Chapter 10: Through Rainbow Forest

“So, Rick is cloning Twos?” May asked as they walked out of the town towards Metal city. It was called so because there were lots of mines for precious metals around the town, and Skarmorys were very common there. “That’s illegal, isn’t it? After what happened with Mewtwo? It’s illegal to modify a clone’s genetic code at all, isn’t it?”

“Yup,” was Mark’s answer. He was thinking. There was only one obstacle on the way to Metal city: Rainbow Forest. It had a lot of pokémon, but they were all at a pretty low level, so Mark thought he shouldn’t be catching any pokémon there. However, he might encounter Mew again. Its hideout was in the middle of the forest, by what Mew said. Mark really had the feeling that he’d see Mew soon, for some reason. Or maybe it was just hope.

All this floated through Mark’s mind.

“...and... Mark, are you listening to me?” May asked. He hadn’t heard anything of her speech.

“Sorry, I was... thinking, could you repeat that?”

“Never mind,” said May, looking offended.

“Hey, May, we could have a battle!” Mark quickly said to change the subject. “We battled at the Lake, but it’s been a long time, and we’ve caught more pokémon...”

“That’s a good idea! Go, Larvitar!” May stopped and sent out Larvitar.

“Now? Here? No, I mean – Gyarados can’t battle here where there is no water. There’s a pond over there, see, let’s battle there.”

“Okay,” said May and they went over to the pond.

“Go, Dratini! Wrap!” Mark shouted.

“Larvitar, Sandstorm!” May yelled.

Dratini wrapped himself around Larvitar. Larvitar conjured a sandstorm that struck both of them, but Larvitar was unaffected by it, being a rock-solid pokémon.

“Dratini, tighter!”

“Larvitar, Bite!”

Dratini tried to wrap himself tighter around Larvitar, but Larvitar bit Dratini, causing him to release him.

“Larvitar, Rock slide!”

“Dratini, Twister!”

Some rocks from the ground behind Larvitar slid through the air at Dratini, but Dratini made some kind of a whirlwind which blew the rocks away and hit Larvitar.

“Dratini, Dragon rage!”

“Larvitar, Sandstorm!”

Dratini blew some sort of strange-looking flames at Larvitar, but the sandstorm blew the flames right back at Dratini.

“Oh no! Dragons are weak to Dragon attacks!” Mark shouted as Dratini became enveloped in those flames, fainting.

“Dratini, come back! Go, Gyarados! Use Surf!”

Larvitar didn’t have much of a chance. He fainted.

“Larvitar, return! Do it, Pikachu! Thundershock!”

“Pika CHUUUU!” Gyarados, having an extreme weakness to Electric, fainted instantly.

“Gyarados, come back! Go, Sandshrew! Earthquake!”

“Pikachu, quick! Double team!”

Five Pikachus appeared in a ring around Sandshrew, who was very confused. He didn’t use Earthquake, but looked at Mark, puzzled.

“Sandshrew, use Earthquake! They’re only illusions!”

“Pikachu, Quick attack!” May ordered.

The Pikachus all leapt into the air, dodging the Earthquake, and struck Sandshrew. But only one of them really hit; that was the real Pikachu.

Suddenly, Sandshrew glowed white. He became larger and spiky. His claws lengthened. A Sandslash now stood there in its full glory.

“Oh! I never asked Sandshrew if he wanted to evolve!” dawned onto Mark.

“Sandslash!” Sandslash announced.

“Well, Sandslash, Earthquake!”

Sandslash’s Earthquake was more powerful than Sandshrew’s, that was easy to see. The Pikachus jumped up for a Quick attack again, but when they landed on Sandslash’s back, they got hurt by the spikes and the copies disappeared, leaving only the real Pikachu. He fell of the back and the Earthquake hit him, he still didn’t faint, though. It’s a tough Pikachu May owns, Mark thought.

“Pikachu, come back! You’re too weak to battle! Go, Lapras, use Surf!”

May had obivously taught Lapras Surf, because Lapras used a powerful one, leaving Sandslash very weak.

“Sandslash, Earthquake!”

Sandslash smashed his claws into the ground and caused an earthquake, but Lapras was in the pond and was not very much affected by it.

“Lapras, another Surf!”

Sandslash fainted as soon as the big wave Lapras sent at him hit.

“Well done, that’s enough, Sandslash,” Mark said, recalling him. “Go, Jolteon!”

Mark knew May was now in trouble, because her three pokémon left were all weak to Electric.

“Lapras, you must do it – Sing!”

Lapras started singing a tune that made them all feel drowzy. Mark and May covered their ears so they wouldn’t fall asleep, but Jolteon, after attempts to lie down and get his paws over his long, rabbit-like ears, fell fast asleep.

“Lapras, Body slam!” May shouted. Lapras went out of the pond, then slammed hard onto Jolteon, of course waking him up, but Jolteon was stuck. He growled and used Thundershock, and much to Mark’s surprise, it was enough to make Lapras faint. Looked like he had a strong Jolteon, too. However, when May recalled Lapras, Jolteon had fainted too under Lapras’ weight.

“Go, Charmeleon, Fire blast!” Mark said, throwing Charmeleon’s ball forward.

“Go, Butterfree, Confusion!” said May, clenching her fist.

Butterfree was quicker and fired a blast of psychic energy at Charmeleon. Charmeleon blew flames at Butterfree, causing her to faint.

“Go, Skarmory! Do it!”

Mark was pretty sure of his victory now. Skarmory was weak to Fire.

“Skarmory, you must listen to me and do exactly as I tell you. Stay where you are, and wait for me to instruct you, don’t move.”

“Charmeleon, Fire blast!” Mark roared.

“Skarmory, Whirlwind... now!” May bellowed. Skarmory flapped his metallic wings very fast and the Fire blast was sent back at Charmeleon. It didn’t hurt him much, as he was a Fire type too.

“Skarmory, quick now – Drill peck!”

Skarmory dived swiftly down at Charmeleon, spinning very fast like a drill. Before Charmeleon could do anything, Skarmory’s sharp beak stung right into his stomach like a knife. He roared in pain, and Skarmory went off him. The battle was over. May had won.

“How did your Skarmory get Drill peck? I thought the only way to do that was making a baby one learn it from its parents?”

“You don’t need to be a parent to teach a Skarmory how to Drill peck,” said May casually. “You can as well be a trainer, but it takes a lot of hard work.”

“Well, Charmeleon needs immediate healing,” said Mark. “Gotta hurry to the Cleanwater pokémon center.”

“I’ve got some revives, so I’ll just train here in the forest until you get back,” said May and took some Revives out of her backpack and used them on her pokémon in turn. “Actually, the forest is full of pokémon like Beedrill and others that might be dangerous if all your pokémon are badly injured. I can just lend you Larvitar, he doesn’t need that much training anyway,” said May. Then she handed Larvitar’s pokéball to Mark.

“Thanks, May.”

Mark went to Cleanwater city and back pretty much without anything interesting happening except that it took a lot longer than he had expected. He found May easily once when he was back in the forest again.

“What took you, Mark?” she asked. “My pokémon are up many levels, Larvitar is seriously behind... but I had an idea – we can go to the Rainbow café and have something to eat. It’s at the other end of the forest.”

They went through the forest, but sadly without seeing Mew. They encountered some pokémon, which May allowed Mark to battle because her pokémon had so much training already. Mark beat them with Charmeleon or Dratini. He was eager to let them evolve, as he had asked Dratini a short while before if he wanted to evolve. Dratini had thought wings would be fun. Of course, Mark did tell him that it would be long before he evolved into a Dragonite, he’d have to become a Dragonair first and the Dratini line evolves slowly, but Dratini was excited all the same.

“Look! Rainbow café!” May pointed at a small house. A little ahead of it was the edge of the forest.

“A café? This is tiny!” Mark complained, but when they got in, he realized he was wrong. It was one of those houses that seem much larger from the inside than the outside. They sat down at a table, ordered some food and ate. Everything was just like normal until they got outside. A wild Spinarak attacked them.

“All right! I’ll take it!” said Mark. “Go, Char... hey! Where are my pokéballs?”

Mark looked down, but his pokéballs were gone off his belt where they were supposed to be.

“They were attached to your belt, weren’t they?” said May. “They shouldn’t disappear into thin air...”

“But... oh, I get it. Give me my pokéballs, May. This isn’t funny.”

“Me?? Are you saying I stole your pokémon?”

“Give them back!”

“I DIDN’T STEAL YOUR LOUSY LITTLE POKÉMON!” May shouted in Mark’s ear. “MINE ARE MUCH STRONGER ANYWAY!”

“Okay, but who stole them, then?” asked Mark.

“Well... hey! It might have been that guy who came in just after us! He sat at the next table, remember, and he didn’t order anything! He went out before us, also, and headed towards Metal city!”

“Okay! Let’s go!” shouted Mark and ran towards the city, which was now in sight.

“Mark!” May shouted after him. “Wait for me! That guy also stole my Larvitar! I’m helping you as I can!”