Joey

(This Chapter is from the perspective of Joey)

I had decided to travel East from Pewter nearly 3 days earlier. It wasn't my first time traveling through Mt. Moon, but I knew avoiding the rocktypes was a good move, so I had progressed slowly. Raticate was amazing. She'd won me many a gym battle in our lifelong journey together since we met 20 years before, but the type advantage was just never on her side with a protracted journey through mountain tunnels. Mostly it was a situation of avoiding conflict and walking confidently to discourage any notion of being an easy target for a hungry wild pokemon to rob. Speak softly and carry a big stick they say. I'm sure someone said it first, no clue who though. Regardless, it was sound advice, and after coming out the other side safe and sound, me and raticate made a campfire and slept under the stars.

The weather was blessed when I awoke. Warm sun with a cool breeze. The trees bright with green and the sky with blue. I must have woken up later than usual, no doubt exhausted from the slog through those dark and dank caves. Raticate sat nearby, the fire was still burning fresh. She must have added some fuel, or was hiding some secret ability. I'd bet on the former. She was very smart, but I've never heard of a raticate using ember. One using a lighter would be much more believable. She had also wrangled up some fruits and berries, which sat in bowls carved out of apricorn husks next to the campfire. God she was a good rat.

"Sorry I slept so late, geez you've been busy, and thank you" I said while grabbing some berries from the nearest bowl with one hand, and giving her an approving scratch under the chin with the other. "Raticate!" she exclaimed before thumping her tail a few times in appreciation. After clearing a bowl of fruits, I opened a package of poke kibble for her, and laid them on the packaging at her feet. We both knew she was perfectly capable of getting it herself, or likely getting even better food from scavenging, but I think the act of me carrying and giving food to her was an act of pampering that made her feel a bit more appreciated, so I did it in good humour. She deserves it. After breakfast I made sure to properly douse our fire, and packed up to get ready to continue the trip to Cerulean city. It only took about 5 minutes to roll and compress my sleeping bag, and pack our few materials into the ruck sack. If everything went well, we should be in cerulean city within a few hours. "Walk or ride?" I asked Raticate. She sniffed at the pokeball before affirming, "Raticate!" "Ride it is," I smiled at her before she returned to her pokeball which I fit in its place on my belt. Who knows how long she had spent scavenging our breakfast, and I'm sure she could use the break.

I proceeded down the path at a brisk walking pace. Fast enough for my legs to get the slightest burn, but not so fast as to cause myself to sweat through my already well broken in traveling clothes. A shower and a change at the cerulean pokemon center would be amazing. I wondered about the machop masseuse they had the last time I was through town. That would be amazing. That's how things went for the next 2 or 3 hours of walking. My pokedex stated it was almost 5PM, just how late had I slept anyway? I wonder if a Raticate can learn to set an alarm clock. I laughed at the thought of her fiddling with such a device, but admitted to myself it wouldn't surprise me one bit. It was while I was imagining a 2 foot rat messing with a watch face that I saw her.

My jaw dropped. Long muscular legs were rolling, her abs taut and breasts swinging as she rode standing on the bike like a sprinter at the end of a race. I recognized her immediately from her fiery red hair. There was no mistaking that ponytail, or that swimmers body. Muscular, yet surprisingly feminine and soft at the same time. I had flashbacks to our duel at the Cerulean city gym nearly a decade ago. The passion and fire she had when conducting a battle was nothing compared to the fire and determination currently on her face. That is, until she noticed me gawking at her like a munchlax staring into a candy store. She tried to cover her perky breasts with one of her hands, missing one erect pink nipple in the crook of her arm while guiding the bike to a halt in front of me with the other. Trimmed red pubic hair did more to draw attention than to cover her labia as she straddled the middle bar of the bike. As soon as the bike stopped, she took her hand off the handle bar, pointed into the sky and screamed, "Don't just stand there! Stop that fuckin' bird will ya!?"

I didn't even register what she had just said. I just stood there dumbly, staring at the first clam Id seen in months. A famous one at that. Everyone knew who the Cerulean city gym leader was. They had likely even seen her in a swimsuit, but surely not too many have seen her like this. Pain erupted from my face. I didn't even see the strike coming, but her slapping hand again turned to pointed finger raised to the sky, angry to the verge of tears she screamed at me, "Bird! Now!"

"I'm So sorry," i stammered, jerking my gaze from her, and to the vector conferred by her hand. Sure enough, high above us sored a massive bird pokemon unlike any I had ever seen.

"Just get the bird!" she was practically crying by this point. I felt like a major asshole.

"Pidgeot! Go!" I screamed.

With a red flash a 4 foot bird appeared, and screeched its name to its own gratification. It seemed a bit confused seeing me standing next to a cryingly angry naked woman, and cocked its head. I pointed one hand towards the bird in the sky, and the other at Misty.

"Get her clothes back from that bird!" I screamed at pidgeot.

"Pidgeot!" he screeched, and shot upwards with a gust of wind that could knock an unprepared person off their feet. I thought about turning around to look to see if Misty was ok, but the second I tried turning my head, a hand grabbed my hair keeping it from turning any further, and I heard the growl from behind, "I'm fineee." I got the message.

Pidgeot had closed the distance in a matter of seconds, ramming into the thief at high speed. I had to cover my ears from the screech of the victim. It was deafening. It was a hard hit, pidgeot always hits hard. I expected the fight to be over then and there, but never to play for ego, Pidgeot was already lining up the next shot. As it swooped in its opponent spread their wings and tail wide. I got nervous whatever it was seemed to be 3 times pidgeots size. and then it happened. A monstrous screech followed by a glow as bright as the sun. I immediately turned my gaze away from the inferno, only to her the gut wrenching sound of pidgeot screech in pain. I **** myself to squint into the blaze to see him falling, smoldering, out of the light. I shouted, as I ran to catch the falling bird amond feathers and debris falling around him. I don't know how I expected to catch a 4 foot bird falling at terminal velocity, but I thankfully didn't have to find out. A purple aura surrounded the bird, and lowered it gently before me. It coughed out smoke. "Pidgeot," it said weakly. Bald spots and charred flesh where feathers had been. My vision started to close as I turned around to thank Misty. She stood there next to a funny looking yellow blob, and my vision closed around the fiery red hair. "I, I don't feel good," I stammered as the darkness overcame my vision.