Journey Of A Century

[Karania]

Journey Of A Century


Chapter 1


Sakura was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. It had been four weeks since Ash, Gary, and those two other kids, whose names she couldn’t recall, had left on their pokemon journeys. She momentarily worried about Ash, who had always been a bit boastful, but shrugged it off. She had been in the crowd when he left, and if she was any judge, that pikachu had a surprisingly strong thundershock. It would give him a good advantage, if he ever learned to control it. This chain of thought brought her to the consideration of Gary. How bitter and competitive he had become! Sakura lived just three houses down from Ash, and Gary lived right next door to him. She had grown up with them, although she didn’t know them incredibly well. She did know them well enough to mark the changes in their personalities, though. In the way of all minds everywhere, she flitted off to another subject.

It must be great to be a pokemon trainer, Sakura thought. You get to see the world, learn fighting techniques and skills, capture new friends and reach your goals. On the way, if you find that you would rather pursue another career, you could just stop training and go home. You would have a bunch of pokemon on your hands, but they’re easily raised as pets as well.

She had never really considered becoming a trainer herself. She did love pokemon (she had tons of books about them), but there were many other careers involving them. A voice in the back of her mind whispered, but to catch them all, learn to understand their lives and their powers . . .

And then it hit her, really hit her, that she would like nothing more than to become a pokemon trainer, that this was the thing she had waited her whole life to do!

“Oh, great,” she muttered aloud, “I realize this a month after the day when Professor Oak hands out starter pokemon and licenses.”

After a moment’s reflection, Sakura sat up.

“Well, I’m not waiting eleven months to get my license,” she said to the world in general.

“I’ll start by telling my parents,” she mused, “and then we might be able to work something out with Professor Oak.”

Another stray thought shifted her attention to her pokemon league father and his array of strong (If not elderly) pokemon.

“Won’t Dad be pleased,” Sakura (once again) mused, “with my decision to follow in his foot steps?”

* * *

“Well, it is an odd case,” said Professor Oak, “most trainers get their licenses when they’re ten, not fourteen.”

“But there aren’t any rules against it,” Sakura quickly put in, “or about when the licenses are issued.”

They were in Professor Oak’s lab, on the outskirts of Pallet. It was a neat, white, rectangular building on a hillside, and they were in the room where young trainers were issued their starter pokemon.

“That’s very true,” Oak agreed, “but you realize that I have no pokemon left to give you.”

This was the point Sakura had been dreading.

“Can’t you send away for one, or something?” she asked desperately, feeling her newfound dream slipping away.

“Yes,” Oak conceded, “but it could take weeks to get one here. Can’t you take one of your father’s pokemon? I’m sure he’ll give you one.”

Sakura smiled. Her parents had suggested the same thing.

“Well, my dad’s pokemon are great, and would have probably obeyed me, but they’re all fighting veterans and well-trained. There’s no point to training trained pokemon, and I need to do this on my own. I told Dad as much too, and he agreed with me.”

Professor Oak was impressed. This simple statement showed her to be a mature and logical young lady. He recalled that she could cleverly twist an insult to sting the insulter with surprising ease. Perhaps . . . .

“There is one pokemon that we have here,” Oak admitted, “A trainer who was passing through dropped it off because it refused to perform in battles. You might have trouble with it though.”

“It’s worth a try!” Sakura replied brightly, her hope restored, “What is it?”

“A meowth.”

What luck! Sakura thought, one of my favorite types!

“I’ll take it!” she said aloud.

“If you have any problems with it, come back and we can try to order you a pokemon,” Oak advised, “I can have a pokedex and license ready for you tomorrow morning. How’s that sound?”

“Great!” Sakura exclaimed, and then to the world in general, she declared, “My pokemon journey starts tomorrow!”

* * *

She walked along the grassy path to Viridian City, her backpack already fit to burst. After returning home the day before, her father had opened up his personal pokemon supply storage room and given her everything she’d need (and more). There were several thousand items in that hall-like closet, and she’d stocked up on potions, super potions, antidotes and burn heals, and even a poke-flute that she had learned to play as a hobby. Carefully hidden at the bottom of her pack were two very rare hyper potions, protected by several layers of clothing and one of her most informative pokemon books. It was all she could do to keep her father from giving her three pounds of ice heals. Her father, Mike, was really exited about her becoming a trainer.

Sakura gazed at her surroundings. Rolling hillsides, a few trees, and no pokemon in sight. She set her pack down under a tree and plucked her one full pokeball from her belt. She pressed the button on the front of it causing it to (for want of a better word) inflate. She gazed at it decisively. It was now or never, if she wanted to make friends with her pokemon and learn why it didn’t behave for its last trainer.

“Come on out, Meowth!” she called.

The pokeball emitted a red beam of energy, which formed into a shape, and then into a meowth.

“Me-meowth,” it said stubbornly, and sat on the ground with its nose in the air, clearly communicating that it had no intention to do battle. It was surprised to find that it wasn’t faced with an opponent of any kind. It turned around.

“Hello, I’m you’re new trainer,” Sakura said brightly, “And you’re name is…? No, let me guess…. it’s Meowth, isn’t it?”

Meowth was speechless. It had never encountered a trainer who made clownish remarks before. Silently, it sized her up.

Sakura was about five feet four inches in height, with a fair complexion and long brown hair, tied in a braid. She was wearing tan pants and a short white shirt, and her eyes were a peculiar shade of brown that from some angles suggested that her eyes were not brown at all, but green. Pretty enough by human standards, but by the standards of a meowth with limited experience, a real knockout. There was something else in those eyes. A sort of mischievous glint. The human spoke again, distracting it. It gave her its full attention.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” Sakura began. All of the sudden, she leapt into an intricate display of back flips, and other such gymnastic displays. Her twirls in the air were punctuated by words.

“My name . . . .is Sakura . . . . Avalon,” She came to an abrupt halt directly in front of the astounded pokemon.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” she said and held out a hand as if for a handshake. This was quite a feat, because she had finished her routine in a perfect handstand. She stood there, on one hand, the other extended toward Meowth, with a look of ineffable smugness on her face.

Meowth was truly stunned. This human-a trainer, even- had just acted sillier than any clown in the known universe, and was perfectly aware of that, and was incredibly proud all the same! That made it even sillier!

Unable to control itself, the small cat pokemon doubled up with laughter. That laughter seemed undeniably human.

“I knew it!” Sakura somehow managed to jump from a handstand position and land on her feet, “I knew you were hiding something! You’re a talker! Wow!” she gazed at nothing appreciatively, “I am one of the few people to own a talking pokemon! What a thrill!”

“Hey!” the meowth said, as soon as it stopped laughing, “How did you know I was hiding something? My last master never suspected for an instant that I could talk!” it eyed her suspiciously.

“This is how,” Sakura said. She tapped her forehead, and suddenly a red flame blazed there in the shape of an eight-pointed star. Meowth recognized it as the strange spark in her eyes.

“I’m a bit of a psychic,” she explained, “I’m not very powerful, I can’t bend spoons or anything, but it tips me off sometimes.”

“Wow,” said Meowth, who knew better than to aggravate a psychic, even a weak one.

“So,” Sakura began, sitting down, “why did you keep it from your last trainer? You can trust me.”

Something in her eyes told it that it could, in fact, trust her, so it started telling her of all it’s problems. It spoke of being the weakest kitten in it’s litter, and how, later in it’s life, it had nearly starved because it couldn’t catch food. Meowth had been captured by a trainer and had refused to fight because of how terribly weak it was. It hadn’t really been abandoned, because that happens when a loyal pokemon is left in the middle of nowhere to rot. Leaving a problem pokemon in the hands of another trainer isn’t really the same.

In return, Sakura told the Meowth of her own life, her Pokemon League father, her kind, supportive mother, how she got the scars on her face, (They were really hardly noticeable, just three pale streaks on the left side of her jawbone) and how she wasted four years before deciding to become a trainer.

They had only been talking for an hour and they felt like they had known each other their whole lives. And, knowing now how each other felt about things, they got up and continued on the road to Viridian.

After a ten-minute walk, they found themselves on a hillside with one major feature change. It had a wild pokemon.

“It’s now or never,” Sakura informed her pokemon, “Go and battle that rattata. I’ll pull you out if something goes wrong.”

“But,” Meowth whimpered, “I could get hurt!”

“Don’t worry about that,” She assured it, “I have enough curatives to heal all 150 pokemon! Besides, you’ll do fine. Now,” she said, leaning down, “just twist all of your anger and frustration into a type of rage, and take it out on that rattata.”

“Meowths don’t have rage attacks.”

“A fury then.”

“Well . . . .all right.” Meowth let its fur bristle as it approached the enemy.

“Don’t let it sense your fear. Keep a brave face, and try to unnerve it.”

Meowth noted her advice and continued forward. The rattata saw it approach and turned to face it. It may have been a rat, but it wasn’t backing down. The battle was on!

“Meowth, scratch attack!” Sakura commanded, and Meowth raked its claws across the rattata’s face. The enemy rattata retaliated with a quick attack that sent Meowth sprawling. It was back on its feet in a flash.

“Meowth, bite!” commanded Sakura.

Meowth lunged, its jaws opened wide. It missed the rattata’s body, but managed to latch on to its ear. Screeching in pain, the rattata whipped its tail directly into Meowth’s face, causing the cat to lose its hold and stumble back. Rattata seized the opportunity to use a tackle attack, sending Meowth flying. It landed three feet away.

“Are you okay?” Sakura asked, her voice full of concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Meowth muttered. Its eyes glowed with anger. Without a second thought it dashed back towards the Rattata.

“Fury swipes!” She called, perfectly aware that her Meowth would use them weather she said it or not.

Meowth’s paws were a blur as it vented its anger on the vicious little rodent. Shocked and full of fear from this awesome attack, the Rattata turned tail and ran, despite its injuries. Meowth could only stand there as the sweet flush of power faded.

“Dang,” Sakura said, “I wanted to catch that one. Are you all right, Meowth? That was an awesome fury swipe attack! You really did well!”

Surprisingly, Meowth was hardly hurt at all. Sakura decided that it must have had a remarkable defense.

* * *

It took them two more days to reach Viridian city. Sakura recalled her father saying that it took him four days. She didn’t worry about it. It wasn’t who got there first, it was who had the strongest pokemon, and that was definatly worth taking a couple of days to work on. Meowth fought every pokemon they came across, but, aggravatingly, they caught only one, on the outskirts of Viridian. It was a small, female Nidoran. The rest of the pokemon had cut and run.

Their first stop was the Viridian pokemon center, where Sakura’s Meowth and Nidoran where currently being healed. It was here that she learned that the Viridian city gym was closed, and that the gym leader refused to see any trainers who didn’t have seven other badges. How depressing! Oh well, at least it gave her pokemon a chance to level up some more before she had to take on a gym leader. She hadn’t . . .

Another trainer sat down on the pokemon center couch beside her, breaking her train of thought. He glanced at her, and then asked,

“You wouldn’t happen to be a pokemon trainer, would you?”

Taken off guard, Sakura answered, “Um, yeah.”

“Do you, by any chance, have a nidoran?”

“I do, in fact. Why?”

“Would you be willing to trade it? I love nidoran, you see, and I’m hoping to get more, but I haven’t seen any all day, and I hoped to find someone to trade with . . .” he trailed off hopefully.

Sakura thought for a moment. She hadn’t used her nidoran for anything, and hadn’t had a chance to bond with it. It probably wouldn’t mind being traded.

“What for?” she asked.

“A vulpix. Well, I have to warn you, the vulpix can’t breath fire.”

“A vulpix that can’t breath fire? Why?”

“Well,” the young trainer began, “I only caught it a while ago, and when I tried to use it in battle, it couldn’t use any flame attacks. It really tried, but just couldn’t seem to manage it. I brought it to this pokemon center, and Nurse Joy looked at it. She said that its flame sack has been damaged. It will probably heal, but its flame attacks may be weaker, and for now, it can’t flame at all. I’d offer you another pokemon, but, well, they’re all nidoran . . .”

Sakura smiled. This kid chanced his trade by telling her the truth. Anyway, she liked vulpixes better than nidoran. Besides, sometimes you have to go by gut instinct.

“I accept your trading proposal. It’s a female nidoran, I hope you don’t mind,” Sakura added.

“Oh, not at all!” said the trainer, joyfully, “One day it will be a nidorina! And then, maybe, a nidoqueen! When can we trade?”

“In a bit,” Sakura answered, “I still have to get my pokemon back from Nurse Joy.”

* * *

It was a full five minutes before she got her pokemon back (Several trainers had come in with hurt pokemon that day). The trainer showed her over to the machine used for trading pokemon. Following his example, she set down the pokeball containing her nidoran. He pressed the green button. The hose-like tubing on the side of the machine sucked up their pokeballs. As their pokemon traveled from one trainer to the other, their siluettes were displayed on the screen. There was no doubt that she was getting a vulpix, and he was getting a nidoran.

“Meowth-yeowth!” exclaimed Meowth, who had been watching this with great interest. It refrained from speaking because it had found that speaking attracted unwanted attention. It had mentioned this to Sakura the day before, who had agreed.

As the process finished, the status of each pokemon came up on the screen:

Vulpix: Fox Pokemon

Status: OK

Original Trainer: Steve



So now she knew the other trainer’s name. Somehow, they had never gotten around to asking for each other’s names.

“Well, that’s it then,” Sakura said.

“Thank you so much!” Steve replied, “I’m sure that you’ll take good care of Vulpix.”

“I will,” Sakura assured him.

* * *

Morning found Sakura and Meowth traveling the short length of road between Viridian City and the Viridian Forest. With no gym leader, Viridian City had nothing to tempt them to stay. They studied the leafy depths of the forest ahead as they approached. The towering trees were not at all friendly, but the promise of new pokemon lured them in.

As soon as they entered the forest, the path vanished amid the dense foliage.

“Well, this is just great! Which way are we supposed to go?” Sakura asked, slightly frustrated.

“Any way,” Meowth answered, “It doesn’t really matter. We’re bound to find our way out, once we’re in.”

“Nice bit of logic there, Meowth. How about we just go straight?”

“Sounds good to me-owth!”

The pair strolled onward through the forest, gazing at the scenery and keeping an eye out for wild pokemon. It was in the early afternoon when Meowth stopped.

“We don’t want to go that way,” it cautioned her, “There’s a beedrill hive over there. We couldn’t handle a whole swarm.”

“Okay,” Sakura replied, never one to disbelieve her pokemon, “Which way do you suggest?”

They took a path that, according to Meowth, would take them around the hive without getting too close to it.

“How do you know all of this, by the way?” Sakura asked casually.

“Well, I . . .” Meowth began, “I kinda grew up here.”

“Cool! I didn’t know that Meowth live in this forest.”

“That’s the point, you see. No one knows we come here. It’s the perfect place for mothers to raise their litters. When we’re old enough to go out on our own, we leave the forest so that we’re harder to spot. You’ll keep the secret, right?” it asked nervously.

She gave him a reassuring smile and promised, “I’ll keep it all my days. Anyway, you’re knowledge of this forest will come in handy. You know . . .”

She didn’t have a chance to finish. From the patch of brush in front of them, a large beedrill sprang into the air! It was clearly startled and very angry. It hovered for a moment, giving them a look that clearly communicated ‘I’ll be back with my whole hive! See how you like that!’ and darted off in the direction Meowth had indicated earlier.

Sakura and Meowth’s eyes met. They were struck by the same idea at the same time. It was risky, but it was probably their best chance. Running in this maze would get them nowhere. The beedrill wasn’t quite out of sight.

“Beedrill!” Meowth called, “You coward! I challenge you on your honor as a pokemon to battle me, one on one!”

The beedrill turned, its eyes full of hate and fury. No pokemon could turn down a challenge like that.

“Go, Meowth!” Sakura called, as a formality.

The Beedrill led off with a fury attack, which Meowth barely managed to dodge. Meowth fought back with a slash, which was a direct hit. Sakura couldn’t tell how much damage it took, but she suspected it was in more pain than it let on. Okay, time to chip in her part.

“Meowth, Fury swipes!” she ordered.

Meowth took the suggestion readily, and beedrill was forced back under those constant blows. Taking a tip from some instinct or another, Meowth rushed at the still hovering beedrill and delivered a jump kick that sent the bug spiraling backwards. Into a tree.

This made Sakura think for a moment.

A meowth that talks and uses an attack that’s not on its skill list? No way! She thought. She didn’t have any more time to think about it, however. That last blow had brought the beedrill’s energy perilously low. Pokeball time. She plucked one of the empty pokeballs from her belt, enlarged it, and tossed it.

“Pokeball, go!”

It landed on the beedrill, and with a blast of red energy, locked it inside. The red light on the pokeball’s button turned on, signaling that the pokemon inside was fighting for its freedom. The ball shook, once, twice, three times . . . and then was still. With a ding, the red light turned off. There was a moment of stunned silence.

“All right! We caught it!” Sakura shouted, thrilled.

“Wow!” shouted Meowth, “It didn’t even touch me! I’ve been afraid of them for so long, I actually fought one, and it didn’t even touch me!”

“This was truly your victory, Meowth,” Sakura commended, recognizing its triumph over fear, “We’d be toast if not for you.”

“Excuse me,” said a voice behind them, “are you a pokemon trainer from Pallet?” A trainer had come up while they were rejoicing.

Sakura retrieved her new pokemon. “Well, yes. Who are you?”

The following was an intricate display of swordplay that ended with Sakura pinned against the tree that Beedrill had been knocked against, held at sword point.

“I am Samurai,” The stranger answered, “and I challenge you to a pokemon match.”

Meowth had never seen anyone act so calm with a weapon aimed at her forehead. It figured that her psychic energies must help.

“Certainly,” Sakura replied coolly, “But I must tell you one thing.”

She ducked and brought her hands, fisted, up in a smooth arc that left the sword sticking out of the tree behind her. Meowth recalled her saying that she had studied some martial arts before she reached the conclusion that crude, spur of the moment attacks worked just as well for her. Once again, it probably had something to do with her psychic powers. She pulled the sword from the tree by the hilt and offered it, hilt first, to Samurai.

“I don’t take kindly to being held at sword point.”

After another moment of stunned silence, Samurai regathered his wits.

“You will fight me in a pokemon match, then?” He asked.

“Of course. Just as I said. But not here. There are too many beedrill around here.”

Five minutes later, they entered a clearing that was ideal for fighting. They picked their pokemon.

“Well, Meowth, you’re all warmed up, why don’t you go ahead?”

“Metapod, go!”

This matching did not last long, because Metapod chose this moment to evolve. The back of its shell split, and out of the glow that issued forth, a butterfree emerged.

“All right!” shouted Samurai, “Butterfree, sleep powder!”

The powder settled on Meowth, who managed to shake off its effects.

“Meowth! Scratch, slash, bite!”

Each of the cat’s attacks caused more damage than the last.

“Use your confusion, Butterfree!”

“Stop it in its tracks with a screech, Meowth!”

Luckily, Meowth was quicker. Its piercing screech made any psychic attacks temporarily impossible, so the butterfree compromised with a tackle attack that knocked Meowth off its feet.

“Quick, Meowth, do that kick you did before! Now!”

Sprinting a short distance to gain momentum, Meowth leapt and slammed into Butterfree. Round One to Meowth, one round to go!

“Butterfree, return!” Samurai called. A beam of energy from its pokeball struck it, and then drew the pokemon back in.

“Go, Pinsir!”

Sakura was slightly worried; Pinsir’s are rare and tough pokemon.

“Meowth, try your jump kick again!”

Meowth’s kick set the giant bug off balance, but it was far from defeated.

Then, to Sakura’s horror, the Pinsir caught up Meowth in its pincers.

“Pinsir, use the seismic toss!”

It slammed Meowth to the ground harshly. Meowth was out. She could still use one more pokemon, though. Time to see what Vulpix could do!

“Meowth, return! Go! Vulpix!”

The Vulpix came out of its pokeball looking apologetic and a bit nervous.

“Vul-pix, pix,” it said in slightly sad tones.

“Vulpix,” Sakura said quickly, “I know you can’t flame, so right now, reach deep into your soul and do whatever feels right! Now!”

This seemed a little strange to Vulpix, but it knew to obey trainers. It streaked through the air with a surprising turn of speed and delivered a smashing blow to the pinsir with its left hind foot.

An agility attack? She thought franticly, No, just a vulpix’s quick attack, so efficient that it resembles a stronger attack. Wow. Oh, wow.

It was that blow and that blow alone that felled the pinsir.

“Vulpix!” Vulpix cried, in awe and excitement.

“Great job, Vulpix! You really did wonderfully!” Sakura told it.

After accepting her congratulations from Samurai and healing her meowth with a Revive, She was on her way.

* * *

During the evening of the next day, Sakura sat in a clearing, attaching various items to her belt.

Let’s see, she’d need to have the poke flute handy, just in case. Some potions should be there. After all the trainers she had run across today, she had needed some. Lost two out of three, huh! The two trainers she had lost to had an annoying habit of using sleep powders and stun spores. Stun spores! She had better put a few paralyz heals on there as well, and leave some space for badges. Meowth was still asleep from that last battle. It had really been fighting hard, so she figured that it deserved some rest.

And, a voice in the back of her mind whispered, you do to.

Giving no argument, She slipped into her sleeping bag and drifted off into the dream fields.

* * *

The next day was sunny and beautiful, and Meowth, slightly annoyed at being left asleep, only felt better for its prolonged nap. Huge rays of sunlight shimmered through breaks in the treetops, and they found themselves on a bit of brushless area that could be called a path. The air was cool in the shade (and the forest was almost all shade) and Meowth assured Sakura that there were no Beedrill hives around. The weather made them just want to run, for the pure joy of it. They looked at each other, and did so.

They weren’t racing, or sprinting, for that matter, just loping, keeping up a pace that they could manage all day. Sakura turned to look at Meowth, who was keeping up with her admirably. She shouldn’t be surprised, really. Practically any pokemon you could name was faster than a human. Meowth looked so cute when it ran on all fours!

The harsh collision with another trainer cut short any other thoughts she might have had.

“Ow!” said the other trainer, “Can’t you watch where you’re going?”

“Obviously not,” Sakura replied, rubbing a sore shoulder, “and, apparently, neither can you.”

She sized him up. He was about her height, with short, black hair. At his side was a sandshrew, which was also sore because it had run into Meowth.

“Ksss-ksss-sss-sss!” hissed the sandshrew.

“Yeah, well, same to you, sand-rat!” Meowth hissed back.

“A talking meowth! Sandshrew, get it!” The other trainer yelled. He was clearly upset and angry with Meowth.

“Ksss-ss, sss-kss!” The sandshrew urgently told its master.

“What? Well, okay, Sandshrew, if you say so.”

“What did it say?” Sakura asked Meowth.

“It said that I’m not the Meowth the encountered before,” said Meowth, clearly puzzled.

“Ah,” replied Sakura. It was amazing what pokemon could tell by sense of smell. Still, another talking Meowth? That was puzzling.

“Sorry ‘bout that. We ran into trouble with a talking Meowth before. It was a member of Team Rocket,” the trainer explained.

“What’s Team Rocket?” Meowth asked.

“A band of criminals who are known for stealing rare pokemon and using pokemon to steal money and valuables.” Sakura explained.

“Oh.”

“Well,” Sakura began, “You have now had the honor of not only seeing a rare, talking pokemon, but two, and of the same species! Wow! By the way, I’m Sakura, a pokemon trainer from Pallet. You’ve already met Meowth. And you are?”

“I’m A.J., and this is my Sandshrew,” A.J. said, “and it could whip your Meowth any day!”

“How do you know?” Sakura asked innocently.

“Because my Sandshrew was . . . “

“Yes, but you know nothing about my Meowth,” Sakura interrupted him, “For all you know, my meowth could be a level eighty-one meowth that I’ve held back from evolving fifty-three times. I’m not saying that it is, mind you, but it could be. You never know.”

After a moment of confused silence in which neither of them could think of anything to follow that up, Sakura added, “Where are you headed?”

“Viridian City,” A.J. found himself answering, “I hope to win my first badge there, and check out the gym leader’s ground pokemon.”

“I’m afraid you won’t have much luck,” Sakura replied, “Their gym leader is refusing to fight any trainer with less than seven badges. I suggest that you head back towards Pewter. Sorry.”

“I don’t believe you,” A.J. sneered, “You just want to keep me from going there!”

“Why?” asked Sakura. Oh, great, She thought, how stuck up can you get? “You’d have to go there anyway, eventually, if you want to become a pokemon master. If you don’t believe me, you can go and check it out for yourself.”

“I will!” exclaimed A.J., who was sore because of her speech about her Meowth, “but first, I’ll prove to you that my sandshrew can defeat your meowth! I challenge you to a match! One on one, between Meowth and Sandshrew!”

“We accept!” Sakura cried, and then in more normal tones, said, “You’re up, Meowth.”

“Mee-owth!”

“Go, Sandshrew!”

“Ksss-sss-sss!”

“Scratch! Slash!” both trainers yelled at once (A.J. didn’t have his whip on him).

Each pokemon’s attacks were successful, but neither took much damage.

“Sandshrew, poison sting attack!”

Meowth stumbled back, slightly dazed. Hoping to end the match quickly, A.J. used one of his sandshrew’s toughest attacks.

“Sandshrew! Fissure strike!”

The small pokemon leapt into the air and came down on one fist. Hard. The ground began to split into a small crevasse, and continued to spread. Meowth stumbled back.

“Meowth! Jump clear of the fissure! Quick!” Sakura cried.

Meowth did a rolling back flip and escaped the collapsing ground. It landed on all fours facing the sandshrew, and the now still fissure. It tried to get up, and found that it couldn’t. Meowth tried again, and fell to all fours once more.

“Why can’t I stand up?” Meowth asked in a confused tone.

“Hah! Looks like your meowth is done for, to me!” A.J. laughed.

“Meowth, are you all right?” Sakura asked, concerned.

Meowth’s eyes blurred. All of the sudden, it got the feeling that its veins were on fire, except that the fire was cool. Its legs and feet became the right length for walking on all fours. Its face extended into a muzzle, and its charm shortened into a smooth circle in its forehead. Its whiskers crept down along its face as it’s ears rounded, and everything grew in size. It got the distinct feeling that something was dragging it into a new form by the nape of its neck. The eeriest thing, though, was watching its own mind change shape. It saw a sense of humor form that it had seen Sakura demonstrate many times before, and a touch of nastiness developed in there somewhere. It watched its ego grow. Well, no surprise there. It was pleased to see that it retained its ability of speech. The world snapped into focus.

“Strewth,” Sakura said in a quiet voice.

The glow faded. It took a deep breath, and uttered a word that took the form of a purr and a hiss that met halfway.

“Purrrr-shan!”

“All right!” Sakura yelled in her joy, “Meowth evolved into Persian!”

Persian turned and looked into the eyes of Sandshrew. It was ready for battle!

“Sandshrew, defense curl!”

“Persian! Bite attack!”

The huge white cat bounded over the various crevasses to where the sandshrew had curled into a secure little ball, and bit down hard. A meowth’s teeth would have broken. Persians are much stronger than meowths.

The sandshrew came out of its defense curl, squealing. Persian let go, dashed back towards Sakura.

“I feel a new attack coming on,” It informed her.

“Go for it!” she replied.

Persian reared up onto its hind legs (a feat that it couldn’t manage for long) and threw three coins through the air with amazing accuracy. They were like little throwing stars, only they weren’t pointed or sharp. Still, they knocked the sandshrew head over heels. Persian had claimed its first victory.

* * *

It was the day after A.J.’s first defeat. Persian’s new attack was called the payday attack (as Sakura later found out, with the help of her pokedex). She couldn’t figure out where the coins came from, but decided that it was best not to ask.

“Um, Sakura?” Persian asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, Persian?” Sakura replied.

“Could you, uh, call me something else? Persian just doesn’t feel right.”

“What, you want a nickname?” Sakura asked, mildly surprised. Nicknaming pokemon wasn’t common, but it did happen. “Sure! What do you want to be called?”

It thought for a moment.

“What was it that you said when I was evolving?” it asked.

“What? Strewth? That’s basically an exclamation. It’s about the same as ‘wow’. It isn’t very commonly used though. I have no clue as to why I said it then. Do you want to be called ‘Strewth’, then?”

“Yes,” said Strewth reflectively, “Strewth.”

They didn’t know why, but it seemed perfectly right to both of them. At that moment, the trees thinned out and they found themselves looking at Pewter City.