It was hard, living it out on Route 46. Our entire daily routine consisted of training, eating sleeping. We trained deep in the forest, and slept next to a small lake in its midst, so water wasn't a problem. And we had Goku anyway, who could serve up some water at any time.
Food was a bit harder; we learned to live off berries that Banjo and Ricki gathered. Those two weren't actually interested in battling, and they trained the least out of everyone.
Ledger often joined in training, but usually was found either relaxing near the lake or racing around the forest.
Goku and Jasmine were absolute powerhouses from all the training they did, they only stopped to sleep and eat. Jasmine hardly ate, ever since I told her about how Meditites live on a single berry a day. She thought that this would be a great help to her training, and actually managed to cut down to three to four berries a day, as opposed to everyone else who had around fifty or more (doubled for Ledger and tripled for Goku).
So this was our life for a few weeks, and that's when I had a feeling the some of my Pokémon were going to evolve soon.
Sure enough, one day during training, Goku started glowing.
The rest of my Pokémon and I gathered around him, as he emitted a white light and started to change.
"So long Totodile," I said, pulling out my Pokédex, "and hello..."
Croconaw, the Big Jaw Pokémon, said the Pokédex, as Goku gleefully checked out his new body, It opens its huge jaws wide when attacking. If it loses any fangs while biting, they grow back in.
"You look really cool, Goku," I chuckled, as he started flexing, causing my Pokémon to roll their eyes, "unfortunately, you're not big enough to surf on yet. I hate to leave Croconaw so soon, but we gotta get to your next stage, which will hopefully be big enough.
"Croco," he nodded, "Naw."
"Now that's that," I said, putting the Pokédex away, "let's see the new you in action!"
Although Goku posed a bigger threat to Jasmine, and the fights went for longer, he was still unable to defeat her.
I could tell he felt really angry at himself, so I pulled him aside after yet another loss.
"Make sure you channel that anger towards her," I whispered to him, "and try to predict where her attacks will land."
He just nodded, so I gave him a berry to eat and he stepped up to Jasmine once more.
The rest of the day was pretty much owned by Jasmine still, although Goku won a few times. As the sun set, I was feeling pretty happy with them.
"Great job you two," I beamed, "You're both coming along nicely. Hopefully one day we can become the Champions of Johto."
Grinning, they high-fived each other as Banjo and Ricki came back with some berries to eat.
"Thank you guys, and now," I said, putting the berries into a bowl, "let's eat."
As we sat down around the bowl and started to eat, except for Jasmine, and I soon noticed a lack of Ledger.
"Hey Ledger, meal time!" I called out, frowning and looking around. It wasn't like him to miss a meal.
"Ledg..." Mawile suddenly leapt up and covered my mouth.
"Wha..." I gasped as I saw a dark figure walking through the woods. It wasn't a Team Rocket member, but I could tell he or she was searching for something. Me, perhaps?
It didn't matter. We were probably known by everyone by now, so we quietly moved ourselves and our gear into a large bush where I slept. It made a bit of a noise getting into it, and the figure started moving towards the area we train in. I hardly dared to breathe.
Looking closer, I saw that it was indeed a she. And 'she' was in fact Karen, a Master Dark-Type Trainer, and the Elite Four member that replaced Lance when he became champion. The Pokémon Regional Leagues was one of my favourite subjects at school, and I could name pretty much every Elite Four Member and Champion from most regions.
I also knew that they often helped the Police, so I had an inkling that they were hunting for remaining Team Rocket members, including Giovanni, Proton and myself.
As she continued her search, I knew I couldn't fight her if she found me. So silently returning my Pokémon to their respective Pokéballs, I prepared to make a run for it.
She seemed to be getting further away however, so I decided to wait until she left.
However, when she was a good distance away, she started to come back towards the bush where I was hiding.
Hitting myself for not taking that opportunity to escape, I decided to make a run for it.
Sprinting with my head down, I started running in the opposite direction to where Karen was headed.
"Hey! You!" She shouted, but I wasn't stopping for anything.
"Honchkrow, after him!" I heard her voice in the distance. Karen couldn't be seen when I risked a glance back, so I slowed down a bit. I started up again however, when a formidable looking Honchkrow came flying at full speed towards me.
I was fairly confident that I could outrun it, however before I saw an opening, a black fog completely engulfed me.
Unable to see, Honchkrow started swooping me, and connected with my head a few times. Though my head was in agony, I kept pushing forward, running into trees several times.
My heart pounded faster when I heard Karen run up behind me and compliment Honchkrow on stopping me by using the move 'Haze'.
Though I had a stitch and it was killing me, I ran faster and faster through the haze, hoping to find an opening...
"Gotcha!" said Karen, grabbing my arm. I tried to shake her off, but she managed to bring me to a complete stop.
"So who are you?" she snapped, dragging me out of the haze. I quickly covered up my face with my shirt, as she tried to move my hand.
She succeeded eventually.
"You!" she gasped, as her Honchkrow landed beside her.
"Yes, me," I sighed, "and look, I know I ran, but th..."
"You're coming to the police with me," she ordered, and started dragging me over to her Honchkrow, "And they'll be no escape for you once we're in the air."
"C'mon! I'm innocent!" I yelled unconvincingly and struggled to get free of her iron grip.
"That's for the Police to decide," she said, taking a seat on her Honchkrow and pulling me in front of her as bird Pokémon started to ascend into the night sky.
I wasn't worried about myself, but Ledger was still missing, and I couldn't leave him behind.
So when we were about six metres up, I made the risky move of quickly jumping off the Honchkrow. Letting out a cry of alarm, Karen made to grab me but missed. I plummeted down towards the ground, and despite my best efforts, I landed flat on my back.
Feeling like I was going to pass out, my eyes started sliding shut as Karen's Honchkrow came back to earth and she came over to me.
"That was stupid Maxfield," she said, looking worried, "are you okay?"
I made to answer, but the sudden movement of my mouth forced me into unconsciousness...
Food was a bit harder; we learned to live off berries that Banjo and Ricki gathered. Those two weren't actually interested in battling, and they trained the least out of everyone.
Ledger often joined in training, but usually was found either relaxing near the lake or racing around the forest.
Goku and Jasmine were absolute powerhouses from all the training they did, they only stopped to sleep and eat. Jasmine hardly ate, ever since I told her about how Meditites live on a single berry a day. She thought that this would be a great help to her training, and actually managed to cut down to three to four berries a day, as opposed to everyone else who had around fifty or more (doubled for Ledger and tripled for Goku).
So this was our life for a few weeks, and that's when I had a feeling the some of my Pokémon were going to evolve soon.
Sure enough, one day during training, Goku started glowing.
The rest of my Pokémon and I gathered around him, as he emitted a white light and started to change.
"So long Totodile," I said, pulling out my Pokédex, "and hello..."
Croconaw, the Big Jaw Pokémon, said the Pokédex, as Goku gleefully checked out his new body, It opens its huge jaws wide when attacking. If it loses any fangs while biting, they grow back in.
"You look really cool, Goku," I chuckled, as he started flexing, causing my Pokémon to roll their eyes, "unfortunately, you're not big enough to surf on yet. I hate to leave Croconaw so soon, but we gotta get to your next stage, which will hopefully be big enough.
"Croco," he nodded, "Naw."
"Now that's that," I said, putting the Pokédex away, "let's see the new you in action!"
* * *
Although Goku posed a bigger threat to Jasmine, and the fights went for longer, he was still unable to defeat her.
I could tell he felt really angry at himself, so I pulled him aside after yet another loss.
"Make sure you channel that anger towards her," I whispered to him, "and try to predict where her attacks will land."
He just nodded, so I gave him a berry to eat and he stepped up to Jasmine once more.
The rest of the day was pretty much owned by Jasmine still, although Goku won a few times. As the sun set, I was feeling pretty happy with them.
"Great job you two," I beamed, "You're both coming along nicely. Hopefully one day we can become the Champions of Johto."
Grinning, they high-fived each other as Banjo and Ricki came back with some berries to eat.
"Thank you guys, and now," I said, putting the berries into a bowl, "let's eat."
As we sat down around the bowl and started to eat, except for Jasmine, and I soon noticed a lack of Ledger.
"Hey Ledger, meal time!" I called out, frowning and looking around. It wasn't like him to miss a meal.
"Ledg..." Mawile suddenly leapt up and covered my mouth.
"Wha..." I gasped as I saw a dark figure walking through the woods. It wasn't a Team Rocket member, but I could tell he or she was searching for something. Me, perhaps?
It didn't matter. We were probably known by everyone by now, so we quietly moved ourselves and our gear into a large bush where I slept. It made a bit of a noise getting into it, and the figure started moving towards the area we train in. I hardly dared to breathe.
Looking closer, I saw that it was indeed a she. And 'she' was in fact Karen, a Master Dark-Type Trainer, and the Elite Four member that replaced Lance when he became champion. The Pokémon Regional Leagues was one of my favourite subjects at school, and I could name pretty much every Elite Four Member and Champion from most regions.
I also knew that they often helped the Police, so I had an inkling that they were hunting for remaining Team Rocket members, including Giovanni, Proton and myself.
As she continued her search, I knew I couldn't fight her if she found me. So silently returning my Pokémon to their respective Pokéballs, I prepared to make a run for it.
She seemed to be getting further away however, so I decided to wait until she left.
However, when she was a good distance away, she started to come back towards the bush where I was hiding.
Hitting myself for not taking that opportunity to escape, I decided to make a run for it.
Sprinting with my head down, I started running in the opposite direction to where Karen was headed.
"Hey! You!" She shouted, but I wasn't stopping for anything.
"Honchkrow, after him!" I heard her voice in the distance. Karen couldn't be seen when I risked a glance back, so I slowed down a bit. I started up again however, when a formidable looking Honchkrow came flying at full speed towards me.
I was fairly confident that I could outrun it, however before I saw an opening, a black fog completely engulfed me.
Unable to see, Honchkrow started swooping me, and connected with my head a few times. Though my head was in agony, I kept pushing forward, running into trees several times.
My heart pounded faster when I heard Karen run up behind me and compliment Honchkrow on stopping me by using the move 'Haze'.
Though I had a stitch and it was killing me, I ran faster and faster through the haze, hoping to find an opening...
"Gotcha!" said Karen, grabbing my arm. I tried to shake her off, but she managed to bring me to a complete stop.
"So who are you?" she snapped, dragging me out of the haze. I quickly covered up my face with my shirt, as she tried to move my hand.
She succeeded eventually.
"You!" she gasped, as her Honchkrow landed beside her.
"Yes, me," I sighed, "and look, I know I ran, but th..."
"You're coming to the police with me," she ordered, and started dragging me over to her Honchkrow, "And they'll be no escape for you once we're in the air."
"C'mon! I'm innocent!" I yelled unconvincingly and struggled to get free of her iron grip.
"That's for the Police to decide," she said, taking a seat on her Honchkrow and pulling me in front of her as bird Pokémon started to ascend into the night sky.
I wasn't worried about myself, but Ledger was still missing, and I couldn't leave him behind.
So when we were about six metres up, I made the risky move of quickly jumping off the Honchkrow. Letting out a cry of alarm, Karen made to grab me but missed. I plummeted down towards the ground, and despite my best efforts, I landed flat on my back.
Feeling like I was going to pass out, my eyes started sliding shut as Karen's Honchkrow came back to earth and she came over to me.
"That was stupid Maxfield," she said, looking worried, "are you okay?"
I made to answer, but the sudden movement of my mouth forced me into unconsciousness...
