Disclaimer: No, really, I actually own Pokémon! Dudes in white lab coats put author in straitjacket and drag him away No! You can't do this to me! I really own Pokémon! LET ME GO! Nooooooo...
A/N; I've decided for Dax to get a Dragonite...eventually. Thanx for your suggestion Moonlit Shadow !
Willow woke up in the middle of the night. Camped in Ilex Forest, just west of Azalea Town, you couldn't really tell in the dark forest what time it was unless you had a Pokégear to tell you. Willow yawned and stretched her arms high, looking around her tent. She suddenly stopped midyawn and looked around. This wasn't Willow's tent. This looked more like... Dax's tent! Willow jumped at the thought and searched around in surprise. Dax was nowhere to be seen. And this was certainly not where Willow had fallen asleep last night...
Looking around once more, she noticed a Pokéball in the middle of the tent, where Dax's bed normally was. She poked her head out to the chilly air of the forest and looked to her tent, and peered inside. Eevee was sleeping peacefully inside on one of the pillows. Willow looked back to Dax's tent once again. Where was that trainer?
Willow sighed and decided to pack everything up. Pressing the quick pack button on the side of the auto camp tent, she deposited her Lapras' Pokéball into her knapsack and returned her Eevee into its Pokéball also. She packed Dax's tent up too and put both into a handy pocket in his backpack, which he had strangely left behind. She kept the mysterious unknown Pokéball in her pocket, however, not knowing what Pokémon might lay inside.
As she headed down the forest path, avoiding a strange boy who was smacking himself senseless against a tree with his forehead, she heard whispers around the bend. She was suddenly pushed onto her back as two dark figures knocked her over. In her panic, Willow threw the first thing her hand found; the unidentified Pokéball. The ball opened, a flash of light illuminated the dark surroundings for a moment, and the unnamed Pokémon sprang out.
'Dax?!' Willow thought, going slightly cross-eyed as she saw Dax emerge from the Pokéball. Dax groaned, stretched his back, and then looked around to get his bearings.
"What were you doing inside that Pokéball?!" Willow exclaimed.
"Oh, I dunno, maybe because while you were casually sleepwalking, you casually caught me in my SLEEP!" said Dax, his voice rising. "Maybe I should tie you down to the bed from now on!"
"Well, that sounded wrong," blushed Willow, as she picked herself up and dusted herself off. She suddenly remembered that someone had knocked her over. Whipping her head around (and managing to whip Dax in the face with her hair, causing a whimper to escape his mouth), she saw a boy chasing a small bird Pokémon carrying a leek.
"A Farfetch'd!" she exclaimed. "They're nearly extinct because people used to eat them! They often carry a sprig of leek with them to defend themselves! People often find them useful for cutting down bushes!" she rattled off the facts. She caught Dax looking at her dumbfounded. "Well, I'm not all beauty," she huffed. "I have brains in here too, ya'know."
Dax smiled sheepishly. "Oh right, I forgot you programmed my Pokédex..."
Willow pointed off towards a sign. "C'mon, I'm ready to leave this creepy forest," she said, pulling Dax by the hand.
Dax just stared at Willow goggle-eyed. 'She really knows her Pokémon,' he thought, as he started to realise just what aspiring to be a Pokémon Professor meant. Strapping on his belt, Dax took a Pokéball and pressed the button on it, releasing the Pokémon within.
"Go, Mareep!" said Dax as the electric sheep appeared in front of him. "Mareep, use that Flash HM!"
Mareep nodded it's blue head and closed it's eyes, and the yellow orb on the end of it's tail began to glow. All of a sudden, the glow became stronger and the entire forest was lit up. Willow sighed as the darkness was blown away, and pulled out her Pokégear. Pressing a few buttons, Willow checked the map function of Ilex Forest (upgraded by herself of course) and pointed off in one direction.
"We should head off that way; it should lead straight to Goldenrod," she said, indicating the thick brambles growing over what was once a path.
Dax looked at the brambles, which blocked the path entirely. 'If only I had a flying type to go over it,' he thought, when he saw a boy dressed in woodcutters clothes walk past.
"Hey, do you know how to get through there?" asked Dax.
"Oh, here, take this Cut HM, it'll let you get past any weeds and stuff blocking paths!" replied the boy cheerfully. "Most trainers find this really useful!"
Dax took the Cut HM, thinking of who could use it. 'Well, Geodude can't, neither can Mareep... wait a sec, Krabby probably could!' Dax took out Krabby and got the HM out, which was a sort of machine that injected tiny robots into a Pokémon's blood.
There were seven HM's that Dax knew of: Cut, Fly, Surf, Strength, Flash, Waterfall and Whirlpool. Each of them were little machines that made the nanobots that programmed a Pokémon so they could use the move; Cut made their bodies create sharper claws, Fly gave them stronger wings so they could fly higher and carry people on their backs, Surf made them float and swim better, Strength gave them extra muscles for pushing boulders out of the way in caves, Flash allowed them to glow with either electricity or other energy, Waterfall allowed them to propel themselves up waterfalls (or use such a motion to attack in battles) and Whirlpool let them cancel out whirlpools with their own anti-whirlpool.
Scientists were apparently trying to make an eighth HM out of Rock Smash, but it was unsuccessful so far. Another rumour was that there were plans for a deep-sea diving HM, but there was no evidence of that.
Dax snapped out of his daze when Willow coughed to get his attention. "Oh, yeah... Krabby, use Cut!"
Krabby cut through the brambles easily, and the duo continued on their way.
Next Chapter: Goldenrod City!