We didn't want to spend money staying in town so we headed straight for the woods to camp out. It would be at least another day's hike up into the mountains before we would see any interesting Pokemon.
"Why do you suppose these Pokemon have gone unnoticed for so long?" asked Jesse as we set up camp.
"I don't think anybody much lives up here," said Meowth.
"Professor Oak has a theory that they're moving into the area because their natural home is being destroyed," I said.
Jesse looked at me with some surprise. "You've really done your research for this, James."
I shrugged. "I did the best I could. Unfortunately there's not much information on the attacks and defenses of these Pokemon."
"I didn't think you two had any Pokemon that could go up against a psychic type," said Meowth.
"In a gym battle, no. I'm hoping this is different. Professor Oak seemed to think they could be caught." I noticed that Meowth seemed to be forgetting he was a Pokemon again. I wasn't sure what I thought of that but at least he was cheering up.
Jesse was already in her sleeping bag and seemed to be getting sleepy. "You know, James, if the twerps are here and the do catch something, maybe we could just steal it from them."
I couldn't tell if she was serious. I was pretty sure I wanted her to be kidding. I went and put my sleeping bag down close to hers.
"Jesse, you don't really want to get back into all that, do you?" I asked.
"What, you're surprised all of a sudden, James?"
"No. I just sort of thought we could..."
"Play by the rules, James? Since when did that help us any?"
"Jess, I didn't exactly go up to the front door and get this information from Professor Oak. But I really did hope we were through with stealing Pokemon. Even from people who annoy me as much as they do. Besides, let's face it, those twerps can out-fight us."
Jesse smiled a little then. "So you don't think I'm a bad influence on you, James?"
I didn't know what to say. "Do you want to be?"
"Not really. But I don't want you to think I'm boring."
I started giggling at that. I reached for her hand and squeezed it. "Never."
She fell asleep, still holding my hand.
The next day we began hiking again. We stayed off the trail as much as possible, looking for thick underbrush and trees that could hide Pokemon. At first all we saw were ordinary Spearows, and a few Beedrills in the distance. But as we were eating lunch, we heard a sound.
It was a little like a Growlithe growling, but louder and more menacing. Suddenly a silver shape ran at Meowth and knocked him down. I could see Meowth swiping at a face full of teeth, and hear the growling become a hideous barking. I could hear Jesse yelling "Arbok, go!" Arbok managed to get a bite into the creature, which let go of Meowth and barked at the three of us. If it was saying its name, its name was something horrible. It was built a little like a Growlithe, but with silvery fur, and its tail tapered off almost like a Vaporeon's. And its face was all teeth like a shark's face. It matched the sketches I had seen from Professor Oak's lab, but they hadn't conveyed how ugly and furious this one looked now.
Arbok got in another bite and the silver Pokemon fell, looking weak. Jesse yelled, "Pokeball, go!" and then stood in triumph.
Meanwhile, Meowth was slowly recovering. I could see that he had several scratches on his chest. I went towards him and began bandaging them. "That ain't a normal Pokemon, James! I'm telling you, it could barely talk!"
"Well, you can't expect all Pokemon to be as civilized as you, Meowth," I said.
"That ain't what I mean, James. That thing's not right!"
"Don't be stupid, Meowth!" yelled Jesse. It's a great fighter and now it's mine!"
It's a great fighter all right, it almost ripped my throat out!"
"You'll be O.K. Meowth. Won't he, James?" Jesse did look a bit concerned.
"He's fine, Jesse. Meowth never did like a good fight." I wasn't as confident as I sounded, I had almost never been so afraid of a Pokemon. I had never seen Meowth so shaken up, either. But I didn't want to ruin Jesse's happiness.
"Just don't let that thing out of the Pokeball around me, Jess," said Meowth.
It's my Pokemon now, Meowth! I can do what I want! But you can stay away from it if you're so afraid. Let's get going; there's more Pokemon out there to catch!"
We walked along in silence. Jesse was excited, but somehow I didn't want to talk about her new Pokemon very much. Eventually we stopped to eat dinner and sleep again. Before she went to sleep Jesse took the new Pokemon into about 20 yards away behind some trees and let it out of its Pokeball. I could hear the awful barking noise. Soon I heard her yell "Return!"
When she came back to the clearing she looked confused. "It tried to attack me, James. I think it's named Genken. But I couldn't keep it out of the Pokeball long enough to find out much."
"Maybe we'll be able to find out more tomorrow. Or I can try hacking into the website again when we get home. Get some sleep now, Jess."
The next day we tried to relax a little in the morning, and hiked on the trail. We occasionally saw houses among the trees, but we decided not to approach any of them.
At lunch Jesse took Lickitung and the Genken, if that was its name, out of their Pokeballs. The Genken immediately tried to take a piece out of Lickitung. Lickitung's tongue attack was still as good as ever but Jesse still had to call the new Pokemon back.
It's going to need some serious training, though. Maybe we can find that snake thing, although I still don't understand how a Pokemon helps train Pokemon."
Meowth interrupted, "Yeah, I can speak human and Pokemon and how much good has that done us?"
"It doesn't speak human language, even psychically," I said. "It responds to feelings, and can help keep other Pokemon calm. But even Professor Oak didn't know for sure, a few people around here have captured them but that's all they know."
We continued walking. Eventually Jesse took her new Pokemon out of its Pokeball again and tried to get it to walk beside her. It didn't make a move to attack any of us and I was beginning to be relieved.
Then we saw the snake Pokemon. It was hanging over a branch of a tree, gazing at us. It was shaped like a Ekans, but with huge, faceted eyes. It was beautiful, with shimmering scales and a tail with a whip-like point on it. I could feel its feelings of curiosity and fear in my own mind. Evidently Jesse could feel them too. She murmured, "I don't feel like I should capture it, somehow, I feel like I should just invite it come with me."
She moved closer to the snake Pokemon, and that was when the Genken jumped into the tree and bit it. I could feel the terror of the snake in my mind. The snake lashed out with its tail, hitting Jesse in the face. Jesse fell, screaming. As I ran toward them, I could see the Genken bite the snake's tail completely off. The snake fell down, not moving. The Genken began to growl at Jesse's body. It didn't look like it was protecting her; it looked like it wanted its next battle to be with Jesse. I grabbed for Jesse's empty Pokeball and shouted, "Genken, return." It did.
I tried to keep calm, and checked her pulse and breathing. They were normal, but she was still not conscious. The snake's tail had left a welt on her face, but it didn't look like she had hit her head enough to knock her out. I felt like I was about to panic, then realized I was feeling the presence of the snake, which had woken. It slithered off through the trees, still bleeding. I thought I heard the sound of more of them coming, but none appeared and I couldn't stop looking at Jesse.
Then I really did start to panic. "Jesse, wake up, please," I said. Then her eyes did open and she looked at me. She stood up, but looked confused. "James," she said. Then she sat down, staring blankly. Meowth came over stood by me. "I think the snake used a psychic attack on her," he said.
I tried to help Jesse stand again. "Please walk, Jesse," I said. "We just need to get to the nearest house and call an ambulance." What kind of vehicle could get up here, though? A helicopter, maybe. I didn't know. She leaned heavily on me, but I managed to get her out to the trail. That was when I saw Ash, Brock and Misty.