Ch 6. Viridian forest Pt. 1

Walking beneath the closely packed trees, Ares enjoyed the feeling of being on his own again. The forest had this calming effect on him that people infested places didn't offer to him.

He let out Eevee from his pokeball, letting him take in the sights of their training grounds for the next couple of days.

Lucario barked at Eevee in greeting, as they both became vigilant of their surroundings.

"Okay, listen up. We are now in Viridian forest. This place is infested with mostly bug pokemon such as the Caterpie evolution line and that of Weedle. Other pokemon are the Flying type evolution line of Sparrow and Pidgey. For now, we are out to battle and increase your experience. Another point is finding another partner for our team."

Eevee and Lucario nodded. They both were very inexperienced in battle, Eevee more than Lucario. Lucario had trained with Ares since young, learning many battle styles and forms. The only thing he needed to do was learn how to implement them in a real battle. If he mastered that, he would surely be unbeatable.

Sharing his plans, Ares looked toward the well grown forest in front of him, entering the path leading into the deeper parts of the forest.

The path leading through Viridian forest was overgrown and pretty faint, looking more like Pokemon tracks the further he went in. Surely many travelers had gotten lost after diverging from the path without knowing. It was quite pleasant to walk alongside his pokemon, even if they were rather tense. They could be attacked at any time, so he was glad to see they weren't lax at all.

As they continued deeper into the forest, the canopy became denser and the light that shined through became less and less, making the path in front of Ares less visible and dark. He had heard from professor Oak that people often lost their way in Viridian forest. This had to be on of the reasons, as Ares had the feeling that if he took his eye from the path he would immediately lose his way.

So far he hadn't seen any other travelers besides himself. Though there were a lot of pokemon to be seen instead. Every so often a Caterpie or Weedle would pass by, with a swarm of Pidgy and Sparrow passing by every so often. He had even seen a massive swarm of Kakuna and Beedrill, passing by as quietly as possible. Getting their attention would be disastrous.

Most of the pokemon ignored them, but every now and then there were a few amongst them that attacked.

It was mostly dealt with by Lucario, who became more adept in how to apply his battle sense in real battle. Even if the battles would be over in one hit, it was still worthwhile practice.

"Good job Lucario."

Ares praised, as the spearow quickly ran away.

Having just finished one battle, another pokemon appeared.

"Your turn Eevee."

Eevee nodded and jumped forward, ready to face whatever opponent that would come.

The bushes in front of them rustles, as a Pichu came out. It looked very weak, battered by other pokemon, but in its mouth it held a branch with three Oran berries. It was her hard earned reward from the previous battles.

Pichu froze when she saw her opponents, wondering if she could flee or not.

There was one human behind the Eevee, while a weird looking pokemon was blocking her way out. From what she could sense, that pokemon was strong, much stronger than she was. Escape would definitely be impossible.

Seeing no opening at all, Pichu dropped the berry and glared at Eevee, the weakest pokemon of the trainer. The other pokemon, the strange one she didn't recognise, only seemed to care for any other pokemon that might attack. It didn't give her any attention at all. The trainer didn't seem that intent on cornering her either. She had a chance to escape then, if she could take down this Eevee in front of her.

Charging up sparks, Ares noticed the Pichu wasn't about to flee and instead readied herself for battle. Good. This way Eevee could have a decent opponent, even if the Pichu was injured. When the battle was over, he would heal her, as thanks for the battle. Another option would be to catch it, but he would first need to get a chance for that. One that would show itself later in the battle.

"Eevee, use Tackle."

Rushing forward, Eevee arrived in front of Pichu. Before Pichu could react, Eevee slammed hard into her, pushing her backwards.

Pichu cried out in pain, glaring at Eevee.

Eevee continued to watch over the Pichu, stalking around the Pichu for an opening, ready to finish it when Ares said so.

"Eevee, Tackle once more."

Before the Pichu had a chance to counter attack with the spark she was charging, she was hit once more, leaving Pichu with little strength to get up.

Seeing his chance, Ares threw a poke ball.

Hitting the Pichu on her side, she was sucked inside.

The pokeball began to move, once, twice, thrice, click.

Seeing no response anymore, Ares walked up to the pokeball. This was his first pokemon to be caught. Even if it had been weakened a lot, it was still a succesfull capture.

Patting Eevee on his head, he praised him for his hard work.

"Well done Eevee, especially for a first battle."

Eevee leaned into the headpat, purring in delight.

Releasing Pichu from the pokeball, the Pichu looked at Ares with vigilant eyes.

"Now that I've caught you, I want to welcome you to my team, Pichu."

Ares said, as he gently began to treat her wounds. Her wounds, though the looked severe, were easily treated with a few potions.

Pichu looked at disbelief at the human in front of her, wondering if she should trust him or not. Trainers surely weren't all nice guys, especially since she had seen some of the gruesome acts a few of them subjected their own pokemon to.

The choice was quickly made, as she saw how kindly Ares treated his other pokemon. He seemed to be trusted by them as well, a hint he might be different.

Breaking a small smile, Pichu gently held Ares's finger, showing him she accepted.

Smiling, Ares finished his treatment and returned Pichu to her pokeball to have a rest. A thing he needed to do as well. The day would soon turn into night. He didn't want to set up a camp in the night, even more so when a lot of bug pokemon would become active.

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As the sun was starting to set, Ares and the others searched for a decent camping spot, which wasn't easy due to the quickly darkening sky. Annoyed it took so long, Mew just teleported them to the nearest river with a wide space. A bit disoriented from the sudden change, Ares looked at Mew who was playing innocent and looking around as if she wondered where they were.

Not bothering with placing his suspicions on Mew, fully knowing she was the culprit, Ares started to set up camp while Lucario began to gather fire wood. Eevee was looking around for any hostile pokemon, while Pichu just relaxed, still tired from the battle. Smiling at his companions, Ares finished quickly and took out the pre-made dinner. Handing the tins filled with Pokemon food to his pokemon, they all enjoyed themselves around the campfire.

Gathering around him, Mew and Lucario tugged at his sleeve as Lucario handed the emerald green ocarina to him and pushed it into his hand. Eevee tilted his head, not knowing where this was going, as did Pichu. Chuckling at the eager looks in his pokemons eyes, Ares obliged and played a soft and gentle tune, much like a lullaby. Eevee cheered as he climbed in Ares's lap and nestled himself firmly to enjoy the music. Lucario took a nearby spot as well, while Pichu hesistantly took a spot at his side. Unsuprisingly, they were fast asleep by the time he played the last note, snuggling close against his side.

Chuckling at the sight, Ares could only lament as he was stuck in his current position until they woke up. Resigned to his fate as a cushion, Ares stared at the boundless starry sky. Setting up camp wasn't going to happen.

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Waking up early the next morning, Ares gently poked his pokemon in an attempt to wake them up. Unlike Lucario who was quickly on his feet and started his morning exercise session, Eevee slowly stood up while still half asleep. Eevee blinked slowly as he staggered forward and began to rub his eyes to drive the sleep away. Pichu didn't even wake up, still too tired.

Ares slowly stood up and waited for the feeling in his legs to return before he started to make breakfast. Starting a small fire, Ares quickly prepared some soup and put together a few sandwiches. When he was ready, all his pokemon were already waiting, each holding a small plate in front of them. Not knowing what to do, Eevee and Pichu followed Lucario and Mew's actions and waited for their food to be placed on the plate.

After enjoying a simple breakfast, Ares started the early training session with his pokemon. Like usual Lucario went to meditate and increase the control he had over his aura. He was able to conjure multiple different weapons, capable of wielding all that he had become familiar with. Mew on the other hand never trained as she wasn't planning to battle with Ares. She had enough fun staying with him and just watched the others, helping them with their training when they needed it. When she was bored, she would make a prank every so often while having fits of laughter afterwards.

Leaving Mew alone to prank some other unfortunate pokemon, Ares began to train with Eevee. As Eevee had only joined his team yesterday.

He had a general idea, as Eevee had battle with him once before, but it was better to know all the moves Eevee could use.

"Let's see what you can do, shall we?"

Eevee happily jumped around as he too was ecstatic to show what it could do.

Performing move after move, Eevee looked up at his trainer to receive some praise.

"You did very well Eevee. You are really strong."

It wasn't an exaggeration as Ares was very surprised by Eevee's move set.

The moves Eevee was able to do were: Tackle, Quick attack, Bite, Charm, Sand attack, and the most surprising one, Shadow ball.

The last one Eevee should only be able use is if it had been taught by someone else. It wasn't very common for Eevee to already know the move.

Ares was still happy Eevee could use so many moves while it was so young, probably something professor Oak wanted to surprise him with.

Getting on with the training, Ares told Eevee to focus on the Dark energy he used in bite and to try making it denser and making it more powerful. Same story with Shadow Ball. If Eevee was able to make those moves more powerful, it would help a lot in gym battles.

Besides focussing on increasing it's special move energies, Ares also made sure Eevee increased his speed. Eevee were known to have a high special Defense and relatively good speed. For now Ares would focus Eevee's training on speed, after that he would train in attack and battles against wild pokemon.

He wanted to let them get used to battling before he challenged the gym. At least they would be a bit more confident if they had some battle under their belt. It wouldn't be a problem to challenge some trainers as well, as they needed to get used to battling pokemon trainers as well.

Pichu was a whole different story, as he first needed her to get a bit more comfortable around him before he could truly battle with her. For now he would stick with training, that would begin with her training her electric powers.

Like that the morning quickly passed and by noon Ares set out to find some wild pokemon to battle and possibly, if they caught his eye, to catch for in his team.