Later, they were walking towards the beginning of the Viridian Forest. They had just passed through the guide station, and Krystal was still pumped up from her recent victory. Maybe she was a bit too excited. Jacen's mind was on other thoughts, and as usual, he was walking a bit slower than his friends were and pondered many questions.

Would they find a nice place to sleep each night? What about food? And shelter during a storm? What about thieves and terrorists and ... and... He got a little overwhelmed by his "worry-wartness". He decided to think about it later.

As they continued down the path, a huge painted sign greeted them off the left side of the road. It read:

Now Entering VIRIDIAN FOREST

Enjoy your Stay! But please respect the TREES!

- Viridian Dept. of Conservation

"Viridian What of who?" Krystal asked walking towards it for a closer look.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" A figure leaped from behind the sign. She was a tall girl with turquoise hair, and a tan ranger-type outfit. She also wore a bright orange sash that displayed a happy face badge. Her whole air screamed out hall monitor.

"Who are you?" Jacen asked staring at her unusual costume.

"I? I am Junior Officer Jennie, of the JVDC!"

"The what?

"Don't tell me you haven't heard of the Junior Viridian Department of Conservation! I help protect the forest from suspicious peoples who wish to do harm to our National Forests! And speaking of suspicious, who ARE YOU?"

"I'm Krystal Ketchum! I'll bet that you know my father!"

"And I'm Jacen."

"BUL-BA!"

"Oh, and this is Buddy."

"Ba-saur."

"Ohhhh! How cute! I love grass Pokémon! I mean uh... back to business. I'm sorry but this road is closed due to violent crimes in the area. It's just not safe anymore."

"Safe? Crimes? You mean like murders and robberies and stuff?" Jacen asked.

"Well, no, but it is very bad."

"Then what? What can be worse than that?"

"This, as you should know, is a protected forest."

"Yeah, and..."

Her anger boiled over, "SOMEONE is CUTTING down ALL the TREES!"

"Oh. That's bad right!" he thought this over.

"DUH!" she screamed into the air. A bunch of pidgeys flew out of a tree above them and a few acorns knocked her on the head. Then she calmed down, "Without trees, the Pokémon will lose their habitat, and we humans will lose a lot of the air we breathe and floods would become more frequent-" she became more infuriated with every word.

"So, the trees are important," Jacen commented.

"That's why I'm here to make sure these criminals are stopped."

"But what about us? We're Pokémon trainers! We need to pass through here to get to Viridian. We aren't going to hurt the trees. We just need to pass through."

"I'm sorry, but it also isn't safe, especially for you trainers because a lot of Pokémon have disappeared in there lately, and besides that there are the mad TREECUTTERS! Believe me, you'll be a lot happier if you go around."

"That's not fair!" Krystal shouted! "There's no way around!"

"Yes there is. Just take the bike trail around. You can go back to Pallet and rent some bikes. If you hurry you can get there by nightfall."

"NIGHT!" Krystal freaked out, "Night? That's way too long! I wanted to get there today!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you go this way."

"Come on Krystal. It's not that big of a deal."

"It's the principle of the thing. I wanted to go through the forest to catch Pokémon too. I only have 2." He grabbed her arm and dragged her back in the opposite direction. She fought with all her might. Buddy helped pull her too.

"Thank you young man! I hope you get to Viridian okay! Watch out for those TREECUTTERS!!!"

"Thanks, bye!"

Sparks flew out of the laser as Jared held it steady towards a fresh tree. He carefully aimed it and pushed the trigger button. A red beam blared out of the laser-saw and cut into the tree. He swerved the laser like a master painter, till he had carved a big "R" into the tree. He turned it off and stood back, admiring yet another masterpiece. As he was engrossed in it. Sandy came up behind him and tugged on his pant's leg.

"AHH!" he jumped and threw the laser in the air, "Noooo!" he dived for it and caught it just before it hit the ground. He sighed a relief. He then turned with anger to find a grinning Sandy standing behind him innocently.

"SANDY, HOW DARE YOU DO THAT!!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Why, if my dad's laser-saw had been on, somebody would've been hurt. I almost lost it too! If not for my quick reflexes, you would be in a lot of trouble." Sandy hid behind a bush.

"I'm sorry, what did you want?" he asked, still irritated.

Sandy hopped out from behind the bush, "Sand-shrew. Sand, sand sandshrew," she explained.

"What? I wish Jannie were here. I can't understand you." He turned back to his laser and looked it over to make sure nothing had been broken. He turned it on again and tested it on a dead log beside him. The log split and fell apart. Sandy turned away and glumly sat on the ground.

Jannie entered and was covered in dirt and a bit of mud. Her hair was jostled about and boy, did she look unhappy. She walked over to Jared and tapped him on the shoulder. Spooked, he turned suddenly and the laser beam reared towards Jannie's head. She dived, but it sliced her hair off down to her shoulders. She landed on the ground and was once again covered in dirt. The ends of her hair were split and burnt. Jared fell back on the ground and released the trigger button on the laser. Quickly, Sandy hopped over and turned it off.

In a matter of seconds they got up and stared at each other. Jared hid the laser behind his back, "Don't SNEAK up on ME like THAT!" he said.

Jannie reached up a hand and felt for her long hair. All she got was a tuft of burnt purple hair. Her hands felt around her head and she suddenly realized she only had a fraction of it than she did just moments before. Her body shook and tears welled up in her blue eyes. She let out a terrible shriek and her eyes narrowed to slits.

"You..." she eyed him dangerously.

Jared saw her burnt hair and knew immediately that he was in deep grimer slime.

"I -uh... I didn't mean to, but you scared me and-"

"You burnt..." a large vein in her neck began to pop out.

"Now Jannie, calm down..." Sandy dove back behind the bush again.

"You burnt my hair..."

"I'm sorry, I-"

"YOU'VE JUST RUINED PERFECTION!!!" she screamed and shook him violently.

"Weeeeeeee-cannnnn-getttttt-itttttt-fiiiiixed!!!" he said as he vibrated.

She dropped to her knees and bent her head. She wailed as Jared tried to keep himself from getting a seizure.

"You CAN'T fix it! What will MOMMY say? Ohhhh Jared!!!" she wailed and Sandy poked from out behind the bushes.

"Sandshrew!"

"What? (sniff-sniff) You like it?"

"Sand-SHREW!" Sandy smiled.

"REALLY?" her eyes watered up like big growlithe puppy eyes.

"SHREW!"

"Oh Sandy!" she gave her a big hug, which almost suffocated her, "I'll make my own hairstyle and it will be so sheik that EVERYONE will want one! Let's head to V-Town and get me a new doo," she let go of Sandy, and Sandy fell onto the ground, out of breath.

"But what about the-"

"YOU DON'T want to see me sad, DO YOU?" she asked sweetly.

"Well, but what about-"

"LATER! This is important."

"Oh, all right."

"Come on Sandy, today a STAR will be born!" she strutted down the forest path, burnt hair, dirty clothes and all. Jared put the laser-saw back into his backpack and hurried to catch up to her. Sandy followed close behind.

End of Chapter Six
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