~A Legendary Adventure~

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Disclaimer: Pokémon is © to Nintendo. ​

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Part 1

Spoiler

Hey there. My name's Ien. Ien Kendricks. Think my first name's weird? Well, if my parents hadn't called me something dumb when I was born I wouldn't have had to invent this nickname. But you know what? I kinda like it. There are lots of guys out there named Ian, but none of them have is spelled the way mine is. Plus it's a lot better than Damien.

Anyway, my parents and me used to live in Saffron City in the Kanto region, but then we moved to Aquacorde Town, which is in the Kalos region. It was a big deal, what a move right?

Spoiler

I'm trying to become the best trainer in the world, and it's gonna happen! And I know all the other trainers probably say that too, but it's gonna happen for me. I even set out on my journey from our Town only week after I turned ten! Mom and Dad wanted to celebrate it with a big party before I left too. I didn't mind. I had all the chocolate cake and ice cream I could eat! And Pocky of course. I love Pocky. I still had some left over in my backpack as I walked along, and on that train of thought I pulled it out and stuck one in my mouth. Beside me, Jasper licked his lips and I tossed a stick of it into his mouth too. He liked sharing Pocky with me back when he was alive too.

Oh yeah, Jasper kinda died. He was my Growlithe. I got him...geeze; I must have been six when mom and dad gave him to me, back when we lived in Kanto. He was my best friend. We did everything together. After he died I didn't know what to do. Then, one week later when I was sitting at his grave on a day we were visiting Lavender Town, a Pokémon floated up to me. It was a Gastly. I kinda freaked out and ran the first time. I was scared, and I guess I didn't realize that I yelled for Jasper. As soon as I did, the Gastly ran after me. Well, not run I guess since they don't have legs, but you know what I mean. I thought the Pokémon was attacking me so I closed my eyes. When nothing happened, I peeked out and saw it was nuzzling me, or trying to. At first I didn't know what to think. Then something just clicked and I knew.

The Gastly was Jasper!

Mom and Dad didn't react too well when I brought a Gastly into the house, but after I proved to them it was Jasper they were happy too. Mom started crying and said something like, 'your bond was so strong in life that he returned to you after death'. I think that's pretty cool... Me and Jasper still played like old times after that, except he's better at hiding now, since he can turn invisible. I think it's cheating. It took some getting used to, the way he would pop up out of nowhere suddenly, but eventually I got better at sensing in a way, where he was. I don't know how to describe it; I just know where he is. Most of the time anyway.

Oh yeah, and at some point Jasper evolved into a Haunter when we moved to the Kalos region! Now he's even cooler. So, on the day I set out on my journey I didn't take any of the Pokémon I was offered from the town's lab. I already had my first Pokémon. We were going to do this together.

The thing is, I've been out all day, we were on route two, and I hadn't seen a single Pokémon. They must have known a strong trainer when they saw one. Or they were scared of Jasper and were hiding... It didn't matter though; I swore I would find a wild Pokémon and catch it, even if it killed me.

Then, up ahead, I saw something. "Hey! A Pidgey!" I yelled. "Get it Jasper!" I took off after my Pokémon as it chased the wild Pidgey through the brush into Santalune Forest. Jasper vanished, but I knew he didn't run away. It's kinda like one of the games we play; if he's invisible, you never knew where he was gonna pop up. I guess he thought it would be a fun game to play with the Pidgey. I didn't know it yet, but as I ran as fast as I could to keep up, my journey to becoming a world famous trainer was about to become more complicated than I ever could have imagined.

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Ien barreled out of the tall grass into a small open clearing area, chasing the Pidgey. He knew Jasper was nearby but where? "It's getting away! Jasper, where are you?" In response, the Haunter appeared directly in front of the fleeing bird. It squawked, and as it floundered in the air, Jasper used his hypnosis attack. The Pidgey fell into a trance almost immediately before falling out of the air. From the ground, Ien grabbed his head in panic. "Holy Miltank!" He took out a Pokéball hen and threw it with all his might. The ball connected with its target and it vanished inside. The ball fell to the ground and wobbled once, twice. Three times. Click!

"Yes!" Ien jumped up and down. "Our first one! Whoo-hoo! Awesome, Jasper!" The boy retrieved the now occupied Pokéball. "We're finally building a team! I'm so pumped! Are you excited?"

Somewhere to his right he heard Jasper cackle. He was invisible again. Ien was too thrilled having caught the Pidgey to bother asking why.

A twig snapped and Ien whirled, ready for more action. It was not another Pokémon he faced however, but a little girl. It was hard for the boy to conceal his disappointment. Grumbling, he tucked his Pokéball away at his belt. "Hey, kid, what are you doing out here? You'll chase all the wild Pokémon away. Go play someplace else, okay?"

Across the small grotto, peeking out from behind a tree, the little girl blinked her big faded-bronze eyes. She looked no more than five at the most, with wavy Lilac colored hair pulled up into two ponytails on either side of her head. She wore a knee-length dress that was a darker shade of the lilac, with a big bow that tied around the front just above her left hip that was a deep violet. Oddly enough, despite the nice look of her clothes, she wore no shoes and didn't even look like she cared for them.

The little girl didn't seem bothered at all by the order Ien had given her either, or even seem wary of the strange boy she'd never seen before then. "Well, I was here first. I got tired so I'm waiting for my friends to come back with food." She said matter-of-factly before smiling. "What are you doing out here? What did you do with that Pokémon?" She pointed to where Ien had put the Pokéball curiously.

Ien sighed, grumpily folding his arms. He didn't have time for this. "I'm a Pokémon trainer. I'm gonna be world famous and everyone's gonna want to meet me. I can't get famous with people breaking my rhythm."

"A trainer?" Her head tilted. "I'm too young to be a trainer, I'm five." She held out a hand with her fingers all stretched out. "But that's okay cause I have my friends! I'm Sofia, what's your name?"

"Ien."

Sofia then smoothed out her dress a little, tucking it under her as she stepped around the tree and sat down against the trunk. As she did, more light from above revealed more of her Ien wouldn't have seen considering she'd been half hidden by the tree's trunk. On the right side of her face was an odd scar. It almost looked like it was painted on it was so unusual. There were similar marking-like scars on her lower arms and legs. "Do you have any other Pokémon? I thought trainers got one to go with them?" She had clearly not seen the whole scene of Ien's catch or she would have seen Jasper's appearance.

Ien sighed again. "Sure I have one. Can't you see he's right..." Thumbing over his shoulder the boy noticed his lead Pokémon was missing. "Aww man... Jasper I don't wanna play right now!" He whined, calling into the surrounding forest for the Haunter. No answer came. He slumped defeatedly. "Dangit Jasper..." Looking back at Sophia, his countenance was indignant. "He's here, he just likes turning invisible."

At that, the girl looked confused, glancing around a few moments. Seeing nothing she gave the trainer a somewhat disbelieving look. "An invisible Pokémon? I don't believe you." She'd never heard of anything like that, so it must not have been real. Maybe talking to this trainer was a bad idea. "Are you crazy?" She bluntly asked in a sweet, innocent voice, tilting her head.

"No! And I'm not making it up!" Ien protested, stomping his foot. "Jasper is as real as you and me." A set of eyes appeared behind Sofia then and Ien pointed. "There, he's behind you, have a look for yourself."

The eyes blinked at the girl. A mouth opened and a tongue lolled out sideways and Jasper snickered mischievously, materializing fully then for her to see.

Turning her head, Sofia immediately found herself face to face with the Haunter as it grinned. She then froze completely, eyes widening in fear as the color in her face seemed to drain. A moment later she managed to snap out of it as one of Jasper's disembodied hands appeared and waved at her. Gasping, the girl's eyes teared up before she let out a loud, high-pitched scream of horror. It almost seemed to echo around them, carried by the wind and breaking the once peaceful atmosphere of the forest around them. As the girl scrambled away back behind the tree again crying, a moment later another loud noise cut through the air, as if in response. Only this time it sounded ominous. A roar, not human in the least, and an angry one. Other Pidgey, as well as Fletchling could be heard fluttering away from the surrounding trees in panic. But then, as suddenly as it had come, it went dead quiet.

Part 2

Spoiler

Just when Ien might have thought it was over, when he thought he didn't need to worry about whatever had made the noise, behind them a large bright sphere of blue light suddenly shot into the small clearing, illuminating the area with crackling energy. So bright, only a vague silhouette could be seen within, with two angry glowing eyes. Whatever it was, it wasn't happy.

Not a moment later came another roar, like the one before only much closer and louder, and something else large crashed through the trees, breaking off smaller branches and sending leaves and dirt swirling. A large Charizard, snarling and angry landed with a loud boom of impact. Fire licked at the edges of it's open jaws as it growled, eyes locked on the unfortunate trainer before it. In various places on its orange body were darker markings of sorts not normally found on Charizards. Next to the fire lizard, the sphere of blue energy faded just slightly now. The form within's eyes narrowed, then surprised Ien by speaking, or so it seemed. However the voice was not coming from the mysterious creature, but from inside his head?

"Who are you?" Came the deep booming voice, demanding and ominous. "What have you done?"

If Ien was not already terrified of the ticked off Charizard, he nearly wet himself as the being next to it addressed him within his mind! "I-I...! I didn't...I was..." He choked on his own words. "What did I do?" he squeaked. "I didn't do anything! She's the one that screamed!" He said frantically.

Jasper zipped in front of his trainer, waving both disembodied hands, addressing the newcomers but mainly the angry Charizard. Ien had no idea what was being said, too frozen in fear to think much of anything helpful, but from the hand gestures the Haunter made it looked like he was trying to de-escalate the situation.

Growling, the Charizard just took a threatening step forward and roared, though not as loudly, in the ghost's face in challenge. Expression going deadpan, Jasper aimed a disconcerting look at the fire lizard for its apparently rude outburst before suddenly using hypnosis. The fire lizard wavered within moments as the move took effect, before flopping over onto the ground, it giving a tremendous quake from the impact. Turning back to the mysterious entity, Jasper resumed where he left off, the ducked his head apologetically and cast a tentative glance towards Sofia.

The girl was just barely peeking out from behind the tree she'd fled behind at being startled. Seeing the ghost Pokémon looking her way, she ducked back behind the trunk. This didn't seem to please the other, mysterious Pokémon as it glanced from the snoozing Charizard back to where Sofia was hiding briefly, eyes still glowing blue, like the blue barrier of energy it floated in. But considering it wasn't attacking, it had clearly heard and understood what the Haunter had said.

Slowly, eyes returning back to where the Haunter and Ien were, the Pokémon slowly lowered to the ground to stand, and the blue barrier faded away completely a moment later to reveal the creature's form fully. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Came the 'voice' again, eyes now revealed to be violet locked onto the young trainer intently.

Ien swallowed. "I-I'm a trainer, m-my name's Ien! I was just passing through! Please don't kill us! We didn't do anything wrong!"

Jasper nodded vigorously and rattled off a phrase or two, drooping a little so the other Pokémon would see he was contrite. The Haunter pantomimed patting his trainer on the head as through saying: My trainer's a good human. He's not lying.

Pondering his fate, Ien tentatively stood up. "I'd like to ask you the same question, if you don't mind...Who are you? You're not like any Pokémon I've ever seen." Remembering the Pokédex, the young trainer fished it out and popped it open. A mechanical and informative voice filtered out of the device.

"Mewtwo, the genetic Pokémon. A Pokémon created by recombining the legendary Pokémon Mew's genes. It's said to have the most savage heart among Pokémon. Little else of this Pokémon is known."

Ien gaped. "Holy Miltank... Holy...! Y-you're a..." He turned to Jasper for a reaction but the ghost only grinned awkwardly and said something to Mewtwo he couldn't understand. Ien was too distracted to care what. "A legendary crosses my path already? This is my lucky day! I'm gonna catch you! Go Pidgey!" Grabbing the Pokéball at his belt, he tossed it up into the air, activating it to open. His newest Pokémon popped out of its ball, before promptly flopping onto its stomach like a useless Magikarp and snoring. Ien sweatdropped. "Oh yeah, I forgot it was asleep..." He muttered in embarrassment. Recovering quickly, he called the bird back. "Okay then, you can take this one Jasper!"

The Haunter whirled on his trainer incredulously in exclamation as though to say: "Wait, are you kidding me?" However, having been a Growlithe in life, the ghost Pokémon had retained its fierce loyalty in this form and a moment later Jasper moved into attack position. He attempted a Night Shade attack on Mewtwo but the legendary was much faster, and Jasper winced as the larger Pokémon promptly retaliated without effort. Jasper cringed back as the blue light surrounding it from the mild psychic attack faded, and the ghost vanished with a whimper, no longer willing to fight. Ien fidgeted. Now what? Well there was always...

Retrieving a Pokéball from his belt, he hurled it at Mewtwo in a last ditch effort. It wouldn't make it far however.

Mewtwo's eyes glowed ominously again, and a similar glow engulfed the incoming capture ball. It slowed quickly, before coming to a complete halt in front of the Pokémon to hover uselessly. Then, with just a slight narrowing of his eyes, the Pokéball suddenly exploded into tiny bits. Only then did Mewtwo release his hold on the object and its pieces fell to the ground. Those intense glowing eyes then locked onto Ien again. "You think you can catch me? Fool."

At the sight the boy yelped and scrambled back, covering his head in fear. Jasper quickly levitated between the angry Pokémon and his trainer again, speaking directly to Mewtwo once more in hopes of saving the boy. Not that Ien could understand any of what was being said. What the legendary heard however was: 'He's just a kid and doesn't know any better! Our bad! We should probably just go our separate ways now. No hard feelings, huh?' Jasper urged his trainer in the opposite direction while somewhat frantically, but sincerely, saying: 'Tell the little girl I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to scare her!'

Mewtwo didn't move from where he stood, watching fixedly as the pair continued backing away, before they both turned and bolted into the brush.

As the two Pokémon and Sofia vanished into the distance, Ien eventually had to stop; panting and plopping down onto a stump with a relieved exhale to assess what had become of his day so far. He had encountered a legendary! And almost probably died. But he hadn't, and that's what counted! No one would ever believe him. "As long as you saw it Jasper, that's good enough for me." The Haunter nodded rapidly, also looking somewhat exasperated. "Wow...what are the odds of that happening again? That was too insane! Man..."

Shaking his head, Ien then remembered his newest Pokémon and, in a moment, had released the Pidgey from its ball. It was still asleep. Briefly digging in his backpack, the trainer then slipped a Chesto berry into its mouth, and the bird awoke a moment later only to begin pecking and flogging the boy with its wings a moment later, squawking angrily. Ien ended up having to wrangle it into submission. "Look, I'm sorry Jasper scared you! But I could've just let you fall after he knocked you out. I didn't! Cut me a little slack for that would ya?!"

The Pidgey squirmed free and landed nearby before ruffling its feathers moodily. It did not seem like it right now, but Ien was sure it would warm to him eventually. Studying the creature uncertainly, he then checked the Pokédex and it informed him that the bird Pokémon was a female. Maybe that was why she was so moody. Putting the device away and checking the time, he realized he was starving. Digging into his backpack again, Ien retrieved something to snack on, while also offering yummy treats to Jasper and the Pidgey. She still glared at him but let Ien feed her once out of his hand. That was an improvement right? Smiling, it was not that much later, after finding an appropriate spot, when the trainer curled up in his sleeping bag and went to sleep.

The next morning when Ien woke up, he attempted to pet his tiny bird Pokémon in greeting after seeing her already awake. However, she only pecked him again. Sucking on his now sore finger, the small group resumed trekking through the forest after having something quick to snack on that would hold them over until they got to the next town. Fishing out his map, he concluded they were still in Santalune Forest. But directly after this forest was route three, which then led into Santalune City. So it wasn't too far, nice!

For the rest of this wooded route Ien purposely avoided going in the direction he'd seen Mewtwo yesterday, and stayed mainly on the given path, not wanting to stare death in the face for the second time in two days. The Pidgey flew overhead, still giving Ien the cold shoulder, but Jasper levitated at Ien's right as usual and the two shared some more Pocky. The trainer had just finished eating a stick when he spotted it up ahead through the brush. Not too far away was a fearsome looking Fearow preening its feathers on a big fallen tree. It was huge! Quietly crouching low in the bushes, the boy was certain the wild Pokémon had not noticed him. This was another perfect opportunity. He retrieved another spare Pokéball, smirking. "Yer gonna be mine!" He whispered. Jasper beside him gave his trainer a hesitant look, but before he could stop the boy he had leapt out of the bushes and hurled the Pokéball with all his might, right at the giant raptor.

Initially startled, the Fearow had jumped, its feathers fluffing up. It barely got a chance to even look around before the ball smacked it in the head. Its squawk of displeasure was cut off as its body was engulfed in red light, quickly converting its body into energy to then be drawn into the Pokéball. It shut with a click and dropped to the ground, its center button glowing red. Any excitement was immediately dashed however as a second later the red and white sphere opened again in a burst of light. The Fearow gave an angry cry as it re-materialized, now hovering in the air. Soon it locked onto Ien and cried out loudly again before swooping toward the trainer.

"Crap!" the boy shouted, sprinting in the opposite direction and into the brush with Jasper and the Pidgey right on his heels in a panic. "Dangit, why couldn't I have run into an electric type before this? Crap, crap, crap, crap, cra-aaaaaaaaahhh!" Because he was looking over his shoulder at the pursuing Fearow, it almost right upon them now, Ien did not see the steep embankment up ahead until he ran right over the edge and fell, screaming and rolling out of control. No matter what he clutched at — rocks, weeds — it did not stop or slow his descent. Yet, in another instant he was airborne once more and the boy braced for the worst, grunting as he instead came to not so rough a landing as he first expected. He exhaled as he shifted, opening his eyes. "Man, I thought I was a goner for..." a pair of angry violet eyes narrowed above him. "...Oh crap..." He murmured, freezing up where he was, which was currently splayed across none other than Mewtwo's lap. The same legendary Pokémon that probably would have killed him yesterday if Ien had stuck around after stupidly trying to catch him.

Any further thoughts were interrupted as a familiar blue light covered both Mewtwo and the trainer and he began to float. "You again...?" Came the deep, irritated 'voice' as the legendary rose to stand, still keeping a hold of Ien.

Meanwhile, above them the Fearow was still on the chase, only now that its original target was gone, instead the large bird locked its sights on the unfortunately Pidgey. Jasper had by then disappeared or gone invisible, but the tiny bird Pokémon had no such ability. She cried out in terror, wheeling just out of grasp of the bigger bird's sharp talons, not caring where she flew so long as it was away from the Fearow. As the Pidgey dove, she swooped between them alarmingly close to Mewtwo and Ien, which seemed enough to disrupt the psychic hold on Ien. The boy dropped harmlessly to the ground but bolted to his feet in a second to shout skyward, "Hey! You leave her alone!" Grabbing a handful of rocks he threw one at the Fearow and successfully smacked the big bird Pokémon in the head, just like before. The large beak Pokémon stopped, its head whipping back to glare down at the human. With that distraction, the trainer drew his Pidgey safely into her Pokéball and tucked it back into place at his belt. Ien then scowled up at the Fearow in challenge and stood poised to hurl another rock as it circled around, perhaps in preparation to attack. "Bully! Pick on some one your own size, you big bag of feathers! Bring it!"

Jasper materialized in front of his trainer suddenly and emitted an eerie growling sound of a warning in the Fearow's direction as well, that would have sent fear prickling through the bravest adults. Ien was about to issue another challenge when he heard another growling to his right. Chancing a look he saw one of the most gorgeous Ninetails he had ever seen crouched and poised to jump. Huddled near it and trying to appear just as stern was its pre-evolution Vulpix. And then the rest appeared out of nowhere from hiding.

Stepping out, a Scyther sharpened its bladed arms against each other threateningly, and a Sandslash's large sharp claws glinted as a beam of sun hit them. A majestic Rapidash stallion pawed the earth with a hoof and lowered its horn, mane and tail blazing with live fire. Nearby a Nidoqueen hung back, distrustfully studying Ien and his Haunter intently. A cautious Vileplume and Wigglytuff peeked out from behind a large rock, or what Ien thought was a rock; an Onix lifted its giant head as it moved its massive stone, snake-like body, scowling at the trainer. More and more Pokémon seemed to appear too from the forest, encircling the two. Ien momentarily forgot the Fearow, the rocks falling from his fingers, overwhelmed by their presence.

For once, going for a Pokéball slipped is mind.

I would love to get some comments and feedback from anyone reading! I hope you guys enjoy this story, and if I get my lazy butt in gear I'll get some illustrations up in my gallery too!

 

Yep! That's the plan. I have a bunch more written already, but I don't want to post it all at once. 83

 

Just when Ien might have thought it was over, when he thought he didn't need to worry about whatever had made the noise, behind them a large bright sphere of blue light suddenly shot into the small clearing, illuminating the area with crackling energy. So bright, only a vague silhouette could be seen within, with two angry glowing eyes. Whatever it was, it wasn't happy.

Not a moment later came another roar, like the one before only much closer and louder, and something else large crashed through the trees, breaking off smaller branches and sending leaves and dirt swirling. A large Charizard, snarling and angry landed with a loud boom of impact. Fire licked at the edges of it's open jaws as it growled, eyes locked on the unfortunate trainer before it. In various places on its orange body were darker markings of sorts not normally found on Charizards. Next to the fire lizard, the sphere of blue energy faded just slightly now. The form within's eyes narrowed, then surprised Ien by speaking, or so it seemed. However the voice was not coming from the mysterious creature, but from inside his head?

"Who are you?" Came the deep booming voice, demanding and ominous. "What have you done?"

If Ien was not already terrified of the ticked off Charizard, he nearly wet himself as the being next to it addressed him within his mind! "I-I...! I didn't...I was..." He choked on his own words. "What did I do?" he squeaked. "I didn't do anything! She's the one that screamed!" He said frantically.

Jasper zipped in front of his trainer, waving both disembodied hands, addressing the newcomers but mainly the angry Charizard. Ien had no idea what was being said, too frozen in fear to think much of anything helpful, but from the hand gestures the Haunter made it looked like he was trying to de-escalate the situation.

Growling, the Charizard just took a threatening step forward and roared, though not as loudly, in the ghost's face in challenge. Expression going deadpan, Jasper aimed a disconcerting look at the fire lizard for its apparently rude outburst before suddenly using hypnosis. The fire lizard wavered within moments as the move took effect, before flopping over onto the ground, it giving a tremendous quake from the impact. Turning back to the mysterious entity, Jasper resumed where he left off, the ducked his head apologetically and cast a tentative glance towards Sofia.

The girl was just barely peeking out from behind the tree she'd fled behind at being startled. Seeing the ghost Pokémon looking her way, she ducked back behind the trunk. This didn't seem to please the other, mysterious Pokémon as it glanced from the snoozing Charizard back to where Sofia was hiding briefly, eyes still glowing blue, like the blue barrier of energy it floated in. But considering it wasn't attacking, it had clearly heard and understood what the Haunter had said.

Slowly, eyes returning back to where the Haunter and Ien were, the Pokémon slowly lowered to the ground to stand, and the blue barrier faded away completely a moment later to reveal the creature's form fully. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Came the 'voice' again, eyes now revealed to be violet locked onto the young trainer intently.

Ien swallowed. "I-I'm a trainer, m-my name's Ien! I was just passing through! Please don't kill us! We didn't do anything wrong!"

Jasper nodded vigorously and rattled off a phrase or two, drooping a little so the other Pokémon would see he was contrite. The Haunter pantomimed patting his trainer on the head as through saying: My trainer's a good human. He's not lying.

Pondering his fate, Ien tentatively stood up. "I'd like to ask you the same question, if you don't mind...Who are you? You're not like any Pokémon I've ever seen." Remembering the Pokédex, the young trainer fished it out and popped it open. A mechanical and informative voice filtered out of the device.

"Mewtwo, the genetic Pokémon. A Pokémon created by recombining the legendary Pokémon Mew's genes. It's said to have the most savage heart among Pokémon. Little else of this Pokémon is known."

Ien gaped. "Holy Miltank... Holy...! Y-you're a..." He turned to Jasper for a reaction but the ghost only grinned awkwardly and said something to Mewtwo he couldn't understand. Ien was too distracted to care what. "A legendary crosses my path already? This is my lucky day! I'm gonna catch you! Go Pidgey!" Grabbing the Pokéball at his belt, he tossed it up into the air, activating it to open. His newest Pokémon popped out of its ball, before promptly flopping onto its stomach like a useless Magikarp and snoring. Ien sweatdropped. "Oh yeah, I forgot it was asleep..." He muttered in embarrassment. Recovering quickly, he called the bird back. "Okay then, you can take this one Jasper!"

The Haunter whirled on his trainer incredulously in exclamation as though to say: "Wait, are you kidding me?" However, having been a Growlithe in life, the ghost Pokémon had retained its fierce loyalty in this form and a moment later Jasper moved into attack position. He attempted a Night Shade attack on Mewtwo but the legendary was much faster, and Jasper winced as the larger Pokémon promptly retaliated without effort. Jasper cringed back as the blue light surrounding it from the mild psychic attack faded, and the ghost vanished with a whimper, no longer willing to fight. Ien fidgeted. Now what? Well there was always...

Retrieving a Pokéball from his belt, he hurled it at Mewtwo in a last ditch effort. It wouldn't make it far however.

Mewtwo's eyes glowed ominously again, and a similar glow engulfed the incoming capture ball. It slowed quickly, before coming to a complete halt in front of the Pokémon to hover uselessly. Then, with just a slight narrowing of his eyes, the Pokéball suddenly exploded into tiny bits. Only then did Mewtwo release his hold on the object and its pieces fell to the ground. Those intense glowing eyes then locked onto Ien again. "You think you can catch me? Fool."

At the sight the boy yelped and scrambled back, covering his head in fear. Jasper quickly levitated between the angry Pokémon and his trainer again, speaking directly to Mewtwo once more in hopes of saving the boy. Not that Ien could understand any of what was being said. What the legendary heard however was: 'He's just a kid and doesn't know any better! Our bad! We should probably just go our separate ways now. No hard feelings, huh?' Jasper urged his trainer in the opposite direction while somewhat frantically, but sincerely, saying: 'Tell the little girl I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to scare her!'

Mewtwo didn't move from where he stood, watching fixedly as the pair continued backing away, before they both turned and bolted into the brush.

As the two Pokémon and Sofia vanished into the distance, Ien eventually had to stop; panting and plopping down onto a stump with a relieved exhale to assess what had become of his day so far. He had encountered a legendary! And almost probably died. But he hadn't, and that's what counted! No one would ever believe him. "As long as you saw it Jasper, that's good enough for me." The Haunter nodded rapidly, also looking somewhat exasperated. "Wow...what are the odds of that happening again? That was too insane! Man..."

Shaking his head, Ien then remembered his newest Pokémon and, in a moment, had released the Pidgey from its ball. It was still asleep. Briefly digging in his backpack, the trainer then slipped a Chesto berry into its mouth, and the bird awoke a moment later only to begin pecking and flogging the boy with its wings a moment later, squawking angrily. Ien ended up having to wrangle it into submission. "Look, I'm sorry Jasper scared you! But I could've just let you fall after he knocked you out. I didn't! Cut me a little slack for that would ya?!"

The Pidgey squirmed free and landed nearby before ruffling its feathers moodily. It did not seem like it right now, but Ien was sure it would warm to him eventually. Studying the creature uncertainly, he then checked the Pokédex and it informed him that the bird Pokémon was a female. Maybe that was why she was so moody. Putting the device away and checking the time, he realized he was starving. Digging into his backpack again, Ien retrieved something to snack on, while also offering yummy treats to Jasper and the Pidgey. She still glared at him but let Ien feed her once out of his hand. That was an improvement right? Smiling, it was not that much later, after finding an appropriate spot, when the trainer curled up in his sleeping bag and went to sleep.

The next morning when Ien woke up, he attempted to pet his tiny bird Pokémon in greeting after seeing her already awake. However, she only pecked him again. Sucking on his now sore finger, the small group resumed trekking through the forest after having something quick to snack on that would hold them over until they got to the next town. Fishing out his map, he concluded they were still in Santalune Forest. But directly after this forest was route three, which then led into Santalune City. So it wasn't too far, nice!

For the rest of this wooded route Ien purposely avoided going in the direction he'd seen Mewtwo yesterday, and stayed mainly on the given path, not wanting to stare death in the face for the second time in two days. The Pidgey flew overhead, still giving Ien the cold shoulder, but Jasper levitated at Ien's right as usual and the two shared some more Pocky. The trainer had just finished eating a stick when he spotted it up ahead through the brush. Not too far away was a fearsome looking Fearow preening its feathers on a big fallen tree. It was huge! Quietly crouching low in the bushes, the boy was certain the wild Pokémon had not noticed him. This was another perfect opportunity. He retrieved another spare Pokéball, smirking. "Yer gonna be mine!" He whispered. Jasper beside him gave his trainer a hesitant look, but before he could stop the boy he had leapt out of the bushes and hurled the Pokéball with all his might, right at the giant raptor.

Initially startled, the Fearow had jumped, its feathers fluffing up. It barely got a chance to even look around before the ball smacked it in the head. Its squawk of displeasure was cut off as its body was engulfed in red light, quickly converting its body into energy to then be drawn into the Pokéball. It shut with a click and dropped to the ground, its center button glowing red. Any excitement was immediately dashed however as a second later the red and white sphere opened again in a burst of light. The Fearow gave an angry cry as it re-materialized, now hovering in the air. Soon it locked onto Ien and cried out loudly again before swooping toward the trainer.

"Crap!" the boy shouted, sprinting in the opposite direction and into the brush with Jasper and the Pidgey right on his heels in a panic. "Dangit, why couldn't I have run into an electric type before this? Crap, crap, crap, crap, cra-aaaaaaaaahhh!" Because he was looking over his shoulder at the pursuing Fearow, it almost right upon them now, Ien did not see the steep embankment up ahead until he ran right over the edge and fell, screaming and rolling out of control. No matter what he clutched at — rocks, weeds — it did not stop or slow his descent. Yet, in another instant he was airborne once more and the boy braced for the worst, grunting as he instead came to not so rough a landing as he first expected. He exhaled as he shifted, opening his eyes. "Man, I thought I was a goner for..." a pair of angry violet eyes narrowed above him. "...Oh crap..." He murmured, freezing up where he was, which was currently splayed across none other than Mewtwo's lap. The same legendary Pokémon that probably would have killed him yesterday if Ien had stuck around after stupidly trying to catch him.

Any further thoughts were interrupted as a familiar blue light covered both Mewtwo and the trainer and he began to float. "You again...?" Came the deep, irritated 'voice' as the legendary rose to stand, still keeping a hold of Ien.

Meanwhile, above them the Fearow was still on the chase, only now that its original target was gone, instead the large bird locked its sights on the unfortunately Pidgey. Jasper had by then disappeared or gone invisible, but the tiny bird Pokémon had no such ability. She cried out in terror, wheeling just out of grasp of the bigger bird's sharp talons, not caring where she flew so long as it was away from the Fearow. As the Pidgey dove, she swooped between them alarmingly close to Mewtwo and Ien, which seemed enough to disrupt the psychic hold on Ien. The boy dropped harmlessly to the ground but bolted to his feet in a second to shout skyward, "Hey! You leave her alone!" Grabbing a handful of rocks he threw one at the Fearow and successfully smacked the big bird Pokémon in the head, just like before. The large beak Pokémon stopped, its head whipping back to glare down at the human. With that distraction, the trainer drew his Pidgey safely into her Pokéball and tucked it back into place at his belt. Ien then scowled up at the Fearow in challenge and stood poised to hurl another rock as it circled around, perhaps in preparation to attack. "Bully! Pick on some one your own size, you big bag of feathers! Bring it!"

Jasper materialized in front of his trainer suddenly and emitted an eerie growling sound of a warning in the Fearow's direction as well, that would have sent fear prickling through the bravest adults. Ien was about to issue another challenge when he heard another growling to his right. Chancing a look he saw one of the most gorgeous Ninetails he had ever seen crouched and poised to jump. Huddled near it and trying to appear just as stern was its pre-evolution Vulpix. And then the rest appeared out of nowhere from hiding.

Stepping out, a Scyther sharpened its bladed arms against each other threateningly, and a Sandslash's large sharp claws glinted as a beam of sun hit them. A majestic Rapidash stallion pawed the earth with a hoof and lowered its horn, mane and tail blazing with live fire. Nearby a Nidoqueen hung back, distrustfully studying Ien and his Haunter intently. A cautious Vileplume and Wigglytuff peeked out from behind a large rock, or what Ien thought was a rock; an Onix lifted its giant head as it moved its massive stone, snake-like body, scowling at the trainer. More and more Pokémon seemed to appear too from the forest, encircling the two. Ien momentarily forgot the Fearow, the rocks falling from his fingers, overwhelmed by their presence.

For once, going for a Pokéball slipped is mind.

 

"...Wow." Ien whispered, half mesmerized and overly stimulated. Who knew how long he had remained like that, had Charizard not come crashing through the trees. If its presence was not frightening enough, behind it stomped a big Blastoise and Venasaur, both of them also with strange markings along their bodies. They did not look happy. In fact, none of the Pokémon did and, realizing he was completely surrounded by them, Ien held up his hands in surrender. "Uh...hi, didn't mean to disturb you, I kinda fell...on that guy." He said while sheepishly pointing at Mewtwo. "Sorry bout that. I didn't mean to. Like I said, I slipped. Heh..." He chuckled a bit nervously.

"They do not appreciate your presence here, or your foolishly attacking one of us. Neither do I." Mewtwo's eyes narrowed a little at that, briefly glancing up to where the Fearow was circling them above the trees and giving an irritated cry every so often. "You will not so easily get an escape from us this time. There will be consequences for following us here." As if to confirm this, a few of the Pokémon surrounding the trainer growled or took a meaningful step forward.

Jasper snarled, darting this way and that to ward off the advancing Pokémon and protect his trainer. Meanwhile Ien balked at the accusation. "Following you? I wasn't following you! Why would I when you scared the crap out of me yesterday? How was I supposed to know that Fearow was with you? And it tried to hurt my Pidgey!" He scowled over at Mewtwo and the others, trying to look and sound braver than he actually felt. "Is this what you and your friends do? Pick on people or weaker Pokémon? Some legendary you are!"

As Ien took a nervous step back, a yelp had him turning to see what it was. There on the grass next to the tree he stood next to was a Pikachu. A very unhappy looking Pikachu. It glared up at him as he stared down at it, its cheeks spitting little sparks as it growled an angry 'chu'. It hobbled sideways, favoring one of its feet.

"Gee, did I step on you? I'm sorry." Ien crouched, cautiously holding out a hand. "Let me see; maybe I can help."

Showing its fangs at the hand reaching toward it, in a friendly manner or not the human had stepped on his foot! Without warning it attacked, sending electricity into Ien via thunderbolt. It then stomped away from the now singed boy to hop up on the nearby Onix. Jasper panicked, floating over his trainer and calling to him but Ien only twitched, stunned from the attack. Noting the intent of the other Pokémon, the ghost and growled and hovered over the boy protectively.

Thankfully for Ien though, before any more violence could be carried out on his person, came another familiar voice from beyond the circle of angry Pokémon, slightly muffled by their bodies.

"What's everyone doing over here? Are you all playing a game? Can I play?" Squeezing past from behind Mewtwo, who glanced down at her, Sofia glanced around the circle. Immediately following her came a Squirtle and Bulbasaur. It didn't take long for the girl to notice Ien, smiling. "You're that weird trainer person from yesterday! I forget your name though. What are you doing here?" she asked innocently. But then also seeing Jasper and remembering their first encounter, Sofia became a little more nervous, shuffling a little closer to Mewtwo. She only stood to about the legendary's knee or just past it, as small as she was. Or as tall as Mewtwo was.

When Ien gave no reply, the Squirtle said something to the Bulbasaur beside it, took a deep breath and sprayed the trainer with water. Jasper reacted to the attack, even though it wasn't really meant as one, thinking the tiny turtle Pokémon also intended to harm his trainer, but the water helped to revive Ien instead. The Haunter backed down and said something to the water type. Squirtle nodded, smirking and nudged Bulbasaur while pointing to the drenched trainer.

Ien moaned, sitting up with effort. Looking around, still woozy from the electric shock, he spotted Sofia. "Huh? You're here too?" He asked sluggishly, holding his head. "Why? Are they gonna beat you up too?"

Hearing that Sofia made an expression of surprise, then frowned as if the mere thought of it was preposterous. But then she seemed to find the idea amusing and, after looking up at Mewtwo a second, giggled. "Beat me up? No, they wouldn't hurt me... They're my friends silly! Duh!" she stated it so matter of factly it could have made anyone feel dumb for thinking any differently. Reaching over, the girl rubbed the Squirtle and Bulbasaur next to her on their heads affectionately. Both Pokémon smiled at the touch, leaning into it and nudging her back afterwards. Bulbasaur then extended its vines to lightly tickle Sofia, causing her to squeal happily and dart to Mewtwo's other side, peeking back around his legs at her two friends. "No!" She wagged a finger at them, trying but failing at being stern.

Seeming satisfied then she looked back at Ien. "See? We play all day sometimes! They keep me safe too, and find me yummy food when I get hungry! We travel aaallll over the place too!" She raised her arms above and around her to show just how much they traveled. "Right? Don't we?" She chirped up at Mewtwo with a big smile.

The tall Pokémon sighed slightly, keeping his gaze locked onto Ien and Jasper. "Yes. We do."

Ien stared at them woozily, trying to contemplate the depth of how nothing about his life made any sense at that moment. "Great. That sounds wonder — hold it, they're you're friends?" The boy exclaimed as everything clicked together. These dangerous, ominous Pokémon were her friends?! How was that possible when they looked like they were willing to beat him to a pulp?

Sofia nodded, leaving Mewtwo's side to jog over to Ien. "You should stay and play too! We know some really fun games, and sometimes we even make up our own!" She tugged on his arm lightly. As she turned her head to face the other direction, she saw Jasper float down. Not nearly as close as the first time but enough to still surprise the girl a bit. She immediately stiffened, leaning away into Ien while still holding onto his arm tightly and frowning uncertainly.

Seeing her hesitation, Jasper hovered back a few yards, poking his index fingers together and looking apologetic. Ien also noticed and placed a hand on the top of Sofia's head. "You aren't still afraid of Jasper are you? He's harmless. Come on," he commanded and the ghost obediently floated forward, opposite of the girl. "He'd never hurt anyone." The boy reached out and patted the Haunter but his hand touched nothing. Jasper snickered and stole Ien's hat off his head only to put it back on sideways a moment later. The trainer snorted and re-adjusted his hat again to its previous position. "See? You wanna try and make friends Sofi?"

Seeing the brief display of playfulness, the girl did look a bit less hesitant and more curious now as she looked at the ghost Pokémon, then at Ien as he spoke. Nodding slightly, she watched with interest as the trainer pulled something out of his backpack. It was a Pocky box. Pulling a stick out he gave one to her and instructed her to toss it up into the air for Jasper. Curiosity growing the girl did so and couldn't hold back a laugh of joy as the Haunter shot up, caught it in his mouth, then ended the trick with a backflip and grin. She clapped, giggling. "Good catch! Can I do it again?" She asked Ien eagerly, already reaching for the bag to get another Pocky stick. When she was granted another, Sofia waved it back and forth, once pretending she was going to throw it and faking out the Haunter into flying up. She laughed as the Pokémon looked confused before coming back down after spotting it in the child's hand still. He really was dog-like. After that Sofi did throw the treat though, higher than before. Of course Jasper still caught it, licking his lips afterwards. Satisfied and much more comfortable now, the little girl smiled up at Ien. "So, wanna play now?"

"Uh, I don't think I'd be any good at the sort of games you play." Staggering to his feet Ien attempted to escape the Pokémon circle and the lingering threat, only to back up uncertainly when a Rhyhorn leaned into his path with a snort, and stomped. "Go play with Sofi! What do you need me for?!"

Mewtwo's gaze hardened slightly on the young trainer at that, having been just observing everything up to that point, before turning his gaze to the Rhyhorn and catching its eye. The spikes Pokémon perked up at something unseen or unheard, before snorting again lightly and moving out of the path to leave a gap, giving Ien a brief hard look. "Go then, trainer. Hope that our paths do not cross again." Came Mewtwo's stern voice in their heads again. It was not as though the legendary could carry out any sort of punishment with the girl here currently.

With that said, some of the other Pokémon around them began to disperse again. Some going back into hiding where they'd been, while some just stepped over to Mewtwo's side of the circle. These few included Charizard, Blastoise and Venasaur. The rest just seemed content to linger where they stood for now.