Chapter 5: The First Day (2)

The rest of the day went as smoothly as possible. Dave and Eevee walked side by side, both with wide smiles on their faces. With spirits and morale high, the pair managed to cover a good distance that afternoon and they could already see that they were getting closer to the mountain.

"Hey Eevee, let's try to get there before it gets too late. There we can find a better place to sleep."

Even though the goal Dave had set was still quite far away and the sky was beginning to turn dark, nothing could dent their confidence after claiming their first victory in a battle.

Dave didn't even pay attention to the fact that he hadn't caught any Pokemon today. He was simply too distracted by everything else.

The sun went down and the road began to grow dark quickly, but Dave was determined to reach the mountains before stopping to rest, even if they had to travel in pitch black darkness.

"Eevee, stay close to me," he called. "Don't go too far or I'll lose sight of you. It's getting dark."

And it really was. The night was pitch black and there was no moon in the sky, leaving only the stars to light up the earth.

Dave couldn't see much more than a few feet ahead of him, and now he didn't even know how far he was from the mountain.

He would have stopped there and looked for a place to stay the night if he had been thinking clearly, but he was determined to get to Cardo as quickly as possible.

'I can't wait to get to Cardo! There must be a lot of Pokemon trainers there. I'll triumph over them all!'

They continued walking for at least another half hour until, suddenly, Dave saw a figure moving on the road in front of him. It was too dark to know exactly what it was, but he could tell it was a person with every step he took.

'He's coming this way,' he thought. However, it was too late to look for a hiding place as the figure must have been less than 10 metres away and there was nothing in Dave's small field of vision that could give him cover.

A little apprehensive, he chose to not do anything, and carry on walking.

"Eevee, come here," Dave said, pausing his feet for a second.

Eevee immediately jumped into his arms and before he could take any more steps, Dave watched as the silhouette of a man took shape in front of him.

He was tall, certainly an adult, with shoulder-length, wavy black hair. He wore black pants and a white coat that was zipped up to his neck. The older man stopped and looked at Dave with a mixed reaction of surprise and joy.

"Good evening, young man. Why are you out in the middle of the night all by yourself? Don't you know, it is dangerous?" the man spoke.

For a few seconds, Dave could hear his parents' scolding voice calling him "young man" whenever he got into trouble as a kid. However, he was no longer a child, but rather a Pokemon trainer.

"Please, don't call me that, sir. I'm already 12 years old and I'm out on a trip. And I'm not alone, I'm with my Pokemon," Dave said, trying to hide his nervousness.

"Sorry little guy, but I can call you whatever I want," the man chuckled.

The answer aroused a feeling of anger in the young Dave and his face turned hot and red. He could hardly believe that this stranger called him a little guy. He wasn't going to let that happen. He had a Pokemon now and he would show this rude man as much as anyone that he should be treated with more respect.

"Oh yeah? Let's see who's a kid here! I bet you don't even have a Pokemon," Dave snapped.

The man regarded the youngster who was challenging him with incredulity and then burst out laughing.

"Are you challenging me to a battle? You don't even know who you're dealing with, do you young man?"

"So, who are you?" asked the angry Dave.

"My name is Peter. Peter from Team Rocket, young man. And yes I do have a Pokemon." Peter then pulled back his coat to show a black shirt with a red letter R painted in the middle.

Upon hearing the words "Team Rocket" both Eevee and Dave froze. Dave couldn't believe he'd just made such a big mistake. Out of foolish and futile pride, he had challenged one of the people he was supposed to be running away from and hiding from to a Pokemon battle.

What was he supposed to do now? How am I going to get out of this? Dave could feel sweat forming on the top of his head and his brain was working more quickly than ever. Eevee was frozen in his arms, too afraid to even make a single move.

"Where is your Pokemon, little guy? Didn't you challenge me to a battle? Take it out!" the man said, glaring contemptuously at Dave.

'I need time! I need more time to think about what to do. Something to distract him. Aha! I know!'

"Sorry Peter, but did you say you're from Team Rocket? What is that?" Dave asked, trying to sound curious.

The man looked at him in disbelief.

"What did you say? You don't even know what Team Rocket is? You really are a young child." The man sounded pathetically mocking as he spoke.

"Team Rocket is the biggest crime organisation in the world! We are the villains, the bad guys. And you've just messed with the worst of them!"

Dave saw that there was no escaping the challenge and that he would have to fight. But he knew he couldn't let his opponent see that his Eevee was stronger than it appeared.

At least for now, the man didn't seem to have paid much attention to his Pokemon, and it would be very good if it continued like this. The problem was that he didn't have any other Pokemon to fight with.

If he only had searched for one earlier. He was too busy celebrating his victory over Chris and his Squirtle. Oh, how he wanted to beat himself up now.

The fear of losing his Eevee rose so fast that all of Dave's confidence from his earlier win vanished.

"Well! It's time for a battle! Isn't this what you wanted!" Peter said as he took out his pokeball. "Go Scyther!"

Dave, seeing that Eevee was transfixed in his arms, bowed his head and whispered soothing words into its ear. If there was anything they needed right now, it was calm.

"Look, Eevee. It seems that this guy still doesn't realise that you are the Eevee Team Rocket is searching for. It would be great if he didn't, but we have no other option now than to fight him. I know, Scyther is a strong Pokemon. But we're going to have to find a way to get out of this without using any powerful attacks, so as not to attract attention. Go there and don't do anything I don't tell you to. I still don't know how, but I'm going to get us out of this."

Eevee seemed to understand the situation they were in and after giving Dave slightly more confident look at Dave, it swallowed its fear and leaped out of his arm to face the powerful foe.

"I choose my Eevee," said Dave.

Peter seemed to have noticed Dave's Pokemon for the first time and grew interested.

"Scyther, start with a Quick Attack!" he ordered. "Let's see what this Eevee is capable of.

"Dodge Eevee!" Dave screamed. He had to think of a way to get out of this.

Eevee leapt to the side, but Peter's Scyther was too fast. It changed direction and pressed on with the attack, putting Eevee in trouble.

"Scyther, use Slash!" Peter said.

The bug-type Pokemon's scythe came swooping up from underneath, aiming for Eevee. However, Eevee managed to dodge the slash in the nick of time.

"Watch out Eevee!" Dave was getting desperate. If this kept up, his Eevee would run out of energy, but he was still unable to discover a way out.

Scyther made another downward slash and narrowly missed his target. But before Dave or even Eevee could process what was going on, Scyther turned around and kicked Eevee in the face.

"Eevee!" Eevee cried as it was flung away before crashing to the ground next to the road.

'Hmph! Too weak to be the boss's Eevee,' Peter scoffed.

"Finish it off, Scyther!" He gave the order with a malicious grin. "Let's show this little guy that Team Rocket is not to be trifled with!"

"Wait! Stop! The fight is over. Eevee is no longer able to fight!" Dave shouted as he raised his hand to surrender, but Scyther was already moving in to attack.

"No! Eevee!!

All of a sudden, a Charmander appeared out of nowhere and knocked the Scyther back in Peter's way. It just prevented the worst from happening, to Dave's relief.

"CHAR!" Then, the fire salamander Pokemon unleashed a big ball of fire at Scyther.

The attack was so powerful that it threw Peter and his Pokemon far away. When the dust finally settled, a crimson beam shot out and struck the unconscious Scyther, who instantly vanished.

Dave didn't see or hear anything else after that. That Charmander seemed to have sent Peter away for good.