Susan slowly made her way along the rocky path that lead to Mount Moon. The sun was beating down and she was feeling exhausted, but she wasn't about to give up. She did however wish that she had brought more drinks.
So far, her Pokemon journey had not been going well. She had challenged Brock to a duel in her home town of Pewter and unsurprisingly lost. For a start, she was a newbie while he was an experienced gym leader. Also her only Pokemon was a Sentret, a present from her older sister, which stood no chance whatsoever against Brock's rock hard crew.
She stubbed her toe on a rock. It turned out to be a Geodude and punched her back. As Brock's rock types had been so tough, she considered capturing it, but decided not to. A Pokemon that punched her was mean and had no place on her team. Susan walked on with a grim determination.
How she wished that she had a Latias! Then she could soar over the world on its back. It was her very favourite Pokemon, ever since she saw it in a picture book when she was a little kid. Of course, her spoilsport sister insisted that it wasn't actually real, but she knew better.
Then she saw a Mankey squatting in a patch of tall grass. She wanted to catch it to improve her collection, but remembered the older kids' tales about its foul temper and decided to leave it alone. But she waved her almost empty Pokedex that she had received per mail a week before at it, to make sure that it recorded the sighting. The Mankey eyed her suspiciously and Susan decided that she should hurry on.
Finally, both the actual mountain and the adjacent Pokemon Centre came into view. Her mood lifted immediately and she gained speed.
Soon enough, she was sitting at a table in the Pokemon Centre. A newspaper was lying in front of her, but she didn't bother reading it. As all the horrible things happened anyway, why find out about them? One would only worry about them. Sentret stretched and curled up on the newspaper. He promptly fell asleep.
The nurse brought her a cool drink. She picked Sentret up and took him away for a routine examination.
Susan looked around. She loved Pokemon Centres, as she met people from all over Kanto there. Sometimes, people came from even further a field. The travellers from Hoenn interested her most of course, because that was the region where Latias was rumoured to live.
She was ripped out of her thoughts when someone asked her, "What's your favourite Pokemon?"
Susan looked up. A middle-aged, balding man stood in front of her, grinning smarmily. She didn't need long to answer. "Latias."
The man rubbed his hands. "Then I think I have just the thing for you. And a snip at five-hundred Pokedollars too!" He walked off, chuckling quietly, only to return half a minute later, holding an egg. It had several red triangular markings on its white surface.
He lowered his voice. "This is a real Latias egg. It only lays one every one hundred years so it's very, very rare."
Susan looked at him in awe. She pinched herself to make sure that it wasn't a dream.
The man looked from side to side, as if he wanted to make sure that nobody was eavesdropping. "Now you're probably wondering why I'm giving this to you rather than keeping it…"
Actually, Susan hadn't been wondering at all. But it sounded like a good idea to do so, so she nodded in agreement.
"As you can see, I'm an old man. Besides, I've no talent as a trainer." The man shook his head sadly. Then he smiled again. "But you just radiate potential and I can see you have a pure heart. Two things that many more experienced trainers don't have." He paused. "In short, you are the perfect owner for a legendary."
To Susan, that seemed like a very sound explanation. She only had one more question. "But if I'm so perfect, why should I pay?"
The man sighed. "I have to live too. It isn't much."
That was true. Satisfied, she handed him the money and he gave her the egg in return. He walked off, counting the notes.
Susan couldn't believe her luck. She was clutching the key to her dreams! All she had to do now was wait until it hatched. She carefully wrapped it in her anorak to keep it warm and make sure it wouldn't break and placed it in her rucksack.
Just then, the nurse returned. Sentret leaped out of her arms and onto Susan's shoulder. He had missed his owner. Susan thanked her and stood up. It was time to begin her dangerous journey through Mount Moon.
It turned out not to be very dangerous at all. The Pokemon League had finally got its act together and installed a pathway through the mountain, complete with handrails and electric lights. Although one could still get lost in the secluded caverns, one would have to be as dense as a Rhyhorn to do so on the main thoroughfare.
After a two hour hike, she came out on the other side. She had hoped to catch a Clefairy, for which she had saved her Pokeballs. But she didn't even catch a glimpse of one. All she managed to capture was a Zubat, which she gave the incredibly original nickname "Batty".
The waterways of Cerulean City glistened in the middle distance. Before setting off towards it, she bought herself a lucky charm made of real moonstone from the souvenir shop.
On the way, she wondered how long the egg would take to hatch. In school, she had heard that, as a rule of thumb, stronger Pokemon needed longer. Going by that, Latias could take forever. She hoped that it would hatch soon through. She was a very impatient person.
Suddenly, a boy who appeared to be about two years older than her (she was no good at estimating people's age) stepped onto the path. He pulled a Pokeball from his belt. "Hey you! Fancy a battle?"
"Sure thing!" Susan grinned. She had read a hundred-thousand times that a talented beginning trainer always beat a more experienced one. And she was sure that she had talent. Besides, it was very rude to turn down a battle. It was time to test her new Pokemon. "Go, Batty!" She threw her Pokeball and the Zubat appeared in a burst of bright light.
"Go, Elekid!" the boy yelled, and the yellow Pokemon appeared in a similar manner.
"Use…" Susan realized that she had no idea what moves her Zubat knew. So she settled for "Attack!" instead. Unfortunately, her idea had some major flaws. For a start, it didn't have any experience in battling and didn't get the command. It flew around in circles instead.
Secondly, it had already been weakened in the fight where Susan had captured it. That, combined with the type-weakness, meant that it was instantly knocked out when Elekid hit it with an electric attack. It cried out in pain, flapped its wings a couple more times and then spiralled towards the ground, hitting it with a dull thud.
Susan called it back. She waved dismissively. "Well, Zubat is a shitty Pokemon anyway."
The other trainer nodded in agreement.
"Go, Sentret!" Susan shouted at the top of the voice. Her Pokemon leaped off her shoulder and landed a couple of meters in front of the Elekid. He growled. Then he darted forward, ramming the Elekid and knocking it over. The Elekid tried to counter with an electrically-charged punch, but Sentret dodged gracefully.
"You're doing great!" Susan shouted in encouragement. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a grave tactical error. Her Pokemon turned to see what she wanted, leaving him completely open. Elekid nailed him with Thunderwave. Blue sparks crackled across his fur.
The other trainer picked up his Pokeball. "The battle's as good as over. Or do you have any other Pokemon?"
Susan shook her head. "But I never give up! Go on, Sentret! You can do this!"
"Suit yourself." The trainer shrugged. "It's just a matter of time now." With a wave of his hand, he ordered his Pokemon to attack. It beat down on its opponent with a flurry of blows. Sentret kept trying to dodge, but his movements were sluggish. Finally, he could take it no longer and fainted.
Susan picked his Pokeball off her belt and called Sentret back. The other trainer did the same to his Pokemon. He walked over to her and shook her hand. "Not a bad battle." Then he snidely added, "For a beginner."
Using all of her self-control, Susan succeeded in not throwing a tantrum. She reminded herself that Latias would probably prefer someone who was well-behaved. And then it would smite everyone who was ever nasty to her. With a satisfied grin on her face, she walked off.
Susan arrived it Cerulean City half an hour later. In was already early evening and she headed straight for the Pokemon Centre, where she was planning to spend the night.
After handing in her injured Pokemon, Susan was assigned a room in the first floor. There were four beds in it, but it wasn't a busy time and she had the room to herself. She took the Latias Egg out of her rucksack, wrapped it in a blanket and placed it on one of the beds. Then, after putting on her pyjamas, she lay down on the one next to it and switched off the light. "Good night, Latias," she whispered. Susan fell asleep almost instantaneously.
The first thing Susan did when she woke up was check on the Latias Egg. She hollered with joy when she saw that a couple of cracks had appeared overnight. Hearing her, a nurse ran up the stairs and threw open the door, to see if everything was alright. As it was she left again.
Susan spent the rest of the morning watching as more cracks appeared on the shell. She didn't bother to get dressed and skipped breakfast. When the nurse brought back her fully healed Pokemon, she didn't even look up. This annoyed Sentret, who had been expecting her to pick it up. He gave Susan's trouser leg several tugs, hoping to get her attention. But it didn't work. She was too fixated on the egg.
It was a bit after eleven o'clock when a bit of the shell broke off. Susan held her breath and crossed her fingers. More and more pieces were pushed away by the hatching Pokemon, until she could see what was inside.
A Magikarp.
She picked up a piece of eggshell. A bit of colour rubbed off onto her hand. The red triangles had been painted on!
Susan balled her fists and tried to fight back the tears. She had wished for a Latias for ages. And she had thought that she had been so close… But she had been tricked, swindled, diddled! Tears started running down her cheeks.
Her Sentret tried to comfort her by giving her a hug. Batty too seemed concerned, although it may just have been confused. Magikarp jumped up and down on the bed.
She sobbed. "It's not fair! Why must things like this always happen to me?" But nobody answered. Susan realised that she had better not tell anyone about it or she would be laughed at. Then she remembered something.
Magikarp may be the weakest Pokemon in existence, but it evolves into one of the strongest. Susan hoped that it would still somehow magically transform into a Latias, but knew that it was unlikely.
Susan smiled again. She took a Pokeball out of her bag and called Magikarp into it. It didn't resist. Her Sentret jumped up and down with joy because his trainer was happy again. He climbed onto her shoulder. Batty continued to look confused, but it was promptly returned into its Pokeball.
She headed off to Misty's gym with her new team, to face a new challenge.