Chapter 38: Viridian Forest.
"So, what does it have to do with this call?"
"As I explained in our last conversation, every time you make a name for yourself, the name of Elian Region is also promoted with it, and after you heroically saved a PokeCentre from the vicious..."
"Stop! Stop!" shouted Alan as he cut Jake off, "don't do that again."
Jake gave a small laugh as he understood what Alan meant.
"I was just telling what people have been saying about you on PokeNews."
"I am on News?" surprised by the fact; Alan searched online, and true enough, he and his fight with the Team Rocket commander was all over the internet and news channels, "why?"
"Fighting and defeating an Advanced stage trainer is not an easy feat as you make it to be," reminded Jake, and Alan sighed at it.
"Anyways, after your fight with those goons, Elian Region's fame had skyrocketed, and the Elian League wanted to reward you for it. If you have something you need, please let me know. I will make sure it is delivered by tomorrow morning; of course, it has to be within the limits of the task you have completed."
Alan nodded his head, not rejecting any rewards from the league. There were a few things he needed at the moment, so he did not shy away when League was being generous.
"I need Fighting-type orbs." before Jake could even say anything, Alan decided to add something else, "I don't want them to be Elite or King Stage. Even Advanced or Intermediate stage is good enough."
He wanted Shin to meditate on those orbs and control his Fighting-type energy better.
Unlike Eve who had six years to explore the energy use and things related to it, Shin did not have that luxury, which was one way to speed up this process.
Jake thought a little and then agreed to it.
"You will get them by tomorrow," said Jake before he came to the next agenda, "now I want to talk about a mission the League wants to give you."
"A mission?"
"Yes, and it can be considered very important as well," replied Jake with a serious tone. He sent an electronic file to Alan and asked him to open it.
"This file contains the details of your mission," he said, waiting for Alan to finish reading through it.
"A rescue mission?" Alan looked at the contents of the file and was surprised by the specifics of the mission.
"The reason Kanto League wanted to heir you was so they can ask you to take part in this, of course, they would have to pay you less that way unlike how they will have to give an appropriate reward for it if the mission is issued through us."
"So there is a Team Rocket base, somewhere in Viridian Forest, and all the pokemon they have stolen so far are stored there. You want me to go there and rescue those guys?"
"Yes, but you will not be alone. We have intelligence that few Advanced stage trainers are guarding that hideout along with some Intermediate stage trainers, so we will be sending a few other strong trainers in Advanced Stage or Intermediate Peak to help you in the mission. The Team will be led by someone from Kanto; you have to help them as much as you can."
Alan went into deep thought about what he should do.
Anything related to Team Rocket was dangerous as there was always a chance to lose your life. Every trainer who will participate in this mission would know this fact and come prepared.
"What are the rewards?"
"After all the incidents caused by Team Rocket in Kanto, the people are in unrest. With this mission, they want to make a statement, and therefore the rewards for this will be high. I can promise to get you two Peak King stage Energy Orbs of your choice from them. As for Elian League, we will gift you with two rare TMs of your choice."
"Hmm?"
Alan was pleased with the rewards.
Two Energy Orbs from a Peak King-stage pokemon of his choice, which would, of course, be Psychic and Fighting-type, could go well over 30 million and 20 million pokedollars, respectively. While the two rare TMs could also be worth 10 million pokedollars each, give or take.
In short, he would earn a lot of valuable things if he took part in this mission and without thinking any further, Alan nodded his head.
"I will be taking part in it; just tell me when and where."
"In a week, you can meet the team at the location I just sent you." Alan heard a notification as soon as Jake was done talking.
"If there are any changes, I will let you know." After a few more small talks, Jake hung up the call, leaving Alan thinking about the upcoming mission.
Alan also sold the Spearows and Fearows to Jake for a reasonable price. It saved him the hassle of going to the black market and dealing with people.
"We have a week to prepare for it," said Eve from the side as she had overheard the whole conversation.
"Week should be enough for you to raise your level, and the same goes for Shin. We need to be strong enough to protect ourselves before anything else."
He went back to finish his dinner before it was time to train.
He and Shin sat on the bed facing each other in a cross-legged position. They were going to do Aura practice while Eve would practice her Psychic energy.
And so the trio closed their eyes and went into deep meditation for their respective energies.
*************
Early in the morning, Alan made his way to the cafeteria in the Pokemon Centre.
It was six in the morning, and very few people were awake while most were trainers who would leave for Pewter City; many were those who wanted to enter Viridian Forest a bit early and leave before it turned dark since no one wanted to spend the night in a forest filled with poisonous bugs.
While he was gobbling down his food, someone came and sat in front of him.
"I did not expect you to be awake," he said as he looked at Misty, who too brought her breakfast.
"I just wanted to wake up early today," she said, trying to make an excuse before changing the topic, "did you receive the mission as well?"
"You mean..." Alan did not know what mission Misty was talking about, and he did not want to spill it out as well.
"The rescue mission."
"Yes," he answered after confirming that they were both taking part in the same mission.
Both gulped their food as they talked.
"I was given an invite, and I accepted since the rewards were excellent. Now I need to train and raise my Pokemon levels."
"True, I could not decline with how good the rewards were offered to me."
"Viridian Forest after this?"
"Just like you said, I need to train as much as I can so I can better protect myself." He stood up, ready to leave as he ate his food.
"I will see you in a week then," said Misty as she stood up as well, walking Alan to the exit.
Once Alan left, Misty gave a small sigh.
"Did he notice anything?" she said with a slight blush on her face as she looked in Alan's direction, "time to go back to sleep."
'I just wanted to say goodbye as a friend, nothing more.'
With those thoughts in mind, she walked back towards her room.
Oblivious to Misty's thoughts, Alan made his way to Viridian Forest, which was famous in the whole world for its Bug-type pokemon.
Alan looked at the forest in from of him, home to thousands of Kanto bugs.
'This will be my home for the next week.'
As he stepped into the forest, he could already feel the gazes of pokemons on him along with the smell of the woods which entered his nose, refreshing him. It took away the last bit of sleepiness he had from the previous night.
"Shin, come out."
Alan called Shin since he would make him fight pokemons on the outskirts of the forest first before he ventured deep into it with Eve.
Shin appeared out of his Pokeball, ready for a challenging day ahead of him. He still wore the weights around his limbs which restricted his movements.
"Kub-Kub-Fu."
It gave an excited yell for the upcoming battles. He can not talk to him since he was not his Blood Bond, while Eve was not yet proficient in making a telepathic connection between other people except Alan and her.
Therefore, Shin still had to use sign language to explain things to Alan.
Alan did a quick scan of Shin's status.
[Kubfu.
Type: Fighting.
Level: 11
Potential: Deep Violet.
Stage: Beginner Stage (Mid)
Blood Bond: None.
Ability: Inner Focus.
Innate Skill: Close Combat.
Moves: Leer, Rock Smash, Endure, Focus Energy, Bulk Up, Bullet Punch.
IM: None
TM: Protect, Mega Punch, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Quick Attack, Agility.]
Since most of the pokemon in the forest were Bug-type, Alan would use this chance to train Shin in his Fire Punch, effective against most.
"We will start our training in this forest. It is filled with dangerous pokemon, so we need to do our best if we want to survive, especially you, who will have to protect me from those bugs," Alan explained things to Shin. He wanted to make sure he was always on guard, and the last part made sure of it.
"Kub-Kub," he nodded his small head before hitting his chest as if saying, 'I will protect you.'
As the duo started walking, they encountered a few difficulties, such as overgrown herbs or branches, making it impossible to move around the forest. They were not on the official road, so the League did not clear it.
Alan took out his twin sabres, and along with Shin, he started cutting down anything that came in their way.
It was not long before they finally heard a noise among the bushes. The trainer and pokemon paused for the 'thing' to appear. It did not take long before the 'thing' lost patience and walked out of the bushes.
Alan activated his Pokedex to get the information on the pokemon.
[Pinsir
Type: Bug.
Level: 10
Potential: Orange
Stage: Beginner Stage (Mid)]
It was none other than a Pinsir, an infamous bug pokemon within Viridian forest, known for bullying the weak.
It stared at Alan and Shin, clearly looking for a fight.
Alan did not wait and immediately called out a move, "Shin, use Bulk Up."
Pinsir was a pokemon with a higher Attack stat than a Kubfu, so Alan wanted Shin to be buffed before it engaged it in a fight.
Seeing Alan and Shin ready for a fight, the Pinsir gave a sharp cry before charging at them with its pincers.
"It is using Bind, be careful," warned Alan as he saw the Pinsir close up on them, "use Fire punch."
Shin took the stance Alan had taught him and embers appeared around both his fists. Shin had been fighting almost the whole day yesterday and he had learnt a lot of things.
One thing he learnt was, punching was not all about hitting your opponent but where you hit it as well.
Everyone had weak spots or places that were less guarded that others. If you target those weak spots, the damage dealt would be significantly higher than anywhere else.
Shin looked at the Pinsir who was coming his way with its head bent down and pincers at front. It was clear that it could not see what was happening at front as it was fully invested in this charge.
As embers coiled around both its fists, it waited for the opponent to come closer and when it was in range, without even Alan telling him what to do, he charged ahead with a Quick Attack and made an upper cut, right at Pinsir's face.
*Scree*
It roared in pain as the Fire Punch did a lot of damage. Shin however was not done with it.
With embers still coiling around his fists, he charged forward and started throwing punch after punch not giving his opponent a chance to counter attack.
His attacks were swift, while his punched had no pause or hesitation.
He sent each punch with an intent to destroy his enemy, to prove his dominance. And prove he did as within a dozen or so punches, the poor Pinsir was on the ground unconscious.
Shin stood beside it with a proud face.
"Do you know why Viridian Forest is dangerous?" asked Alan as he saw Shin had defeated his opponent.
Shin looked at Alan with a puzzled expression as if asking him, 'Why?'
Alan pointed towards a certain direction and Shin saw six figures walk out of the bushes.
"Because here no pokemon is alone, so if you fight one, you will have to fight them all. Never drop your guard until you are sure about your safety," as he taught Shin, the newly arrived Pinsirs charged towards Shin who was standing beside their unconscious family member.
The Pinsirs coming their way had the same level as the previous one. Shin got ready to fight and charged his fists with Fire Punch.
The ember once again coiled around his fists but this time, it was bit denser than before. Shin had already used the attack many time and by now he was learning how to improve it.
The Pinsirs attacked him with different moves but Shin dodged every one of them while countered with a Fire Punch.
He however was not left unscathed.
While he was fending of four opponents by himself, another Pinsir attacked him from behind while the last one did the same from the side, injuring Shin.
This was not going to be easy and the real battle had just begun.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Alan_demonic
Alan_demonic I hope you all like the chapter.
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