not like we haven’t been in more trouble before…yyaargghh!"

She fell into a concealed hole in the floor.

"Hehehe. Trouble?" Scarlet’s sinister laugh came.

"That’s our Que." Aaron added in.

(Team rocket motto music begins to play.)

Spotlights shone down on the two Team Rocket members.

"Prepare for trouble."

"And make it double."

"To…aarrgghhh!"

The music stopped abruptly as Firestorm turned the spotlights right into Team Rocket’s faces. Nightslice also stepped into view, chewing on the portable radio. He spat it out in front of everyone.

"Ouch, could break my teeth on this thing."

"And people wonder how they pull that stunt off…" Kris muttered, climbing out of the hole.

"Hey, you messed up our motto again!" Aaron yelled.

"You know," Nightslice said, "we did. Woohoo!"

"Alright!" Firestorm added in, "nice combo!"

(Victory music from FF8 plays)

The pair gave each other high-fives, or actually a three fingered claw to a sword-like claw, and did a couple of victory poses.

(Firestorm imitates Zell’s victory pose from FF8 while Nightslice imitates Squall’s. Imagine the Scyther’s right hand blade to be Squall’s gunblade. I think it looks pretty cool. )

"Yeah! We rule!"

"Oh, grow up you two!" Kris raised her voice a little, "and get back to the current situation."

Team Rocket angrily pulled out a handful of bombs.

"This time, we’re raking you out for good!" Aaron sneered.

"They’re mine!" Firestorm jumped forward, taking a deep breath as he did.

"Wait!" Kris shouted, "not in here!"

Too late. Firestorm torched Team Rocket with his flamethrower attack, setting their clothes on fire and igniting their bombs.

"Owowowowwowwo!" went Team Rocket, jumping around wildly and trying to extinguish the flames.

Boom! Went the bombs they had dropped at their feet, sending them blasting off into the distance.

"At least they’re out of the picture." Firestorm admired his handiwork.

"But we’ve got other things to worry about!" Nightslice warned, pointing over to the spot Firestorm had torched. The flames had set fire to many of the plants and trees there.

"That’s why I didn’t want you to use flamethrower in the middle of a forest!" Kris yelled, "Come on! Let’s get outta here!"

The group turned and ran.

Kris was panting, already out of breath.

The dry forest was an easy place for the fire to spread and the flames were quickly catching up with them. Unless they could come up with an idea real soon, they were toast. Literally.

Nightslice narrowly dodged a falling branch.

"So…whose…bright idea was this?" he said in between breaths.

"Alright…already!" Firestorm gasped.

"Hey! Over there!" Kris was pointing to a lake that was coming up in front of them. "Jump!"

"Are you crazy?"

"Just do it!"

The fire was way out of control, having become a raging inferno. The three barely made it there and dove in.

Kris held her breath as long as she could. The water was getting unbearably hot and she could still see flames around the surface of the lake.

Bad idea, Kris realized. She had only delayed the inevitable. She was trying to surface for air when she saw Firestorm, struggling to get to the surface as well, knock a few rocks loose.

In turn, some larger rocks moved as well. Almost immediately, Kris felt a strong current pulling her under. There was no time to think or react. The moment she realized it, she was drawn into an opening, along with Firestorm and Nightslice, by an underwater suction force so powerful that even strong water Pokemon would’ve had problems against.

Spinning uncontrollably in the noiseless, dark waters, Kris blacked out.

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Firestorm awoke, coughing and spluttering.

"Argh! I hate water!" he mumbled, shaking himself dry and spitting out the water in his mouth. "It’s a wonder I haven’t drowned."

Firestorm looked up at his surroundings. He was in a cave of some sort, light provided by his flaming tail.

Stalactites and stalagmites could be seen all around, hanging from the ceiling and protruding from the floor of the cavern. Dozens of passageways led out of the cavern. An underground stream, the one that had brought him here, was fast flowing and led off into the distance.

He heard a splashing noise and turned to see Kris and Nightslice wearily dragging themselves out of the stream and onto shore. Both were totally drenched and miserable, but alive.

"Jeez! I’ve had enough water to last me a lifetime!" Nightslice yelled, shaking himself dry.

The group took a moment to rest after their near death experience and discuss their next move.

"I guess following this stream is our best bet," Kris said, "it should lead us out of here."

"I agree," Nightslice said, "but what about the fire in the forest?"

"I wouldn’t worry about it. The firefighters are probably on the job."

"Then let’s worry about ourselves." Firestorm said. "We have a whole new set of problems now."

"And whose fault is that?" Nightslice gave him a very accusing stare.

"Ccchhhhaaaarrrrr…"

"Sssssccccyyytttt…"

"Knock it off!" Kris jumped between the two, "Or both of you are going back into the Pokeballs!"

"Yes boss!" simultaneously, both jumped up and saluted.

These two were bigger than the average sizes for their species. Nightslice stood almost as high as the sixteen-year-old girl and Firestorm was just a head shorter than his friend was.

That was why Kris had to jump up to whack both of them on their heads.

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"First, let me change into some dry clothes." Kris said. She pulled an extra set of clothes from Nightslice’s backpack and walked behind a large stalagmite, some distance away.

"No peeking, boys." She called back.

Firestorm and Nightslice turned around and sat down beside the stream.

"Why aren’t we allowed to look?" Nightslice asked.

"Guess it’s cause we’re both male." Firestorm answered.

"So it’s considered offensive for male humans to look at female humans when they’re changing."

"Probably. Why do you think she hides in the tent whenever she’s changing."

"These humans are just full of surprises." Nightslice laughed.

The pair waited for a while.

"What’s taking her so long?" Nightslice muttered, pointing a bladed claw over his shoulder.

"Don’t know, but," Firestorm leaned closer to his friend, "I’ve heard that they say female humans take forever to get ready."

"Really?" Nightslice giggled.

"And you know…" Firestorm broke into a laugh himself.

"What?"

"I’ve heard you shouldn’t ask a female human her age or especially her weight because…"

"Because?"

Both were so busy laughing that they didn’t notice Kris was right behind them.

Suddenly, Kris smacked them both with a giant sledgehammer, sending both flying into the stream with a loud splash.

"Because that’ll happen." Firestorm finished the sentence.

"I see. Ow!" Nightslice replied, rubbing the back of his head.

All the Pokemon in the world, Kris thought, and I just had to pick these two!

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The trio followed the stream through the winding paths of the cave. Other than the rough terrain, they encountered few obstacles that hindered them.

"Looks like we might get out of this mess after all." Firestorm smiled as he led the group. The charmeleon turned round a corner and stopped short.

"Oh crap!" he cursed as the others ran to catch up with him.

The stream now split into three different paths, each path flowing in a different direction.

"You just had to go and jinx it all." Nightslice taunted him.

"Ooorrrrrrrrr!" an ominous roar suddenly sounded out of nowhere startling the group. The sound echoed throughout the cave, making it impossible to trace the source of the noise.

"Move it!" Kris shouted, bolting down the nearest path. Firestorm and Nightslice followed. They were just in time to grab her shirt and prevent her from falling off the cliff that the path ended in. The party quickly retraced their steps.

The ground around them was starting to tremble.

"This way!" Nightslice led them to another path. "I can smell the fresh air! There’s an exit close by!"

The whole place was shaking violently now. Huge rocks fell all around the group as they ran.

The stream stopped as a point where the path led uphill, but they managed to climb up.

"We’re almost there!" Kris pointed. Just round the bend, light could be seen streaming in. Pumping their legs as fast as they could, they were almost there.

Then, a huge head burst out of the ground, sending all three flying off in separate directions.

Nightslice looked up and found himself staring into the face of a very angry-looking Onix.

"Uh oh! He doesn’t look like he’s in a talkative mood."

"Be careful blades!" Firestorm called, "this won’t be an easy fight!"

"Hey, I took down the one in Pewter, I’ll take this one as well!"

The rock serpent lunged for him.

"Come on! You wanna piece of me?" Nightslice jumped and slashed its eyes.

Instead of slowing it down, that only made it angrier. Nightslice fired a hyper bean at it, but even that didn’t hinder it a bit. The Onix rammed into Nightslice and wrapped its body round him.

Nightslice struggled, but couldn’t get free. He was slowly being raised up to the creature’s mouth.

"Storm, help! He’s gonna eat me!!!!!!"

"Hang on!" Firestorm charged forward with a skull bash. The Onix simply swung its head and knocked Firestorm into a wall.

"Do better than that!" Kris yelled.

"Yeah! Or I’m his lunch!" Nightslice added in. He was kicking furiously at the serpent’s tail that was wrapped around him. Its head was coming for him again, its mouth wide open.

Nightslice caught a whiff of its breath.

"Jeez! You ever heard of mouthwash, buddy?"

Meanwhile, Firestorm got up and lunged for the Onix again. He attempted to bite it, which of course, hurt his teeth more than it hurt the Onix.

"OwOw! Dammit!"

The Onix hit him even harder this time. The charmeleon’s flying form made an impression in the stone wall.

The creature turned its attention back to Nightslice, still bound by its tail.

"Hey, You eat me you stupid snake and I swear I’m gonna give ya indigestion!!!!!!!" Nightslice yelled. He opened his mouth and fired his pin missiles, but with little effect.

Nightslice’s struggling amused the Onix, giving it some entertainment it hadn’t gotten in a long time.

"We’re gonna need reinforcements." Kris pulled out a Pokeball, wondering why she hadn’t thought of it earlier.

"Ivysaur, razor leaf!"

"Saur! Saur! Ivysaur!"

The spinning leaves hit the Onix and distracted it, causing it to drop Nightslice, who quickly rolled away. Firestorm had also managed to pull himself to his feet.

"Firestorm, use confusion!"

Firestorm’s eyes glowed as he hit it with a telepathic blast. Almost immediately, the Onix began trashing wildly about. Rocks of all sizes were falling and flying everywhere.

"Hey, what’s happening?" Firestorm asked.

"Don’t you two know all psychic attacks have a 10% chance of confusing the opponent?" Nightslice yelled, "If he’s not stopped, he’ll bring this whole cavern down!"

"Got it!" Kris exclaimed, "Ivysaur, sleep powder."

Ivysaur sprinkled its sleep powder over the huge snake. Its movements were getting slower and sluggish, but it refused to fall asleep.

Nightslice saw a chance. Turning his neck and reaching into his backpack, he pulled out a Pokeball gripped in his mouth and sent it flying towards the Onix.

The ball hit its target and Onix was sucked in. Everyone watched anxiously and tensely and the ball shook, violently at first.

Once.

Twice.

Then stopped.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Nightslice walked over and picked up the Pokeball, holding it carefully between the edges of his bladed claws.

"So, who says Pokemon can’t catch other Pokemon?" he smiled, spinning the ball on his right claw.

Everyone else fainted.

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"Considering that was the thing that tried to eat me a few minutes ago, I’d say it was a good catch." Nightslice was still bragging as the group now followed a dirt road.

"Yeah, yeah, so you made a big show of this one." Firestorm muttered.

"Hey, look over there!" Kris excitedly pointed to a sign it the distance.

It read: ‘Welcome to Vermilion City’

"At last!" Kris yelled, "And I thought we were never going to get here!"

The first thing the party did was to rush to the Pokemon Center. Kris put Firestorm and Nightslice into their Pokeballs and sent them to Nurse Joy. While waiting, she was sitting down on a bench reading a brochure.

"Hmmm, so the gym in this city trains electric Pokemon." She mumbled.

Then, a Chansey nurse pushing a Sandshrew on a stretcher rushed past. Its trainer, a young boy, was also running beside it, comforting his Pokemon.

If these two just came from the gym, Kris thought, then that’s one weak Sandshrew. Then she reconsidered. Or a pretty powerful electric Pokemon.

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Later, the three of them were standing outside the door of the Vermilion City gym.

"Looks more like a military base to me." Nightslice commented.

"Hey, not so loud," Kris reminded him, "don’t attract attention to yourselves."

"Scy, Scy!" < Sorry! >

"So, are we ready?"

"Char." < Yeah. >

"Scy, scy, ther, scy." Nightslice said, pointing to his wings. < Hey, just remember. >

"I know, electricity’s bad for the wings."

Kris grabbed the handle and shoved the door open. Nightslice had been right. It did indeed look like a military base. Computers, radios, uniforms hung up, guns in display cases, and the guy in an army uniform standing in front of them. He was very tall, with his orange hair cut short and a grim look on his face.

"I’m here to battle the gym leader." Kris said to the man.

"So, another challenger, eh?" he answered with a scornful tone in his voice, "Well, you’ll have to defeat me first!"

"Fine by me!" Kris pulled out a Pokeball, "Ivysaur, go!"

"Go Magnemite!"

The two Pokemon appeared on opposite sides of the battlefield.

"Magnemite, thunder-shock!"

"Ivysaur, razor leaf!"

The spinning leaves hit the electric bolts, both attacks canceling out each other.

"Use sleep powder!"

"Saur!" The grass Pokemon sprinkled some of the dust of his opponent.

"Oh no!" the man cried.

"Finish em’ off! Vine whip!"

The vines smacked Magnemite into submission.

"Not bad," said the man, recalling his Magnemite.

"Ah, welcome young lady." Came a deep voice.

Kris turned and saw an even bigger soldier walking over.

"I’m Lt. Surge of the Vermilion City gym," the new figure introduced himself, "congrats on your victory, but you’ll have a much more of a challenge with me."

"Bring on the battlefield." Kris growled.

"You’ve got guts, girl," Surge smiled, "let’s see how well you do in battle."

He led her into the next room.

The gym leader was now standing on the opposite side of the battleground. Lights were flicked on, illuminating the gray-walled room.

"This will be a two-on-two battle." Lt. Surge declared, "ready?"

"Let’s begin!" Kris glanced back to Firestorm, standing with Nightslice behind her.

"You’re on." She told the Charmeleon.

Surge had sent out a Voltorb as his first fighter.

"Voltorb, sonic boom." He told it.

Firestorm was knocked back by the attack.

"Don’t let em’ get the better of you," Kris called, "use flamethrower!"

Firestorm torched his opponent with his flames. It responded by using screech. Firestorm had to cover his ears, but managed to rush in and hit it with a skull bash.

"Tackle him, Voltorb!"

Firestorm nimbly jumped out of the way. Voltorb hit the wall instead.

"Charged up with swords dance," Kris ordered, "and slash em’!"

"Cchhhaarrr!" Firestorm held his claws in front of his face, charging up for a powerful attack. The area around him glowed with a blue light.

"Think you’ve won? Voltorb, self destruct!"

Oh no! Firestorm thought.

BOOM! The explosion knocked out both Pokemon, Firestorm went flying off the battle area and Nightslice had to jump and catch him.

"Now try this!" Surge shouted, recalling his defeated Voltorb. "Go Raichu!"

"Rai!"

Which Pokemon to use now? Kris thought frantically. Nightslice tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to a Pokeball on her belt.

"Oh yeah! I choose Onix!"

"Ooorrrrrrrrr!" The serpent’s huge form suddenly filled the room.

"We’ll take care of that! Thunderbolt!"

The powerful electric attack was pushing Onix back. It used defense curl to protect itself. Raichu ran up and used mega punch. Onix almost fell over.

"Onix!" Kris thought for a moment, "use dig!"

Onix disappeared into a hole in the ground as Raichu shot out another wave of electricity.

"Hey! Where’d he…" Surge gasped, "Raichu, watch out!"

Onix suddenly burst from the ground and knocked Raichu into the air.

"Now, bind him!"

Onix wrapped its body around the electric mouse, squeezing it and rendering it helpless. It attempted to shock Onix, but to no avail. Onix had gained the upper hand.

"Surrender now," Kris taunted, "and I’ll spare your Raichu of this agony!"

She glared as Onix, squeezing Raichu even harder. Surge’s grim look first turned into a smile, then broke out into a laugh.

"I like your style, girl!" he said, "very well, I shall except defeat like a man."

"Onix, return." Kris called back her Onix.

"Just watch out," he warned her, "the other gym leaders won’t be so nice."

He tossed her the thunder badge.

"I’ll keep that in mind!" Kris replied as she caught the gleaming object.

The soldier gave her a wink as she was leaving. Kris responded by standing at attention and saluting. Firestorm and Nightslice decided to join in as well.

With another badge won, the group left the gym to get some well-earned R &Rs’.