Hunt for the Forest Emperor

HUNT FOR THE FOREST EMPEROR

"Here at last."

Arista stood on a large boulder, overlooking the grand site below. Just down the hill's incline lay a massive grassy meadow. The wind created the illusion of emerald waves in the grass, the foliage of the distant trees shimmered in the breeze. The red-haired girl took in a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fresh, earthy air. She exhaled and smiled with confidence, pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose.

Arista was an exceptional trainer, defeating both the Johto and Kanto leagues. Even before she began Pok�mon training, she studied type charts and moves with an obsessive desire, and even planned her future team. When Arista started in New Bark town, like so many trainers, she chose Chikorita. "No, don't choose Chikorita," some said, "it is weak against most of the gyms!" "Chikorita is too defensive, that isn't good for a beginning trainer!" "Watch out, Grass types have the most weaknesses of any starter type!". Arista took Grassafras' Pok�ball off her belt and smiled. Her Meganium defeated an opponent's Charizard in the one of the league finals. While Arista did capture many Pok�mon on her travels, she only seriously trained her favorites. Mainly rare and hard to train Pok�mon.

But there was one Pok�mon Arista was seeking, one so rare, it was never recorded in the official Pok�dex. Arista fumbled around in her pocket and took out a crumbly piece of paper she had gotten from a recent magazine. There was a blurry photo of some human-shaped creature with a long tail bounding away in some trees. Ryular. Unlike other fabled beasts, Ryular was known to have existed at one time. The modern day "Hitmon" are Ryular's smaller, domestic decendants, modified from centuries of human intervention in breeding. Ryular died out, the only evidence of its existance found in old paintings, some bones, and now a terribly out of focus photograph. Some claimed Ryular was part Dragon type, the dragon part bred out in the domestication process. Arista was excited... dragon was her favorite type, and one who was also a Fighting type could prove to be quite useful. According to her map, Arista was... off the map. But that was her plan... Ryular lived in a virgin territory untouched by humans and offlimits to common trainers. Arista was no common trainer, obviously, so she was happy to take up the challenge.

Arista jumped down the boulder, landing with a soft thud, and admired the great blue sky. The slight curvature of the clouds gave the sky a never-ending appearance. Arista noticed something unusual and did a double-take. There was one massive cloud drifting in the opposite direction of the others, and it never kept its shape for more than a second. She was confused until the image of a certain Pok�mon she'd seen (but never captured) entered her mind. With a snap of her wrist, Arista swiftly remove a Greatball from her belt and tossed it to the ground. There was a massive swirl of dust as a battle-ready Flygon materialized, the sun shining through his translucent wings.

"Sirroco!" Arista called to the Flygon. He hovered over to her and nuzzled her hand. "See the big cloud up there, the one moving different from the rest?" Sirroco followed his trainer's pointing finger. The red-tinted orb lenses on his eyes were a natural protection from the bright sun. "I need to to fly up there and use Sandstorm... there's Pok�mon up there... and I need you to retrieve one. Now go quickly, Sirroco!"

"Furrrrai!" Sirroco cried out. With a beat of his glassy wings, the Flygon show off the ground like a rocket. He turned into a mere speck in a matter of seconds as he rushed into the odd cloud. Arista watched the cloud intensly. Suddenly, a far-off commotion of chirps was heard and the cloud looked like it had exploded. The the cloudy mass was actually a flock of Swablu, a small, peaceful blue bird Pok�mon with puffy cotton-like wings. Despite the weak appearance, Swablu could evolve into a rare dragon-type. Arista grinned with excitement. Sirroco was decending slowly, bumping one of the little birds with his snout as if herding it. It drifted, chirped in protest, and rolled in midair, yet was too weak to actually fight back. Just when the two flyers were about a few yards from Arista, Sirroco whacked the little bird with his thick tail and it bounced as it hit the ground. Arista tossed her extra Ultraball, and Swablu was sucked inside with ease, never even attempting to struggle free.

"Good job, Sirroco. Now return." Arista immedietly returned her Flygon and released the Swablu. She picked it up, surprised by its weightlessness. The little bird seemed dazed, but uninjured. It blinked its beady black eyes at its new trainer. Arista rubbed the bird on its fluffy head with an index finger as she took out her 'dex to check its gender... to Arista, it was always important to know a Pok�mon's sex. It was silly to call them an "it", unless it were a Magnemite or something. Swablu was a male. 'Nearly all of my Pok�mon are male', Arista thought.

But that wasn't important. Right now, she had no free slots on her roster. Arista wanted to bond with Swablu some, but also wanted a free space on the team of six so she could admire Ryular after it was captured. She had a special device which could send a Pok�mon back to the storage PC if the team were full. Arista looked at the 'balls on her belt. She picked up a black Heavyball which contained a Steelix. "Sorry, Titan," Arista said as she placed the ball on the round indention of the transporter device. "But you're going to be too big to fight in a forest."

As Arista continued her journey to Ryular's forest home with her new Swablu snuggled in her arms, she did not realize that depositing one of her strongest Pok�mon would be a big mistake...