Chapter 3 - When the aspiring new trainers want to play...

Chapter 3: When the aspiring new trainers want to play...

The rest of the previous day came and gone, and quickly, the boys recovered enough to move again. After checking out of the hospital, Avon and Marcus expected a hefty bill to pay after having been patched up. However, when they arrived at the front desk, the boys shortly found out that their bill was generously paid off by Marc Anthony. They blinked at the news; that was awfully generous of the guy for he didn't even know him.

The boys went to find and thank Marc, as well as get their Pokémon back; knowing to go to the Pokémon center. Finding it was easy for it had a large "P" on it, and usually, a red roof. However, the hard part was to come. As the two boys reach the center they saw a large crowd blocking the entrance.

"What the..." Avon asked, as they saw the crowd.

The two boys shoved and pushed their way through the crowd. It was hard for the crowd, made up of photographers, girls and interviewers, were all taking up every single inch they could put their foot on. They appeared to be crowded around the lounging area, asking questions and shouting awkward things at the person there. Pushing through and finally getting sight of the person, they see it is Marc.

"Yo, Marc!" Marcus shouted. He had to shout it, being that other people were around, asking questions and shouting obnoxiously.

"Hey! Move it, kid!" shouted someone in the crowd, pushing and shoving.

"Train with me, Marc!" shouted someone else.

"Battle me! I want to test your mettle!" shouted another.

"Marry me!" shouted a fourth, most likely a girl.

"Marc! Is it true that you met legendary Pokémon? If so which ones?" asked an interviewer.

The questions went on. All while Marc was simply trying to have his breakfast. His face looked rather bored, as if this was done routinely. He hadn't appeared to have heard Marcus, as he simply continued eating. Marc's Pikachu was eating with him, for he was the only one able to fit in the lounging area due to all the commotion though his ears were drooping, having to have to endure the same torment his trainer was going through. Once Marc finished eating he turned to the crowd, took a deep breath, and did something completely unexpected.

"Enough!!" Marc shouted at the top of his lungs. The crowd silenced quickly, "Just... Leave..." He said flicking his wrist away, head bend downward, eyes closed.

The crowd, much to Avon and Marcus' surprises, backed off. Most of the crowd cleared except for a select few who were persistent enough to stay along and those who needed to use the facilities resources.

Avon and Marcus, a few boys and a dark blue haired girl in a black hoodie was all that was left of the crowd. She was cradling a pink and yellow Pokémon of a sort in her arms. She appeared to wanted to ask Marc something, but then flinched upon bringing the question up and fled out of the door. Seeing the opportunity, the boys approached Marc, to finally thank him.

"Yo, Marc!" Avon called out to him. Marc blinked, having heard the familiar, but more robust voice.

"Oh, hey! You two are..." Marc stopped. He snapped his fingers, trying to remember the names, "Avon and... Who are you?"

"Marcus." he replied, feeling somewhat vain. He thought that someone already spoke of his name.

"Right," Marc nodded, "The nurse at the counter has your Pokémon." He said, vaguely.

Marc then turned away and continued dealing with his business of the small crowd of persistent trainers surrounding him, all wanting to become apprentices. They begged and begged but Marc didn't appear to have an answer for them. It was then that Marcus scoffed, annoyed by these questions that the mindless trainers continued to throw at the expert trainer.

"Really, what's the deal with the whole "Apprentice" thing, anyway?" Marcus asked. The crowd gasped, as if he had said a dirty word or had committed blasphemy.

"Are you kidding?!" asked one of the trainers, "He's a living legend!"

"No I'm not." Marc quickly interjected, mid-sentence of the trainer's compliments.

"He could topple the Pokémon league, hands down!" said another.

"He met with legendary Pokémon, before, and helped them!" said a third.

"And, on top of all that, he has almost every Pokémon, minus the legendaries, that's known to the public! And, somehow, he trains them all to an equal degree!"

"It's nothing a little effort can't hurt." The elite trainer directed his speaking to Avon and Marcus. "I keep telling these guys that if they want to become stronger, put some effort into it. Hell, some of the trainers told me they were the best of their region, and yet when they fought me and lost, they wanted to learn under me. I shot them down, saying 'If they were the best then I wouldn't need to train you, then.'" Marc nodded, "And those who I have taken under apprenticeship couldn't take the pressure and bailed on me. I'm not going to take anyone who won't look forward to harder challenges."

"Please take me in!" said one of the trainers.

"No! Accept me again! I promise not to quit!" promised another one.

"I want another shot! Please!" said a third.

"No, no and no! Forget it! I'm done with apprenticing you guys I've done before. Just go."

The trainers, who were once understudies of Marc, left in disappointment. The crowd was diminished to three, not including Marcus and Avon.

"We'd better leave him be..." Avon suggested. They both could clearly see that Marc was about to get more problems on his hands. They walked up to the counter, where a pink haired nurse was waiting to assist them in any way. "Excuse me, Nurse Joy?"

The nurse gave the boys a warm, friendly smile. Apart from mending the wounds of the Pokémon, her friendly smile seemed to ease away any pains and aches that trainers may have. "Yes, how can I help you today?" She asked.

"We're here to pick up our Pokémon, ma'am. A Munchlax and a Charmander for me," Marcus started..

"And a Bulbasaur for me," Avon finished. "They were checked in, yesterday afternoon, right?"

"Oh, right! Coming right up..." the nurse said. She moved into the back room, to collect their teams. As she did, Marcus turned to Avon.

"You remember what I said, right?" Marcus asked, "You're leader of this group, Avon."

"Yeah, I didn't forget," Avon replied, "Luckily, I know where to go. But first, we need to decide on what we're to do..."

The nurse placed down the trays with their Pokéballs in front of them. She appeared even more eager to help for she had overheard them talking. "Maybe you should try out for the Pokémon league."

"Pokémon league?" Avon asked.

"I've heard of it. It's a championship involving a series of battles to the top of the region. The Pokémon league is a harsh road to glory, and only one can be champion," Marcus explained.

Avon was surprised of Marcus' knowledge. "How do you know about it?"

"When I was looking up fighting contests, that event also popped up. Of course, apart from actually getting to the league, you have to face a series of trainers called Gym leaders, whom they give you badges to access the Pokémon league. Once you have all of them, of a region, you can take part in the Pokémon league."

"However, the date of the Pokémon league is in another few months. If you're planning on getting there, you should train hard," Nurse Joy advised.

"Thanks for the advice, Nurse Joy."

With the advice from the nurse, as well as their Pokémon, the dynamic duo pressed onward to their next destination, Pewter city.
*********

As Avon and Marcus head on out to the next route, the two continued on with their journey, hoping to finish it off on the right foot this time. However, before reaching the city limits of Viridian city, the inspiring new trainers reencounter another inspiring new trainer, back from his training.

"Hey, guys!" shouted Jimmy, approaching from their rear. He sounded slightly out of breath, mainly from carrying that large bag of his, but also due to running to catch up with Avon and Marcus. "I saw you guys in the Center and decided to bring up that challenge you mentioned!"

"Well hola, Jimmy," Marcus said.

"Sup?" Avon asked, "So, think you're prime time, now that you got that training?"

"Sure am, um..." Jimmy paused. He never got their names.

"Avon."

"Marcus."

"Yeah, Avon," Jimmy said, "I'm ready to give you guys a go!"

He stepped up, his bright blue eyes somewhat glistening from the excitement. He put down his overlarge backpack, and took off his lone Pokéball off his belt. He threw it up and the ball opened up and the light beam from the ball formed summoned the Pocket monster.

A cicada-like Pokémon appeared out of the ball, two whisker-like antennas, arched from its mouth to the ground. It's whitish-gray body somewhat blended in with the white road it stood on, it's brown front claws and green, curled up stubbed wings on it's back standing out to the color of the road. Avon and Marcus stood, awestruck by how seemingly weak the bug Pokémon looked.

"A Nincada? Are you for real?" Marcus asked. Jimmy nodded. "Avon, who do you think should face him, you or me?"

"Rock paper scissors, dude." Avon said.

They shook their fists at each other, three times, as they initiated the quick game. Avon shot out two fingers, in the shape of "scissors" as Marcus kept his fist clenched, "Rock." Avon shrugged.

"Alright, then..." Marcus said, turning to his challenger, "Guess you're my opponent, Jimmy. Don't expect me to go easy on you."

Jimmy seemed to have gotten even more inspired when Marcus said that, "That's alright, Marcus! I can take it!" He wiped his nose with a finger, "We just got started! We can take it!"

Marcus tossed up his Pokéball, calling out his Charmander, from before. He felt good to have it again. "Charmander, show him who's boss."

"Nincada! Scratch attack!"

Charmander waited for the cicada Pokémon to approach to bat him back and away, with a swing of his orange tail. Nincada was knocked into the air, and flipped many times, before landing back on it's feet, in a daze, as it stood there, open and swaying it's head back and forth.

"Charmander, unleash Flamethrower!"

Charmander took a deep breath and unleashed a magnificent stream of scarlet flames, as they scorched the gravel in a straight line on it's way to reach Nincada.

"Nincada! Harden!" Jimmy commanded. Nincada stiffened every muscle in it's body to endure the attack; however, that appeared to have failed as the flames died down. Scorch marks appeared all over it's body as it clenched it's eyes shut, still trying to endure and keep it's muscles stiff. Eventually, Nincada succumbed to the powerful fire attack, and collapsed with spirals in it's eyes.

"I think he just rolled a critical," Avon commented from the sidelines.

Jimmy groaned, having lost. "After all the training we did..."

"Don't feel bad. It's not that you suck. It's just that Marcus is better than you."

"Yeah..." Jimmy said. He sounded down, but Avon's words seemed to have gotten to him, "Yeah!" Jimmy pointed to Marcus, "Marcus. Avon. Next time we battle, I'll be stronger! You'll see! I'll beat you, one day!"

Jimmy took off to the Viridian City Pokémon center after that battle, though not before recalling his Nincada and picking up his oversized backpack. The two boys remaining gave each other a rather skeptical look. Even Charmander was looking skeptical, at Jimmy's comment.

"He's not going to beat us..." Avon said, with an incredulous tone.

*************

The two boys progressed to enter the Viridian forest. However, down the road, an old rival decided to block their way. As they approached the entrance, they see Jason, the same way they met him the first time, leaning on something that lead onto their progress; in this case, one of the trees that led into Viridian forest.

"Hiya, chumps." Jason said, seeing the two. He waved. "If it ain't old knuckles and chicken wuss!"

"A..." Avon gasped, flabbergasted, "A chicken what?!"

"Leave us be, Jason. Or else you want me to put these knuckles to good use... On your face, perhaps?" Marcus taunted.

"Hey, I'm a nice guy. And besides, I don't beat up on weaklings, until after I beat them in a battle. After all, it's no good if you're Pokémon aren't as intimidating as you."

"That's big words coming from a meathead." Avon taunted.

"Shut up, wimp!" Jason snatched one of his Pokéballs off of his belt, "So, Knuckles, take me on! Unless you're just too high and mighty for a Pokémon battle!"

Marcus looked over to Avon, "Should I?"

"Well, you're on a roll, so meh; why not?" Avon said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Alright, then," Marcus turned to Jason, "I'll whup you, like I should've done, back at Oak's lab," Marcus pointed one of his fingers at Jason, "one way or another."

He tossed up Charmander's Pokéball, once again, calling out the orange Lizard Pokémon. Jason cackled.

"Oh man, this will be a snap!" Jason said. He reared back his Pokéball and threw it up, calling out a navy blue colored Pokémon, instead of the starter he chose. It's back shell was a darker brown and it had longer, curlier tails, than the single tail it had as a Squirtle. Needless to say, Marcus nearly choked, at the sight of it.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Marcus gasped.

"What's a matter? Gonna wet yourself?" Jason taunted, "Wartortle! Water gun!"

"Charmander, use Scratch, or something! Just try not to get killed out there!"

Charmander began to charge toward the turtle Pokémon, however, Wartortle inhaled and then squirted a blast of water to attack. Charmander, seeing the incoming water, turned tail and ran for his life, holding his tail in front of him, to prevent the water from hitting it. The water was pressing down on his back and eventually made Charmander trip and fall, but his flame was still lit. However, Charmander couldn't take anymore, as it lied on the ground, dazed.

Marcus groaned, as he recalled his Charmander. He still had one option left. He placed back Charmander's Pokéball, ready to rear up another one. Jason became surprised.

"What? You're not out of Pokémon yet?"

"I have one more. Munchlax!" Marcus called out his trusted partner, from it's Pokéball. He hadn't released it, since he had gotten it back from the Pokémon center.

"Regardless, it's still going to get it's fat butt munched!" Jason said. He pointed to the Munchlax, "Wartortle, use another Water gun!"

"Munchlax, Metronome!" Marcus said.

As Wartortle took his sweet time to attack, Munchlax wagged one of his fingers, as they glow. When the glowing finished, Munchlax fell onto its back and started to flop around uselessly. This surprised Marcus, because Munchlax was now using the most useless move of all; Splash.

"Horse f***..." Marcus muttered, slapping one of his palms to his forehead.

Wartortle unleashed his Water Gun, as it hit Munchlax, mercilessly. Munchlax was blown toward Marcus, flattened, rolled out and tossed aside; defeated.

"Oh my sweet stars..." Avon said dumbfound, having watched the battle from the sidelines. He was going to make Jason pay. He pulled out one of his Pokéballs, ready for some payback.

"Alright, kid. Now, that my Pokémon have beat yours down, let me do you the honor of letting you feel their pain," Jason said, pounding one of his fists into his palm. As he approached, Marcus held out a hand for him to stop, "Wha-?"

"Say, Jason, I'm feeling generous today and so I'll let you in on a little secret. If you don't wanna lose this fight then simply stay still and let me punch you from there to here," Marcus said. He then pointed a random direction somewhere behind Jason.

"Where?"

Jason, idiotically, looked back to see where he was pointing at. Marcus, on the other hand, charged toward him and delivered a mighty hook to Jason's left cheek. The impact of the blow sent him spiraling a few feet away from the entrance, knocking him out cold for a while.

Wartortle, seeing his trainer downed, had prepared himself for another Water gun, however, staggered, from a hit from behind. Wartortle, paralyzed from the blow from behind, fell forward and revealed a sharp leaf lodged in the back of his shell. A short distance behind him was Avon and his Bulbasaur who look proud of their achievement and hi-fived each other for it.

"Thanks for that," Marcus said, then recalling Munchlax to his Pokéball, "So, what now?"

"We heal up and then head on out, to Pewter," Avon said. He was about to turn around, but then remembered Jason and Wartortle, "Then again, we don't need to have another tussle with Jason..."

"So, we move on?"

"Yeah. I have some potions and other items to heal up your Pokémon. Once we get a good distance away from this meathead, we'll heal up your Pokémon."

**********

The two boys moved, hurried along their way into the natural labyrinth that is Viridian forest. They ran a good deal through the woods to escape sight of the bully, Jason Bullard. When they ensured their safety, they finally stopped.

As the two rested, Avon took out some medical supplies for Marcus' Pokémon.

"Alright, now how do we use these?" Marcus asked, confounded on how to use items.

"I believe we spray them on the injuries and they'll have to rest, after that..." Avon replied, holding up a blue spray bottle.

"You mean they still have to rest?"

"Yeah, but the items cuts their resting time and they'll recover faster."

To reduce their waiting time, they both took one of Marcus' Pokémon each. Avon took Charmander, and Marcus took Munchlax. At first, there was some stinging and after finishing spraying the contents, relaxation. Marcus recalled his Pokémon for his Pokémon to rest inside their balls.

"Let's hope the wait isn't long." Marcus said.

Avon read the label on one of the emptied bottles, "It says to give the Pokémon a good couple hours rest, for complete recovery."

Marcus sighed, "Looks like I'm out of commission. Avon, you'll have to do the battling for me."

"No pro-" As Avon stood up and turned around, a brown unidentified Pokémon slapped him in the face, "Oh dear god!!" Avon cried, as he flung back and thumped his whole body on the ground. Marcus got up, to see what was wrong, as a brown, caterpillar-like Pokémon with a small white horn on its head and a large pink nose inched off of him. Avon was so stunned, he couldn't even move.

"A Weedle, dude. You're okay, as long as his stinger didn't hit you..." Marcus said. He looked at Avon, where he got smacked, "He didn't, right?" Avon nodded to agree to not being stung.

"Hello? Is someone there?" asked a girl's voice from the bushes. She shuffled through them a bit, and stepped out into the open with a sigh of relief. As she appeared out of the brush, she bent over, seeming as though she was out of breath and scared to death. She stood up and moved some of the strands of her brown hair back behind her ear, "Boy, am I glad to see you two; I've been stuck in this bug-infested woods for hours!"

"Why hours?" Marcus asked.

"Because, there are all kinds of bugs and scary parts of the woods that..." the girl shuddered midway of her sentence, daring not to finish it off. "Anyway, my name is Sarah. I started my journey, a few days ago."

Avon, who had been paralyzed from the unexpected Pokémon attack, finally recovered. He blinked at the sight of Sarah, somewhat seeing a resemblance to someone else he knew, most notably her attire. It reminded him a bit of Jimmy, who rocked the usual male Trainer attire of colors of red, black and/or blue; however, Sarah was wearing the usual colors of her trainer gender; light-blue and red. He rose up, no longer stunned.

"Let me guess; A late bloomer as well?" Avon asked. He stood up, slightly taller than her. She looked around Jimmy's height.

As Avon asked the question, she was surprised, "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess. Well, that and you're wearing some sort of spandex." Avon grumbled. The fall seemed to have knocked some sense out of him.

Sarah looked down at her skirt, then closed her legs and pulled her skirt down. It didn't help, being that the damage was done, but it made her feel a little bit more secure after being eyed up. "You looked?!"

"I was on the ground and shaken up, due to a random attack of a Weedle. What do you think? I won't follow my natural male instincts?"

As he said that, Sarah delivered a powerful slap to Avon's face that knocked all the senses out of his left cheek. Avon looked dazed once more as Sarah reared back from slapping Avon senseless.

"Pervert," she called Avon, "Why don't you get your mind out of the gutter and help me out of here?"

"Why should we?" Avon asked, still seeing stars but slowly recovering from the blow.

Sarah huffed. "Alright then how about a deal? One of you fights me in a battle. If I win, you guys lead me out of here. If you win, I'll take back what I said."

"And stop being so uptight about a frickin' comment, dammit..." Avon recovered his senses from the slap. Sarah reared back her hand, ready for a back-handed slap. Avon flinched and shielded himself from what he thought was to come.

"Well, my Pokémon are in no condition to battle. Avon, there, is the only one who can battle." Marcus gestured to Avon. Sarah laughed.

"You gotta be kidding me. Do you really expect this chicken to win for you?" Sarah asked.

"He's more skilled than he looks. Don't be fooled by first appearances."

"Yeah, take his word for it! He's seen me kick @$$ and take names, before!" Avon followed up.

Sarah took out a Pokéball from her side, "Fine. But we're playing by my rules." She threw out a Pokéball and called out a Butterfly Pokémon. However, this wasn't the Kanto native version of the butterfly Pokémon. The Pokémon, with wings of colors gray, yellow and red, fluttered it's wings with grace, as it took it's place in the battlefield. The Pokémon had a long line-based mouth that curled in front of it.

"A Beautifly?! Those don't even inhabit Kanto!" Avon said.

"They ran out of starters so my folks gave me a Beautifly," Sarah said and then winking with a touch of charm, "I think it suits me well."

"What a hypocrite," Marcus said, "You hate bugs but yet you own one. That doesn't make sense..."

"Well, this one's different! It's not like those creepy crawlies in this forsaken forest!"

Avon, without much of a second choice, called out his Bulbasaur. "Bulbasaur, we don't have many options. Our grass type attacks won't do squat against it. Instead, charge up to it and use Tackle!"

"Beautifly! Poison sting!"

Beautifly's mouth straightened out and shot several pins of light toward Bulbasaur. The pins hit Bulbasaur on the forehead, causing him to turn and take the rest of the hits on the side, as an open target.

"Gah... Bulbasaur jump!" Avon commanded. Despite being under attack, it forced itself to jump up and out of harm's way of the poison sting, "Now, stun it with Razor leaf and then tackle it!"

Bulbasaur unleashed a flurry of leaves at Beautifly. The leaves struck Beautifly, knocking it down. As Bulbasaur prepared to charge for the tackle, to everyone else's surprise, Sarah stepped in, to interfere with the match.

"Time out! You broke the rule!" Sarah shouted.

"What rule? What the hell?!" Avon asked. Bulbasaur stopped, as confused as his trainer was.

"Let Beautifly get back up, before you attack again! And another thing! You dodged my attack! You're not supposed to do that!"

"So, what do you suppose I do? Have Bulbasaur stand there and take hits like a dummy?"

"Exactly," she said, plainly, "Beautifly, String shot!"

"Oh yeah, like I really would do that to my Pokémon! Bulbasaur! Dodge again!"

Beautifly spat out a silky string at Bulbasaur; however Bulbasaur, jumped out of the way, yet again. Beautifly continued to shoot stringy webbing at Bulbasaur, and finally clinging it to one of it's hind legs.

"Gotcha. Now, Poison sting again!" Sarah commanded. The needles struck Bulbasaur, mercilessly, as it couldn't get out of the way, due to the string that bound him there. Bulbasaur eventually took enough hits to topple down altogether and fell down, defeated.

"What?!" Avon cried in frustration.

"Yipee!!" Sarah shouted with glee.

"No way! That couldn't have been the end of it!" Avon said, "You jumped in, when I was about to deliver some decent damage! You cheated!"

"I did no such thing. You broke my rules! Admit you lost."

"No. And I'm definitely not leading you through the woods, because I don't lead cheaters."

"Fine. We don't need you. Beautifly, String shot again!"

Beautifly aimed for Avon and shot the silky webbing at him, binding him up in string. Avon hopped up and down, using all due strength to try to get loose; however, Sarah simply pushed him, to make him fall on his back.

"Ugh!" Avon grunted, as he hit the ground.

"Come on, kid. You're leading me out of this natural maze!" Sarah said, "Unless you want to be next."

"Actually..." Marcus said, "I'm traveling with Avon and he knows the region better than I do. I don't know my way through here. And my name's Marcus, by the way."

"So, don't tell me I have to unbind that kid over there, do I?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. Yes you do. Otherwise, you won't get to the other side of this forest."

Sarah grumbled. She helped Avon up though didn't untie him. "I don't like you and you don't like me. But I need you to get me through this forest. So, if I untie you, will you do it?"

"No!" Avon shouted, angrily.

"If you don't, then I'll tickle you until you do."

"Tickling?" Marcus asked.

"Oooh, tickling. I'm really intimidated by tickling!" Avon told her, sarcastically.

Sarah began tickling, and soon after, Avon was laughing. Beautifly even joined in, to add even more to the torture. Eventually, he came around to helping, because he couldn't stand enough of the torture. It didn't take long before Avon finally submitted to helping Sarah out of the woods. So, after being release and forced to help Sarah, Avon, reluctantly, continued his tour guiding through Viridian Forest.

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