Pokemon: Pogeymanz Version

"I wonder the same thing!" Caroline skipped ahead of the group, nearly failing to keep her egg safely tucked up against her bosom. Coming to a sudden, screeching halt, she turned one-hundred eighty degrees, "It doesn't look like there's a whole lot to explore around here, though! All that nice fancy stuff's way over all over the place and stuff!" Spinning a good couple of times more before continuing her little mini-monologue, Caroline giggled, "I mean really, all that's around here is a bunch of grass. Maybe a bush or three, or a pond, or whatever!" After she finished speaking to what was likely only herself, Caroline sprinted down the path in another sudden jolt of energy.

"H-Hey! Caroline! Don't stray off too far from the rest of us!... Or the... path... for that matter..." Aaron shouted toward Caroline, completely failing in his attempt to get her attention. The girl continued to laugh maniacally, twirling and skipping in an inconsistent, rushed pattern. As she continued her little hop of joy toward Valion, Caroline gradually strayed farther and farther from the path, heading toward a small, grassy descent that lead to a rather large group of shrubs.

"Ah... Well... We should probably get her back here and tell her not to go off on her own... It would be best if we go and catch her... We could probably find some Pokemon up near that brush where she's heading..." Aaron twiddled his fingers nervously as he spoke to Selena and Jake, keeping eye contact only for a maximum of two seconds or so before looking away. "I'm sorry for all of this... t-trouble she's causing... She likes to do this kind of stuff... Often..."

"Actually, I have a bit of an idea," Selena said, laughing slightly at Aaron and Caroline. "Why don't we try to find our first pokemon to catch?" Selena looked over at Jake, watching his expression for a bit before continuing. "Aaron, I'll go fetch Caroline, so why don't you go with Jake? He's a big, strong guy so you won't have to worry about being jumped." Selena said, patting Aaron's back a bit.

"Splitting up?" Jake asked rhetorically, looking up to think about it. "Alright, I can deal with that." Jake looked over at Aaron, his expression still unreadable. "What do you think? If we manage to find a pokemon you like, then I can coach you a little so you can catch it."

"And then you guys can form some sort of bond that I can laugh at," Selena muttered under her breath. Jake didn't seem to hear her, he was focused on Aaron. Selena smirked once before waving at the both of them, "I'm off to go find Caroline, and maybe a pokemon for myself. Hopefully she hasn't broken that egg." With that, Selena turned and jogged after the general direction that Caroline had gone, soon disappearing into the shrubbery as well.

"Well, ready to get something done?" Jake asked Aaron, offering a smile.

"Oh, yeah... Where do you suggest we go and search?" Aaron's twiddling continued, body twisting and turning nervously in all directions as if searching for a place to catch a Pokemon, "I'm not too great with all of this, so you'd probably know where to search better than I would... I know we're both new trainers and stuff, but..." His sentence dragged off, stumbling over his own words.

At that moment, Totodile bounced onto Aaron's back and climbed onto his head, using its claws to latch onto Aaron. Flailing around like a helpless child, Aaron exclaimed, "Argh! Okay! Okay, Totodile!... W-Where do you want to go?..." In an insisting manner, Totodile ejected itself from Aaron's scalp and happily stumbled over into the field, rolling around with awkward, yet somewhat understandable glee. "I-It is a nice day, after all... Maybe a lot of Pokemon will be out wherever we decide to look."


Caroline, still wandering around through an endless brush of vines and tangling branches, set her eyes upon a slight, yet distinct glimmer of light that appeared to come from the other end of the petit valley. Curious as ever, Caroline began to wade her way over to the object. "Ah, well would you look at that, Egg!" Caroline, stumbling and fumbling her way through a deep layer of brambles, cheered "It looks like there's some neat, shiny object over there, don't it? Don't worry though, I'll protect ya, so you don't need to worry about falling or anything!" She tucked her egg between her left arm and her bosom, which actually functioned as a rather safe place to put her egg. Very secure and safe. "Almost there, Egg! Almost there!"

"Erm..." Selena looked around, slightly disoriented. She had ran into the bramble without thinking too much about it, trusting herself to be able to find the road through the forest. "I may or may not be lost..." Selena thought aloud, still looking around the area. She was still confident in her navigational skills though, Selena was positive she could get out of the forest. The problem was locating Caroline and finding the correct path that they needed to go down.

Selena paused for a moment, then suddenly fell onto her behind, crossing her arms and legs to assume a thoughtful position. She wanted to make the current situation she was in play to her advantage, so she played through the multiple steps that she could take to find Caroline before something bad happened. So, Selena just sat down and thought and listened.

"Wait a minute, what the hell am I doing?" Selena suddenly said aloud, standing back up. She didn't bother to brush the dust off of her skirt and instead pulled out Chikorita's pokeball. "Okay Chikorita, time to wake up and meet the world!" Selena shouted at the pokeball, thrusting it out in front of her, as if expecting a bright flash of light and the grass-type to just wander on out of its pokeball.

The pokeball showed a tremendous lack of activity.

Indignant, Selena dropped the pokeball and sat down again, her dejected feelings not being made any better by the pokeball's continued absence of movement. Because of her foul mood, Selena didn't notice a furry, brown head hovering just above the branches. She had no idea the tiny, black eyes that stared at her curiously.

~

"Well, we could go in the direction that Selena went," Jake suggested, pointing in the girl's general direction. "But that's up to you. I'm not going to lead you anywhere, you have to find the pokemon on your own. I'm only here to give moral support." Jake grasped Aaron's shoulder firmly, pointing him in the direction of the vast shrubbery. "There are hundreds of pokemon in this general area. It would be strange if we didn't see one. Just keep moving until you find one you like."

"Jake... What about that one?" Aaron pointed toward a small bush located next to a pond. He spotted a fairly petit, rabbit-like creature. Ear dangling in the pond, the creature seemed to be dozing off into its own little world. It quickly fell asleep, causing it to lose control of its movements and fall into the pond. The creature flailed about wildly as it scurried to the land, removing the water from its fur with an uncontrolled shake. "He looks like a nice Pokemon, wouldn't you think?" Aaron chuckled, pulling out his Pokedex, "I'm supposed to use this now, right?"

The small, emerald light at the top, right-hand corner of the device lit up. As the light grew brighter, a feminine voice read aloud, "Spinda, the spot panda Pokemon. No two Spinda have the same pattern of spots. Its tottering step fouls the aim of foes." The light dimmed, and with it, the small screen displaying a Spinda retracted into the device.

Aaron stored the Pokedex and gazed at the panda-creature. "'No two Spinda have the same pattern of spots', huh?" The boy murmured, "That means he's special in his own way, r-right?" He marveled at the creature, fascinated by its actions. Although it didn't appear this way to Aaron, the Spinda was, by all means, a mundane creature with few redeeming aspects. Maybe that's how Aaron could relate to it?


Stumbling toward the small tree stump which held the shiny object, Caroline cheered, "Hooray, Egg! We've found it!" She lobbed the egg up into the air, almost failing to catch it as it plummeted back into her arms, "Victory is ours, Egg! Nothing can stop us, right?" Gently situating her egg into a small nook to the right of the tree stump, Caroline examined the shiny object. "Aww... It's just a can?" She whined, throwing the can deeper into the brush.

As the can quickly grew out of sight, a small, yet noticeable clanking noise echoed throughout the bushes. Did the can hit something? Caroline didn't know. In fact, she didn't really care. She just cared about finding treasure. She also liked her egg. That too.

A slight grin flashed across Jake's face, then vanished as soon as it came. He hadn't expected Aaron to want something like a Spinda, it was the last thing on his mind. But, that would be Aaron's choice, not his. "Alright, sounds good," Jake said confidently, hoping to inspire some of Aaron's own confidence, if he had any.

"You should know the basics, right?" Jake asked rhetorically, slapping Aaron's back a few times, forcing him forward a little bit. "If so, then go ahead and get 'em! I have faith in you, Aaron." Inside, Jake thought that this whole situation might turn out to be interesting after all. Either that, or a complete train wreak.

I wonder what Selena's up to... Jake thought to himself.

~

"I'm so totally lost," Selena whined, burying her head in her straw hat in embarrassment. "Why couldn't I get a nice pokemon instead of this stubborn thing?" Selena glared at the pokeball in question, already feeling her frustration burn up. Selena paused, continuing to glare at the pokeball, racking her brain for options that she could take.

An idea springing to her mind, Selena unhooked the straps of her backpack and laid it to rest beside her. She rummaged through the bag's contents until she found what she had been looking for. Food pellets. Selena popped the lid off and took a few pellets out before closing the lid again. Placing the can of food beside her, Selena put her chin on her knees and began pelting the food pellets at the pokeball.

"Are you hungry? I have food here. Come out and get it you lazy, fat, plant-thing." Selena muttered disdainfully. The pokeball showed an extreme lack of response, as always. Selena threw the last food pellet in her hand at the pokeball with a bit extra force. Suddenly, still in midair, the food pellet vanished in a flash of brown blur. Selena blinked, then looked around, seeing nothing. "Wha...what the heck just happened...?"

"The basics..." Aaron repeated after Jake, shuffling through his bag for a Pokeball, "I'm suppose to throw one of these at the Spinda first, right?" His actions were beyond amateur, surely even beginners would know to damage the Pokemon first. Regardless of what he was taught, Aaron proceeded to lob the ball at the Spinda without damaging it, only to miss the Pokemon entirely. The Pokeball plopped directly into the nearby pond, a spark of electricity emitting from the water as the ball malfunctioned.

"O-Oh... I m-missed..." Aaron became uncomfortable. In order to hide his frustration, he tried to clench his teeth together. It was a habit he developed early in his life. Whenever he was dissatisfied with something, he would clench his teeth and remain quiet.

After a few seconds of breathing deeply, Aaron pointed at the loitering Spinda and declared, "Totodile, use Bite!" He had regained what little confidence he had to continue. Surely, though, that wouldn't last long. There was no way it could. Aaron was just too terrible at everything.

Totodile charged at the lazy beast with vigor, tackling it head on - its jaws sinking into the creature's body. The Spinda didn't respond, laying on its back, sound asleep. "I forgot I-I... umm... was supposed to damage it first... But this should be good, right Jake?" He stuttered, removing a second Pokeball from the bag at his side.


After the can made contact with some unknown creature, the foliage around Caroline rumbled furiously, emitting noises that would resemble the frustration of a provoked Pokemon. The young girl paid no attention to this, however, proceeding to frolic around in the brush with her egg. "It doesn't matter though, right Egg? As long as we had fun, it's super okay!" She cheered, twirling around a large rock, her lands loosely gripped around the egg.

Her cheer was soon interrupted. Shortly before the bustling of the bushes came to a sudden halt, a gigantic Beedrill burst forth from the darkness. Caroline panicked, lobbing her egg into the sky. She proceeded to take her leather satchel at her side and flail it at the charging Beedrill, smacking it upside the head with the weighted bag.

Jake sighed as his palm shot up and smacked his forehead. He was utterly defeated by Aaron's failed attempt to try to catch the Spinda, and even more so by Spinda itself and it's unawareness. Failure as a trainer and failure as a pokemon. Jake had no words to describe the frustration he felt towards these two. But all of this on it's own was actually rather funny, so Jake hid his frustration as much as he could. Aaron was a delicate spirit anyhow.

"Okay, just...calm down Aaron," Jake said, watching warily as Aaron took out the pokeball. "Even if it is a Spinda, I don't think doing that little damage is going to work. That thing hardly notice Totodile bite him." Then again, Spinda were supposed to be fairly easy to catch, even without damaging them a little. Jake waved his hand in dismissal, "Well, I'll let you take judgement here first."

"Just don't screw it up this time, ya hear me?" Oops, Jake might have let loose some of his own frustration. He hoped it wouldn't have an adverse effect on Aaron.

~

Selena searched and searched through the bushes, looking for the creature that had snatched the food that she had thrown in midair so quickly. She was amazed by the speed and wanted to know what kind of pokemon it was. Hearing a slight rustling nearby, Selena quickly looked towards the source, only to see a furry brown-and-tan pokemon nibbling on the food pellet she had thrown.

Selena quickly pulled out her green pokedex and scanned for anything that looked similar. She quickly found it. The pokedex beeped once and in a drone, masculine voice said: "Sentret, the Scout Pokemon. It has a very nervous nature. It stands up high on its tail so it can scan wide areas."

Selena sighed, closing her pokedex and turning back to Chikorita's inactive pokeball. "So it was only that, huh?" Selena was rather uninterested by the Sentret, in fact, she was disappointed that it wasn't something better. But what else could she expect from a pokemon that stole food pellets? Certainly nothing too exciting, that was for sure.

After a moment's pause, the bushes behind her rustled again, the Sentret peeking over them at Selena again. Selena could feel the pokemon's presence, but chose to ignore it. She was more concerned about getting Chikorita out of her pokeball, doing whatever she could to coax out the grass pokemon.

The bushes rustled again, causing Selena to wonder about the Sentret. Did it leave? Or was it just trying to get a better angle to steal food from her? Either way, Selena didn't care too much. Which is when she saw the brown-and-tan creature slowly waddling out of the bushes next to her and walking cautiously over to Chikorita's pokeball.

"What do you want?" Selena asked, looking at the Sentret, "more food? There's plenty here, go ahead. It'll be wasted on Chikorita." Selena waved her hand a few times, allowing the Sentret to come over and start nibbling on the food. Selena watched as the Sentret ate, frowning slightly. Well, I guess it's kinda cute. She thought to herself.

"I-I'll try my best, Jake..." Aaron muttered nearly incoherently, his nervous stature only becoming more and more fragile. He flailed his arm toward the critter, letting the Pokeball loose in a poor attempt at capturing the creature. This time, however, the ball made contact with the Spinda. Even though it made contact, the ball ricocheted off of the dense Pokemon's skull and beamed directly into the pond once more.

"Just my luck." The male remarked, brushing the back of his unkempt blond hair nervously. His teeth clenching with frustration, Aaron unhooked a third ball from his side, "I... I think I should try this one more time..." The boy stated without confidence, lobbing the ball for a third and final time. During this attempt, the Spinda rolled over onto its stomach, which caused the Pokeball to miss and bounce off of the dirt. The ball launched high into the sky - higher than both of the previous balls went.

As the ball made its descent toward the lake, an ecstatic Wooper propelled itself through the darkest corner of the pond and flew into the sky, making direct contact with the airborne Pokeball. The ball unhinged, unleashing a flurry of neon red lights, which proceeded to consume the unsuspecting, amphibian creature. The Wooper didn't fight back, the occupied Pokeball landing on the dirt with a thud.

"I... I captured a Pokemon." Aaron stated bluntly and with little cheer, his eyes fixed on the ball. Shortly after his quick staredown, he gazed at the Spinda longingly, allowing it to lazily loaf along the pond's coast and escape into the sunset horizon.

"That is," Jake started, pausing for a second to beat down his rising frustration with Aaron. He took a deep breath and shook his head, "Just fine, the important thing is you caught a Pokemon." Jake looked back at the path they had traveled, brainstorming the possible places Selena could have gone off to. He wasn't worried about here, there was no way that Jake would worry about that tree-hugging freak.

No, he was more worried about Caroline, yes, that was the source of his worry. Certainly not Selena, besides, Selena had a grass-type pokemon with her, so she would be fine. Although, Selena was having trouble trying to get Chikorita out of it's pokeball before. But no, that shouldn't last too long, there was no way that Chikorita would ignore Selena forever.

"Right, I say we go ahead and get back onto the path before we get lost," Jake suggested, already turning around, "Go and pick up your pokeball over there, you don't want to leave it there and have that Wooper starve." Right, Jake and Aaron would go back to the path and wait for Caroline and Selena to return, there was no problem here.

~

"Right," Selena muttered, looking incredibly frustrated with herself and Chikorita. "So how did it end up like this? I want to forget."

Selena had gotten up while Sentret was finishing off the last of the food pellets she had thrown. After collecting her bag and Chikorita's pokeball, Selena began to leave, and the Sentret began to follow her. Now, Selena walked towards where she thought the path would be, with Sentret sneaking behind her and following her. Whenever Selena looked back at the Sentret, the furry brown scout would disappear into the bushes, out of sight.

"Right," Selena sighed, after having looked back at the vanishing Sentret for the fifth time. "Look Sentret, I know you're a little cute, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give you more food, alright?" No response. Selena hardly expected one, she didn't even get a response from Chikorita. Ever.

Selena sighed again and turned her head back around. The rustling of bushes behind her confirmed that Sentret was still following her. It didn't take long before Selena looked back again, out of frustration that the Sentret continued to follow her. The Sentret disappeared once again and a vein on Selena's forehead popped.

"Okay fine," Selena took a deep breath, glaring at the spot where Sentret had disappeared to. "You aren't cute! You hear me!? You. Are. Not. Cute. Leave me in peace, will you?!" Still fuming through her ears, Selena could only hope that her negative comments and hostile attitude would be enough to drive away every pokemon in a 30 meter radius of her far, far away. Selena turned around once more and began walking again.

The bushes rustled again. Selena couldn't take much more of this.

As Jake's words entered Aaron's ears, his spaced-out gaze quickly broke, resulting in a sudden jolt. "Right... I should do that..." He scurried toward his newly occupied Pokeball, clumsily lowering it into one of the open pockets of his backpack. (Who's to blame him for doing it clumsily? It's hard to see where stuff is on your backpack when it's on your back.) "I don't remember where the path is... Do you? I'm not very good at remembering my steps..." He murmured sheepishly, scratching the back of his ear uncomfortably.

Caroline is probably in a pinch right now... Aaron thought to himself, But then again, however foolish and innocent she is, she's probably better off than I am, even without a Pokemon. That joke of a thought scared Aaron. Probably because it was actually true.


The Beedrill, knocked aback by the massive force of power hidden behind the satchel, flew straight into the bushes, a disjointed "clunk" echoing through the woods as its skull made contact with a tree. Hardly fazed by the recoil, Caroline celebrated with her egg, happily tossing it about; on some occasions, she almost dropped the egg. Though, it was highly unlike Caroline to worry about important things.

As sporadically and unexpectedly as it emerged the first time, the same Beedrill jet forth from the bushes once more. "You're quite the persistent bug, aren'tcha!?" Caroline exclaimed, lobbing her egg high into the sky as she prepared her defensive maneuvers, "Unfortunately for you, I'll have to teach you a lesson with my ultra-strong fighting capabilities and stuffs!" She took a fighting position, her fists cuffed parallel to her bosom. However, as the Beedrill darted closer and closer to the young traveler, Caroline ducked.

Just as quickly as she dropped to the ground, Caroline's leg shot up into the Beedrill's gut.

"Caroline kick!"

"Yes, of course I remember which way to go," Jake replied indignantly, frowning at Aaron. Jake began to feel more and more irritated by Aaron's attitude. It was frustrating, but Jake would have to try to pound some confidence in that boy, or he might end up hating Aaron. "It's just this way," Jake added, more calmly this time.

Jake led Aaron out of the clearing and into the thick of the forest and then finally back on the trail. Neither Selena nor Caroline were in sight. They must have gotten held up by something, Jake couldn't imagine them getting lost, especially since Selena was there.

~

Selena turned around, starting to walk in the other direction. He face grew slightly red from embarrassment, though there was no one around except for that Sentret to see it. She got her directions mixed up and had walked in the wrong direction. Granted, Selena wasn't sure which direction was right.

After Selena turned, she stopped, startled slightly by something. The Sentret that had been following and hiding from her was now in the very center of Selena's vision, not even bothering to hide from her. The Sentret stood high on it's tail, reaching around Selena's knee height.

"Kay, what do you want now?" Selena asked the Sentret, giving it a blank stare. The Sentret held up its stubby paws in a sort of fighting stance, punching every now and again to show what it wanted. A fight. How fantastic. Selena frowned. "Look," she began, "Chikorita hasn't come out of her pokeball at all, not even when I first got her. I can't fight you like that." Still, the Sentret punched the air, raring to go.

With a long, drawn out sigh, Selena held up Chikorita's pokeball, giving up. "Fine, but if Chikorita doesn't come out this last time..." Selena trailed off. What would she do if Chikorita didn't come out? Would she march straight back to the laboratory and demand a replacement? She couldn't even get back onto the trail in the forest.

"Here goes nothing!" Selena tossed the pokeball up into the air, cursing her fate.

Miraculously, the pokeball burst open and a flash of white light shot out of it, slamming down on the ground and forming a small shape. A moment later, the white light vanished and a small, grass-green pokemon stood on four legs, looking overly confident at the Sentret. Selena paused, catching the now-empty pokeball in her other hand, her eyes blinking a few times before realizing what had happened.

"Okay," Selena began slowly, "Chikorita! Vine Whip!"