Pokemon Emerald: The Gift of Speech Chapter 1, a pokémon fanfic

Hey, peeps! This is... I believe... the fourth story I've written. My editor in chief is Lichenstar, whose story all of you should read or at least post a comment for, 'cause she's not updating and it's driving me mad!!! INSANE I TELL YOU!!! Okay sorry, I'm in a really wierd mood... hyper off girlscout cookies, num. ANYWAYS... here's the first chapter, enjoy, please!!

Oh yeah; I don't mind flames, but could you hose them down a bit? And make them more of useful comments instead of, "oh my god this story effing sucks please take it DOWN" if you know what I mean... yeah...

Ahem, on to the story! R&R if ya don't mind.

Zoey scowled as the boxes shifted and bumped around the back of the truck, where she was sitting in a corner, trying to avoid getting crushed.

And, of course, I'm the one stuck back here with all our stuff, Zoey thought irately, reflecting on her past—nothing. Huh? What's going on? I can't remember anything! Before she could ruminate her lack of memory, the truck ground to a halt, and she was startled from her thinking. The boxes jumped one last time before settling down. Wincing and grumbling about child abuse, Zoey hopped very gratefully out of the truck.

A woman—she assumed it was her mother—came out of a small two-story house at that moment, and walked eagerly up to Zoey.

"Zoey, we're here, honey!" she cried excitedly.

"Joy," the eleven-year-old girl griped. She was still grumpy about the truck ride.

Her mother continued. "It must be tiring riding with our things in the moving truck."

Yeah, you should talk.

"Well, this is Littleroot Town," her mother informed her.

"Looks pathetic." Zoey replied, her eyes flicking over the scenery tetchily. "Two houses? Where do all these people live?" She gestured to the people wandering around the 'town'.

"How do you like it?" her mother prodded. "This is our new home!"

No. Really? I thought you were just dragging me here in the back of a moving truck with all our stuff to look at all the homeless people in this… town.

"It has a quaint feel, but it seems to be an easy place to live, don't you think?" her mother pointed out.

"What's with all the questions, woman?" Zoey exclaimed, throwing her hands up. Her mother continued as if she had said nothing.

"And you have your own room, Zoey! Let's go inside." Her mother entered the house. Zoey had no choice but to follow. I didn't have my own room before? she thought perplexedly. Okaay…

Inside the house, two large pokémon were moving boxes around. One appeared to be half-wit, for it was simply pacing aimlessly while clutching a box to its white-furred chest. Zoey was about to point this out when her mom immediately launched into another of her sanguinity speeches.

"See, Zoey?"

"Yes, I can see."

"Isn't it nice in here, too?"

"Well, I wouldn't really know, 'cause you see--"

"The mover's pokémon do all the work of moving us in and cleaning up after."

Zoey laughed gleefully. "Ha ha ha! Slave pokémon!"

Her mother went on. "It's so convenient! Zoey, your room is upstairs."

"Huh?" Zoey stopped laughing at the pokémon and stared around, puzzled, before looking back at her mom. "Where do you sleep then?"

"Go check it out, dear!" her mother urged. "Dad bought you a new clock to mark our move here."

"How does that work?" Mark our move here? She wondered.

"Don't forget to set it!"

"But I don't feel like it! Eh, I'm going outside to laugh at the homeless people." She tried to leave, but her mother stopped her.

"Well, Zoey?" she asked. "Aren't you interested in seeing your very own room?"

"No, not really," The girl replied, wondering what the heck was so exciting about a bedroom. "Oh, fine then." She grudgingly crossed the living room and stomped up the stairs.

There, I saw it. Oh, hey! I have my own T.V.! She walked over the television and flicked the 'on' button.

"And now, back to Teletubbies!" an announcer proclaimed. Zoey watched with wide eyes as the weird little… things… bounced around a field of grass and flowers.

"Tinky Winky,
Dipsy,
Laa Laa,
Po.
Teletubbies. Teletubbies
Say hello!"

"Eh oh!" the four Teletubbies called, robotically waving their arms and staring at Zoey with their emotionless, black eyes.

Zoey was speechless for a moment before turning the T.V. off. Dad might like that show… well, I'd better get going! Why should I waste my time with a friggin' clock anyways? She went back down the stairs, and yelped when she saw her mother standing right there.

"AAGH! Don't just pop out like that!" Zoey shouted.

"Zoey."

Uh oh, I'm in trouble now…

"Go and set the clock in your room, honey," her mother admonished, and guided her back into her room.

Gawd! What is it with that woman? Fine, I'll set the freaking clock! Gosh! Zoey set it to midnight, even though it was still light outside.

"AAAGH! You keep appearing!" Zoey screamed when she turned to find her mother right there.

"Zoey, how do you like your new room?"

"It sucks. The T.V. doesn't even have any decent programs!"

"Good!"

"Huh?"

"Everything's put away neatly!"

Oh, yeah, 'cause the room's condition is more important than my happiness…

"They finished moving everything in downstairs, too."

"Gee, that was fast, considering they had a stupid pokémon doing half of the work…"

"Pokémon movers are so convenient!"

"Yeah, you've said that…"

"Oh, you should make sure that everything's there on your desk." She left the room.

I wonder what's on my desk, Zoey speculated without enthusiasm. She trudged over to the desk and flipped open a notebook lying there.

Adventure Rule No. 1: the notebook stated, open the menu with start.

"Huh?" Zoey wondered aloud. "Start? Start what? What menu?" Thoroughly perplexed, she read on.

Adventure Rule No. 2: record your progress with save.

"Ookaay," Zoey muttered, flipping through the rest of the book, which was blank. "Must be some manual for a video game… well, I obviously have nothing to do with it." She left the room.

When she entered the living room, her mom called over to her in excitement from in front of the T.V. The large pokémon had left, and everything was organized in a bland sort of way.

"Oh! Zoey, Zoey! Quick, come quickly!"

Sheesh, now she's repeating herself…Zoey walked over.

"It's Petalburg Gym!" her mother gestured to the T.V. screen, where a small crowd of people was shown standing in front of a large building. "Maybe Dad will be on!"

Why would Dad be on? Zoey wondered.

'We brought you this report from in front of Petalburg Gym,'the reporter lady told the camera. Then the show changed to a commercial advertising poké café coffee.

"Oh, it's over—" her mother began to say, but Zoey squealed, "COFFEE!" and greedily watched the screen. Her mother stared at her daughter for a moment, and then continued.

"I think Dad was on, but we missed him. Too bad."

"Yeah, shame. No! The commercial's over! Did you remember to pack the coffee when we left?" Zoey demanded.

"Ah, no, it must have… um, slipped my mind," the mother stuttered unconvincingly. Zoey glowered at her, but her mom went on quickly.

"Oh, yes. One of Dad's friends lives in this town—"

"Lemme guess," Zoey interrupted. "He lives in the house next door, the only other house in this town?"

"—Professor Birch is his name. And yes, he does live right next door, so you should go introduce yourself." Her mom then went to sit down at the table and proceeded to stare at the far wall.

"Why?" Zoey asked, but her mom wasn't listening, so enthralled as she was in the blank, mundane wall. "Jees, what is with the people in this town?" Zoey watched her mother impassively for a minute or two more, and then shouted, "Fine, I'm going to run away!"

Her mother didn't twitch.

Zoey left the house irritably. Wondering if she really should run away, she caught sight of one of the homeless people wandering pointlessly around.

Hey! It's one of those hobos! she thought gleefully. I think I'll go talk to him. She walked over to the large man in a blue shirt.

"Hi, my na—"

"If you use a PC, you can store items and pokémon." The man informed her as if he had known her all his life. "The power of science is staggering!"

Zoey stood there for a moment, wondering if she was the only sane person in the town. Then she walked away, seriously considering leaving for good.

She spotted the pathway leading out of the town. Ah ha! An escape! She rushed towards it.

She put one foot past the boundary of the town, and a little girl with a bow on her head jumped and ran over, standing right in front of her.

"Um, um, um!" the girl squeaked, looking very nervous.

"Yeah, whaddya want, squirt?" Zoey snapped. "You're blocking my path!"

"If you go outside and go in the grass, wild pokémon will jump out!" the girl explained quickly, a frightened look on her face.

"Oh, really."

"It's dangerous if you don't have your own pokémon." The girl cautioned at top speed.

Zoey glared at her. The girl rushed back to where she had been standing before. Zoey stood there for a moment, a little pissed, then thought, Ah, what the crap. I'm leaving to keep my sanity! Why should some pokémon get in the way? She tried walking forward again, but once again the little girl leapt up and anxiously ran over.

"Um, um, um!" the girl recited at high speed. "If you go outside and go in the grass, wild pokémon will jump out! It's dangerous if you don't have your own pokémon." Then she ran back.

Zoey was frozen in fear, wondering if she was going insane. How had the girl said the exact same thing as before? Horrified, she slowly turned on her heel and walked towards the Birch tree's house.

Upon entering the house, the mom rushed over, looking surprised.

"Oh, hello." She said cheerfully, looking Zoey over. "And you are?"

"Bob."

"Oh, you're Zoey, our new next door neighbor!"

Huh?

"We have a son about the same age as you."

"Cool. Tell him to stay away from me."

"Oh, but our son was excited about making a new friend…"

"Oh, well, in that case, tell him he can talk to me, but is too unworthy to make eye-contact or call me by my name. I will be referred to as—"

"Our son is upstairs, I think." The 'son's' mom interrupted.

"Kay, fine, whatever," Zoey muttered, and slouched up the stairs, ignoring the small red-haired kid staring at her hopefully from by their T.V.

Hey, his room looks just like mine! Zoey thought, looking around. Except for that weird ball thing lying there. What is that?... Eh, what do I care? She left the room promptly.

As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, a strange white-haired boy about Zoey's age came out of the front door, paused, and hurried over to her.

Ah! A weird white-haired dude! Zoey thought frantically.

"Hey! You…"

"Who, moi?" she looked over her shoulder hopefully.

"Who are you?"

"I could tell you… but then I'd have to kill you." Zoey said mysteriously.

"Oh, you're Zoey, aren't you? Moved in next door right?"

Zoey threw her hands up. "Ah! How does everyone know my name?"

"I didn't know that you're a girl," the boy went on.

"Well, it's a long story. See, the x-chromosomes and y-chr—"

"Dad, Professor Birch, said that our new next door neighbor is a Gym Leader's kid, so I assumed you'd be a guy."

Zoey gasped. "SEXIST!"

"No, I didn't mean it that way! Uh, anyways, my name's Brendan. So, hi, neighbor!"

"It's… Zoey," she said grudgingly.

"Huh?... Hey, Zoey, don't you have a pokémon?"

"Nah, I'm not a pokémon nerd like you…"

"Do you want me to go catch you one?"

Is everyone deaf here? Zoey wondered.

"Aw, darn, I forgot… I'm supposed to help my dad catch some wild pokémon."

"Pokémon nerds!" Zoey accused.

Brendan looked at her oddly before continuing. "Some other time, okay?"

"Nerd alert, nerd alert, nerd alert," Zoey chanted. Brendan then went into his room. Zoey stared after him for a moment, then left, muttering, "Weird. Kay, I'm really leaving for real this time!"

Once outside, she tried to leave the 'town' again. And once again, the little girl leapt up and ran over.

"Um, hi!" the girl chirped.

"Yo, squirt," Zoey said warily.

"There are scary pokémon outside! I can hear their cries."

Zoey listened intently. "I can't hear anything."

"I want to go see what's happening, but I don't have any pokémon…"

Sucks to be you, then…

"Can you go see what's happening for me?" the girl pleaded, then ran off again.

Zoey mulled it over in her head, undecided. Well, I really have nothing better to do, so fine…

She walked out into a small clearing. A large patch of tall grass grew to her left, and a small cliff blocked the path ahead of her.

"H-help me!" someone cried.

"Why should I?" Zoey replied, but walked forward anyways.

A strange man was being chased around by a weird looking creature with brown stripes. Zoey watched them run around in circles for a couple minutes, wondering what the heck was going on, until the creature cornered the man against a line of trees.

"Hello!" the man called as if nothing was going on.

"Yo," Zoey greeted, still keeping her distance.

"You over there!"

"Who, moi?" Zoey asked sarcastically, looking over her shoulder.

"Please! Help!" The man begged, suddenly reverting to his terrified state.

"Why should I?" Zoey repeated.

"In my bag! There's a pokéball!"

Why would I want a pokéball? Zoey wondered. Ah, this is a waste of my time. She tried to leave.

The man flipped. "Wh-where are you going?! DON'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!"

"Okay, okay," Zoey muttered. She went over to the brown bag lying on the ground and looked through it.

What the heck? There's three pokerballs! Or pekorballs… whatever. I'll just… choose one. As soon as her hands closed over the ball, bright lights flashed in her vision—and she blacked out.

Aah! What's happening! Am I dead? But her vision cleared as quickly as it had faded.

Whoa, what's going on? Ahead of her was the weird creature, who was looking rather intimidating though it was only like a foot tall.

"Zigzagoon!" the creature piped.

"Eew! Take that, weirdo!" Zoey, thoroughly freaked out, threw the pokéball at the 'Zigzagoon'.

There was a flash from the pokéball, and another weird creature popped out. This one looked like a little chick, with red feathers.

"Eep!" Zoey squeaked. "I have no idea what's happening…"

Idiot, we're in a pokémon battle!

"Wha…?" Zoey shrieked. "Who was that?" She looked warily at the red chicken thing. "Huh? You talk? Hey… are you a pokémon?"

The pokémon rolled its eyes. Yes, idiot. And it's a long story as to why I talk. But there is no time to argue! Tell me what to do!

"Huh?"

The thing sighed. I know two moves in battle: Scratch and Growl. It explained in an exasperated tone. To defeat the Zigzagoon, you have to tell me what move to use when our turn to fight comes.

Zoey was weirded out, but she sort of grasped what the thing was saying. "Okay… so, um, Scratch?"

That's more like it! The pokémon let out a strange call that sounded like, 'Torchic'! and 'scratched' the Zigzagoon.

"Okay, now what?" Zoey asked.

Now it's the opponent's turn, the Torchic replied.

What? It's a battle and they take turns attacking each other? wondered Zoey, but she kept quiet.

The Zigzagoon used growl, which seemed to have no effect.

"Huh? What did that do?" Zoey snickered.

It makes my attacks less effective. It's our turn again!

"Alright, scratch!" The Torchic obeyed. The Zigzagoon then tackled Torchic, which looked more like a really pathetic head butt.

"Eep!" Zoey cried. "Are you okay?"

I'm fine! Tell me what to do! The Torchic growled.

"This is getting really repetitive. Scratch!"

At the last attack from Torchic, the Zigzagoon fell to the ground in a dead faint.

"Aagh! It fainted!" Zoey shrieked, shocked.

Yeah, that's what happens in pokémon battles, Torchic said, again sounding exasperated. By making the pokémon faint, I gain experience points, or just EXP. points. The more EXP. points I get, the stronger I become. Same goes for any other pokémon who wins in battle.

Zoey was taken aback. "How… unorthodox," she muttered.

Torchic agreed, Yeah, it's weird. Your Professor Birch wants to talk to you.

"Great…" Zoey said, and before she knew it, she blacked out again. When her vision cleared this time, the Zigzagoon had disappeared, and the weird Birch tree guy walked up to her.

"Whew…" he muttered, brushing dirt off his white apron.

"Yeah, really…" Zoey agreed. She looked around. Weird, somehow the talking Torchic got back into its ball. Ew, that sounded so wrong…

The Birch tree continued, "I was in the tall grass studying wild pokémon when I was jumped."

Zoey laughed at him.

"You saved me. Thanks a lot!" the Birch tree said gratefully.

"No problemo. Not that I wanted to…"

"Oh?"

"What?"

"Hi, you're Zoey!"

How does everyone know my name?! she thought, not for the first time that day, and checked her shirt to make sure she wasn't wearing a very blatant nametag. She wasn't. Which only made it even more strange...

The Birch tree went on. "This is not the place to chat, so come to my lab later, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever… oh!" she exclaimed, getting seriously cheesed off. "I'm blacking out again!"

The next thing she knew, she was standing in front of Professor Birch in a large room filled with a number of strange things, including an odd looking machine against the right wall and the pokémon nerd standing in front of her expectantly.

"So, Zoey…" The Birch tree began.

"Ah! What the frick is going on? How'd I get here? How come I keep blacking out?" She was hyperventilating. The Birch tree went on as if she had said nothing.

"I've heard so much about you from your father."

Who the heck is my father anyways? I've never seen him!

"I've heard that you don't have your own pokémon yet."

"Yes, knock on wood." Zoey looked around for wood, but didn't find any.

"But the way you battled earlier, you pulled it of with aplomb!"

"Yeah, I know, I was pretty amazing," Zoey admitted.

"I guess you have your father's blood in your veins after all!"

WHO IS MY FATHER?!

"Oh, yes. As thanks for rescuing me, I'd like you to have the pokémon you used earlier."

Zoey flipped. "NOOOOOOOOO!!! Where's friggin' wood when you need it?!" she sobbed. Still crying uncontrollably, she accepted the pokéball that the Birch tree handed over to her and shoved in unceremoniously into her bag slung around her waist.

"While you're at it," Professor Birch called over her sobs, which he was mistaking as tears of joy, "why not give a nickname to that Torchic?"

Zoey was too buried in her misery to care. She shook her head without thinking about it.

"Well, I think you two will get along great together! If you work at pokémon and gain experience, I think you'll make an extremely good trainer."

"But… but…" Zoey protested weakly, wiping her eyes.

"My kid, Brendan, is also studying pokémon while helping me out."

"I'm gonna turn into a pokémon nerd like you guys!" Zoey broke down into sobs again.

"Ah, nonsense. Zoey, don't you think it might me a good idea to go see Brendan?"

"No," Zoey stated.

"Oh, don't be that way. You should go meet my kid." The Birch tree urged.

"No." Zoey said firmly.