Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Rose Quartz and Onyx

Crystal Hikara

New Member
Well, I'll edit the first part of this first post later- for now, I'd rather just get this show on the road, and post a question really quick; what am I artistically allowed to use, concerning 'swears', if any if the situation would be reasonable to use it...?

WARNING: LONG CHAPTERS AHEAD. ALL ARE AROUND 10 PAGES IN WORD.

Chapter Index:

Chap. 1: Kidnapping (scroll down)
Chap. 2: Recovery
Chap. 3: Gift, Curse
Chap. 4- Sheer Luck
Chap. 5- A Short Rest
Chap. 6- Held At Poison Point
Chap. 7- From Rocket Heads to Team Missile
Chap. 8- Threshold
Chap. 9- The Battle
Chap. 10- Sergeant Pup, At Your Service
Chap. 11- Enter Kara
Chap. 12- Two's Company, Three's a Party
Chap. 13- Apollo's Wrath
Chap. 14- Three Meas'ly Little Battles?!
Chap. 15- Hippies are Cool, Man.
Chap. 16- Guilt
Chap. 17- Explosion (Kara's Repentence)
Chap. 18- Aikaze
Chap. 19- Kiyo's Generosity
Chap. 20- Aerial Assault
Chap. 21- First Edition
Chap. 22- Tournament End
Chap. 23- Follow the Bouncing Pokeball
Chap. 24- Eleven
Chap. 25- Weakness
Chap. 26- The Secret
Chap. 27- Fell
Chap. 28- The Three
Chap. 29- Ghost of the Past
Chap. 30- For You
Chap. 31- Ill Parting
Chap. 32- Two Birds of a Different Wing
Chap. 33- White Prison
Chap. 34- Ice Soul
Chap. 35- Unknown Kindness
Chap. 36- Snow Warning
Chap. 37- Kato
Chap. 38- The Ocean, The Sky (in progress)

Chapter 1- Kidnapping

The van clattered along the uneven road, and Crystal couldn't even begin to worry about how badly her rear end was being bruised from the vehicle's lack of shocks, nor could she really do much of anything about it. She had been gagged, hit with a good amount of Stun Spore, and thrown into a dinky cage probably meant for a Pokemon the size of a small Ninetales, tops. She lay rather uncomfortably half-against the cage wall, without the will to even mutter a cry of fear as a Houndoom mercilessly tormented her with snarls of sadistic delight and slight Embers that left hot welds on her fair skin. A Vileplume and its trainer, a member of Team Missile, seemed to merely encourage the taunting, while keeping an eye on the girl. She fought for what little consciousness she had, and tons of questions reeled through her mind furiously, the primary questions being thus: Why would they ever want a newbie trainer like me, barely started out on my own three days ago from home in Dawndew Town? Would they have potentially gotten wind of my stupid gift from that accident a few years back, that has caused so much trouble since then? Where are they taking me? What, I fear, are they doing to my poor Pidgey, Breeze, and my little Oddish, Flora? I can barely stand to think of the horrid things happening to them- electrocution, freezing, unreasonably hot flames…her thought reminded her of the pain that the chuckling Houndoom had caused as it breathed those putrid, sweltering pants of joy on her.

Why me?! she thought furiously again. Maybe I should have waited to start off on my adventure into the wide areas of Beghta, and maybe I should have listened to Ma- perhaps she was correct in calling me naïve...Crystal attempted a sigh, though it didn't end too well. The fine particles of the spore had also slowed her lungs' capability down in addition to immobilizing her, and it only made her more dizzy. She closed her startlingly sky blue eyes for which she had been named, and tried to see just how idiotic she was an hour- or however long it had been- back.



It was a warm, humid day as she traveled along Route 47, albeit it was a tad clouded over. She hummed some indiscreet tune as she enjoyed the cool breeze that danced and played through not only her golden, long hair, but through her hot orchid dyed bangs as well. She chuckled excitedly as Breeze flew along beside her, the short red-tinted feathers of the Pidgey adding to the calm winds. Crystal was in high spirits, as she had already caught her first Pokemon on her own, and that made her very satisfied as she trumped along the beaten path towards Sunrise City, where she could hopefully receive enough training to challenge the gym leader there and get one step closer to finding the secret headquarters of the High Council. True, no one knew where on the map the fortress could have been, but Crystal had made up her mind, ever since she heard all about her eldest brother Ryouo had gone out on his adventure before she had been born, that she would find him, battle him, overcome him, and challenge the High Council before he. True, her mother threw fits every time commercials for the ‘League would come on and beckon trainers to start their journeys to become a High Council Member Champion, and shied her away from magazines such as "Trainer's Life Monthly" and "The Pokemon Breeder". Still, in the end, she could not change Crystal's stubborn mind to go for it, and gave in, letting her youngest go off on adventure, leaving only her sometimes annoying brother, Wizar, and her two Pokemon companions Worki the Wartortle and Wizar's Machoke.

And, at last, she was free! The ten-year-old definitely enjoyed her freedom, though she did call her mother and receive calls every six hours or so. It was a tad lonely, but with six shining Pokeballs for new Pokemon and a very stylish belt/sash-styled bag with tons of different pockets for items and things, it was exciting to think of the possibilities. Who knew? She sighed contently, gazing not down at her black shorts marked with a purple Pokeball symbol nor at her rather baggy shirt with flaring sleeves tipped with violet cloth, but at the sky. Maybe, one day, the girl would find that Pokemon again, the one that-

"Hey, girlie!" A man's voice, not too old nor young, called out to her, and broke her train of thought as her crystal eyes faced him.

"Yes? Can I help you?" Her voice, as most said, was high in pitch, though far from annoying, unlike her laugh at times. It was very sweet, and someone could almost taste the delicate innocence that resonated from it. She looked over the man, who was dressed in an ivy green shirt with a darker blue vest on top of it, and he wore simple blue jeans. His jet black hair appeared as though he had just taken off a cap, and stuck out at random places. His eyes were an eerie sort of silver-green, though the shirt helped to emphasize their colored hue. Something about that man unnerved the girl slightly, and by the Legendary Pokemon did she ever curse herself for not trusting her instinct, asking Breeze to whip up a Gust and add some sand into the equation so she could continue on, but nooo, she had to be a polite, courteous little girl like her mother, who had never so much as gone out of that small town for much of anything, told her to be!

"Say, could you spare a moment over here? You see, me and my crew-"; he paused in his words, motioning to a van for movers nearby, before continuing, "we have a flat tire. We notice you have a Pidgey, right? Is there any way we could ask of you to send a message to Zenith City in the nearby northeast that we';ll be a little late?"

"I'm not sure. That's more up to Breeze. I don't even know if she knows the way."

"Oh, I'm sure she would know! You're a new trainer, right? Pidgeys in this area always flock to Zenith for food. Maybe you should ask her if she's been there?" This question...for whatever reason, it struck the preteen as odd. She eyed Breeze carefully.

"Would you know the way to that city?" She slowly questioned, taking a glance at the man, to make it look like she was still working on her communication skills with her Pokemon.

"Karuuu karuuu..." Breeze replied, tilting her head from side to side. Of course, Crystal took this in stride, and knew perfectly well what Breeze meant.

"What? Do you? Or do you not?"

"Ruuuuu..." the bird Pokemon gave off a fine trill of tongue and beak, something distinctive to the Pidgey family. She nodded yes, though she gave clear signs of discontent at this...character as she landed on her trainer's shoulder.

"Well, miss?"

"Yes, she knows the way, I think?" She turned to her sidekick, who had taken the opportunity to bury its head away in its wing to preen, and gave a sort of sarcastic look, which wasn't surprising for Breeze's sassy nature. “Yeah, she does. I guess you could borrow her, but only as long as it takes to send the message!” Crystal poked her friend lightly on her beak a few times, so as to get the message across that she didn’t like it any more than the bird did.

“Alright, thank you so much! You have no idea how grateful I am!” The man appeared a little different from his words, and headed over to the truck, where the men who had the truck jacked up a few inches were testing a spare to make sure that the pressure was alright. He climbed into the back of his van for a moment, more than likely to find a piece of paper to write a short note with. Crystal, naturally, couldn’t help going in for a closer look. As she thought back, she remembered a phrase her father used to say often to the girl when she was younger and he was still around, curiosity got the Skitty caught. “So, by the way, miss, what’s your name? Where you headed off to?”

“The name’s Crystal. Crystal Hikara. I’m headed off towards Sunrise to see if I can win me a badge!” she proudly exclaimed, though the enthusiasm sort of dyed off as she gazed in the van. All sorts of boxes were stacked up neatly, along with a few chairs stuffed in between here and there, and a few Pokemon slept. However, it was the quaint choice of moving Pokemon that caught Crystal’s eyes- unlike the Machoke, Vigoroth, or even Heracross or Hariyama she knew were popular in moving services for their Fighting-type strengths, she could only make out a bizarre dark-colored Pokemon with bones as ridges that appeared as though it wasn’t from the region and a Vileplume. “What’s your name, mister…? And why do you have such odd moving Pokemon?”

“Oh, my name?” His eyes darted around occasionally as he scrawled something out on a notebook he found near the back of the truck. Though Crystal wasn’t aware of it, the movers had finished with their preparations, and instead disappeared from the corner of her eyes. “The name’s Chris. Chris Johnson. Pleasure, Ms. Hikara.” He gave a hearted sort of laugh, one that unsteadied the girl. Breeze, on her perch of Crystal’s shoulder, ruffled her feathers in order to look bigger and badder, as though she was a Pidgeot with some serious anger issues. She clicked and purred out something indistinguishable, though Crystal paid no visual heed to the comment.

“Crystal is fine.” Her eyes carried her to the Vileplume and the other Pokemon, and she shifted her little weight around uneasily. “What’s that Pokemon? I’ve never seen nor heard of anything like it in this region.”

“Oh? This is Houndoom. We like to call him Dommi Doom for a nickname, though. Hahaha!” The Houndoom didn’t take too lightly too the comment, and gave a sort of snuff off to the side of disrespect. “No, we actually call him Doomsday, and the Vileplume Bad Nastay. He thinks he’s from the ghetto or something like that. I have no idea.” Chris shrugged as Vileplume nodded its humongous head and appeared to try and fold its arms in attitude. Crystal couldn’t help a small cry of hysteria at the site.

“That’s too funny!” She wiped away a few tears caused from laughing so far, but a sharp screech and a sharp jump off of her shoulder from Breeze alerted her that it was no longer fun and games as men with gas masks came from behind and held her in a choke. She fought with all over her might, though it was Chris that was laughing now.

“Yes, I agree, Crystal! It’s all too funny how you fell right into our little trap here.” He gazed at Breeze, who was trying to whip up some Gusts and peck mercilessly at the villains surrounding her. Chris appeared only merely amused, and turned to ‘Bad Nastay’. “Stun Spore them both and shut that bird up.” Vileplume nodded again, took a few steps forward, and let loose a ton of shimmering pollens. Crystal immediately stopped breathing, trying to hold her breath as she struggled, but she had to let it out eventually, and she felt numb all over. Breeze, as well, had fallen victim to the pollen through unrelentless attempts to not abandon her trainer for her own sake, and collapsed on the ground, twitching occasionally. Chris and his henchmen merely cackled from behind their plastic breathing devices in victory.

“Excellent. We have to leave now. Get her in that cage and have fun with the Pidgey with the dumb nickname.” Crystal could do nothing in further struggle as she was thrown unceremoniously into the tiny cage, her items pillaged from her bag, her Pokemon taken away, and saw not the light of day again as they closed up that van and took off.



Now, miserable, constantly Crystal insisted on cussing at herself for not remembering that Team Missile had almost completely taken over the nation in a few short years, and how their numbers were considerable. Oh, what she would’ve done to have traded that day to be at home rather than being stuck in the hard metal cage and treated like a stolen Pokemon! The van finally seemed to slow down a little, and she could make out a few words from Chris in the driver’s seat: “Ok, make sure that she doesn’t see where we are.” The supervising Missile grunt nodded, and turned to Bad Nastay- which Crystal decided had to be one of the stupidest names ever for a Vileplume.

"You heard the boss. Use your Sleep Powder on it.” The grunt put on his mask, and Doomsday backed away up front where the fresh air was pouring in. The pollen this time was much darker in color, and it was no use- Crystal had no will to fight it, and she completely fainted without a single utterance.



In what seemed to be a minute of forced sleep, but was most likely hours, Crystal slowly regained consciousness, her head swirling around emptily, as though she had been given a serious amount of anesthetics. As her eyes slowly opened, she found herself in a large room, though again in a tiny cage, hardly humane for a Pokemon, let alone a human. She found herself still sluggish because of the paralysis spores, though she was able to move around with mental force behind her tensed muscles. The room was dimly lit by only a few flickering light bulbs that dangled down from the somewhat tall ceiling, and a few other Pokemon were stored in cages- some rare and meek whom were cowering in fear in a corner in their fetal position, some ferocious that snarled, barked and growled their cries as soon as Crystal caught sight of them. A Missile Grunt had positioned himself at a watch station, and noticed the girl regaining her wits. He spoke lightly into a headset, though his words, to the new trainer, seemed slurred from the effects of the Sleep Powder. Shortly, two other grunts and some trained Machoke entered the storage room, muttering something about how they were starving and waiting for their break as soon as their work was done. One of the Missiles unlocked the door to Crystal’s cage, and without a chance with her slow reactions she was dragged out like a heavy piece of baggage instead of a human by the Superpower Pokemon.

Confused and terrified, she was dragged through various rooms, including a laboratory, a battle room, a gathering room (at this point she found it best just to look down at the onyx-colored tiling instead of seeing all of the sinister smirks of members), and a few others before they stopped at a large door. The grunts knocked briefly at the door- a secret signal, perhaps- and a voice responded.

“Who is your leader?” the noise that came from a female echoed to their ears.

“Oh, merciful Kinshayti, there is none other than the great Giovanni!”

“Very well, you may enter.” The doors slowly opened up, and Crystal’s pupils became minute, showing more of her pacific ocean eyes. The room was stadium-sized, to make an understatement, and some stylish halogen lights poured light down onto the area, revealing a grand hall. At the end of it was a large chair, much like a throne, where the female figure in an admin suit sat. From the lights, Crystal could only make out her long, dark blue hair. She continued to be dragged along the long path, all the way up to the stairs in front of ‘Kinshayti’. Here was where the Machokes propped her up on her feet, though didn’t let her go, and it was a good thing; Crystal couldn’t have stood up on her own, even if she wanted to.

“So, you’re this Crystal Hikara I have heard about…the one with the gift given to you by an extremely rare Pokemon you saved from one of our Grunts a few years ago.” The girl’s eyes, though no one would’ve thought it possible, grew even wider. So, they did know about the events a few years ago, and that was the precise reason they had brought her here, as she figured. Heh, well, she supposed she was responsible for the news leaking out. She did use her gift out in the open whilst she was still at home, and surely the gossips of the area would’ve muttered enough to have word get around. “But, do tell me- how do you like our secret base of operations? It’s a marvel, no?” She lifted her arms to the surrounding area, gazing around mockingly, before her eyes fell back on the girl. “What I don’t understand, though…” She lifted herself suddenly from her seat, and walked down the stairs with caution. “…is why such a weak, naïve, lost little girl would ever be given such a precious gift. Why not the more powerful in the world? Why not I, or Giovanni, or the other admin, or even one of the lowly Grunts, who would surely rise in the ranks? Well, at any rate, such a destiny cannot be changed in that manner. However, surely we could change your destiny now-”

“If you think I’m going to join your pathetic group of minions, you’re out of your wits.” She cut off the admin, and one of the grunts let loose a small gasp. Kin appeared fierce, and she suddenly stomped up into Crystal’s face, taking a hold of her chin roughly and challenging her with her silver eyes. The young trainer naturally glared back, though the unnaturally colored eyes unnerved her.

“You’re out of your wits if you don’t understand the delicate position you are in right now, girl. Maybe you don’t understand that you don’t have a choice in becoming a member, willing or not.” Kinshayti’s words were stern, and deadly quiet. “Else, you will find yourself headed off to the bowels of this world.”

“You have no respect for anything but your group, don’t you? I don’t even think that your master would ever go this far-” Suddenly, Kinshayti roughly yanked Crystal’s head around, as to shut her up.

“You know nothing of our Master’s plans, you immature brat!” She suddenly backed away, and took to her throne again. “Take her away to the working room, and make sure she talks at all costs!"

“Yes ma’am!” answered the two grunts, and again, Crystal was dragged away. Not once did she take her eyes off of Kin until the grand doors closed behind her.

The working room was, bluntly, where trainers worked their Pokemon like slaves, telling them how to package such things as stolen Pokemon, stolen items, and several other indescreet items. There were various complaints in the room, of course, though they were all human- tired of this or that, when am I getting off my shift- things of that nature. If a Pokemon so much as whispered to another worker, it was beaten terribly. Crystal couldn’t help but share some of her pity for the situation they were in. They propped her up in a chair, and had a Vileplume (she wasn’t sure if it was the one that had paralyzed her before) guard her, giving instructions to use Acid if she made a run for it. They then gave her a list of workers that were supervising the area, and told her to talk with the supervisors to see who would be punished. This put Crystal in between an Onix and a hard place; she certainly didn’t want to see any Pokemon get hurt, but if she refused, that nasty acid that could easily give her third degree burns would more than likely cover her. And, so, she painfully did as she was told, and could do nothing as she watched the poor slaves get their punishment in type weaknesses. After the shifts were done, and she was dragged away again, she couldn’t help but let loose tears of sorrow for the Pokemon, and for herself.

Again stored away in her dinky cage, Crystal dreamt nothing more than to see the wonderful bath of light from the outside world. She had decided that this place was either underground, or merely well protected without windows. More than once she wished there would be some way she could escape, though the Vileplume and guard did not look like they would be distracted any time soon. She sighed, readjusting herself as best she could, and closed her eyes, trying to catch even the smallest amount of sleep she could. This was all too much for the ten-year-old to take. She had just closed her eyes when a loud crack and the warning alarm completely startled her. Shouts immediately started to fly around the area.

“BREACH IN SECTION C OF THE BASE! TAKE OFFENSIVE POSITIONS! INTERCEPT THE INTRUDER!” rang the intercom, and she could hear various Missiles taking their positions. Of course the grunt guarding Crystal didn’t move from his spot- he was all too aware of guarding her as his top priority job. Various cries came from the outside, until it quieted down. The Pokemon in the area became unnerved, and began muttering.

“Shut up!” the Missile member nearly swore to the surrounding Pokemon in the area, threatening to beat on their cages to get them to be silent. However, in his moment of distraction, a human who had used the vents to get in landed on top of him. He gave a small cry of protest before he fell fast unconscious from the rough impact of his head hitting the cold floor. The large flower-headed Pokemon perked up at this, and appeared ready to use Stun Spore at any given second.

“Watch out! The Vileplume!” Crystal found herself exclaiming, figuring that anyone decent and bold enough to take down a bunch of Missiles was an ally. However, this new trainer didn't even bother to turn around to face her enemy.

“…Umbree, Psychic.” The figure dimmed by the lights spoke, evidently female. An Umbreon, as Crystal noticed from pictures she had seen in a magazine talking about some of the most poisonous Pokemon in existence, jumped down from the vent, landing perfectly in front of the Vileplume’s face with a menacing glare. Of course, the grass-poison Pokemon was startled, and didn’t have time to react to a full blown Psychic attack that caused it to faint, much like its trainer. The female turned to Crystal. “Who’re you? Are you with them?”

“No! They kidnapped me and my Pokemon and stole everything from me and…” her words faded off from there as there was an audible ‘click’. The door to her cage had been psychically opened up. “…?”

“Come on. They’ll be coming soon. I can get you to a safer area far away from her, but only if you move.”

“I can’t really stand up, let alone run. I’m still recovering from Stun Spore effects.” The trainer sighed, removing a Pokeball from her belt.

“Alright, Arcanum, give this girl a hand here.” The bright blue orb opened up, revealing the majestic-looking fire type. “She’s paralyzed, so be careful not to drop her, you hear? Head to that lab room not too far from her and use the teleporter there to get her out. Use any attacks if a Missile gets close to you, got it?” The Arcanine let loose an appreciative cry.

“What about you, though?” Crystal questioned as the legendary Pokemon scooped her up onto its back using its powerful mouth. She gripped onto its silky, warm mane as tightly as she could without hurting the creature.

“Eh? I have a few things to take up. I’ll see if I can get some of your stuff back for you, too. What are your Pokemon?”

“I just started out with a reddish Pidgey named Breeze- she’s sort of sarcastic, you’ll know her right away- and an Oddish named Flora.” The trainer chuckled lightly at the names, though Crystal heard it as more of a sigh.

“Alright, I shall look for them, and your bag. What style?”

“A sash and a belt combined.”

“That’s different.” She gazed at her Arcanine, and nodded out. “See you later.” And, without hearing anything more, Crystal was forced to cling as tightly as her muscles would allow as the majestic fire type took off, and raced through the halls as though on wings. It rapidly turned a corner, continued down that hall for a bit, before they turned again and wound up in the lab, where a ton of Missiles were awaiting them. Crystal cringed, though Arcanine pounded its paw fiercely on the ground, demanding they remove themselves from the area. Not a single one budged, as a few radioed in to their commanding officers.

“The girl is trying to escape!”

“Do not let her go under any circumstances!” The angry retort was blasted back to the grunts, whom, in return, chucked their black Pokeballs left and right. At least twenty Pokemon were released, and crowded around the two. The Arcanine took one decent breath in, and showers of embers danced around the area as a powerful stream of plasma created a path and deterred the grunts and their ‘slaves’. With Godspeed, the fire Pokemon dashed forward to the teleporter, roughly caused Crystal to slip off its shoulders, nudged her into the chamber, and intelligently pushed a series of buttons on the side to cause the girl to lose touch with reality.

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Feel free to post crits and comments on that thread. Also please let me know if there's any of those annoying symbol codes...I'm trying to edit that now.
 
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Hah, thank you for your kind words, Luc EX. A lot of people on POL (which is down at the moment, unfortunately) seemed to think so as well. Though, could I ask what you liked about it? The characters? The dark tone of it? I'm looking for feedback concerning what people liked or disliked about the story.

Also, the more comments I get, the quicker I can post up new chapters. I have 26 or so chapters to post up, so it'll be a while if I have to wait a week just to post up one new chapter. :D

Chapter 2- Recovery

Crystal found herself aimlessly floating in space, unaware of where she was headed. The stars danced painfully around her head, and she found herself gasping for breath. However, the light airy feel of the weightlessness came crashing down as stars became water and night sky. She tumbled through the air, and right into the water face first. The shock of the ice cold water flooded her mind, and her dumb limbs seemed to respond lamely to the water. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t get herself oriented to swim up, even if she had been one of the best swimmers in her area, due to the powerful Beghto Falls. She felt the black wave below her grabbing and pulling her down as she futily fought it. How was she to die so pathetically like this? It reminded her of when she had rescued that Pokemon, way back when, from the waterside. How is she doing, I wonder…? I hope she’s well. Crystal finally surrendered the forces around her, and she felt herself hit the bottom of the area. It was rather soft. And it moved. Wait, it...moved?! Even as her vision blurred, she clung to the hope it was a water Pokemon of some sort, and nudged it lightly with her remaining strength. She didn’t get a chance to see if it would rescue her or not.

“Huh? What’s going on down there?” Crystal, at a delicate age of seven, noticed a commotion occurring below the hill she was perched on with her small bike with training wheels. There was a Pokemon only a little smaller than herself- it appeared to be some sort of Raichu or Charmeleon, by the colors of it- harassing a Pidgey, though the appearance of the Pidgey was unusual. Its beak, tail, and talons were a bubblegum pink, and such a sight startled the girl. She promptly ditched her bicycle and hurried down the hill. “Hey! Hey! Leave it alone! It didn’t do anything to you!” Of course, it could’ve, but that was the decision that young Crystal had arrived at by the healthy appearance of the assaulter. They were on the Dawndew Lake’s edge, a place that Crystal had frequented often to daydream about her father and her siblings that had left on their adventures, as well as play with some of her bayside friends. But now, daydreaming was extremely out of the question. She stumbled at the foot of the hill a little, but appeared firm as she gazed at the flame Pokemon. It was definitely a Charmeleon. It slowly turned to her, deceit and darkness glazed over its eyes, furious that a human, of all things, would dare stop its attacks! Its tail blazed up, and it reared back. Crystal had heard of such a move all too often in Pokemon trainer shows, and she quickly dashed out of the way and into the water to avoid the broiling flames of Flamethrower. She began whistling and patting on the water around her, attempting to call her friends new.

“Hey! Kokomo! I desperately need your help! Please? There’s a mean fire type up here!” She had to dive in order to dodge a stream of flames again. Fortunately, the nicknamed Pokemon responded, and a Vaporeon surfaced. Its fins appeared more tan in color than their normal cream color, hence the tropical name. Crystal surfaced behind the eevolution, and the Charmeleon didn’t appear impressed. It prepared for another attack. “Kokomo! Watch out!” The Bubble Jet Pokemon wasted no time in launching a vicious Water Gun attack before the enemy could let loose the stream of flames again. It connected directly, and the Charmeleon staggered back for a moment.

It came back for more, and more angered than ever.

It wasted no time coming to the water’s edge, and, to Crystal’s great surprise, it waded in and made for a Slash at Kokomo, who wasn’t expecting the hit. Worried as to what she could do except continue cheering her friend on, she took a few glances at the Pidgey. It was breathing rather heavily, it appeared, and a few blood wounds could be seen. She took another look at the Charmeleon, and at how high it held its tail. Maybe…

Without a rational thought as to what may happen to her, she latched herself onto the Charmeleon’s tail, and dragged it almost into the water. The Flame Pokemon snapped, and turned to her. “Kokomo! Now! Please!” And, without hesitation, Kokomo responded to the plead with a nasty torrent of water to take the Charmeleon not only underwater for a time, but to send it over to the other bank of the huge lake.

The red Pokémon’s tail was still aflame as it crawled away on the wet ground, desperate to return to the forest area. At such a point, the soaked Crystal would’ve cheered her friend for being 'so…so awesome' and pampered it with a series of pets, but she took only the time to say a meek ‘thank you’ as she rushed over to the collapsed Pidgey. It cooed oh so softly as she brought it into her arms. “…we need to get you to a center, and fast…”


At that moment, her eyes shot open as the scene faded away, and she wasted no time nearly throwing up her lungs with her convulsed reactions. She was back in the conscious world, and her chest felt terrible as water poured out from her coughing fit. It seemed as though the paralysis had finally all but worn off, and she used it to her advantage; her motions were extreme as she attempted to rid the water out of her body, not used to functioning normally. Finally, she felt as though all of the liquid was out, minus a little that irritated her to cough and invoke sore rib muscles. Crystal finally took a moment to study her surroundings as she sat, sopping wet, in her puddle.

The area appeared to be like a lake, though the differences were notable in comparing it to Dawndew Lake; for one, it was in a crater upon a hill, rather than being in a gentle valley. Also, the area was far less wooded, and more stars could be seen, without the bright lights of Zenith City shaming them. It felt lonely, as well. Until, of course, a somewhat wet, slimy poke from behind startled the trainer into a yelp, followed by a coughing fit again.

As she turned around, she saw a Dratini, longer in length than her by a decent foot or so. Its calm, violet eyes scanned this human over in slight concern, though it appeared in good spirits. On its forehead, Crystal noticed rather rapidly, was the spot where the horn would grow when it evolved into a Dragonair- the spot was a very shiny black color, highly irregular for the Dragon type.

“Huh? A Dratini…?” She paused for a moment, catching her breath from her sudden shock. “…what’re you doing here? Is this your home? …Did you save me?”

To all of her questions, the Dratini nodded its head, and complied the nods with a small squeal. The squeal, of course, wasn’t too high-pitched, and so it was more pleasant than annoying, in Crystal’s mind.

“Well, um, thank you. I’m really grateful for that. Really, I am.” The Dratini paused for a moment, before looking at the stars. It then slid into the water, and off towards a wooded area. “H-hey wait! Where are you going?” the girl nearly choked on her words again, and began to shiver.

The Dratini took a long glance at her with a small ‘hmm’ sound, as it continued on. Crystal calmed down. Surely, wherever it was headed off to, it was doing her a kindness by perhaps getting one of its friends to help the girl out. And, sure enough, it did. It swam happily back, slithering onto land, and giant gusts accompanied it. Crystal had to force her arms up to her eyes as her wild bangs blew around, just to see the Dragonite that was landing in front of her. The huge tan-colored Pokemon scanned her over, seeing that she had been through some tough times. It mumbled something to the Dratini, before walking over to the human and crouching down, with a soft cry.

“So, I assume you’ll take me somewhere safe, then?…Thanks.” She cautiously clambered on, legs wrapped around behind its wings as she stretched forward to grasp a hold of its neck. It was too obvious that the girl was fatigued beyond all belief due to stress and the circumstances she had been through, and appeared as though she might return to the unconscious world at any time with her horrid shakes. The Dratini gave some sort of a wave farewell with her tail before it headed back into the water. Well, maybe it was about time that some good luck fell my way, Crystal thought. I mean, that Dratini saved me, and was warm enough to get one of its large kin to take me to safety. I wonder if it was wild? I wonder if it knew that I was a defenseless trainer? I wonder if- WHOA THAT’S FAST. Her thoughts ended abruptly as the Dragonite had taken wing, with amazing speed. Sure, she had heard that Dragonites could circle the world in a mere sixteen hours, but it was one experience that, even in such a delicate state of health, Crystal couldn’t help but enjoy. The wind chilled her, though, and by the short amount of time that it had taken them to find the small city closest to the lake, she had no energy for anything except shivering to keep herself slightly warm. Finally, down they went. Dragonite was efficient on time, and came to a stop at a large building, one the new trainer, despite lack of experience, immediately identified it as-

“A...Pokemon Gym...?” Her eyes widened as Dragonite made its way through the automatic door, and she saw that even at this late time of night there was a heated battle occurring.

“Come on, Kingdra, take it down! Use your Water Pulse!” shouted the opposing trainer, as it commanded the blue Pokemon, who had taken the opportunity to flood some of the field to sit in, shot water up in several pulses towards a soaring Charizard.

“Charizard, counter.” The proud gym leader, more than likely a strong trainer, remained calm and sure of himself, as his small grin proved, even though he had the type disadvantage. More pulses were fired as the agile fire type swerved around, and let loose a stream of blue-orange flames. It was a wonderful spectacle to behold, and that Kingdra was done in like dinner in no time flat, burns covering its body.

“Winner- Gym Leader Yondaime!” shouted the judge, as he held up a red flag, signaling what he had stated. The trainer recalled his Pokemon, cried out something that Crystal couldn’t discern, and took off past the Dragonite.

“Ah, another battle won. Aren’t there any decent challengers in the region anymore?” Yondaime stretched out a little before petting his Charizard affectionately on the snout. His brown eyes met with the fire lizard’s, as he spoke in a babying manner. “Naw, I think you’re too good for them. Yes, we could conquer any of them.” The Charizard let out a satisfied grumble as it closed its eyes, content with the praise. Dragonite walked over slowly. “Eh? Dragonite? You’re back early from the lake. What brings you here? Food, no doubt. No, wait- who’re you carrying there?” It took a moment for the gym leader wearing to notice just what was going on- he saw the girl lying on the border of being awake and asleep, shaking heavily, and took action. “Dragonite. Get her to the Pokemon Center down the road. We don’t have time to get her to the hospital. Hold on there, miss.” His words were not heard by her ears- she had passed out at that second.

Slowly, the crystal blue eyes struggled to droop open. She found herself wrapped up in several blankets, and in a set of temporary clothes. She was in a makeshift infirmary bed, meant for trainers who spent the night at centers. Her eyes finally focused on a Blissey running around rampantly, gathering all sorts of things and making sure that everything was alright in the area. As soon as it saw the conscious girl, the pink Pokemon wearing a nurse hat called out, “Bliss-Ey!” to get one of the nurses. And, surely, within seconds, a brown-haired doctor in a medical coat strolled in, clipboard in hand.

“Oh, you’re finally awake, I see.” Crystal nodded.

“How long was I out for?”

“Just for the night. Had quite a fever. You’re lucky we were able to get it down and prevent you from getting pneumonia. We also found some Stun Spore chemicals in your bloodstream; what happened?” The trainer was about to open her mouth when there was a hushed ‘excuse me’. The same gym leader Yondaime made his way into the room. Crystal was able to discern that he wore some relatively simple clothes for a gym leader- blue jeans, an orange shirt, and a green vest. She decided that the colors did not go together too well.

“Hey, how’re you doing, kid? Quite a risk taker, there, going for a swim so late at night, in cold waters.” he chuckled as the nurse rolled her eyes at his appearance before proceeding to take some temperatures.

“I fell in accidentally.”

“Oh, how’d that happen, then? Lemme guess- caught your eye on an onyx-horned Dratini, did you, and the little guy led you on a wild goose chase. Surely that was what happened, right?”

“No, it’s more…complicated than that.” She hesitated as the inner ear thermometer beeped a few times.

“Yeah? So do tell!”

“I was kidnapped, and then brought somewhere, and I barely escaped through a teleporter that threw me into the water.”

“Ooooh, excellent story!” Crystal couldn’t help feel slightly annoyed at this guy. His voice remained calm, though she could see where his excitement loomed near the surface of it. It was almost as though he took everything as a huge joke, and thought he knew everything in the world. “Team Missile, right? They’re such a drag, sometimes. Kidnapping, though, is different. How’d they get you? How’d you escape? Humor me.”

“Sir, I please ask of you to leave the room.” The nurse interjected, after she muttered ‘Ninety-eight-point-six- excellent.’

“Whaaaat? What I do this time? Did I water the Plant Pokemon wrong? Did I give the Fire types too much heat?”

“No, sir, this patient has obviously been through a good amount of stress. She needs her rest. We don’t need your antics to further that stress.”

“Aw, but I ain’t trying to make no harm done, missy! I was trying to brighten her day with a little sunshine, you know! Camman, you can’t seriously kick me out of here! I’m just a kidder! Laughing is proven to speed healing!”

“And it’s been proven that you’re a wannabe know-it-all! Out, out, out! Do rest up dear.” And, with that, the nurse closed the door. A single protest escaped Yondaime: ‘Don’t you worry, I’ll be back with tons of hilarity that I know you’ll appreciate!’ Crystal merely stared, and shook her head.

“Some people are definitely weird…” she lightly muttered to her self, sighing.

“And others are just as weird.” Again, the trainer’s heart skipped a few beats with the voice. The sun poured in, revealing the female figure from the Missile HQ.

“Oh, it’s you…thank you for getting me out of that mess. How’d you find me, and how’d you get in, by the way?”

“Meh, don’t worry about it. I’m civil enough to hate seeing people treated like that. And the window, of course. Snuck in after the nurse left. Wasn’t that hard. As for tracking you down, well, it wasn’t an easy task.” She paused for a moment, before walking over and settling down in a visitor’s chair. It was only then when Crystal was able to see the features of her face. The strong trainer remained serious in appearance, her gray and gold eyes gazing out piercingly. Her hair was jet black, messy, and kept boy short. It was very difficult to even tell that she was female, besides her slim build, her long eyelashes, and her voice. “Say…what’s your name, kid? I didn’t catch it back there.”

“Crystal. Crystal Hikara. And yours?” She paused for a moment.

“Kiyo. Kiyo Dustren. Oh, and I found your bag. Wasn’t sure as to what items you had, but they were all robbed. I scavenged a few of the boxes around the area and thought I’d be helpful by adding some potions and Pokeballs in.”

“Thanks. Did you find my Pokemon anywhere?” Briskly Kiyo looked away. “Kiyo…?”

“I searched all of the cages in the area, and the working area, as well. ****, I even took out a few Missiles and asked them." She paused again, and Crystal felt her stomach threatening to collapse. "…I’m sorry, I couldn’t find either one. They didn’t seem to know anything about it.”

“Do you think…?”

“Oh, I’m sure they managed to escape in the chaos, if anything.” Kiyo hastily tried to look on the bright side, sensing that it was a fragile thought, to think them injured or still enslaved- or worse. “Even if they are at low levels, the Pidgey has the advantage with an Oddish as a partner- it could get loose, get its partner loose, take it and fly up high, and let it use Stun Spore or Sleep Powder to get out.”

“Flora doesn’t know those moves yet.” the new trainer countered, even though it made her feel worse.

“Well, er, I’m sure that the Pidgey was able to lift both of themselves away to safety at any rate.” the elder of the two countered quickly. She let out a sigh, and ran her fingers gently through her sable, messy hair. There was a pause, before Crystal ventured a question.

“Hey, your eyes…why are they like that? I mean, not to be rude or anything, they’re just…”

“Hmmm?” she turned to face the girl. “Oh, my eyes? You mean the fact that my left eye is gold and the right silver, right? Don’t worry. I was born like that. It’s no different, really, than having one brown eye and one blue one. What about your eyes, eh? They aren’t exactly a popular shade of blue. You wear contacts or something…?”

“No, they’re natural. I get that a lot. That’s where my name comes from.”

“They’re rather pretty, if you don’t mind my opinion.”

“That’s what a lot of people say.”

“Lot of people, ey? What do you think of them?”

“They’re ok. I like that shade of blue. Sorta wanted to eventually get purple contacts, though. I think that’d be so cool.” The preteen couldn’t help a chuckle. That’d get her more stares than anything, even her ‘gift’.

“Ha, ok. I think I’m starting to see what kind of person you are.” Kiyo chuckled, leaving her new friend clueless. “Don’t worry about it. It was more of a personal comment.”

“Ah, okay.” Another short pause ensued, before Crystal asked another question. “Say, back there you had an Umbreon and an Arcanine. Those are two fairly powerful Pokemon. How many badges do you have? Or do you not have any?”

“Eh, I have seventeen, though I suppose one really doesn’t count. I’m not really allowed to challenge any other gyms around here for a badge, at any rate.”

“Se-seventeen badges?! That's...incredible! You probably have as many badges as my brother Ryouo!" The blond-haired girl beamed in amazement. She knew her brother was an incredible trainer, and travelled all over. He always told of his tales of conquering Kanto and Johto after he was through with Beghta when he visited home. However, something about the 'seventeen' badges and not being able to get any new badges somewhat...irked Crystal. "...you can't get any of the badges here? Why?”

“It’s complicated. I’d rather not get into the finer-pressed details of it all.”

“Okay…so, what are your other Pokemon?”

“My other Pokemon? Well, I have Umbree- that’s my Umbreon-, Arcanum, Charmeleon, though he likes to go by Blaze sometimes, Flareon, Skarmory, and a Gyarados that I nicknamed Jormungand. I have others, but those are the ones I tend to like to keep with me so I can travel freely.”

“Lots of fire types, yeah? But a 'Skarmory'? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Ha, yeah, I’m partial to warm climates and fiery Pokemon, I’ve found. Anyways, I’ve visited Johto a few times, and I found him there. They’re fairly native to the region, I think, though I’ve heard of a set of islands that might have them there, too. There might be other places, but I’m not sure as to where they would be.”

“Could I see him? Please?” Kiyo rolled her eyes at her pleading question.

“How’d I know you would ask? Fiiine.” She pulled out an odd-looking Pokeball, one that was a brilliant shade of green with a small yellow dot near the top of the ball. Four crimson stripes ran diagonally under the dot, two on either side. “Skarmory, come on out and say hi.” With that, the odd Pokeball threw itself open in her hand, as a bright white light materialized itself on the ground nearby. The light faded away, revealing the steel-flying bird of about six feet.

“Oh, wow! It’s a Steel type, Flying Pokemon!” Crystal sat up with enthusiasm at the sight of it.

“Tch’yeah. He is pretty cool.” As the metal bird awkwardly walked over to his trainer, Kiyo gently rubbed his head. He leaned heavily into it, giving a content cry. He soon appeared to become overwhelmingly affectionate, and the fire trainer had a hard time getting him off her case.

“How does he fly? I mean, if he’s metal and all of that…”

“Not sure...myself, really. I think all of the feathers are composed of a...durable aluminum or something that makes them have hard feathers but be fairly light as well,” she struggled with her words, pushing the beak of the bird out of her face.

“Wow. He is really cool though.” Crystal ventured forward a hand very carefully, and the Skarmory paused for a moment, taking in her scent, before tilting his head to the side a little and allowing her to pet him. Her small fingers ran over the malleable feathers slowly. “Oh, cool! The feathers are as flexible as normal ones! So awesome. It must be so awesome to travel to different regions where there are different Pokemon.” Skarmory scooted himself closer to the bed, so as to receive more feather-petting. His golden eyes closed, pleased, as it gave a metallic click of approval. Slowly he leaned into the rubbing, almost becoming overbearing with his love again. Crystal moved her other hand to rub the other side of the face; the feel of the feathers was just so amazing, something like she had never experienced before, and she found it difficult to stop, much like rubbing soft rabbit fur.

“Yeah, it’s neat sometimes.” Kiyo seemed to quiet down considerably, and turned her gaze to the window. The small grin from watching the girl rub the Skarmory’s head faded away. Crystal couldn’t help but pick up on the sudden change of attitude, and took her hands away from the Pokemon. Skarmory, of course, was not pleased, and whined about it. She paid no heed to the him as he now nudged her shoulder, begging for more. “…” Her odd-colored eyes fell back upon the new trainer. “Eh? What’s the matter?”

“I was about to ask the same thing. You looked as though something bothered you about that question.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, really. Ignore me.” Kiyo swatted her hand a little bit. “Just remembering past things, you know. Anyways, what of yourself? I know that you’re a new trainer and all of that. Where do you come from and that sort of junk?”

“I come from Dawndew Town, from a family filled with trainers. My eldest brother and my sister left on their own adventures.”

“Ah, so it runs in your blood, eh? Was your mother a trainer?”

“No, my dad is though. He left a long time ago, shortly after I was born, to do research on Pokemon as well as battle them. I think he went to a completely different part of the globe, even farther away than Hoenn or Sinnoh. He visits us sometimes though. It's great when he's home.” She took to subconsciously rubbing Skarmory’s feathers again (much to the delight of the bird), as she spoke. It didn’t seem to plague her as much as the question about traveling to Kiyo did, though it was obvious that there still was a little bit of concern in her eyes.

“Ahhh. You miss him at all?”

“Sorta. I never really got to know him that well. Mom tells me about all the things he’s done for the world so far. It’s pretty amazing, going by what she says.”

“What about your family?”

“Oh, you know. Same sort of deal. My brother Ryouo was the first to leave home on the road to catch Pokemon, when I was just one year of age. He’s an amazing battler. I haven’t seen him in a while, though he did stop by for my tenth birthday and gave me that bag as a gift. I think he made it himself, because it's meant for a lefty trainer, and, well, he's a lefty. Anyways, Kira's only a few years older than I, and she made it all the way into the Elite Four! She’s really something else. She got me a Pokegear for my journey. Lucky that Team Missile didn’t steal that- I had it hid on my upper arm. The only one that isn’t really into battling and the like is Wizar. He helps with construction projects around the area.”

“Wow. Guess you have some connections.” Kiyo took genuine interest into the conversation. “So, what of you mom then?”

“Oh, she’s crazy.” Crystal rolled her eyes, hands still combing through the aluminum feathers. “She wanted me to wait a while until I ‘grew up’ some more before taking on my adventure, but I couldn’t wait.”

“I can see where she would want you to wait, Ms. I-got-kidnapped-by-Team-Missile.”

“Hey, that's mean! They had never come this close to Dawndew before.”

“True, I guess.”

“Well, anyways, she called one of my Dad’s friends up- Professor Kiwori, you know- and he took time off from his research to visit us. He actually brought a few young Pokemon, and asked me if I wanted one as a starter, but since Breeze and I were such good friends from all the times we played in the forest together, I told him that I was fine catching a wild one as a starter, if I could just borrow one. I didn’t even need the Pokemon. Breeze flew down to see me, I showed her the Pokeball, explaining that I was going to start my adventure soon, and when I asked her if she wanted to join in, she happily pecked on the release button and that was that.”

“Intresting. Cool that you are so in harmony with Pokemon as to ask one if they want to leave home and become your Pokemon, and they understand and go with you on their own free will. The only two I didn’t get from hard effort and searching are Umbree and Flareon. I received an Eevee egg for my first Pokemon and then I adopted Umbree…” She sighed again. “No, all my other Pokemon gave me a real hard time, even the freaking Magikarp that became my Gyarados. I can’t even begin to tell you how many Fast Balls and Friend Balls I wasted trying to catch Skarmory here. Stubborn little thing.” She eyed said Pokemon, who gave a clicking cry of laughter and proceeded to nudge up against her some. “Mock me, eh? Fiiine. Be that way. See if you get any more petting from me for a while.” Skarmory zoomed over to his owner’s side, and stuck his face with pleading eyes in her face. “Nope. No guilt trip is gonna save you now, buddy. You're too affectionate as is.” The Pokemon prodded his beak on her cheek, giving her kisses, Crystal assumed. It chirped sorrowfully that it was sorry, and kept trying worm his way into her heart “Enough! Okay! You win! God!” Skarmory gave an almost fiendish smile, before turning to the preteen, giving a coo of thankfulness, before retreating into the ball on Kiyo’s waist. “I knew I should’ve stuck to Great Balls and Fast Balls. Friend Balls? Bad. Very bad.”

“I think it’s awesome that it loves you so much. I don’t get that sort of need for affection from anyone except from my mother's Wartortle." She sighed. How was that over zealous little fellow doing, anyways?

“No, trust me. It’s freaking ridiculous sometimes. …say, what’s that necklace?”

“Eh?” The young trainer’s eyes fell on down to her chest, where her fingers touched a small pendant. It was silver, with curls and little orbs of amethyst. In the middle of the pendant was a Pokéball, one that was locked into place. The top shell of the Pokéball, which was normally red, was a well-polished pink color that appeared marbled. “This little thing? My father gave it to me before he left when I was seven.”

“Is it a real Pokéball?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. I don’t think you could get this thing out of position if you asked a Machamp to tear it out. Besides, it’s smaller than normal Pokéballs when they’re shrunk.”

“You know what it’s made of?”

“Umm. I think it’s rose quartz, though I’m not positive. The little purple stones are amethysts, I know that much.”

“Huh. A rose quartz Pokéball.” Kiyo paused for a moment in thought. “Do you know why Team Missile wanted to kidnap you?”

“Eh, I think I do. It has to do with this gift I was granted a few years back.”

“Your necklace?”

“No, it’s-” A knock at the door broke Crystal’s train of thought.

“Who’re you talking to? You really ought to be resting.” The voice belonged to the nurse.

“I know, I apologize.”

“Well, I’ll be back shortly with some soup. I have to assume you’re hungry.”

“Oh, that’d be awesome. Thank you. But could you make that cereal?”

“You really ought to have soup so you can get back on your feet quicker.”

“Cereal, please. I’ll be fine soon anyways,” Crystal persisted, not wanting to insult the nurse with the fact that she didn’t like soup.

“Very well, if you insist so heavily on it.” The doctor's aide then left the doorway, off to prepare the meal. Crystal sighed.

“Anyways, as I was saying, the gift is…?” As she turned to face her new friend, she was surprised to find that the room was empty. A lonely breeze blew from the open window, as she sat in wonder. “…Kiyo Dustren.”
 
Hee, this will forever be one of my favorite Pokefics out there. I love the darker tone to the plotline, and that it isn't just about a generic Pokemon adventure... you know the deal. There were quite a few typos that I found in the first chapter, though nothing drastic. Gogo post more!
 
Haha, point out exactly what we're talking about there, missy. Talk to me about typos! You know I have trouble catching them!

...you also just like this story because you're in it. >>'

Anyways, your wish...

Chapter 3 - Gift, Curse

As the automatic door closed behind her, Crystal was glad that she was finally dismissed from the center in full-fighting health. The bright sunlight hurt her eyes, even when she shielded them, though they adjusted quick enough. The weather was better than the day before- there were no visible clouds that the eye could discern, minus a few cirrus clouds that spoke of the good weather. The girl breathed in the fresh air, and let it out slowly. Now what was she to do? She had lost all of her Pokémon at the base. She had no idea how far away the base was, nor did she want to return there any time soon. “Great. I can’t return home like this, after a week of being a trainer. None of my siblings would have any of it, surely.” Again, she let out a half-exasperated sigh, before a familiar voice caught her attention. She rolled her eyes.

“Hey! Hey miss! Remember me?” Oh god no. She turned to face the Gym Leader Yondaime, who was making his way through the somewhat busy streets to greet her, or so she feared. Her fears were right on the money; he slowed to a halt in front of her. Well, his Pokémon did get her to the Pokémon Center, so she owed it to him to be nice. For a while.

“Oh, hi.” She blinked.

“You all better, then?”

“Yeah, it’s about time they let me out, too.” She readjusted her bag on her shoulder.

“That’s good to hear. So, what’s your name, miss? You’re a new face around these parts. You a trainer? Just arrive in town?”

“Yeah. My name is Crystal. I came from Dawndew. Err…where exactly is here, anyway?”

“Oh, you don’t know? This is Twilitsong City. Surely you’ve heard of it? And Dawndew’s a good way away from here.” He fiddled a tad with his messy, mud brown hair.

“It is? Oh AWESOME. And no. I just started my adventure a few days ago- a week, to be honest.”

“How’d you get here so quickly? You have some powerful Pokémon to start with?” His eyes flared up- evidently he was one of those types that lived to battle.

“No, no, I told you before. Team Missile kidnapped me, and I barely escaped.”

“Ha, the same joke isn’t funny twice, Chris. You don’t mind if I call you that, right? Now, seriously, could I see your Pokémon?”

“I just prefer Crystal, thanks, and I’m not lying. They stole my Pokemon.” She showed him her empty belt. He seemed to give her a funny look, then seemed to take her seriously.

“Why’d they kidnap you?”

“Heck if I know!” She responded angrily. “Here I am, minding my own business, and they come out of the blue, plan a trap for me, and then the next thing I know I’m in their HQ, and if it wasn’t for Kiyo, jeez, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me!” He was taken aback by her rant.

“Wow. That’s one bad way to start an adventure.”

“You think?” She rolled her eyes, and turned away. “I have to go. I’m sorry I blew up on you like that.”

“Whoa, whoa, are you crazy?” He took a light hold of her arm. “Taking off without a Pokémon to protect you? They’ll be looking for you if you escaped, for sure! They’d jump you, and then you’d be back where you started!”

“That’s the plan, sort of.”

“Whaaaaaaat?!”

“If I’m going to get my Pokémon back, I have to go back there. Then I can find a way out again.”

“That’s insane! Dude, I’ve heard some people call me crazy, but this is a whole different slice of the cake!” Yondaime tried to stop her again, though she broke his grip, and gave him a determined look. “…I suppose it’s something I can’t argue with you about, huh? …Fine. You can go. Do you have a Pokénav or something like that?”

“I have a Pokégear- why?” She rolled up her right sleeve lightly, and it was positioned on a soft black band. She slowly moved it back down to her wrist, figuring all her troubles were gone for the moment.

“I’ll give you my number. That way, if you do get caught, and can’t get out, I can track you down if you call.” That pushed Crystal over the edge. Most certainly she did not want help from this guy. She didn’t want to be indebted to him any more than she was already.

“No thanks, I think I’ll pass. I’m sure I’ll get in and out alright.”

“Oh come on, now you’re just being blinded!”

“I’ll be blind as a Zubat if I want. I appreciate the help last night, and I thank you and your, uh, big dragon thing, but I have to do this myself. I can’t keep relying on other people.” And, with that, she took off towards the edge of the city where she saw some trees. I might not know where I’m going, I might not have any Pokémon, but that isn’t going to stop me. I will find Breeze and Flora. She slowed down to a walk, then to a halt, as she looked behind her. There was no sign of Yondaime following her. Good, she decided. She started again, but as she passed a tree she stopped again.

“Where’re you off to?”

“Oh, Kiyo.” She turned to face the figure, who was leaning on the back of the oak. “…I’m going to find my Pokémon.”

“Without any to protect yourself? Are you really that naïve? Camman.”

“I figure that if the Missiles find me again and take me away-”

“-you’ll find their HQ, yeah, but do you really think that they’ll keep you in such low grade holding again? I’ll say it again- you’re being naïve and stupid about this. And I’m not going to go in there again to rescue you.”

“I’m not naïve!” Crystal furiously exclaimed.

“Oh really?”

“Yes!”

“So, then, what does this happen to be?” Kiyo held up a Pokégear, and twirled it by the key chain attachment.

“I don’t get…you thief!” The new trainer started, but noticed that her Pokégear was missing from its band.

“Relax, it’s not like I’m taking it for myself. But that’s the idea- you put too much trust in who you think you can trust…including yourself. It’s kinda admirable that you have such blunt courage to openly turn yourself in, but it’s not cool when you’re being dumb. Will you listen to the voice of reason…over some lunch?” Crystal opened her mouth to counter again, though her stomach replied for her. “Excellent. I know this great little place. Come on.”



“I apologize openly if I was a little harsh on you back there.” Kiyo gazed up at Crystal before she took a small mouthful of soba. The two had decided to eat at a small restaurant, named ‘The Wise Kadabra’. It had mainly Chinese food, though it had a few Japanese recipes, as well. Crystal feverishly ate some teriyaki, famished. Cereal just did not fill her up well. After swallowing her bite, she took a small drink of water.

“S’alright. You were right. I was just a little driven to get them back, that’s all.” And, with that, more food was stuffed in her face.

“Jeez, you look as though you haven’t eaten in a day! Slow down there, or you’ll choke yourself!”

“I haven’t! They didn’t feed me at the HQ, and I slept all night! A bowl of cereal does nothing for my hunger!”

“I guess.” Kiyo cocked an eyebrow, and gave a small laugh as Crystal spluttered a little as the food attempted to go down the wrong pipe. “See, I told you. Woooow. Hahahaha.” After choking down some water and the occasional cough, Crystal returned to normal.

“Still, what do I do now? I’m pretty much stuck in one place if I don’t get my Pokémon back. I’m just really worried for Breeze. She and I go way back. We played together when I was five and she a hatchling.”

“I know. It’s a really bad dilemma. I can understand that bond. But recklessness isn’t the answer. Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if Team Missile migrated from that base to another, where it’s harder to find. They’ll be lying low for a while, after my little infiltration.”

“What happened in there, by the way?”

“Oh, it’s a long story.” She paused with her chopsticks, clicking them together occasionally. “Well, I was going in there to do a little looting. You see, they had recently raided a campsite of mine, and I was angered. So, I hopped on Skarmory, and I flew around for a little bit, when I found them not too far away from my home town, Sunburst. Well hidden by the forest, that’s for sure. I was lucky that Skarmory’s keen eyes spotted the factory. So, I found a small entrance through the ventilation system, and I crawled on in, right? Of course, the Missiles were well aware of the entrance, and so I tripped an alarm. I was looking for some place that is used for storage, so I could grab my stuff, and I noticed that there’s only one Missile grunt in the room you were being held in, except he wasn't moving from his post. Which is odd, because normally they leave their stations unless they are guarding something valuable. I carefully moved the vent out of the way into the room, and I landed perfectly on this grunt. You saw it- it was a thing of beauty, yeah?”

“Trust me, it was.” Crystal nodded fiercely.

“Hahaha, thought you’d say that. Anyways I met you, sent you on your way- you know that. I left the room, and there’s a ton of Missiles waiting. That got a little ugly. I pretty much had to send out all five Pokémon and play some serious multitasking in order to take them all out. Good thing they specialize in Poison types and Grass types- Umbree was able to take down a good amount of them without a problem. So, I delved in deeper, looking for your Pokémon, and I found your bag. I grab it, some items, and recover what was stolen from me. Blah blah blah, more grunts come, I dealt with them, et cetera, and I finally got to this stadium room. I have some…issues with one of the admins, to say.”

“Issues?”

“Yeah. I’d rather not talk about it here, though.” Kiyo sighed, taking a small bite, before continuing, “I started the battle with her, at any rate, and it got cut a little short as reinforcements poured in, following my Arcanine. Now, the admins are much more powerful than the grunts. That’s obvious. So I knew I couldn’t take them all on. I had Flareon use Smokescreen, and I flew out of that coop real quick on Arcanum. She let me know in her way that you had been teleported to safety, though she didn’t know where, so I started around the area. Lucky for you Arcanum was able to pick up on your scent, and she lead me right to Twilitsong. I saw that you were admitted to the Center in an emergency, and so I decided to keep quiet until you woke up the next morning.” The chopsticks twirled around aimlessly in the soup. Crystal had finished her teriyaki at this point. “Say…before the nurse came in, what were you going to say?”

“Huh?”

“About this gift.”

“Oh, that.” Crystal paused, gazing outside into the bright world. “Promise you won’t think me crazy, and you won’t spread the word?”

“Hah, too late for that, girl.”

“Hey!”

“No, don’t worry. I’m not any sort of gossip. I despise gossips, really.”

“Well, alright.” She sighed, took in a breath, and made sure no one was paying attention, before she said it in an extremely hushed whisper.

“I can speak and understand Pokémon openly.”

Kiyo stared at her blankly, before bluntly laughing at her.

“You’ve got to be joking, right? Cuz this is really hilarious.”

“No. I’m serious. I can hear Pokémon basically talking in plain, old English.”

The fire Pokémon trainer put her chopsticks down. Her chuckles were no more.

“You’re dead serious.”

“Yes.”

“...Man. That’s one heck of a gift. No matter why the Missiles wanted to get a hold of you.” Kiyo was overwhelmed with this news, and ran her fingers through her short hair. “You definitely can’t return then, not until we get you some Pokémon. How’d you get this gift, anyways?”

“Well, it all happened on a day when I was seven… It was a nice enough day, I think. I can’t quite remember. Anyways, I was taking a ride through the woods around my area, though not too far off on the route. I knew better than to do that. I was walking by Dawndew Lake, and I remember seeing a Charmeleon- a really ruthless one- attacking a poor Pidgey that had pink feathers, beak, and talons. Like, I’m talking the color-of-my-bangs pink. So, I rush down there, and I call out my friend from the lake, Kokomo. She's a Vaporeon. Through some hard work, Kokomo was able to throw the Charmeleon on the other side of the lake by using Surf. It was in good time, too. The Pidgey had taken a lot of damage…” Her voice continued on, as she remembered back to the day.



Crystal had abandoned her bicycle, and was trudging down the road with the terribly wounded Pidgey in her arms. Seeing this, her friend Breeze, much smaller than when the girl invited her to travel with her three years later, swooped down, wondering what was going on.

“Breeze! This Pidgey’s been badly injured. Can you go on up ahead and get some help?!”

“Kuuu!” She firmly shook her head, and took off towards the town. Despite her size, Breeze was extremely swift on the wing.

It didn’t take long for help to greet Crystal grimly as she rushed into town. Professor Kiwori had been visiting the town after doing research in Zenith City, and it was a good thing, too.

“What happened? I saw Breeze trying to explain it to me, but I can’t understand her.”

“This Pidgey was attacked by a Charmeleon! Oh, Professor Kiwori, it doesn’t look too good!” She showed the torn Pokémon to him, and he wasted no time gingerly taking the bird from her hands.

“No, it doesn’t look good. I’ll take it to your house, and see what I can do, but without a nurse, this Pokémon might not make it. You need to go to Sunrise City, and quickly! Crystal, I’ll tell your mother where you’re going. Take this, and use it only if you need to use it. It’s one of my Pokémon.” He handed her a red orb, which she took with shaking hands. True, it wasn’t hers, but being allowed to handle a Pokéball was something she dreamed about. “Now, quickly! Go!” Crystal nodded, and with Breeze following her, she took off on Route 47. She found her bike not too far away from where she had left it to protect the Pidgey, and took it up. She pedaled with all of her might, but it seemed too slow. Breeze suddenly darted far ahead, just as the city came into view. It didn’t take her too long to greet a Nurse who followed the Pidgey, waiting for news. The ambulance was dispatched, and Crystal waited in the Pokémon Center for them to come back...


“Kadabra.” The psi Pokémon, one of the many psychic types that worked well as waiters in the restaurant, cut her off in her story. She stared at it as it motioned towards the plates that hadn’t been touched.

“Oh?” She looked at Kiyo, who was watching intently. “Check please. You’re paying Kiyo.”

“I know.”

“Thank you.”

“Kadabra.” It muttered, as the plates organized themselves neatly psychically and were carried away.

“What did it say?”

“It was wondering if we were done.”

“I meant after you said thank you.”

“Ah. It was a simple ‘You’re welcome.”

“Really? Huh. I thought it’d be more of a grumble at working.”

“Nah, most Pokémon don’t mind it really. They help out their owners, and in turn the owners are able to give them humble abodes, good food, and more affection, you know.”

“It must be neat being able to understand them sometimes.”

“Sometimes it can be a curse, too.”

“...Understandable. Things have their drawbacks as well as positive influences.” Kiyo pulled out some currency and prepared to leave. “So, you said you can talk to a Pokémon. Can’t we all?”

“Well, it’s a little odd, actually. When I respond to something the Pokémon says without putting too much thought into it, it comes out as, well, Pokémon talk. I think even though Pokémon can be trained to understand some words in English, they really don’t know all that much.”

“Can you show me?”

“Not here. I don’t need to draw any attention to myself, especially not with the Missiles probably out and looking for me.”

“Ah, yeah, I meant outside.”

“Sure. In the woods?”

“Alright by me.” They both left their booth, leaving a well-earned tip for the Kadabra, and exited.



“Ok. So, which Pokemon do you want me to talk with?”

“Oooh, talk with Skarmory. Tell it to stop being so pesky and so affectionate.” Kiyo rose her Pokéball, and once again the Pokémon was out and about. He saw Crystal and gave a simple squawk, a simple ‘Hello.’

“Hi to you too.” Crystal countered, and the Skarmory took a little surprise. Kiyo watched on curiously, as well.

“Eh?”

“I said ‘hi to you too’.”

“You understand me? And can speak Pokémon, too?” The Skarmory shimmied over, head tilted off to the side in curiosity.

“Yeah.”

“You’re the one from a little earlier today, right?”

“Yah. That’s me. Say, uh…” She gazed at Kiyo for a moment, before returning her attention to the metal bird. “Why are you so affectionate towards her, anyways?”

“Oh? Kiyo! She’s awesome." He suddenly closed his eyes in contentment. "She’s put in a lot of time and effort into raising me and feeding me and stuff. How can I not be?”

“Well, she believes that sometimes you…over-do it.”

“Really?” He questioned. His peak clicked nervously as he tilted his head off to the side.

“Yeah. I don’t know. She doesn’t seem to like to be suffocated to death by affection all of the time.”

“Huh…I never thought of her like that.” He gave a puzzled glance back to his trainer. “I just wanted to give her back some of the love she’s given me.”

“Interesting.” Crystal turned to Kiyo, and forced out English. “Ha, he says that he’s so affectionate to you because you were so kind in raising him.”

“Say what?”

“I’m speaking English, right? Sometimes I have an issue switching back if I don't have someone speaking it trigger my speech back.”

“Yeah you are, it’s just…I didn’t think that he would be that affectionate over that.” She admitted, and stared at her partner.

“Oh, she never knew this, by the way.” 'Skar' caught her attention again.

“Huh?”

“Well, I was sort of the runt of the nest, you know. I never really got too much attention.”

“Is that why you’re so attached to her?”

“Maybe. I don’t know,” the Skarmory ruffled his feathers together after muttering, making some bizarre clinking sounds.

“Huh.” Again, she reverted back to human speech. “Ha, he said he was the runt of the litter, and thus never got too much attention. He must’ve taken all the love you poured into devoting attention to him, and really appreciated that.”

“Wow. Um…damn. I had no idea.” Kiyo reached back and scratched her shoulder. “You aren’t pulling something over my head, right?”

“No. Why would I?”

“Ehh. I dunno. Maybe now it’ll leave me alone a little more?”

“That’s not something I have control over. You work that out with Skarmory. I’ve proved to you my point.” Crystal yawned lightly.

“Aight, aight. Fine by me. Hey, Skarmory. Kemmere.” Slowly, the metal bird awkwardly clambored over on sharp talons, though he didn’t show the boisterous love towards her. “Aw, no need to be all like that. You can be affectionate. Agh! Just not that affectionate!” She rubbed his beak and pushed him off of her, because as soon as she said otherwise, he was right up in her face again. There seemed to be a moment where they reached a compromise. “Ok. That’s finally settled. It’s about time. Thank you. Wow.” The elder trainer repeated herself, and shook her head, before recalling a happier Skarmory. “One heck of a gift.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Ok, well, hmm. I guess we have to get you started back on your adventure. Alright, I’ll make you a proposal. I’ll stick by your side, an’ make sure that Team Missile doesn’t try anything stupid, and I’ll help you get a good Pokémon to raise until you can find Breeze, and in exchange, you can talk to wild Pokémon for me and see if you can find a certain Pokémon that I’ve been looking for. Fair?” Although Crystal didn’t like the thought of using her gift a ton in order for Kiyo to just find a Pokémon, she did need her help, and desperately. Kiyo extended her hand, waiting for agreement or not. Hesitantly, Crystal took a hold of her hand in a firm shake.

“Fair.”

“Alright.” Kiyo took her hand away. “So, what sort of starter do you think would be good?”

“I dunno.”

“Camman, surely you can think of a Pokémon around the area that’d fit you.” The blonde trainer paused, about to say something, before her mind flashed to the lake where she fell in.

“…Dratini. There’s this one Dratini that saved me when I fell in the lake last night.”

“Alright, a Dratini we will catch, then! Twilit Lake, yeah? Let’s set out then.” Kiyo smirked, and started off. “Come on. You won’t want to forget your Pokégear again, would you?”

“What the…Kiyo!” Crystal sprinted off, as she discovered the gear missing. Again.

“Hahaha. Jeez, you’re so serious, for someone who speaks like a cat when talking to Pokémon.”
 
>_> Hope it's alright to post a new chapter up...I do have somewhere around 25 chapters to post up still after this.

Chapter 4: Sheer Luck

“You’re awfully quiet.” Crystal turned to her new companion that appeared as a male.

“Huh? Oh. Yeah,” she quiescently responded, eyeing a family of Mareep off the side of the road. Mareep had been known in the region from Johto and make a few nests in the area. Evidently, Route 59 was one of those nesting areas.

“You always this quiet?”

“Sorta.” She sighed, listening in on the babbles of the sheep Pokemon. The route to Twilit Lake was short in comparison to the road to Sunrise when hoofing it, but the familiar sounds of Pidgeys roosting and Eevee playing were replaced by only the occasional cry of a cricket.

“What, you want a Mareep?” she rose up a Pokéball, ready to toss it over to Crystal, but the blonde shook her head.

“Nah. I can catch one after I get a Dratini.”

“Heh, that’s if we can get that Dratini. You know how slippery those things can be, yeah? Quite a few have even eluded me.” Kiyo fixed her silver jacket a tad, appearing professional.

“You’ve caught a Dratini?”

“What? You thought that all I’ve caught is on my team, don’t you?” she chuckled softly. “Nah, I’ve got a ton of Pokémon. Really, I like a lot of different types, not just fire types. For instance, I have a Jolteon that I send into my team instead of Flareon from time to time, like today. Really screws up the opponent’s idea of only having fire types in my team, and then wham! I get them with a vicious Thunderbolt. Hahaha.”

“Good thinking. How many Pokémon do you have?”

“Eh? Oh, prolly somewhere in the hundreds. I haven’t really-” But Crystal, who was now more excited than just being engaged in the conversation, cut her off.

“Wow! That really is a ton! Where do you keep them all if you’re only allowed six at a time?”

“Well, some of my Pokémon are let out and about by a friend back at Sunburst each day. The other are stored in my PC electronically as data, ad they’re linked to Bill’s storage system.”

“Bill? Storage system?”

“Shee, didn’t you go to school for trainers?”

“No, my mom was hoping desperately that I’d lose interest in becoming one. It didn’t happen that way though.”

“Oh, this oughta be fun then.” Her gold-and-silver eyes rolled in sarcasm, before she began; “Lessee, Bill lives in Johto with his family, though occasionally he takes to his cottage in Cerulean City in Kanto, or so I’ve heard. Evidently he’s what you call a Pokémaniac. Ha, I’ve heard he’s got more Pokémon than the Champion of Kanto. I guess that’s not enough for him. I think he put his genius into creating the entire basis of the storage system for all of the local regions. He built a machine that can send the Pokémon to and from laboratories of the region, too.”

“That’s awesome! You know how it works?”

“Are you kidding? I’m a trainer, not a computer whiz.” Kiyo gave a short laugh as they continued on the brief route. “It’s stores my Pokémon so I can access them in Johto and Beghta freely. ‘Sall I need to know.”

“The system is connected to other regions?”

“Yeah. Since he travels so much, he got the idea, I guess, to do that. Not sure if it’s linked to Hoenn or Sinnoh, though. I’ve heard that they have similar systems there, however.”

“Sounds like I have a lot to learn about these sorts of things, then,” Crystal giggled lightly and humbly.

“Fo’sho. I’m still learning myself,” Kiyo nodded, and silence once again fell for a time.

“Say…” Crystal shattered the serene area after a few moments, as the road began to steepen. “What Pokémon are you wanting me to find, exactly?”

“A fire type, of course. It’s a Hiune."

“Isn’t that the newly discovered baby form of Vulpix or something?”

“You got it.”

“Aren’t they not supposed to be found in the wild, though?” The newbie trainer rose an eyebrow. She knew, and fairly well, that most baby Pokemon were well protected by their parents until they evolved, hence why there were such a rare occurrence in the wild.

“Eh, yeah, but still…”

“Why not just raise one yourself?”

“Meh, it takes too long, for one, and I don’t have a Vulpix to breed. They’re rare as is in Beghta, and inexistent in Johto. I think that there is one place you can catch them in Kanto, and one in Hoenn, but I’m not going all that way to catch one. Besides, the Hiune I’m looking for is…unique.”

“Unique?”

“Yeah. It has long been rumored that Ninetales can develop psychic powers and live long lives. At any rate, most Ninetales look forward to the day that they can, you know, finally rest and meet their old masters that have surely passed on into heaven or ****, or whatever you wanna call those places. Well, occasionally, or so they say, a Ninetales clings stubbornly to life, perhaps fond of a trainer it has then or something like that. So, the Ninetales’ soul chooses to possess a tiny embryo of a Hiune, which hasn’t received a ‘soul’, if you will, and when the Hiune comes out, it’s pure white with a bluish tail instead of a reddish coat and white tail, and can learn things like Psychic, Confusion, Teleport- stuff like that.”

“So you want me to find a white Hiune,” Crystal appeared still confused.

“Yah, you heard me. It’s a pretty abstract concept. I don’t blame you if you don’t understand or anything.”

“Why, though? Did you have a Ninetales that, you know, passed away recently, and promised you to come back?” Here, Kiyo paused.

“Sorta kinda. The Ninetales did know me as a good friend, though not as my Pokemon, yes. I’d rather not get into it.”

“Understandable.” A white Hiune. Why would it be white, in such a case? What made it such a different color? The new trainer couldn’t help but wonder. It sounds powerful enough, for a baby Pokémon. Hmmm. This will get interesting.

“Finally; we’ve arrived.” Crystal looked up at Kiyo’s words, and beheld the expansive water mass that was Twilit Lake. “Excellent. There ought to be all sorts of little critters hanging around here. Well, let’s get to work!” They stood at the peak of the crater, but the trainer wouldn’t have any of it. She hopped onto the steep slope, and with some serious might she kept her balance and slid down quite a few good yards.

“Are you serious? Aieie! Forget that! I’d fall and break an ankle!” The younger of the two glanced around quickly, and found a series of steps that lead to the bottom. She walked over, and slowly made her way down to where her impatient elder was waiting.

“Jeez, you take forever and a day, don’t you?” the onyx-haired teenager shouted to her from her place at the waterside.

“What’s the rush? I don’t feel like busting my foot today,” was the response.

“No rush, no rush, unless you want to get your Pokémon back sooner.”

“It’d only be by a few seconds!”

“A few seconds could provide a chance encounter with them! You never know! Camman!”

“Ok, ok, I’m down already. Sheeesh,” the girl panted from the somewhat difficult climb down, before regaining her composure. Her crystal orbs gazed around, before snapping to see Kiyo sitting with some sort of rod in her hand, a hook, line, and sinker settled in the water. “What’re you doing?”

“Shh. You’ll scare them away,” Kiyo hushed Crystal, her eyes still focused on the bobber, which danced occasionally.

“I could always just ask to see the Dratini that saved me…”

“Nope, we’s gonna catch you a starter Pokémon the honest way today!” And suddenly, the bobber took a plunge, and the line spiraled out, until Kiyo set the hook. “Oh, yeah! Bound to be..,” she struggled with her words as she stood firm, reeling it in, “…A big one!” With a few more seconds, she tore it out of the water with a mighty splash, a tiny rainbow forming from the water droplets nearby.

It was a pathetic Magikarp, who begged to be let loose to return to his little colony.

“A big one, ey Kiyo?!” Crystal couldn’t help guffawing as the angry Kiyo unhooked it and tossed it back in swiftly.

“Fine, Ms. Big Shot! Let’s see you catch one, then! Ha, this’ll get good.” She shoved the rod into Crystal’s unexpectant hands, which surely startled her.

“Er, ok…” Carefully she set the bait, set the line, and tossed it out. It landed with a small ‘sploosh’ not too far from where Kiyo had cast it out to. Kiyo had her arms crossed, adamant that this newbie trainer surely couldn’t catch anything.

Hikara nearly dropped the line when she saw the bobber jiggle.

“Not yet…keep it steady…make it dance for it a little…”

“I thought you wanted to see me catch one on my own!”

“Well, here’s your chance,” the fire trainer pointed, and the newbie saw the bobber dive like there was no floor. “Quick! Pull it in! Latch the hook on!” Crystal, who was baffled, merely tried to bring the line in. Whatever it was, it was light. Or…

“Hey! It’s not even on the hook anymore! What the…” Kiyo didn’t have a chance to finish her words, before the shadow wiggled out of the water with a greater splash from before. Crystal’s eyes widened as the long sea serpent Pokémon landed near her. It eyed her mysteriously, and its onyx horn stem shone brightly and smoothly in the sunlight. Even Kiyo was taken aback as she rose one of her Pokéballs up.

“I’ve heard of Dratinis giving humans the runaround before, but never, never have I seen a Dratini openly challenging a human to battle.

“Quick! Crystal! Take it! I put my Jolteon into my party before we left. It’ll obey you as long as I’m right here.” Kiyo, after her mutter of amazement, shoved the Pokéball into Crystal’s hands, taking the fishing rod away. She gulped, before tossing it upwards.

“Go! Jolteon!” she cried out, and with a flash from the Pokéball came the rather spiky lightning Pokémon. It eyed her warily, almost threateningly, but with a nod from Kiyo, it stood firmly at Crystal’s side. It growled menacingly at the Dratini, who appeared ready for battle.

“Ok, Jolteon, what do you know?” Crystal suddenly switched to the Pokémon language, and the Jolteon stared at her.

“You talk in our language?” The Jolteon, evidently female, responded.

“Yeah! Wait, watch out for that!” She pointed at the Dratini, who’s onyx horn glowed a brown-gray, before releasing several waves of lightning at Jolteon.

“Psh. You mustn’t know that much yet about Pokémon,” she simply stood there, taking the shocks in without harm.

“How…?”

“I have an ability known as Volt Absorb. It prevents me from receiving any damage from lightning attacks. I benefit from it, actually, because I gain health from it. Ok, I know Pin Missile, Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, and Thunder. Quickly, before that cunning little Dratini makes another move.”

“Ok! Um, Jolteon, use Pin Missile on Dratini!” she switched back to English.

“Hey! What’d I tell you about using your power?” Kiyo shouted from the sidelines.

“How was I to know what moves it had otherwise?” she retorted, eyes concentrated on battle. Jolteon stretched her hind legs out as tall as she could make them, before bending her fore legs and shooting needles out from her jagged fur. Three waves of the pins shot out and connected with the Dratini, though it seemed unphased. It reared back, and with its horn this time created a huge cyclone of wind which Jolteon took rather well. She awaited the next command.

“That last attack seemed to do nothing…Jolteon, try a Thunderbolt this time!”

“You’s gonna bee-bee-que hacks that thing!” Kiyo laughed as she spoke in an internet language.

“I’m going to what?”

“Oh, never mind.” And, it was a fierce display, as the lightning Pokémon accumulated tons of negative ions from the atmosphere to blast out a bolt of lightning at the Dratini. It crackled, and appeared in pain for a moment, before it was released from the attack.

But it still looked fierce.

“Crystal, catch it already!”

“Huh? But it doesn’t look worn out at all…”

“It probably-whoa!” Kiyo’s words were cut off as suddenly the Dratini shot forward and tackled Jolteon with some heavy force.

“Ok! Jolteon, try Thunderbolt again!” But, before the charges could be cumulated once more, the Dratini, who had hopped back, faded from existence. They could only watch as Jolteon staggered back, as the Dratini returned into view far away.

“What the…that thing knows Extremespeed!”

“Extremespeed?!”

“It’s a move that always strikes first, and is only really found in fast Pokémon, like my Arcanine. But a Dratini that knows it is definitely a rare occurrence that goes beyond natural breeding. That’s one heckova Pokémon right there, Crystal. Perhaps we’re taking it too lightly.”

“Well… Jolteon, are you ok?” Jolteon didn’t answer, but gathered several other ions up. Clouds started to darken in the region. “Kiyo! What’s it doing?!”

“Hey hey! Jolteon! What’s up! She said Thunderbolt, not Thunder!” Kiyo shouted, but the Pokémon started to merely glow. “Oh, this isn’t good. She does have an adamant nature…now that she’s found a worthy opponent, she’s going to fight it…at all costs. Hope you brought some sunglasses, ‘cus it’s gonna be bright soon.” Even the Dratini could sense the oncoming attack, and it wigged out a little, before trying to run away.

“Agh! No! It’s gonna run from the battle!”

“Not if Jolteon has anything to say about it…” Kiyo muttered, and the Jolteon agreed. The thunder churned in the clouds, and it suddenly sent a huge orb of lightning charge into the sky. It rained down on Dratini, which had stopped dead in its tracks at the water side.

Kiyo was right; it was a brilliant display of electricity and light, and it blew her little frame back a few inches when it hit. She shouted something indiscernible against the deafening boom, but she could only wait for the end to come to the attack. And that it did.

Dratini lay limply on the ground, a few electric arks covering its body. It panted heavily against the ground, and was apparently paralyzed in place. Its wet body had acted as a conductor for the strike.

“See? I told you you would bee-bee-que hacks it! Catch it! Quickly!”

“Ok! Come on!” She hastily pulled out a capsule ball, and widened it. She gave it a light peck before throwing it at the wounded Pokémon. It vanished as the ball’s button depressed on the Dratini, and it disappeared into it. Even if it was at the brink of unconsciousness, the Dratini was fighting strong. The red light continued to glow for what seemed ages, and it wreathed back and forth.

Finally, it went off with a click, and a light seemed to encircle the ball. A black seal slowly slunk up and covered the ball, minus one small circle on top and two wing-like spots on the side, which became a light shade of blue and white respectively, much like the Dratini. It was done like dinner.

Crystal immediately celebrated. She wildly embraced Jolteon, whom appeared satisfied with the capture as well. Kiyo chuckled and shook her head as she recalled her Thunder Pokémon.

“Well, I have to give you credit for guts and some sheer luck right there. Never have I seen a Dratini put up quite a fight like that in a while, and have enough spunk to still challenge a trainer, even if it got off the fishing hook.” Crystal happily shrugged, shuddering from the adrenaline rush that died off slowly in her veins, as she wobbled over to the Pokéball.

“Huh? Hey, it changed color…”

“Eh? Whaddaya mean?” Kiyo hurried on over, as the new trainer picked it off of the damp soil, brushing some dirt that clung stubbornly to it.

“See? The ball is all black with a sky blue dot and some wing thing going on.”

“Weeeeeird. I’ve never seen a Pokéball do that before, unless it was done by the trainer. Hmm. Oh, by the way, we should prolly get that Dratini all healed up.”

“Oh, yes! That’d be terrible to leave it like it is, especially after it saved me and all. Shoot. To the Pokémon Center…!” However, as the blue-eyed trainer shot off to take the ‘staircase’ again, Kiyo held onto the back of her bag, effectively yanking her back. “Gghhhn!”

“Slow down there, you Rapidash!” Haven’t you heard of medicine?” she sighed at Crystal’s naïveté, not waiting for a response, and pulled down her own bag, which was probably meant more for men than women in load capabilities. She unzipped a side compartment, fiddled with the contents, and pulled out a can of lemonade and a cookie.

“Eh? Snacks? I thought you said-”

“Nah, these things are medicine to Pokémon, too; they work wonders and they’re far less expensive than conventional spray-type potions and status healers, and definitely so in bulk. Lemonade for health, and a homemade cookie I made myself to heal that paralyzation it surely has. Go on. Take out your Dratini friend and help it drink and eat, though I would suggest you cure its status issue first.” Crystal nodded, then held out the ball gently.

“Dratini, come on out!” It obeyed, and materialized from the quiant Pokéball. It appeared the same as it had before battle, though it wasn’t as timid towards the one with blonde hair and pink bangs. Kiyo handed her the cookie and the can of lemonade, and backed off. “Hey, how’re you doing? That was quite a fight you put up back there,” she cooed softly to it, and the Dratini merely looked at her pathetically. “Here. I have a cookie for you that’ll get rid of your paralysis. It shook its head. “Hey, come now,” her voice switched over to Pokémon talk after a moment of speaking English. “Don’t you like the cookie?”

“No, I’m not paralyzed.” Unlike the Pokémon before it, the Dratini didn’t seem phased by the fact Crystal could speak freely with it.

“Say whaaaat? You were paralyzed just before you were caught, though.”

“Shed Skin, miss. I can lose status effects fairly quickly. I lost it right before you threw that thing at me.”

“Oh, that’s interesting. Sorry, I’m new to this whole Pokémon abilities thing. Well, to the whole thing in general,” she chuckled, before yanking the tab of the drink forward. “You thirsty? This should help you get your health back.”

“Oh, that’d be awesome,” it nodded its weak head as vigorously as possible. Slowly Crystal brought it to the Dratini’s mouth- and how weird it was to do so!- and watched as the liquid was drained from the aluminum cylinder. Eventually, the Dratini took the liberty of wrapping the end of its tail to grasp the sweet drink, and the ten-year-old couldn’t help a chuckle as it crushed it with its tail after it shook the last few drops out of it. “Aw man, what was that stuff? It was amazing! So sweet, but it had a hint of sourness to it! Yum!”

“It’s lemonade. Hmmm. Say, Dratini, are you male or female? I can’t tell from your voice.”

“Oh, I’m female, for sure. Why?”

“Well, I wanted to give you a nickname.”

“Nickname?”

“Sure. A lot of trainers do it, or so I’ve heard.”

“Dragola!”

“’Cuse me?” she stared blankly at the dragon type.

“Dragola! My mom always insisted on me growing up to be a big strong Dragonair or Dragonite one day, though she always used to sing in a weird tongue, saying ‘la’ and the like. Sooo…Dragola would be cool!”

“So, what’s it chirping about over there?” Kiyo interrupted, and Crystal glanced over her back.

“Nickname stuff. She wants to be called Dragola.”

“She wants to?”

“I like it too. Simple, and yet it hints to elegance or something. You know what? Dragola it is!” Dragola, of course, squealed appreciatively back.

“Well, ha, that has to be the first time that a Pokémon has ever declared its own nickname for itself, at least from what I’ve seen and heard.” Once again, the mentor shook her head. “Well, shall we get back to town?”

“Eh? Yah. You want to tag along, Dragola?”

“Nah, I’ll pass. I really don’t think I like that girly over there. Her Jolteon scares me,” she huddled back to her owner’s side.

“Ok, fine by me.” Crystal nodded, and let her return to her capsule ball. She attached it to her belt, where Breeze’s Pokéball had once been. Well, she isn't Breeze, and...she won't replace her, but she's a good start to getting her back. “To town it is.”

“Ha, I think I saw a Mareep there with your name on it.”

“Hey, give Dragola a break. She already had to deal with one electric type today.”

“Most Pokémon come out and battle several Pokémon in a day, you know. It’s something you have to get used to. You can’t baby it forever.”

“I’d like to see you say that after getting a shock like that from your Jolteon, eh? You probably would understand veeery quickly why I’m letting it rest.”

“Fiiine. As you say. I’m not getting stricken by lightning any time soon,” Kiyo chuckled as they headed out of the area.



“Ok, so tomorrow, after we get our bags settled out and the like, you wanna head to Mornfall?” Dustren was relaxed in one of the trainer booth areas provided by the center as a place to eat. The Blissey of the area insisted on trying to shove its egg into Crystal’s plate, so that it was sure she was ok from the morning. "I heard that the weather in this season is withstandable this time of year."

“Nah. I want to start from square one.”

“You mean head back to Sunrise? You have any idea how long that will take you?”

“I need to visit my mom. Surely she’s worried about me, as, well, you know, my Pokégear was damaged when I took that terrible dive.”

“Eh? Doesn’t look damaged to me.”

“No, it is. I can’t seem to get a decent signal anywhere, and these things typically have good service.”

“Yeah, I know. I have one too.” Kiyo opened up the left side of her jacket, and lo and behold, it was pinned in there. “Most of the time I wear it on the outside, though I typically keep it in the inside of my jacket when I want to look flawless.” The teenager then took a moment to flex her arms, and the pre-teen just eyed her with doubt.

“Yah, ok.”

“Whaaat?” Kiyo unhooked her Pokegear from her jacket, and handed it to her. “Here. You can borrow it to call your mom.”

“Thanks,” the girl nodded, pushing her egg-covered plate forward (much to the displeasure of the Blissey, who walked away dejected), and with a few ‘pips’ had dialed the number. To Crystal’s great surprise, the Pokégear’s antennae with the Silph company logo on it extended outwards, providing a microphone and an amplifier. “Oh, wow!”

“Haha, someone I know tinkered with the original Pokegear that was released for me. They upgraded from the old one to include an optional feature that lets you talk to people on speaker phone. Hahaha.” The phone began dully ringing, and she quieted down. There was a rough clattering before a male voice answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Wiz’, it’s Crystal. Ma there?”

“Oh, you’d better prepare for a yelling, because she is here. Hold on, I’ll get her…” He placed his hand on the receiver, though it didn’t block out the sound of him yelling out ‘Ma! Phone! It’s the little punk!’

“I heard that, big punk!” Crystal retorted, though half playfully. It was a long ongoing joke between her and her brother Wizar to refer to each other as punks to cheese their mother off. It worked without fail every time.

“Oh, gimme that phone- Hello?!” her mother, Cyranea, was frantic.

“Hi mom,” Crystal attempted to sound cheerful, before holding the phone away from her ear.

“Where have you been, young lady?! I’ve been worried sick about you as I called again and again last night to see how you were doing!”

“Mom-”

“And then,” she continued shrilly on, without paying notice to the attempted interjection, “I send Worki out to make sure you got to Sunrise alright, and then I hear from him that you weren’t there!”

“Mom, really, I’m-” But, there was no use to it.

“Oh, you have no idea how badly I was worried! Where are you, and why haven’t you called me until then?! I nearly sent the cops, pitiful bunch they are, out on you!”

“It’s a long story, Mom…”

“I’ll hear it when you get back here! Come! Soothe your mother’s poor heart!” And there was a click. The speaker phone slowly retracted back into the antennae.

“Ow. Over protective much?” Kiyo took her phone back, half chuckling.

“It’s not funny. And yes, she is. Hoyy…”

“So, looks like we need to get you back to Dawndew, eh?”

“Yeah, seems so.”

“Ok. I guess I could take you over there, then. You’re lucky I have a flying Pokémon.”

“We’re gonna ride Skarmory there?” Crystal blinked.

“Sure, why not?”

“Can it hold both of us?”

“Unless you’re half my weight, nah. Don’t worry. I have a Fearow I can withdraw from my box and have you Fly on.”

“A what, now?”

“It’s a flying type from the Kanto region.”

“Ahhh. It’s not anything, you know, fearful, is it?”

“Haha, nah. Fearow are only really bad in the wild when their flock of fledgling Spearows are not enough to take an opponent down. It’ll be nice to you, don’t worry.

“At any rate, we should get to bed. It’s getting late, and we’ll want to leave early in the morning so we can get there and still have time to head out for Sunrise.” Kiyo stretched out, and slid out of the bench. Crystal nodded, though feeling a little uneasy of flying on the back of a Pokémon named Fearow. They checked in with the nurse, who led them to a room with a bunk bed, as well as a nightstand by the window where they could place their things until the morning. They each took turns in the bathroom, both washing up after a hard day’s work and changing into sleeping wear, before retreating into bed. Crystal, of course, took the top bunker, while Kiyo had no issue with taking the bottom. Just as the younger of the two was getting comfortable, a flash blinded her temporarily as she felt a light weight land on her body.

“Whazzawha?!”

“Hi! Mind if I sleep next to you tonight?” Dragola was in her face, and smiled pleasantly.

“What’s going on up there?” Kiyo complained, a pillow over her head muffling her voice. “I wanna sleeeeep.” She had thought before to let out her small Pokémon out to rest comfortably; her Jolteon and Charmeleon nestled in the top bunk of an empty bed, though the Charmeleon insisted on hogging most of the bed arrogantly, whereas the overly affectionate Skarmory took the bottom bunk. Gyarados, of course, had been kept in its ball, as it was a Water type, and Arcanine was curled up comfortably on the floor. Umbree, assumably, was sleeping next to Kiyo, as he wasn’t in sight anywhere else.

“Sorry!” Crystal whispered, before turning to Dragola. “Sure. You can sleep with me, if you want, as long as you don’t sleep on my face like Worki or Breeze used to do.”

“Ok!” she snuggled up next to her owner. To the trainer’s touch, it had smooth scales which she would’ve thought to be slimy when not wet. They were warm, and it was definitely cool to snuggle Dragola, Crystal decided.

“Ha, that’s cute. Hey, how do you know Extremespeed and have that little black horn?”

“Oh? Um. I dunno. I was just born being able to launch myself about, really. And my black horn? Yeah, it’s always been like that. I don’t know why so many trainers wanted me.”

“Huh. Well, it’s rare, definitely.”

“Really? Interesting to know.”

“Oh, will you hush that thing up, Mewster?”

“Mewster? What?” Crystal gazed down towards the bed, where Kiyo was fast asleep, though murmuring in her dreams. “…g’night Kiyo.” The girl whispered, and settled down with her new Pokémon. Ha. Mewster indeed.
 
I'll need to look through it again, but the most outstanding 'typo' was that thing mentioning the cats. Doesn't she only have Worki and Machoke at home?
 
Hah, thank you for your kind words, Luc EX. A lot of people on POL (which is down at the moment, unfortunately) seemed to think so as well. Though, could I ask what you liked about it? The characters? The dark tone of it? I'm looking for feedback concerning what people liked or disliked about the story.

Also, the more comments I get, the quicker I can post up new chapters. I have 26 or so chapters to post up, so it'll be a while if I have to wait a week just to post up one new chapter. :D

I liked the dark tone, and also that now I don't have to worry about one of my fics being PG-whatever enough:redface:. Kiyo seems too nice, it's kind of weird.
Would you mind taking a look at the fic I posted? I know there isn't much of it up yet, but no one commented on it, and I didn't feel like posting a bunch of chapters if it was ultra-lame.
 
Kiyo's kindness...hah, you're one of the first to even say anything concerning that. It's explained way later in the novel, her kindness.

As for being PG-enough, trust me. It's extremely difficult for me to write this sort of thing, given I normally write...R. XD It's a whole new situation, trust me.

Anyways, could I have a link?

Kiyo- Whoopsie. Editing that. >_>

Chapter 5- A Short Rest

“I’m not…so sure this is a good idea anymore.” Crystal gulped, eyeing the Fearow that Kiyo had brought into her team.

“Oh, relaaaax. It hasn’t pecked your brains out, has it?”

“…Yet.”

“You’re being ridiculous. Or have you a fear of heights?”

“No! What’re you talking about? I like heights- I’ve just never had to Fly before.”

“Ha, well, there’s your problem, miss!” The trainer pat Fearow kindly on the beak. “Give me a little credit, will you?”

“No one said I had to like it!” Again, the new trainer glared at the flying type in fear of the unknown. What she said was true- get her on any roller coaster or ride that went high and fast, and she was a happy camper for the rest of the day! Still, the thought of the Pokemon element frightened her slightly- what if the Fearow’s wings gave to her eighty pound frame? It was quite a nasty drop, she assumed. A voice caught her attention, though, from afar.

“Hey! Hey Chris!”

“Oh god no not right now.”

“Eh? What’s up?” Kiyo was attempting to push Skarmory away from her face so she could look in the direction of where the voice was coming from. Of course, it was Yondaime, on the back of his Dragonite. It didn’t take him long to greet them and slip off of her back.

“Whoa, where you off to so early in the morning, eh?”

“Dawndew.” Now graced with the presence of the obnoxious gym leader, Crystal had completely changed her mind, and carefully climbed onto the Fearow. She wasn’t sticking around to talk with this guy. He wasn’t a bad person, per se, just too confident in himself, perhaps.

“That’s a long flight from here, you know,” the gym leader glanced at the Fearow doubtfully, and then beheld Skarmory and his trainer. “…who’s this? Your bodyguard?”

“No, she’s not my bodyguard.”

“You don’t have any Pokemon though.”

“Yes, actually, I do. I caught one yesterday.” She held up the black Pokeball, and he gasped.

“That’s a Missile ball! You traitorous fiend, you had me going that they kidnapped you! I cannot even BELIEVE I would talk to such a person!”

“It’s not a Missile Ball. Jeez. It just turned that way when I caught Dragola.”

“Likely story!”

“It’s different from the Missile Ball! Look for your own eyes!” She promptly unhooked it from its place on her belt bag, and held it up for him to see.

“I will not gaze into- hey wait, that isn’t a Missile Ball,” he began, though he stopped himself as soon as he saw the lack of the silver and red RM that typically was marked on a Missile Ball. He made a reach for it, but she dragged it back.

“Hey, look with your eyes and not with your hands.”

“Oh, see, now you’re being ridiculous.”

“Yeah, let’s see how trusting you are of people after you’ve had a ton of stuff stolen from you.”

“You told me a pretty big secret and I stole from you,” Kiyo noted.

“You simply borrowed my Pokegear! You gave it back!” Crystal countered, trying not to look like an idiot in front of Yondaime.

“Well, what’d you catch?”

“A Dratini.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yep. Nicknamed her Dragola.” At this, the Dragonite perked at the name.

“Bawr?” She questioned, pointing to the Pokeball. Crystal clearly understood- the Dragonite was, more than likely, Dragola’s mother, from the sound of it, and was wondering if it was her child that had been caught.

“What’s up Dragonite? You wanna see that Dragola?” At her trainer’s question, she nodded. “Mind showing it- her?- her to us?”

“Uh, sure, but soon we have to go,” the newbie trainer held up the ball. “Come on out, Dragola!” At the voice command, she sprung out with a brilliant flash, and sat timidly on the ground, her eyes adjusting slowly to the morning sun.

“Whoa! That’s the Onyx Dratini! You caught it?!” Yondaime was astounded. Dragonite immediately walked over to her daughter, and took it into her arms. Dragola babbled contently, as the mother and daughter began a very serious talk.

“Onyx Dratini? And sure. Put up a fight though.”

“Oh wait. Lemme guess. Your bodyguard caught it for you.”

“She’s not my-”

“I lent her my Pokemon and a Super Rod. She did the rest,” Kiyo interrupted, as she rubbed Skarmory’s chin.

“Oh, the old ‘lend a Pokemon out to catch a starter’ trick, eh? Creative trying to go for a Dratini. Well, let me tell you something. You got extremely lucky.”

“Yeah, I realize that.”

“No, I don’t think you do. That Dratini was the result of a very rare breeding pair. My Dragonite was the mother, of course. A friend I used to know had an Arcanine, and through some sort of extremely rare circumstances, he got ahold of a gold Charmander which knew Extremespeed. Normally the Charmander and Growlithe lines are unable to mate, you know. He evolved it into a black Charizard- quite the sight to behold, really!- and before he left for a different region Dragonite and Charizard had this egg. Only one. Dragonite here took such good care of it, and finally, about a year ago it hatched, and with that weird black spot on her forehead. That Charizard must have passed on a little more than his Extremespeed move- I think his black genes made Dratini’s horn black. Really rare. Never heard of something like that before. Don’t ask how it works out, but it’s one lucky little creature.

“Of course, it didn’t take long for word to get out about it,” he continued on, though Crystal was paying more attention to watching the Fearow preen its feathers for flight. “Trainers from all over the region, even some in Johto and in other neighboring regions came to see this mystical sight and try to make the Dratini their own. Ha, the little fellow was always too quick for them, though. Too quick and smart. Always avoid the bait on lines and when water Pokemon were sent to dive for it, they came up a mess. Heck, I couldn’t even get near the thing, even when I was with its mother. Sometimes Dragonite would protect its child too, against the particularly hard trainers. Such a wild spirit- I didn’t think it would be caught by someone of such low experience, no offense or anything.”

“Sure, none taken,” Crystal muttered in English while watching the pair of dragon types now. Their discussion was far more interesting than this guy any day.

“...Still, after all of the trouble not to get caught by those trainers, I wouldn’t think that you would end up going with her,” Dragonite darted her eyes up towards the new trainer.

“Better a new trainer than an experienced one! I think we can become strong together rather than being treated as a weak member,” Dragola responded, a small grin on her face.

“True…but why her? I mean, surely there were other inexperienced trainers about.”

“I dunno. I feel as though she’s a good, kind hearted trainer that will really fight to make me stronger in the long run. That’s what you always said, right? That’s what you always wanted, right?”

“Yes…but maybe I wasn’t prepared for this. …You’ll be off on a wild adventure, and there’s nothing I can really do about it, huh?”

“I’m sure I’ll be able to come back and visit you. I think she wouldn’t object to that, even if we meet again in battle…and when I’m bigger and evolved and stuff.”

“Well…you have fun on your adventure, you hear? You’ll always be my little Dragola. I’m surprised she named you that, by the way.”

“Oh? I asked her if that could be my name and she agreed.”

“What do you mean?”

“She talks, Mom. She talks like us and can understand us. Isn’t that right, miss?” the Dragon Pokemon turned her head towards her trainer, as Dragonite looked up. Careful to make sure that Yondaime in his rants wouldn’t notice, she nodded as her reply.

“A human that can fully understand us?”

“Is that so weird?”

“A little bizarre, yes. I don’t even think that Yondaime understands what we say half the time, and vise versa. And you know how close I am to him.”

“Yep! He got you as an egg and raised you, right?” Dragola closed her eyes in a pleased manner. “I hope that I can become as close as a child to the miss!” Crystal was about to respond to that, when she remembered the gym leader. She’d fix the unnecessary formalities later. She zoned back into the man’s speech.

“…And really…” he paused, before snapping. “TAKE ME WITH YOU ON YOUR ADVENTURE!”

“Whaaaat?!” Crystal hid behind Fearow from the sudden outburst, and Skarmory clicked his beak playfully and in a laughing manner as she did so.

“I know its random, but seeing such a fresh trainer as yourself reminds me of when I started my training more than a decade ago, back when I was ten!”

“Wow, you’re old,” Kiyo chuckled evilly as she noted his age.

“I’m not old! I’m at my peak form. If you want old, see Nyarka of the High Council! You’ll have old then! Besides, I wouldn’t be making such comments, you high-pitched boy.”

“I’m female, you nitwit,” Kiyo twitched. “Though I enjoy the fact that I can still fool people with my appearance.”

“Oh, well, sooorry Ms. Tomboy!”

“You know what I say, though? Huh?” she tapped Skarmory a few times lightly on the head, and Crystal could hear something very faint that the fire trainer muttered. The metal bird turned to the newbie trainer.

“Yeah, she wants me to tell you to get Dragola, because we’ll be Flying soon.” Crystal, again, merely nodded as she listened to Kiyo lay the goods down on him. Oh, it was a hilarious sight. The trainer poked at her steed, whispering for it to take it over to the Dragonite family, and it didn’t question her. With a few flaps, she was there. It appeared as though it was good timing, as well; Dragonite appeared ready to have a personal word with her.

“So…Miss…”

“Crystal. Just Crystal.” As she got off the back of the Fearow for a moment, she was careful to keep her voice down as she shot a glance back to Kiyo and Yondaime. She was shocked to see them pull out Pokeballs suddenly. Yondaime released his Charizard, and Kiyo took out her Umbree. They decided to settle the score in a one-on-one.

“Oh, there he goes again…always looking for strong fights, like the typical trainer. Speaking of which…will you make me a promise, Miss Crystal?”

“Sure, though I said Crystal was fine. No need for formalities.”

“Ah, well then, can I make you promise that you’ll take good care of my baby?”

“Mom, I’m a big Dratini! I’m sure I can take care of myself!” Dragola interjected firmly.

“Oh, you may be as naïve as she, from what I hear!”

“Hey!” Both Crystal and Dragola shouted at the same time, only to have the mother chuckle.

“Ah, well, you two ought to make a good pair, maybe. Please, though…take care of her, and make sure she does grow into a Dragonair or Dragonite that I can be proud of?”

“Of course,” the trainer nodded, and suddenly she found Dragola had sprung into her arms using a bit of her Extremespeed. “Whoa!” She staggered back slightly.

“What? Am I heavy?”

“No, you’re…lighter than even Worki is. It’s really odd. I thought you’d be heavier for your size.”

“Hey!”

“I didn’t mean any harm by that!” The two of them took the moment to giggle with one another, and the mother smiled.

“Alright, I trust you. Dragola appears so happy. Maybe it was time for her to get on the road with a trainer. But, if you break my promise…” Dragonite’s voice became even lower. “…I will see to it that Dragola runs wild again.” This shocked the trainer, though she quickly nodded to compensate. How could a Pokemon release another into the wild? It didn’t make sense to her. Regardless, she would keep it in the back of her mind. “Well, I have nothing left to say, except to wish you the best of luck on your long and arduous journey.”

“Thanks. I have a feeling I’ll need it.” Hikara smiled appreciatively, and held up Dragola for a last moment snuggle and kiss.

“Bye Mom.”

“Goodbye, my little Dragola. I’ll miss you dearly.” And, with that, Dragola returned to her special Pokeball. In a way, Crystal felt bad for separating mother and daughter, the two of them so close together, but that was what a lot of trainers did. Pokemon were always taken from their nests, some young and old, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, but they all still fought hard and appreciated their trainers. It was one of the things that always stuck in her mind after that day. She hopped back on Fearow, as it flew her back over to the arena. It appeared as though Umbree had really cleaned up, as Yondaime was sobbing hysterically over his Charizard, who was overly dizzy and confused.

“…my poor baby! A Kingdra couldn’t take you out but a stupid Umbreon did! Oh, woe! She’s a mighty trainer! Might is right!”

“Hahaha. Awesome Umbree.” The Moonlight Pokemon whole-heartedly agreed, and slapped a front paw down on Kiyo’s open hand. “Gets them every time.”

“That’s it! You and I, we must have a full fledged battle now! Dragonite! Come over here!” the gym leader recalled his Charizard, in hysteria.

“Nah, I think it’s time we went, don’t you think, Crystal?” Kiyo hopped on Skarmory’s back easily, and he nuzzled her a little.

“Yeah, we don’t want to hold my mom off any longer.”

“No! Cheapskate! Gimme your number so I can register you and fight you again later!”

“Psh, naw. Hahaha. Guys! Strato Fly us out of here and to Dawndew, pronto!” Against Yondaime’s shrieks of protest, they took off in a shower of brown and silver feathers, leaving the ground.

“I’ll get you yet! Oh cr- I didn’t even get her naaaaaaame!” His cry eventually died out against the wind, as they circled on up. Crystal found herself gasping as the ground and stratus clouds were far below them. She clung to Fearow in fear of her life.

“Hey, chillax, yo.” Kiyo flew up beside her, very relaxed. Her arms were crossed behind her head as she leaned back a little. “Enjoy the ride.”

“Easy for you to say! You’re riding on your own Pokemon! Oooh, that’s a drop.”

“Ha, so what gives with that guy?”

“I think his name is Yondaime.”

“Huh, really? The gym leader of that city?”

“You know about him?”

“Sure. Most trainers do, actually. You’re one of the few, I guess, that don’t know the eight gym leaders off the top of your head. Well, seven, really. The gym leader in Sunburst took a long hiatus, or so I’ve heard,” Kiyo sighed, her eyes cast upwards, and never down.

“Huh. Weird.” A silence passed for the longest of times, for hours as they flew speedily on, before she hollered over the wind again. “Oh, by the way, I had something to ask.”

“Shoot.”

“Well, last night you were mumbling in your sleep, and you called me some bizarre name. What were you dreaming about?”

“Oh? Um. Can’t quite remember. I think it had something to do with a legendary Pokemon, pickles, and a set of ruins,” she scratched at her messy hair as she spoke.

“Pickles?!”

“Yeah, I have weird dreams sometimes. Hahaha. …What’d I call you, though?”

“Eh, I think you called me Mewster. I can’t quite remember.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Like my middle name. Miyusatera, you know.”

“Cute, unique name. You know what, though? That name sort of fits you. It’s cute, and I think you could pull it off. Mewster. It’ll be my little code name for you,” the fire trainer grinned.

“Say what? No. I’m not being called Mewster, kay thanks.”

“Too late! Mewster it is! And look, we be at Dawndew already! Land us down there, eh? BANZAI!” Kiyo stood up suddenly, and flipped off of Skarmory. Crystal, or rather, Mewster, was horrified, but had to worry about herself as they plummeted down in huge spiraling circles; her scream must’ve hurt the poor Fearow, it was that blood-curdling. Skarmory scoffed, and nose-dived, catching up to the trainer in no time flat. He caught her on his back, and they swept down over the area, before pulling up quickly, and then landing gracefully in the town center. Fearow had done the same, minus it had to pull up far less. A shaking trainer slid off of its back, as Kiyo recalled both.

“You look like you’re going to throw up or faint.”

“I pray for the latter. Oooh, sweet ground. I never thought I’d say that, but I mean it. Sweet, sweet Earth.” She kneeled down, letting the soil and grass run through her fingertips. They were cold, and possessed a little bit of water on them. Morning dew was always a common thing in the town, hence its name, from the Beghto Falls not too far away.



“Just where exactly have you been?!” Mewster winced back after entering her house. Her mother Cyranea, of five-foot-three, had never looked quite as menacing as she did then. Her airy black hair, rather thin and becoming occasionally streaked with grey at the roots, was in a complete mess, instead of its typical perfect style that she always fussed over about. She wasn’t as lean as her daughter nor built like her son, but she was definitely a menace with her somewhat slate blue eyes blazing in anger and worry.

“I was out on my adventure and my Pokegear broke! Jeez!”

“Past Sunrise?!”

“Mom, will you at least calm down until I can tell you the entire story?!” Suddenly, the mother glanced past doomed child to watch Kiyo wandering around in small circles, getting to know the lay of the land a little, bored.

“First of all, who is he?!”

“Oh, Kiyo? She’s a girl.”

“A girl that dresses like a guy! I don’t want you hanging around her, young girl!”

“Ma, but she saved me! Oh, Wizar! Help me out here!” Crystal called out to her brother as he walked past the living room, though all he did was give a short snort, and continued on, Machoke following him. “Wha! Can I at LEAST invite her in before you go and judge her?!” There was much chaos and fighting (and maybe a teensy bit of strangulation), before the little trainer made it to the door mostly in one piece.

“Kiyo! Join us for discussion, eh?!” The older trainer turned, and nodded, though it was accompanied by a quick look to the bright sky covered by the occasional cloud. Kiyo walked in, and the stare she received from Cyranea was rather mutual.

“Ok, Kiyo, this is my mom, Cyranea Hikara. Mom, this is my travelling mate, Kiyo Dustren.”

“Pleasant to meet you, er, Kiyo.” Of course, 'Mum’s' word didn’t quite sound legit in daughter’s ear- she supposed she was judging her, again, on her last name, thinking her dirty.

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Hikara.” Kiyo fortunately knew her place in this household and dropped her sarcasm as she walked in.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“Do you have, by chance, a ginger ale?”

“Most certainly.”

“Ah, I’d love that then, thank you.” The mother nodded, bustling off, before Crystal could answer, though she knew that she was already getting her water, more than likely. The two walked through into the kitchen and dining area, and settled down at the large dining table meant for six. The sixth chair was for the fact that Wizar’s Machoke ate with the humans, and showed impeccable manners for such a burly Pokemon. At the sound of a familiar voice, long, beautiful ears poked up from one of the chairs, followed by a distinguished Wartortle’s head.

“Hi Worki!” Crystal exclaimed, as the water type hopped out of its comfy shell, off the chair and into the girl’s awaiting arms. She struggled to pick it up, as he was a tad heavy. “Oh, so good to see your face again!”

“Worki?” Kiyo rose an eyebrow, nearly on the edge of her seat laughing.

“Yeah, he’s my mother’s Wartortle. I don’t know where she got the brilliant idea for that nickname…no offense, Worki.”

“Does he Worki all day long for your mom? Hahaha.”

“Ok, see, that gets old after hearing that joke that doesn’t even make sense after the hundredth time,” Mewster rolled her eyes, and took to stroking his gorgeous ears, shell, and poofy tail.

“Ahh, you know just where to hit the spot. Yeah, right there. Good to see you back home already; we were already starting to miss you here.” Worki leaned into an ear scratch, as he grinned in his words.

“Already? I’ve been gone a week or so and already you’re all missing me?”

“It’s just so quiet around here without you preoccupying the Missus and keeping that burly-brained thug out of my hair. Wants nothing but battles and to build some muscles,” he scowled, as Machoke poked its head in.

“Hey, you little Squirtle, I hear you loud and clear!” Machoke, who was female, surprisingly enough, threatened Worki with a fist.

“Machoke, chill out. If you really want a workout, why don’t you go outside and have some fresh air for more than your job requires you?” Crystal countered. Evidently it was an all too common practice to talk to the Pokemon in the household, and openly.

“But, Missy…”

“No more of this Missy crap! Jeez! Why must all Pokemon refer to humans as Miss, Mister, Master, Mistress! Ugh!”

“I apologize. Ah! I take my leave,” Machoke was suddenly beckoned away by Wizar, who briefly poked his head into the room this time.

“Little punk’s a Meowthing!”

“I told you for the last time, Wizar, I’m not speaking Meowth!”

“All I hear from you is the Meow Mix Commercial. Sounds Meowth or Persian to me! Don’t even go there! Hahaha!”

“I swear, I’mma gonna drag out my little Breeze and…” she didn’t bother to finish her sentence, as he was long gone, and it was still an open sore which she herself had struck at.

“Ooh,” Kiyo muttered, as soon as she saw the pained look in Crystal’s eyes. “Ah, excellent. Thank you,” she abruptly turned her attention to Cyranea, who had finally come back with their drinks. Kiyo opened the bottle of soda pop and briskly drank from it, trying to avoid awkward conversation. As Crystal opened her bottle up, she felt the pressure bear down on her, even as Worki left her lap to tend to his owner’s as she sat down.

“So, let’s hear your little story thus far. Don’t you try to lie to me, either…I know when you lie. You’re terrible at it,” Crystal’s mother wasted no time asking, even as the girl took a long sip from her water bottle, trying to get her story together.

“Ahh…well, so I started out on my journey and stuff-”

“Just get to the point where I had called you last.”

“Right, right,” Crystal hastily nodded her head, as she began anew. “Well, you heard how I just had caught Flora and all of that right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay…so then I’m walking down the route, and out of nowhere, Team Missile jumps me with Stun Spore and takes me hostage.”

“Oh, now I know you’re lying.”

“No! It’s true! They came in a van and a Vileplume named Bad Nastay used some serious Stun Spore on me!”

“Now it’s getting stupid, Crystal. Really, what happened?”

“Team Missile jumped me, I told you! They stole Breeze and Flora and took me to their headquarters where they enslaved me because I can talk to Pokemon!” she burst out into tears suddenly, astonishing her mother and Kiyo. “I don’t even know where they are right now! I was lucky to have escaped! I feel terrible, and there isn’t a thing I could’ve done about it!”

“Oh, honey…no…” Immediately the scene changed, as the mother comforted the weeping Crystal, though to no avail.

“Yes. Yes, they stole them.”

“How did you escape?”

“Ehm, that’s where I come in,” the fire trainer spoke up. “I was doing an infiltration mission in the Missile HQ and I found her in a cage. I was able to get her out of trouble by having her ride on my Arcanine.”

“An Arcanine! Infiltration! Are you insane?”

“Nah, just decently powerful,” Kiyo shrugged. “That and I have issues with Team Missile.”

“Doesn’t the whole region?”

“Ha, yeah, I suppose.”

“So what happened from there, Crystal?” Cyranea cautiously pet her daughter’s hair, though only the blonde hair.

“Well,” she hiccuped, trying to wipe away the stream of tears that poured down her porcelain skin, “I was teleported to a lake, and then I fell in, and then it gets fuzzy, but I was saved by a Dragonite, which belonged to a Gym Leader of the area. I wake up the next day in a Pokemon Center, meet up with Kiyo after I get out of the center, and she agreed to help me get back on track and try to rescue Breeze and Flora.”

“How chivalrous!” Cyranea gasped.

“Yeah. I did manage to catch a makeshift ‘starter’ until I recovered Breeze and Flora, too, with her help.” She unhooked the Pokeball off her belt. Her mom took it questionably.

“It’s black,” she held it out, with concern. It had been quite some time since she had seen a Pokemon from the outside world, and they scared her slightly.

“Yeah, it did that on its own when I caught her. Want to see?”

“Su-sure.”

“Ok.” She gently took back the ball, and held it out. “Dragola! Come and say hi!” And, with a shriek, Dragola met Cyranea.

“What IS that thing?!” she cowered behind Machoke, whom had re-entered the room with all of the hullabaloo.

“It’s a Dratini. Relax, Mom, she’s friendly…”

“Now you’re just striking at my fear of snakes!”

“It’s not a snake, it’s a dragon!”

“It looks like a serpent enough to me!” she wailed. “Put it away! Put it away!”

“Mom…” Crystal rolled her eyes, as she recalled Dragola. It took a moment for her mother’s hysteria to vanish.

“Duuude, how’d you get a hold of a Dratini?!” Wizar, who had been trying to get his ridiculous mother out of the way, only caught a glimpse of Dragola as she disappeared.

“It was an interesting fight, let’s put it that way.”

“Ha, she looks like a cool friend to have,” Worki nodded approvingly at Crystal.

“You’d think having you, an amphibian Pokemon, would make her a little more partial to somewhat scaly creatures,” the trainer commented back.

“…Crystal, I dare ask…what are you going to do?” Cyranea had finally regained her composure, and staggered back over.

“Ah, well, I was going to see if I could go around the entire region getting my badges and trying to hear word from other Pokemon in the wild to see if they would know anything about Breeze and Flora’s whereabouts.”

“So your still adamant about this whole Pokemon Trainer ordeal.” The trainer sighed.

“Yes, Mom, and I’m not changing my mind. I have no choice.” Her mother appeared somewhat hurt, before placing a hand on her child’s shoulders.

“There’s nothing I could do to change your mind.”

“Nope. Actually, you trying to change it makes me want to become a Champion even worse!”

“Why you scant little child!” Her mom immediately yanked on Crystal’s cheeks.

“Owowowowow! Muuuuum!”

“I’ve had it with you. Ha, maybe it is good for you and your weird, sharp tongue are out! Pokemon trainer like your siblings and father…! It seems as though I and Wizar are the only ones to have common sense left in this house.”

“As you say, I’ll go back out on my waaay,” the newbie trainer did a simple dance to her rhyme. Hastily, Cyranea changed her mind, and bustled off in the fridge.

“Wait! I love you honey. Be sure to get your Pokegear fixed soon. Take some of these soda pops and lemonade. Brush your teeth every ni-”

“We’ve been over this once before, Mom! I don’t need to hear the going-away speech again!”

“Oh, you know how adverse I am to my baby girl leaving.” Kiyo snorted silently at the door. “Well, you happen to be in luck. You may be able to catch one of Silph’s workers visiting the town before he heads over to Sunrise. I’m sure he could fix it for you.”

“Ok, thank you.”

“Remember to change your under-”

“THANK YOU, MOM.” And, with the cut-off, she rapidly waved good-bye to all in the house, and shut the house door behind her.

“Hey, baby girl, remember to brush your hair,” Kiyo mocked. “Wow, I heard she was overprotective, but that just takes things to a whole new level right there.”

“Shut up,” Mewster twitched, gazing out, as she saw a man heading into a car which bore the large violet ‘S’ that was known for the Silph company. “Hey! Hey! Excuse me! Wait, sir!” She sprinted off to the car, which had begun to rumble violently with the motor engine. “Sir!” she cried out, and seeing her, he stopped the engine and got out. “Excuse me! Sir! Do you have a-” Crystal didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence as she gasped. Once again, she was staring into the same hazel green eyes that had deceived her once before. She immediately sprinted back, and hid cowardly behind Kiyo.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“He’s the one that caught me last time!”

“You mean…?”

“Haha, we meet again, Ms. Hikara! Shame you got away from us before. Why don’t you come back to the base? Come now; if you go easily, I won’t have to Stun Spore you again,” Chris Johnson smiled, clothed in a Silph's outfit, as he held out a Missile Ball.
 
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Kiyo's kindness...hah, you're one of the first to even say anything concerning that. It's explained way later in the novel, her kindness.

As for being PG-enough, trust me. It's extremely difficult for me to write this sort of thing, given I normally write...R. XD It's a whole new situation, trust me.

Anyways, could I have a link?

I assumed so.

http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=68073

Nice ending, BTW.
 
Mmm...love those cliffhangers, yes? XD There's only a few good ones in here. My personal fave is in 'Weakness' so far though. That wreaks of wanting to shake the writer and scream 'NEXT! CHAPTER! NOWWWWWW!' or something.

Or something.

Hmmm...tiny little thing so far. I'll look into it.

And I apologize if there's any flaring mistakes in this chapter- I'm still screening the chapters after 5, because they're so awful. :lol:

Chapter 6- Held At Poison Point

“I’m never going to go back there!” Crystal exclaimed, still sort of fearful of the man.

“He’s part of Team Missile?” Kiyo immediately reached for her belt, fingers brushing up against a normal Pokeball.

“Yes, I’d recognize him anywhere. That get-up doesn’t fool me.”

“Still, for him to have a Silph outfit…” the fire trainer muttered. At this moment, Chris chuckled.

“Oh, look. You’ve even got your own personal bodyguard now. How cute. I wouldn’t blame you for wanting one, especially after we silenced that damned Pidgey and Oddish up.”

“Don’t listen to him. He’s probably lying so you attack him in frustration. He’s up to something,” Kiyo murmured to her friend after she heard the painful words.

“Come now, trainer, amuse me! Let’s see what Pokemon you have,” he taunted, throwing his Missile-styled orb back up and down.

“I don’t think so. I don’t sink to your scumbag level,” the onyx-haired trainer snorted, and spat at the ground in front of him.

“You dare defy Team Missile, then?” His eyes traveled back to Crystal as he spoke, his eyes travelling down to her belt. He noted that it wasn't empty as he had made it before, what with the Onyx ball, as the gifted decided would be a fitful name for it, hanging there.

“Sure, why not? Sounds fun to me,” Kiyo scoffed tauntingly. Suddenly, the young trainer took to her elder’s back, clinging tightly. “Eh?”

“I thought I heard something.”

“Better safe than sorry.”

“Oh, come now, I’m the only one here. I just had some personal business to attend to in this town,” the Missile Junior Admin appeared serious. “Enough of this! Doomsday! Show that punk a lesson of respect!”

“Blaze, you know what time it is! Deal out some pain to this wimp!” Kiyo relucantly tossed her Pokeball, and whilst the Houndoom made an appearance, a four-foot-two Charmeleon made its appearance. It harshly craned its neck to the side, cracking the neck bones as it proceeded to do so with its clawed hands.

“Hey giiiiiiiirly! I remember you. Oh, quite a tasty treat you were. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into you again.” Doomsday called out past the fire lizard towards Mewster in his raspy voice.

“Yeah, not if I have a say in the matter,” Blaze demanded attention by walking up to the Houndoom and blocking his view. His voice was a little raspy, tinted with a foreign accent.

“You’re bold for a lizard that’s shorter than I,” the Houndoom, without waiting for his trainer to issue the command, lashed out with a snarl in attempt to bite his prey. Blaze was too well prepared for that, though. At the last second, he spun out of Doomsday’s view and raked sharp claws from the back of his neck to his head to send him into the ground.

“Little body, big surprise, oh dimwitted one,” was the wise response.

“Looks like you’re a decent trainer to train it to obey orders without speaking to it,” Chris noticed.

“Ha, Char' knows what he’s doing, unlike your slow Houndoom,” Kiyo countered.

“Touché, trainer! Enough, let’s see our abilities put to the test! Doomsday! Let it taste your wonderful Sludge Bomb!”

“Sludge Bomb? Tasty? Man, Blaze, I’m not sure if that sounds quite so nutritious. Let’s make it do a little...dance, yeah?” And, with that, the bone-horned Pokemon drooled a foul substance. With some sort of regurgitation reflex, he spat out a sum of filth aimed directly at the Charmeleon’s face. The flare Pokemon immediately turned away from the bomb, letting it knick his lower back to save his eyes, before sweeping his other leg around, then Slashing down at a speed no human could normally discern. Blaze landed after his graceful attack a few inches away from Doomsday, facing his opponent, who had just felt the effects of the powerful move and winced terribly.

“Doomsday, set fire to the brush nearby, then jump in it!” The Houndoom nodded at his master's comment, and took off towards a nearby tree.

“Blaze, don’t let it take advantage of its ability! Ride ‘em!” Kiyo cried out, having a good laugh while still concentrating the battle. The Charmeleon, in his bizarre dance like moves, managed to hook a claw onto his opponent's horns, and swing himself onto the back of his enemy. The evolution of Charmander swiftly planted his feet, stomping all over him while the dark and fire type tried with difficulty to pry him off. Indeed, it appeared as though a gutsy cowboy had taken the moment to tackle the challenge of a bucking Tauros, and was it ever a fierce battle.

Crystal had been all but enjoying this fight, as she heard various whispers and things of the like from the forest, though she couldn’t discern whether or not they were from her wild Pokemon friends on the route or Missiles and their Pokemon waiting for a master signal from the strong trainer. The latter, of course, is what Crystal was so nervous about, and thus forced her small hand over her Dratini waiting patiently in the Pokeball. She wasn’t going to rely on Kiyo for protection unless it was absolutely necessary. And then, it leapt from the bushes! She gasped, and nearly threw the Pokeball, wasn’t it for the relieved smile of the grass and poison Pokemon.

“F-Flora?!” she gasped, and immediately took a hold of the Oddish. Yes, her was her Oddish; her distinct sweet-smelling scent she let out from being pleased at finding her trainer was the same one that had brought Breeze and Crystal’s attention to it.

“Eh? Whazza?” Kiyo questioned as she took a moment from her laughing fit.

“Flora! Flora! She’s back!” the trainer shrieked with joy, and Chris growled.

“It’ll be gone from you soon enough! Doomsday! Get that blasted thing off your back already and heal yourself!”

“Blaze, when you get off its back, let’s go for the knock out blow!” As the Houndoom finally managed to buck his rider off of him, he made a mad dash for the brush, but the Charmeleon, yet again, was quicker; as he landed, he threw his mighty mass into the ground completely, sending all off balance, minus Kiyo, who had prepared herself for the Earthquake. A huge shock wave caused minor crevices along the ground and carried all sorts of hard shrapnel, and it collided with the dark type just as he was to set the brush on fire. He howled in pain, and looked sharply over to Crystal.

“I’m…not done with you yet!” he panted, before completely losing all will to fight. The Missile member spat at Kiyo's feet in disrespect that she had won.

“Powerful trainer…stronger tactics will be needed next time,” he hissed venomously, recalling his fainted Pokemon and hustling over to the car. “That’s fine! You may win, trainer, but next time…it will be different. Crystal, I will see you again, and I will present you myself to Giovanni!” He didn’t even bother to close the door before careening off wildly on the long road to Sunrise City. Kiyo gave a small ‘humph’, as well as sticking up her ring, middle, and index finger in his direction.

“Yeah, that’s right! Buzz off! Between the lines, man! Between the LINES!” she chuckled triumphantly.

“What’s that mean?”

“Oh, nothing someone of your age should know about.”

“Huh?”

“Just forget it. So, you got one of your Pokemon back, huh? Awesome.”

“Yah. Flora, I want you to meet Kiyo. She’s a travelling partner.”

“Yo, what be slappin', dawg? Wait, she ain't be like, no Missile fienda sorts, rizzle?" Flora cautiously stated.

“Ha, no. Highly anti-Missile.”

“Dat be fine by me, den!” she nodded her way to Kiyo politely, attempting to make an 'N' pattern with her leaves. "Flora be da name, and kickin' grass be my game."

“Hi, I guess. Uh, Crystal, mind I ask just what she's saying-”

“Oooh, but that fire type don't be lookin' good, fo' shizzle.” Flora’s statement caught Crystal off-guard, as she gaped past Kiyo to her Charmeleon. Indeed, he appeared to be struggling with something, and appeared very worn out. There was a considerable wound on his back area. The tip of his tail was far dimmer than its normal flare.

“Kiyo! It’s Blaze!”

“Bah, what’re you talking about? I’m fiiiine...” he mumbled, before collapsing on the ground.

“Oh shoo-! Blaze!” she dashed over, taking her bag down from her back immediately. “Poison…this could get bad. Oh, where is it…? Oh, shoot! Crystal, where’d you put that cookie?!”

“I…” the girl looked embarassedly at her feet. “I don’t remember. I know I don’t have it anymore.”

“Oh, AWESOME. Good job! We need an Antidote or something like that, and quick. He can survive with poisoning for a while with some Lemonades and Hyper Potions, but I don’t want it to drag it out longer than it should. Is there a Pokemart in town?”

“No, but I think I know where I can find an Antidote on the fly. Go back to my mom’s house- I’ll be right back!” And, with that, Crystal took off onto the route, leaving Kiyo gibbering about the fire lizard.

“God, I hope that girl knows what she’s doing…”



“Oh, come on! Please, Mr. Zigzagoon?” She was now a good way into the forest in the area, and she was on her knees, begging the Tiny Raccoon for an Antidote he could find with absolute ease.

“No, absolutely not! I simply do not have the time to find you an Antidote you, you…trainer!”

“I’m not asking you as a trainer…I’m asking you in the stead of a poisoned Pokemon! If anything, do it for him!”

“I told you, I do not have the time! Find some other Pokemon and bug it for a Pecha Berry. This is all I will have of you.” And, with that, the busy and snobbish Zigzagoon took off into the woods in its crooked path. Crystal gave a harsh, apt sigh, before gazing around.

“Oh, come ON! There has to be a Pecha Berry or a Lum Berry or an Antidote around here somewhere!” she cried, before letting her eyes fall on her Oddish. She, too, had been busy looking for one of the three items that would heal the evolution of Charmander. They both knew they didn’t have much time before some serious damage could be done.

“Flora, stay in the forest area a little more. I’m going by the lake to ask the water Pokemon if they have seen anything.”

“Shizzle!” she nodded, and took to the deeper woods as Crystal dashed off.

“I just hope Blaze is doing fine…”



“Oh man, what happened to it?” Even Wizar, one who constantly threw his very life on the line each day he worked on a large building, was taken aback by the wound on the sweating fire type. Blaze lay on a steel bar with few pillows under his head, so as the small flame on the tip of his tail would not catch anything on fire.

“He was in a bad battle. He was hit with a Sludge Bomb. I didn’t even know that he was so badly injured until the fight was over...” Kiyo tried her best to keep the chilled Pokemon warm, ordering her Flareon to sit upon his chest.

“Hey, hey bro,” Worki was on a chair near the area, and addressed the Pokemon friendily. “How ‘re you hanging out? You need anything?”

“Yeah, get this thing off of my chest. I can’t breathe,” the Charmeleon coughed back.

“Sure.” He turned to Kiyo. “Wartortle.”

“Eh? What do you want?”

“Wartortle! Wor!” he pointed towards the un-budging Flareon, then made the motion for choking.

“What’re you trying to say?” At this point, Machoke just shook her head.

“Machoke! Choke! Choke!” She held her hands first on Worki’s abdomen region, which made him gasp, and then proceeded to play-out strangulation. “Choooke!”

“Choke? Like, he can’t breathe?”

“Ma! Wor!” the two nodded, though the water type with difficulty.

“I think I’m starting to see where Crystal would be a good person to have around in these situations…Flareon, try just covering it with your tail instea- oh, sh- Crystal! I left her alone! And there’s probably tons of Missiles nearby!” Kiyo shouted something inappropriate, but she found herself unable to leave. “Oh, man, I can’t leave Blaze, though!”

“Crystal went off into the woods on her own?” her mother interrogated, voice raising in fear.

“Yeah! She went to find something to heal Blaze with!”

“Wizar! Take Worki with you to find Crystal and see if you can send Machoke to get an Antidote from Sunrise!”

“Sunrise would take too long, though!”

“We have no choice!”

“Ok. Hey, guys, let’s go! We’re finding Crystal!” he nodded to his Superpower Pokemon, who saluted him and placed the nearly unconscious Wartortle upon her massive shoulder. Machoke easily heaved her owner onto the empty shoulder, gave a fleeting glance to the ill Pokemon, and set off.

“I feel so bad for letting her go. What if she gets caught again?”

“With any luck, she’ll be fine. She has a lot of luck and good friends in that forest,” Cyranea murmured, eyes nearly watering as they watched the Pokemon and her son disappear from sight.



The surface of the smooth blue Dawndew Lake was soon disrupted as Crystal splashed madly to call out her watery friend. "Come on, Kokomo...this is an emergency..." Much to the new trainer's relief, water soon bubbled up and formed scales and fins.

“Crystal! You seem worried,” the Vaporeon shook off some water as she climbed ashore.

“I need something that will heal Poison, and fast!”

“Oh, oh, right. You became a trainer recently, huh?” Kokomo eyed her belt carefully, her paw lifting out of the mud. Such a movement Crystal knew all too well as a cautionary escape measure, to get one step ahead of the predator.

“It’s for a friend’s Charmeleon. He was fighting to protect me and he’s in critical condition. We can’t afford the time to go to Sunrise.”

“Ah, I...see. I think I may be able to get you a berry. Say, erm…you aren’t going to catch me, are you?”

“No! I’m not going to catch any of my friends. If they want to come along and train with me, they can, but I need that berry!”

“Ok, ok! I’m on it.” Without a second motion, the bubble-jet Pokemon flipped back into the water, her molecules mixing and mimicking the liquid around her. Time passed.

Nothing.

“Kokomo! Where are you? Please hurry up!” she cried out to the water, and there was a set of large bubbles near the shore area, as though to answer her question. “...Kokomo?” With little time for the blonde to react, a primary-colored fish leapt at her, jaws intimidatingly launching open. “Eeep!” she madly got out of the way, and landed on the damp soil a few feet away from the fish. It mercilessly flopped over to her, its large mouth gaping. “Agh! What is that thing?!”

“Like it?” Another person clothed in Silph, though with a Missile cap on, grinned. “Quite a beauty, no?”

“Hardly!”

“Oh come now. My Carvahna won’t bite you…that much. Unless, of course, you come nice and silently with me, little girl,” he smirked.

“Why does something always have to go wrong?! Well, I guess it’s your first battle, Dragola!” she chucked the Onyx ball forward, and out it came to stare down the opponent.

“What in the world…?” the Dragon Pokemon rose an eyebrow.

“Never mind! We have to battle!” she forced her English out. “Use, uh, that one move you tried on Jolteon back at the lake but it didn't work on it!”

“Roger!” she nodded, and let loose a series of small shocks. The Carvahna flopped pathetically around, twitched a little, but shook its head clear out of the paralysis.

“Oohs, yous gonna get it, surely,” the Carvanha had a very particular accent, one that made it difficult for Crystal to understand. Probably from Hoenn, she thought to herself.

“Carvanha! Toss it back into the water, then do as you please with it! Hahaha.” Dragola could do nothing as the once miserable creature lashed out, latching onto the dragon type’s tail, causing her to scream. It whirled its head around a little, before she fell, with a grand splash, into the lake. The battle was not going well for Crystal. The trainer walked over, lifted the Savage Pokemon up, and tossed it into the water, where it too disappeared from view. There was a stream of bubbles, and then no further action.

“Excellent. Now, as for you…”

The Missile dashed forward, arms coming in to grab her. The first time she was able to evade, causing her to stumble, but as she made for the tree, he got his arms around her throat tightly. “Come now, you little runt! You’ll be sure to win me a promotion at the base!” She choked for air, and stomped her foot down on his. It did little for her, as his boots were thick, made of only the finest Miltank leather. Suddenly, there was a flash, and Dragola with a nearly passed out Carvanha clinging to her tail collided with the grunt. He lost his grip, and Crystal wasted no time in doing what her mom told her to do if she ever had to defend herself against a man; aim for the shins or higher. She spun around with a kick, and it landed itself beautifully in the perfect spot, causing him to double over in pain. She shook as she nearly lost her balance. As the Carvanha struggled to hold on, she ordered Dragola to Wrap things up.

“Ugh. Rough Skin,” she winced, though did as she was told. Finally, the fish passed out, and let go of her tail. “About time! My poor tail is killing me!”

“I know! I’m sorry.”

“Hey, this is what being with a trainer is about, right? This is what I have to do to get stronger…oh, look out! There’s another one!” This time, a extremely spiky magenta-white creature with puffy lips swam up to the surface, and bloated itself. That meant one thing was coming, and Crystal knew all too well what it was. She hurriedly grabbed her Pokemon, and threw herself over her, as thousands of spikes shot out towards the two.

“Agh!” The Poison Sting needles fell all around them, some ripping through her old shirt and piercing her skin.

“Ha, Qwilfish, you finally got back from that Vaporeon, eh?”

“Por!” A cry from the water area around the poison fish began a panic. Forming from upon the crest of a gigantic wave, the Vaporeon launched both enemy trainer and both Pokemon high into the air and off the area with a mighty splashdown.

“Kokomo!” The trainer got up slowly off of the Dratini, shaking terribly. “You’re a sight for sore eyes!”

“Sorry I took so long. I ran into a little trouble with that pest back there. I found a berry, by the way. You were lucky- some Zigzagoon was about to take it for itself,” she hastily submerged herself, then pulled up a cloth holding a peach-shaped item. “I’d hurry.”

“Right. Thanks for all of your help again, Kokomo...”

“Not a problem. That’s what...friends are for, ne? Even if one does decide to undertake something that might threaten the other...” she yipped pleasantly, before acrobatically returning to her home in the lake. The gifted one recalled her slightly wounded Dratini, mindful of her own wounds, and started off towards the path. Flora greeted her, with a Lum Berry curled in between her leaves.

“Hey, hey, traina'! Lookit what I be finding just hanging around! Found dis from some random person who fell from the sky, fo' rizzle.”

“Flora! You didn’t steal that, did you?!”

“Nah, not at all," she gazed around hastily. “…fine, I be takin' it without his pe'misshun, but dis dude be bad news, I could smell it all ova his bi-zarre uniform! He reeked of the ones who caught us before, fo' rizzle!"

“Whatever, let’s just go already...”

“I hope you not be mindin' the fact that I Stun Spore'd dat foo'."

“Not at all.”

“Crystal!” Said female hurriedly glanced down the path. Her brother grunted as the fighting type hustled along, Worki nearly flying off from each giant step.

“Wizar! I found some...berries!” she started towards him, her footsteps becoming as heavy as lead. Pain suddenly swarmed down upon her, and her vision blurred. “Wha…? Oh, my head…my veins...feel like they’re burning…” The blonde's breath became short, as she gasped for air. “No…that Qwilfish’s Poison Sting...”

“Whoa, whoa! Mah commando's goin' down, and not in da good way! Move dose legs, Muscle-Woman!" Flora cried out to the humanoid Pokemon, who picked up the pace. Dizzily, the scene faded away from Crystal's view as she felt herself falling endlessly.



“Uhhhn…my heaaad,” came the faint grumble as the girl came to.

“You crazy little….what were you doing?!” Kiyo, along with family, were gazing at her in the blanc room. As Crystal squinted and blinked to focus her vision, she noticed that she was not in her room, as she thought she would’ve been. Several blankets filled with Pidgey feathers covered her, as well as an uncomfortable hospital gown. Her arm was connected to an IV, and she immediately looked elsewhere- needles were not her favorite things in the world.

“What...happened…?” she brought her free hand to her head. It still spun slowly, and made her feel nauseous.

“You’re very lucky, that’s what! You could’ve died from the amount of poison they found in your bloodstream!” her mother shrilly answered, forcing the poor ill one to cover her ears.

“Poison?” What about...poison...? “Oh, right. Wait, Blaze…!”

“He was fine after we got the berry to him,” Kiyo nodded towards the fire type, who was also watching on, concerned. “I realized too late that I should’ve gone to find the berry.”

“No, you wouldn’t have been able to find it, anyways…I had to ask Kokomo to find one.”

“Kokomo?”

“That’s her Vaporeon friend that lives in the Dawndew Lake,” the construction worker explained. At hearing the Pokemon species ‘Vaporeon’, Kiyo gave a small twinge.

“Ah, ok.”

“Was it really that bad?” the weak girl questioned.

“You’ve been out for two weeks already.”

“Two weeks?!” she shot up in bed, but soon collapsed again. Her head was throbbing. “Aaaaah...”

“You need to take it easy! I swear, you really oughtn’t take to your adventure! It’s too dangerous! Young lady, that was not funny...” Cyranea commanded and chided the black-haired trainer.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist, after her making us worry like that," Kiyo sighed. "It's just been two days..."

“Mom, I don’t care! I’d rather take my adventure and get stronger in the process rather than sit at home and wait for the Missiles to get me!”

“Over my dead body!”

“I ain’t letting no one get my hands on my little sister!” Wizar exclaimed.

“They might just do that, you know! Those miserable Missiles have no respect for humans besides those on their team anymore!”

“Crystal, please come down. You’re getting worked up. You need rest.”

“Oh, easy for you to say, Mom! You gave up on your Pokemon adventure because you didn’t have the gutso! I think I can become stronger than you at least and get four badges to beat your three!”

“Crystal…”

“You’re always complaining about how I was too lazy, anyways. An adventure is just what I need to remedy that!”

“Shush,” Blaze interjected and gave a gentle knock on her forehead. She sat there, dazed for a moment. “You talk too loud. This is a hospital. Have some decency.”

“Haha, I may not know what he’s saying, but with that face, he has to be giving you a scolding,” Kiyo chuckled.

“Yeah, sure.” Crystal rolled her eyes.

“By the way, kid…you’ve got guts to find that berry and put your own life on the line for me like that. That’s very respectful,” the Charmeleon nodded. “I owe ya one in that department.”

“Nah, you owe me nothing. You were able to fend off that Houndoom for me.”

“Psh, orders are orders, you know.”

“Still, you really gave it to him.”

“Yeah, I know, but I want to make it up to you somehow.”

“Excuse me…” an MD quietly snuck into the room, gazing at his aged clipboard. “I have to ask you all to leave. The patient needs her rest.”

“Alright, tomorrow we’ll be back. I’ll give you a call tonight!” Crystal’s mother sighed, as all rose.

“Mom…”

“I hope you get better soon, because I have an inkling that there will be more to do than just battle a leader in Sunrise. Hey, Blaze, we’re leaving.” the fire trainer nodded, though frowned at her partner.

“Char,” he held up a claw, and dashed into Kiyo’s bag. “Just one second…”

“Hey hey, what are you…where did you get that?!" the elder trainer gasped, as she made a grab for a small egg, orange in color with the occasional flare pattern on it. The fire lizard kept it just out of reach, threatening his own trainer with curls of smoke from his nostrils.

“This ought to be good as a thank-you gift…you don’t have a fire Pokemon, right?”

“What is it?”

“It’s an Egg. I, err, met a fire type a little ways back, and I met with her again, saying that she couldn’t care for it. I don’t think Kiyo needs another fire type.”

“Hey, seriously, Blaze. Give that to me. Where did he get it, Crystal?”

“He said he found it along a road outside the hospital and took it when you weren’t looking. He wants me to take it. He says you have too many fire types for your own good.”

“Oh, really now?” she glared at her Pokemon.

“Excuse me, but the patient needs rest...” the doctor cleared his throat obnoxiously. Kiyo hesitated, though ran her fingers through her hair with a deep breath.

“Fine, take it, but if it’s the Pokemon I’m looking for, you know you have to give it to me. A deal’s a deal.”

“I know.” She turned to the fire type with a slow nod, who carefully handed it to her. Her cold hands immediately warmed up at the shell's touch. The doctor said nothing about this, but just proceeded with his duties, shooting something into her IV, before leaving. Again, Crystal felt drowsy.

“Hoy…what an adventure. I wonder what this will hatch into…?”
 
Last edited:
Looooots of mistakes in this chapter. Bear with me, hahah...

Indeed, it appeared as though a gutsy cowboy had taken the moment to tackle the challenge of a bucking Tauros, and was it ever a fierce challenge.

Redundance in that last sentence. 'Challenge' twice luls. I'm not sure what you could replace it with, though.

“I’m…not done with you yet!” he panted, before completely loosing all will to fight.

*losing

“Shizzle!” she nodded, and took to the deeper woods as Crystal dashed off.

Due to my slang knowledge + urbandictionary.com, you might wanna change that to 'fo shizzle' or 'fo sho', both of which mean 'for sure'. Just 'shizzle' means... well, yeah.

“Yeah, get this thing off of my chest. I can’t breath,” the Charmeleon coughed back.

*breathe

“Machoke! Choke! Choke!” She held her hands first on Worki’s abdomen region, which made him gasp, and then proceeded to played-out strangulation. “Choooke!”

You mean 'play-out'? It sounds a little awkward like that.

The surface of the smooth blue Dawndew Lake was soon disrupted as Crystal splashed madly to call out her watery friend. "come on, Kokomo...this is an emergency..."

Capitalize.

“Nah, nizzle." she gazed around hastily. “…fine, I be takin' it without his pe'misshun, but dis dude be bad news, I could smell it all ova his bi-zarre uniform! He [/b]wreaked[/b] of the ones who caught us before, fo' rizzle!"

First off... lolnizzle. Same thing as shizzle, though I think nizzle can pass off as just 'friend'. Also, it should be 'reeked'.

“No…that Quilfish’s Poison Sting...”

Qwilfish? |D

“Whoa, whoa! Mah commando's goin' down, and not in da good way! Move dose legs, Muscle-Woman!"Flora cried out to the humanoid Pokemon, who picked up the pace.

Need a space between those last two sentences.

Kiyo, along with family, were gazing at her in the blanch room.

Blanch is being used in the wrong context, though I get what you're saying. Some better words would be 'ashen', 'blank', 'colorless'... you get the drill.

“What...happened…?” she brought her free hand to her head. It still spun slowly, and made her feel nausceaus.

lol nauseous*

“He was fine after we got the berry to it,” Kiyo nodded towards the fire type, who was also watching on, concerned.

Kind of awkward to use 'he', then use 'it' right afterwards. Go with one or the other-- though Kiyo tends to call Blaze 'he', anyway.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist, after her making us worry like that," Kiyo sighed. "It's just been two days..."

The two days thing threw me off a little bit, as it's a bit unclear. I'm not really sure what she's referring to?

Aaaand last, but not least...

“Hey, seriously, Blaze. give that to me. Where did he get it, Crystal?”

Capitalize.


Hahaha, now that the Grammar Nazi within me has been satiated... Gotta love that mobster boss. x3 I always did like this chapter for some reason. Also, the offer to edit everything still stands... >>'
 
Lucario EX said:
Good chapter, IMO, but why does Flora talk like that?

Flora talks like that because...she just randomly started talking like that. Trust me, it's like how Blaze is a mobster's kid, Hikari (you get introduced to her far later on) is bipolar, Sergeant Pup (you meet him later on) is a military officer, Breeze is sassy beyond belief, Skarmory's overaffectionate, Flare is way too wise for her age (you meet her soonish)...I dunno. I like to try and twist people's ideas of Pokemon and how they are just so...stoic. If they're talkin and we be undastandin' dese thing, best give it all just a bit of flair, you know? Besides, Bellossom is a pure grass type. Oddish is grass-poison. Bellossom takes normal damage from Psychic and half from Earthquake. Oddish takes double from Psychic and normal from Earthquake. Oddish can also learn Sludge Bomb where Bellossom. That comes into play later...WAY later. As in, after third badge later. I dunno. *shrugs* Personal preference thing. Besides, don't you want to say, 'I just read a fanfic with a ghetto Bellossom. My day has been made'? I know someone how has said that- had it in their signature and everything- though that was for Kiyo's Mighty Wings, which is a much later part of RQO told from Haku's point of view instead of Crystal's. X3 Aw, Mighty Wings. How short you were. (I'm trying to bug her to post it up so you can see what I mean about the whole Bellossom/Oddish thing. She does a GREAT job writing Bella's lines.)


Looooots of mistakes in this chapter. Bear with me, hahah...

Gods, you make me look like I was in a rush to write this chapter. Which is half true. I was rushed for editing. XD

Redundance in that last sentence. 'Challenge' twice luls. I'm not sure what you could replace it with, though.

>> Hmm...battle, struggle, methinks.



I always do that D:

Due to my slang knowledge + urbandictionary.com, you might wanna change that to 'fo shizzle' or 'fo sho', both of which mean 'for sure'. Just 'shizzle' means... well, yeah.

Concerning 'shizzle'...I've heard from someone that did live in the ghetto use it often as 'yes' or 'sure'. While it does mean...you know...


<< typorama. Man, mustn't have been looking too hard at this...

You mean 'play-out'? It sounds a little awkward like that.

The original thing I think I was going for was ' which made him gasp, and then played-out strangulation. “Choooke!”' but that sounds awkward as well. Noted.

Capitalize.

Yes.

First off... lolnizzle. Same thing as shizzle, though I think nizzle can pass off as just 'friend'. Also, it should be 'reeked'.

Nizzle was prolly wrong. I was going for 'no' cause I don't know how to say that in ghetta, fo' rizzle. and I am terrible with reeked too. D:

Qwilfish? |D

SU D: So what if I struggle with QUILFISH. I got a shiny one, that makes everything right! *stone'd*

Need a space between those last two sentences.

Stupid space bar...! *shakes fist*

Blanch is being used in the wrong context, though I get what you're saying. Some better words would be 'ashen', 'blank', 'colorless'... you get the drill.

Blanch, or blanc/blanche is actually from the French word from white. It wasn't meant like 'blanch the flour white'. Maybe I'll just drop the 'h' and italicize for a little bit of flare.

lol nauseous*

Not gonna lie- wasn't even remotely trying to spell that right. XD

Kind of awkward to use 'he', then use 'it' right afterwards. Go with one or the other-- though Kiyo tends to call Blaze 'he', anyway.

I know. I noticed it a lot throughout the chapter (you know nab writer me |D ) and I guess I missed one. Whoops.

The two days thing threw me off a little bit, as it's a bit unclear. I'm not really sure what she's referring to?

Kiyo teased Crystal, trying to make her freak out by saying she's been out for two weeks, when in reality it was simply two days. (You know what this is in reference to, I hope...XD) Dunno how to reword that better.

Capitalize.

Noted!

Aaaand last, but not least...I guess I should start posting up Mighty Wings soon so that people can see how awesome a real ghetto-rappin' Bellossom should act.

You do need to post up Mighty Wings after re-writing it please! :D

...okay, maybe you didn't say that last one. DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT YOU NEED TO DO THAT NAB. >:| *chews on head*

Hahaha, now that the Grammar Nazi within me has been satiated... Gotta love that mobster boss. x3 I always did like this chapter for some reason. Also, the offer to edit everything still stands... >>'

That mobster boss that doesn't even feel like a mob boss to me until later? D: It's so hard to write him! I dunno. I don't like the first few chapters. You know which is my favorite so far. ;D Might have to take you up on that offer after I edit through the part with Kara that you pointed out on POL that I didn't save because I'm a nab...@_@

Shutting up and posting up the next chapter now! :D

Chapter 7- From Blasted Rocket-Heads to Team Missile

“So you’re sure you’re ok.”

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m not staying cooped up in that hospital any longer.”

“Well, can’t blame you there. You were in there for a week or two.”

Crystal and Kiyo had set forth once more upon their adventure. At last, the blonde’s cells had regenerated from the damage the poison caused, and she had recovered her appetite. She clutched her new egg tightly to her chest, noticing the quivers that faintly came from within. The duo paused for a light picnic luncheon at the edge of Dawndew Lake in the overcast shadows of the day. Awkwardly Kokomo had been invited to feast upon a well-washed red delicious apple; she twitched and assumed her fleeing position whenever heavy movements were made from the elder trainer. Dragola, Flora, Blaze, Flareon, and Umbree all heartily munched away, gossiping lightly as their feast Cyranea had insisted on preparing for her daughter and friend was consumed. Crystal was just finishing up on her own Macintosh apple, crunching down on the sweet fruit as she absentmindedly enjoyed the sight of her two Pokemon sharing a Lemonade.

“…Crystal,” Kiyo said darkly, causing sudden tension in the air. “Those Missile Peons…they were wearing Silph suits, you said. That Junior Admin was wearing one too.”

“Yeah?” she blinked at her friend, her tongue running along the apple so as to prevent the sticky juice from oozing onto her hand.

“It’s…that’s not good for us. One of Silph’s main buildings, besides the one in Crescentflood City, is in Sunrise.”

“What are you saying…?”

“Team Missile has probably finally taken over that division of Silph,” she breathed out hard, and looked to the clouded sky. A harsh look plastered itself upon her face. “…Just like before.”

“Huh?”

“Team Missile…do you know their history, and why the area is so plagued by them now?”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t…” Crystal threw her apple core into the water, letting some starving Magikarp chow down upon it. The Vaporeon leapt at the sight of the red object into the water, though nervously crawled back.

“Well, it’s fairly serious…and complicated. Where to start…” the fire trainer stood up, cracking her neck a bit, before staring at her rippled reflection in the water. “…It started…about eight or nine years ago, I think…

“Really, Team Missile had never intended to call Beghta home. They actually originated in Kanto. There was a young man named Giovanni, and he was always corrupt. Collecting Pokemon and dominating the Gym Leaders wasn’t enough for him, as a trainer. He wanted the world as his. He wanted its money; he wanted its powerful, legendary Pokemon that eluded him regardless of the fact that they will always refuse to obey those that are so wicked as he. He devised all sorts of machines, but they all failed to catch him those strong Pokemon. Desperate, he joined a gang of small time thieves and trainers gone bad. At the time, there was only a small number of them, and they constantly fought amongst themselves. When Giovanni came, though…it changed. He had brilliant and well-agreed upon ideas, and he brought a tight order to the group as their leader. They didn’t have a name for a while, but I think that Giovanni once got mad at one of his teammates for pulling some asinine move, and said ‘blasted rocket-head!’, along with some other things. The other grunts started mimicking that phrase, and it became more of their joke slogan rather than a negative thing. Hence, the name Team Rocket stuck, soon to become feared.

“More and more trainers wanted to join in this organization. He took all the help he could get, and for some benefits, they followed his word loyally, even when it came to harming Pokemon, or even killing them, for money. There actually was an incident in the town of Lavender in Kanto where they just wanted a skull of a Cubone, but, perhaps I’m getting a little ahead of myself. At any rate, Team Rocket gathered several members, about one-hundred or so to them. They…became bold.

“This is now three years ago or so. They had taken over a good amount of Kanto, harassing trainers, extorting people, killing Pokemon…it got pretty bad. At this time I had traveled over to Kanto to catch some new Pokemon and do even more training than I already had. That…wasn’t a good idea. While I was taking in the sites of Silph’s home in Saffron City, they stormed the city, taking everyone hostage they could find. Even I was taken away; they were ridiculously powerful, and though my Pokemon fought hard, they lost tremendously. I started hearing all sorts of news around the region- Rockets pillaging Mt. Moon for the rare Pokemon within, Rockets recruiting new members by bribery on Nugget Bridge and stealing powerful TMs, kidnapping Cubone and killing the Marowak mother that tried to protect it in Pokemon Tower, and even going so far as to open a gambling center in the green city Celadon and ripping people off. It was a really frightening time, and…hahaha. Just as hope seemed to dull into little of anything, a trainer came.

He wore a red cap that was handed out by the Indigo Plateau, the HQ of the Elite Four of the region and had tons of rare and powerful Pokemon under his command. He treated them with kindness, though, and they respected him as a trainer. There were a few accounts of another trainer like himself, though he didn’t raise his Pokemon as kindly, and he wore a blue shirt. They both took care of Team Rocket, though to them, there was a strained rivalry between the two. It was only the trainer with the red that bothered to save anyone in the Silph Co. building. So amazingly powerful. I remember when there was a beep in my room, and the door slid open to show him come in. I couldn’t even think of anything to say that would express my feelings of gratitude towards him. Regardless, he made sure that I was ok, and took off, battling Giovanni himself, and freeing the city. I never saw ‘Red’ again, but I heard countless tales of his strong endeavors, and even the rumor that he had defeated the Elite Four and become the Champion. It was a comforting thought to think that he was still around the region.

“Giovanni, though, even in his secret make-shift base of a Pokemon Gym, had suffered the consequences of his actions, and fled the scene, along with a small group of his most trusted members. He was furious that he was beaten by a mere child, younger than I, and vowed that he would never let anyone get in his way again, no matter what. He got upon a large boat, and sailed off. He came upon a great storm, and the boat was swept far off course. It capsized, and he was swept ashore at Portview Town north of Zenith City, or so they say. Only a few crewmates survived that went with him. It was still a start.

“He discovered the rich and plentiful new opportunities of Beghta. There were plenty of rare Pokemon all over the place, and no one in the region had so much as heard of Team Rocket. He built his empire up again, but this time, there was even less mercy in his actions. Though he continued using the name Team Rocket, the people of the area often referred to them as missiles instead; they were much more potent and often times attacked people with missile-bomb capabilities.

“…and that leaves us with today. They say that Team Rocket, the members that were abandoned in Kanto, fled to Johto and made their mark there as Team Neo Rocket, joining up with the old Team Neo. Giovanni is said to be attempting to keep in touch with them, though thankfully it’s not working. Team Missile has already gotten well over five-hundred members to it, as they are a rather fearful team. By far, they have to be the largest evil organization I have seen or heard of, and that even puts other ‘evil’ teams in other regions in a nervous position. However, the situation here is much like the one that was back in Kanto now, except worse…” Kiyo finished off her sentence, and turned to Crystal. Her eyes were narrowed, hate glaring unrestrained within her irises. “If this keeps up, it’ll be like World War II, when Hitler took over other countries and terrorized them with fear to keep a retaliation from forming. It’d be totalitarianism, with Giovanni reigning supreme.”

“We can’t let that happen!”

“No, we can’t; but they are still strong, and Giovanni was fairly strong in Kanto. I can only imagine what three years of experience has given him. He might even be stronger than the Champion of Beghta, whomever he is. He was far stronger than the former Champion, the one that made Team Chaser. Giovanni…he personally killed him when the two teams collided.

“At any rate, it is worth a shot to rebel. The Pokemon of the region despise Team Missile, as well, and do not stand for the injustices that are done towards them. With your gift, we might be able to call a set of legendary Pokemon that can even best Giovanni in battle. And, Sunrise is a start. I think that you’d be strong enough to take on some of the peons in the area, if you’re strong and lucky enough to escape from a Peon on your own over here. Except this time you won’t be at risk for harm. Peons are nothing to me, if I need to help you. Sound like a good plan there?”

"I…guess. I mean, all I was looking to do on this adventure is to avoid them at all costs, and just enjoy the long road to the High Council HQ…” Mewster, now aware of a large destiny looming over her head, became exhausted at the thought of it. She was given a gift, but she had to decide how to use it. How did things turn out this way…? I thought I’d really only need it to chat merrily and absent-mindedly to my Pokemon, maybe occasionally to talk to a wild Pokemon for instructions, but now… I have to make a choice. There is no middle ground, now that Team Missile is after me. I won’t be able to evade them on my journey as I originally thought. Then again, will I have what it takes, even with Kiyo’s help? I don’t want any more Pokemon to become hurt by Team Missile’s dirty hands. This is far too much for a young trainer such as myself to bear. I’m going to need some help, and desperately...

“Kiyo. How many organizations and teams are against Team Missile?”

“Eh? Well, I’ve heard of quite a few. I know that even though Team Magma and Aqua of Hoenn are sort of infamous for their actions, I know that they don’t like the damage Team Missile is causing, at all. If anything, they want to help this Earth with their conflicting goals. Team Galactic from Sinnoh…? Eh, I think they’re too far away to really care. There are minor teams, such as the remnants of Team Chaser and even Team Magnificent from some unknown land, that I’ve heard of being able to hold Team Missile at bay in their areas. I’m not sure of how many teams in particular are against them, but I’m fairly sure that there are no teams of any decent size in Beghta. Why?”

“Just seeing where possible allies stand.”

“You can’t forget the Gym Leaders and the High Council, either.”

“Yeah, I realize that, but that’s still only thirteen trainers, counting the Champion.”

“Thirteen, indeed, because there is no current Sunburst Gym Leader and there’s a pair that battle side by side in the High Council,” Kiyo nodded.

“I see…” Crystal muttered, starting to pack her things up. Dragola and Flora were now fighting viciously tail and leaves over the last sip of juice. Both briefly stopped as they noted the solemn face of their trainer. Flora took the chance to yank the can away with her leaves and gulp the drink down.

“Hey!” the Dratini complained as the Oddish grinned wildly.

“Chill guys. We have plenty of lemonade. There’ll be more,” the gifted one chided, clipping her bag back onto her shoulder. Her mentor was swift to recall her Pokemon, reclipping the aged orbs onto her waist once more. Crystal herself unclipped the smooth Onyx Pokeball to return the sorrowful and thirsty Dratini. However, crystal blue eyes paused upon the weed Pokemon, who returned the hesitant gaze. She had kept the grass-poison type out and about since they had her a week ago. “…Wait, do you have your Pokeball? How am I supposed to call you back into your Pokeball if you don’t have one…?”

“Nah, that be negative, traina. I try to hold onto it, but wit Piddy-D giving me the fly outta dat rotten place, it slipped from my grip, fo’ rizzle.” Flora frowned apologetically.

“Oh yeah…any idea where she might’ve gone off to?”

“Nope...” the Oddish shook her head.

“Great,” the preteen sighed. “Well, I assume you don’t want to be walking around forever…”

“You sure got dat right! Dis sun be bad for my skin. Moonlight’s da only way to go, you catch my drift?”

“Sure…” Crystal fiddled with her belt, unzipping a compartment. It held a small handful of unused red and white orbs that she had been given by her god-uncle when she began her journey. Heaving a long breath, the new trainer couldn’t afford anything for a while, and she refused to be completely dependent on Kiyo. Dawdling until she had decided she needed to do so, she took one of the precious Pokeballs, widened it to its normal size, and held it out to Flora.

“Well, don’t be afraid to call me out or nuttin’ when some foo’s all up in your grill, traina. I’ll go an’ get all up in dere grill and take em out, ka’pizzle?” the grass Pokemon rapped, before depressing the button, disappearing inside. The light didn’t flicker for a moment.

“Huh…I guess they designed the Pokeballs to know about trainers and if they’ve lost their Pokeballs or something.”

“What’re you muttering about?”

“Oh, nothing…” Crystal compressed the orb and placed it on her waist next to Dragola. I have two Pokemon now. Three if you count the egg, even though it’s not hatched yet… With caution on her mind, she once more cradled the egg with love and firm hands.

“Well, best be going. If we’re lucky, we’ll get to the city by nightfall, though I’m sure you already know that, having lived here all your life…” the elder rolled her eyes, and started up the hill, though gazed back at the Vaporeon.

“Hey, later, Kokomo. I probably won’t see you for a while, so I guess this is goodbye for now…”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Well, good luck on your quest and things like that. Thanks for the food…”

“Least I could do for having you help out so much.”

“Of course. You’re a friend. Uh…I’ll see you later…” Carefully, she took the apple in mouth and leapt back into the water. Ripples dissolved into nothing, and the blonde rushed to catch up with her companion.



“It’s about time!” Crystal cried for joy, as they reached a hill apex. There were no longer trees and a dirt path in sight ahead of them, but a bustling city in comparison to Dawndew. The sun, unlike the name of the suburb, was red as it set on the horizon. “Sunrise City, here we come.”

“Excellent. I didn’t know that path was so long,” the black-haired trainer took a deep breath of fresh air, appearing only slightly fatigued.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m famished. Yeah, food!- nngh.” Again, the hasty trainer started out for the town, but not before Kiyo yanked on her backpack.

“It’s not going to be all fun and games, you know. We can’t just run into town as you recklessly would love to. Team Missile has probably swarmed the city if they got Silph and defeated the Gym Leader,” she hissed, and the smile on the gifted one’s face faded. “They’ll be looking for you, with word back from that guy that you were sighted in Dawndew. It would only make sense for you to come this way, so we must proceed with subtlety.”

“That’s a pretty big word you used right there.”

“Will you get serious? Team Missile gets you, they probably could get the world. Now, come on.” Grouchy and set on her goal, the elder trainer started pacing up the route again, taking the hill slowly. Crystal stared for a moment, before running back to her side.

After an hour of climbing down the hill and hiding from the occasional passer-by, the two arrived within the city borders. There were very few houses at first; aged trees nestled themselves in old soil next to the homes. The buildings sprung up all over the greenish city as they moved closer to the heart of the town. And, as Kiyo had said, there were Missile Grunts disguised as Silph members, bossing the poor townsfolk left and right. Thankfully they were so preoccupied with their pompous nonsense that they couldn’t catch the eyes of the two trainers as they took refuge in the red-roofed Pokemon Center. Even the trainer’s sanctuary, guards were posted about, keeping note of all those that went into rest.

“This is bad. This is far worse than the Saffron take-over three years ago.”

“There’s got to be someone who can show those creeps up.” A pair of trainers, along with their Psyduck and Ralts, gossiped underneath their breaths.

“If they think they can stop me from challenging Woodsy, they’re nuts.” The last comment caught Crystal’s attention as she settled down nervously at a booth. The young female leaned in slowly to catch their near-silenced words.

“Why? Why would they do that?”

“Well, I’m sure they wouldn’t want a Gym Leader going around and handing their butts to them. Gym Leaders, you know, aren’t just in a city for a reason. They’re there to protect the integrity of the city, too. And since they’re powerful, they are a force that Team Missile doesn’t want to reckon with.”

“Right, but how do they stop a Gym Leader, if they aren’t so powerful to begin with?”

“It’s pretty easy, I would suppose,” the first went on, waving his fork at his younger partner. “All you really have to do is threaten to kill someone or Pokemon or something if they come out of their gym. That’d put me on the spot, too.”

“So, you really think you can take down Team Missile, bud? Ha! Good luck with that.”

“And you’re helping.”

“Oh, don’t get me involved!”

“They wouldn’t make it to the gym,” Kiyo muttered, also paying attention to the conversation. “They wouldn’t have what it takes.”

“What about us?”

“We don’t need the gym. We’re going to infiltrate the source.”

“Whaaaat?!”

“Shh. Keep your voice down. Team Missile is here too, remember.”

“Yeah, but, I mean…how would we get in there?”

“The old ninja way, of course.”

“I’m terribly clumsy.”

“Plan B, then.”

“What’s that?”

“Owning their sorry behinds for entry,” Kiyo smirked.

“Huh?!”

“Yah, you heard me. There will be tears shed tomorrow. Hahaha. We’re going to need a little something to help us there, though.” The fire trainer took a glance at a pair of Missiles standing guard near the healing machine. One gazed around, not noticing the gaze of the elder trainer upon him, before he hastily dug his finger into his nasal passage. “I think…I have a plan.”

“You…think?”

“Yep, I think. Leave a good part of it to me,” The teenager chuckled, and the blonde-haired girl couldn’t help but feel unnerved.



“Hey, Meow-Mix. Time to get up.”

“Hmmm? …oh, come on, it’s five in the morning!” Crystal groaned.

“Come on. You need to get up.” Roughly, the fire trainer shook her bunk bed’s mattress.

“Whyyyy?”

“Because I said so. You wanna get rid of the Missiles, right? Well, you can’t do it if you’re sleeping while the guards are.”

“What guards? Oh, lemme sleeeep.”

“Dragola…” the onyx-haired female sighed, and poked the serpent. “Hey, can you wake her up?”

“Ni,” the dragon replied, yawning herself, before waking up entirely. She nudged Crystal a few times, but to no avail. She tried curling up on her face. Still no response from the new trainer. Finally, she bent down into her ear.

“Goooooooooooooood morning Crystallll!” She squealed, and started the trainer off in a girly scream, which was cut off abruptly by Kiyo’s hand.

“Shh. They’ll hear you.”

“That was NOT cool,” Mewster whispered furiously at the both of them, before recalling her Pokemon. The elder shrugged, a huge grin still plastered upon her face. She nodded to her student to follow her down the hall towards the entrance after both had dressed, and they slipped out of the room, down the hall, and out the side entrance.

The morning air was crisp and clean, tinted with light humidity. The sky began to turn shades of green and red, though Ursa Major and Orion were still in view along with their starry cousins. Only a select few grunts were on patrol; most had called it a night, though there was still a pair of peons outside the frontal entrance of the Center. Soft snores came from the nose-picker. The pair of trainers took to a well-shaded alleyway nearby, and Kiyo raised up the most aged Pokeball she owned.

“Watch this. Umbree, give them the what-for, but make sure to leave their clothes in tact, and be silent about it…” the fire trainer chuckled, and the moonlight Pokemon was released. As he crept away, his golden-orange rings glowed and flashed mysteriously. It was a good thing the two couldn’t see what had happened to the Missiles, as it sounded to be a vicious thrashing with the gentle cries of anguish they made. Umbree came back looking triumphant. “Great job. Okay, Crystal, let’s go grab their uniforms and hide them back here.”

“Their uniforms?! Are you crazy?!” she screeched before her mouth was covered once more.

“Yes, but this is part of the plan. Easiest way to get in is to steal some identities. Come on.”

“Ohh, I don’t like this one bit...” But, the deed was done. Crystal had tucked away her own outfit in her bag, wearing a female Grunt outfit that revealed a little much for her liking. Kiyo had taken the liberty of throwing the male Grunt’s clothes on herself, fitting into the masculine proportions well. She reached over and fixed the large cap on the no-longer pink-banged female.

“Alright, now we’re styling. Well, as much as one can in a Missile outfit. Remember, we’re Missile Grunts. We show respect to our elders, and treat everyone else like dirt. To the Silph building…” Kiyo fiddled with her own cap, before strolling into the city.

“This outfit smells really bad…” Crystal complained.

“Tell me about it. This guy clearly wears Axe on his uniform. No more complaining…” her voice fell into nothing as they passed one of the few other grunts out at the ungodly time of the morning. With a simple nod, the villains averted their gaze.

“This feels weird,” Crystal said under her breath after some time.

“Just keep nodding to other Missiles,” Kiyo muttered back. “It’s what they do to greet each other whilst on patrol. Oh, good. We’re here.” Towering before them, the Silph building loomed with danger. Two rather intimidating guards quickly noted the two approaching, though speaking not a word.

“We’re done our shift at the Pokemon Center,” the elder trainer mocked a man’s voice with decent success.

“Ok. Go in to check in with the Grunt Leader.” Without a further word, they cleared the path, and the incognito pair waltzed in.

Polished marble, tropical plants, and the occasional fountain within the lobby nearly had Crystal gasp at it’s beauty. Just from a glance at the metal staircase and the elevator not too far away, the mentor noted there were anywhere from seven to ten floors that they might have to traverse. Missile Grunts littered benches and chairs. Without their caps on and sleeping so soundly, some appeared human.

“Ok, I’ll find out what room is the check-in room, and worse comes to worse, you accuse me of being an imposter, and I’ll take those newblets on a run for their money so you can get to where you need to.” the fire trainer branched off without waiting for a reply, and headed over to a small gathering of alert grunts. The younger shrugged, and took to the fountain side to rest with some other members.

“Just back from your shift, eh?” One asked, and the girl panicked for a moment. Shoot, what to I…oh, best just try and play along with this. I’m so bad at this…

“Oh, yeah,” she drawled out, trying to sound a little more relaxed as she trembled, “It was uneventful. Few Rattata caused some problems outside, but other than that, it was all good.”

“Yeah, shifts can get pointless. I don’t see why we have to have everyone in their houses, anyways. The city already fears us, and we have the Gym Leader under control. Why even bother with watching the Pokemon Center?”

“Ah, but Lady Kinshayti wanted us to. That has to be something of importance,” another grunt added.

“Yeah, I bet you it’s that girl she keeps raving about,” Crystal added in, hoping her notoriety would aid her in this situation.

“Oh, right. That one that can speak to Pokemon or something like that. That’d be reason enough to check the Pokemon Center to see if she was there. Say…” the first grunt turned to her, and her heart leapt. “You’re a new face.”

“Ah, yeah. I just recently joined in,” she hastily spoke, her eyes darting over to Kiyo’s position. “A week ago, really. And here I was promised an exciting time and tons of benefits.”

“Yeah. The grunts really get nothing around here. Only if you’re good do you get anything. And then you have this stuff with battling and intimidating…ah, never mind. What’s your name, anyways? The name’s Matt.”

“And I’m Yusuke,” The other waved.

“The name’s…” she paused, but she got lucky once again. There had been a shout, as Kiyo had swung powerfully at a grunt.

“Hey, isn’t that the guy you came in with?” Matt stood up.

“Yeah, but…wait, that isn’t my shift partner! It’s an imposter!” she shouted, pointing dramatically. “Let’s get him!”

“Aw, son of a…!” Kiyo swore, and took off into the building, bounding up two stairs at a time. Crystal ran over to the grunt that had been hit.

“What’s he doing?!”

“Little…he asked where the check-in room was, and I thought that was a little suspicious, so I didn’t tell him that it was on the sixth floor. He got mad, and elbowed me in the face. Gahh…when I get my hands on that jerk, I’ll…” Crystal had heard enough, and took to the stairs with a group of other Missiles to ‘chase’ her down. They zigzagged through the higher floors, till Kiyo made her stand on the fourth floor with her fierce fire types. Her student took the opportunity to hurry up to the sixth level. A few Missiles bursted out of what appeared to be the conference room to make battle the intruder past her. She boldly entered the room, where a male was standing, appearing furious. Hair a dull dirty blonde and nearly balding, his outfit was far from low-ranked. Yellow-amber colored eyes darted up to notice the female. By the description Kiyo gave me, he’s not Giovanni, but then… who is he…?

“What are you doing here?” he interrogated gruffly, his pen tapping impatiently upon a thick discolored clipboard.

“Just checking in after my shift ended at the Pokemon Center and before heading out to face the intruder, sir,” she saluted, having no further idea as to what to do.

“Alright, you’re…” He paused for a second, taking in her face. “…what’s your name?”

“My name is, eh, Grace, sir,” she cursed herself mentally for coming up with such a lousy name. He gazed at the sign-in sheet, before his evil gaze locked onto her.

“Your name isn’t on the list.”

“Ah, I was just transferred from Zenith City tonight, sir.”

“I see…” He still gave her a suspicious eye. “Tell, me, Grace…would you have happened to see a young girl with pink bangs come into the Pokemon Center tonight whilst you were on duty?”

“Ah, no sir. I didn’t recall anyone like that.”

“Oh, really?” There was a sudden slam of the door as he nodded to a high-rank grunt. With little warning, he paced over to the gifted-one-in-hiding, and she could only stare down at the floor in submission, his golden eyes overpowering her pacific blue ones. “…Because I heard that one of the grunts had seen her.”

“Well, I had the midnight shift, and that was after everyone had gone to bed. I was unaware, sir, that she-”

“You’re a terrible liar…Crystal!” And, with a mighty swing, her cap came flying off and she was sent flying into the wall. She gasped, as he chuckled at the sight of the female. “Well, well, well, what have we here? A little lost girl thinking she can overcome us with a little disguise. Hahaha.” The blonde stumbled up, and just barely missed a peon’s grasp. Hastily, she withdrew both of her capsule devices. Something of an amused smirk danced over the man’s face. “So, you recovered some Pokemon, eh? Think you can beat me so simply with whatever little creatures you possess in those wimpy things you call Pokeballs?” As he spoke, he handed over his clipboard to the Missile in waiting, unlatching a Fast Ball, as Crystal had learned it to be, and that tainted black orb. “Think you can be the best, huh? Well, let me have you know, girl…to be the best, you have to earn that right, and that is one right I am on my way to achieving as head admin and sub-leader of Team Missile! Yukikume, Muk, let’s take care of this pest…but don’t kill her. We do have uses for her.”

Snapping his wrists, the Pokeballs flew carelessly out of his grip. With a blinding pair of flashes, a horrible stench filled the air, causing the young girl to immediately gag. The purple pile of filth bellowed dangerously with a cruel laugh. A similar, more feminine laugh greeted the female’s ears, and she found herself eyeing a black creature. Long claws extended from her paws, gleaming in the florescent lighting dangerously.

“…l-let’s go, Dragola and Flora!” Threatened and choking on her own breath, the blond tossed her capsule devices out as well. Soon four stared each other down.

“Hey, what’s…going on?” the dragon soon shrinked away at the very sight of the man and his pets.

“Peeeooowy! What be dat awful stench? I never smelled somethin’ dat…whoa, sanap. Dese…foos be the ones up in your grill, traina?” Dropping her pride, the Oddish slunk back behind the dragon in dis-ease. Sudden words from the man caused Crystal to note the grunt attempting to slink before her.

“No. She needs a lesson. You can take her after I’ve done in her Pokemon.” With disinterest, he turned to the battle. “Yukikume, make it quick with your Ice Punch on the Dratini. Muk, use your Sludge on that Oddish.”

“Flora, get on Dragola and spread out your Stun Spore after Dragola’s used her Extremespeed!” Crystal shouted.

“Ha, you must be a new trainer. Dratini are slow, along with Oddish. It couldn’t use Extremespeed if-” he frowned, his words ending as the battle began. The dragon hastily disappeared from view, and before the Sneasel could power her claws up, she received a nasty tackle that sent her flying back into the Muk. Reacting to the sudden impact, the foul creature fired his Sludge early, colliding with the peon instead. Flora took the oppurtunity to hop off the serpent’s head and onto the Sneasel’s. Bouncing up and down wildly, she forced the ice type deeper into the sludge pile, shaking golden pollen left and right into the air. Both Pokemon made an attempt to strike at it, but they were bound by their paralysis.

“Now, Dragola, Twister them! Flora, Absorb from the Sneasel!”

“Absorb from the Sneasel, how cute. Yukikume, get up already and end this battle. Muk, get ready to debilitate that girl,” he ordered heartlessly, and Crystal’s heart began to sink at the thought of being attacked by the pile of sludge. Dragola came around with her attack first, creating a huge gust of wind carrying all sorts of papers and files. The whirlwind collided with both enemy Pokemon, but they weren’t so easily deterred; before Flora could get close enough to Absorb energy, the Sneasel bellowed out with chilling winds. The Pokemon were no match for the mighty Blizzard, and were rapidly sent flying back with a yelp from each into their trainer. The harsh hurricane of ice and snow was even so powerful to catch the female off her own feet and toss her like a ragdoll into the wall once again.

“Agh!” she gasped for breath, the combination of the harsh impact and her Pokemon on her chest crippling her wind.

“Muk, now.” Acknowledging the command, the goop nodded, and instead of flinging a small amount of the dangerous goop, he nearly unhinged his mouth to exude huge exhausts. Though thin, the poisonous cloud irritated the blonde’s lungs. Coupled with the fact she had her wind knocked out of her seconds before, it was all she could do to keep herself awake against the lack of oxygen. Woozy, the shadow of the Missile admin loomed closer to her. His figure spun around as there was a jiggling sound, followed by the sound of the lock being blown clean off. An annoyed Dustren stood there, metal bird and fire Eeveelution at her side.

“Skarmory, get rid of that Poison Gas! Flareon, take those Pokemon out with Overheat!” And, before Kiyo could even finish her commands, they took to action. Skarmory easily blew the smoke outside with a few flaps of his metallic wings, before clattering over awkwardly to Crystal.

“Are you ok? You look really bad,” he rubbed his head concernedly upon her shoulder.

“Yeah… but I’m not sure about Dragola or Flora. They look pretty bad…” She nearly gagged and had an upset stomach, though she felt the dangerous fumes melting away into nothing and not doing severe damage.

In the intense battle, Flareon powered up, glowing igneous colors. Fire formed wildly in the air around the creature, the stench of the Muk quickly replaced by the smell of sulfur. As though trying to hide from the attack and knowing there was nowhere to run, the poison and ice type hastily slunk underneath the mahogany executive table. It was far from any use, however; in a mighty roar larger than heself, Flareon loosed the flames, encompassing the table and Pokemon in an explosive rampage. They were quickly cast aside, toys to the Eeveelution, and embers caught fire of the rug below the administrator's sour gaze. With his well-polished shoe, he stamped it out with ease, his frustration barely showing through.

“Infamous Dustren…we meet again.”

“Infamous? Ha, speak for yourself, Yoramatu,” she spat back.

“You’d best run while you can, you know, unless you feel like having your head being served personally to dear old Kinshayti.” He chuckled, and a fierce snarl came to her face.

“Your teammates are all in shambles downstairs. You have no cronies to back your gut up on! You should be at Grunt level, as you’re still weak!”

“Silence! The girl is mine! He made a grab for Crystal, but Skarmory immediately got in his way.

“Recall your Pokemon and cover your ears,” she muttered to the girl, and she did so, Skarmory let out a loud screech, and combined with him rubbing his feathers together to make a terrible scratching sound, the Metal Sound drove him back to a window.

“Gah! Blasted thing! I’ll kill you, I swear!” But, as he gave an order coded in numbers out, he fell down through the window, and could be seen flying off on a Crobat he sent out at the last minute. All sorts of Grunts withdrew from their positions as the sun peeked through the trees, and to Crystal it gratefully looked as though the light was causing the shadows to scurry away into the shade of the forest. It was their- no, Kiyo’s victory.

“…shoot, he got away. Hey Mewster, are you ok?”

“What’d I tell you about using that name? I’m fine, but Dragola and Flora…” She showed her the two badly wounded Pokemon with growing frostbite-potential regions.

“What’re you doing, going about using Pokemon that are weak to ice, especially on a Sneasel?”

“I didn’t know…”

“Well, come on. Let’s go back to the Center to heal up. I’m sure that we’ll have no problem now that Team Missile is gone. Oh, but we should probably change first, haha.” Crystal nodded as her friend threw her hat down and into her backpack. The girl was done wearing something that revealed more than she thought was necessary.

----------

...still prolly has some stuff that needs to be changed. Have a field day with that, Kiyo. XD
 
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Oh, you're getting it now. >:|

He wanted its money, its powerful, legendary Pokemon that eluded him regardless of the fact that they will always refuse to obey those that are so wicked as he.

Should probably put a semicolon in there somewhere, methinks. Perhaps where the first comma is.

I think that Giovanni once got mad at one of his teammates for pulling some asinine move, and said ‘blasted rocket-head!’, along with some other things.

Inserted comma.

Just as hope seemed to dull into little of anything, a trainer came.
He wore a red cap that was handed out by the Indigo Plateau, the HQ of the Elite Four of the region and had tons of rare and powerful Pokemon under his command.

Space between paragraphs~

While I was taking in the sites of Silph’s home in Saffron City, they stormed the city, taking everyone hostage they could find, even me.

Either semicolon somewhere or make them two separate sentences.

They both took care of Team Rocket, though to them, there was a strained rivalry between the two.

This sentence is just a tidbit vague, and it's unclear who you're talking about with. It's also unclear where this would be relevant to the situation, so the rivalry should probably be noted after this sentence.

I never saw ‘Red’ again, but I heard countless tails of his strong endeavors, and even the rumor that he had defeated the Elite Four and become the Champion.

*tales

“If this keeps up, it’ll be like World War II, when Hitler took over other countries and terrorized them with fear to keep a retaliation from forming. It’d be totalitarianism, with Giovanni reigning supreme.”

I'm not sure if this even took place in the Pokemon world. o_o It's something I was always unclear about in stories, and irked me whenever things like this were mentioned. It was almost like breaching the 4th wall. I dunno...

“No, we can’t, but they are still strong, and Giovanni was fairly strong in Kanto.

Semicolon or new sentence again~

I thought I’d really only need it to chat merrily and absent-mindedly to my Pokemon, maybe occasionally to talk to a wild Pokemon for instructions, but now… I have to make a choice. There is no middle ground, now that Team Missile is after me. I won’t be able to evade them on my journey as I originally thought. Then again, will I have what it takes, even with Kiyo’s help? I don’t want any more Pokemon to become hurt by Team Missile’s dirty hands. This is far too much for a young trainer such as myself to bear. I’m going to need some help, and desperately...

Italicize for thoughts~

I have two Pokemon now. Three if you count the egg, even though it’s not hatched yet…

Same thing as before~

“This is bad. This is far worse than the Saffron take-over three years ago.”

“There’s got to be someone who can show those creeps up.”

“If they think they can stop me from challenging Woodsy, they’re nuts.” The last comment caught Crystal’s attention as she settled down nervously at a booth.

“Why? Why would they do that?” A pair of trainers, along with their Psyduck and Ralts, gossiped underneath their breaths.

I was always a little bit confused at this part. You may wanna mention that two trainers were talking to each other before you start the dialogue, or right after the first piece of it. Every time I read this part, I automatically think it's Kiyo and Crystal talking, as there isn't much of a transition between these two separate sets of characters.

No response still from the new trainer.

Should probably place the still elsewhere. Like... 'Still no response from the new trainer' or 'There was still no response from the new trainer'.

“Tell me about it. This guy clearly wears Axe on his uniform. No more complaining…”

... xD There isn't anything wrong with this sentence, but lawl as--I mean axe. |D

With little warning, he paced over to the gifted-one-in-hiding, and she could only stare down at the floor in submission, his golden eyes overpowering her pacific blue once.

*ones

We do have uses for her.”

Already mentioned this to you. Just fix it so it's more clear somehow, emphasize the 'do'.

In the intense battle, Flareon powered up, glowing igneous colors.
“Infamous Dustren…we meet again.”

TRASHCAT IS NOT AMUSED. :| NEED MOAR DESCRIPTION FOR FLAREON. Also, space between paragraphs again.

“Silence! The girl is mine!" He made a grab for Crystal, but Skarmory immediately got in his way.

Fix'd.
 
What, what, I flatter you and I just wanna see your story, and this is how I get treated? Okay. I see how it is. Just gonna note a few things.

Quote:
“If this keeps up, it’ll be like World War II, when Hitler took over other countries and terrorized them with fear to keep a retaliation from forming. It’d be totalitarianism, with Giovanni reigning supreme.”

I'm not sure if this even took place in the Pokemon world. o_o It's something I was always unclear about in stories, and irked me whenever things like this were mentioned. It was almost like breaching the 4th wall. I dunno...

Not quite. I mean, look at Lt. Surge. It said he fought in a war. Why not make it the Vietnam War? At least, this is my personal belief that the Pokemon world is not at peace. That's far too idealistic. It's sort of like how the Pokemon world would have to go through the Industrial Revolution with electric Pokemon being at the head of things- I see it as having to have happened.

Quote:
In the intense battle, Flareon powered up, glowing igneous colors.
“Infamous Dustren…we meet again.”

TRASHCAT IS NOT AMUSED. :| NEED MOAR DESCRIPTION FOR FLAREON.

SOMEONE WAS RUSHED OKAY? Jeez.

Chapter 8- Threshold

The girls celebrated ecstatically for Kiyo’s victory over getting a finger of Team Missile’s two-handed grasp off of Beghta. The tab was on placed upon the somewhat poor Crystal, given her friend believed she had accomplished all the difficult footwork, and thus she didn’t stuff her face with the same vigor as the fire trainer.

“So…” the gifted one started, pushing her cereal around her bowl with her plastic spoon. “What are we going to do with those clothes we got?”

“Keep ‘em, of course…” Kiyo smirked and took a bite larger than she could handle of her large, fluffy pancake drenched in pure maple syrup.

“Keep them? Are you crazy?”

“As much as you are.”

“Fine, I’m registered in a mental institution.”

“Oh, camman. I was kidding.” She paused to take a sip of her orange juice. “Nah, we should keep them instead of throwing them away. They might prove useful in the upcoming trials of beating Team Missile down. They still have bases all over the place.” She rummaged around in her masculine backpack, pushing aside both of their new uniforms, before pulling out a hexagonal shaped item.

“What’s…that?” Crystal pushed her cereal out of the way as she leaned in for a closer look.

“It’s a Town Map projector. They’re fairly common in Kanto, and it saves space on the Pokégear for more quick-dial phone numbers and other things.” As she explained, her quick fingers pressed a few buttons on the contraption as she pried it open. It clicked in place after she yanked it out a certain length, and a small list of region names appeared in the middle of the hologram:

KANTO
JOHTO
BEGHTA
HOENN
SINNOH
SEVII ISLANDS PAGE 1
SEVII ISLANDS PAGE 2
SEVII ISLANDS PAGE 3
ORANGE ARCHIPELAGO

“What are the Orange Archipelago and Sevii Islands?” the younger questioned as her mentor moved through a list of options to highlight ‘BEGHTA’.
“They’re two major chains of islands south-east and east of Beghta, respectfully. The Orange Islands are really tropical, but the Sevii Islands are more like our atmosphere. I’ve also heard of the Southern Islands, but I haven’t been able to visit them yet.”

“Have you been to all of those regions?”

“Most. Some people gave me these pages for if I ever did explore them, like Hoenn and Sinnoh.” Her finger finally depressed the cadmium ‘enter’ button, and with a fierce whir, a three-dimensional mini Beghta lit up before their eyes, slowly rotating endlessly.

“Whoa, that’s neat!”

“Yeah, it’s really nifty. Ok, so here we are. Sunrise City...” she fiddled around with the options, and it zoomed in on the town. It displayed the Pokemon Center in red with an arrow above it, the gym in mauve, the small Pokémart in blue, and the Silph Building in violet. “Silph Co. was taken over. That doesn’t surprise me one bit- Silph makes all of these rare items. They’re probably in need of things like Porygon, new types of Pokéballs, and even items that let you see ghosts.”

“G-ghosts?” Even if it wasn’t thought to be possible with her already china-doll complexion, the color drained from Crystal’s face. She appeared ill.

“Yeah. There are ghost type Pokemon out there, didn’t you know? …Crystal?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Neat.” All signs pointed to the fact that she wasn’t thinking of what she was saying.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re afraid of ghosts.”

“…They’re creepy and, and, and-” she stuttered.

“Dead?”

“Yesss!” At this point, the fire trainer couldn’t help herself and nearly doubled over, her short hair threatening to stick into the syrup of her pancakes. “H-hey! Not cool! I’m serious!”

“Oh, camman man! I’ve been all around the regions around here! Ghost types are nothing to fear, really. They’re just like other Pokemon, except completely resistant to normal and fighting type moves. And they can sorta walk through walls. And they can-”

“Enough, ok! Moving on! Team Missile! Yeah!” she gritted her teeth and ran her fingers through her hair with speed, showing her anxiety.

“Well, I know what you won’t be dressing up as for Halloween…” Kiyo shook her head, half-amused, half pitying the girl, before she returned the map to its normal size. “Ok. So, assumably, they’ve taken over a lot of other places. Zenith City is the one most people know about. They run the Game Corner there and they booted the old gym leader out to have a fake one put in that no one can beat. Then I’ve confirmed the rumor of their base in the forested region around Sunburst. They’ve really done a number on my hometown, too. It’s terrible. They turned it into some sort of amusement area instead of its peaceful, humid and hot self. I’m going to have to deal out some personal…er, improvements to that area in a while. It’s not something we can do in an hour, you know. Then there’s…Portview Town. It’s north of Zenith, and though small they use it to ship Pokemon in from other regions and send supplies to other allies and stuff of that sort. I fear they may use it for an escape route later if we beat them. Might have to contact a whole other team for help in that department. Ok. Then there’s…two others I’ve heard rumors of. I’ve heard of a Pokemon laboratory similar to Pokemon Mansion in Kanto that was destroyed four years ago, where they are evidently doing…experiments on Pokemon. It’s really terrible…” the teenager shook her head.

“Experiments? What kind of…experiments?”

“I…I don’t even think I could tell you. It’s that bad.”

“Oh, no.”

“Yeah. They are Rockets, or rooted from them. They don’t care about anything except themselves, money, and power. It’s sickening. Anyways…then there’s another base, and it’s rumored to be the largest of them all. Even I can’t find it, and I feel like I’ve scoured the region over thousands of times. Well, except for the rainforest area to the west, but I seriously doubt anyone could make a base there and survive for an extended period of time. The stuff that goes on in that jungle is insane…well, at any rate, we’s got a looooot of work to do.” Kiyo pressed the red button for a moment once more, the map disappearing in a flash and snapping shut. With all haste she pocketed the Town Map, throwing it into the bottomless abyss that was her bag.

“We’ve gotta get rid of those uniforms, Kiyo…” Crystal fiddled with her long sideburns nervously, eyes darting around as the manly girl stuffed the uniforms down so that she could zip it up.

“Relaaaax. You need to get your badge first off, so I don’t have to be saving you butt every five minutes. I’ll store the uniforms in the PC after then.”

“Hey, what’chu mean you save my butt every five minutes?”

“Lessee, I can count at least four times where I saved your butt from Team Missile since I met you.”

“Four?! Come on, you’re making me out to be a weakling here!”

“Hate to tell ya, hun, buuut…”

“Name them then!”

“Lessee, I busted you out of Missile HQ, I saved you from walking back into Missile HQ, I covered your butt when whatshisface Johnson came for you, aaaand I got you out of being poisoned and captured by a Team Missile Admin! Not to mention, you know, I got you that Pokemon in a way by lending you my Jolteon and stuff.”

“…Okay, you’ve made your point…” Crystal muttered, twisting and tying her hair into knots shamefully. “Right, so the gym. Where is it?”

“Hate to tell ya, miss, but someone with a dragon type you recently got and a grass-poison type you caught again a few days ago is not going to be able to beat Forrest Ridgebrook so easily.”

“Who now?”

“Jeez, do I have to get Pokemon Training for Dummies for you?” the fire trainer snorted. “Forrest, the first gym leader, the one that’s known as the Sappy Pokemon Breeder.”

“Hahaha.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t laugh, kid. If you had a flying type, it’d be no problem to beat him down in once swing and claim the Nature Badge in record time. Despite his kind disposition, he’s one tough cookie. And without his badge, you ain’t getting anywhere.”

“Aaand why is that?”

“The road up ahead is under construction, and the detour leads through the forest. Heard about it last night on my Gear’s radio. And the forest is dense of tiny trees that are impossible to bypass, unless you have two things- special gear and the badge that you activate by attaching them to your trainer card and swiping it through a lock. It’s another one of those complicated things.”

“And how do you get this gear?”

“Well, I have some, but I’m going to be needing it myself. It’s a thick forest, so thick it’s like Ilex Forest of Johto- you can’t see the sky and it’s like it’s always night there. I think that Silph offers some though, and I think I may be able to get you some. Anyways, he specializes in Grass types. He’s crafty how he uses his moves. I definitely think you need some time training. You do know how to do that, right, or do I have to tell you that bare-bone basic too?”

“…Yes?” The girl chuckled nervously, fingers raking her hair back in place again. She gave a giggle that was somewhat fake.

“Oh, GODS! What did your mom teach you?! Agh…” she let her head fall on the blank tabletop. “Oh, I didn’t know what I was getting into here…”

“What was that?”

“Never mind. Ok, so, to train your Pokemon, you have to make them fight. Preferably, the most common fights are done against wild Pokemon. This’d be a good start for you; they’re typically at a lower level and give you a decent amount of experience, remember that. After they get a certain amount of experience points from many battles, they level up, as we commonly say, us trainers. Leveling up ultimately makes your Pokemon stronger, lets them learn more powerful moves, even let them change their shape and evolve- get where I’m going?”

“Sure.”

“Well, I think Pokégear has the ability to check the four moves of a Pokemon, their statistics- stats for short that let you know how fast, offensively strong, defensively strong, stuff like that, they are through some weird numerical system. Um, it also tells them their gender, nature, where you caught it, how many more estimated battles against local Pokemon in the area it will take to grow that ‘level’…Well, mine does, at least. They have Pokédexes too, for that.”

“Pokédex?”

“It’s also known as a portable electronic encyclopedia. It was released to the public only recently. It was created by Samuel Oak.”

“Who?” Again, Kiyo’s head slammed on the table, and other people eating their breakfast in the center began to stare.

“Just…let’s concentrate on getting you out into the wild and teaching you to train your Pokemon. Oh jeez, no idea that you were this naïve…”



“That’s all? That’s all you do?” The young girl, who had knocked out a local Pidgey with Dragola’s help, gazed questionably at her mentor.

“Yep. That’s basically how you go about a training regimen.”

“Ok, so what level should I get my Pokemon up to in order to take on Forrest? How does this level system even work? It sounds really confusing.”

“Not really. Obviously my Pokemon are at a far higher level than yours, yes? I’m just basing an estimate off of that, and what I’ve heard about other trainers about Woodsy. The levels range from one to one-hundred, so yeah, you’re way near the bottom right now. Um… Considering you have a disadvantage of no super-effective types against his team- Oddish doesn’t learn a Poison type move until it reaches its twenties…- I’d say at least get both to level ‘thirteen’. His Pokemon are around the ten to twelve range, I’d say and are smart. As suck a rookie trainer, most definitely you need more power at this point, and you need some serious training, I think. Lessee if I’m right about your estimated Pokemon’s levels…” Kiyo flipped open the Pokegear missing from Crystal’s wristband, twisting and pressing the knob on the right side of the device.

“Kiyo! Not agaiiin. Ah…”

“You really need to secure it to the band better. Hahaha…okay. Dragola: level 'nine'. That’s all I’m getting for it. Your Pokégear is probably much less technologically advanced than my own. Aaaand Flora: Level ‘eight’. Oh sanap son, we have some work to do. Oh, this’ll take some time. At least my guess was lower than what you actually had…”

“How long is this going to take now?”

“Ehhh. At this rate, I’d say about…a day? Two? Three at the most. Depends on how fast you train.”

“T-two days?!”

“Yeah, you heard me, am I right?”

“But, that’s so long…”

“Get used to it. There’s a ton of training involved in getting to be a top battler. Hence, Pokemon trainer. Get it? Got it? Good.”

“Ohh, this is greaaat. Man, my siblings told me nothing of this…”

“Hey, neither did mine. No worries.”

“You have siblings?” Aquamarine eyes locked upon the trainer.

“Yup. Two brothers; Kaien and Kouta,” she breathed out. “Kaien…left somewhere a few years ago. I have no idea where to, though. All he left for me is a short, scrawled out note with ‘Love ya baby sister’ at the bottom with a Pokéball of his.”

“A Pokemon?”

“Yup. Jolteon,” she nodded. “I guess he wanted me to have something that would remind me of him, because since he left, I haven’t seen him. Um…and Kouta just goes everywhere. Last I heard from him he was going to Sinnoh to do some training…” her voice trailed off suddenly. Something underlying her eyes screamed of sorrow. Crystal could see the same sad gaze she gave whilst watching Kokomo eat during their picnic.

“Kiyo…?”

“Hmm?”

“Something wrong?”

“Nah, nothing. Don’t mind little old me,” She chuckled, and fixed her hair with her fingers lightly. “Just reminiscing of my childhood, I suppose. Aight, to work!”

“What? I can’t get a little more of a break? I’m still so tired from waking up at some ridiculous time in the morning…”

“Nope. We’re burning daylight. Night is for sleeping, but today we train! Go, go on! That Metapod is all yours and Dragola’s!”

“Slave-driver!”

“Too lame to be called a trainer!”

“Kiyo…you’re so mean...” Mewster whined, yawning halfway through her sentence as she trudged off to take on the bug type.



The sun dipped down past the horizon painfully slow. Trainer and Pokemon, from Kiyo’s harsh regimen that had all three exercising wildly, were at the point of dropping like flies to the Earth as they continuously kept track of the sun. At the command ‘that’s enough today’, they gratefully collapsed. Little was eaten after the student and the sarcastic mentor had returned to the trainer’s sanctuary, though sleep was easily welcomed instead of the food for Crystal. Early next morning, the poor new trainer was back at the grind, Kiyo supervising and pointing out benefits and drawbacks of moves. The tedious work had the ten-year-old gritting her teeth as she ran laps when Pokemon refused to show their faces. Soon, though, the fire trainer called break.

“Alright, that’ll do. Let’s have some brunch. …What are you doing, you kazy girl? Lying down on the job?! Unheard of!” Kiyo mocked a childish voice as she antagonized her friend.

“Yeah, ok, rip me of my two minutes of peace after World War III, will you?!” Mewster lay on the ground, taking in deep, heavy breaths at a quick pace. “Had me running a marathon with my Pokemon…don’t even know why I’m being forced to do that anyway…” Unlike their trainer, Flora and Dragola seemed only lightly phased by the whole ordeal, the weed chuckling mercilessly at her un-physically fit owner. “Oh, yeah. Real nice, Flora…”

“Well, even if you are a pathetic sight, you might be ready by nightfall to challenge the gym.”

“Hey!”

“It was meant as a compliment!”

“Compliment my butt, sir!”

“Sir yourself! Check their levels. I bet they’re at least to ‘ten’ now,” the tutor mercilessly commanded, and it took both shaking arms packed with lactic acid and adrenaline for Crystal to push herself up off the ground where she had been recuperating herself. Her fingers fiddled with the Pokégear, not quite understanding how it worked, and luckily stumbled across the low-tech stat page. “We really need to get you a Handy Six-Oh-Six.”

“A what now?” the younger of the two mumbled, as she highlighed Dragola.

“It’s the new version of the Pokédex that’s out to the public. It has all sorts of features, such as a calendar, characteristics-sorting options, and a bunch of others that I sorta forget right now”

“Ah, rightright. Um…here we go. Dragola, level ‘eleven’. Hah, you were right!”

“What do you mean, ‘I was right’? Of course I’m right. I’ve been at this far longer than you, kid,” the elder stretched and subtly flexed her triceps. Ignoring her cocky words, the younger continued on.

“Flora, level ‘ten’. Hey, wait, it has a little something more…? ‘Egg. Given to you by Kiyo’s Charmeleon Blaze. It wiggles back and forth sometimes. It might be getting close to hatching.’ And what does all that mean? Wow, that thing is specific.”

“All it means is that as long as you have it in your bag, it counts as your third Pokemon, even if it isn’t in a Pokéball. Just because it hasn’t hatched yet doesn’t mean it’s not a Pokemon. And hopefully it’ll hatch soon, though we can’t count on that. It’d be so nice if you got a fire type before you went and challenged the gym, but, then again, maybe your luck is just in escaping difficult situations. We’ll have to see.”

“Oh, joy…” Crystal muttered, clipping her gear back upon her wristband. Slowly and lazily she traced a cloud that took the form of some sort of bird Pokemon, though its name eluded her. Behind it swam a furious pack of grays, huge cumulonimbus clouds, which occasionally growled lowly from afar. “Looks like rain…”

“Lemme check that…” The tomboy selected a few options on her Pokégear, and cussed as she found a weather forecast with the volume disabled. “Oh, there’s supposed to be downpours coming to the area very soon. This is kinda bad! I think at least till the showers clear we should call it a day.”

“Yess!- I mean, ah, okay…” the blonde jumped to her feet, but only to remember those painful muscles.

“Yeah, don’t even pretend to be not excited at it. I can see you don’t have the patience for training…yet,” countered the sable-haired teen, as she packed her things and prepared to head back up the route to Sunrise. “Camman, pack your stuff. You don’t want to be in a torrential hurricane, do ya?”

“No, no, ok! I’m working on it. Jeez. Come on, guys. Into your little balls you go! Ah, man, I just want to get this badge and get on with trying to find Breeze…”

“I realize that. Moaning and groaning isn’t gonna do jack about it though. Now, just hurry up your lame behind so we can get mo-…” Kiyo’s words broke off, as she paused to snap her odd-colored eyes to the forest behind them. Before the newbie could even blink, Flareon was out and in an action pose. “Show yourselves!” she barked, waiting for the intruder to come forth. There was a series of pants, grumbles at the shrubbery, and finally, as a young man stumbled out into the open, a small ‘hello!’

“Ah, don’t attack, please. I mean no harm, really,” he laughed in spite of himself, and Kiyo took a normal stance. Her Flareon followed suite.

“Sorry about that. We’re just trying to be careful around these Missile-infested parts,” she recalled Flareon as she spoke, much to the relief of the man. Crystal finally received an opportunity to take in the man- he had medium-length brown hair that came down to right above his hazel green eyes. Upon his chest he bore a plain olive green T-shirt. Clinging snuggly to his hips were brown cargo pants, tucked into a pair of normal black hiking boots crusted with earth and grass stains. A simple though heavy-appearing bag slung over his back. His soft smile gave the image of a well-mannered trainer who cared deeply for his Pokemon, though even the naïve one was weary of such behavior.

“You know him?” the young trainer muttered to her friend.

“Sure, if you want to say that. He’s Forrest Ridgebrook.”

“Say whaaaaat?! He’s the gym leader?!”

“Crystal…”

“Yes, I am Forrest, though some wits call me Woodsy, because, well, you can only imagine why, right? Hahaha.” He gave a polite smile. “Who are you two?”

“Crystal Hikara of Dawndew. I’m a new trainer.”

“And Kiyo Dustren of Ecruteak. I’m her mentor.”

“And slave-driver.”

“Ha, you two are funny,” he chuckled as he took spectacle to the teenager verbally chiding the younger with ease. “So I assume you are in the Pokemon League, then, or aspire to be?”

“Um, yeah,” Mewster finally responded, though her spirit was fairly botched by harsh words.

“Did you get your trainer card yet?”

“Trainer card?”

“Ah, no, I guess she hasn’t. …You newbie! You have no idea what a trainer card is either?!” Once more, verbal abuse rang through the forest as it carried along the quickening winds.

“It’s all Ma’s fault! Really!”

“Lies! You wanted to do this, you’re responsible for the data on it!”

“Oh, my. Well, you can’t go about taking on a gym leader challenge- if that’s what you’re going to do- without getting your Trainer Card and ID first. You can get one at the Pokemon Center, I believe,” Forrest paused, listening to the ever-closer and amplified voice of the storm. “Well, if you’re ready for a challenge, I’ll be heading back to my gym for now. I…look forward to our match, if we ever do fight, Miss Hikara. Until another time…” After his sentence, he waved farewell, turned, and off he went down that dirt road, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Even when he was a good distance off, Crystal could still make out the sound of some whistled out tune.

“…He’s a little quirky, yeah?” Kiyo questioned to her compatriot, whom nodded.

“Yeah…I wonder…can someone who’s that calm and sort of meek be a tough Gym Leader though…?”

“Yes.”

“That was a rhetorical question.”

“Oh well, that’s what you get for asking the world for an answer.” A small spot on the soil turned dark for a moment or two in front of them, before reverting back to its normal, arid state. Several other spots shortly followed, appearing upon their clothing as well “Come! I believe that the storm’s gonna get us if we don’t sprint all the way there.” the fire trainer started off down the path.

“Sprint?! I barely have enough energy left in me to speed-walk!” Crystal exclaimed, though she had little breath to waste on whining. “Ki…yo! Waaaait uuuup!”

“The storm’s not waiting for us! Hurry up, you Slowpoke!”

“I’m not a Slowpoke!”

“Fine, a Slugma, then!” the elder called back playfully.

“Ooooohg, Kiyo…”


Oh, man, I’m drenched! This feels terrible. What I wouldn’t give for a hot shower right about now and a heavy dose of a nap, Mewster thought to herself, as she squeaked onto the ceramic tiles lining the Center floor. Dustren, of course, had sprinted past her sight, and made it to the sanctuary half-dry and not tired. The same couldn’t be said about the still-huffing ten-year-old, as her sweat mingled together with the fresh summer rain. She gratefully accepted a blanket a Chansey immediately provided to all trainers coming in that were caught in the storm. Slowly, she struggled to catch her breath and settled herself next to her friend, who was taking enjoyment in the rain.

Thunder had taken the sky as its own, and clapped approvingly at this move before it was shoved along by the wind. Being a short, if not fast-moving, front, light caused a spectacle for all eyes to behold behind the safety and dryness of the glass. The driving rain was pounding down on the roof of the buildings, demanding that it be let in to ruin the comfortable atmosphere in homes and havens alike. There was a particularly clamorous boom of thunder following a bolt of lightning as thick as a century-old tree that nearly shorted out all of the lights in the area. Crystal couldn’t help but swear that she heard a voice to the thunder, though she passed it off as her vivid imagination taking hold of her tired consciousness.

“A quarter of a mile away.”

“Hmm?” Crystal gazed up at Kiyo, rubbing her aquamarine blue eyes to remove the light spot in her eyes that the bolt had left.

“The strike, I mean. It was about a quarter of a mile away. Know how you can tell?”

“How?”

“For every one Girafarig you count, it’s a quarter of a mile away. Kaien taught me that. He said that I could tell how close I was to him when he pulled out Jolteon for battle and ordered her to use Thunder. He loves electric types and his gizmos. Ah, though what I wouldn’t give to see him again. It’s been so long…” she drifted off into thought, until she randomly crossed her eyes on the sopping girl. “Oh, and I took the liberty of getting you the sheets for your trainer card. Ha, hope you like writing essays, because there’s a ton to fill out here.”

“Oh, just awesome. Oh, wonderful,” the young trainer whined over the packet of work she had been given.

“Well, you have fun with that. I’m heading in for a nap,” the elder upped and stretched.

“How can you sleep in a thunderstorm?”

“Hey, I told you it reminded me of Kaien. It reminds me of home when I hear a thunderstorm. It’s comforting…well, at any rate, night. If I’m not up by the storm’s end, wake me.”

“Alright…leave me with all of the stupid paperwork, will you?” Crystal cursed under her breath, which ended in a deep, sore sigh. She yanked the cap off the cobalt BIC she had been provided, shoved it onto the other end of the pen, and started to scrawl away. Every so often, she would look up at the storm, and watch how the lights flickered at the bolts. Several folks around the area screeched each time the event happened, their data or conversations being lost to the power surge. Such remarks about being cut off from talking to their loved ones reminded her of how she needed to still get her Pokégear fixed- she would deal with that after this vicious storm subsided.

Crystal procrastinated long and hard on that packet, this new enemy, until she finally reached the final page. A long paragraph awaited her eyes, and at the bottom there was an ‘X’ next to an extended line. This…is the true beginning of my journey, isn’t it…? Not the craziness of the past however long. This is really what my dream all comes down to. This signature is my promise to myself that I will get all eight badges and one day challenge the High Council, even overcoming Kira. This is my promise to myself that even if I taste a bitter, sour defeat at the headquarters or anywhere down the line, it’s not going to deter me in the long run. Team Missile isn’t going to deter me, either. I can’t…no, won’t let them get in the way of this dream of mine. Mom, Dad, my brothers and sister, Kiyo…nobody else can really make this decision for me. It’s…all on me, to make this work and keep these promises to myself. Her thoughts of the benefits and drawbacks of training weighed down upon her, and, finally, after a moment, she decided what she was to do.

In an illegible loopy signature, she lay her name, Crystal Hikara, down on the line, closing the deal.

There was an awkward moment for her, realizing that, as she passed the forms in to the nurse, that she was an official trainer now. She was on her way to her long time dream of becoming what almost all wanted- to be the best.

“Ok, it looks like you’re all set! If you can wait a few moments, we will have your trainer card ready for you,” the nurse smiled as she reviewed the sheets and headed over to a computer with copious amounts of machines attached to it. The now-authorized girl nodded her head subconsciously, and merely stood there. Thoughts swept through her head rapidly like the fiercest of rivers, and the chances of clinging to any of them were merely ripped from her fingers. A roar of thunder that produced booming words again shocked her back into reality, and a yelp of surprise squirmed away from her lips. After darting her aquamarine gems around, she concluded none had heard the feminine scream, including the nurse holding out her new trainer card. “It’s all done, Ms. Hikara. I must say, it came out looking rather good.” And, with that, she took the card, and gazed emptily at it.

The cobalt, laminated card displayed her name, ID number ‘oh-two-oh-oh-two-eight-eight-one’, a very small picture of her in a battle pose she had chose after years of practicing for that day, and six blank spots. Right before her eyes, Dragola and Flora filled the spots. She also took note of eight small frames that had the name ‘badges’ next to it. Today, maybe, I’ll get that first badge. She fiddled it through her fingers, flipping it over. All that seemed to be shown on the statistical side of the cards was her signature. “My trainer card…” she mumbled, still letting it sink in. Slowly, she herself was turning into a victim of fatigue, and she dragged herself and her trainer ID to her room where Kiyo was resting soundly. Without bothering her friend and making sure that the teal blinds were shut tight to block out the flashes of light in the heavens, she heaved herself up onto the bunk bed and promptly fell fast asleep, even if there were loud crashes to try and startle her. She just wanted sleep.
 
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It'll get posted up eventuallyyyy.

Not necessarily what I meant with that. I mean... do the events of our world transcend into the Pokemon universe? That was just something I was always unsure about. It wouldn't be surprising if they had a similar timeline to us (Industrial Revolution, wars, forms of government), but not the same dictatorships and such. I can see Team Missile instilling the totalitarian society, but was there really Hitler, Stalin or Mao to base that off of in this realm? That was all I wasn't sure about.
 
I like the story. I just kinda have to criticize two things.

First, there isn't enough detail. Yes, I realize that the chapters are already long. It might just be that you're trying to fit too much action into a single chapter, and doing so at the expense of some really flavorful detail and description. I can almost see some of it peeking through at some points, but it's never enough to really add that spice I'm looking for in good reading.

On a very similar topic, it's sometimes difficult to tell which character is speaking. This has a lot to do with the long stretches of unnarrated conversation. Show us what each character is thinking. Not through thought bubbles or anything like that. But through their actions. This is where the attention to detail comes along. How does a character move their body when they speak? How do their hands move? Facial expressions? I find that eyebrows and mouths are very easy to use in this kind of description. Head inclinations? What is each character looking at while they are speaking? EAch other? The surroundings? If so, what specifically are they looking at?

I usually keep this rule for my own writing. The amount of dialog and non-dialog should be roughly equal in each chapter.

Right now, your writing is completely dominated by dialog, and it's kinda off-putting when you have such a rich, deep storyline to work with, as well as a brand new area to explore.

Here are some questions I have about this area. What kind of vegetation is the route b/w the first two cities? Woody? Plains? Desert? How can the characters interact with their environment that could enhance the story? What does each city look like? Are the buildings dwarfing to humans? Is it mostly urban? Suburban? Rural? How can you most effectively describe each city or area so that it remains distinct in the reader's mind?

Right now, I can't answer most of these questions. I don't mind having these kinds of questions in script format fanfics. The environment is meant to be vague in those. However, in novel style fanfics, I expect to see these questions at least given some thought.
 
bullados- HAHAHA. These chapters? They're old. Like, nearly a year old at this point. I myself have a hard time looking at these cahpters. I myself feel like they're 'telling' the story, and not 'showing' it, you know what I mean? The dialogue bits can get confusing, but most of the time it's just going back and forth between two people for a while. I try best to avoid 'he said, she said' deals, especially since both of the protagonists are females. Same with names.

Overall, the first 9 chapters do need to be re-written, but I'm more concentrated on at least getting this beast half-done before I do so. Trust me, I know exactly what you're going for.

...and the fact that these chapters are boring. BEYOND belief. There's absolutely nothing good in them except plot. D: You gotta remember, I'm trying to take it in from Crystal's point of view. She knows NOTHING when she starts out, so she has to sort of go through the 'basics of the game'. In a way, I meant that for it to be a subtle 4th wall joke, where everyone rolls their eyes or something and can relate in that way. Trust me, though, when I add in more description, often times I get yelled at for putting in too much 'fluff'. >_>

Kiyo- I like to personally think that the Pokemon world is near exactly parallel to our own- same people and all. That's a common belief if you wanna take the 'parallel universe' route, where the souls remain the same, like in Tsubasa. I dunno. That's my belief, that Hitler would still probably be screwed up. Difference is he'd have an Electrode explode to kill himself instead of a gun prolly. |D;

Chapter 9- The Battle

Keaaaaaaaooooom!

A particularly loud crack startled Crystal from her fatigued sleep, as she nearly fell off the side of her bed. Her trainer card, which she hadn’t even bothered to put away, floated out of her grip and onto the floor. Gasping, she attempted to remember her dream. It was peculiar, to say in the least, though rather enigmatic. Reaching up slowly, she pushed her sticky bangs off her forehead as she wiped it clean of cold sweat. Maybe the dream was a bit frightening. At any rate, she sat there, dazed for a moment, trying to fully bring herself into the conscious world. Slowly, she brought herself over the edge of the bunker to see that Kiyo had awoken and left. In the dark room, streaks of light were seen through the blinds. With caution, she clambered down the few stairs of the bunkbed, peering over the nightstand through the curtains. The worst of the storm had subsided, and the sun was making a valiant effort to peek out from the still dense clouds. Areas dripped from their showers, and the sounds of the city could begin to be heard once more. Faint rumbles were all that was left of the storm, and the trainer had to strain her excellent hearing to catch the sound of it.

It was then she wondered why she had heard that last loud crack of thunder. Had it been part of her dream? An ominous foretelling of the future? Or was it merely her short term memory submitting the data from the day into her long term memory banks? Well, at any rate, I think Kiyo’s wondering where I am right now, she ran the thought through her mind, and bent down to pick up her bag and trainer card. Hesitant as to where to put such an important item, she placed it in a small frontal pocket. She tossed the bag over her shoulder as she clipped her belt on, threading her shoulder and arm through it comfortably. Even if she was a righty, she always preferred things in the lefty way, including which wrist she placed her Pokégear on. It was something she merely didn’t give a second thought to, and it showed as she opened up the door into the bright hallway and headed into the lobby.

Kiyo, of course, was waiting for her, in an impatient stance near the service counter. “Goooood morrrniiing sunshiiiiine!” She called out, and Crystal couldn’t help feel embarrassed. “Heavy sleeper, are we?”

“Dare I ask how late it is?”

“You were asleep an hour longer than I was, and I woke up at two.”

“Two hours isn’t long.”

“Two hours isn’t long for you! Ha! Wait till you get to travel some more. It will become long in sleepless training regimens! Then again, you are still young. Hmm. Well, at any rate, you ready for a challenge?”

“Whazza?”

“The Gym Leader, you dope.”

“Ahhh, sure, I guess.”

“‘Sure, you guess?’ That will get you nowhere in this world!” the mentor exclaimed. “Now, gimme a fierce battle cry!”

“Kiyo…this is a public place…” the student laughed in spite of herself.

“Bah, forget about them. Let them stare if you’re gonna get a badge today. Now, tell me, Mewster, are you ready to deal out some ownage in your first gym leader challenge against Forrest Ridgebrook?!”

“Yes, I am…” she muttered, rolling her eyes. She couldn’t help feel as though she was getting lectured by her mother or something very similar in the nature.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you…”

“Yes!” Crystal exclaimed, drawing in a few glances from the few feasting people and their Pokémon.

“Good, that’s what I want to hear from now on. No more of this whiny emo ‘oh, but I’m so passive about this whole trip I might not succeed cutcut’ bull.”

“Hey, I never said that I wasn’t going to succeed.”

“When you’re passive about things, you’ll never get to your top ability as a trainer. That goes for life in general, too. Good words to live by, really. My mother told me that a while ago. Anyways, off to the gym we go!” The wild teenager then took a hold of Crystal’s hand- somewhat to her surprise- and off the two went, barreling through the doors of the center, causing quite a sight. Crystal decided she definitely wasn’t heading back in that center any time soon.



Abruptly the trainer changed her mind as she stood at the door of the Sunrise Gym. She began trembling in fear from all that Kiyo had told her. What if I fail? What will happen then? Will I be allowed to re-challenge the gym? Or will I have to head home, hanging my head in shame? It was a rather intimidating thing, this gym, and she did not feel comforted with her mentor’s excitement for her.

“Ha, this ought to get good. Champion-in-the-making rookie trainer versus the Sappy Pokemon Breeder! Hahaha.”

“Yeah, excellent,” said trainer attempted to keep her knees from wobbling as much as they did as she walked along, but to no avail. She gulped down her weak lunch, and watched as the automatic doors slid open to let her inside.

What a spectacle the gym was, and a paradise in its own right! The bright sunlight filtered down through the greenhouse-inspired gym, letting its rays fall gracefully onto the welcoming leaves of the various trees and shrubs. The sound of a small fountain could be heard nearby, and various grass Pokemon walked merrily along, unphased by the girl with pink bangs and her companion entering. After continuing on the shaded path for some time, they came across a dirt playing field, one with a rectangle drawn around it and a Pokéball symbol in the middle, not to mention two smaller boxes sitting on the short ends of the rectangle. A normal person wearing a ref’s uniform sat on the sidelines, though when he saw the duo walk in, he rushed to his feet, grabbing a red and blue flag in the process.

“Are you here to challenge the gym?”

“Er, I-” Crystal stumbled upon her words, and Kiyo, fed up with her friend, gave her a swift kick in the foot. “Ow! Yes! Yes!” she glared nastily back at the fire trainer, who merely chuckled.

“Very well. Take your spot in the trainer’s box here. The Gym Leader will accept your challenge shortly,” the referee nodded over to the box closest to her, pointing to it with his red flag.

“Okay. Kiyo, which flag means challenger and which means gym leader?” The teen didn’t respond to the question- she was far too busy smacking herself on the forehead and shaking her head sympathetically. “I take it I’ll know soon enough.”

“Yesss, whatever gave you that bright idea?” Dustren huffed sarcastically.

“Hm? Oh, I thought I heard two familiar voices...” Forrest, who seemed to have been whistling while tending to the plants of the area, walked into the arena area, hands in his pockets and a vine-like Pokemon wiggling along by his side. He smiled as he walked over to the other box, before turning to the girl across from him. Kiyo took the opportunity to sit on the sidelines where the ref had once sat.

“Huh? Kiyo…?”

“What?”

“Aren’t you standing up here?”

“Nope. Rules. I can’t interfere with the match. I can only spectate.”

“So, wait, that means…”

“Yep. You’re alone on this battle. Sorry. Rules are rules. I can’t have you get all disqualified, now can I?” At these words, Crystal froze in fear. It’s bad enough I’m challenging the gym without Breeze by my side, but to be completely alone, trusting upon my own abilities to win? The thought was somewhat unbearable. True, she had started out alone fine, but after the events of Team Missile coinciding with her path, she had become a nervous wreak.

“Ms. Hikara? Are you alright?” Forrest asked, seeing her shaking figure.

“Y-yeah. Fine. Just a little nervous, that’s all…” she muttered.

“You have every right to be. A gym battle is a huge step for a trainer to take, especially the first one,” he smiled politely. “Ha, I nearly fainted myself when I first entered this gym. Forget making it over here to the fighting field. You’re in better shape than I was. I have no doubt that you will put up a great fight, especially with Ms. Dustren as your mentor. Shall we begin?”

“Um…okay.”

“Be bold! Lemme hear you roar!” Kiyo cat-called from the stands.

“Kiyo!”

“Hahaha.”

“This match will be a one-on-one fight, with two Pokemon allowed. Everything is allowed in this fight with no time limit. …good luck, Crystal,” he smirked gently. The girl couldn’t help but feel as though this guy was a good guy, after all, and nodded.

“Good luck…to you too.” At this, his grin grew, but there appeared to be a gleam in his eyes. This slightly unnerved the girl.

“Gym Leader Forrest Ridgebrook versus challenger Crystal Hikara! Let the first round of the match commence!” rhe ref shouted, and Forrest wasted no time.

“Bellsprout, let’s get on out there!” his meek voice suddenly amplified, and the grass type wiggled out onto the field slowly. Suddenly, something awakened within the new trainer. Seeing his metamorphosis caused her to realize that perhaps he was as she was, and that there really was nothing to fear other than fear in and of itself. Crystal grasped her normal colored Pokéball, and thrust it out, still holding onto it.

“Flora, let’s give him a good match!” From the ball that Crystal pried open with her hand instead of throwing it came the Oddish, hopping along to the edge of the Pokéball where her opponent waited for her. The two had a stare-down with one another, and Flora chuckled.

“Oh, dis battle be ova before it began, fo’ rizzle.”

“Indeed it was. Flora though? What kind of nickname is that?”

“Dat be mah nickname from da Hood you be rememberin’ as da one dat laid a nasty smackdown on you for a long time,” the Oddish countered.

“We’ll have to see about that, oh sissy-named one,” the Bellsprout scoffed.

“Begin!”

“Bellsprout! Let’s start things off with Vine Whip!” ‘Woodsy’ called out, and the Bellsprout suddenly took to the sky, using vines that grew rapidly from its back. The move startled Crystal. She had heard that Bellsprout were typically slow, but the way this one moved and came in for a lashing attack once in range was mind-boggling.

“Flora…! Absorb when the vine hits you!” the trainer countered, and just in time. The Oddish, though it suffered a decent laceration, used her powerful leaves to latch onto the Bellsprout. Disturbing green energy was latched away from the Bellsprout. The two bounced back, fairly evenly matched.

“I guess we’ll have to watch out for that, no? Bellsprout, use Vine Whip again. Attack from a distance this time.” Again, the Bellsprout took to the skies.

“Hoo boy, if there be anything I hate more than a flying type, it be a freaking flyin’ grass Pokemon.” Flora muttered, and fiercely awaited her trainer’s command.

“Flora! Let’s try a Sweet Scent to slow it down!” And, as soon as ‘Sweet Scent’ came out of her mouth, thousands of spores were released into the air, light red in hue. Again, she was hit with the laceration, but the Bellsprout appeared affected, and slowly came down from his vined perch sluggishly.

“This isn’t working…Bellsprout, Growth!” the gym leader cried out. And with that, Bellsprout stood straight up. It planted its roots lightly into the ground, and Crystal stared.

“Wait, what does that…” Her eyes rested softly on the Bellsprout, curious. It appeared no larger than before. “Flora, get in there and use Absorb again!” After looking at her partner and back to the rival, she did a double take. It had grown, and quite a bit. Even the midnight weed Pokemon had taken notice, and flinched back at this, interrupting her attack.

“Whoa, snap!”

“Flora!”

“Vine Whip again!”

“Get in there with Absorb!”

The moves continued on, back and forth like a metronome, and it was clear that only Flora’s Absorb was keeping her as healthy as her opponent. The battle appeared at a standstill. Suddenly, 'Woodsy' ordered an attack that differentiated from the normal 'Vine Whip' command, perhaps in an attempt to end the draw.

“Wrap!”

“Wrap?!” Crystal repeated the gym leader, eyebrow raised in confusion, until her expression changed rapidly into worry as Bellsprout latched on tightly to Flora, squeezing her.

“Agh! Dat ain’ coo! Get outta mah grill and your stinkin’ body offa me, punk!”

“Oh, make me!” The Bellsprout jeered. “Besides, you stink worse than I do!”

“You don’t know how to talk po-litely to no women, do you?! Crystal! Issue the command, already! Ugh!” Flora cried out, and the girl forced out English.

“Use all of your strength in this one! Absorb!” Perhaps it was to Flora’s benefactor that she was wrapped by the entirety of the Bellsprout’s body, as her whole body glowed viciously with that green hue. This caused the vine Pokemon to wince, clinging on even tighter. There seemed to be a power struggle, as both trainers egged on their Pokemon.

“Finish it already, Bellsprout!

“Flora, hang in there!”

It was very stressful, and, once again, Crystal’s legs began to shudder once more. It was, generally, something she hadn’t ever seen before. Flora’s out there, giving it her best, and without a hesitation for me! She could get hurt badly in the process, and surely she knows that as much as I do. And yet, she’s still fighting on with all of her strength to get out of the Bellsprout’s come out of the battle victorious. She’s so adamant about winning, even more than am…and that was a frightful thought to Crystal, that she commanded such loyalty to her Pokemon. A few times her voice trembled on the border of shouting ‘Stop the battle immediately! I can’t take it any more!’, but the thought of her mother and disappointed siblings again stopped her from taking such measures.

It was a well-decided thing that she hadn’t called the end of the battle.

The grasp upon Flora could be seen loosening, and finally she shook herself violently to rid herself of the pesky weed. The fly-trapping Pokemon lay limp on the ground, fast unconscious, though his adversary looked hardly better off. The last attempt to knock Bellsprout out, even with the fact it took in half the damage that had been dealt out, had left Flora extremely worn and fatigued as well. Rapid pants came from the little grass creature, and her leaves wilted dangerously low to her sides. The ref wasted no time in declaring round one.

“Bellsprout is no longer able to battle! First round goes to challenger Crystal Hikara!” he declared most firmly, and Forrest couldn’t help frown as he recalled his Bellsprout.

“You seemed to have had a hard time with Bellsprout,” he noticed, latching the Pokeball on his waist and withdrawing another from the belt. “Still, I’m surprised another of a grass-poison type was able to defeat one of the same two types, when the moves used are not very effective at all. Well, at any rate, perhaps you should call this a double knockout.”

“Why?” she was startled by his sudden suggestion. Kiyo, who had been watching with a small nod of approval throughout the match, merely glared with her gold and silver gems at the gym leader. No frown or grin came to her face, as Crystal desperately hoped for one for some clue as to what to do, before turning back to the playing field.

“Well, just look at your Oddish. I have never once seen an Oddish have its leaves withering as badly as it is now except in a drought a few years back that plagued the area. It was bad. I suggest returning it unless you want to have more damage done.”

“What dat foo be sayin'? Huh? What he be sayin'?” Flora scowled weakly. “What be dis 'return' I be hearin' of? Bein' a sore loser, is he, eh? Tryin' to make you think dat returning me to mah orbish ball be a good idea, eh? Well, tell dat foo something Crystal! I’m be an Oddish with pride! I be fightin' to da bitter end, and I be takin' all of dis punk’s Pokemon's beatin' I can handle here!” As she rambled on rambunctiously, her breaths shortened.

“It sounds as though your Oddish has quite the thing to say. Pity we can’t understand it. You have the choice, Crystal, before round two to switch out to another Pokemon if you want,” the leader spoke, and it was at this point where Crystal was faced with this rather difficult decision. Flora can get even more wounded than she already is, but, then again, she would despise having her pride hurt like that. Such was her choice to make, and she breathed in deep, before letting her decision escape:

“She stays in battle for the next round,” and her heart nearly gave in with the gym leader’s disappointed look. Granted that, Flora looked more than pleased with her decision.

“Dat be mah Homey-C! Ha, I be close to fainting, but I still have da groove and beat in mah soul to fight on!” the Oddish cried, and her trainer nearly gave a short laugh. Ha! Homey-C. That’s gonna go down in the books, a ghetto Oddish.

“Very well…I don’t believe you’ve made a good choice, though, regardless, I will continue to give it my all...” Forrest, without lifting his eyes off the girl, lifted the Pokeball up and chucked it in. “Sunflora, it’s weak! Time for action!” In the trademark flash, out sprang the Pokemon. Its obnoxiously large head craned up to reach the sunlight, sighing contently as it bathed in the post-shower rays.

“Sunflora…?” she questioned in a low tone of voice, and gazed to Flora. Despite the injuries, she had a malicious grin upon her face, all too ready for battle.

“Camman, Homey-C. ‘Till the end.” The grass-poison type's words didn’t seem to be noticeable to the sunflower Pokemon- it actually appeared nearly half asleep, content in the sunlight.

“Round Two! Flora versus Sunflora! Begin!” Once again the referee cried, and it was to battle once more.

“Sunflora, a simple Pound should do it,” the surprisingly cold order came from the gym leader’s mouth.

“Flora, give it all you have with another Absorb!” mimicked the trainer, and watched in horror as the Sunflora, awakened in the heat of battle, scuttled on over to the weed Pokemon, barely on her feet. The sunflower planted her feet, and wasted no time using her thick leaves to beat up Flora. Even with such damage, the creature still latched on and tried hard to gather energy from the opponent, but all was too futile. She appeared dazed from the last attack, as she wobbled around unsteadily.

“Ah, dis ain't coo'. Dis be bad…I thought I could do a little more for you, Homey…C…” And with a bizarre laugh, Flora collapsed face first into the ground. The ref was all too eager to call the match.

“Flora is unable to battle! Second round goes to Gym Leader Forrest Ridgebrook!” he declared, and immediately Crystal ran over to pick up her Pokemon. How…cruel it seems to stuff her away in a ball in such a condition! There is no way I'm doing such a thing…well, not right now, at any rate. I have a battle to still win…hopefully. Gingerly, she scooped up the Pokemon in her arms, gently petting the wilted leaves of the creature. Poor thing. She fought so hard for me…there's nothing to be done about that now though...Crystal headed on over to Kiyo. Without any words from the elder, she took the weed Pokemon at her friend's near silent request. Still quiescent, she returned to the battling box.

“Are you ready? If so, call out your other Pokemon,” the judge told her, waiting for her move. Carefully, she felt the sleek design of the Onyx Ball in her hand. It didn’t take long to remove it.

“Alright. Dragola! Come on out! I need you for battle!” she cried, holding out the black Pokeball. The little serpent released herself into the battler’s arms, surprising her once again. “Agh! No! I need you for BATTLE! This happens to be the real thing!” she muttered quietly and somewhat exhaustedly to the Pokemon, and Dragola gazed at the gym leader and the Sunflower Pokemon.

“…ohhhh. I thought it was more training,” she responded, and slithered out of her arms and onto the battle field. “...Ready!” the Dratini stated playfully, bouncing around a little bit, much to a dumbfounded look of the grass type.

“You’ve got to be joking...”

“Final round! Dragola versus Sunflora! Begin!” the arbitrator swiped the flags down once more, and the battle began anew.

“Sunflora, we have to be cautious with this one. Growth first, then follow up with a Pound if it gets too close.”

“Dragola, let’s try intimidating it a little bit with a Twister, then a Wrap!” Again, copycatting what the elder trainer did by giving her Pokemon two commands, she watched as the battle began to unfold. Dragola wasted no time whipping up a fierce gale as the opponent grew in size once more. Various shrapnel from the field collided with the Sunflora after its Growth cycle was completed. Unfortunately for Crystal, the Twister did not appear phased to cause immediate damage to the grass type.

“Oh, I dare you to come in close,” Sunflora sneered, and Dragola shrugged.

“Dare taken!” With that, her and her long body wrapped around the opponent, onyx horn gleaming. It was then that Forrest took a moment to notice this defect, examining at how Sunflora was able to bash her head upon Dragola’s poor tail.

“Ha, that wasn’t too smart. This battle is as good as mine with attacks like that,” the Sunflora arrogantly smirked.

“Bah, it’s always too early to call a match until after it’s done,” the dragon type suddenly appeared much fiercer, and stared her adversary down with those brilliant violet eyes of hers. The young challenger was brought back into focus as her opponent noticed something in battle.

“Your Dratini…it’s different from a normal Dratini, no? It’s got a black horn spot.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” she subconsciously stated.

“How’d that happen?”

“Like I know. Anyways, Dragola, get in there with another coupla Twisters and Wraps!”

“Counter with Pound when it Wraps you and use Bullet Seed to get through the Twister and damage it!” ‘Woodsy called out, and war continued. Given such vague commands, Dragola hesitated gently before summoning the forceful winds or throwing her body unexpectantly upon the Sunflora, only to be taken advantage of this pause and be beaten upon or have itty bitty seeds collide at high speeds with her serpentine skin. The battle seemed more in favor of the Sunflora, and Dragola began to slowly hang her head lower with each attack.

Crystal took a moment of free time to gaze at her Oddish, still fast unconscious in Kiyo’s strong arms. She wondered, listening back on a training conversation she had with Dustren, if this was the time to pull out her last ditch wild card. No, it was as a last resort, when Dragola was nearly unable to battle. Then again, watching it just continuously be Pounded upon, and having her beautiful skin be ripped apart by those dangerous barrage of seeds made her wonder if now was the time.

“Dragola! Try a Wrap and hold on until you start to feel a little light headed by the pounding!” finally the blonde haired trainer stated.

“Sunflora, when it latches on, use a mix of your Pounds and your Absorbs,” Forrest countered, appearing serious, much more than before. Sunflora's slowly taking damage from the attacks, yes, and it's probably only marginally better off than Dragola... Dragola obliged, diving forward into an attack, and seemed to pull an extra stubborn latch on the grass type. The Sunflora, taken aback for a moment, squirmed violently about as it glowed with Absorb and head-banged with Pound as though listening to some seriously heavy metal instead of battling. The tension rose for a moment, until, wincing so badly from the damage done to her tail the dragon type backed off. Sunflora staggered to its feet.

“Finish it quickly! Bullet Seed!” The gym leader was all business, but Crystal meant more, if her strategy was to work.

“Dragola! Beat it to the finish line with Extremespeed!”

“What?! Extremespeed for a Dratini?” Forrest was almost as startled as the Sunflora as the Onyx Dratini reared back, only to disappear from view. The Sunflora seemed stricken with blows too fast for the eyes to comprehend, and as Dragola came triumphantly back into view not too far away from trainer, they watched it wobble more, and finally take a knee, then two, then a faceplant.

“Sunflora is no longer able to battle! Final round and match goes to challenger Crystal Hikara!” And, with a final wave of the flag, both trainer whom had won against her first gym leader and her mentor jumped with automatic glee. At last! Crystal was well on her way to beating out her mother in the badge race.

“Yush! Now that’s what I call luck and strategy!” Kiyo hustled over, joining in for a tired group hug with Flora gently rousing from all the crazy commotion.

“Huh? Whuzzawha? I be kickin’ dat Sunflora’s head, for shizzle…” The leafy Pokemon muttered, obviously crazy from that last attack.

“We won, Flora! Yay happy fun dance time yay!” Dragola reared herself up after slithering on over, and gave a group Wrap.

“Agh! Too many things happening at once…!” The pink-banged trainer nearly fainted from all of the glomps she had received, though she was let loose to behold the meek trainer scoop up his own Pokemon gently.

“…hey, you two gave quite a good battle. That was the hardest we fought in a while, no?” He grinned as his Sunflora hovered on the edge of consciousness, nodding slightly. Slowly, the ‘sappy’ breeder rose to his feet, Pokemon still in arm. “…Crystal, that was quite a good battle we had. You’re the first trainer to walk on out of here with a badge in a long time.” He strode on over, still quiet, and her Pokemon and friend separated from her. “Well, that was…fun! I enjoyed it. Thus, Ms. Hikara…I have no regrets giving these things to you.” Holding the grass type in one arm, he reached into his pocket, before pulling out some Pokedollars, a disc, though it appeared he lacked the badge.

“…money? And a disc…?” Crystal wondered, as they were placed in her hands.
“Yes. Trainers who win against other trainers give them a fraction of their money for beating them. It’s in the rules to give the winner twenty to thirty percent of what you have, I think. Take it. The disc is a technical machine, or, more commonly known as a TM. There are a ton of TMs out there, and they can teach your Pokemon a move- but only once. After the information on TMs is transmitted to a Pokemon, all data from it is deleted. This TM is Bullet Seed, the move you saw earlier in battle. It causes grass types to create seeds and fire them in large sets at an opponent two to five times in one move. It’s definitely a good thing to come across early on in your travels.

“Now, where is that badge…? Ah, here it is. Crystal, your trainer card, if you will?”

“Oh, right!” She hurried, and removed the card rapidly from her light bag. Holding it still in hand, she graciously took the badge that shone brilliantly in the sunlight. It appeared as a wavy leaf.

“That is the Nature Badge. With that, you should be able to use special gear that allows you to cut skinny, stubborn trees down, or with the help of a Pokemon that’s been taught the move Cut from an HM.”

“HM?”

“Hidden Machine. There are eight known HMs out there in Beghta, and each badge lets you use a new one…if you can find it. They don’t have their data deleted after one use. They retain data infinitely. Oftentimes they are the key to getting across terrible tasks that you wouldn’t be able to handle on your own. Keep that in mind, young Crystal. It will come in handy.” He smiled once more, as the trainer punched the little badge through the card. One down, seven to go.

“I think we should go celebrate your victory!” Kiyo nearly strangled her student in pride.

“Agh! If I don’t die from your elbow lock, sure!”

“It’s all on your bill this time.”

“Hey, I worked hard for the money!”

“Ha, you’re so serious! Camman man,” the wannabe male chuckled, and started to drag her along, before Mewster was able to get free of her grasp.

“Wait a sec.” She paced herself on over to the gym leader, who had been walking away. “Hey Forrest!”

“Huh?”

“I just wanted to say…thanks for a great match.” Without so much discernment, she thrust out her hand as she slowed to a stop. Nearly confused for a second, his face fell into a small smile.

“Yeah, thanks to you too.” Gladly he took the hand shake, firm but gentle. The hands of a nature lover. “I hope…that you continue to have good luck on your quest, and we’ll have a rematch one day.”

“Yup! I look forward to the day where I’ll cross paths with you again.” She grinned, before turning away. “Bye!”

“Farewell, Ms. Hi- Crystal.” He gave another soft chuckle, before disappearing into the forest of the greenhouse.



“Well, now, that was one carazy fight, son!” Kiyo messed with Crystal’s thin hair as they sat at the local restaurant, ‘That Farfetch’d Price’ (this made the young girl giggle at the pun, though they did have low prices), waiting for some food, along with a restored- and starving- victorious Oddish and Dratini, who were babbling off about their matches.

“…So den I be all like, ‘bring it, foo!’ and dat Bellsprout got OWNED. It be something awesome, fo’sho, D-money.” The names Flora came up with for Crystal and her comrades were hilarious, though Dragola didn’t seem to mind.

“Really?” the Dratini seemed consumed in the tale.

“Fo’ shizzle,” was the response, with a nod of the head. “Of course, dat good-for-nothing Sunflora went in and took advantage that I be all used up of energy fighting dat lowlife, and POW! I was out, and da next thing I be rememberin’ was a buncha hollerin’ and hooting about winning.”

“Yeah, that was when I was sent out. That Sunflora was tough.” Dragola sighed, happy to beat someone as strong as herself, or nearly as strong. “It was really cool, because the missus-” at this point the trainer barged into the story, though at a small voice.

“Hey, what’d I tell you? Crystal is fine. None of this formality crap.”

“Eep, sorry.” Dragola chuckled.

“Homey-C be fine, though, right? Because I’s calling you dat whether you be chill wit it or not,” Flora took a little bow, and the girl laughed.

“Sure, fine, as long as that isn’t anything disrespectful…”

“Nah, course not. It be meanin’ you’re cool in da ‘Hood. You know, one of the gang, yo.”

“You never cease to amaze me, Flora.”

“Fo’ shizzle.” She grinned back.

“What are they talking about?” the mentor interjected.

“Well, evidently, I am now ‘part of the Hood’ and known as Homey-C.”

“Are you serious?” Her grin widened.

“And I quote- fo’ shizzle.” And, at that point, they cracked up in hysteria.

“Wow, sounds like your Oddish has ghetto syndrome or something like that. She’d get along all to well with Blaze, for sure.”

“Oh, why’s that?”

“He thinks he’s some big mobster’s kid or something like that, I think. You’d have to talk to him about it.”

“Ha! This is all too hilarious how they all have these different personalities.”

“Tch’yeah. …huh?” Kiyo paused, waiting and watching as her hearing picked up on a ‘CRK’. The sound had come from Crystal’s bag. She wasted no time pulling out a now trembling egg. Flora and Dragola paused with their story telling to watch the spectacle. Now in her warm arms again, the egg shuddered, before there was a weak peck that caused a small crack. And then another one. The small black crack grew, until finally a bit of the shell fell away. There was a soft peep from inside, and Crystal helped the little thing to break free from the rest of the egg.

Or so she was about to, before the rest of the egg shattered with some intense heat. Bits settled onto Crystal’s long hair and on both her and Kiyo’s clothes, and little bits hit Flora and Dragola in the head lightly. After they were sure no more bits of egg were flying everywhere, all opened their eyes to see a small puff of orange with big sapphire eyes gazing expectantly up at her new trainer.

“…hello!” It peeped, and snuggled right up on its trainer’s chest.

“Awwww!” Kiyo sighed with delight as she lightly made her hand over to the little chick. “It’s a baby Torchic!”

“A Torchic?”

“Yes. They’re fairly known in the Hoenn region. It’s a fire type. Ha, see, this is the product, chances are, of Char’s attitude.”

“Well, I think it’s cute. …hey little buddy, are you male or female?” At the question, the Torchic moved its head to the side.

“Huh, you speak in our language…I’m female. Why, you’re giving me a nickname?”

“Yeah. Anything you want in specific?”

“Blazeburst.”

“Hm…well, I dunno about that name. You’re awfully tiny for such a name like that. I can call you that after we get big and strong together, but how about…um…Flare for now? It’s simple enough.”

“Flare, eh? I think I can live with that for a while till I evolve.” She clicked her beak in agreement.

“Flare it is!” The trainer changed her language back over to English again. Of course, Dragola and Flora had plenty to talk about.

“Hey, whazzap, girlfriend? The name be Flora, and don’ be wearing it out less it be in pride,” the Oddish introduced herself with a twirl of the leaves.

“I’m Dragola. Welcome to the team, Flare!” Appropriately, the polite Dratini smiled.

“Hello Flora and Dragola. Nice to meet you. I hope we can get along and all aim for our best.” For a baby Torchic, she talks awfully like an experienced Pokemon, Crystal couldn’t help but think.

“Lemme guess- female?” Kiyo questioned after the chatter had began.

“Yup.”

“Did it want that nickname?”

“No, it wanted Blazeburst, actually.”

“Ha, that’s funny. Ooh, here comes our food. Good God, I’m starving.” Kiyo rubbed her hands together as a man came to them. He stared briefly at the little fire type now sitting on her lap, as well as the various egg shards strewn about everywhere.

“A new member to your team from an egg?” He questioned, as he set down the food.”

“Yup, she just hatched not too moments ago.”

“Well, I guess that means you’ll need another dish for it, eh? Congrats! I hope she’ll like worms.” After a warm grin, he rushed off, passing a pair of Farfetch’d that were entertaining. However, after watching the Egg spectacle, they began a celebration dance and singing about hilariously to ‘Happy Birthday’ in their own little language, motioning to the Torchic as they danced. Of course the general public stared and applauded at the birth of the new Pokemon. The little chick’s cheeks turned more of a pink hue under the brightly colored down.

“Ahhh…you flatter me…” She chirped, though she was appreciative of the crowd.

“Oh, dang!” Crystal, whom had been enjoying the site, turned to Kiyo at her comment.

“What?”

“No, it’s just the egg hatched at the completely wrong time. Oh man, if only Flare had hatched a day sooner, you wouldn’t have had to worry about the grass types so much!”

“Agh! That’s right! Ough!” At this moment, the trainer bashed her head on the table. So much for my lucky streak…

“Well, at least we’ll have a new companion for your next battle against the Zenith Gym. Ah, such irony of it all…at least you got your badge, though, right?”

“You’re a real kill joy, Kiyo. Here I am, enjoying my victory and new Torchic, and you bring up the fact I coulda dominated had I had a fire type. Oh, woe.”

“Here’s your worms, little bud. Yeah!” After coming back, the waiter brought the mashed up worms on a small dish for the fire chick. He gazed at the trainer for a moment. “…Miss?”

“She’s had an exhausting battle against the gym leader. Don’t worry about her.” Kiyo nodded, and the waiter shrugged, taking off to care about the next customer. Torchic tweaked her head to the side, looking at her trainer, before hopping up her arched back and feasting on lovely cooked worm. Crystal didn’t eat much of anything.
 
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I guess that reasoning makes sense. I totally forgot about Tsubasa. xD

There weren't too many errors here, but here they are anyway:

They turned it into some sort of amusement area instead of its peaceful humid and hot self.

Commas, since you're listing more than two adjectives.

“Hate to tell ya, miss, but someone with a dragon type you recently got and a grass-poison type you caught again recently is not going to be able to beat Forrest Ridgebrook so easily.”

Teehee redundance.

Hahaha…okay. Dragola: level nine. That’s all I’m getting for it. Your Pokégear is probably much less technologically advanced than my own. Aaaand Flora: Level ‘eight’.

If you're gonna put 's around levels, then you forgot them for Dragola's level. Also, you don't need the second 'level' capitalized.

“Alright, that’ll do. Let’s have some brunch. …What are you doing, you kazy girl? Lying down on the job?! Unheard of!”

You mean lazy? xD

He wore nothing but a plain olive green T-shirt with brown cargo pants tucked into a pair of normal black hiking books, crusted with earth and grass stains.

Run on sentence with lots of description. You also put 'books' instead of 'boots'. The comma there makes it better.
 
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