Pokemon: Earth and Sky

by raven618

On the Road to Viridian City

“Since when has Route 1 gone uphill?” Rarity asked. After roughly two hours of walking, the girls had arrived at a large hill, with the road they had been following winding its way up towards, what they hoped would be, Viridian city at the top.

Applejack looked behind them, Pallet town was no longer visible on the horizon, and the morning sun had climbed quite high in the sky. “You reckon we should take a break and eat lunch now, or wait until later?”

“Wait until later.” Rarity started climbing the hill, “It’s too dusty down here, and a hillside picnic sounds lovely.”

And so, they began climbing the hill; slowly, thanks to Rarity’s suitcase. After about ten minutes of walking in silence, Rarity saw that her friend was reading something as she walked.

“What’s that?”

Applejack handed the book over, “My Ma’s journal from her and Pa’s Pokémon journey.”

The book’s pages were filled with different drawings of Pokémon and plant-life. Neat paragraphs of text filled in the spaces between the drawings, describing the organism in question. “Your mother was certainly a diligent woman.” She said, reading her entry on Seaking, “That journey was how your parents met each other, wasn’t it?”

“Yep! A young farm boy looking for some new crops to help out his mother’s farm, and a young girl from Johto, out to see the world.”

“And instead she married him and settled down in that little bit of nowhere we call home.” Rarity handed back the book. “And you said you couldn’t find romance on a cross country tour.”

Applejack just blushed, “Well, maybe I was wrong.” She looked ahead at the road, “Looks like there’s a nice grassy spot a little-ways up. Ready for lunch now?”

“Yes, I am.”

The two of them sat down with a large rock between them and the wind. Rarity pulled a beach towel out of her suitcase which they used as a picnic blanket. Applejack opened her bag and removed a loaf of bread and a wedge of cheese, while Rarity pulled two thermoses out of her purse. “Complements of my father. Tomato or mushroom?”

“I’ll take the mushroom.” She removed the pokeball from her belt, “Soup’s on, Bulbasaur!”

“You too, Squirtle!” Both Pokémon greeted their trainers with a quick chirp before they joined them for lunch. Rarity poured out her soup into two wooden bowls, one she gave to Squirtle, along with part of her loaf of bread; while she ate out of the other bowl. Applejack also poured out some soup into a metal tin for Bulbasaur, while she drank the rest right out of the thermos. “Really, Applejack? You can’t even eat soup like a civilized person?” Rarity said as she took a spoonful of red soup.

“I’m being practical.” She responded, “The less plates and bowls we use, the less plates and bowls we'll have to wash with all that water we don’t have.”

“You do know we passed a stream not five minutes ago, don’t you?”

Applejack paused in her eating and looked behind the rock. Sure enough, there was a creek a few yards away. “Ah do now.” She said as she took a bite of her cheese. Looking up she found Rarity’s Squirtle smirking at her. “What are you smiling at?” The blue Pokémon just took another sip of soup before wiping its chin on Rarity’s napkin. “I think you made the right choice with that one, Rares. She as neat and proper as you are.”

“She?”

“Squirt!”

Rarity chuckled, “I still don’t know how you all can tell a Pokémon's gender so easily." That was one of the few areas of Pokémon care that Rarity struggled with. One time she spent nearly half-an-hour making the perfect nest to hold her Pidgey's eggs; the Pidgey chased her into the Pallet Town pond. "Is Bulbasaur a girl too?”

“Nope, he’s a he.” She said, Bulbasaur nodding to confirm her statement.

Rarity rubbed her hand on Squirtle’s shell, “Well if you are a lady, then how about I name you, Turquoise?”

The shelled Pokémon took a bite of bread and thought it over as she chewed. “Squirtle!” She said cheerfully.

“Ah take it that’s a yes.” Applejack said finishing off her soup with one last swig.

Rarity smiled at the newly christened Turquoise but paused as she heard an odd nibbling sound. A furry, purple Rattata was chewing on her piece of cheese. “Hey!” Her shout scared it into the grass with the cheese still in its mouth. “Well, there goes the rest of my lunch.” She scoffed.

Bulbasaur made to chase after the thieving Pokémon but was stopped by Applejack’s hand. “Let him go, Bulbasaur. One piece a’ cheese ain’t worth getting into a fight over.”

“Bulb.” Was all the grass-type had to say.

“Squirtle! Squirtle!” Turquoise started calling out to her trainer.

“On your toes, darling. We’ve got company.”

Back in the direction of Pallet Town, a large winged Pokémon was flying towards them. As it got closer, they could see it was a brown bird Pokémon, and big enough to carry a person on its back, which this one was.

The Pokémon landed and its rider jumped off. They were a girl about the same age as Rarity and Applejack but stood about a half-foot shorter than either of them. She wore a sky-blue wind-breaker jacket over a white t-shirt with a picture of a cloud with a red, yellow and blue lightning bolt curving down from it. Her pants were also blue with yellow lightning bolt patterns running down the sides. Most striking of all was the girl’s wild hair; it was all the colors of the rainbow.

“Hey!” She said in a very tom-boyish voice, “Are you two Applejack and Rarity?”

“Yeah, and you are?”

“The name’s Rainbow Dash.” She jabbed her thumb at her chest, “Soon to be the most awesome Pokémon trainer in the world. I just got my trainer’s license from that old Professor Oak. He told me I just missed you guys.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Miss Dash.” Rarity said as she started cleaning up their picnic, “You’re from Viridian City, I take it?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“The Wonderbolts logo on your shirt was a good clue.” The Wonderbolts were a group of Pokémon trainers from Viridian who traveled around the Kanto region performing aerial shows with their Pokémon.

“Oh yeah, they’re the best. Once I’m Champion, they’re going to be begging me to be their captain”

Applejack frowned. “Something tells me you didn’t just drop by to say ‘hi’ now did ’ja?”

“Nope.” She pulled a pokeball out from behind her back, “I came to challenge one of you to a Pokémon battle.”

“Well, Ah hate to disappoint ya, but no one here wants to-“ She was cut off as Bulbasaur jumped in front of her.

“Bulba! Bulbasaur!”

“Ah yeah, looks like I’ve got a challenger.”

Applejack knelt next to Bulbasaur, “You sure you want to do this?” Bulbasaur barked in affirmation, “Alright.” She sighed, “Let’s move over here before we start!” She jogged over to a more open area of hillside.

“Fine by me.” Rainbow Dash said as she calmly took the point opposite the blonde farm girl. “Come on out, Blaze!” Her pokeball opened releasing a familiar red Pokémon with a burning tail.

“Charmander!” the Charmander called, puffing its chest out.

“By the way, thanks for saving me the best starter Pokémon ever!” Rainbow said, squeezing slightly at the end.

“Uh, you’re welcome.” Applejack said, slowly, “But if that’s your starter, then who’s that?” She pointed to the giant bird Rainbow had flow in on.

“Oh, that’s Pidgeot. I’m just borrowing him for a while. Now, let’s battle! Blaze! Scratch attack!”

The Charmander beat its tail against the ground and rushed forward. It brought its claws down on Bulbasaur leaving faint white scratch marks behind.

“Bulbasaur! Tackle!” Applejack quickly shouted out. Bulbasaur shook his head to clear the pain, then charged across the field plowing his head into Blaze’s gut. He tumbled for a bit then landed on all fours.

“Growl!” both girls ordered simultaneously. Their Pokémon both growled at each other before charging in again. The Charmander jumped over Bulbasaur and, “Scratch!” scratched him on the back of his plant bulb. Bulbasaur turned around, but Blaze quickly moved to stay behind him, continuing to use Scratch. Bulbasaur turned again, only to be met with the same results. Exhausted, he dropped to the ground in defeat.

“Alright, that’s enough.” Applejack said, “Bulbasaur’s plum tuckered out. Ya won.”

“Wohoo!” Rainbow jumped in the air as Blaze ran back to her, “Nice work, little guy!” She picked up her Pokémon and returned him to his pokeball. “Now take a breather.” She looked over at Applejack and Bulbasaur.

“You alright, Bulbasaur?”

“Bulba.” He answered with a slight nod.

“Good, you rest now.” She returned her Pokémon to his ball.

“You two put up a good fight.” Rainbow said, “But you might want to work on that blind-spot he has.”

Applejack didn’t say anything; she just went to clean out their dishes in that stream Rarity pointed out.

“Are you two planning on entering the Pokémon League?”

Rarity cleared her throat, “Applejack is assisting me on my journey: to start my own fashion network.”

“Huh. Never cared much about clothes myself…”

‘I noticed.’

“…But if that’s how you two want to spend your Pokémon journey, I’m not going to stop you.” She walked over to the Pidgeot and climbed on its back, “It was nice meeting you Applejack and Rarity. Hope to see you on the road sometime!” And with that she took off.

Rarity looked over at her friend. “Applejack, darling, are you alright?”

Applejack didn’t move, she just kept washing out their dishes. Rarity knew Applejack had a bit of a competitive streak to her, and to lose to someone like Rainbow Dash, it must have crushed her.

“Darling it was your first Pokémon battle, the world isn’t going to end just because you lost, and Bulbasaur will be fine and healed by tomorrow morning.”

Applejack sighed, “Thanks Rares. I needed that.” Rarity gave her a pat on the back and went to fold up the towels with Turquoise’s help. Applejack looked at Bulbasaur’s pokeball, inside she could see him sleeping off his injuries.

“The next time I see that filly, I’m going to show her what an Apple can really do.”

Author's Note:

Does Applejack feel a little too bitter at the end to anyone else?

Comments

[Sunset_Shimmer83]

Sorry AJ your bulbasaur will always be at a disadvantage here