To Be All I Can Be
Part4
By: EmeraldDragon


Disclaimer: ( I hate these things) I do not own pokemon, but I do own the
characters in this story that are not in the show or game, so ask before
using one. Thanks


Janelle and her pokemon sat around Raichu’s hospital bed. Bulbasaur and
Sandshrew sat on the foot of the bed, Articuno perched on the railing at
the head, while Arcanine and Ponyta stood on the side of the bed with
Janelle. Raichu lay between the sheets of the bed wrapped in about three
yards of gauss bandage. Nurse Joy had let her and her pokemon came in a
few minutes ago, saying that Raichu would be up soon. The group watched in
silence as the patient began to awaken.
"Hey Raichu, how are you feeling?" Janelle asked softly.
"Rai." It answered in a depressed voice before looking away.
"Raichu, I want to say I’m sorry."
"Chu?"
"Yta?"
"Uno?"
"Arc?"
"Sand?"
"Bulba?"
"I shouldn’t have fought you so hard." Her eyes began to fill with tears
"I should have given you more time to rest. I’m not good enough to be a
trainer." Tears rolled freely down her cheeks now "I’m sorry. I’m so
sorry." Raichu looked at her for a moment before stiffly crawling from the
bed to her lap.
"Rai chu chu raichu." He said as it wiped the tears away with his paw.
"No Raichu, It’s not that your weak."
"Raichu chu."
"No, I should have given you more time to rest."
"Raichu raichu rai rai chu raichu rai."
"If it hadn’t been for you I couldn’t have caught Articuno."
"Cuno." Articuno agreed.
"Raichu."
"I love you too, all of you." They sat there in silence for a moment.
"Well isn’t that sickeningly sweet." A snide voice said from the door
way. Janelle looked up to see Steven leaning against the door frame. "It
looks like you and your wimpy pokemon got your butts kicked." All Janelle’s
pokemon started growling.
"For your information, we got three badges and as I recall, you lost the
last time we battled."
"If I lost then why where you afraid to fight me when I challenged you in
Pewter?"
"Because a real trainer never puts one of their pokemon at risk."
"Well when you get the courage to fight, I’ll be out side waiting for an
all out battle." He said with a cocky grin as he left.
"Raichu, rest up." She said as she placed him back in bed, "The rest of
you are going to get a full checkup from Nurse Joy. I want you all as
healthy as possible for this battle." They all nodded in agreement. "We’ll
teach him to call us cowardly and wimpy." Janelle said with her fathers
determination shining in her eyes.
**********************************************************
The word about the fight spread like wild fire through Cerulean City.
Officer Jenny declared it an official match and volunteered to be referee,
Nurse Joy and her Chansey went on stand by in case of serious injury, and
the gym volunteered its tournament arena. The stadium was full to the
brim. Everyone in Cerulean City must have been there, and then some.
Steven stood in the challengers box with his first pokeball in his hand.
Janelle stood opposite of him with her pokemon lined up behind her in the
most threatening positions they know.
"This will be an all out pokemon battle," Officer Jenny announced, "Up to
six pokemon may be used. No time limit. The winner will receive a $2000
prize. BEGIN!!"
"I choose Fearow, Dill Peak!!" A very scarred bird appeared from the
pokeball. ‘Look at all those scars. It must have been in a lot of battles,
this could be tough.’
"Go Raichu, Agility and Thunder!" Fearow started a spinning nose dive
towards its opponent. Raichu dodged the ruthless attack effortlessly. But
as Fearow started its ascent to make another dive Raichu leaped on its back.
"RAAAIIIIIII…CCHHHUUUU!!!!!" Raichu yelled as he called forth its most
powerful elemental attack. Fearow squawked loudly in pain as the
electricity coursed through its body, rendering it unconscious. The
defeated bird plummeted to the ground like a rock. Raichu leaped to the
ground away from the impending crash. The huge bird hit the ground with a
loud thud and a cloud of dust.
"Fearow Return! Go Weepinbell, use your Razor leaf!" The plant pokemon
body was a map of scars. ‘He must fight his pokemon really hard. It seems
strange though that any pokemon with that kind of experience would go down
in one attack’
"Raichu Return! Go Ponyta, Fire Spin!" The leaves at Weepinbell’s side
went spinning towards Ponyta at a high rate of speed. Ponyta countered the
attack with a fire tornado. The leaves spontaneously combusted several
feet from the cyclone. The tornado continued on a collision coarse with
the helpless plant pokemon. The flames engulfed their quarry with deadly
efficiency.
"Stupid weed. Weepinbell Return!" Steven was starting to get really mad,
"Go Arbok, Bite!" The enormous cobra had chunks of flesh missing from its
hood and scars that ran the length of its body. ‘This is getting weird.’
"Ponyta Return! Go Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf!" Arbok leaped at its opponent
with open jaws. Bulbasaur shot about 50 leaves from the sides of its bulb,
bringing the score to Janelle 3 Steven 0.
‘Something isn’t right here.’ Janelle thought as she watched Arbok
collapse into the dusty arena floor,‘Bulbasaur is my weakest pokemon, and
yet he took out a fully evolved pokemon in one hit without a type
advantage. Either Steven has some thing really strong in his next three or…’
"Arbok Return! Go Primeape, Seismic Toss!" The pokemon that appeared
shared those same scars with it’s predecessors
"Bulbasaur Return! Go Sandshrew, Slash!" The Pig Monkey ran to the
attack, grabbed Sandshrew, and got a face full of claws that sent it to
dream land. ‘Now I am positive that something is wrong. Primeapes are well
known for their aggression and strength, but this one went down in one hit.’
"Primeape Return! Go Gyarados, Dragon Rage!" The colossal dragon was
missing an eye, along most of the ridges on its back, and shared those same
mysterious scars all over its body.
"Sandshrew Return! Go Articuno, Blizzard!" The crowd ‘oh’ed and ‘awe’ed
as the majestic bird took to the air. Gyarados created a huge cyclone of
water aimed at Articuno. With all the grace associated with its species
Articuno froze the tornado and sent it back at its creator.
"Gyarados Return! Go Vulpix, Confuse Ray!" The pokemon that appeared was
nothing like the others; it was only slightly thin, no scars, no missing
parts.
"Articuno Return! Go Arcanine use your…huh?" A tiny six tailed fox
crouched and shook like a leaf in front of Arcanine.
"I said use Confuse Ray!" Steven shouted in a rage.
"Vuuulll…" It replied weakly.
"Now!" Steven ordered. Vulpix just crouched there in fear of its master
and opponent. "I’ll teach you to disobey me!" Steven roared. As he
stormed across the arena he began to take off his belt. Janelle had a
sudden realization of the coming event, but she was to late to stop it.
The next thing she heard was the sickening sound of leather against flesh
and a cry of pain from the tiny fox. Without orders Arcanine leaped at
Steven with a roar that shook the stadium to the foundation. Steven
scrambled away from the enormous dog.
"I’ll teach you too!" He said raising the belt to hit Arcanine.
"Oh on you won’t, Articuno Ice Beam!" The beam of ice shot past Janelle,
the fallen Vulpix, and Arcanine to freeze Steven hard as a rock. The whole
stadium was silent with shock.
Nurse Joy and her Chansey were the first to move. While Nurse Joy
chipped at the ice to retrieve Steven’s pokeballs, the Chansey took Vulpix
to the emergency room. Officer Jenny placed Steven under arrest and
started to read him his rights, not that he could hear them any way. All
of a sudden the stadium came alive with the talk of the resent event.
Other Officer Jennies began directing traffic and in the confusion Janelle
and her pokemon slipped out undetected.
**********************************************************
Janelle looked through the one way mirror into the ER. She watched as
Nurse Joy finished wrapping the gauss around Vulpix. After giving some
orders to her Chansey, Nurse Joy quietly exited the room.
"Are they going to be OK?" Janelle asked with Arcanine at her side, same
question in her eyes.
"Yes, they will be ready for transport in a couple of hours." She
answered with a exhausted but cheery grin.
"Transport? Where are they going?"
"They will be sent to Mr. Fuji’s adoption agency."
"Is there any way I could keep them?"
"You’ll have to talk to Officer Jenny."
"Thank you." Janelle said and turned to leave the center.
"Hey Janelle, wait up." Phil called from across the center. She stopped
and watched him trot up to her.
"I saw the battle, you were awesome! So where ya goin’?"
"Thanks, and I’m going to see if I can adopt Steven’s pokemon."
"OK, Well I’m going to the gym to get my badge."
"Didn’t you already battle for a badge?"
"Yea, three times." He sounded kind of depressed.
"If your having trouble, why don’t you teach your pokemon some TMs?"
"TMs are expensive, Janelle."
"Ask Prof. Oak. He said he’d help us if we needed it. Here’s the Police
Station. I’ll see you later and good luck." They waved to each other as
Janelle entered the station. It wasn’t very big inside. With the
exception of some wanted posters, the walls were plain, off white, and
featureless. There were a few tables and chairs; some occupied, most not.
Officer Jenny sat behind a desk working at a computer.
"Excuse me?" Officer Jenny looked up.
"Oh Janelle, You must be here for your prize money." She handed her an
envelope from a drawer in her desk.
"Thanks, I’d forgotten about that. Actually I came to see what it would
take to adopt Steven’s pokemon."
"I’d be more then happy to let you have them, but Mr. Fuji already took
the rights. You can talk to him if you want, he’s right over there." She
motioned to a man in his mid 20’s working by himself at a laptop in the
corner. Janelle sighed and walked over to him.
"Excuse me, Mr. Fuji?"
"Yes?" He said pleasantly, looking up from his work.
"Hi…My name is Janelle Ketchem. I helped rescue the pokemon you just got."
"Please Miss. Ketchem have a seat. I’m Chan Fuji III. How may I help
you?" Janelle sat down in the chair across from him.
"I’ll be blunt. I want to adopt Steven’s pokemon."
"All of them?"
"Yes. All of them."
"My father once told me a story of a boy named Ash." He chuckled, "He had
a heart as big as your Arcanine. Of coarse I thought he was making it up,
but I guess not." He pause and got a serious look on his face. "But the
fact of the matter is that, my family’s agency is run on the money that
adopting out the pokemon brings in." His expression softened, "But, seeing
that you helped rescue these pokemon, I’ll make you a deal. For every
pokemon you adopt I’ll give you one, of equal or lesser value, for free."
"That sounds fair."
"Good!" he turned his laptop to face her. "Now this is a list of the
pokemon was have available. Next to the name is the number we have and the
price of one."
Charmander 1 $300
Squirtle 1 $300
Butterfree 1 $400
Pidgey 6 $100
Pidgeotto 2 $300
Rattata 5 $100
Fearow 1 $400
Arbok 1 $400
Nidoran(m,f) 4 $200
Vulpix 1 $300
Zubat 3 $100
Oddish 2 $300
Diglett 2 $400
Psyduck 3 $500
Primeape 1 $600
Poliwag 2 $200
Abra 3 $100
Machop 1 $300
Bellsprout 2 $200
Weepinbell 1 $400
Tentacool 3 $100
Geodude 4 $200
Slowpoke 3 $200
Magnamite 2 $300
Farfetch’d 1 $400
Dodou 2 $300
Shellder 1 $400
Gastly 4 $200
Haunter 3 $400
Onix 3 $400
Drowzee 1 $400
Krabby 2 $300
Voltorb 3 $300
Exeggcute 4 $400
Cubone 1 $500
Lickitung 1 $550
Rhyhorn 2 $400
Horsea 3 $200
Goldeen 5 $100
Staryu 2 $300
Magmar 1 $400
Magikarp 20 $50
Gyarados 1 $600
Eevee 4 $200
Snorlax 1 $400
Dratini 1 $600

"See any thing you like?" Mr. Fuji asked
"Yeah, a few. How do you price these?" She replied without looking up.
"By how rare, strong, whether they are evolved or not. Things like
that." Janelle paused for another moment.
"OK, I’m ready, I think. I’ll take the charmander and match it with the
squrtle, the shellder with the magmar, all four eevees , and the dratini
with the vulpix." Mr. Fuji did the math as she talked.
"That comes to…$1700." Janelle opened the envelope Officer Jenny had
given her. "No, no, not right now. First take this note to Nurse Joy," he
handed her a folded piece of paper, "I’ll meet you at the pokecenter in a
little while with the rest of the pokemon. If they like you they’re yours,
if not I’ll let you pick some thing else."
"Thank You." Janelle said as she got up.
"No, thank you."
**********************************************************
"Hi Nurse Joy, Mr. Fuji told me to give this to you." Nurse Joy took the
note and read it.
"That’s nice of you to adopt the vulpix. Its room is the last one on the
left." Janelle thanked her walked down the hospital like hall to Vulpix’s
room. Janelle and Arcanine sat next to the bed of the sleeping fox. ‘Isn’t
this how this disaster started. With me sitting next to a sick pokemon’s
bed.’ She thought. As she watched Vulpix stirred, then woke.
"Hi Vulpix, how do you feel?"
"Vul?"
"No, Steven is gone, I’ll be taking care of you now."
"Vulpix!" It said happily.
"Well that’s one down, nine to go." Janelle turned to see Mr. Fuji
standing in the door way. "Here are the other pokemon you wanted." He held
out a hand full of minimized pokeballs. One by one they released the
pokemon.
"Look at them. They look so thin." Janelle pointed out. "Here eat up."
She said putting tins of food out for them.
"Arc?"
"It is getting close to time to feed the rest of you. Every one come
out." Janelle put out tins of food for her pokemon as well. She watched as
her pokemon ate slowly and calmly, while the other ten inhaled their food.
She pointed that out the difference to Mr. Fuji.
"With the exception of one Eevee, all these pokemon came from Steven’s
collection. He probably didn’t feed them much or often, so when they are
fed they gorge."
All the pokemon turned out to like her. She paid Mr. Fuji, signed the
forms, and spent the next hour getting to know her new pokemon. She told
them that she was going to send them to a place where they would get fed
three meals a day everyday, and get to do what every they wanted
in-between. She called Prof. Tracey and told him of the days events and
sent all but one eevee to him. She gathered up the other five pokemon, put
eevee’s ball into her backpack, and with Arcanine at her heels went to find
Phil.
They decided to stay the night in a hotel. Phil told her about his win
at the gym by taking her advice, and gave her a TM: Earthquake. In return
Janelle told his about adopting the pokemon and gave him the eevee, which
he replaced his Clefairy with.
**********************************************************
The telephone on the night stand rang in the blackness of the room.
Janelle fumbled around for a moment before finally finding the receiver.
"Hello?" Janelle said sleepily in to the wrong end. Realizing her mistake
she turn it around and repeated herself.
"This is your wake up call." A woman said on the other end.
"I didn’t order a wake up call." Janelle told her.
"Well, someone in that room did." The lady said rudely before hanging up
in her face. Janelle hung up the phone.
"Phil, did you order a wake up call?" She yawned. There was no answer.
"Phil?" Still no answer. Janelle fumbled with the light switch. Janelle
looked at the other bed in the two bed room. The bed was empty, but had
definitely been slept in. His pokemon slept on and around his bed like he
was still there. Janelle quickly got dressed to go see if he was out side.
When she opened the door she found a red rose and a note on the door step.
DEAR JANELLE, SORRY TO WAKE YOU BUT I WANTED YOU UP WHEN I GOT BACK. I
HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU. LOVE PHIL.
She woke and fed all the pokemon, returned them to there balls, and packed
for her and Phil. Her and Arcanine had just flopped down to watch TV and
wait when someone knocked at the door. Arcanine leaped to her feet growling.
"Relax Arcanine, It’s just Phil." Janelle said looking through the
peephole. She opened the door to let him in. "So what’s the big
surprise?" She asked.
"There’s a tournament in Vermilion City today, and I entered you in it."
"That’s great!"
"But there’s a catch."
"What is it?"
"You need four badges to compete, you only have three."
"Great, Even if we rode as fast as Ponyta and Arcanine could carry us, we
wouldn’t get therein enough time to win a badge and show up for the
tournament."
"No, but Vermilion is only five minutes from here as the crow flies, or
in this case the Articuno." He said with a smile. They checked out of the
hotel and ‘took off’ for Vermilion.
**********************************************************
"I am Private Thunder of the Vermilion City gym." Said the blond, very
military looking, teenage boy. "I defined the Thunder Badge. I’m in a big
hurry so this will be a one on one battle. Go Electabuzz, use your Thunder
Punch!"
"Go Sandshrew! Earthquake!" Electabuzz started to gather electricity in
its fist. Sandshrew rolled into a ball and began bouncing up and down hard
enough to shake the gym. Electabuzz was knocked off its feet and thrown
around by Sandshrew’s bouncing. When Sandshrew finished its attack
Electabuzz was laying unconscious on the gym floor.
Suddenly Sandshrew began to glow. Spikes shot from its back, its claws got
longer, and its big blue eyes narrowed and turned black.
"Sandslash!" It rasped when the glow faded.
"Return, Electabuzz! Here’s the badge and gym prize. Now I have a lot
kids to fight before the tournament, so leave." Janelle left with Arcanine
and Sandslash at her side and a new badge pinned to her hat.