A story of Pokemon

An odd encounter

A flock of Pidgey was flying across the slightly misty sky of the viridian Forest. Behind them stood a vast mountain, draped in a scarf of mist.

In the trees, Caterpie and Metapod hung from the branches. One Pidgey chirped, another responded, and together they sang in chorus.

“Sniiiiffff,” Ash said, taking a deep breath of the fresh smell of money.

“10,000 Pokédollars. It was a good idea to train after all, wasn’t it?” he said, addressing the Pokédex.

Dex (the Pokédex) didn’t respond; it just watched him, joyfully counting his hard-earned money and chuckling like a hen calling its chicks. He was so absorbed in his task that he sometimes didn’t pay attention to what was in front of or even behind him, when suddenly…

“Hey you, yeah you, the little kid. Hey, are you listening? Hey, wait… wait.”

Ash pretended not to hear, actually ignoring the voice completely. There were kids everywhere in this forest. Who knew which one this voice was really directed at? Thus, Ash continued on his way as naturally as possible.

The Pokédex, however, was intrigued. It began to search for the source of the voice, this call.

It hovered over Ash’s shoulder and started scanning the surroundings. According to its sensors, the voice seemed to be coming from the tall grass on their left. It spotted something or someone quickly pushing the grass aside to make a path.

“Hey you, the kid with the big head topped with a red cap, I’m talking to you,” the voice called out again, this time sounding closer.

Ash stopped, his face in the shadows, head slightly lowered. Dex didn’t need its sensors to notice the vein throbbing at his temple. It was swelling so much that it was impossible to miss.

Ash closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try to calm down (he didn’t succeed). He turned around and, lifting his head, saw a man emerging from the bush. He was out of breath as if he had run the distance from Ash. His hands were resting on his knees, and he was breathing heavily.

“Huff… huff… you’re just in time… huff… I busted my ass to get to this shitty forest… huff huff Afff… all this for what? For a shitty photo with a shitty Pokémon doing shitty stuff… hufff huff… oh damn… huff… my side cramp, it’s back… damn Professor Oak…” the young man said, punctuated by deep breaths, one hand on his knee and the other on his side.

Ash and Dex (the Pokédex) exchanged a look of confusion, their brows furrowed, mouths almost open as if to say something, but nothing came out except a heavy, tense silence.

Then, almost simultaneously, they looked away, fixing their gaze once again on the young man in front of them.

The young man straightened up but was still breathing heavily, although his condition was starting to improve (for a reporter, he lacked endurance).

“Huff… what was I saying again?… Oh yeah, damn professor, all this for Pokémon photos, in their natural environment.” He started laughing softly, then the laughter turned into nervous laughter.

“... their natural environment… what a joke. Does he even know what a Pokémon’s natural environment looks like? Do you realize I had to climb steep mountains, cross insurmountable ravines, lava torrents, and poisoned swamps?” He paused, looked up, and glanced around. Somewhere, this forest was also a natural environment for Pokémon, and if you ignored the repeated ambushes from trainers and wild Pokémon, this place was far more welcoming than those he had been to before.

The young man snapped out of his contemplation and then began to scream, his face buried in his hands. This guy was completely unstable, and Ash knew it.