Squirt

[lucysaur]

Chapter 7

Chapter 7
The lost Bulbasaur

The next week at school was even harder! Because Squirtle had got to level 7 it spent its morning species lessons practicing its bubble attack. It was hard at first to produce even a few bubbles, but by Wednesday Squirtle had Bubble attack down and started on water gun. During ability class Elle and Squirt practiced combining bubble with tackle and withdraw. Squirt also practiced focusing bubbles or dispersing them for different effects.

The lead Elle had won in the previous week was difficult to maintain; and by the end of the week other trainers had made it to level 7 and were learning species-specific attacks.

Elle still practiced after school with Lance and Helena and by the time Friday's battle rolled around all three of them won all of their Pokémon matches (they didn't have to battle each other this time) and Helena's Bulbasaur had learned leech seed! This put the three of them at the top of the class, but not by much as everyone was working much harder. Lance and Helena had already arranged to have an official match on Saturday but Elle decided to take a day alone with just her and Squirt and check out Viridian Forest.

Elle woke up a little late on Saturday, bolted breakfast and took the bus to Viridian forest. She managed to get told off by the bus driver on the way there, it turns out Pokémon are not usually allowed on buses except in pokeballs! Whoops! After that little mishap Elle made it to Viridian Forest and went into the office to talk to a kindly looking park ranger.

"Hello sir, sorry to bother you but I just wanted to make sure it was ok to have my Pokémon out of its pokeball in Viridian Forest."

"Of course dear, why wound you think to ask?"

Elle explained about the bus incident

"Oh I see. New trainer eh?"

"Yes sir, I started two weeks ago and thought I'd check out Viridian Forest"

"Well as you're a new trainer you'd do best to stay on the path. Which Pokémon do you have?"

"Oh, I have a Squirtle! Check it out!" She let out Squirt "this is Squirt!"

"Well in that case you should head to the lake. Just take the path outside and follow it for about 20 minutes and you'll get to the lake in the centre of the forest. It's full of Magikarp and the odd Goldeen, but they are pretty friendly so long as you don't fish them out of the water so it's safe for your Squirtle to swim. It's also right by the forest so you should be able to catch a glimpse of wild Pokémon without getting into trouble."

Elle thanked and waved goodbye to the nice old man and headed down the path. By this time it was mid morning so she passed a few trainers along the way with their Pokémon. She saw one trainer walking a Growlithe, one flying a Pidgey and a couple of trainers like herself with beginner type Pokémon. Keeping her eyes open she even noticed a Metapod attached to a tree just away from the path evolve into a Butterfree! It was a pretty amazing walk and Squirt amused itself making bubbles.

When the lake was in sight they saw quite a few trainers and fishermen so they walked around a bit to find a nice secluded spot. Squirt immediately jumped into the lake and began having play battles with some of the Magikarp underwater. Satisfied Squirt was having a blast Elle took off her shoes and socks and dipped her feet in the water, relaxing and keeping at eye on Squirt at the same time. She occasionally saw the odd Beedrill and Pidgey flying overhead, but none of them bothered her so she enjoyed watching them.

Just when her stomach started to grumble Squirt jumped out of the water so she set out the picnic lunch she had brought with her and they ate leisurely while drying off (Elle's toes were pretty wrinkled!).

About halfway through their lunch there was a rustle in some bushes nearby. Squirt tensed for battle but it was just a Bulbasaur.

"Hi little Bulbasaur have you lost your trainer?" Elle stood up and looked around but couldn't see anyone.

"Oh well I'm sure your trainer will be back soon, why don't you wait with us? Are you hungry?" Squirt and Elle split their lunch and offered it to the Bulbasaur, and it cautiously crawled over to the edge of the blanket and started eating. The rest of their lunch went by without incident, and as the Bulbasaur got used to them it even started chatting to Squirtle. The two of them were getting along so well Elle was reminded of Helena and her Bulbasaur.

After lunch was over Elle shooed the Pokémon off the rug and cleaned up. The two Pokémon had lots of fun having mock battles, although Elle noticed that Bulbasaur's tackle was quite sloppy. Its trainer mustn't be training very hard she thought.

Elle got so distracted watching the Pokémon play around she didn't notice the time passing until she started to get cold. It was only then she noticed the Bulbasaur had been with them all for all afternoon and its trainer still hadn't found it! This trainer is really incompetent! When I meet them I'm giving them a stern lecture! Well Bulbasaur's getting pretty tired, I think I'll take it back to the entrance and ask that nice Park Ranger what to do. "Squirtle, Bulbasaur" she called "Time to go home Squirt! And time to go find your trainer Bulbasaur!"

On the way back Bulbasaur started to get really tired so she picked it up and carried it the rest of the way. Luckily Squirtle had enough energy to get all the way back to the entrance. She went back inside the entrance she had been in earlier and walked over to the old park ranger, Bulbasaur still in her hands.

"Hello again sir, I'm sorry to bother you again but I've got a problem. See I found this Bulbasaur by the lake, I think it got separated from its trainer but the trainer still hasn't come back for it. Has anyone come by here looking for a Bulbasaur?"

"No I'm afraid they haven't. Oh dear… Wait a second, what level is it? Scan it with your pokedex."

Bulbasaur ♂
Level 3
Healthy

"That's strange" exclaimed Elle "it's only level 3!"

"Aha just as I suspected. You see miss, Pokémon are always given to new trainers at level 5, no exceptions. This must be a wild Bulbasaur"

"A wild Bulbasaur?" Elle was completely shocked!

"We don't like people to know because they're so rare, but there are wild Bulbasaur in this forest, and it looks like you've thoroughly won over this one. You should capture it, it'll be happy with you."

"I'd love to capture it but I don't know how and I don't have a pokeball. We haven't learned that in school yet."

"Don't worry I'll help you! Helping Pokémon find good owners is one of the best parts of my job, and I don't get to do it much now I'm on desk duty. I have a blank pokeball around here somewhere…"

As the old man was rummaging around under the desk, Elle held Bulbasaur tightly. "Do you want to be my Pokémon Bulbasaur? If you do all you have to do is stay inside the pokeball"

Finally, the old man stood up with a pokeball in his hand and placed it on the desk.

"First you have to register it as yours. Open your pokedex and press the pokeball button. It should show only one Pokeball, with Squirtle written under it, right?"

"Right"

"Now press the scan button pointing it at the pokeball on the desk"

Elle complied.

"Now it should show two pokeballs, one with nothing underneath it?"

"Yep."

"Ok, press the tiny white button while the pokeball is facing the Bulbasaur and it should capture it."

"Ready Bulbasaur?"

"Saur!"

Elle pressed the button and the Bulbasaur turned into a red light and entered the pokeball. The pokeball twitched once in Elle's hand then lay perfectly still.

"That's it! You caught the Bulbasaur!"

"I caught a Bulbasaur! Well I'd better get going home. Thank you for all your help sir! Squirtle you'd better get in your pokeball too if we're getting the bus!"

Elle spent the entire bus ride with her head full of Bulbasaur! Once the excitement wore off she became slightly worried. Nobody else in her class is even close to capturing a second Pokémon; she wasn't even allowed to buy pokeballs! Has she broken a school rule? She comforted herself by thinking that if she just went in early on Monday morning and explained everything she would be fine! It's not like they can take her Bulbasaur away. Could they?

 

[Lordpenguin]

Oooh cool update, especially at the end! *rated thread*

 

[lucysaur]

Chapter 8


Chapter 8
Repercussions and hard work!

Elle talked with her Mum as soon as she got home and her Mum agreed that the best thing to go would be to go into school early on Monday and speak to Mr Michaels. So Elle spent all of Sunday getting to know her new Bulbasaur, and letting Squirt get used to not being an only Pokémon anymore! Bulbasaur was very young and not well trained like Squirtle, so Elle had to spend a lot of time just getting it to obey her, but it usually did because it was truly attached to her.

Just before dinner, Elle realised her new Bulbasaur didn't have a nickname, and it didn't seem fair. "Hey little guy, do you want a name too? How about… Bubba? You're small now but pretty soon you'll be a massive Venusaur and it'll suit you then."

"Bubba!"

Elle, Bubba and Squirt were a team. Although Elle was nervous going into school an hour early, she was determined to explain what happened and keep her team together, no matter what!

With a determined stride she waved goodbye to Mum and walked into school. She walked up to the front reception desk where a severe lady was sitting.

"You're early!"

"Yes Ma'am, I was wondering if Mr Michaels is in yet? I need to speak to him urgently."

"Humph. He should be in his classroom."

"Thank you" Elle walked to her most familiar classroom, knocked and quickly entered. "Mr Michaels I'm sorry to disturb you but I really need to talk to you." Elle quickly poured out her whole story and Mr Michaels listened without a word looking increasingly worried. "Right Elle I see why you came to me but I'm afraid this is over my head, we have to go and speak to the headmaster. You're right you have broken a serious school rule but I also agree you did the right thing. Come on let's get this sorted out."

Mr Michaels walked quickly out of the room and back to the severe lady with Elle hurrying behind him.

"You wait here, I'll speak to the Head."

He walked behind the scary lady's desk into what must be the headmaster's office. Elle sat down on a nearby chair getting more and more worried and trying not to cry. The severe lady sighed loudly and spoke.

"Don't worry little girl. Mr Michaels and Mr Jepson are very fair men, if you've done the right thing then I'm sure that everything will turn out for the best."

Elle took a deep breath and managed a watery smile. After what seemed like forever Mr Michaels and what must have been Mr Jepson came out. Mr Jepson beckoned her to come over.

"Mr Michaels has told me all about what has happened and I spoke to the man at Viridian Forest so I know you were telling the truth. The main trouble is not what you've done but that other students will try to copy you and I can't have that.

I've decided to give you 10 after school detentions for breaking a very important school rule, which will be spent with Mr Michaels here learning what you need to know about your Bulbasaur. You will also spend the next 4 Saturdays with the man you met in Viridian Forest learning to tell the difference between a wild and tamed Pokémon. I'm also switching your Monday morning species class to a Bulbasaur class.

Finally and most importantly your Bulbasaur will not be allowed in any class battles or exams until your Fifth year. This is a standard rule for all students rather than a punishment for you. I'm afraid I'm going to have to announce all this in assembly to keep down any rumours. Let's go."

Elle numbly followed Mr Jepson and Mr Michaels into the assembly hall and saw everyone had arrived already. Mr Jepson pointed to a class sitting down and Elle noticed Helena sitting with them, she must be joining Helena's species class! She went and sat down with them.

Mr Jepson addressed the school, explaining what she had done and her punishment. "I cannot stress enough how foolish it would be to try and emulate this silly young girl. It would cause you to come up against serious punishment, suspension at the very least! It would also unnecessarily double your workload. As for my older students, if I find any of you causing trouble to the Viridian Forest Pokémon or staff you will be severely punished! Ok everyone off to class."

Everybody filed out and Elle went to talk to Helena as they walked

"Hi Elle, I thought I'd be able to catch you up but you've overtaken me again!"

"Actually Helena, I think this'll make overtaking me easier. With all those after school detentions and wasted Saturdays I'll get way behind on my training. Even after that I'll have twice as much training to do in half the time. I'm really quite worried."

"Not that you'd give up your new Bulbasaur."

"No way! I think it'll be worth it in the end. Plus I'm all Bubba's got."

"What is it with you and nicknames?" Helena said laughing.

They got to the classroom and went inside.

Almost all the Bulbasaur had progressed to practicing leech seed, Bubba wanted to join in and got a little sad when he realised he couldn't do it yet.

"Don't worry Bubba," Elle knelt down and hugged Bubba "all these Bulbasaur were as small as you once and if you try your very best you be that big too! First we have to practice Tackle OK?"

"You two have an impressive bond already" Said a young woman walking in, "I can see you're going to catch up in no time! I'm Miss Leyton and I teach this class."

"Thank you Miss Leyton, I promise we're going to work really hard! Especially as we only have one class a week."

"I'll be sure to set you plenty of homework so you don't fall behind. Now the difference between Bulbasaur and the other starter Pokémon is that it walks on four legs instead of two, so our first lesson is the different ways Bulbasaur can move around. Helena!" she called Helena over "Would you mind demonstrating different gaits?"

Helena walked over with her Bulbasaur grinning.

"OK!" Miss Leyton began "First there's a standard run: front left, back right, front right, back left. Demonstrate please Helena."

Bulbasaur ran along.

"It looks complicated but it's really the easiest, because that's how Bulbasaur always runs. Want to give it a try?" Miss Leyton was being very patient.

Bubba ran alongside Bulbasaur to the end of the classroom, but on the way back Bulbasaur speeded ahead and Bubba just couldn't keep up!

"As you can see as your Bulbasaur will get a lot faster with plenty of practice." Miss Leyton laughed. "Next we have the hop. Bulbasaur bounces along on all four feet at once. It's useful for stepping stones and places where the floor is uneven. Helena?"

Helena's Bulbasaur looked really funny hopping around the classroom, it even hopped onto a desk!

Bubba tried hopping along too but tended to focus too much on one of its legs and kept veering to one side or falling over.

"That one needs some practice. Finally the two-step gait good for leaping. It goes back legs, front legs. It's also great for sprinting."

Bulbasaur sprinted around the room, leaping in places. Bubba tried too and it was better at this gait, although sometimes it mixed up its feet and fell over.

"Thanks Helena you can get back to practicing your leech seed now. Right Elle your homework for this week is to practice your gaits; I want to see a lot of improvement by this time next week! I'd better to help my other students now." She walked around the room; making comments to her other students.

Elle and Bubba spent the rest of the class practicing different gaits. Elle drew circles on the floor in chalk and bubba practiced making hops between the ones that were close together and leaps when they were far apart. By the end of the class Bubba was getting fairly accurate, though it still missed pretty often.

By the end of the class Elle and Bulbasaur were pretty tired; they were definitely ready for lunch! Elle and Helena walked to the cafeteria and met with Lance, and they and their Pokémon chatted while they ate, with everyone admiring Elle's new Bulbasaur. Elle was secretly very relieved that her friends didn't get jealous or weird about her new Pokémon; they just accepted Bubba into their group. I' m lucky to have such great friends she thought.

After lunch they returned their Pokémon to their pokeballs and headed off to their ability class. Mr Michaels was tough as usual and had everyone working up a real sweat. He took Elle aside and made it clear he didn't expect her class performance or her training of Squirt to deteriorate just because she had another Pokémon to train. "I still expect the very best from you Elle" he said sternly.

After class Elle was a little nervous about her detention with Mr Michaels but it turned out she didn't have to worry. He used the time to help her with training techniques so she could work with both Pokémon at once. That day was spent by the lake, with Squirtle swimming inside it and Elle and Bubba running around the edge, a kind of cross surface race!

As the week progressed, Elle trained Squirtle during the day and both Squirtle and Bulbasaur with Mr Michaels in the evening. Mr Michaels used Elle's detentions to try out all the school's facilities.

They used stepping stones in the lake to practice Bulbasaur's hopping and leaping, rings for practicing Squirtle's bubble and the school pool for swimming. By the end of the week Elle's training was much more effective and Bulbasaur's gaits had improved a whole lot! Even better, Squirtle had spent so much time on its bubble attack it learned to do water gun!