The Quest for the Legends

The database has gone down, BUT I'M BACK AND JUST AS BAD AS EVER!!!! I'm posting all of my current chapters, but I'm rewriting chapters 1-3 or 4. ENJOY!!!

Prologue

“It happened too fast! I know I could’ve saved him if I only knew! It’s all my fault!” a giant red dragon/bird hybrid cried. She was talking to a small pink mouse that was only shaking her head. If someone were to try and figure out what she was thinking by looking at her face, it would be something along the lines of “I wish you’d just shut up already Latias.” That was actually quite close to what she was thinking.

“Latias for the last time! You are NOT at fault here. Latios died not because of you, but he died because of all of the legendaries! It’s our fault the war started! It’s our fault that Latios, Ho-oh, and Zapdos-” Mew said, but was interrupted by a bird that appeared to be lit on fire.

“Zapdos is not dead!” Moltres bellowed.

“You can deny it all you want Moltres, but it’s only true-” Mew began.

“Zapdos ‘disappeared.’ He didn’t ‘die.’ There’s a big difference,” a blue bird, with a beautiful flowing tail that appeared as a scarf, said. Articuno and Moltres were as much over the disappearance of Zapdos as Latias was over Latios. There was a pause, in which a long green winged snake descended next to them. Accompanying him were a Pokemon that looked like a little white cloaked Pokemon with a yellow square hat with streamers on the corners, and a large yellow cape, and a white bird with spiky feathers on its back, a blue belly, and it’s eyes looked slanted enough to make it look vicious.

“Oh come on! You’re taking this too seriously! It’s fine! I’m dealing with Ho-oh’s death fine,” Lugia, the bird, said, almost convincing everyone that it was the truth.

Latias shot a glare at her. “Oh shut up! Ho-oh wasn’t your brother!” she shouted.

“Yeah, but he was my best friend!” Lugia shouted back. Eventually, all of the legendaries began fighting and arguing with one another, except for the caped Pokemon, who’d finally had enough.

“Everyone shut the hell up! We just ended a legendary war; we don’t need another one to start. Haven’t we killed enough people and Pokemon for that matter?” Jirachi said angrily.

The other Pokemon began ignoring each other and looked around as if it was a beautiful view. It was not. All around them, there were buildings that had either been burned, abandoned, or had collapsed. In some areas, there were bodies of humans, and open Poke Balls, even some were closed, with the Pokemon in them never to be let out again. Some Pokemon had even died with their trainers, since they had refused to leave when their masters said “go.” Eventually, Mew spoke up.

“Okay, so someone tell me why Manaphy, Cresselia, Shaymin, Azelf, and Mesprit aren’t here,” he said.

“They didn’t want to travel all this way to get here from Sinnoh,” Articuno said. There was again an awkward silence.

Rayquaza, a long green snake, spoke up moments later to end the silence. “The Regi’s have been put back into their slumber, and Raikou, Entei, and Suicune helped me calm and deposit Kyogre and Groudon to their slumber. Celebi went time-traveling, I don’t know when-” he was interrupted when, what appeared to be an elf with an onion bulb for a head appeared.

“I am back at last!” Celebi exclaimed. She was always the cheery type, even through the war, so she was upset to see everyone so depressed. “Wow what a welcome.”

“What did you find out?” the two remaining legendary birds, Moltres and Articuno, and Latias asked.

“You all agreed that what I learn on all my trips should be confidential, so I am being confidential thank you,” Celebi answered cheerfully. “However,” she continued in a serious voice, “I think you should at least know that there is a boy in the future that can help us out with this little-” she quickly corrected herself by the looks on everyone’s faces, “I mean big problem.”

“A boy? How old?” Lugia inquired.

“Twelve, give or take a few years,” Celebi said.

“How is he going to help us?” Jirachi, the one dressed in yellow, asked.

“One word; confidential,” Celebi responded.

“Rayquaza, it’s your fault for installing that rule,” Articuno said. Rayquaza simply sighed and spoke.

“Alright then Celebi. Now everyone else, try not to start anymore wars, okay?”

“Great enlightening speech,” Mew said sarcastically.

“Shut up Mew. Anyway, apparently this kid is going to be involved in something big in…how long?” Rayquaza asked.

“110 years,” Celebi responded.

“Crap, that’s a long time,” Mew said. Everyone of the Pokemon eventually left to go their own way.

The last Pokemon behind was Celebi, who looked around, sad to see all the Pokemon and their owners dead. She went over to a peculiar purple Poke Ball that had pink stripes on it. A master ball, she thought, how could anyone be so cruel as to use one of these? Celebi knew from experience how horrible Master Balls were. She’d been captured in one before, but luckily escaped. She knew of the feeling of having it thrown towards you, and knowing that there was no hope to run away or escape. She threw the ball and a Typhlosion came out.

“Go free, your trainer is gone,” Celebi said. The Typhlosion bowed his head to thank Celebi, and he left. <i>110 years left to go</i>, Celebi thought, <i>I’d better make my will</i>.

It’s one of the saddest thing to see such a happy – go – lucky legendary such as Celebi become serious. It’s depressing when you hear a prediction from her. It’s the scariest thing on earth when you realize that she knows what happens in the future.

Chapter One: Setting off

110 years later
He threw a Poke Ball into the air and out came Torchic.

“Do you choose this Pokemon, Brendan?” Professor Maple asked. She was a young, black-haired woman, Kanto’s newest Professor after Professor Oak died.

“Of course! I’ve always wanted Torchic! I didn’t know it was possible to get one in Kanto!” Brendan said, jumping up and down.

“You can have it, but first you have to WAKE UP!!!”

Brendan woke with a start. He immediately pulled the covers of his bed over his head, but then it struck him; it was Tuesday. Yesterday he had his graduation from Celadon’s Boarding School for Future Champions, and finally, today he could get his first Pokemon. He jumped out of bed and put on his white T-shirt, and over it he put on his plaid, flannel jacket. He slipped on his jeans and looked out the window to see kids already arriving to get their Pokemon. Since he lived in Pallet Town, his parents brought him home from the boarding school so that he could get his Pokemon early. He ran downstairs, nearly tripping over Pulley, his family’s pet Wurmple.

“Honey, don’t you want breakfast?” His mother asked, however he was already out the door. He ran quicker than he had ever run before; he was kicking up the sand everywhere; and within a minute he was already in the door of the lab. Waiting for him was a line of the early arrivers, or late arrivers. He checked his watch, and to his horror he saw that it was already 10:45, which means that he was going to be the last person to get his Pokemon. His FIRST Pokemon. His first would be the last. A kid walked by with a Torchic following her.

“Hey, are there anymore Torchic left?” Brendan asked eagerly.

“No, this was the last one,” she answered, “Sorry!” She left.

A few more minutes passed by while the other trainers chose their Pokemon. Brendan kept his fingers crossed that the girl had made a mistake and that there actually were more Torchic left. Finally, it was his turn.

“Well hello Brendan! I figured you might be here earlier, but I guess not. So we have two Pokemon left,” Professor Maple said.

“What are they?” Brendan asked hopefully.

“We have a Cyndaquil and a Castform,” the Professor said, to Brendan’s disappointment.

“So you don’t have a Torchic?” he asked.

“No, it’s just these two,” Maple said. Suddenly a question came to Brendan’s attention.

“What happens to the Pokemon that is left over?” he asked.

“I honestly don’t know, however since both are rare Pokemon, I think we’ll be sending them to the Kanto zoo,” she responded.

Brendan had nothing against the zoo; however he had seen so many Pokemon in the Celadon that looked sad and depressed. He then thought of having either one of these two Pokemon in the zoo. Granted, he didn’t like the two Pokemon present as much as Torchic, but he couldn’t stand the fact that it would be his fault that one of them won’t have…a life.

“Is there any way that I can take both with me?” Brendan asked.

“No, there isn’t. As you know, it’s the Elite Four’s rules that you can only receive one starter,” Maple responded. He thought for a few moments, and then he took the Poke Ball containing Cyndaquil.

“So, you’re going to send that to the zoo?” Brendan asked. Maple sighed, and handed the second Poke Ball to Brendan.

“I know it is against the rules; however I know that you’ll be upset if one is sent to the zoo, so you can have it. But do not tell anyone,” Maple said. “Go! Your journey begins!”

“What about my Pokedex?” Brendan asked.

“Right!” Maple went out a door, and came back a few seconds later with an item with a resemblance to a red camera.

“Thank you!” Brendan said as he walked away to his house. As soon as he got out the door, an aide rushed out to him.

“I forgot, I’m supposed to be giving this to all of you,” the aide said. He handed Brendan a small book entitled “How to Understand Your Pokemon.” “They don’t have that class in Celadon I hear, so this should help you out.” The aide went back inside. The aide was wrong at this; at Celadon they had the option of taking Pokemon speech, which was the only class that Brendan actually enjoyed.

Brendan put the book back in his pocket. He then took the Poke Balls off of his belt and threw them. Out of one came a white onion bulb with little balls keeping it in the air, and out of the other came a mouse with a long nose and fire coming out of its back.

“Well, hello I guess,” Brendan said. The Castform looked at him, and then looked back down to the ground. The Cyndaquil shifted foot to foot. It was obvious that they were shy, or nervous. Brendan reached for the Poke Balls, but stopped, and decided that they should stay out when they go to the house. He figured he should get them some food while he was home. “Come on, let’s get you guys some food.”

———


“Oh Brendan, they’re darling!” his mom said. He was sitting at the table eating, Castform, because she was floating, was eating on the table, and Cyndaquil was eating with Wurmple on the floor next to Brendan.

“Yeah, they didn’t have a Torchic though.”

“Honey, I am sure you can find one in Kanto somewhere. The chances of finding rare Pokemon from other regions are very high nowadays.”

“Yeah, I know. But I do know that Cyndaquil is pretty powerful, and Castform’s type adjusts with the weather, and it can learn a variety of moves, so I think that both of these Pokemon should be pretty good to have as a start to my team.” Brendan said. He paused while he ate, and when he and his Pokemon finished he stood up. “I’m going to stop in the town library before I go.”

“Okay honey, good luck on your journey!” His mom said. She came over and hugged and kissed him. Brendan said good-bye to Pulley and he and his Pokemon left, not knowing what was about to happen to them.

Chapter Two: The discovery

Brendan approached the front of the library; however he was stopped by a librarian who had gone out for a cigarette.

“Kid, are your Pokemon coming with you?” she asked.

“Well, yeah, of course! Do you want me to return them to their Poke Balls?” Brendan asked.

“No, you either have to bring them home or leave them out here,” she beckoned to a bucket of Poke Balls.

“Can I leave them loose out here?” Brendan asked.

“Well, I guess so,” the librarian said, blowing a puff of smoke. Brendan turned to his Pokemon.

“You guys need to stay out here; you should be capable to protect yourselves. I’ll be out sooner or later, I’m not making any promises,” Brendan said. Cyndaquil and Castform nodded their heads in agreement. Brendan went inside.

Brendan always liked to come to the library to get away. In Celadon, he would usually end up going to the library and reading instead of doing homework, just to escape the hectic day of school. He wanted to come to see if they had any books on Castform and Cyndaquil. He went toward the “Trainer’s” section; they had an encyclopedia that was more detailed than the Pokedex. It listed what moves the Pokemon could learn, habitats, and more. He went over to the shelf that had the encyclopedia, which was the shelf right on the floor, and he pulled out the “C” section. However, when he took it out, he saw something sticking out of the bottom of the shelf. Curious, he pulled out the object, which turned out to be a book. He dusted off the front and saw the title; “The Battle of the Legendaries.” He put the encyclopedia back, and took this thick book back with him to a table. He looked at the copyright date, which was 2059, 110 years ago. He opened to the table of contents.

Chapter One: The Presumed Origins in 2058

He opened and started reading it.

No humans know exactly why the legendary war started, many presume that it was because, of the Regi’s, Groudon, Kyogre, and Deoxys, the primary legendary “Troublemakers” per say. Some historians say that there was tension amoung the legendaries about something.

It went on, but he skipped ahead to the final chapter that talked about what the results of the war.

In the end, to sum everything up, the two mentioned earlier, Latios and Ho-oh died, and Zapdos went missing and was and is presumed dead. Nearly a fourth of Kanto’s population died along with many Pokemon. Unfortunately, in the past few months, many people are talking about covering this entire problem up so that our future generations will not be frightened of the legendaries. I think that our future generations shouldn’t be afraid of legendaries, but they should know what happened.

Brendan was utterly fascinated, just by the little bit that he read. He told himself that he would have to look more at it another time when he came back to town. However, when he turned around he found himself staring into the face of an old man.

“What are you doing?” the man demanded, grabbing Brendan’s collar.

“I’m just looking at the book I found,” Brendan said.

“That book was hidden for a reason! No one must know about its containments!” He said.

“Then why do you have it?” Brendan asked.

“It was good to have when it was published. Big hit, bestseller. No library could be caught without it. It isn’t safe anymore! The second war is coming! The signs are all in place!” the man said. Brendan was freaking out now, it’s not everyday that a kooky old man assaults a 12 year old. “Take the book; take it far away from this library boy! We don’t need it anymore! Run! Go!”

Brendan didn’t need to be told twice. To the astonishment of the other people in the library, Brendan bolted out the door and found his Pokemon playing catch with a small ball they found. Brendan went over to them, and it was clear to the Pokemon that something was causing him stress.

“Quill?” Cyndaquil said inquisitively.

At the Celadon Boarding School, they didn’t teach Pokemon Speech class, which is why the Professor always hands out a book on how to communicate with your Pokemon. Since Brendan didn’t have a chance to read it yet, he didn’t know what Cyndaquil was asking, however he had an idea of it.

“It’s a long story guys, I’ll tell you later,” he said to his Pokemon. He threw the book into his backpack, and he began walking out of the town. Pallet Town had changed in the past many years since Ash’s time. The town had become a desert town, on the account of “Global Warming” according to most people and the government. The truth was astonishing and known by very few people.

Brendan was barely out of the town borders before he saw his friend, Jordan, running up to him from the town. Brendan stopped, as did his Pokemon. Jordan was short and had very spiky hair. He was very athletic and energetic, so he arrived to them in no time.

“I was looking for you in line this morning, but I didn’t see you at all!” Jordan said, nearly out of breath. “I thought you’d be first in line!”

“Well, it’s my first day in months that I could sleep in after six o’clock, so I took advantage of it at the wrong time,” Brendan responded. Cyndaquil was ignoring the conversation, and was simply watching a flock of Fearow and Spearow in the sky, and Castform was finding a nearby tree utterly fascinating.

“So did you still get a Torchic?” Jordan asked.

“No, I was the very last person in line, so there were two Pokemon left,” Brendan said.

“What did you choose?” Jordan asked.

Brendan was about to tell him about the fact that he got two, but he stopped himself before he said it; he remembered that Professor Maple told him not to tell anyone. “I got a Cyndaquil,” he said instead.

“Is that Castform yours too?” Jordan asked.

“Yes…I…uh…found it wandering around loose,” Brendan said. It probably wasn’t the best alibi, but it was all he could think of off the top of his head. “What Pokemon did you choose?”

“I got myself a Totodile,” Jordan said. “Want to battle?”

“Sure!” Brendan answered. He suddenly heard a rustling in a tree. He looked over to see something pink moving into the leaves.

“Something wrong?” Jordan asked.

“Nothing, I just thought I saw something,” Brendan said.

“Alright then, let’s start this battle!” Jordan said, taking out his Poke Ball.

Chapter Three: The Conversation

Could I have found a more disgusting tree to hide in? Celebi thought to herself as she waved her hand. When she waved her hand, the tree became covered in vines, and then the vines went back into the ground, revealing a cleaner tree. She then saw Mew come onto the branch she was on.

“Well then, long time no see!” Celebi said. Mew looked emotionless.

“Yeah, sure. You said that the kid would be coming by?” Mew asked.

“Well not for a little while longer,” Celebi said.

“So you got me here early to-“

“To talk of course! I have a right to know what’s going on with the legendaries!” Celebi responded.

“You can travel into the future; don’t you know what’s going on?”

“Vaguely. When I time travel, I don’t try and find every single detail about what’s going on. If I did, I’d be so busy I would barely be able to fit one word in this conversation.”

“I’d like to see that version of Celebi.”

“Oh shut up.” Celebi lashed back.

“Well, it’s very interesting honestly. Something’s up with Rayquaza. He’s been acting rather strange lately. Well, stranger than usual, that is. He’s had…anger management issues I guess.” Mew reported.

“Such as what?”

“Oh, you know, frying Jirachi when she disagrees, whacking Latias with his tail when she becomes emotional about Latios, screaming at the top of his lungs when trying to make a point, all that good stuff.” Mew said. Celebi looked astonished upon hearing this, Rayquaza was always the gentler type, he never would DREAM of harming someone without logical reason.

“That doesn’t sound like him at all,” Celebi said.

“The others and I don’t know what to make of it either,” Mew said. “Oh, and I should mention that Moltres claims that he has proof that Zapdos isn’t dead. He said he was going to present it at the next meeting.”

“He is absolutely hopeless,” Celebi said.

“Zapdos really is dead?” Mew asked.

“I never said that, nor have I gone to the future to see it. I like to let those things roll out by themselves. Plus it is much more fun to see what Moltres and Articuno can come up with,” Celebi responded in a surprisingly cheerful tone.

“This is changing the subject, but can you believe the nerve of these humans? The government covered up the entire legendary war! Now there are only like, one in every two hundred people who actually know about the war. I mean really! Global warming has been blamed for Pallet Town becoming a desert town, and apparently there was a “water leakage” in Viridian that caused the flood. It makes me so mad!” Mew said.

“Well it wasn’t one of our proudest moments I do admit,” Celebi said.

“Wait, then how is this kid going to help us if he doesn’t know a thing about the war?” Mew asked.

“Oh, I took care of it,” Celebi said.

“Oh no, did you hypnotize a human again?” Mew asked.

“How else would I?” Celebi asked.

“You know that you can only do it in emergencies!” Mew said. “It’s the legendary law!”

“It IS an emergency,”

“But- well you do have a point.”

“I thought so too thank HEY!! THERE HE IS!!” Celebi exclaimed, pointing at Brendan who had just stopped.

“Him!? He doesn’t seem great. Wait a minute, I thought humans only got one starter Pokemon, how’d he get two?” Mew asked.

“Maybe he got high marks?” Celebi said. Suddenly, Mew jumped up.

“OW!!!” she shouted. She looked to see that a Weedle had poked her. Celebi flicked the bug away.

“Quick! He’ll see you!” Celebi said. Mew hurried back onto the branch as Brendan turned around. “That was a close one.”

“So when do you intend to tell him?” Mew asked.

“When he’s ready I’ll tell him.”

“When will THAT be?”

“Well, sometime in the future, however long it may be,” Celebi said to Mew’s dismay.

“Well I hope that the future is soon. Something’s wrong, but I don’t know just what it is,” Mew said. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to leave.” After she said this, a bright ball light covered her, and then it vanished along with Mew. Celebi looked down to watch the battle ensue.

Chapter Four: The Battle and the Crisis

“Okay, this Pokemon battle will be a one on one Pokemon match,” Jordan said, taking out his Poke Ball.

Hmm, Brendan thought, Totodile is water type, so Cyndaquil wouldn’t fare well, so I guess I should use Castform. He took out Cyndaquil’s Poke Ball to return him.

“Go Castform!” Brendan said. Upon hearing this, Castform immediately went into the large area that they chose for their battle. In Route 1, the weather was very strange. Most areas looked like desert, and it was raining literally all the time. However, for some unknown reason, the rain seemed to vanish one inch before hitting the ground. No scientists or anyone can explain it. Since the weather was raining, Castform was in its water form, which looked like a raindrop on four softballs.

“Totodile, use Water Gun!” Jordan commanded. Totodile held his head back and then lurched it forward, releasing a jet of water from its mouth.

“Castform, dodge and use Weather Ball!” Brendan shouted. Castform immediately ducked seconds before Water Gun hit her. She then leaned her head back and shot out a white ball that changed into a ball of water halfway between Castform and Totodile.

“Totodile dodge!” Jordan commanded, however Totodile was watching in awe at the water ball, as it separated into drops of water. Right when Totodile snapped out of his awe, the water hit him, causing him to stumble back.

“Ha! Totodile was barely hurt because of your measly water attack!” Jordan said triumphantly, completely ignoring the battle.

“Castform use tackle!” Brendan said. Castform obeyed and charged at Totodile.

“Hold it back by using Water Gun!” Jordan commanded. Totodile reared back and lurched his head forward again to release the water. The jet hit Castform, who was shot back onto the ground.

“Tackle into the water!” Brendan said. Castform got back up and charged back to Totodile, who shot another Water Gun. This time, Castform charged into the jet of water and hit Totodile hard. Totodile fell on the ground, unconscious. Brendan couldn’t help jumping up in joy. Jordan, on the other hand, looked astonished and angry.

“Totodile, return,” Jordan said, exasperated. “Do better next time and don’t make a fool of yourself,” he said to the Poke Ball loathingly.

“Jordan, don’t you think you’re taking this a bit too seriously?” Brendan asked. Jordan looked away in response.

“You just got lucky. Don’t expect for that to happen in the future,” Jordan responded. He ran off down the road.

Brendan was confused at this; Jordan had always accepted losing in battling practice, so it didn’t make much sense how he could be so upset. Brendan shook it off and turned to Castform.

“Ignore him, you did a great job!” Brendan said to Castform.

———


Brendan had made camp for the night, and had returned Castform and Cyndaquil to their Poke Balls. He had been reading the book on communicating with Pokemon for a few hours at this point. He was just quickly skimming through to see if there was something that he missed or wasn’t taught in class.

It was actually because of his Understanding Pokemon class that he developed his dislike of the Pokemon zoos and the Game Corner’s habit of giving Pokemon away. One day, the classes had gone to the zoo and were encouraged by their Understanding Pokemon teacher to try and talk to some of the Pokemon. Brendan had immediately gone over to the Girafarig area; Girafarig were some of his favorite Pokemon, though not many other people came over to the area often. He had just watched them for a few minutes, but then one of them spoke up.

“Did you need something?”

Brendan had blurted out the first thing that came to mind, “Do you like it in there?

The Girafarig stared for a moment, but answered anyways, “Does it look like it? Of course not. I was captured one morning before I woke up and now I’m stuck here. I’d rather be given away at the game corner.”

This had spurred a long conversation between them, and soon afterwards Brendan would come back every once in a while to chat with the Girafarig. Because of that, he had great experience with Pokemon Speech.

He turned off his flashlight and slept.

———

Rustle, rustle…

Brendan woke with a start. He heard a rustling that sounded very close by. He took out Cyndaquil’s Poke ball, just in case.
Rustle, rustle…

He heard it again. He rose slowly, trying not to make a sound. He silently unzipped the tent flap and stepped outside. He looked around and couldn’t see anything in the dark. He reached for his flashlight and turned it on. He looked around, and right in front of him, sprawled on the ground, was a stem with leaves and a human-like pitcher plant head, also known as a Bellsprout. He figured it was just sleeping, and, feeling relieved, started back for his tent, but he saw something out of the corner of his eye on Bellsprout. He turned and noticed that the Bellsprout had been gashed and had many cuts all over its tender body. Blood was gushing out of all of them.

“Oh no!” Brendan exclaimed. He immediately sent out Castform and Cyndaquil.

“For Pete’s sake, can’t I get some shut-eye?” Castform said. Brendan picked up the Bellsprout and showed it to Castform and Cyndaquil.

“Well that definitely isn’t a pretty picture,” Cyndaquil said.

“We’ve got to take it to a Pokemon center!” Brendan exclaimed.

“You do know that the closest Pokemon center is about three miles from here?” Cyndaquil pointed out.

“I know, but what are we supposed to do? Let it die?” Brendan asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind getting some sleep,” Castform said, resulting in a kick from Cyndaquil, “OW!”

They left within ten minutes. Brendan returned both Castform and Cyndaquil to their Poke Balls and stuffed everything in his backpack and began running along the road as fast as he could. The Bellsprout was slowing him down a little, but he kept running, hoping the Bellsprout would be okay. His arms were soaked in a mixture of water and blood.

It took an hour of running with a few stops for Brendan to arrive in Viridian City. He was exhausted at this point and felt as though he would collapse. It was now about 4 in the morning, and the sky was lighter than it was an hour beforehand. Brendan ran onto the bridge. Ever since a water leakage occurred, the entire city was located on a lake, and the only means of transportation were bridges. Brendan finally found the Pokemon Center. He ran to it, only to see the sign saying “We’re Closed.” He couldn’t believe it. But his persistence couldn’t die now. With the last of his energy, he pounded on the door for a few minutes until the red-haired Nurse Joy came to the door. She opened the door.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t open for a few more hours when people are actually awake,” Joy said sleepily.

“Nurse Joy, please, I need your help,” Brendan began.

“Everyone does. That’s why I need to sleep,” Joy said.

“This Pokemon is dying!” Brendan said perseveringly.
“You look like a rookie trainer. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think it is. You can come here in a couple hours.” Nurse Joy began to shut the door, but stopped when she got a better look at the Bellsprout. She hurriedly ushered Brendan in and took the Bellsprout from him and walked away. Brendan sat down on a couch, so that he could relax. Nurse Joy came back about five minutes later in jeans and a red sweater and turned on the lights.

“Now tell me, where did you find this Bellsprout?” Nurse Joy asked.

“I found it outside my tent. It awoke me and I came here as soon as I found it,” Brendan said. “It looks like perhaps it might have been slashed up by something like a Scyther or Beedrill.”

“I can’t tell what is wrong right now, we’ll just have to hope that she recovers so that she can tell her story,” Nurse Joy said.

“So it- I mean she, is going to be okay?” Brendan asked hopefully.

“I can’t tell that now. The wounds are very bad, and Bellsprout is a very timid and fragile Pokemon. This could have greatly affected her. She might not make it,” Nurse Joy said. “Until then, I suggest you rest. You look very tired.”

“Could I let out my Pokemon?”

“Uh, sure. Just make sure that they don’t disrupt anyone upstairs.”

Brendan never took a real look at the entire center yet. He noticed the escalator going upstairs, saying “Rooms”, and one going downstairs, saying “Trade Networking.” Nurse Joy walked into the hospital section where Bellsprout presumably was. Brendan sent out Castform and Cyndaquil. There was a silence, and finally Castform spoke.

“Well I noticed that you read the book on communicating with Pokemon!” She said, hoping to change the mood. Brendan just shook his head.

“I already learned it in school,” he muttered.

“How’s the Bellsprout?” Cyndaquil asked.

“She might…might…die,” Brendan said.

“WHAT???” Castform exclaimed loudly.

“Tone the volume down Castform!” Cyndaquil said, covering his ears.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” she said.

“Well, I’m going to get some shut-eye,” Brendan said, “I’ll let you out in the morning to update you.”

“Isn’t it technically already morning?” Castform asked.

“Castform, shut up,” Cyndaquil replied.

“I’m just asking a question!” Castform said. Brendan couldn’t help giggling at Castform’s comment. He returned both of them, and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Five: Dark and Light

Brendan woke with a start. Something had crashed. He lurched up from the couch to see that it was the flower pot on the reception desk. He saw that a lady had crashed it accidentally. He looked at the clock behind the counter. 10:45. He had been sleeping for six hours. He got up and remembered about Bellsprout. He went to the reception counter to Nurse Joy, who was still in her jeans and sweater. He waited until the lady before him left.

“Nurse Joy?” He asked.

“Oh right, your Bellsprout. I still don’t know how she will turn out, she’s responding, which is good, but I still don’t know if she can make it. I’ll have Chansey take you to her.” A large pink oval with an egg in a pouch came over to Brendan, and beckoned for him to follow. He went through a long hallway, seeing many other Pokemon and doctors in rooms, and occasionally a trainer or two with them. Finally, at the near end of the hallway, they reached the Emergency Care section, where Chansey stopped.

“Okay, your Bellsprout is down the right in room 106,” Chansey said. She went back to the reception counter to Nurse Joy. Brendan followed her instructions and arrived at room 106.

He opened the door and saw Bellsprout in a hospital bed, with a needle and wire connecting her to a monitor that showed her heartbeat and current state. Her eyes were barely open, and she was covered in bandages. Brendan went over to her and noticed something that he hadn’t before; the Bellsprout had a tinge of gold to it, and completely gold leaves. He hadn’t noticed it before.

“Bellsprout?” He asked nervously. She turned her head to him ever so slowly.

“Who are you?” Bellsprout asked in a very quiet voice. Brendan was relieved to see that Bellsprout was able to talk at the moment.

“I’m Brendan, I found you outside of my tent last night and brought you here,” Brendan answered. The Bellsprout waited a few seconds to catch her breath, and began to talk again.

“Thank you for that, I thought I would die without help,” she said.

“What happened to you?” Brendan blurted out, “You were covered in gashes. What could have possibly attacked you?” The Bellsprout was about to talk again, when a doctor came into the room with a cart that had many medical supplies. On the bottom shelf of the cart there was a lump of something covered with a cloth; Brendan could have sworn he saw the object breathing. The doctor had no noticeable features about him, the only exposed part of his body were his eyes.

“Excuse me,” the doctor said in a deep voice, “we- I mean- I have to examine the patient.

“Could you wait a couple minutes?” Brendan asked.
“No, it must happen now, please leave the room,” the doctor said, ushering Brendan outside.

“No, I really need to-” the door was slammed before Brendan could finish his sentence. Brendan had to wonder what the hurry was for the doctor to get inside, but he figured he could just come back later. Brendan went back down the hallway. Along the way, he noticed a closet door open with many lab coats thrown all over the place. He found it peculiar, but he just kept walking.

———

Brendan decided that he should probably tour Viridian City for the day. He was happy to come out of the Pokemon Center after so many hours. He now was able to notice how beautiful Viridian City was. The town was covered in beautiful clear water, and he could see all sorts of water types in the water, like Magikarp, Carvahna, Marill, and quite a few more. All of the buildings were on small islands, just big enough to fit an average sized house and a few trees, and all of the islands were connected by foot bridges that were about two feet above the water. The lake was surrounded by trees, and to the north Brendan could see the outline of the Four Type Forest front gate. Closer to him, he saw the trainer’s school and the city’s gym entrance; which had become water type gym in recent years. The gym was underwater, however. There was a small island near the trainer’s school that contained a very small building that only contained an elevator. The trainers who wished to challenge the gym had to use the elevator to go down about 20 feet and they would arrive in the opening room of the gym. Some trainers that had Pokemon that could use Dive simply dived down to the gym. Brendan sent out his Pokemon. He could see they were relieved to be outside of their Poke Balls after such a long time.

“So what’s the scoop on our friend Bellsprout?” Cyndaquil asked.

“I don’t know. I was forced to get out of the room so that a doctor could care for her.

“Oh well, you’ll be able to talk to her later I’m sure,” Castform said. “Wow, the city looks…quite nice actually.”

“Yeah, it looks nice when it’s not pitch black,” Brendan said. He then noticed that Cyndaquil was on top of the Pokemon center sign, holding onto it tightly. “Cyndaquil, what is wrong with you?”

“Someone’s aqua phobic,” Castform said.

“Just a little bit, it’s not a big deal,” Cyndaquil said, although he kept a tight grip on the center sign. Brendan took this as a sign that he should return Cyndaquil, which he did.

“Well this isn’t good. You’re my only Pokemon that can be used against the gym!” Brendan exclaimed.

“That is true. I’m special, aren’t I?” Castform said.

“Haha, very funny Castform. But really, what should I do?” Brendan asked.

“You could always find a grass type in the forest,” Castform suggested.

“That would take too long, I need to get one soon,” Brendan pointed out. There was a pause, as they were both deep in thought. Castform then spoke with her idea.

“It’s possible that the town might have wild Chinchou or Lotad,” Castform said. Brendan realized that she had a good point. He looked out and saw many lily pads of the Lotad floating on top of the water, and in the water he would occasionally see a Chinchou swimming around.

“Great idea Castform,” Brendan said.

“What are you going to get?” Castform asked.

“I think that Lotad would be better since water type moves would only do 25&percnt; damage,” Brendan said mathematically. He looked out into the water and realized that the only way that he could get close to one of them would be to go on a boat. He figured that there had to be a boat rental store in Viridian, so he and Castform went browsing around Viridian. Their first destination was to go to the Poke Mart, so that they could get stocked up on the necessary items.

The mart was surprisingly small; it had only four aisles, one for equipment, one for Pokemon food, one for TM’s, and one for berries and regular food. Brendan went first to the equipment aisle, where he saw many items, including escape ropes, Pokedex upgrades, and many different kinds of Poke Balls. Brendan looked through them to see exactly what he needed. He finally found what he was looking for; Net Balls. The Net Balls could more easily capture water and bug types. He took five of those, and five regular Poke Balls, just in case. He looked through the other aisles, and he got ten potions for the gym and other cases. He went to the cashier and gave the items.

“That will be 7500 Poke please,” the cashier said. Brendan went into his bag and took out the credit card that he had. Trainers in recent years had been given updated trainer cards that could be used only in Poke Marts to get items that they needed, so that they didn’t have to carry around all of the money. After paying, Brendan left and immediately spotted a boat rental shop. He left to go to the shop and rented a small motor boat for only 3000 Poke. He went out into the water and sent Castform out. They watched anxiously, and soon, a lily pad with a blue blob with four stubby legs for a body and wide fat lips came out of the water. However, this Lotad looked very peculiar. The lily pad was black, and the body was a dark gray that looked almost black. Brendan figured that it was his lucky day, and that the Pokemon was a shiny Pokemon.

“Castform use tackle!” Brendan commanded. Castform charged at the Lotad and hit it right on the lily pad. The Lotad, surprised, disappeared, and appeared right in front of Castform a second later causing her to jump. Castform then immediately used weather ball, sending a white ball that appeared to be a cloud hurtling at Lotad. It hit Lotad on the lily pad again. The Lotad appeared to pause, but suddenly, green orbs began coming from Castform, causing her to stumble back and fall. She got back up luckily. Wow, that is one strong Absorb attack, Brendan thought to himself. He then threw a Net Ball, catching the Lotad off-guard. The capsule released a red light that swallowed Lotad and brought it inside the ball, which closed. It wobbled in Brendan’s hand for a minute, and then it stopped, and the Lotad was released back out.

“Darn,” Brendan said. He was about to command Castform to use another Tackle attack, but the Lotad dived into the water.

“Well then,” Castform said, “that is so rude. We attack it and it refuses to come with us.”

“Yeah, I can’t see that logic in that,” Brendan said sarcastically.

Castform turned her head. “Hey! Look over there!” Brendan turned his head to where she was looking and saw a Pokemon that looked like a blue oval with short stub-like feet, two small fins for arms, and it had long antenna, about double the size of its body, which had two teardrop-shaped electrical bulbs. The eyes of the Chinchou had an X shape instead of pupils. However, this Chinchou had lime green eyes and bulbs instead of yellow eyes and bulbs.

“Imagine our luck, two shiny Pokemon in a row,” Brendan said. He brought the boat a few yards away from the Chinchou, and the Chinchou noticed them. However, the Chinchou seemed relieved, and even happy that someone was going to capture it, and came up to the boat. On closer inspection, the face looked scared, and Brendan realized that something was wrong. He was about to throw a net ball, but suddenly, the shiny Lotad emerged from the water behind the Chinchou, and extended its claws and slashed at the Chinchou. The Chinchou started to bleed at the slashed areas. Brendan went with his instinct.

“Castform use Tackle!” Castform charged quickly at the Lotad and hit it with enough force to blow it back a few feet. The Lotad got up again, ignored Castform, and sped up back to the Chinchou, and savagely slashed at it, causing more bleeding. Castform prepared a Weather Ball attack without directions; however the Lotad turned on her and disappeared, before reappearing behind Castform and slamming her into the boat, where she was badly bruised, and apparently unconscious. Brendan was about to send out Cyndaquil, but remembered his aqua phobia, and did the only thing he could do; he jumped into the water. He grabbed the Chinchou and quickly threw her into the boat. The Lotad, however, pinned him right against the boat, and held a sharp, bloodied claw up to Brendan’s throat.

“Kid, you don’t know the matters that you’re dealing with. I suggest that you don’t dare meddle in these affairs again,” the Lotad said menacingly. He then took his claw and, instead of slitting Brendan’s throat, he made two painful cuts in Brendan’s left arm. “Let that be a warning to you.” The Lotad returned to the water.

The pain was agonizing. I felt as if the Lotad may very well have cut all the way through his arm. With incredible difficulty, Brendan reached up and got a firm grip on the boat and reached his way up and soon got into the boat. He sat for a second, still in a great amount of pain, and then he saw that the Chinchou was still bleeding excessively. He used all his energy to get the boat back to the Pokemon Center. He arrived and jumped out, about to faint. He ran up to Nurse Joy with the last of his energy, and right in front of her desk, he collapsed.

———

Cyndaquil was freaked out when he was sent out of his Poke Ball by Nurse Joy to see Brendan and a Chinchou on the floor with a small pool of blood near each of them. Nurse Joy had quickly taken Castform and healed her on the healing machine and now placed them both Cyndaquil and Castform on chair. The center was empty since it was only three in the afternoon. Nurse Joy had gotten two stretchers for Brendan and the Chinchou, and had Chansey assist her in bringing them to the emergency care units.

“Oh no! Nurse Joy killed Brendan and that innocent Chinchou!” Cyndaquil said.

“No you moron. Why would Nurse Joy kill Brendan or a Chinchou?” Castform said.

“For pleasure perhaps?” Cyndaquil answered. Castform rolled her eyes and told Cyndaquil what happened on the water, at least up until she was knocked out. “That’s all?” Cyndaquil asked when Castform finished.

“Well, as I said, I don’t know what occurred after I fainted,” Castform said; as soon as she admitted she fainted, Cyndaquil couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.

“And I’m the one that has aqua phobia!” Cyndaquil said jokingly.

“Oh look it’s a pitcher of water,” Castform said, causing Cyndaquil to jump and scurry under the chair. “Oh, no, it’s just a picture of one.”

“Fine. Now we’re even,” Cyndaquil said as he crawled back onto the chair.

“What do you think it means?” Castform asked.

“That I have an obvious fear of water?” Cyndaquil answered. Castform sighed.

“No, the entire thing about the Lotad attacking Chinchou,” Castform said.

“Oh. Well, maybe the Lotad needed food,” Cyndaquil suggested.

“Lotad are herbivores, they don’t eat meat. Plus, they don’t have excruciatingly long claws,” Castform said.

“Well, why don’t we just trust what science tells us?” Cyndaquil said. “Shiny Pokemon are like regular Pokemon, only they have enhanced growth and are born of a disorder of sorts.”

“That doesn’t explain the Lotad’s behavior. Plus, the only thing different with shiny Pokemon is their color, not their body,” Castform said.

“Well, that is true,” Cyndaquil answered. “I’m sure we’ll find out in due time.” There was a silence for many minutes; however it seemed like hours for Cyndaquil and Castform. Both were apprehensive about Brendan, however, Castform was more so. Both also were contemplating what it could have been that went on between both of the shiny Pokemon.

“I don’t like Brendan,” Cyndaquil said bluntly.

“Huh? Why not?” Castform asked, taken aback.

“Well, it’s just, I don’t really trust him. I somehow get the feeling that he doesn’t like us, or something,” Cyndaquil said.

“Well, we probably weren’t his first choices for starters, but he appears to be warming up to us,” Castform said defensively.

“I don’t know, I just keep getting this feeling that he’s not good, or nice, or, well, you know what I mean,” Cyndaquil said.

“No, I don’t, but I’ll pretend I do, and I’ll say that you’re overreacting,” Castform said. Finally, Nurse Joy came to them.

“Brendan and Chinchou are perfectly fine, you don’t need to worry anymore,” she said to the relief of Cyndaquil and Castform. “I’ll take you to their room.” She picked them up and brought them to Brendan’s room. Castform and Cyndaquil both spotted something that deepened their interests further. On the cover of the Time magazine, it had a special on the Shiny Pokemon Expo, and on the cover was the picture of a shiny Lotad. This Lotad, however, had a purple body and a light blue leaf. Cyndaquil and Castform looked at each other with their eyes wide.

———

He was in a forest and was stuck in a circle of five large trees. Above him he noticed a bright green light. He looked at it, wondering what it could possibly be. It began to approach him, causing him to jump. The light seemed to jump a little bit as well, but continued to approach him until he was only a foot away from the light. Brendan began to slowly walk back, before he ended up hitting a tree. The light stopped. Then everything started to fade away, and Brendan awoke. He sat up quickly, and remembered exactly what happened with the Chinchou. He then saw Cyndaquil asleep in a nearby chair, and Castform hitting her head against the wall. He noticed that his arm was bandaged, but it was still in pain.

“Castform, what on earth are you doing?” Brendan asked. Castform stopped and noticed he was awake and nudged Cyndaquil.

“Nothing really, I was getting bored,” she answered.

“So, what happened when I-”

“Collapsed? It’s a long story. Well, not really actually,” Cyndaquil answered. Castform and Cyndaquil then quickly told him what happened and about the shiny Lotad picture that they saw. As soon as they finished, Nurse Joy walked in.

“Ah, I see that you’re awake.” Nurse Joy said. “Well we were amazed at what an excellent recovery you made. The arm will have to remain bandaged for a while, but you can walk as soon as you want to or need to.” As soon as she said that, Brendan got out of the hospital bed with a little bit, but not too much difficulty.

“Where is the Chinchou I brought in?” Brendan asked.

“She is right in that bed over there. Since she is a shiny Pokemon, she healed very quickly. Shiny Pokemon have tendencies to heal quickly. She should be fine to be move around again,” Nurse Joy said, beckoning to the bed to the right of him that he hadn’t bothered to look in before. As Nurse Joy left, Cyndaquil, Castform, and Brendan rushed over to Chinchou, who appeared to be sleeping. As soon as Nurse Joy shut the door, she awoke.

“Curse my inability to sleep well,” Chinchou said, then taking notice of Brendan. “Ah yes, thank you very much for saving me there. I thought that Lotad was going to finish me.”

“Your welcome, but I have to wonder, why did that Lotad look so dark and want to, well, kill you?” Brendan asked. Chinchou sighed.

“I wish I could tell you, but only select few can know that information,” Chinchou answered. “However, to both thank you and save myself from the Lotad, I would like to join your team. You’ve already proved that you’re excellent at battling, so you can just capture me if you still want that,” she said, surprising Brendan and his other Pokemon.

“Are you sure?” Brendan asked. Chinchou sighed again and jumped out of her bed. She grabbed one of his Net Balls and tapped it on herself. The Net Ball released a red light that swallowed Chinchou and brought her inside of the ball, which closed. It wobbled on the ground only for a few seconds, and then it stopped, and clicked.

“That was astonishingly easy,” Brendan said.

“Well, there you go! We can challenge the gym tomorrow!” Cyndaquil answered excitedly. Castform turned to him.

“You realize that the gym is a water type gym-” she began.

“Yes I know that, but I’ll be good backup!” Cyndaquil answered excitedly.

“It’s underwater,” Brendan stated.

“On second thought I think I’ll just stay inside my Pokè Ball,” Cyndaquil answered. Nurse Joy burst in without warning, clearly distressed.

“Nurse Joy, what’s wrong?” Brendan, Castform, and Cyndaquil all asked in unison.

“Your Bellsprout, we tried but…it’s…died,” she said, right before she burst into tears again.

Chapter six: Death

That night, Nurse Joy and Brendan went out to the woods around town and buried Bellsprout there. It was a short time- only about ten minutes- before they went back to the Pokemon center. This evening, Brendan was able to get a room since there were a few rooms available. The room he had had simply a bed, a shelf next to the bed, and a window. Before he went to sleep, he sent out Chinchou and Castform.

“Are you guys ready for the gym tomorrow?” he asked them.

“I am, I don’t know about Chinchou here though,” Castform said, gesturing to Chinchou.

“I’m fine, as I said, I heal quickly,” Chinchou said.

Brendan took out his Pokedex to check Chinchou’s stats. He saw that Chinchou was fairly high-leveled for his team; level 15 compared to his other Pokemon. He took a look at her moves, which were Water Gun, Thunder Wave, Supersonic, and Psybeam (which he figured was an egg move). He figured he would easily be able to beat the gym if he could stop at the Poke Mart first to get an electric-type TM move for her.

“Well, we should probably turn in for the night,” Brendan said as Castform and Chinchou yawned in agreement.
———
He was in a forest and was stuck in a circle of five large trees. Above him he noticed the same bright green light that he saw before. The light stopped in front of him and Brendan stared at the light. Suddenly, everything began to fade. He saw multiple things flash before him. A room being flooded. Chinchou bleeding severely. Then, he heard a gunshot and he woke up abruptly. He looked around and saw that it was already 8 in the morning. He got out of bed and got dressed, and was going to send all of his Pokemon out, but stopped. He instead sent out Cyndaquil only.

“Is it morning already?” Cyndaquil said sleepily as he looked around. “Because I am hungry!”

“I had this weird dream last night,” Brendan said.

“I sense something is wrong?” Cyndaquil asked. Brendan explained the dream to Cyndaquil.

“What do you think it means?” Brendan asked.

“It probably means something interesting is going to happen in the next twenty four hours I would imagine.” Cyndaquil said in a non-caring tone.

Brendan returned Cyndaquil back to his Poke Ball and wondered why he told Cyndaquil out to talk about his dream with. He went downstairs to find that no one else in the center- except for a few morning arrivals and Nurse Joy- were awake. He sent out his Pokemon and they enjoyed a short breakfast. He ended up with a girl at a table who looked familiar. Brendan realized who it was- it was the girl he saw at the lab with the last Torchic. Her Torchic was eating with other Pokemon, but decided to start some conversation.

“I see you got a Torchic for your starter,” he said.

“You knew that already,” she said, causing Brendan to realize that she remembered him. “I imagine you’re taking the gym challenge today Brendan?”

“How’d you know my name?” Brendan asked.

“Your trainer card is right in front of you,” the girl said. Brendan realized it was in front of him on the table, so he put it back in his pocket.

“Yeah, I’m taking the gym challenge. Are you?” He asked.

“No, I’m more of a contest person. Now if you don’t mind, my Torchic and I need to get to Pewter by Thursday. I’ve got some touring to do today,” she said as she got up and left with her Torchic. Brendan’s Pokemon soon came over.

“Dating problems?” Castform asked, causing Chinchou and Cyndaquil to giggle. Brendan returned them since they had finished with their breakfast. He walked out of the center and began to head to the gym, right before he remembered that he needed to stop at the Poke Mart for a TM of Shock Wave for Chinchou. He redirected his path and arrived at the Poke Mart. He went to their aisle for TM’s. Each TM had a number; ranging 1-92. He knew that the TM number for Shock Wave was thirty four, so he found it in no time. He grabbed the TM and went to the front counter to pay the money to a bored looking receptionist. When he got outside he sent out Chinchou.

“Okay, I bought the Shock Wave TM, are you okay with learning it?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’m perfectly fine with it,” Chinchou said. Brendan took the TM disc and put it on Chinchou’s head.

TM’s were very complex. Somehow, by pressing the disc onto a Pokemon’s head, the Pokemon learned how to use the move from the TM. Only the smartest of scientists could figure out how they worked. After the power was drained from the TM, Brendan returned Chinchou and threw the now useless TM into his backpack. He then followed the twists and turns through the roads and bridges of Viridian and he finally arrived in front of the gym entrance. He opened the door and saw a man sharply dressed in khaki pants and a brown suit coat with a top hat, in front of the elevator. Also in the room were two small pillars with a statue of a Staryu on each. The floor was made of various yellow shades on tiles. There was a pool of water on both sides of the room. Brendan figured that the man was the manager of the elevator for the gym. Brendan approached him.

“Excuse me sir, but I need to get down to Hydra for a gym match,” Brendan said bluntly. The man turned to him and began to speak.

“I’m sorry, I can’t let you down until you beat me,” he said. “I’m the gym’s only gym trainer, so in order to see Hydra you have to defeat me.” The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a Poke Ball, which Brendan realized must be the man’s Pokemon. In response, Brendan was about to send out Chinchou, but he stopped and figured he should send out one of his other Pokemon for training purposes.

“We’ll make this a two on two Pokemon battle. Go Gulpin!” the man said. He sent out what appeared to be a small green blob with a face and a feather-like object sticking out of its head. Brendan was surprised to see a poison type Pokemon such as Gulpin in the gym, although he figured that it must have a trick up its sleeve.

“Go Cyndaquil!” Brendan said, throwing Cyndaquil’s Poke Ball in the air. Brendan just then realized that he didn’t have a great deal of knowledge about Cyndaquil’s moves, having not used him yet in his journeys. He took a guess. “Use Ember!” Cyndaquil then reared its head back and shot out a few small flames at the Gulpin.

“Gulpin use Water Pulse!” the man commanded. Only when the flames were a few inches away from Gulpin did it shoot out a jet of water that seemed too fast to come from a slow Pokemon such as Gulpin. The water doused the flames upon contact, and Cyndaquil instinctively jumped onto one of the pillars, causing Gulpin’s attack to miss.

“Gulpin, now use Rain Dance!” the man commanded his Gulpin. Gulpin began to jump up rhythmically, and soon, above them on the ceiling, a wispy vapor that looked like a cloud formed, and it began to rain. This, Brendan thought, unfortunately meant that Cyndaquil’s fire-type moves would cause less damage, whereas Gulpin’s water-type moves would do more damage.

“Cyndaquil use Quick Attack!” Brendan blurted out, not even knowing if Cyndaquil knew it yet or not. He did. Cyndaquil shot forward at an amazingly fast speed and knocked Gulpin back about a foot.

“Gulpin, while it’s on you, use Poison Gas,” the man said calmly. The Gulpin, before Cyndaquil jumped off, blew a violet colored cloud of smoke at Cyndaquil, who seemed to absorb it. Cyndaquil stumbled back and fell, but got right back up.

“Cyndaquil, land another Quick Attack!” Brendan said. Cyndaquil again sped up and hit Gulpin head on.

“Gulpin use another Water Pulse attack,” the man said. Gulpin reared its head back, preparing to use Water Pulse again.

“Quick Attack!” Brendan commanded again. Cyndaquil shot forward, and since he was closer to Gulpin this time, he did much more damage. Gulpin was propelled against the wall and fell to the ground in a slump, but he appeared to still be barely conscious.

“Good, now use Pain Split,” the man said. Gulpin’s eyes then became fire-red. Suddenly there was an agonizing cry from Cyndaquil as black orbs came from his body and flowed to Gulpin’s body. Brendan remembered hearing about this move in his Techniques class, that Pain Split had both battlers split their HP so that it would be equal among each of them. Gulpin was now looking much more refreshed. Cyndaquil then stumbled back due to the poison that he had been afflicted by from Poison Gas.

“Are you ready to give up yet?” the man said in a surprisingly mean tone.

“Not yet. Cyndaquil use Quick Attack!” he said. Cyndaquil shot forward once more, but this time it seemed to be with a bit less power, but he still hit Gulpin with enough force to send it against the wall.

“Gulpin, let’s end this. Use Sludge Bomb,” the man said. Gulpin then opened its big mouth and shot out a large purple ball that shot forward at Cyndaquil.

“Cyndaquil use Ember!” Brendan shouted desperately. Cyndaquil reared its head back and shot out multiple flames to diminish the size of the sludge, however the remaining sludge hit Cyndaquil and knocked him on the ground, where he laid for a few seconds.

“Cyndaquil!” Brendan cried. However, Cyndaquil rose off of the ground, and began to glow a bright white. Brendan could see changes in his shape, as his body became longer, and then when the light had faded away Brendan saw a long body that resembled a cat, except it had no tail. It had Cyndaquil’s color scheme; its top was blue and the bottom of its body was a yellowish cream color. Its head and backend both had a flame coming out of them. Cyndaquil had evolved right in the knick of time into a Quilava.

“Alright, Quilava use Flame Wheel!” Brendan guessed, and hoped Quilava knew it, which he did. The cat-like Pokemon jumped in the air and began to spin, and in doing so became shrouded in flames, that literally made him look like a wheel of flames. He then charged right for Gulpin, who had no time to dodge the powerful attack. Gulpin was shot back against the wall, and collapsed; unconscious.

“Way to go Quilava!” Brendan shouted. Quilava seemed very happy about winning as well.

“Alright then,” the man said, “I’ve got one more Pokemon for you to deal with. Go Qwilfish!” He threw a Poke Ball into the air, and out of it came a spiked ball with the top of its body blue, and the bottom the same creamy yellow color of Quilava. It had a tail that looked sort of like a tennis racket from far away. It was immediately sent into one of the pools in the side of the room. Brendan was about to command Quilava to use Quick Attack, but Quilava turned to him instead.

“Uh, can I just go back in my Poke Ball?” he asked.

“Why?” Brendan asked, exasperated.

“Well, you do realize that Qwilfish is a water type, and, well, I-”

“-am extremely aqua phobic? I know that. But you dealt with that last battle perfectly fine,” Brendan answered.

“But Gulpin is a poison-type Pokemon so I never really had to go into the water. But Qwilfish,” Quilava said, gesturing to the bored looking porcupine fish, “thrives in water, so I really don’t think I could battle it.”

“Why would I be using you if I didn’t think that you could do it?” Brendan asked.

“I told you yesterday, I’d be better as a backup Pokemon, not for an entire battle!” Quilava said, with a bit more anger flowing into it.

“I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal out of this,” Brendan said, calmer than Quilava. Quilava simply rolled his eyes and clicked the return button for his Poke Ball. Brendan was surprised by this action, but nevertheless sent out Castform anyways. “Alright Castform, use…uh…” Brendan hesitated, realizing that this really wasn’t a wise Pokemon choice, considering Castform’s moves, so he went with the most basic one. “Use Tackle!”

Castform looked confused as to why she was taken out of her ball when Quilava was handling everything so well, but she nonetheless used Tackle. She charged directly at the Qwilfish who did nothing to stop it. That is, right until Castform was about one foot away from it, and then the man said simply, “Poison Jab.” That worked. As soon as Castform was about to hit Qwilfish, the porcupine fish stabbed her with one of his spikes, causing her to let out a screech of pain.

“Now use Waterfall,” the man said calmly again. The Qwilfish started spinning, like Quilava did for Flame Wheel, and became shrouded in water and charged for Castform.

“Castform use Powder Snow!” Brendan said, getting an idea. Castform released a strong blow of icy wind and snow at Qwilfish, causing the fish to freeze in midair. “Now use Ember!” Brendan said. Castform used ember as Cyndaquil did, by launching many flames at the opponent. Ember did more damage this time around since Qwilfish was frozen, however it thawed him out.

“Qwilfish use Aqua Tail and jump as soon as possible!” the man commanded. Qwilfish jumped up and hit the ground with his tail, causing a surge of water to pulsate out of his tail.

“Castform quickly use Powder Snow to the water!” Brendan said hurriedly. Castform sent another icy gust of wind and snow toward the water surging, and froze it, and before Qwilfish had a chance to jump away the porcupine fish became frozen to the ice. It began struggling, which wasn’t good on his behalf, since it just diminished his energy faster.

“Now use tackle!” Brendan said. Castform charged at the exhausted Qwilfish, before the man raised his Poke Ball and returned his Qwilfish.

“You did very well Qwilfish,” he said, pocketing the Poke Ball. “You may go to the leader now.”

Brendan returned Castform and walked to the elevator and immediately when he got inside, it began to go down. The elevator had two large windows that you could see out of, and it made Brendan realize how deep the lake was.

Brendan wasn’t surprised that the man returned his Pokemon before the final hit. Many trainers felt that it was irresponsible and unnecessary to keep a Pokemon in battle when they were exhausted and about to faint. It wasn’t one of the trainer laws, but it was still both common sense and a showing of friendship between trainers and their Pokemon. Upon thinking of friendship, Brendan began wondering what Quilava had a problem with. Brendan didn’t think that having Quilava deal with Qwilfish would be a big deal, and honestly, Brendan was hoping that, upon evolution, Cyndaquil would have more of a confidence boost against water. Unfortunately, that wasn’t so.

At last the elevator came to a stop. Brendan stepped out into a completely glass dome, that had a battle field and two pools at the side of the field. Brendan looked around and saw all sorts of Pokemon swimming around, like Finneon, Luvdisc, and Poliwag, just to name a few. In the back of the dome, he saw a girl, probably about nineteen years old, with blue hair, a dark blue tank-top and jeans. She sitting in a chair and was reading a book, and then she saw him. She stood up to greet him.

“You must be today’s challenger,” she said.

“Yeah, I am,” Brendan said in response.

“I’m Hydra, and I’m the gym leader here in Viridian. I specialize in water types since, well, you can’t really do much else here,” she said, gesturing to the water surrounding the gym. “Three on three?” she then asked, referring to the number of Pokemon in the battle.

“No, two on two; my third is a bit aqua phobic,” Brendan answered.

“Alright, two on two match it is. You will be able to switch out, I won’t, etcetera, etcetera,” Hydra said. She took out her first Poke Ball and threw it. “Krabby, go!” Out of the Poke Ball, a red colored crab materialized.

“Castform, go!” Brendan said, as Castform materialized from the Poke Ball.

Hydra quickly started. “Krabby use Crab hammer!” she said. Krabby clenched its claw as it began to glow blue. He charged for Castform.

“Castform jump and then use tackle!” Brendan said. As Krabby lunged at her, she jumped in the air, and then plummeted down with force at Krabby before it could move out of the way.

“Crab hammer,” Hydra said. Before Castform was even a yard away from the crab, she was hit with Krabby’s water-charged claw. Castform was thrown far back upon impact. “Use crab hammer once more,” Hydra said.

“Castform, use Powder Snow at the claw!” Brendan said suddenly. Castform reared her head back yet again and shot an icy wind of snow at Krabby’s claw. It now sparkled in the dim light of the dome. However, Krabby continued to charge. “Ember now!” Brendan said hurriedly. Castform shot a good many flames at the claw, melting the ice and causing extreme pain for the Krabby. When the flames diminished, Krabby’s claw was throbbing and appeared to be swollen from the impact of the flames.

“Krabby, return,” Hydra said, as Krabby dissolved into a red light in the Poke Ball. “That was smart thinking. Most trainers don’t even think of disabling Krabby’s dominant claw. Anyways, go Relicanth!” Out of her next Poke Ball came a brown fish with various light brown designs on its body and two red dots on either side of its head. It immediately landed in one of the pools. Brendan immediately knew that this wasn’t a good match-up; Relicanth was part rock-type, therefore Castform would do no good against it.

“Castform, return,” Brendan said, taking out her Poke Ball which materialized her into it. He took out his best choice. “Chinchou, it’s your turn,” he said as he threw Chinchou’s ball into the air and she materialized out of a red light. “Alright, Chinchou use Shock Wave!” Brendan commanded. Chinchou began to absorb energy into her tear shaped antennae.

“Relicanth use Earthquake,” Hydra said confidently. The ancient fish rammed its iron-like skull against the ground, which began to ripple. Chinchou though, realizing the devastation of the attack, jumped into the same pool as Relicanth and released the energy into the pool of water, before jumping out again onto the calm ground. The Relicanth shrieked in a deep tone as the water was shocked with a surge of electricity. It eventually subsided.

“Alright Chinchou, now-” Brendan began, before he heard a thump at the side of the dome. “Uh, Hydra, what’s that?” he asked.

“Must be a Pokemon trying to get in. Don’t worry though; this glass is some of the strongest on earth. A Gyarados couldn’t break through,” she said. Brendan located the source of the sound, and had a nasty shock. He saw a Lotad trying to break into the glass; a Lotad with long claws and shades of black, to be precise.

“Oh crap,” Brendan said. Hydra looked where he was looking. The Lotad, realizing how indestructible the glass was, took one of its claws and began to make a hole in the gym glass. He succeeded. As soon as the circular shaped piece of glass fell, chaos reigned. Water flooded into the gym. All of the glass soon burst from the power of the water. Brendan saw Chinchou hurriedly swimming to the top as Lotad chased her. Brendan was going to return her, but realized with horror that Chinchou’s Poke Ball was on the gym floor. Hydra had begun to swim to the surface with her Relicanth. Brendan swiftly went after Chinchou. His lungs were in agony. He finally reached the surface. Some people passing by were beginning to look at the scene unfolding. Brendan looked around and saw Lotad cornering Chinchou against the end of a bridge that was a peninsula in the water for fishermen. Brendan swam over to the spot with more energy than ever before. But, when he was only one yard away from the scene, Lotad took his claw and slashed Chinchou in multiple areas, until it was assured that Chinchou couldn’t survive.

“Chinchou!” Brendan cried. He wished someone was nearby to help, but there wasn’t. Everyone else was watching from the safety of a dock about 15 yards away, completely parallel to this dock. Brendan thrust himself at the Lotad and they began to fight.
———
Unbeknownst to anyone else involved in the scene, there was a young Poliwag, a Pokemon with a small circular body with a spinning line on it, and a long white tail, that witnessed the scene. He knew of the Lotad well; it had killed the rest of his family only a week or so ago, and the Poliwag was struggling with surviving on his own. He had witnessed, from a distance, the struggle between the brown haired boy and Lotad. He was also present in seeing the Lotad break through the gym glass. He was now seeing the evil Lotad killing the innocent Chinchou and fighting with the boy. As he watched this, he remembered what he vowed to do to the Lotad when the time would come. Get revenge. He was young, but he did know what the word meant, and he charged. At this point he saw the blue haired teenager holding a gun. They noticed each other, and had immediate understanding.
———
As soon as Hydra emerged from the water, she saw a crowd gathering around one of the two fishing docks. She hurried over, figuring it was something with her challenger. She knew something was wrong when the dark colored Lotad charged. She came over to the group and saw, to her horror, that the shiny Chinchou in the battle was practically covered in red, most likely dead, and that Brendan was getting mauled by the Lotad. She had grabbed and put in her pocket her gun for emergencies, when she saw it in the water as she swam. At this point where the Lotad had pushed Brendan up against the bridge and taken out his claw, she pulled it out. She was worried though, that if she shot the Lotad that the bullet might go through and hit Brendan. At this point she saw a Poliwag charging for the Lotad. She had an idea. They looked at each other, and had immediate understanding.
———
Brendan didn’t know what was worse than losing Chinchou, the fact that he was getting beaten by a lily pad with legs, or that no one cared. But he was wrong. There were two beings that cared and were helping him at the very moment. Suddenly, Lotad pinned him up against the dock, only a yard away from the bloodied Chinchou. The Lotad extended one of its claws.

“I told you not to meddle in our business kid!” the Lotad said. He began to swipe, but was suddenly knocked sideways by a Poliwag. “Why you little-” and then a gunshot rang out, and suddenly everything was silenced. Brendan then noticed that Hydra, on the other dock, was holding a steaming gun. He looked next to him and saw Lotad with a bullet hole that was bleeding a black sludge. The next part seemed only to be noticed by Hydra, Brendan, and Poliwag. The Lotad and Chinchou seemed to melt away into a black and white light respectively, and then they dissolved into the air. Everyone on the other dock began to go away eventually, as Brendan tried to take in everything that had just happened. He was so confused at what had just happened. He felt a few tears drop from his eyes.

Chapter Seven: Sierra

After Brendan jumped back onto the dock, he just stood there, trying to take in what happened. Chinchou was killed by a Lotad. That was the big thing that he couldn’t drill into his head. The Chinchou he caught, HIS Chinchou, was gone. The part he found even harder to understand was why they were absorbed into thin air. Everything was so confusing. He noticed Hydra walking over from the other dock, still holding the gun.

“God, I can’t believe I just shot a Pokemon,” Hydra said.

“Yeah,” Brendan said, not really paying attention. Hydra then reached into her pocket and pulled out a tear shaped object and handed it to Brendan.

“Well, take the badge anyways,” she said.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Why? I didn’t win!” Brendan said. He attempted to hand back the badge, but Hydra pushed it away.

“Well you definitely would have won. Plus I think anyone who can go through all of that in one day deserves the badge,” Hydra said. There was a slight pause.

“Should we talk to Nurse Joy, or call the cops?” Brendan asked.

“No, there’s nothing they can do,” Hydra said in a “this is incredibly obvious” tone. “Well, anyways, earn your next few badges in the correct manner. I need to hire a contractor.” With this Hydra walked away to her house, Brendan presumed. He stood where he was for a few more minutes, and walked back to the Pokemon center.

By time he arrived, it was already evening and mostly everyone was eating or waiting for there Pokemon to be healed. Brendan wasn’t in the mood for anything to eat, so he simply asked Nurse Joy for a room, and went up the stairs to it. He couldn’t help but notice a few people staring at him.

When he had arrived in front of the door to his room, he heard someone call his name. He turned to see the girl with the Torchic who was eating at the same table as him that morning.

“Did you want something?” he asked as the girl came up to him.

“Yeah, well, you see, my Torchic has, well, wanted to be used more so for battling and I thought that maybe you might want to, well, trade your Quilava for my Torchic. I already asked my Torchic about it, and he seemed good with the idea,” the girl said quickly. Brendan’s eyes lit up, realizing that he could finally get a Torchic, but then he realized that he should consult Quilava first. Then he remembered Quilava’s reaction to him during the battle during the day.

“Uh, well, I’ll let you know later,” Brendan said. The girl nodded and left for her room, Brendan assumed. He got into his room, and the first thing he did was change into dry clothes. He then sent out Castform and told her about Chinchou dying, and she was, of course, upset. Brendan returned her and sent out Quilava, who kept his eyes on the alarm clock next to Brendan’s bed.

“Listen, Quilava, I don’t know how to tell you this, but, well, Chinchou died-” Brendan began.

“Negligence,” Quilava muttered.

“What?” Brendan asked demandingly.

“I said ‘negligence,’” Quilava said.

“Okay, what do you mean by that?” Brendan asked, attempting to be calm, however his anger was beginning to rise.

“I mean that she probably died by your negligence,” Quilava said. “What happened?” Brendan explained to him what happened, and got a completely different reaction from Quilava than from Castform.

“You left the freaking Poke Ball on the gym floor. Way to go Einstein,” Quilava said sarcastically.

“Listen, it fell out of my hand, okay? That’s not the issue here though,” Brendan said.

“Yes it is. If you had been able to return Chinchou, she would be alive right now. How happy I am to be in the presence of an extremely smart trainer,” Quilava said, ending with an incredible amount of sarcasm.

“Shut up,” Brendan said. He could feel his anger reaching its boiling point.

“Oh, sorry, did I hurt your feelings?” Quilava said mockingly. Brendan couldn’t help it. He kicked Quilava. Quilava looked hurt, but considering the anger Brendan was feeling towards Quilava, it felt…good to see that.

“You might not give a hell of a care, but I do. You want to know why? Because I’m not an emotionless rock as you’re acting right now,” Brendan said.

“You know, kicking me is considered a form of abuse,” Quilava said defiantly.

“Hey, you were asking for it you freak,” Brendan shouted. “I should’ve just traded you to the girl in the hallway for her Torchic.”

“Aha! I knew it! You still do want a Torchic over me and Castform!” Quilava said.

“No, just over you. I’ve grown to really like Castform and her personality as I did you, until right now,” Brendan said angrily.


“Well fine then. Trade me to that freaking stranger you just met this morning! Being given to Giovanni of Team Rocket would be better than being with an inconsiderate Slakoth such as you,” Quilava said. With that, Brendan returned Quilava. He walked downstairs to see the girl sitting near the trading machines.

“I think I’ll take you up on your offer,” Brendan said.

———


It was morning. Brendan woke up, and although it was a great, sunny day outside, he still felt like crap after Chinchou died. He then realized that he never told Castform about trading Quilava. He sent out Castform.

“Are we ready for break-” Castform began.

“I traded Quilava for a Torchic,” Brendan blurted out, half knowing what he was saying. Castform looked at him with a blank stare. But then…

“YOU WHAT?” she shouted, which was kind of weird since Brendan never heard her shout before.

“I traded Quilava for a Torchic,” Brendan repeated. Castform shook her head.

“And WHY would you do that?” she demanded. Brendan sighed and told her about the argument that he and Quilava had gotten into.

“Whoa! I didn’t even know Quilava knew that many words,” she said. “But still, you didn’t think that it might just be a phase and that he might get through it?”

“Well, I thought of it, but it just didn’t seem likely,” Brendan answered.

“I still can’t believe you’d do that!” Castform said.

“Well there wasn’t much else to do,” Brendan responded. “If I had kept Quilava and say that he did get over it and it was a phase, there’s still the likely possibility that another sort of argument would have flared up.”

“He never liked you anyways,” Castform said bluntly.

“He didn’t? But it seemed like he did,” Brendan said, surprised.

“That’s what I thought too, but when you were being treated for the slash on your arm, he bluntly said that he didn’t like you,” Castform said. “Or, something at least along the lines of not trusting you.”

“So, you’re okay then with me trading Quilava?” Brendan asked.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Castform answered, although Brendan could tell that she was lying. Brendan returned Castform and went down for breakfast.

———

Finally, Brendan was ready to go to Route 2. Breakfast had been good; Castform was getting along with Torchic well, and they all discovered that Torchic had an amazing ability to catch a grape in his mouth when someone throws it to him from across the room.

Brendan finally departed the Pokemon Center and figured that it wouldn’t be too long until he got out of the city. He was wrong. The bridges provided an excellent maze that Brendan never noticed before. After about half an hour of searching for an exit out of the city, Brendan gave up and sent out Castform.

“I’ve never been to Route 2, but I have a feeling that this isn’t it,” she said.

“Listen, can you hover up a bit higher and find a path out of here?” Brendan asked.

“Fine,” she said. She floated up quite high in the air, before coming back down. “You’re more lost than a Stunky in a beer factory.”

“Are you serious?” Brendan asked disbelievingly.

“Completely,” she answered. Because of this, they had to return to the Pokemon center, and take a completely different path than before that eventually lead to Route 2, about an hour and a half after leaving the Pokemon center. They had finally arrived on solid ground again, right on the edge of the lake. Brendan took out Castform’s Poke Ball to return her.

“Why can’t men ever ask for directions?” Castform asked no one in particular. As Brendan was about to return Castform, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye on the edge of the lake. He turned to see a Poliwag that was very small in comparison to other Poliwag, so he put two and two together to figure out that it was a young Poliwag. Then he also recognized the Poliwag as the one that had helped Hydra kill the Lotad.

It was reaching up to a plant on the edge of the lake. It jumped up and grabbed a bite in its mouth, before being pushed aside by a Poliwhirl who took the rest of the plant underwater with it. The Poliwag began to cry.

“Hey, shouldn’t that Poliwag’s parents be getting the food?” Brendan asked.

“Not unless they’re dead,” Castform said. The Poliwag had found another plant, but was quickly pushed aside by a couple of Lumineon. Poliwag began to cry again.

“Oh my gosh, it’s going to die on its own!” Brendan said.

“Undoubtedly,” Castform replied.

“Should we do something?” Brendan asked Castform.

“Probably,” Castform answered.

“Perhaps we should capture it,” Brendan said.

“Indeed,” Castform said, continuing her trend of one-word replies. Brendan reached into his backpack and took out a little bit of Pokemon food. He approached the Poliwag slowly and offered it. The Poliwag eagerly ate all of it, but still seemed hungry.

“Listen, Poliwag, I- er, we noticed that you were having a hard time out here,” Brendan said. “So I was wondering if you would like to come with us as a, well, thanks of saving my life.” Poliwag pondered this for a moment, and smiled as much as it could. Brendan took a Poke Ball out of his backpack and tapped Poliwag with it, who dissolved into a beam of red light and into the Poke Ball.

“It feels good to help a poor, defenseless Pokemon,” Castform said. Brendan rolled his eyes and returned her. He got up and headed toward the Elemental Forest.

The Elemental Forest was what used to be a long time ago, Viridian Forest. Eventually, over time, different Pokemon of different types came to the forest and it became divided into four parts. The first part of the forest was a fire forest. It was extremely hot year-round, averaging in the nineties temperature wise, year-round. The second part was, oddly enough, an ice forest, were it was a constant temperature in the twenties. After that was a regular forest, but this forest was considered to be one of the best plant environments in the world because the conditions were perfect for all forest life. The final area to the forest was a large mountain forest, where many Pokemon who inhabit harsh terrains live.

Eventually, by about three in the afternoon (and after some uneventful wild Pokemon battles), Brendan arrived at the entrance gate to the Elemental forest. Inside were simply a Pokemon center, a Mart, and a few rooms. There weren’t many trainers around, since most had entered the forest by now. Brendan sat down on a chair in the lobby and sent out his Pokemon.

“Are we going to the Forest?” Torchic asked.

“No, I think I’ll wait until tomorrow for that,” Brendan answered. “Plus, I’d like to squeeze in a trainer battle this afternoon to prepare you all.”

“Sweet, I’m ready for an intense trainer battle,” Castform said enthusiastically.

“You can only fight so many Caterpie in a day,” Torchic stated. Castform and Poliwag nodded in agreement.

Brendan was happy that he had gotten Poliwag into a few Pokemon battles during the trip. Poliwag seemed really happy to be using his moves in Pokemon battles. He also appeared to be, well, stronger and more confident by the end of the trip.

“Hey! You!” a girl from the other end of the room called to Brendan. She ran up to him. She had long dark-brown hair, was wearing a Poke Ball necklace, a purple shirt with the silhouette of a Victreebel on it, and was wearing jeans. “You’re a Pokemon trainer I imagine, right?”

“Well duh,” Brendan answered bluntly. The girl rolled her eyes.

“Listen, I was wondering if tomorrow you’d accompany me through the forest,” she said. “Most people say that it’s better if a group of people travel through the forest. Would you want to?”

“Uh, well, sure,” Brendan said when an idea sparked in his head. “But only if you can give me and my Pokemon a battle, now.”

———

“Okay, this will a two on two Pokemon battle, considering I’ve only got two with me,” the girl said.

“That’s fine,” Brendan said. He decided to leave Castform out of the battle since she had been trained the most. “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Sierra,” she said quickly. “Shall we begin?” Without waiting for an answer, she took out a Poke Ball and threw it into the air. Out of it came a small, blue penguin Pokemon which had a large round head, that Brendan recognized as a Piplup. Since Piplup was a water Pokemon, Castform would have been the ideal choice, but instead Brendan sent out Poliwag.

“Alright, Piplup use pound!” Sierra commanded. Piplup ran at Poliwag,

“Poliwag, use Hypnosis!” Brendan said. The swirl on Poliwag’s began to spin back and forth. Piplup began to slow down. It soon collapsed and began to sleep. “Alright use double-slap!” Poliwag then charged at Piplup, but as soon as he raised his tail in preparation of a double-slap, Piplup grabbed it.

“Great! Now use Peck!” Piplup then jabbed its beak at Poliwag with enough force to cause Poliwag to stumble back.

“Poliwag, give her another double-slap,” Brendan commanded. Poliwag this time jumped in the air and landed behind Piplup, and used his tail to repeatedly slap her.

“Use Peck again!” Sierra cried. Piplup then, right before Poliwag slapped her again, jabbed his tail with her beak.

“Double-” Brendan began.

“Use Attract!” Piplup then approached Poliwag calmly, and gave an adoring look in her eyes. Poliwag seemed to be immobilized while watching her walk.

“Poliwag! Snap out of it!” Brendan said desperately. Poliwag just continued to stare at Piplup.

“Now use Peck.” Piplup charged at Poliwag yet again and jabbed him with her beak. Poliwag fell on the ground, unconscious. Brendan picked Poliwag up.

“You did a great job,” Brendan said, though he was thinking that he could have done better. He returned Poliwag to his Poke Ball and sent out Torchic.

“Alright, Torchic let’s finish this. Use Peck!” Torchic ran forward at Piplup.

“Now use Peck as well!” Piplup began to also charge at Torchic. Eventually, they both ended up having to defend themselves with their beaks.

“Bubble!” Sierra shouted. Piplup quickly jetted out many bubbles at Torchic, who was blown back many feet, and seemed extremely hurt.

“Torchic!” Brendan cried. Suddenly, Torchic rose into the air and began to glow a bright white color. Brendan could see his features changing. As soon as the light faded, in Torchic’s place was a Pokemon that reminded Brendan of a chicken from an extremely old movie called “Chicken Run”, except he was much thinner. Combusken, the evolution, looked fully healed as well.

“Awesome! Alright Combusken, give them a Double Kick.” Combusken lunged at Piplup and kicked it hard, twice.

“Quick Piplup use Bubble!” Sierra said. Piplup then also rose into the air as Torchic had, and began to glow just like Torchic had. When the light faded, Piplup was now more like a penguin then before, and was evolved into Prinplup. “Way to go! Now use bubble!” Prinplup reared back her head as Combusken began to charge at her again. When Combusken was only a foot or so away, Prinplup shot out a few large bubbles that hit Combusken head on. Combusken stumbled back, but then charged again and quickly gave two harsh kicks at Prinplup. Prinplup now looked almost ready to collapse, but so did Combusken.

“Prinplup use bubble!”

“Combusken use Ember!” Both of the Pokemon shot forth bubble (Prinplup) and small flames (Combusken). As soon as they hit, each Pokemon fell, at the same exact time. Each trainer returned their Pokemon.

“Well that was a good battle,” Sierra said. “Any battle that ends in a draw I think is pretty intense.”

“Of course, you won. You still had one more Pokemon,” Brendan said. “Say, speaking of which, what is your other Pokemon?”

“It’s my starter, a Chatot.” Brendan was surprised when Sierra said this since he figured that Piplup was the starter.

“Then when did you get Piplup?” Brendan asked curiously.

“It was really weird actually,” Sierra said. “She was trying to defend a golden Bellsprout from this dark Lotad for some reason or another. She was nearly beaten when I found her.

“Whoa, you SAW this?” Brendan asked, astonished.

“No, Piplup told me after she got better,” Sierra said, and noticing Brendan’s astonished expression, she added, “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah, many things,” Brendan said. “See you tomorrow.” He left to the Pokemon center, leaving Sierra with many questions.

To keep you all occupied while I'm rewriting the first few chapters, here are a few changes I'm making.

- The opening dream sequence with Brendan choosing a Torchic will be immensely changed.

- Cyndaquil's character is being scrapped

- Brendan will have had Torchic from the start

- The beginning chapter will have a few paragraphs on Brendan's family

- The conversation with Celebi and Mew will be somewhat longer

- Darkrai almost catches Brendan in the first chapter

…just to name a few. ;)

Aw, I kinda liked Cyndaquil/Quilava. =( Oh well.

I was going to have a short plotline involving Cyndaquil near the end, but I figured it was kind of pointless.

EDIT: By the way, I changed my name to blaziking175 to fit my new e-mail address.

…Darkrai almost captures Brendan? *tries to imagine Pokemon being trainers and humans battling* Well, that's a really interesting twist.

hey blazking your now a member! its me Mr. Toon from the geustbook its rather good for a comic 10 outta 10 4 u

Ah, catastrophe! Cursed human technology…

Ignore the previous statement.
Anyway… good recovery and stuff guys. Re-posting everything…

Of course I'm a moron, and therefore I write straight from the heart, meaning my fics are amateurish and nonsensical AND as the database died so too did the only records of my work… WOOHOOO!! I GET TO START AGAIN!!!

Hmm…this seems to be an interesting story, and I'd love for you to update. *huggles Castform*

I do, however, have some sore points:

“ZAPDOS IS NOT DEAD!!!”

Okay, a few things wrong here. First of all; DO NOT ABUSE THE CAPS LOCK BUTTON! IT FEELS LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING AND EVEN THOUGH MOLTRES WAS IT IS VERY TAXING ON THE READER'S EYES! If you want to make the reader feel like the character is shouting, use italics. Or bold. Or both. But no caps locking unless it's something like, erm, LEET T.V., or other initials.

Also, no more than one exclamation point. It looks extremely amateur, and even though you might not be it gives that impression.

110 years left to go, Celebi thought, I’d better make my will

Use italics for thoughts. There also should be a period at the end of that sentence.

You could also use slightly more description, as well; in some places, I didn't feel like I could see what was going on.

So that's my advice. Keep righting or I'll sue you!

Fallen O&O~

Holy crap, what's this? Blaziking is posting for the first time since the end of June?

Yes he is.

Ah, and, TFR, I revised the Prologue so that it's better than it is right now. (And, oddly enough, it includes everything you said). Plus I already had the italics done on Celebi's thought, but I was too lazy to go back to it and put <*i><*/i> around it. (Without the *'s of course). And I've been so addicted to RP'ing that I haven't gotten around to finish revising chapter one. Meh.

Also, NOP, you haven't posted in so long that I thought you died.

EDIT: I posted the slightly revised Prologue.

Okay, so right now, I have the first 409 words of revised Chapter One. Tell me how you like it.

Chapter One: It Begins

110 years later
A 12 year-old boy with short, spiky brown hair, jeans, and a plaid t-shirt threw a Poke Ball, a round sphere with red on one end and white on another and a small button in the middle, into the air and out of it came a chick-like Pokemon, Torchic.

“Do you choose this Pokemon, Brendan?” Professor Maple asked. She was a young, black-haired woman, Kanto’s newest Professor after Professor Oak died.

“Of course! I’ve always wanted Torchic!” Brendan said excitedly. He looked at his Poke Ball with triumph. He had at last gotten his first Pokemon. He turned to leave the laboratory, but stopped dead in his tracks.

The exit was gone.

The line of trainers eager to get their first Pokemon was gone.

Brendan turned back to Professor Maple, but she was gone. Brendan began to panic. He didn’t know what was going on. How could everyone just suddenly disappear? It wasn’t possible. He tried to reason with what was going on.

It was not working.

Suddenly, Brendan felt a warm, thick liquid pouring into his right hand. He looked at it, and to his horror realized that blood was pouring out of the button on the Poke Ball. He instinctively threw it to the ground. He turned around, hoping to see the exit, but instead saw what looked like a dark shadow with a whispy white head, piercing blue eyes, and a red collar. Brendan could see the exit behind the thing. He tried to run around the object, but it grabbed Brendan around the neck.

“At last!” it exclaimed, in a raspy voice, “I’ve captured the problem before it even started!” The thing began to squeeze Brendan’s neck, beginning to suffocate him.

———

Brendan woke with a start. He hastily looked around his room, to see to his relief that everything was normal. He lied back down in his bed, but then lurched back up, remembering that it was Tuesday. A few days ago, he had graduated from Celadon City School for Future Champions, and today he was going to receive his starter Pokemon. He checked his clock. 9:51 a.m. Brendan jumped out of bed, got dressed, and ran out of his room.

The giving away of the Pokemon began at 10:00 sharp. By time Brendan got out of the house it would already be 10:00, not to mention he had to go across town to get to the laboratory.

Yay! Much better, both on the chapter and prologue. I'm a Darkrai fan and I tend to think that he isn't that evil, but that's just my opinion and it won't affect how much I like this story, I think.

A very few complaints this time…

Suddenly, Brendan felt a warm, thick liquid pouring into his right hand. He looked at it, and to his horror realized that blood was pouring out of the button on it. He instinctively threw it to the ground.

"He looked at it?" It sounds like his hand, but then…

out of the button on it.

Hands don't have buttons. I know you must be talking about a Pokeball, but that sentence confused me for a moment.

and today he was going to receive his starter Pokemon today.

^1

Someone call the redundancy department of redundancy!

Sorry if I sound too harsh, but I enjoy critiquing. Sorry about that. ^^;

Fallen O&O~

^1: Emphasis addded by moi.

Nice revised chapter. It gives the story more mystery and stuff. And things.
I'm not a harsh critic, (if I spelt that right O.O;) but I do agree with TFR that the sentence on the whole "blood pouring onto his right hand" thing - that rather confused me.

And never fear! I am not dead! I think! Hmmm…
Are bones supposed to stick out like that?

Thanks for the critiquing TFR. I'll fix that right now.