Sandstorm: A Determined Journey

Note from Author:  This, in my opinion, is a really mediocre fan fiction story about a young girl and her Pokemon journey.  Please take the time to read this story and follow along as Amber lives and learns about Pokemon and the world around her.  Thank you.

Ch 1: Waking

A noise. It’s faint; barely audible. I can’t make out much from it, but it sounds like voices. If only there wasn’t that God awful beeping.

“Are you sure that…”
Even when I do hear something, I can’t even make out more than a few words at a time.

“Just remember, they are your friends. If you treat them well they will…”

What’s this guy even talking about. Everything I hear just seems like nonsense to me.

“Professor, her heart monitor is going up. You may want to get in here.”

Heart monitor? Where am I? Now that I think about it why can’t I see? Why can’t I move? What is going on? Where am I? WHERE AM I?

“Professor, she’s waking up. Her heart rate is increasing drastically.”

“Quickly, we need to put her back to sleep.”

“I understand. Use hypnosis.”

Hypnosis? Is that why it seems I’ve been asleep so long?

“Good job Haunter, now she’ll be able to recover in peace.

Recover? What’s wrong with me. Where are you….

Ch 2: Are you a boy or a girl?

“What time is it?”

“Ah, you’re awake. It’s 12:49.”

“A.M. or P.M.?”

“P.M. You have seemed to have overslept. So now, can you tell me what your name is?”

“Amber. My name is Amber.”

“Well Amber, let’s remove these bandages over your eyes. It’s going to sting a little and it will be bright at first. Just let them adjust and you’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

My bandages were removed and I tentatively opened my eyes. It was bright; really bright. I must have had my eyes bandaged up for at least a week, maybe more. Slowly though, everything started to focus and my surroundings became something much different than I thought they would be. Around me were desks and papers, scattered about with no logical placement. There were some pretty large looking computers towering over me. I was in a back room but I could see that there was a machine out there. The machine was circular and looked like it held something inside. I turned to my left and noticed the source of the beeping I heard earlier. A large metalic box stood on a pole and displayed my vitals. It kept in rhythm with my heart; going up and down, up and down. Next to it was some equipment that held liquids and a tube that was connected to my arm.

“Wow, I must have really gotten banged up.” I said.

And that’s when I noticed him. Just behind the monitor was a man, standing there, watching me. He wore a white trench coat with a plain, brown sweater underneath. He wore slacks that seemed to have been through so much wear and tear that I was surprised that there were no holes in them. He was a bigger guy. Not fat, but not overly skinny either. Muscular would be a good word to describe him but in a way that you could tell he hasn’t worked out for quite some time. Because of this he seemed to have a commanding presence about him. His face was rugged, and yet pleasing to the eye. He was young, for an adult that is. He couldn’t have been older than forty and yet he wasn’t close to my age either.

“I’d say,” said the man. “You are more than lucky to be alive right now. If I had been a minute longer during my research I probably would have missed you. You would have floated right down the river and probably have drowned. What were you doing in a dangerous place like Mount Silver anyways?

Ah, yes. Mt. Silver. I barely remember going there. Probably one of the stupidest choices of my life quite frankly. But I needed to find him. I needed to find that Pokemon.

“And furthermore, how did you manage to get into Mt. Silver without a pass? No one has gotten in without a pass since the Great War.”

“I honestly don’t know,” I responded. But I lied. I do remember why I was there. I remember that metallic body, towering over me. I remember that flash of light, that seemed to pierce the fabrics of my soul. I remember running. Running so fast and fearing for my life. Never before have I felt so much fear. I also remember the flames. Flames that seemed to engulf my body. After that though, everything gets foggy. The river explains why I don’t have terrible burn marks everywhere and also explains how I am still alive. And yet…

“How did you know I was in the water? Did I just get lucky that you found me?”

“Well, let’s see. I kept hearing a faint noise. It sounded like something was in danger. So I started running in the direction of the sound. When I got closer, I realized it was the sound of a Wooper and..”

“Wait what, you found my Wooper? Where is he at?”

“Ah yes, he’s out back playing with the other water Pokemon. Would you like to go see him?”

I nodded. Ever so carefully the man removed the needle from my arm and detached the wires to my monitor. He set some spare clothes for me to change in too and left me so I could get ready. “What have you gotten yourself into?” I thought to myself. This is crazy. I need to get out of here. I need to find him.

Ch 3: Pallet Town and dreams of beyond

I opened the door. I was correct from my previous observations. It was a fairly large building and there were notes scattered throughout. My guess was that I was in some sort of a laboratory. The question that I had though is where was I? I opened the door and looked outside. “Bright,” I thought. And there he was. My best friend. My Woopsy. He was splashing around playing with a little Poliwag. He seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit. Yet, there seemed to be something missing. Maybe it was just the way he was playing or maybe it’s just my mind thinking too much, but I could swear that something was missing from him. Something important. Like a part of his soul was gone.

“Amber, there you are! Come on over here.”

And that’s when I saw him turn. Instantly, his eyes widened and tears started to form. All that seemed to be missing from him returned almost instantly. He started sprinting over to me.

“Wooper! Wooper! Woooopp….”

And that’s when my little Wooper tripped. He was back. That little klutz had a problem with his motor skills but I loved him still. He has always been there for me. So in return, I was always there for him.

“Woopsy, there you are. I’ve missed you so much.” I picked him up and brought him in close. The wetness of his skin, the softness of his touch. It made me realize how much I truly missed him.

“So Amber, how are you feeling?”

I didn’t respond. I was caught up in the excitement of seeing my friend again. I didn’t want to talk to this guy anyways. No offense to him, but I didn’t want to be here. I needed to get going; to find him. So I just sat there, playing with my Woopsy. I looked out to the landscape. It looked, peaceful. I wish I could stay in this moment forever. Rolling hills, beautiful forests, and a wonderfully small town. If I could ever settle down from my journey, I’d return here.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where exactly are we?”

“Well, we are in Pallet Town. And to make things easier, I am the Pokemon professor here.”

“Oh, that far huh? It seems like just yesterday I was back in Johto.”

“I almost forgot, your other Pokemon has been off by itself for the longest time. It’s over there in the shade of the tree.”

I looked over and saw her there. She reminded me of myself back before I found Woopsy. She looked up. I knew there were marks, originally under their eyes, but these were scars. Someone, or something had hurt it badly. It didn’t trust me. Technically, I never even caught it. It was injured and I took it to be healed. We got ambushed on the mountain and apparently it just kind of stuck around. Maybe someday I’ll catch it. But as of right now, that may be a while.

“Is she normally this far away from everyone else?”

“Yeah, she is. I’m not surprised though. She’s been hurt and needs some time to heal.”

“Oh, I see. Well, she is an exceedingly rare Pokemon. How did you manage to catch her?”

“I didn’t.” I left the professor and started walking towards the shade tree. I didn’t look at her. I just sat down next to her. I stayed there for about an hour, in silence just listening to the nature around us. Finally, I decided to speak. “Hey Larvitar. We’ll get him, I promise.”

Ch 4: Flashback – A time for sadness

We sat there for a while, under that large shade tree, until it got too dark and we retreated inside. Woopsy was jumping around happily and Larvitar was off by herself again. The professor was making dinner. To be quite honest it smelt delicious. It reminded me of my mom’s special casserole. It also reminded me of the day I got Wooper.

I remember back then, I was six. It had just started storming and the waves were swelling up. I was sitting on the pier with my dad. We were watching; waiting for the storm to come in. Something about those storms relaxed us. Watching as the waves capped, listening to the people scurrying about to secure their boats, and all the Pokemon. The Pokemon were my favorite. Flocks of Magikarp would be jumping out of the water; the Wingulls and Pellipers would fly out to sea. This time was different though. A whirlpool started forming not 500 feet from us. It was weird and yet strikingly beautiful at the same time. But what really got me was the sound that came from the center of that whirlpool. A deep, piercing cry emanated from within. It sounded like a song of some sort.

My dad though, didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as I did. He started rushing towards his boat while calling his fisherman friends. Usually when a storm got this bad he would start to head inside but this time something was amiss. He had a panicked look about him. He kept shouting orders like some kind of lunatic to all the other sailors. Within minutes nearly all of them had their boats lined up and ready to sail out.

My father turned and looked at me. “Amber, promise me you’ll go inside and stay safe okay?”

“Okay daddy. But why are all of you and your friends going out on your boats? Don’t you know a storm is coming?”

My father, he laughed. “You definitely have your mother’s sense, that you do. But here, I want you to take this.” My father handed me a metallic sphere. It was red, white, and had a hint of black to it. “I was going to wait until you were older but I figured I might as well give it to you now. What’s inside s a Wooper. He was just hatched a little while back so he’s pretty new to this world too. His mother was sick so I was told to take care of him. I need you to do the same. Promise me you’ll keep him safe Amber.”

“Okay daddy, I promise. But why can’t you just come home with me? Why do you have to go out on your boat?”

“Because sweety, we’ve done a bad thing. That song you heard earlier; that wasn’t a song. That was a Pokemon. A legendary Pokemon named Lugia. It only comes out when Pokemon are in trouble and it usually has to do with something caused by humans. We need to go fix this. I’ll be back, I promise you that.” With that, my father left me.

It took them nearly two hours to come back. They had over fifty Pokemon that looked severely hurt. They had done it, they saved the Pokemon. All the sailors were returning to their homes. Every single one of them had a somber look upon their face though. That’s when there came a knock at our door. I rushed to the door, swung it open, and leaped into my fathers arms. When I looked up though, it wasn’t my father. It was a man I had hardly known, a sailer. I just looked at him, staring blankly at him. I turned around and saw my mother come out from the kitchen. The second she saw this man she started to cry.

A few days later all of us were gathered around a wooden box. We were at the top of a hill, one that has a large oak tree with a swing attached. The ground was dug up and the people all looked sad. My father was still nowhere to be found. Two of the sailors called out their Pokemon. “Sandslash, use sand-attack. Voltorb, use thunderbolt.” The two attacks collided and a slab of glass was formed. The Sandslash proceeded to carve it out and then put some words on it. They stuck it into the ground and put the box in the hole beside it. They covered it up and people started to cry. I didn’t know why, but something told me I should be sad too. People I had never met before kept coming up to me and telling me they were sorry. After a while we all left and went back to our house where everyone ate and talked. My mom made her special casserole. It had various vegetables in it and it made my mouth water just thinking of it. She only made it on very special occasions. I ate and decided to sneak out to get away from all the grown ups. I decided to go back up to the tree to swing.

Once I climbed to the hill, I looked at the glass that they put in the ground. “A hero, a sailor, a father.” I sat there and looked at it for a while. I hadn’t realized what had been going on up until then. Maybe I was naïve. Maybe I was shocked. Maybe I was just too young. I started crying. I couldn’t control myself. It just kept coming and coming. I collapsed and landed hard. The Pokeball at my waist detached and opened up. A glowing red light shone forth and out came what my father had called a Wooper. It looked at me and I could tell it was sad. All of the sudden a single rain cloud formed above us and it stared to pour. I broke down. I let it all out. I started hitting the ground screaming, “You promised me you’d come back. You promised! How could you lie to me? You promised. You promised…” It took me a few weeks after that but I finally came to the realization that my father always kept his promises. Even the very last one he made.

Ch 5: Fate at a fateful hour

I was tired, so very tired. It had been a much longer day than I would have preferred. After being in that bed for so long my body was weaker than I would have guessed. While I was under that tree I decided I needed to get out of there. I liked this professor and all and I’m glad he decided to help me but I couldn’t stick around. I needed to get going to find someone and exact my revenge.

I laid down for about an hour, setting my Pokegear as an alarm so I’d wake up. It was about eleven o’clock and the entire lab was quiet. I grabbed a pen and an extra scrap of paper and wrote a thank you towards the professor. I put 1000 dollars on the table for payment for nursing me and grabbing my pack snuck out through the back door. I opened up my Pokeball and let Woopsy out. “Wooper! Wooper!” he said. I could tell he was happy to be going again. He was jumping up and down really excitedly. I started walking and looked behind me. Sure enough Larvitar was following me from a safe distance. “Viridian City, here I come.”

I was now traveling on the famous Route 1. It’s been said that this is where a trainer’s journey starts; where dreams are realized. To me though, it was just another stretch of land. There was grass all around me where little Pokemon ran freely. Even though it was late out there was still quite a commotion from all of the Pokemon. Rattatas were scurrying along the side while some Pidgeys flew away at the sound of my footsteps. “Hoo, hoo” I heard. I looked up and noticed some Hoothoots and Noctowls. I’ve heard stories of Hoohoots and Noctowls being able to see into the past as well as the future. Every time they turn their head they envision countless outcomes for what they are seeing.

I looked towards the top of the tree and saw a Hoothoot staring at me. It tilted it’s head and let out a hoot. Even though it was late at night I could still see it’s golden wings reflecting in the moonlight. “A Hoothoot like no others.” I thought to myself. “I wonder why it’s feathers are gold while the rest of the Hoothoots have brown.”

As I was staring at the bird it’s head turned sharply to the north. Like a chain reaction every single Hoothoot and Noctowl turned with precision and perfect timing. “Hoo.” said the mysterious golden Hoothoot. A chorus of hoo’s simultaneously came forth from each and every Pokemon’s mouth. “Hoo, Hoo, Hoo, Hoo.” I knew something was amiss. I turned to Wooper and picked it up. I started sprinting towards Viridian City. “What could be wrong that got these Pokemon making such a fuss?”

After about a minute or two of sprinting I came upon the outskirts of town. Rising high above the city was a cloud of smoke. I started running towards the source and came upon the Pokemart ablaze with flames rising higher and higher. Their were trainers of all sorts running around and all were in a panic. There was one though, who was trying to put the flames out. I ran over and started to help. “Woopsy, use water gun. Aim towards the base of the flames to extinguish the source.”

The other trainer turned and looked at me. “Thank Arceus you’re here, I don’t know how much longer this place will last. We need to get this put out immediately.” I nodded. I yelled a few more commands to Wooper and ran to get more trainers. “Who here has a water Pokemon?” I asked. No one stepped forward. It seemed like I was the only one. “Okay then, who here has a Pidgey or a Geodude?” Nearly all the trainers who were still there stepped forward. “Good, now have your bird Pokemon use Sand-attack on the flames and your rock Pokemon use Mud Sport.” The trainers set off to the task set upon them. The bird Pokemon surrounded the Pokemart and kept blowing the flames back towards it. The three Geodudes that were there then use their Mud Sport attacks and covered the flames. After about fifteen minutes the flames went out.

Once put out everyone started cheering. The fire did a lot of damage to the outside but for the most part the inside was still intact. The Pokemart would be down for a day or two but in comparison to a month or two I felt pretty happy about it. The trainer who was originally trying to put the fire out came up to me. “Thanks a million for helping us put this fire out. If it wasn’t for your quick thinking I don’t think we could have saved it.”

I smiled, “Yeah, it’s no problem. I’m always glad I can help. I’m Amber, nice to meet you.”

The blonde haired trainer turned and smiled back. “I’m Damien, the Viridian City Gym Leader.”

Ch 6: Challenging a true trainer

“Well, if you’re a Gym Leader how about a challenge then? I’m always looking towards bettering myself.”

“I figured you might be interested,” he said chuckling to himself. “After your performance in saving the Pokemart I think I can deal with a challenge. How many Pokemon do you have?”

“I only have one, my Wooper. Go ahead and use your best though, he can take anything.”

Damien reached down towards his belt and grabbed two Pokeballs. “Which one, which one?” he said thinking out loud. “Okay, here we go. Ninetails, let’s show her who’s boss!”

“Woopsy, show him what we’re made of.” Wooper stepped up. He had the definite type disadvantage here but Damien still decided to use his Ninetails. He must be overly sure of it’s abilities or was trying to lure me into a trap. I didn’t quite know how to act here. “Make your move Damien, let’s see what a Kanto Gym Leader is made of.”

Ninetails rushed forward. It was acting on it’s own. “Is it too strong for even the Gym Leader, or are they that well in tune?” I wasn’t sure what to do. Hastily, I yelled, “Wooper, use water gun!” Wooper fired directly at Ninetails. It struck our foe and steam formed right away.

“Ninetails, Flame Wheel!”

Ninetails cut through the steam, body enflamed and slammed into Wooper. This must be a strong Pokemon because it didn’t even flinch once hit. Wooper was shaken up but he is much stronger than he looks. “Wooper back off and use Rain Dance!” Water shot high into the sky and it started raining. The steam intensified turning into a dense fog. Ninetails disappeared into the fog and with it, his trainer.

“Wooper, be on your guard,” I whispered. “He’ll use the fog to it’s advantage. Ninetails’ hearing is phenomenal.” We sat there for a minute or two, not moving. We didn’t want to go on the offensive just yet. Then, for just a split second, we saw a blur go by just out of eyesight. The fog started diminishing and we could see Ninetails now.

“There’s five of them now?” I thought to myself. I was stunned, unsure what to do. “Oh crud, it’s Double Team. Wooper, use Rapid Spin and combine it with Water Gun.” Wooper turned and started to spin. I ducked out of the way and water started spewing everywhere. The Water Gun hit all five and they all disappeared. “Not here, quickly, Woopsy, use dig to evade!”

“Too late Amber. Ninetails, now, use Solar Beam!” And with that a gleaming beam of light shot down from the heavens. It struck Wooper directly, doing strong damage instantly. Wooper was thrown and hit the ground hard. I ran over to him to comfort him.

“Nice try, Woopsy, you gave it your all. So,” I said, “I see why you are this town’s Gym Leader. Hopefully that was your strongest Pokemon.”

“Well, not trying to be insulting, but it wasn’t. It was my second strongest though, if it makes you feel better. To be completely honest as well I wasn’t expecting you to last past my Flame Wheel. My Ninetails’ fire attack power was raised because of the fire at the Pokemart. Whenever it’s around another fire it gets a nice boost.”

“Really? Wow that’s pretty interesting honestly. But talking about the Pokemart, do you have any idea how the fire started?”

“Well, yes and no. Hours before a man came through and challenged me to a Gym Battle. As you know most people nowadays would rather take their chances in the tournaments because quite frankly, it’s easier to win. But this guy came up and challenged me 1 vs 1. I sent out my strongest Pokemon Alakazam and figured I would just beat him within minutes. He sent out his Pokemon and defeated me within seconds. He was by far one of the strongest trainer I have ever faced.”

“So wait, you lost within the first few minutes? Really?”

“No, I lost within the first few seconds. He hit my Alakazam once and I was defeated. But that’s not the strange part. As I was getting my Alakazam healed, I heard a loud explosion come from the outside. I ran outside quickly to notice the Pokemart burst into flames on it’s backside. I looked around and saw a a dark figure flying off towards the forest. I couldn’t make it out entirely but it looked like a tank with four legs. I’m not sure if it was him, or even if it was what caused the fire, but I have this deepening suspicion.”

“A floating tank huh? And you said it went off towards the forest? What’s on the other side of that forest?”

“It leads to Pewter City. Why do you want to know?”

“Looks like I’m going to Pewter City then. Thanks for your help Damien. I need to heal my Woopsy real quick then I’m heading out.”

“Well Amber, good luck on your adventure.”

“Thanks. Oh, and Damien, I’ll be back for that Gym Badge.”

I started walking towards the Pokecenter with my Wooper in hand. Larvitar was following behind like always. I turned to her. “We found him Larvitar. We found him.”

Ch 7: They didn’t offer candy

Viridian Forest. This is usually the first real encounter with the Pokemon world for most trainers. Though they may grow up from all parts of the world everyone always seems to start in Pallet Town. It makes sense though. Pallet Town is isolated from the other cities for the most part. Cinnabar Island is way in the south and since it’s so small no one ever goes to Cinnabar from Pallet Town unless they have a Pokemon with them. They would usually go to Fuchsia City or Vermillion’s port. People also start here because of the Pokemon Lab too.

The lab is widely utilized by most trainers in each region. Whether they are starting at age ten or graduating and receiving their Pokemon from the government at age 16, the lab is where all of this happens. The professor is widely renown for his work which is why people go to him to start on their adventures. And it helps that right outside Pallet Town is Route 1. Apparently when deciding to become a Pokemon trainer people feel the need to start with the number one.

From there, people don’t have too many encounters with other trainers though. For the most part everyone scrambles to get to Viridian City and enter the Gym Badge Tournament. This way they can prove to themselves that they can actually beat other trainers and that their journey won’t be wasted. But what people tend to forget is that these tournaments only happen every month and that Viridian City is usually the last stop for trainers because of the leader’s great skill. This draws stronger trainers to compete in the tournament which usually has the newbies out by round two. So what do all these newbies do? They go to Viridian Forest to train and become better.

“Woopsy, you ready?” Wooper looked at me and started to nod. We had just healed and had started to go. We were walking towards the outskirts of town and I heard a weird sound. “That’s odd, it’s really late right now. Who would be up at this hour?” Tentatively, I walked towards the noise. I peered around a building and saw an old man watching T.V. As I stood there looking at him he noticed me.

“Missy, what are you doing out so late at night? Dont’cha know that it’s dark outside?”

I sat there and just stared at him. “Umm, I’m going to Viridian Forest. Sorry I disturbed you.” I started turning around. I took about four steps and his hands were on me.

“No yer not missy. You are marching straight home with me and getting some good ol’ fashioned sleep. My wife will make you a bed and yer gonna like it ya hear?”

“No, really, I’m fine. I’ll make it through the forest tonight and rest up tomorrow. No offense but my mother told me not to talk with strangers let alone go to their house in the middle of the night where their possibly real wife is going to make me a bed.”

“Well, I can see why you might be a little taken aback right now but trust me you’re going to thank me in the morning.” With that he started dragging me back to his house. He started talking about his youth and how he used to be a Pokemon trainer. Luckily his house was close because he started rambling about how in his day their was only 151 Pokemon. I just kept thinking to myself how crazy he sounded. Pokemon don’t just magically appear within a few years. They had to evolve from something. It’s like the old wives tale my mom would always tell me when I was younger about how Pokemon reproduce with eggs and how a magical Pelliper would come bring the Pokemon eggs to their mothers. Nonsense. Complete and utter nonsense.

We arrived at his house where his wife (who I still thought was fake) greeted us. “Hello darling, what are you doing up this late? Oh let me guess, you were trying to sneak off into the forest at night?” I shook my head. I really didn’t want to be here. This was starting to turn into one of those horror films I’d watched over the years.

“Honestly though, you don’t need to keep me here, I can just as easily stay in the Pokemon Center. It’d be much easier on you.”

“Oh nonsense. Anyways, we could always use a little company. Ghastly dear, could you use Mean Look real quick.” I looked to my right. “Crap,” I thought. Like magic my body refused to move towards the door. “Our guests always seem to feel the need to run away to the forest. We always tell them it’s dangerous but do they listen? Oh no. So we do this to keep the children safe.”

They showed me to my room and closed the door. I heard Ghastly make some noise and to prove my suspicion I tried the door. The knob turned all the way but as soon as I tried to push it open it wouldn’t budge. “I crawled into bed and looked at the ceiling. I started thinking about all that happened within the last few hours. The golden Hoothoot, the fire breaking out, the Gym Battle. Everything was going through my mind a million miles a minute but one thought kept creeping into my head. “These old people are going to eat me, I just know it.”

Ch 8: I don’t think you’re doing it right

I awoke the next morning and set up in my bed. “Well, I’m alive. I don’t know how but I am alive.” I got up and turned the handle to my door. I pushed and it opened up this time. I walked down the hall and heard a noise coming from the kitchen. I entered not quite sure what to expect.

“Morning missy, how would you like to learn how to catch a Pokemon?

I started to laugh to myself. “I already know how to catch a Pokemon sir. As you can see from my Wooper that’s been following me around.”

“Oh nonsense. You could always use a refresher course.”

“No really, I think I’ll be fine,” I said a little agitated. These old folks just wouldn’t give up would they.

“Okay let’s go outside and find a Pokemon.” This old geezer couldn’t get it through his thick skull. Instead of complaining anymore I just nodded and followed him outside. We took off towards the edge of town and we came across a Weedle. “Okay missy, you see that over there? That’s what we call a Pokemon.”

I took my hand and smacked my face. “Oh my lord, is he being serious now,” I thought to myself. I looked at the Weedle. It was a little far away from the forest and you don’t usually see them in towns. It didn’t surprise me seeing it though because we are so close to the forest.

“Now this here is a Pokeball. When you hit a Pokemon with it it goes inside and becomes captured. Sometimes though it doesn’t work and you have to try again.” I kept nodding my head trying to get him to hurry up. He lifted his hand which held a greenish colored Pokeball. “This is what we call a nest ball. It’s a special ball that was originally made in Johto. You can buy them in most Pokemarts but they are a bit more expensive.

He threw the ball and it smacked the Weedle in the face. Usually, this is when the Pokemon would become entrapped in the ball. This time though, it just bounced right off it. “Um, that doesn’t usually happen,” said the old man. He sat there looking at it for a sec when all of a sudden we heard a noise coming off from the distance.

“What do you think you’re doing to my Weedle?”

“Oh crap,” I thought. “Another one of these guys.”

A young, nerdy looking kid came running up. I’ve seen kids that dressed like this before but not one up close. I usually tried to stray away from kids like these. He was wearing extremely short shorts with a white t-shirt. He wore a stupid little hat and carried a net with him. He is what we call a bug catcher.

“That’s my Weedle, stay away from him!” he started yelling in between his panting. He was a bit overweight and could probably use a run or two more. I decided I’d interject.

“Hey sorry, he was just teaching me how to catch a Pokemon. We didn’t realize that it was a trainers Pokemon.”

He looked at me and glared me down. “I know Weedles are extremely rare but you can’t be going around all the time trying to catch them especially when they are someone else’s.”

I started laughing out loud here. “I didn’t actually want the Weedle. To be completely honest it’s one of the worst bug Pokemon out there.” He started turning red almost immediately. I could tell he was extremely angry with me.

“Take that back. Take that back now!” he shouted at me. “They are the coolest of all Pokemon!”

I just laughed at him. “Sorry, but facts are facts. They just don’t have the strength that the other types have.” The boy reached down and grabbed another Pokeball. He threw it out and a Beedrill came out. He shouted some commands and it started to charge me. “Looks like we have another battle on our hands Woopsy.”

Ch 9: An ice sculpture and a song

“Woopsy, quick, use Dig!” Wooper dug itself into the ground and the Beedrill started buzzing around. Wooper was waiting for me to shout a command. “Woopsy, Rapid Spin and propel yourself out!” Wooper came out of the ground and rocketed itself towards Beedrill. Beedrill moved ever so slightly but it dodged Woopsy’s attack. “Use Dig again Woopsy and do the same thing!” Wooper dug itself into the ground and moments later came out spinning right towards Beedrill. Beedrill moved again and Wooper went flying past it. “Woopsy, once more!” Wooper dug itself into the ground again and came back out spinning.

“Beedrill, now’s our chance, use Pin Missile!” Wooper was heading right towards Beedrill’s attack and it was unavoidable. Quickly, I yelled, “Woopsy, use Protect now!” Wooper protected itself and survived the attack. “Now Dig down one final time and stay there!” I shouted. Wooper followed orders and dug itself underneath the ground. Beedrill started buzzing around unsure of what to do. We sat there for a few moments just waiting.

“Ok Woopsy, now use Water Sport!” Water shot out from each of the seven holes that Wooper had dug and started soaking the Beedrill and the battlefield. With the water still coming out I said, “Ok Wooper, finish this. Use Ice Beam!” The water the was shooting out quickly turned to ice and within seconds Beedrill was frozen solid. Wooper dug itself up realizing that he had won. He came over to me and smiled. “Wooper, Woop Woop!”

I giggled and patted his head. I looked at the Bug Catcher and laughed. He was frantically rubbing the base of the now ice monument that held his Beedrill. “Return your Pokemon to it’s Pokeball and it’ll be fine. You should probably heal it though, it looks as though it was hurt pretty bad.”

The Bug Catcher looked at me, nodded, and returned his Beedrill to it’s Pokeball. He started off towards the Pokecenter but stopped and turned back towards me. “You’re a really strong trainer you know? You should hurry and see if you can still make the Pewter City tournament. I hear they’re even having a televised match between the leader and some Mysterious trainer.”

I looked at the trainer in front of me. I had always wanted to enter into the Gym Leader tournaments and this mystery trainer he’s talking about. Maybe it’s who I think it is. “Thanks,” I said smiling. Sorry if I hurt your Beedrill. It was a good battle though.” With that we parted ways and I headed out for Pewter City. Instead of going right through the forest, I decided to take a shortcut around it.

As I was walking for a while I came upon a group of trees that had been cut down. “This is sad Wooper. These poor trees keep getting cut down by all these careless trainers. It’s not like they grow back instantly; it takes years.” I made my way past a random house and came upon a cave. There were various ground-type Pokemon that were on the outside and just inside of it. I walked past it and came upon a road. To the right of the road was a large sign that read “Welcome to Pewter City. We rock!”

I started to laugh. “Wow, that is really cheesy right there.” I walked into town and made my way to the Pokecenter. I healed up and looked around trying to find someone who might be able to tell me where the tournament was being held. In the corner of the room was a man with a pink puffball looking Pokemon. I walked over to him guessing he would know because he obviously had a Pokemon. He was kind of short of stature but he looked like he was still pretty experienced when it came to Pokemon.

“Hi, my name is Amber. I was wondering if you could help me out real quick like.” The boy looked up and stared at me. He made a weird looking face like he wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Am I still dreaming? Or did an angel fall from the sky?”

I started blushing. I don’t normally get hit on or anything of that nature so this kind of took me by surprise. “Umm,” I started to say. “You’re not dreaming.”

He looked at me and seemed to realize something. “Oh crud, I, er, um, disregard what I just said. I was still a little sleepy from my Jigglypuff here.” I looked down and looked at the pink ball he called Jigglypuff. It looked at me and started to open it’s mouth. “Jigglypuff, not again!” the trainer started to yell.

“Too late,” I thought. I remembered what Jigglypuff’s were known for now. They can put people to sleep with their voice. I looked at the pink Pokemon and collapsed on the floor.

Ch 10: A little late or right on time?

A loud sound rang out through the Pokecenter. I woke up dazed and still a little confused as to what happened. Then it hit me all at once. “Oh crud,” I thought to myself. I looked up and noticed everyone in the Pokecenter was still asleep. I went over to Wooper and started to shake him awake. He opened his eyes, yawned a bit, and motioned for me to return him to his Pokeball. “You sleepyhead,” I said to him. I returned him and walked outside the center.

The second I stepped outside the noise happened again. I looked towards the north and saw lights streaming out of a stadium. I started running towards the lights and came upon the entrance. The attendant was sitting there, bored, and causally glanced up in my direction. “The tournament has already started. Please make your way to the stadium for seating. Thank you.”

I started to speak up again but the lady closed the window and turned around. I looked at her very angrily but she seemed to want nothing of it. “All I wanted to do was compete. If it wasn’t for all these distractions I would have made it on time,” I thought to myself.

I decided to make my way into the stadium and found a seat fairly close to the front. I started glancing around and noticed how big this place truly was. You easily could fit five thousand people here and for the most part it was pretty full. There were trainers lining the stands and many of them had their Pokemon out with them. There was a small group fairly close to me that had this sullen, depressed look about them. I guessed that they had been participants and hadn’t been quite good enough to win.

I looked towards a man as he made his way to the center. He had a microphone in his hands and once in the center he started to talk. “Welcome one and all to the final round of the Pewter City Gym Badge Tournament. Today, we have two strong lads that have risen through the ranks of today’s competition. The first trainer is a somewhat familiar face being the runner up of the last Pokemon Tournament. Please, give it up for Bruce!” The crowd started going crazy at this point. This Bruce kid was obviously the crowd favorite.

Bruce’s platform lifted him up. He was a lot older than the average trainer. Most of them are usually around the age of ten or twelve. This trainer looked older than myself and I would have to say that he was somewhere around twenty or so. My guess was that since he was so old he was probably one of the few orphans who received a government issued Pokemon. He looked out to the stadium and gave a smug smile. He started waving and making himself seem like he had already won the match. I could already tell I didn’t like him.
The announcer raised his microphone and started to speak. “And finally, give a warm welcome to the youngest in the Thompson family, Marcus!” The crowd gave a tentative applause but nowhere near what they gave for Bruce. The Thompson kid was raised up from down below, Pokeball in hand. The looked down out at it, looking unsure if he had made the right choice. The terrain changed into something much more fitting for a rock gym. As the mountains started to rise, the two trainers threw their Pokeballs, colliding in midair. Their Pokemon came out and the battle began.

Ch 11: Marcus Thompson of Pallet Town

The battle started off quickly with the two Pokemon attacking each other. Marcus’ Pokemon was a Cubone and charged in with a Headbutt. The attack connected but seemed to combine with Bruce’s Grimer’s sludge-like body and did nothing to his Pokemon. It took Cubone a couple of seconds to get out of Grimer’s body. Marcus seemed a little confused as to what he was supposed to do. Bruce yelled some commands and purple gas started coming out.

“This doesn’t look good,” I said, turning to one of the trainers sitting next to me. He nodded saying, “This Marcus kid has been getting lucky with his wins. If he pulls this off it will truly be an upset.” I looked up as Marcus started to yell some more commands but this time his Pokemon decided to charge out there and do what it wanted.

“And it looks like Cubone doesn’t want to listen to it’s trainer,” said the announcer. “Will this be it, or will Marcus and his Cubone decide to work as a team to defeat this amazing trainer that stands before us?” Cubone lifted his bone and slammed it into Grimer. It became engulfed in Grimer’s sludge. Grimer started letting out more poisonous gas. Marcus started to yell at his Cubone. “Get out of there Cubone!” This time though his Cubone started listening. The Cubone started retreating and Marcus yelled some more orders. Cubone picked up a large branch laying on the ground and threw it at the mountaintops that made up this arena. The snow sitting at the top started to topple down and collided with Bruce’s Grimer.

Marcus’ Cubone rushed up to the now semi-frozen Grimer and grabbed ahold of his bone that was lodged in Grimer’s body. With several lifts and slams of the bone Grimer was knocked unconscious and Marcus was declared the winner. The crowd erupted into a frenzy and started cheering Marcus on. The boy looked into the stands and for a brief second, made eye contact with me. “You may be an interesting trainer after all, Marcus Thompson of Pallet Town.” I thought to myself.

The Gym Leader walked out and put his hands on Marcus. He turned around and received the badge from the leader. Marcus smiled and started making his way back to the trainers lounge when the T.V. screen went haywire and started to static covered the screen. Then, a black cloaked figure appeared on the screen. “The Pokemon League is training innocents to become brutal killers.” The man said. It wasn’t like a normal persons voice though and sounded more like a computer generated voice. He began saying how the Pokemon League was training us to be killers and abuse Pokemon. A Trainer sitting a few seats over started saying how his Pokemon were his friends all while stroking his Rattata’s head.

After a few more seconds of that the T.V. cut out and everything returned to normal. The people in the audience started to whisper to each other about this development. The announcer, looking a little out of place down in the middle of the stadium, grabbed his mic and said, “Well, now that, that is over let us start with the main event. Brock vs. the mysterious trainer Andrew and his devastating Metagross!”

I looked up at the trainer approaching the center of the stadium. I had finally found him. It was going to be payback and he could do nothing about it. The trainer reached into his pocket and threw out his Pokeball. A Metagross came out and the crowd fell silent. The Gym Leader Brock sent out his Golem. The battle lasted only a few minutes as Metagross used it’s overwhelming power to run through Brock’s Golem. Once victorious, the camera panned on him and zoomed in. I stood up and started making my way out of the stadium. Disappointed I looked down at my feet. “It’s not him.”

Ch 12: People always ruin my fun

As I made my way outside the stadium there was a large group of people just waiting around. DataCore’s presence at the tournament caused quite a stir and it was by far the topic of choice. I walked up to a group of people as they were talking about it. “So do you think it’s true? Do you think the government is really trying to turn us into killers?”

“What they were saying makes complete sense. Just think of everything that the League tells us to do!”

“Are you stupid? We’re not training to be killers! We’re training to be trainers. To be strong; to have friends!”

This debate was starting to get heated. People were taking sides and it seemed a little pointless. I decided to make my two cents worth. “Why do you guys care so much? Who cares if the government is trying to train us to be killers. Who cares about these evil organizations. I know who I am. I am a trainer. I love my Wooper and that will never change. Some of you are different; some of you are the same. This is how life works.”

The group stared at me in disbelief. “Well, you know. She does kind of have a point. I don’t want to start another war like they did years ago. That will never change.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I love how I’m able to make friends.”

I smiled. People were actually listening to me. Usually people put me off to the side because I’m from Johto. Their isn’t much discrimination towards people from Johto or Hoenn here in Kanto but their hatred for Unova and Sinnoh people are a different story. Because of this hatred their are a lack of Unova or Sinnoh Pokemon in the other three regions. From what I had previously heard their hasn’t been a recorded sighting of either region’s Pokemon in several years here.

I started making my way away from the stadium when I heard a noise behind me. As I was turning to see what was happening a person fell on top of me, shoving me to the ground. “Watch where you’re going,” I said. The boy looked up, grumbled a little bit, and started to get up and leave. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine by the way. It’s not like I just got shoved to the ground or anything!” The boy looked up at me and that’s when I recognized him. “Just because you won the tournament doesn’t mean that you can be a dick. Have some common courtesy.”

The boy quickly bowed saying, “Sorry, I was deep in thought. I was just…thinking about things. Sorry I ran into you. I just happened to trip on a rock or something back there.” I apologized for calling him a dick and we went our separate ways. “Ok, maybe he isn’ that bad.” I thought to myself. I looked behind me and saw Larvitar following. It had been a while since I’d seen her.

“How are you doing, it’s been a while,” I said smiling at her. Larvitar walked up to me and tugged at my pant leg. “Larvi-larvitaaaarrr.” She started pulling me towards the exit of town and I followed behind. As we were trying to leave a man walked up to us. “Hey, champ in the making.” I looked at him and thought to myself, “Oh God, not another one of these people.” The man started talking again. “You should challenge Brock and see if you can take him!”

I picked up Larvitar and turned around. “Why is it all the weirdos keep interfering with my life.” I walked away figuring that I could face Brock relatively soon but I doubt he’d be up for a match tonight after his loss earlier today. “There isn’t a whole lot to do here, but I figure we can visit their space exhibit that they have in town. What do you say Woopsy and Larvitar?” They both nodded saying they were fine with this. “Wow, Larvitar might actually be coming around to me now,” I said thinking to myself.

I made my way towards the space exhibit on the northern most point of town. It wasn’t a terribly long walk. Luckily Pewter wasn’t terribly large. Once there, I payed my fees and made it towards the second level. Upstairs were several really interesting miniatures depicting space ships and their was even a moon stone. As I was glancing at some of the exhibits I heard some footsteps coming up the stairs. I turned and was met with the Gym Leader Brock. “Oh sorry, I didn’t know anyone was up here. I’ll leave if you want the room to yourself.”

I looked at the man standing before me. I fumbled with my words. “Oh, um, now, I, uh.” The man standing before me started to laugh. “I’m guessing you’re saying that it’s okay for me to stay up here a while?” I nodded, blushing a bit at my lack of communication. I continued to look at all the exhibits all the while quickly glancing up at Brock. As I was standing by the moonstone I decided to make some conversation. “So, with you being the Gym Leader of this town, why would you come to a tourist attraction such as this?”

Brock looked up and smiled. “Well to be completely honest this so called tourist attraction doesn’t get much business. On top of that no one ever comes upstairs so I use this as a place to meditate especially after a loss.”

“I always figured that someone such as you would go train in a mountain or something like that.”

Brock looked at me and laughed. “No, I can’t say I like caves all that much. Though I am a huge fan of rock types, I can’t say that caves suit me all to well. Also, it doesn’t help that all my Pokemon can easily handle those pesky Zubats. Though their is one cave that not even I can make it through.” He finished this last sentence with a tone that seemed disappointing yet strangely glad.

I decided I might as well push the subject. “What cave can a famous Gym Leader, especially one dealing with those specific types, can’t handle?”

Brock responded. “Well, their is this cave just north of Cerulean City. I’m not sure how and I’m not sure why, but the Pokemon in that cave are overly powerful. It’s also rumored that several legendary Pokemon reside inside. I’m not entirely sure how truthful this is but I could believe it. I was granted access for about ten minutes in which my Golem got defeated by a wild Dragonite. As I was retreating I notice a visible aura spreading over the top of the cavern. Only extremely strong Pokemon such as the fabled Mew or Celebi could produce such strong psychic powers.”

I stood there intensely listening to his story. “Maybe I could venture in that cave and capture one of these legendary Pokemon at some point,” I thought to myself. As I was about to ask him about more about this legendary cave an explosion rang out on the bottom floor of the space exhibit. Brock and I fell to the ground and were fairly dazed from the blast. I grabbed the nearest thing I could and stood up. Their was ruble everywhere even though the upstairs did not get directly hit. Brock stood up and released a Pokemon. “This is bad,” said Brock. I nodded.

A noise echoed through the stairwell and footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. Several men appeared in the stairwell. One walked in front of the others wearing a large, purple mask with spikes on the top of it. The eyes of the mask were blood red and arms protruded from the sides. “DataCore,” I said aloud. The man walking before the rest of the group came up to us. “Well I’m glad someone was paying attention. But yes, we are DataCore and we are here for your Gym Leader.”

Ch 13: Evil Incarnate

I stretched my hand out and reached for my Pokeball. “Not so fast girly, I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” saidthe man with in the purple mask. “We’re only here for Brock. We don’t want to cause anymore casualties than we have too.”

Brock glanced at me, looking like he wanted to say something. He decided against it. I finally noticed his Kabutops that he sent out earlier. It looked strong but not nearly as strong as his Golem that he had used several hours earlier. “I’m not going to lie, my Pokemon excluding Kabutops are all hurt right now. I opted to come here instead of healing them.” I got his hint, I knew what to do. “So Mr. purple-masked freak, choose wisely. Kabutops, Water Gun now!”

The man with the purple mask made a gesture with his hand and his grunts sent out their Pokemon. A Porygon appeared along with a Magneton. Their was a unfamiliar Pokemon with them as well. I felt like I had seen it before but I couldn’t quite place my finger on it. The grunts issued some commands and their Pokemon dodged the incoming attack. The Porygon floated above the rest and launched it’s Tri-Attack at Kabutops. “Kabutops,” yelled Brock, “Use Harden and take the Tri-Attack. Then use Ancient Power and direct it towards Magneton!”

The Tri-Attack hit Kabutops pretty solid but because of it’s Harden it seemed to do virtually nothing. Kabutops then lifted it’s leg and smashed the already damaged ground. Rock and floor came up and Kabutops launched it at Magneton. Magneton didn’t respond quickly enough and was damaged badly. The third Pokemon transformed into what appeared to be a lawn mower. The grunt started yelling commands. “Now Rotom, use Solarbeam!”

“Rotom,” I thought. “That Pokemon is from Sinnoh.” The Solarbeam charged up and fired directly at Kabutops. Kabutops tried moving but an electrical spark fell upon Kabutops paralyzing it. Floating right above Kabutops was the grunt’s Porygon. Kabutops had to have been hit by a Thunder Wave. I grabbed my Pokeball and released Wooper. “Woopsy, jump in front of the Solarbeam now!” Wooper jumped in front of the attack just in the knick of time. Wooper glowed white and the damage caused a miniature explosion. Dust scattered throughout the room and the grunts shielded their faces.

“Nice timing with that Protect girly,” said the man with the purple mask. “But I told you that you shouldn’t interfere with official DataCore business.” The man started laughing. His minions followed suit. They returned their Pokemon into their Pokeballs except for Rotom. “It seems as there is two of us and two of you. So how about we have a double-battle? What do you say? We win and Brock comes quietly with us. If you win, we’ll leave you alone for all of eternity. Sounds like a fair trade does it not?”

I looked at Brock and said, “I don’t think we have much of a choice in the matter. Let’s use some good old fashioned teamwork and show these thugs who’s boss!” Brock looked at me and nodded. Woopsy and Kabutops retreated back to us. The grunt and his boss moved over towards a corner. The grunt was smirking with that wide smile of his. I couldn’t tell any facial expressions the man in the purple mask had but I could only guess that he was smirking too.

The man wearing the purple mask released his Pokemon from it’s Pokeball. The ball opened but nothing came out. The ball landed on the ground and a dark, shadowy mist started seeping out of it. I had never seen anything that was like this ever before. The mist started spreading throughout the room clouding everything with a shadowy glow. Though the lights had been knocked out earlier from all of the explosions, it had been relatively bright inside. Now everything was darkening and pretty soon the entire room was pitch black. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Wooper retreated back even further behind me. He started trembling and I knew we were in trouble. Brock sensed it too and put his hand on my shoulder.

Then, out of nowhere, most of the darkness quickly returned towards the Pokeball allowing us to see again. It was still dark but at least we could barely make out what was going on in front of us. Near the Pokeball a large mass of darkness was starting to form. At first it looked as though it could be forming a human. As more gathered into it, it became obvious what was forming.

“Gengar,” said it’s trainer. “Use Darkness.” Gengar lifted it’s head up and a dark mist exploded from it and within seconds the room was once again filled with darkness. This time was different though. Instead of being able to see nothing we were able to see something. Around where Gengar was, a dark, red aura started to appear. Inside the aura were these two blood-red eyes and a devilish white grin. “Darkness is a move that both Gengar and I came up with. It is able to do three things. The first is that it limits our opposition’s vision making it difficult to find us. The second is that it powers up all Ghost-type moves tremendously. The third and most important thing it does for us, is that it puts fear into our opponents. No one has made it out of this alive yet so show me if you can deny the inevitable. Gengar, use Shadow Ball!”

Above Gengar’s head all of the darkness in the room started to accumulate. We were able to see again but we were quickly aware of our present danger. The darkness condensed itself into a ball held up by Gengar. The energy amassed by it was so astonishing that the red aura was coming out of it as well. Brock looked at me and said, “This isn’t looking good Amber. We need to think of something and quick. His Gengar is so powerful that it’s energy is becoming visible. If we get hit with that attack we’re both done for.”

I nodded knowing what I needed to do. Gengar launched his attack and it started heading right for us. Protect wasn’t going to work this time because of how recently I had just used it. I needed to do something quick. The man in the Gengar mask started laughing and the screech from the Shadow Ball attack started to drown out all noise around us. The attack was nearly upon us. I yelled as loud as I could and screamed at Wooper. “Woopsy, use Earthquake!”

Ch 14: A date set in stone

The ground shook, cracked, and fell from beneath our feet. Before I knew it, I was falling; looking towards the ceiling. A dark, ominously powerful ball of energy flew past and crashed into the wall mere inches from where I was previously standing. The wall exploded sending my already free-falling body towards the ground floor with even more force. I hit the floor with astounding ferocity and blacked out from the crash.

I awoke with fire and smoke filling my lungs. I was being carried out by someone running with an extra hop in their step. I realized it was Brock who was carrying me. I started moving and he stopped to put me down. “Smart move having the floor cave in their kid. If you hadn’t of done something we’d have both been dead back there.” I stood up from where Brock had set me down. I was bleeding but nothing seemed broken. He stood up saying, “I think we should get moving. The fire department will be here any moment now.”

I nodded and we started moving. I looked behind us and noticed how badly the building was damaged. Fire was erupting from the back side of the building and it seemed to have spread to the research department of the museum. Smoke was billowing out and it seemed as if there was no way we could have escaped that.

I looked into the exit in which we took. The fire was a bright red at first but suddenly started to change. The fire became black and seemed all the more ferocious. Within though, I saw the glow of a pair or red eyes staring back at me. I started to shake. These eyes seemed to pierce the very fabric of my soul. I silently whispered to myself, “Gengar, I will defeat you. Even if it becomes the end of me, I will be victorious.” I turned and Brock and I continued to a safe distance away from the building.

We arrived at a nearby house a block or two away and fell to the ground. By now we could hear the sirens and the fire fighters yelling. “Quickly, get ahold of the Squirtle Squad, this is going to be a long night!” I looked towards the sky and stared at the stars for a little while. After catching my breath I decided to finally break the silence.

“So Brock, since I saved your life and all, I automatically get the Boulder Badge right? I mean, if it wasn’t for me you would have been captured or worse; dead.” I sat up and looked at Brock smiling.

“Nice try kiddo, but no go. I would challenge you to a battle now but unfortunately I have no Pokemon I feel would be of your level. After seeing how you faced DataCore in there I don’t think it’d be fair for me to use this Geodude I just recently caught.”

I laughed and responded. “I wasn’t actually expecting a free badge. I’d feel bad if you gave me one when all the other trainers had to work for theirs. If you wouldn’t mind waiting a day or two so I can recuperate I would love to challenge you to a battle. I feel like I could face your Kabutops when it comes down to it and I am always looking to prove myself. So what do you say, battle in two days?”

Brock looked at me, stroking the little of a goatee that he had and finally said, “You know what, that sounds like a good idea. I think Kabutops might be a little strong for you still but you will have the type advantage with your Wooper so hopefully that makes it a bit more fair of a fight. I will expect you at the gym in two days at noon. There we can see who the better trainer truly is.” Brock stood up, grabbed my hand, and helped me up. “For now though, how about you head to the Pokecenter. You need to heal up and rest a little bit. I’m going to head back to the museum and see if I can help out at all. Have a wonderful evening and thank you for helping me out tonight Amber.”

Brock started walking back towards the museum. I decided he was right and called to Wooper. “Woopsy, you ready to get some sleep?” Wooper came running up from behind the building nodding his head. “Wooper woop, woop!” I started laughing to myself. “Let’s go buddy.”

As we started walking towards the Pokecenter I noticed Larvitar was nowhere to be seen. “Oh crap, Woopsy. Where’d Larvitar go? Did she get hurt? Did she make it out of the building?” As I kept rambling on I heard something behind me. I turned around and looked down. The ground gave way just enough so a little greenish-brown head poked out. “Larvitaaarrrr,” she yawned. I went over and picked her up. “I’m glad you are safe. Let’s go get some rest.”

We walked into the Pokecenter and I put them up to be healed. The nurse behind the counter gave me some problems because Larvitar wasn’t technically mine and it wasn’t in a Pokeball. After complaining for a while she finally took her and Wooper to be healed. While they were off I went over to the corner to check the computer. “I guess I can message mom and tell her I’m still alive,” I thought to myself. The computer turned on and a log in interface popped up. I slid my trainer’s card through the slot and my account appeared on the screen.

As I was sitting there a boy appeared at the counter. He talked to the nurse, handed her his Pokeballs, and stood there waiting for them to finish healing. I recognized him as one of the trainers that was at the stadium for the tournament. I was about to say something but the nurse returned quickly with his Pokeballs and he set out. Next to him were two firemen that were talking about whether or not DataCore was responsible for the fire. I chuckled to myself thinking, “If only you knew.”

After a while the nurse called my name and returned Woopsy and Larvitar to me. We were given a room and we decided it was time to call it a day. I planned to set out early the next morning towards Mt. Moon so I could train a bit with Wooper. I turned my Pokegear on and set an alarm for 6 A.M. I figured that would give me plenty of time to get ready and check out while still making it out before the rush of trainers started. I made a bed for Larvitar and plopped myself onto my own bed. I called out to Wooper who jumped up and snuggled up next to me. “I’m proud of you Woopsy. Thanks for everything tonight.” He inched closer to me and within seconds we were both dreaming.

Ch 15: Up and at em’

*Ring* *ring*

“Huh,” I thought to myself.

*Ring* *ring* *ring*

“Is it that time already?” I pulled my blanket over my head some more. “Leave me alone,” I shouted. I really didn’t want to get up. My body was sore from last night. My back hurt, my arms hurt, my legs hurt. My everything hurt.

It took me awhile, but I realized the alarm clock on my Pokegear shut off. “Um, Woopsy?” I asked. My voice hung out there and seemed to go to nothingness. Tentatively, I moved my blanket just enough so I could see. “Woops-”

“Wooper!” was all I heard. A shot of water shot out of Wooper right at my blanket and it was drenched almost immediately. With it, I too was also soaked to the core. “Wooper you little piece of junk!” I yelled. I jumped up and tackled him to the ground. I grabbed my pillow on my bed and swung it at his head. In mid swing he shot another burst of water into my face. “Why you little!” I started to say. Wooper jumped back and a bright white ball began to form in his mouth. “Now Wooper. Don’t you even think about. I swear, if you use that Ice Beam I am going to smother you.”

Wooper stopped his attacked, looked up at me, and smiled. Wooper woop woop!” he yelled. I snatched him up and threw him onto the bed. “You are a little terd you know that?” I said while chuckling to myself. I started walking towards the bathroom when I heard a little cry from beneath the bed. “Larvitaaarrrr,” I heard. Larvitar crawled from beneath the bed completely soaked to the core. “Ok sweetly, let’s get you cleaned up a bit.”

I took Larvitar into the bathroom and after an hour or so we finished and started packing up our belongings. It was a little past 8 am so I decided to go grab some food from the market before heading out of Pewter to train. I checked out for the day and ventured outside.

I walked around for a while and eventually found the market place. It was relatively early in the morning but the market was bustling. Their were stalls selling Pokedolls, applications for Pokegears, and your necessary Pokemon necessities such as Pokeballs, healing items, and so on. I walked up to a couple of stands and after contemplating for awhile decided to grab some food for Woopsy, Larvitar, and myself. We walked over towards the center of town where there was a fountain and some tables to sit and enjoy the area. We sat down at a table directly in front of the fountain and started eating our meal.

I quickly finished and looked towards the fountain. Shooting water out was a Kabutops with a larger man standing next to it. It looked a lot like Brock and I figured that it was his father. I had heard that his father was a hero here so it didn’t surprise me that they build a statue to commemorate his actions. From what I learned in the history books, Brock’s father sacrificed himself when Unova’s forces broke through the mountain range so that the people of Pewter could retreat. He truly was a hero of the Great War.

I turned back towards Woopsy and Larvitar to see that they had finished eating. We cleaned up our mess and started to make our way towards the exit of town. On our way out I overheard some trainers talking. “Did you hear, a bunch of trainers are gathering on Route 3 to train and battle each other. I hear one of the girls, Sally,hasn’t lost yet. She and her Nidoran are really quite something.”

I looked towards where the trainers were going and decided to follow. I figured when in doubt I could battle a few trainers today instead of looking for wild Pokemon. After traveling behind the trainers for a while we reached a large group of trainers, circling around two of them. “Go George, use Quick Attack!” “Sandshrew, stop that Rattata in it’s tracks, use Defense Curl!” The trainers were really going at it. They were determined to win. I decided to join in the circle and started to watch.

“Sandshrew, now use Fury Swipes!” The Sandshrew started swinging it’s claws towards the Rattata. The Rattata countered with a Double Team and the Sandshrew became confused as to where the real one actually went. “Sandshrew, use Sandstorm to blow the Rattata around and follow it up with a Whirlwind!” The sandstorm started picking up and sand was blowing into all of our faces. The Rattata trainer yelled out some kind of a command but it was muffled due to the intensity of the sandstorm now. The Rattata illusions quickly vanished and the Rattata went sprawling across the ground. The Sandshrew jumped into the air raising his claw. It glowed a bright white and he brought it down upon the Rattata.

The Rattata feinted and the trainer returned it. The Sandshrew trainer ran up to his Pokemon and celebrated with it. While this was going on two more trainers stepped up. One sent out her Jigglypuff while the other sent out his Metapod. The Metapod trainer started off strong by consistently increasing his Pokemon’s defense by using Harden. The trainer with a Jigglypuff tried Double-slap a few times before realizing that it was pointless. Jigglypuff came in for a powerful pound attack when the Metapod decided to counter. It Hardened once again and then used Tackle. Jigglypuff countered with Disable rendering the Metapod’s only physical attack it had used thus far. The Metapod’s trainer yelled out, “Finish this up with Bug Bite!” Metapod clenched it’s mouth down and the Jigglypuff was knocked unconscious.

After the two trainers cleared a girl walked to the middle and spoke up. “If anyone would like to challenge me I am up for anything!” she said. I picked up Woopsy and started to make my way forward. “I’ll give it a go!” said a boy on the other side. I stopped mid-step. “Dang it,” I thought to myself. “I wanted to beat her.” The boy stepped forward and contemplated which Pokemon to use. After a moment or so he sent out his Cubone. “Ditto, Let’s go!”

The girl’s Nidoran came out and stood there. She pulled out her Pokedex to see what she was up against. The boy, realizing her slowness, had his Cubone charge out and attack. The Cubone reeled his club back and smashed it into Jigglypuff’s face. The girl yelled out, “No, Lady!” but it was too late. The Nidoran was sent backwards after taking the hit. “Now Lady, retaliate with Double Kick!”

The boy had his Cubone retreat and called for it to use Focus Energy.. The girl yelled to her Nidoran. “Lady, use Poison Sting! Her Nidoran launched a large poison barb at the opposing Pokemon. Cubone reeled it’s club back swinging and prevented the attack.

The girl was getting desperate. “Lady quick, use Bite!” The Nidoran charged in towards the Cubone. The boy commanded his Pokemon to do something but was inaudible due to the crowd chanting. It seemed everyone was chanting the girl’s name Sally, hoping that she would win. The Nidoran was about on the Cubone now. It raised it’s teeth up, readying to snatch the Cubone. As it leaped for the opposing Pokemon Cubone ducked down and slammed his head into the Nidoran. Nidoran was out in an instance and Cubone lifted it’s leg on top of the downed Pokemon.

The crowd went wild. Everyone was so surprised that Sally was defeated that they had no idea how to react. Some were cheering for the victor while others were yelling at him. Some people made it known their frustration especially as his Cubone lifted his leg over the feinted Pokemon. I sat there laughing to myself. “It was a good match,” I thoughtto myself. “But there was no way this Sally girl could have won. This boy and his Cubone were fantastic.”

As I was thinking to myself and the crowd started to disperse I finally got a chance to really see the Cubone. “What the,” I thought to myself. “What, is wrong with it’s face?” The boy received his earnings for winning and all the other trainers finally left to go their separate ways. I decided that I would stay back and talk with the boy with the Cubone.

I sat there for a while as the boy collected himself and his gear. After a while he noticed that I had stayed back. “It’s you,” he started to say. I looked at him and smiled. “Nice to meet you, my name is Amber, from Olivine City.”

Ch 16: A boy named Tyvan

“Hi, my name is Tyvan. I think that I have been following you for a while. Did you face a Beedrill back in Viridian City?”

I looked at the boy, then his Pokemon. “A Rattata and Cubone,” I thought to myself. “Most people don’t actually catch Rattata’s. I wonder why he did.” There was a moment of silence before I realized that he had asked me a question. I started chuckling to myself. “Yes, I did face that Beedrill.” I said. “I’m not a terribly big fan of Bug Pokemon let alone facing their trainers. They always seem to be a little annoying to me. But I was able to try some new strategies that I had been working on so it made it a more interesting battle.”

“I’m pretty sure that we at the tournament too. That final match up was pretty intense don’t you think?”

I started nodding. “Yes, and to make it even more interesting was that whole performance from DataCore. I’ve already had my run in with them and they surprised me with how powerful they really are. I’ve sort of made it my goal to become stronger than them so I can defeat them,” I said. I don’t know why but this boy Tyvan was making me feel more comfortable and relaxed. I’ve never been a big fan of the whole “opening up” thing, especially when it comes to my goals. And yet, I had only met this trainer officially for not even five minutes and I was letting him know about my plans to fight DataCore.

“Well, to be completely honest, they kidnapped me last night. I was kind of out of it after they knocked me out but I overheard them saying they wanted that kid Marcus Thompson. They must have been confused because I have this.” The boy opened his bag and grabbed a small, metallic object from his bag. He showed it to me.

“Wow,” I said. “You actually beat Brock himself? He is a very good Pokemon trainer and really knows how to handle his Pokemon well. Not a lot of people can own up to what you accomplished.”

The boy smiled back at me. I could tell he was proud that he had won the Boulder Badge. I’m sure it felt good to hear it from another trainer too. Not a lot of people can accomplish beating all the Gym Leaders. Even though Brock is recognized as the first he is in no way a push over. I had even heard stories of people spending years just to beat him.

I heard some noise coming off to my side. I looked over and saw my Wooper and Tyvan’s Rattata wrestling a bit in the grass. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Wooper was a lot stronger than this boy’s Rattata and I could tell he was holding back to make it a fair fight. Even though they were wrestling they were just playing. “It looks like Wooper might have made a new friend,” I thought to myself.

As they were playing around I noticed Tyvan’s other Pokemon sitting off to the side a little bit. It was resting it’s head on it’s bone club watching Rattata and Wooper playing. I must have been staring at it for quite a while because Tyvan realized that I had taken a special interest in his Cubone. I decided that I had to ask. “I was watching your battle with that girl Sally earlier. Your Cubone did phenomenally well against her Nidoran. I’m not trying to be mean or insulting here but when I saw your Cubone he looked a little different then from ones I have seen previously. Not like your semi-ordinary discoloration or anything like that. It’s his face. Something just doesn’t seem right about it.”

I must have been staring pretty intensely because Tyvan’s face became pretty serious. “My Cubone, who I’ve nicknamed Ditto, is a pretty special Pokemon. He can do things that no ordinary Pokemon can do.” As he was saying this his Cubone walked over towards Rattata and Wooper. Rattata raced over to Cubone expecting him to join in the playful festivities but Cubone just brushed right past it. Tyvan’s Pokemon came over to my Wooper and started circling it; looking it over pretty intensely.

As I started to say something the Pokemon shone bright white and the light radiated from it’s body. “Is his Pokemon evolving right now?” I thought to myself? “What could it possibly be doing?” I covered my eyes from the light for a few seconds until the light died down a bit. After a few more seconds I was finally able to see. Right in front of me were two Woopers that looked exactly identical. I didn’t know what to say. “Holy -”

Was all I was able to get off. Tyvan looked at me and couldn’t control himself. He started laughing at what was going on in front of us. The two Woopers were mimicking each other perfectly. One Wooper would jump, the other would follow suit. One would step to the left, the other would step to the right following the first ones movements to a tee. “Ditto has this weird ability to be able to change into other Pokemon. When I got him he was a Zubat but now I guess he has decided to change into your Wooper!”

I started walking towards the two Woopers when Woopsy jumped into my arms screaming. “Wooper woop woop wooper woopwoop.” he said. Even though I couldn’t actually understand him I knew by the tone of his voice he was confused and possibly even terrified as to what just happened. There really wasn’t any difference between the two. The only thing I could tell was that Tyvan’s Ditto kept the same face each time it changed. It was subtle but still noticeable if you were paying attention. Tyvan spoke up. “Don’t worry, Ditto won’t hurt you, he just likes to try on new faces sometimes.”

I tried to muster up all I could just to respond. I honestly had no idea what to say. I was completely dumbfounded by this. “This is absolutely amazing,” I finally got out. “I can’t believe your Pokemon, let alone any Pokemon, can do this!”

Tyvan smiled at me as his Pokemon waddled back to his side. I am on my way to Mount Moon if you re interested. My Pokemon and I could always use some more company.”

“I wish I could,” I said. “But I have a battle scheduled with Brock tomorrow and I need to prove to myself that I too can beat Pewter City’s Gym Leader. I wish I could, really, but this takes a little bit more precedent over going through Mount Moon. Thanks for the offer though!”

“Well,” he said. “It was great to meet you. I’m positive that we’ll meet again in our journeys. Good luck against Brock though, he isn’t a Gym Leader for nothing!”

I walked over to Tyvan and shook my new friend’s hand. I reached down into my backpack and grabbed a piece of paper and pencil. I wrote down my Pokegear’s number. “Here’s my number,” I said. If you ever need me for anything just give me a ring.” The boy looked up to me and nodded. He told me he’d have to get the phone application once he could afford it. I laughed and he went on his way.

I put Wooper down as we watched Tyvan travel on towards Mount Moon. It was getting late in the day and in a few hours it would be dark. I figured Wooper and I should probably get going so we could get some training in before it got too dark. We saw a path leading to a grassy area towards our left and decided to take it. Wooper was right beside me and Larvitar could be heard directly behind me. I stopped for a second and turned to my Wooper and towards Larvitar. “That is going to be one of the stronger opponents we meet, I just know it,” I said to the two. “Our goal is to become strong and never lose to trainers like him. We are going to train to become the very best. Like no others before us.”

Ch 17: A sound in the distance

“Wooper, use Tackle!” Wooper launched forward, hitting the Metapod with a strong thud knocking it onto it’s back unconscious. Wooper jumped up in joy. “Great job Wooper! You’re really showing these Pokemon whose boss aren’t you?” Wooper looked up smiling and nodded to me.

I looked over the horizon as the sun was nearly set. “It’s been a long day,” I thought to myself. Wooper and I were drenched in sweat after battling nonstop for the last several hours. Though there was about twenty minutes or so of sunlight left it was pitch black because we were in the shadow of the mountain. I pulled out a small spray bottle and squirted some of it onto Wooper. “Now I know you don’t like Potions Wooper but just deal with it. You’re a little weak from that last battle and I want you in tip top shape you hear!”

Wooper looked at me and grimaced. This fun loving, energetic Pokemon loved everything in this world except for healing items. He’d eat a berry in a heartbeat but the second I try giving him a Potion or an Antidote he flips out. I put the bottle next to him and gave him a few sprays of the contents from within. He started shaking his head back and forth and started to cry out in his usual tone of dislike. After a few moments I was done and he had already started to look a little better. He still wasn’t very happy but he knew that he wasn’t in fighting condition after what that Metapod did to him. Somehow that Metapod had taught itself Solar Beam and almost got a direct hit on Wooper. Luckily though he was able to dodge most of the attack and he wasn’t severely damaged.

I packed up my bag and it’s contents and I called Wooper to my side. Larvitar was a ways back like she usually was as I glanced behind myself. I decided that we had trained enough for the day and that we should try making it back to the Pokecenter.

After walking for about twenty minutes or so we saw several trainers setting up camp. Tents were being set up and Pokemon were creating fires for their trainers. Wooper jumped on my shoulders as we passed three or four trainers sitting around a campfire. As I looked over I made eye contact with one of them. He stood up and shouted to me. “Hey, you might want to be careful traveling if you’re going back to Pewter. There have been reports of wild Pokemon attacking people and their Pokemon on the outskirts of town.”

I thought about walking over to him and his friends but decided against it. Instead I yelled back. “Thanks for the warning but my Pokemon can handle it. I think I’ll take my chances!” The boy waved to me and sat back down, joining back into the conversations with his friends. They all seemed to be traveling together and enjoying themselves. Their Pokemon were scurrying about playing with each other and it seemed like one of those picture perfect moments.

I pulled Wooper off my shoulders and decided to carry him instead. I pulled him in close thinking to myself. “I wish I could have been like one of those trainers. They are gifted with each others company on their Pokemon journeys whatever they may be but no matter what they always have each other. That’s something that I have never really had. I mean, I’ve had Wooper most of my life but I’ve never had a group of human friends to talk with.” I shook my head a few times. “No, I mustn’t get off topic. I have a goal and I need to complete this goal. It might get lonely, it might be difficult but it is something that I must do.”

For awhile I kept walking; thinking to myself. It almost took me by surprise when I reached the outskirts of Pewter City. The city was quiet and still. Nothing seemed to be happening. I started making my way through the alleyways and buildings in order to get back to the Pokecenter. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was completely lost. “None of these buildings look familiar,” I thought to myself. “I must be on the completely opposite side of town then I need to be.”

I continued on for a little ways before stopping to take a rest. I set Wooper down and we looked at our surroundings. Their were buildings towering over us; some reaching as high as ten stories tall. There were a few lights on inside these buildings which meant that some people were inside but for the most part the streets were pitch black save for the light pole at the end of every other block. I decided to walk over towards the door of one of the lighted buildings to ring the buzzer and see if I could get some directions. As I was about to press the buzzer several loud screeches rang out.

“What was that?” I said aloud. The screeches rang out again followed by a cry of some sort. “Whatever it is, this can’t be good. Wooper let’s go check it out.” Wooper nodded and we made our way towards the strange sounds. We turned the corner and we came across a city park. There were trees, grass, and flowers scattered over a fairly large area. Towards the center of the park we saw a lot of creatures flying over one small area. I picked Wooper up and started sprinting over there. With the trees closing in around us it was difficult to actually make out what was happening in front of me. The only thing I was sure of was that the screeches were getting louder and that something was in danger.

I cleared the trees and came upon a ginormous group of Zubats circling above a smallish, light yellow Pokemon. The Zubats were swooping in launching needles at this poor defenseless Pokemon. As I set Wooper down the Zubats took notice of me. In less than a heartbeat five or six of the Zubats started charging us. “Wooper!” I yelled. “Watch out for their Leech Life and Poison Sting attacks!” As I said that the rest of the Zubats turned and faced us. The first six were nearly on us and Wooper was unsure what to do. “Wooper, use Protect!” Wooper listened and quickly covered us in a protective veil. The first wave of Zubat attacks failed and our shield disappeared.

Before I knew what was happening another wave of Zubats was upon us. Wooper got hit several times with their Poison Sting attack before they retreated back. Their seemed to be an infinite amount of Zubats right now. I had no idea how to handle this. Out of desperation I started yelling commands to Wooper. “Wooper, start launching Ice Beams at the Zubats!” Wooper listened and Zubats started to fall. They would charge in groups of four or five and Wooper would hit two or three with a solid strike. The remaining though would swing down and hit Wooper pretty hard.

“Wooper, try using Water Sport followed by an Ice Beam! Hopefully we’ll be able to hit more!” Wooper followed my commands and at first it seemed to be working. “Good job Woopsy! I think they’re thinning out!” As soon as I said that I nearly bit my tongue. Many of the Zubats before us were evolving into Golbats and becoming even stronger. “Crap,” I thought to myself. I shouted some commands at Wooper as the newly evolved Golbats started to swoop down on us. “Wooper, dodge!” I yelled. Wooper tried as best as he could but the Golbats started using a combination of Wing Attack and Air Cutter. Wooper was getting hit way to often and way to hard.

Wooper was trying his best but it seemed inevitable. There was no end in sight to these Pokemon. They kept on coming no matter what we tried. All seemed lost until I heard a voice behind me. “Magmortar, use Sunny Day!” The night illuminated before us and the Zubats and Golbats seemed to cringe. “Now finish them off with an Overheat!” Shots of fire spread across the sky hitting the majority of them. It seemed to me like a lot of damage was done to each one. This made me unsure if they were too scared to fight this new challenger or they were to scared of the sunlight but they retreated towards the outskirts of town and headed back towards Mount Moon.

I kneeled down and picked Wooper up to notice that he was badly hurt. “Woopsy, don’t worry. I’ll get you to the Pokecenter as soon as possible.” Wooper looked up at me and gave me a weak nod. I turned and and finally saw my rescuer. Standing in front of me was an older man, around the age of my parents. He was wearing a scraggly old trench coat and a weathered brim stone hat. You could tell by the scars on his face that he had been through a lot and yet he looked like a genuinely nice fellow.

I realized I was staring and decided to thank this man. “Thank you so much, sir. I don’t know what I would have done if you had not helped me.” The man looked down at me and smiled. He reached out his hand and helped me up.

“Most people don’t realize how strong Zubats can actually be. In groups like that they can be deadly. To make them even worse, whenever their colonies are threatened the leaders are known to evolve on the spot to defend the weaker ones.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a spray bottle. “Here, I have some Antidote for your Wooper. He looks to be a little poisoned from those Zubats.” He proceeded to then spray Wooper and return the bottle to his pack. “My name is Andrew. I’m from Hoenn, nice to meet you.”

I reached out my hand and shook his extended arm. “Nice to meet you too. I’m Amber. I’m from Johto, more specifically Olivine City. You’re the trainer that fought Brock with your Metagross correct?” I asked.

“Yes I am. Brock is a pretty good Gym Leader. Sadly though he was no match for me. I’m coming off winning Hoenn’s Pokemon League Championship. I’m making it my goal to become the first ever Pokemaster.”

I looked at the man before me. I had no idea that people still aspired to become the first ever Pokemon master. Sure, every child growing up wants to be the first ever champion. The task nowadays seems near impossible though. In order to be considered the Pokemaster you need to become the champion in each region. While this is going on you also are required to hold your title by challenging the winner of the following tournaments. All it takes is one loss. Then you have to restart from scratch.

Andrew seemed to notice my awe as I was thinking to myself. “It’s a nearly impossible goal, that it is. But with my team, I feel as though I can do it. I’ve already won Unova’s tournament as well and I’ve held it for the past two years. My next goal is Kanto. So Amber, what are your goals?” he said smiling.

I did all I could not to blush. “I, um, I, also aspire to be the best. But that isn’t my primary goal. First, I have to find a certain trainer. He hurt a friend of mine and I need to exact my revenge. By the way, you don’t happen to know what happened a few days back in Viridian City do you?” I asked looking at him in an extremely serious matter.

Andrew sighed. “Well, yes and no. I was told that a fire broke out and a trainer on a Metagross was seen leaving the scene of the crime. Other than that though, I don’t know anything about it. I’ve been in Pewter for nearly two months now waiting for Brock to be able to challenge me.”

I looked at him and let out a deep sigh. “Thankfully that wasn’t you. That man on the Metagross, he’s the one I’m chasing. At first I thought it was you which is why I came to Pewter in the first place. But it couldn’t have been you could it? You were here the whole time.”

Andrew looked at me and started to say something but a ringing noise interrupted him. “One second please, I need to take this.” He opened his coat and pulled out his Pokegear and answered his phone. He started walking away a bit, to be able to talk in private. “Gendry, it’s so nice to hear from you. How did your plans go?” he said. He got a little too far for me to be able to understand everything but I did hear a few more key words. “A girl you say?”

I figured the man on the other line was explaining something. Andrew started nodding a bit and turned to me. I looked down at Wooper to make it less obvious that I was ease dropping. I didn’t catch everything but the next sentence caught me off guard. “Does she… brown hair? Sixteen or so?”

I tightened my grip on Wooper. “Is he really talking about me?” I thought to myself. “Why and who could he be talking with?” I heard him start to laugh as he said by to his companion. I looked up to see him coming over to me again. I tried to play it as cool as possible. “Is everything all right? Did your friend need something?” I asked.

He looked at me and grinned. “No, it wasn’t a big deal. My friend of mine just had some problems with something he was supposed to do yesterday. It’s no big deal. Anyways Amber, it was nice meeting you. I have an arrangement I need to get to. Enjoy yourself and good luck against Brock. I hope you’re able to accomplish your goal!”

He came in to shake my hand. I returned it and said some pleasantries. He reached into his pocket with his other hand to put his Pokegear way. As he slid it into one of his pockets I noticed a bright yellow symbol on the inside of his coat. I released my grip on his hand and he started to walk away. “It may take some time, but I will be as strong as you,” I thought to myself. “Andrew of Hoenn.”

Ch 18: A new friend

As I watched Andrew walk off into the distance, through the trees and eventually around the buildings I remembered that I was still completely lost. “Double crap,” I thought to myself. I started looking around, unsure as to where I should go. As I was turning around I thought I saw some movement where the Zubats were originally at. There was a very small light yellow heap over there. I would have missed it but that light yellow was contrasted really well against the dark green of the grass around it. With Wooper still in hand I decided to check it out. “What could it be?” I thought to myself.

I moved in closer to see a blood covered Ninetails laying before me. I could tell right away that it was dead. Wooper came up next to me and started to cry. Wooper never gets terribly emotional except on the anniversary of my father’s death. For some reason though he broke out into tears almost instantly once he saw this. I reached down to pick him up and I patted his back. “It’s okay buddy. We almost saved it. If we would have known we would have saved it.” He looked up at me and gave me a slight nod of his head.

We started to turn to leave when a faint sound broke out from beneath the dead Pokemon. “Wooper, did you hear something?” I asked. He nodded quickly and I set him back down. I rushed over next to the Ninetails and started pushing it to see what was underneath. As I pushed a small, grey covered head was soon visible. It was in a small hole that looked as if it was dug quickly. I reached down and picked up the Pokemon. It was still a baby; it couldn’t have been much more than a few days old. “Is this a Vulpix?” I thought to myself.

Directly in front of me was an ash grey Vulpix. Normally, Vulpix is a orangish-red color. But this one for some reason wasn’t. I didn’t know what to make of this. The Vulpix started to cry and I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. I looked it over and after a few seconds I realized that it was bleeding. I figured that the mother and this Vulpix were attacked by the Zubats. The mother must have realized how much danger they were in and dug a hole for it’s child to hide in and then covered it with her own body. She really sacrificed all that she had so her child could live. I started tearing up just thinking about it.

I knew it was hurt badly so I did the only thing I could think of. “Now Vulpix, you are bad shape. You already know this but I am reiterating the fact.” I said trying to explain myself. “I m going to capture you so I can heal you at the Pokemon center. I will release you back into the wild afterwords but we need to heal you up. Strangely, I felt as though the Vulpix understood every word I said to it. I set it down and opened up my pack. I pulled out a metallic orb that held the power to control any Pokemon in the world. I felt it’s cool surface, marveling at it’s craftsmanship. “I haven’t used one of you in years,” I thought to myself. I shut my pack, lifted up my arm and launched the Pokeball at Vulpix. The ball made contact and a bright red light emitted from the ball. It surrounded Vulpix in milliseconds and as quickly as it came out returned back inside of the ball. The ball wiggled once, twice, thrice, and finally came to a halt.

“Well Woopsy, for now we have another partner. We’ll see if it stays this way. I reached down and grabbed the Pokeball. I clicked it’s middle button and the ball shrank. I attached it to my belt and picked up Wooper., running out of the park as fast as I could. I figured that the Vulpix was poisoned to a certain extent after looking at the wounds of it’s mother. I knew I didn’t have much time before it was to late. I looked up to the sky and saw the Arcean Star. I thought back to growing up on the sea. “The Arcean Star is the brightest in the night sky.” I said talking to myself. “Now if I rotate my body I should eventually hit either the Deepsea star or the Landquake Constellation. The star signifies the East, the Constellation the West.” I started to turn my body until I finally came upon the Deepsea Star. “The Pokecenter is on the east side of town.”

I started running in the direction that the star was until I saw bright lights shining over the horizon. I knew I was getting close. In these larger cities they always lit up the Pokecenter at all times to make it easy for trainers new to the area to find. I rounded a few corners and finally came upon it. I rushed forward through the revolving doors and ran up to the counter. “Welcome to the Pokecenter. Would you like-”

I slammed my newly acquired Pokeball onto the counter. “Obviously!” I almost yelled at the nurse behind the counter. I sat Wooper down and returned him to his Pokeball. I gave her my trainer I.D. number and she took my Pokemon. As she was leaving to bring them into the back I could hear her muttering under her breath. “Why are people always so rude. We’re required to ask each and every time they want their Pokemon healed.” I started to chuckle to myself. I always seemed to tick people off.

The nurse came back and told me that they wouldn’t be healed until morning. She persuaded me to check in for the night and to go get some sleep. I finally agreed and checked in. I grabbed my keycard and made my way to my room. I glanced down at my Pokegear. “Wow, it’s already past midnight,” I said to myself. I walked down the narrow halls until I reached my room. I opened my door and collapsed onto my bed. “Today sucked,” I shouted into my pillow. I let out a deep sigh and pulled my Pokegear back out.

“Okay, I figure I can get up around 9 am tomorrow and still be plenty rested for my battle.” I set my alarm and shut my lights off. As soon as my head hit the pillow my Pokegear started going off. “Caterpie, Caterpie, Yeah, Yeah! Caterpie, Caterpie, Yeah, Yeah!” My phone’s ringtone was going off. “Who in the world is calling me this late into the night,” I thought to myself. I reached over and picked up my Pokegear. “Hello, Amber speaking,” I said into it.

To my surprise a very familiar voice responded. “Amber Jean what is this! I haven’t heard from you in weeks. You were supposed to be gone for five days. Where the heck are you?”

“Triple crap,” I said aloud. “Uh,” I started to respond. “Hello mom. Long time no call,” I said chuckling a little to myself.

“This is no laughing matter missy! You and Wooper were supposed to call if you were going to be late. I figured I would let you have a few days without contacting me but enough is enough. Where are you?”

Unsure of how to respond, I decided to tell the truth. “Well, currently I am in Pewter City. I ran into some complications back in Johto and ended up here. I figured that since I’m here I might as well acquire some badges. Actually, I have a Gym Leader battle tomorrow with the famous Brock!”

I listened for a while to hear nothing but silence. After a while I decided to pipe up. “Um, mom, are you okay?” The second I asked she was screaming at me. “Kanto! You’re in Kanto!? What the bloody hell is wrong with you? You could have been killed, you could have been kidnapped! What did you do? Are you in trouble with the law? Is that why you left? Are you smoking Poffins young woman? I swear to Arceus if you’re on the lamb for smoking Puffins, I-”

I decided to finally cut her off. “Mom, what is wrong with you? Obviously I’m not smoking Poffins! I’m not a loser like those kids from Ecruteak City, jeez. I ran into some bad folks up on Mount Silver and I decided to follow them. I’m perfectly safe mom, no need to worry.”

Though it was subtly, I could tell she wasn’t as worried anymore. “Okay, well, I’m glad you’re safe. I’m also glad you’re not smoking Poffins either. They say it’s a gateway drug you know.” She started chuckling to herself. We seem to have the same tendencies when it comes to laughing aloud at ourselves or at whatever is going on. “Also, before I forget, that boy Joey keeps calling the house. Seriously Amber, why’d you give him the home address? All he does is want to talk about his Rattata. It doesn’t even phase him that I say I’m your mother and that you’re not here. He just keeps on talking. And if I don’t respond or I hang up he just keeps it up! He did trade me some pretty rare stones though. I was thoroughly surprised when he just gave me a beautiful bright yellow stone and one that is as dark as the night.”

I started really laughing at this point. “I gave him our home number because I knew he would always call. From what I understand he calls everyone all the time. That’s just how he is I guess.”

“Well honey, I’m glad you’re safe. Please call more, I miss your voice. I figure I should let you get some sleep. What time is it there anyways, like 1 am? You have to at least be six hours ahead of us here. Oh well. I love you, be safe, and enjoy your time! Tell Wooper hello for me!”

“I will mom. Wooper would have loved to talk with you. He’s getting healed right now though because of our training earlier. Be safe yourself and I love you. I’ll try being home sometime soon.” We said a few more words and finally she hung up. I shut my Pokegear down into “silent but alarm” mode and plopped back onto my bed. I was dead tired again and I really needed my sleep. Within seconds I was out, dreaming of Pokemon scooping ice cream and jumping off a Wailord’s spout.

Ch 19: Pixie dust

My alarm started going off and I quickly got up. Today was the day I would face Brock. I needed to win in order to continue on my journey. Though I wasn’t as intent on winning as most people, I still felt the need to prove to myself that I was a good trainer. Not just a good trainer though but a great trainer. In order for this to happen I needed to defeat the Gym Leaders from this region and fight in the Pokemon League Championships.

I stored all of my belongings into my pack and headed out the door. I wasn’t even three steps out my door and I ran right into another person. “Ouch. Sorry about that, I didn’t see you there.” I glanced up and noticed a face, discolored and scared. “Wow, this guy looks horrible,” I thought to myself. “Did he get hit by Snorlax I wonder?”

The man looked up at me and quickly looked back down. He raised his hand over his mouth and muffled something towards me. He took another quick glance at me and bolted down the hallway, almost in a fearful manner. “Well that was weird,” I said aloud. “I wonder what was up with that guy.” I turned the opposite way and made my way towards the staircase where I hurriedly skipped steps to make it downstairs faster. I was really excited to challenge Brock today for his Gym Badge. So excited in fact, that I was really nervous.

I kept asking myself “what if” questions about today. “What if I can’t defeat Brock? What if I can never prove to myself that I am a good trainer? What if this whole escapade with DataCore ends u hurting my best friends?” Before long I reached the counter where I handed the nurse my trainer card. She scanned it and retreated behind a door where they keep all their Pokemon. Within seconds she came out of the room carrying a tray with two Pokeballs on it and having Larvitar walk by her side.

She handed me my Pokeballs and started to say, “Your Wooper and Larvitar are doing just fine. A few bumps and bruises were about it. Your Vulpix though has a sort of strange condition. We helped it out with it’s afflictions and nursed it back to health but it seems that it is not willing to interact with anything. She kept to herself so much that we just left her in her Pokeball to recover. She seems to be going through a sort of depression that you may want to be wary of.” I nodded and thanked her for all of her help. Se nodded and retreated back towards the back room.

I looked over the tray set before me and realized I was in a small predicament. I had no way in which to recognize which Pokemon had which ball. I grabbed each of them and headed for the door heading for the Pokemart which was right next door. Once inside, I spoke with the clerk for a little while and after bartering with him I acquired some new paints. I walked outside and released the first ball I grabbed. Wooper jumped out excitedly; showing his enthusiasm to be out of that ball. I picked up some metallic paint and started going over the top of the ball. Within a few seconds it transformed from a plain metallic red to a stunning metallic sky blue. I figured that with the color coordinating I would at least be able to discern which ball was which based on their type.

I decided that for now I would leave Vulpix’s ball alone because of the uncertainty of whether or not I would keep it. I rolled the miniature version of the Pokeball in my hand for a few seconds. After some thinking I decided to release my newly captured Pokemon into this world for the frst time under my control. I clicked the middle switch and the ball expanded five times it’s original size. I tossed the ball up into the air and watched as the ball came crashing down to the earth. The ball made contact and opened up, freeing the Pokemon inside. A red light jumped forth from inside the ball and took form on the ground.

Before me was my first Pokemon I had actually had to capture. Years ago my father gave me this Wooper as his last dying action. Though it didn’t happen quite the way he had planned, Wooper and I had become the best of friends. But he was given to me as a gift so there was no actual need for me to capture Wooper. This was different somehow. Though I knew I could keep this small, grey Pokemon before me I couldn’t bring myself to forcing it to stay. I decided I would try my best to let this Pokemon make it’s own choice. To stay and journey with me or to go on it’s own adventure where anything and everything could happen for it.

The Pokemon before me looked up and glanced at me. It made eye contact with me and burst into tears. I ran over to it and lifted it up rocking it back and forth. “It’s okay sweetie, everything is going to be fine. I promise you that.” Wooper shot me a glance and started shaking his head. Even Wooper knew everything wouldn’t be all right. This Vulpix had just lost it’s mother. Nothing is worse than having someone with you one day and the next day having them ripped away from you.

Wooper walked over to us and started nudging the Vulpix a little bit. I wiped away some of it’s tears for it so it could see. Wooper decided to try and be his goofy self and get Vulpix to laugh at it. Wooper jumped up shooting water down towards the ground creating a miniature geyser. He started twirling on it doing flips and various other tricks for Vulpix. It finally started to smile and even let out a small laugh. Wooper was doing well to keep it’ spirits up.

I turned it towards me, lifting it up a little ways into the air. “Well, it seems as though you’re a girl, huh Vulpix? It seems the best thing for you now is to join my team and be with some friends. So how about it? Would you like to stay with us?” Vulpix looked at me for a little bit and smiling, finally nodded it’s head up and down. “Good! I’m so glad you can join us! This hear next you is Woopsy. He’s been my pal for as long as I can remember. Over there is Larvitar. She’s not very talkative but she can be really nice nonetheless. And you, what shall we call you? I guess I could stay with just Vulpix. Would you like that? To only be called Vulpix?

Right away it started shaking it’s head. “No huh? Well then, what shall we call you? Well, you are grey like dust. Umm, dust, dust dust. What sounds good with dust? Vul-Pix. Vul-Pix. Pix, Pixie? Pixie Dust? Would you like to be called Pixie dust?” Vulpix started shaking it’s head once again. It seemed a little different than the one before so I decided to ask. “What about Pixie? Would that be okay if I were to call you Pixie?” Right away it started nodding. I had found it’s nickname. It seemed as though we were going to get along.

I decided to tell myself that no matter what would happen, I would eventually give Pixie a choice on whether it would like to stay with me. Right now it was important to help her get over her mother’s death. So it was of the utmost importance that I help her out. “Okay Pixie, welcome to the team. Together, we can beat anyone and anybody!” Pixie jumped up along with Wooper. Larvitar was in the background being her normal apathetic self. “Okay Amber,” I thought to myself. “We’ve found another friend.”

As my Pokemon were jumping up and down my Pokegear started going off. “Caterpie, Caterpie, Yeah, Yeah!” I fumbled with it for a second and finally answered. “Hello, Amber speaking, how may I help you?” The other line was quiet for a while until finally a voice, which seemed to be gasping for air, started speaking.

“Amber? Amber? Yes, this is Brock. How would you like to battle me right now?”

I closed down my phone and looked at my Pokemon. I picked up my regular Pokeball and returned Pixie to her ball. I did the same with the Blue ball and returned Wooper. I held them both in my hands, waiting for a second. “Well guys, here we go. We are going to fight Brock in front of Diglett Cave. Let’s go get our first Gym Badge!”

Ch 20: Unexpected challenger

I raced across town towards the entrance of Viridian Forest. Instead of venturing in though I decided to travel east a little ways towards Diglett Cave. As I made my way closer and closer I noticed how the terrain was slowly changing. No longer was I walking through low and high cut grass. No longer were there any real paths. All that lay before me was rocky soil. Boulders lined the makeshift path I was traveling upon. Within a few steps all the trees had disappeared and all the stood before me was a man hunched over.

I walked up to him, tentatively grabbing at my Pokeball. “Brock!” I said. “Here I am. How about we finish this!” The man stood up revealing a pot with a fire underneath. Steam was rising from inside the pot and whatever was inside could be smelled from where I was standing. It smelled delicious.

“Welcome Amber. Glad you could make it. So you know though, we need to first start this before either of us could finish this.” He looked at me chuckling a little bit to himself. “Before we start, how about some grub? I picked some fresh veggies and just put them in with the meat. I have a feeling it is going to be delicious. So, what do you say? Would you like some food?”

I started nodding vigorously. The food smelled like heaven, if heaven could be described by any words out there. I walked over and took a seat near Brock. He poured me some stew and we sat quietly eating for a while. Finally, Brock had, had enough of the silence to keep it continuing.

“So,” he said. “Why are you here? What made you decide to come and try to challenge the Rock Pokemon Gym Leader today?”

I looked at the man before me. Though I wasn’t sure how much I trusted him, I decided to tell him my story. “Well, you see, that Larvitar over there, was attacked by a certain trainer and his Pokemon. I have decided to exact my revenge upon him; to avenge Larvitar’s mother.”

Brock looked at me as though he was paying really good attention. He asked, “But that doesn’t tell me why you’re here right now. What made you come to challenge the Gym Leaders? Are you looking for the strongest trainers or are you just looking for anything?”

I sat there thinking for a few moments when finally I decided to speak. “I got into the Gym Leader Challenge because I’m pretty sure the trainer I’m following is doing the same as well. When in doubt this will let me prove to myself that I can compete with the best in the world and that I’m not a complete waste of a trainer. Hopefully this will let me find my true potential.” Isa there twiddling my thumbs as Brock finished up his meal. He had nothing more to say apparently and I wasn’t about to make any more conversation with the possibility of it being extremely awkward.

Brock set his bowl down and stood up. “It’s about time I guess. Let’s get this battle underway!” I stood following suit and started making my way towards the entrance of the cave. Brock stopped around 20 yards from the entrance and turned, facing me. “This is your first real test a Pokemon trainer here in Kanto. Prove to me that you can continue. Prove to yourself that you are worthy. Now, choose your Pokemon!”

I couldn’t help but smile. Brock really knew how to get your blood pumping. I reached down and grabbed my blue Pokeball. I lifted it up and started throwing it. Before I could release it though my other Pokeball activated, bringing forth my newly caught Vulpix. “Pixie, what are you doing? I just caught you, you can’t battle a Gym Leader yet!” Pixie looked back at me and snarled a little bit. She was angry for some reason. Maybe it wasn’t anger I was seeing. Maybe it was determination.

“Well, it looks like you don’t have a choice in the matter for who is going to be battling me today. That’s okay though, I can still make this a more fair fight. I may be a Gym Leader but I prefer to be a Pokemon Breeder. With that, here’s one of my newly hatched Pokemon!” Brock launched his Pokeball into the air. A red beam of light released from inside it’s ball and materialized a familiar Pokemon before me. “Now, let’s see whose Vulpix will win! Go Vulpix, use Quick Attack!”

Brock’s Vulpix started moving fast at us. Up to now Pixie and I have had no actual training. I didn’t know any moves it might now let alone how it acts in battle. This was going to be difficult. “Pixie, jump up and counter with Ember!” Vulpix heard me but Brock’s Quick Attack was just too fast for us to dodge. It hit Pixie hard, knocking her over. “Pixie, it’s all right! Stand up and show this Pokemon who the better Vulpix is! Quick Attack!”

Vulpix charged towards the now semi-defenseless Pokemon. Brock issued a command and within seconds Pixie was surrounded by ten different Vulpix’s. Double Team had confused Pixie just enough. Vulpix, great Double Team, now use bite!” All the Vulpix’s jumped into the air coming after my Pixie. I wasn’t completely sure how any of my plans would work out but I figured I’d give them a shot.

“Pixie, use Quick Attack to gain speed and spin in a circle. Then use Sand Attack to spray all the copies!” Pixie listened and followed commands splendidly. She started running in a circle using Quick Attack to pick up speed. While running she kicked up sand and rocks spraying the attacking Vulpix’s. Each one was hit destroying the copies and knocking back the real one. “Great job Pixie, keep it up! Now, force Vulpix to stay it’s heels and use Tackle!”

Pixie lunged forward hitting Brock’s Vulpix before it could get up. It got sent back a ways and I could tell that it was hurting now. Though Brock had done some training with it his Vulpix was still really weak just like mine. If I could land one or two more really good attack this Badge would be mine.

Brock’s Pixie got up, looking my Vulpix down. We both sat there, waiting for the other to make a move. Brock decided to make it first. “Vulpix, use Sunny Day!” Brock’s Vulpix launched a ball of light directly into the air; aimed right at the sun. It forced the clouds to part and allowed some strong rays to reach us now. “Now, using the sun, use Solarbeam!” A flash of light started to build up around Vulpix’s mouth. It aimed directly at Pixie and fired a shot with devastating power behind it.

I was unsure as to what I could do. If this shot were to hit Pixie would be done for. “Pixie!” I yelled frantically. “Dodge it, counter it, do something and don’t get hit!” Pixie heard me but didn’t move. It sat there, collecting in energy from the sun. As the attack was nearly upon her she let out a roar and released all the energy she could muster into one fire attack. I sat back in awe as the attack launched from her. “Fire Blast?” I questioned in disbelief. “Pixie just used Fire Blast. And it’s blue…”

My words seemed to hang out there. Brock was just as confused as I was. The two attacks met head on but the Solarbeam was depleted almost instantaneously. Pixie’s Fire Blast continued on and hit Brock’s Vulpix. It was launched backwards and landed hard, smacking the ground. I could tell that before it hit the ground that it had feinted. My Pixie was strong. Abnormally strong, especially for it’s age.

Brock ran over to his hurting Pokemon and picked it up. “Great Job buddy. You put up a great fight. I was sure we’d win with that last attack. Oh well. Take a much needed rest. I’ll get you to the Pokecenter as soon as I possible can.” Brock stood up and returned his Vulpix to his Pokeball. He turned towards me and smiled. That, my friend, was a fight. I’ve never seen something quite like that ever before. You’re Vulpix is special and I mean really special. I was taken back when it first came out of it’s Pokeball and it was discolored. Though extremely rare, it does happen. Something even rarer though is it’s usage of blue fire. Only legendary Pokemon of the strongest Fire types have been said to be able to do that. And that’s just from stories passed on through the generations. What you hold onto there is a great Pokemon. Keep it close and it will be your best ally. With that being said though, here is your Badge. You deserve it.”

Brock walked over to me and handed me a small, metallic object. It weighed less than a few ounces and yet the power it resonated was spectacular. I smiled. All I could do is smile. I had won my very first Gym Badge. I had proven myself as a trainer, at least for the time being. I was ecstatic. Brock could see the glow in my eyes and started laughing himself. “I’m glad you won, you deserved every bit of it. Now you must continue onwards though. I would suggest traveling to Mt. Moon but there have been reports of avalanches right now. Your safest bet would to travel through this caving system that the Digletts built.”

I thanked him and he made his way back to Pewter City. I released all of my Pokemon and we started celebrating together. I knew that with this team we could conquer anything. Eventually that woul lead to completing my dream. “Well guys, we are one step closer to becoming the best. Seven more badges and one trainer until we complete our goals. Off to our next journey and all that awaits us along the way!”

End Pewter Arc