Trial of the Ground

Chapter 3: Caffeine

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Natu and Sandshew blocked each other’s attacks and faced each other carefully.Omar used this moment to watch carefully his opponent.It was a regular natu, but his body was constantly shaking, probably because of all thet caffeine. His eyes had a little ashade of red, revealing few sleep, and the right eye was slightly bigger than the left one.

"Take this!" Natu attempted another peck, which hit Sandshrew on the head. "Now look into my eyes…" Natu’s eyes were completely red and Sandshrew started climbing the coffee plant, gathered some grains and jumped, which resulted in his face flat on the floor.

"Ouch…he meddled with my brain…"

"Die!" Natu finished storing the grains inside his feathers, and attacked Sandshrew again.

"I have to do something! Look Natu, free coffee over there!" Omar pointed to the opposite direction of Sandshrew.

"WHERE!?" Natu stopped in his tracks and looked everywhere, trying to find his precious coffee.

"Now, Sandshrew!"

"Okay!" Sandshrew ran over to Natu and gave him a powerful Scratch.

"NOOO!MY COFFEE!!!" Natu screamed, then Omar threw a Pokéball which hit Natu and engulfed him in red light.

The Pokéball wobbled once, twice, thrice and it finally stopped. Omar had made his first catch.

"YAY!" Omar exclaimed in joy, seeing his catch.

But he heard a chorused "YAY!!!" behind him. He looked back and saw most of the townspeople clapping and whistling in joy.

"What?" Omar seemed confused.

The Mayor went over to him and shook his hand. "Young boy, you are the hero of this city. You have just caught that criminal Natu," Said the Mayor, as the reporters took photos of Omar and him.

"Criminal?" asked Sandshrew.

"Oh! So this is your Pokémon! Thanks to his brave fighting, that Natu will never do what he used to do!"

"Brave fighting?" Sandshrew thought and he blushed a little, being the first time someone felt proud of him.

"And what did he do?" asked Omar, confused.

"Oh, there is no time to tell. Just ask him," the Mayor said as he left with all the crowd.

"Congrats, Omar! Were "Heroes" now!" Sandshrew congratulated his trainer and laughed..

"No, Sandshrew. We did it together."

"Well, telling him about the coffee was your idea."

"Yeah. But isn’t it a bit strange this guy is addicted to caffeine?"

"Surely never saw a Pokémon like this," Sandshrew commented.

"Well, let’s go to eat something. I’m starving," said Omar.

"Me too," added Sandshrew.

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Omar went to the restaurant inside the Pokémon Center after healing his Pokémon. He sent out Sandshrew and Natu so they could eat too.

"What are you ordering?" asked the waiter, who seemed very bored.

"A cheeseburger and a soda, please.And you guys?" asked Omar.

"Normal Pokéfood for me.And some water." Sandshrew said.

"And for the birdie?" asked the waiter and yawned.

"Coffee," Natu said plainly.

Suddenly, the waiter’s expression changed. He dropped his notepad and opened his eyes like plates. His bottom lip started to shake.

"You-you want coffee?!" he asked, horrified.

"Yes. Can’t you hear? Coffee. C-O-F-F-E-E. A drink. Understood?" Natu glared at the waiter furiously.

"Y-yes! DON’T ATTACK MEEE!!!" the waiter picked up his notepad and ran away as fast as he could.

"Wow. He sure was scared." Commented Sandshrew.

"I have that effect on people. And besides, why are you inviting me to eat with you? Aren’t you going to use me to win battles, or what?" Natu asked Omar.

"No. I just want to train you and be your friend."

"Me too. But you sure scare people away." said Sandshrew.

"Any problem with it, mouse?" Natu snarled.

"Hey, calm down! I don’t want to have trouble with a coffee addict."

"WHAT ARE YOU CALLING ME!?" yelled Natu furiously. This made many people look toward Omar’s table, and many quickly paid fortheir food and ran away after seeing "The Natu". Just then, the waiter arrived, still scared.

"H-here’s your food…" the waiter delivered the food and stood there, nearly peeing from the fear.

"Why are you scared?" asked Omar.

"B-B-Because that Natu used to come into our houses and he stole all our coffee! And if we tried to stop him, he attacked us!"

"Natu, did you really do that!?" asked Omar in surprise.

"What? The most I caused was a temporal blind of someone’s left eye," said Natu.

"oh…" Omar and Sadshrew were shocked at Natu’s response.

After that, everyone ate and drank.

"So, how much is it?" asked Omar after finishing his soda.

"N-nothing if that Natu leaves now!"

"Okay…"

"You know, we could use Natu to get free stuff on Lutoca," Sandshrew thought out loud, while exiting the Center.

"Go ahead. Just give me my daily portion of coffee and I will do anything." Said Natu and a loud "BURP!" came from his beak.

"You’re gross!" Sandshrew complained and he went farther from Natu.

"Coffee makes me do that."

"So, where are we going now?" Sandshrew looked up at his trainer.

"To the gym for a rematch."

"I just hope he doesn’t send that Pidgeotto again," said Sandshrew, remembering his

experience.

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"You again? Are you gonna use that wimpy Sandshrew again?" Brian laughed loudly.

"Yes, and it has leveled up a bit since our last battle."

"Two on two again?"

"I’m fine with it. I caught another Pokémon," Omar replied.

“Hah,” Brian smirked, “Go, Charmeleon!”

“CHAAAR!” The Fire Pokémon growled angrily when he saw Sandshrew, then let a small flame out of his mouth and leaped at his oppontent, attacking with his tail flame.

“Sandshrew, evade it!” Omar ordered his Pokémon.

Sandshrew obeyed and jumped to the side. He immediately traed to scratch his foe, but it didn’t do any good.

“Charmeleon, Flamethrower!” Charmeleon Obeid his master and inhaled deeply, then set a stream of flames on Sanshrew, who started rolling on the floor to extinguish the flames.

“Whoa. He knows Flamethrower already!” Omar was impressed by the attack, “Sandshrew, attack him!” Sandshrew traed to punch Charmeleon, but many of his punces Meshed, and Charmeleon seemed to not take any damage.

“BURN!!!” Charmeleon shouted and unleashed more flames. Sandshrew curled into a ball and rolled to the side.

“I need him to learn some new moves quickly...” Omar said to himself as he saw the battle. “Sandshrew, move to the sand part! You will be fighting better there!”

“Okay, Omar! But I’m losing horribly!” Sandshrew ran to the sand, olí to have Charmeleon using Flamethrower again on him. He ran a little more, and the fire heated the sand a bit.

“Arrrgh! Stand still!” Charmeleon yelled angrily to Sandshrew, as he continued to spit out more flames. However, they just heated the sand more and more.

“Charmeleon! End this! Fire Blast!” Brian shouted.

“CHAAAAR!!!” Charmeleon fired a fireball at great speed towards the Ground Pokémon, but he jumped back.

"OUCH! This sand is VERY hot! Even for me!" Sandshrew was right. The sand was extremely hot from the Flamethrowers.

"Hot sand? Wait," Omar thought for a moment, then told firmly to Sandshrew " Sandshrew, use Sand-Attack!"

"Ahhh! I get it, pal! Prepare for this, Charmeleon!" said Sandshrew defiantly.

"Now what, Sandy?"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" Sandshrew yelled, offended. "NOW MAY YOUR EYES BURN!" and with that, Sandshrew kicked some hot sand straight into the lizard Pokémon's face.

"Ahhhhhh! BURNS!!!" Cahrmeleon's eyes went red and veiny, and tried to keep the sand out of his eyes.

"Charmeleon, do something quick!" Brian ordered, but Charmeleon was too busy with the sand, he didn't notice.

"Use Slash!" Brian shouted, and his Pokémon slashed in search of his opponent, but without success.

"Hey Omar! Got an idea over here!" Sandshrew ran over to his trainer, and curled up again."Kick me, like if I were a football!"

"What?" Omar said, surprised.

"Just think Charmeleon is the goal! You used to do this back at your old home with your friends, didn't you?" Sandshrew knew Omar was pretty good at soccer, so he beared to try his idea.

"Okay, ready! Go!" Omar drawed his foot back and kicked Sandshrew as if he was a ball, he flew fast through the air, and hit Charmeleon hard on the stomach.

"Charmeleon, are you all right?" Brian said.

"Ouchie..." Charmeleon forgot about the sand ant fainted from the hit, collapsing on the floor.

Sandshrew uncurled and faced his trainer. "We did it!"

"Can you continue?" asked Omar.

"Really...nope." Sandshrew fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Okay, come back." Omar retreated Sandshrew into his Pokéball, put it back in his belt and grabbed Natu's.

"You may have defeated Charmeleon!" Brian shouted to Omar, angry. "But don't expect to be so lucky! Go, Loudred!"

Brian threw a ball at the floor, and the blue, big-mouthed Pokémon appeared, roaring and stomping everywhere.

"Go, Natu!" Omar threw his Pokéball forward, and natu emerged from it, eating a coffee grain.

"Hmph. Time to work." Natu said, bored, and faced Loudred.

"LOUD!!!!DRED!!!" The blue Pokémon shouted loudly, nearly breaking everyone's eardrums. Brian, however, seemed prepared. He had put earplugs on his ears, so he didn't hear.

"ACK! SHUT UP!" Natu thought, getting desperate. But Loudred continued, and an anime-like vein appeared on Natu's head. He jumped over to Loudred's head and told him again to keep silent. But no response. So he pecked hard on Loudred's head, making him angry.

"Loudred, use Hyper Voice now!" Brian ordered.

"LOUD!" Loudred unleashed several soundwaves at Natu, whose ears were about to explode.

"Natu, Confusion!" Natu's eyes glowed red, and Loudred suddenly was thrown backwards, crashing with a rock. Loudred immediately launched himself towards natu, falling on top of the bird Pokémon.

"Natu!" Omar shouted.

"I'm all right! This guy's too heavy for me!" Natu replied, struggling to be free. He finally freed himself and started another round of peckings at Loudred, who counterattacked with Hyper Voice.

"Loudred, finish him!"

Loudred used Uproar, which made the walls shake, and some rocks started falling. A giant rock was about to fall on Natu.

"NO!" Omar screamed. But Natu suddenly seemed motionless. Before anyone knew, he escaped from the rock and was attacking Loudred with all his fury, his eyes red with anger. "He's hyper!" Omar looked very surprised at his Pokémon's reaction."It must be the coffee," he thought.

"DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!" Natu used all his fury to hit Loudred, who could not do anything. In a matter of seconds, the blue Pokémon fell to the ground, fainted. Brian retreated him, surprised.

"Wow...he's only level 20, but is so strong..." said Omar, scanning Natu with his Pokédex.

"It's...it's...the criminal Natu..." Brian said, his face pale. Even the gym leader feared the criminal Natu.

"Um...I beat you, so where's my badge?" Omar said impatiently, as he retreated Natu.

"What?!Uh...oh...yes." Brian tried to soud calm, but he really was surprised at Natu's power.

Brian handed the badge to Omar, who received it cheerfully.

"This is the Youthbadge. Proof you have beaten the Lutoca Gym. You can continue on your journey now."

"Thanks. Wow. My first badge," Omar took his Pokéballs and looked at them, "and all thanks to you guys."

Omar left the gym and headed to the Pokémon Center to heal his Pokémon. When he entered, a messenger called him.

"Are you Omar Riujin?" asked the messenger.

"Yes. Why?"

"The Rasono Gym leader sent me to give you this letter." the man gave Omar an envelope addresed to him, afterwards he left, leaving Omar opening the envelope.

"A letter from Dad?" he opened the envelope and it said:

"The other envelope?" Omar asked himself, noticing a smaller letter addressed to Sonaki inside the envelope.

"Hey, you! Your Pokémon are ready!"he nurse called Omar, who went to the counter to receive Sandshrew and Natu. They looked much better, and they left the Pokémon Center.

Omar decided to let them have some fresh air while making the travel to the next town, so they talked about the gym match.

"Hey , Omar," asked Sandshrew.

"Hm?"

"Is it true that Natu defeated three opponents and nearly destroyed the gym with a single attack?"

"No..."

"See? I told you that couldn't be true." Sandshrew told Natu.

"And you had to ask, genius...Obviously I can't do that."

But suddenl, a giant leaf pushed them backwards and to the floor. From the trees, emerged the wicked Grovyle Omar had seen back at the Rasono Gym. He looked angry, and blood-thirsty. He raised up his leaves and attacked Omar, straight at the neck...

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End of Chapter 3...stupid cliffhanger.