AN: Hi everyone. This is my second fanfiction ever, and is in progress. Please be nice etc., but don't be afraid to let me know about what you don't like (aside from stupid things like "lol i haet pokemanz!!!!11!"). Also, this is not just the first chapter, but actually the first eight chapters. I accidentally uploaded them all together, and am too lazy to seperate them. Before I actually start the story, I apologize for having to insert two more notes, as well as a disclaimer.
Specific Notes: Chapter Eight implies (blatently states?) that a legendary pokemon uses drugs. Various chapters both here and in the future will state that Cheri Berries make fire pokemon breathe more potent flames, as well as force them to breathe fire. Thanks go to Buwaro for giving me this idea in his fanfiction, Tales of Flame.
Another note: Originally this story was posted on Gaiaonline ( so there may be some lingering BBCode. I tried to get rid of it, but if there is any let me know where it is with both chapter number and exact quote of three to five words before and after it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just my characters and ideas. I also do not own the idea for Cheri Berry side effects, that belongs to Buwaro.
The Magma of Cinnabar
Chapter One-
Jack walked home from school that day on a different road than he usually took. This road led the young boy through the deepest part of downtown Cinnabar City. As he walked by the shops and restaurants, he noticed a lot of graffiti, mostly saying either "Team Aqua" or "Team Magma". Eventually, he came to the small alley he always went through on his way home when he took this road. Except this time, there were people in it."Vaporeon! Use Water Gun!" Shouted one of the men, who was wearing blue. It took Jack more than a few seconds to realize that the man was ordering his Vaporeon to attack the other man, who was wearing red.
The man in red barely dodged the Water Gun and shouted "Hey! I don't even have my pokemon!"
"As if I care, Magmahead." Taunted Blue.
Looking down around the floor of the alley, Jack saw a pokemon belt lying on the ground, just behind Blue. "Hey, leave him alone." Jack said, "He didn't do anything to you, and you have his pokemon belt right behind you."
"Look, kid, just get out of here. You don't understand what's going on, just shoo." Blue said.
"I'm not leaving until you leave him alone or give him his pokemon back!" Jack shouted.
"Oh, trying to save him are you? Fine, how about I battle you." Blue said as he tossed the pokemon belt at Jack. "Try anything funny and you get a Hydro Pump to the face."
"A battle? But I don't know how to battle." Jack replied.
"Just do it kid. He means business, and he won't let you leave now. You lost that chance when you said you were gonna stay. Just use my pokemon and battle so you can get away." Red urged him.
"Quiet Magmahead!" Blue shouted as he got out a whip and whipped the man. Blue whimpered and stayed quiet. "Just battle kid. He may be an idiot, but the Magmahead is right."
Jack looked at the pokemon belt in his hands. There were three pokeballs on it, and Blue only had his Vaporeon. The odds were in his favor, if he could figure out how to battle and what Red's pokemon knew. Carefully, he pulled a pokeball off of the belt. "May as well learn sometime." He muttered to himself. Louder, he said "POKEBALL, GO!"
And in the ensuing white light, a Houndoom appeared.
Chapter Two-
Jack looked at the Houndoom for a moment before he remembered what was going on. "Uh… Houndoom, use Bite." He mumbled so the battle would start. The Houndoom looked at him questioningly for a moment before looking back at the Vaporeon and it's actual trainer.
"Just do what the kid says Houndoom. He's battling for me right now, okay?" Red said before wincing in anticipation of the whip that Blue gave him.
"I thought I told you to be quiet, idiot. Vaporeon! Use Water Gun!" Blue shouted. Immediately the Vaporeon jumped on top of one of the crates in the alley and shot a jet of water towards the Houndoom.
Jack nervously pulled on the collar of his shirt and coughed before again saying "Houndoom, use Bite" The Houndoom dodged the jet of water, but then looked strangely at Jack again. Instead of using Bite, it jumped over towards the Vaporeon and bite down on the Vaporeon's leg so hard that the leg broke. As Houndoom let go of the Vaporeon, a small amount of dark mist crept off of the wound. In fact, the mist seemed almost… Dark.
"Okay, apparently it knows Crunch instead of Bite." Jack mumbled
Blue, on the other hand, shouted "Hydro Pump!"
"Poopie." Jack said as the concentrated jet of water headed towards Houndoom at high speed. Too fast to dodge it.
And so the Houndoom went flying into the wall and was knocked out. "Two more to go. Even with a broken leg, Vaporeon can beat all of his pokemon."
Jack was seriously scared now. So scared that he peed his pants. Literally.
"Don't worry kid you're safe as long as you keep battling!" Red suddenly shouted, only to receive another whip from Blue.
"I thought I told you to shut the hell up!" Blue screamed angrily, looking back at Red momentarily.
Jack took a deep breath, then followed Red's advice and sent out the next pokemon, which turned out to be a Flareon. (He was actually starting to like Red, but he got the sense that Red didn't know when to shut up.) The Flareon seemed extremely happy to be battling the Vaporeon, but it too was confused at being sent out by Jack. Then, seeing Houndoom lying on the other side of the alley, now just barely regaining consciousness, it seemed to realize what was going on and faced Vaporeon again.
"OK Flareon, let's start this off with a nice Fire Spin." Jack ordered. Flareon hesitated a bit, then sucked in some air and spewed a nice little stream of fire at Vaporeon, which soon became a tornado-like inferno. Vaporeon seemed to feel more pain than it should have from this blow, but then it's eyes flashed evilly at Blue's next order.
"Vaporeon, use Acid Armor." Blue said. The Vaporeon's eyes glowed a deep blue, visible from the other side of the fire tornado, and then it disappeared. Well, not exactly disappeared. A cloud of steam rose from the top of the Fire Spin and spread itself thickly throughout the alley. Eventually, the steam got so thick you could barely see. Out of the steam came the words "Water Gun." Closely following the words came a jet of water that hit Flareon right in the face. Flareon shook it off, but it was still pretty weak from the attack.
"Well, plus side to this is that the steam is cleaning your piss from your pants." Blue taunted.
Jack stood a bit taller and said "Flareon, use Quick Attack." Flareon dashed into the steam, leaving a white trail behind it, and the sound of a Vaporeon squealing was quickly followed by the sound of another Water Gun hitting Flareon and Flareon crying out as it fainted. Jack didn't even have to send out the next pokemon though. It came out all on it's own at the sound of Flareon fainting. Standing there in front of Jack, the gold rings on it glowing with a light that seemed to dissipate the steam, was a very angry looking Umbreon.
The Umbreon seemed to be angry about what happened to the Flareon. Which was perfectly all right with Jack, it even made it easier for him to win, but he still wondered why it would be so mad about the Flareon when none of the three Eevee evolutions seemed to care what happened to the Houndoom. It didn't even occur to him that the Umbreon and the Flareon were mates.
In any case, Jack didn't have to say another order, the whole battle. Why? Because the Umbreon was so pissed off at the Vaporeon for knocking out its mate that it simply leapt straight into action. Like-wise, the Vaporeon didn't wait for orders either as it seemed to have un-broken it's leg when it turned into the steam and it also leapt straight into action.
At first, the two pokemon were simply trading off Quick Attacks that missed each other every time. But then the Umbreon seemed to have an idea. Suddenly, it faded from view. While Vaporeon looked around for Umbreon, Umbreon had reappeared right behind it and now rammed the poor Vaporeon from behind. Vaporeon then leapt around weakly and stared at Umbreon for a few seconds. Umbreon gave Vaporeon the meanest look Jack had ever seen a pokemon give anyone or anything. And Vaporeon stood there transfixed by the look. Which gave Umbreon time to launch an astonishingly powerful Quick Attack at it.
Vaporeon collapsed on the ground, not quite out yet, but definitely going to lose. It made one last attempt to get rid of Umbreon with another Hydro Pump, but Umbreon simply hopped out of the way and lunged at Vaporeon with a Pursuit. Vaporeon took the hit, and went out like a light.
Blue couldn't seem to speak for a few seconds. Neither could Jack or Red. After a few seconds, including some soundless mouthing of words, Blue finally uttered audibly "Well, I guess I had better go then. This isn't over with yet Magmaheads!" He took out Vaporeon's pokeball and quickly returned the pokemon to it before running off in the direction Jack was facing.
"After him!" came a yell from just behind Jack. Looking back, Jack turned around just in time to see four people wearing the same red uniform as Red run by and give chase to Blue. He also saw a man who looked like he thought he was in charge of the whole island. This new man wore a different version of the uniform all the other red-wearers wore, and judging from the fact that he wasn't running after Blue, Jack surmised he was Red's boss, along with the boss of all the other people in red.
Slowly, New Guy walked over to Red and helped him up. "You all right George?" he asked. Red nodded. New Guy turned and looked at Jack, who was still holding George's (I suppose we have to call him by his name now.) pokeball belt. "And who is this young man here who managed to beat that Aqua idiot all by himself with your pokemon?"
Chapter Three-
Jack stood there nervously as George explained to New Guy, whose name turned out to be Mark, about the battle and all of that. Eventually, Mark became upset and asked, "Yes, yes, I can figure the rest out. But what is his name?"
"I don't know, sir. He didn't say." George replied nervously.
"In any case, he's coming with us. He battles with your pokemon better than you do!" Mark said. Jack slowly started backing away, but Mark grabbed his hand and led him and George out of the alley. Jack struggled to memorize all the twists and turns they took on their way through the city, away from Jack's home. Eventually, they came to a place on the outskirts of the city near the volcano. George had spent the whole time giving Jack spiteful glances, and now he appeared especially angry.
"So you just take him here to the hideout, no blindfold or anything?" George burst out.
"Well George, you pitiful grunt, I don't believe that matters. I'm the Admin here, not you. And I think we should make sure this kid joins us and not Team Aqua when he grows up. It's inevitable that he'll join one or the other." Mark firmly stated as his hand went to a specific rock on the cliff the stood next to. He pushed the rock, and a part of the cliff face went inward, and then to the side, like a door of some sort. Which, apparently, it was. Mark tugged on Jack's hand again and they all went inside the cliff, into what appeared to be some sort of hidden scientific base, only it had torches instead of normal lights.
George took one of the torches as understanding showed up on his face. "Oh! I'll lead the way then, shall I?"
"Yes, George. That would be nice." Mark agreed. George led them down the hallway and through a maze of tunnels. They came to a small room at one point that seemed to be for observation of a room below it. In the room below Jack was just barely able to make out a gigantic pokemon, sitting in a pool of magma. But they didn't spend very much time in the room, so Jack wasn't able to identify what the pokemon was. As they continued on, they eventually came to a large room with a glowing green cylinder in the center of the room. It was cold compared with the rest of the island, so Jack was pretty sure something important was happening inside the room.
"Welcome, Jack, to our main R and D room. Today, you will be testing one of our newest inventions for us." Mark said. He snapped, and a scientist ran over. "Go get the DMCD." The scientist ran back to where he had been before, opened a cabinet, and came back with a device that looked like a gun. Jack tore his hand away from Mark and started backing away again.
"I don't wanna die!" He cried.
Mark took the gun-like-device and walked back over to Jack. "It's not going to kill you. It probably won't even hurt. It'll just be like a little vaccination shot, like you get at the doctors." He said as he took Jack's head and pointed the gun straight down at the top of it. "The only problem, is that we have to fire it straight into the brain, so it takes the force of a gun to get it in there."
Jack struggled against Marks grip, but to no avail. Ten seconds later, Mark pulled the trigger and an amount of liquid was shot directly into Jack's brain, healing the hole it made even as it went by. Jack went limp for a few seconds, and then he was his normal self again. They took him out of the hideout and back to the alley before setting him loose. By the time he was home, he had already forgotten everything that had happened and his mind had filled the gap with meeting up with a friend from school and playing over at the friend's house for a while.
Six years later…
Jack was on his way home from school with some friends, discussing how happy they were that they had finally graduated the long and rigorous course at Trainers School and what they were going to get for their first pokemon. Many pokemon were offered, but all of his friends were still stuck on their dreams of how they would look with a Charizard or a Blastoise so they were saying they'd get one of the old starters. At one point his girlfriend Jessica spoke up and said, "Oh, you're all stuck in the past. The days of Ash and his Pikachu and all of those people are over. You've been kinda quiet Jack. What do you want to start with?"
Jack, of course, had always fantasized about an Arcanine, so his answer was "I think I'll start with a Growlithe. Sure, it's only got one evolution, but they're dead loyal and Arcanines can be pretty powerful if you train them right." He stopped, as something seemed to click in his head.
"Something wrong?" Jessica asked.
"No, nothing." Jack said as he began to remember what had happened six years ago, only George and Mark were much more positive in the memories he was getting back. "Just remembering something, that's all."
"OK. You just stopped talking kinda suddenly." Jessica replied.
"No, I'm fine. It was just really strange I remembered what I did now. Completely random." Jack said as he sped up his walk to go up the street that led to his house.
The next day, Jack and his friends were at the school's main office filling out the necessary forms to get their trainer's license and starter pokemon. Jack and Jessica finished at the same time, a few minutes before their friends, and walked over to the desk to retrieve their pokemon and get their licenses. The secretary took the forms and ran them through the scanner before the slot at the bottom came out with two data cards with Jack and Jessica's names on them, two pokedexes, again with the names, and two pokeballs. The secretary handed them their respective pokedexes and let the pokemon out of the pokeballs before escorting Jack, Jessica, and their new pokemon to the picture room.
"Wow, my Growlithe and your Eevee seem to be really playful." Jack commented as the two pokemon did indeed run around their trainers, apparently playing tag or something like that.
"Well, they probably did grow up with each other." Jessica said with a smile.
They took the pictures for their licenses and got the small cards in less than a minute. The secretary talked at them about their responsibility as trainers and all that crap for a while, and then the two went out for lunch, their new pokemon following behind.
Chapter Four-
§§§ POV SWITCH §§§The Growlithe was having fun playing with the Eevee as they and their trainers walked to wherever they were going. "So, do you think your trainer is going to name you?" He asked as he tagged Eevee.
"Oh, I hope so. It's hard enough when they call you and you forget that they're calling you because we don't use our names before we get trainers. We form our little play groups at the lab so early that most of the time it doesn't matter what the person you're talking to is. But it's even worse if there's another pokemon of your species around." She replied. Just when she was about to tag Growlithe though, their trainers stopped and she accidentally ran into the guy's leg.
"We were thinking…" The guy said, "Do you guys want nicknames?"
Both pokemon thought what a coincidence this was, glanced at each other, then nodded very enthusiastically.
"OK." Said the girl. Picking up Eevee, she said, "I think I'll name you Erika."
"And you," the guy said, "will be Johnny."
The two pokemon, being the immature happy-go-lucky young things they were, immediately began talking to each other at the same time.
"Hi Erika!" Johnny said.
"Hi Johnny!" Erika also said.
They then continued their game of tag, Erika jumping out of the girl's arms. Eventually, their trainers stopped again, right next to a building. Johnny felt a tug on him, and saw Erika get enveloped in red light before disappearing. Then he saw red light envelop him, and he felt the tug again before finding himself in a model of the playroom he, Erika, and the other lab pokemon used to play in. Feeling confused, he ran towards where the door to the room had been only to find it wasn't there. "Where am I?" he asked out loud.
He hadn't really expected anyone or anything to react to that, but suddenly he saw small little things that looked like what the humans called "letters" appearing on the wall in front of him. He had picked up how to read as a kit (he was a little bit older than a kit), and now he had finally found a use for it. He watched the "letters" forming on the wall, seeming out of nowhere. When they were done, he read aloud the word they had spelled. "Pahkeeball?"
The "letters" shook at this and spelled it differently, some of them switching out, and a few adding in. This time he read it as "Pokeball?" The "letters" seemed to nod at him changing around again and spelling "Yes." He had figured out by now that the "letters" weren't really letters, but in fact probably some form of pokemon. So he asked them, "What are you?"
The "letters" spelled "Unown."
"Unknown? How can you not know what you are?" Johnny asked.
The "letters" shook again and a space formed between the N and the O.
"Un own?" Johnny asked.
The Unown formed the word "Yes" again.
"Can you spell more than one word at a time?" he asked them.
"OF COURSE WE CAN!" The Unown all yelled out loud at him.
Johnny jumped back a bit and blurted "YOU CAN TALK?!"
"Yes" was the word formed again.
"Why are you here?"
"We'll tell you later. Right now, you've gotta go." They quickly spelled. Johnny didn't have time to wonder what they meant, or to ask why they didn't just straight out talk to him, as before he could ask them what they meant he found himself back where he had been before he got sucked into the "Pokeball".
§§§
Meanwhile, Erika was still in her pokeball. She had ended up in the fake playroom as well, but she seemed content to play with the toys until suddenly a feather landed on her nose. She shook it off, and began playing with a ball again. Then another feather landed on her nose. She shook it off again. This happened again. And again. And again. And it ended up happening about twenty times before a large, dragon-bird-like-thing landed on the ground in front of her and said "Jeez, how many feathers does a girl have to drop on you before you look up and see the Latias over your head?"
Erika stared at the new pokemon for a moment before she innocently asked "What's a Latias?"
The "Latias" shook it's head and muttered "Jeez, what are they teaching the kids these days? Only legendary they ever hear about is Mew." It ruffled its wings a little bit before saying in a somewhat regal voice "A Latias is one of the legendary pokemon, such as Mew. It is one of a kind, and I am that Latias. Latias is commonly associated with Latios, as they are siblings, and together they are known as Latiats. Latias and Latios are also known for being assigned to watch over certain pokemon with a great role to play in the future when their role is discovered at a young age."
"That was a long speech. Did you memorize, or come up with it on the spot?" Erika asked.
"I've memorized it because of all the times I've had to say it over the thousands of years of me and Latios' existence." Latias replied. "But getting back to business, I'm here to tell you that you are a special pokemon and all that kind of crap. And that Latios and I have been assigned to watch over you by that arrogant little arsehole named Celebi."
"Celebi? Who's that?" Erika asked.
Latias glanced at its right arm really quick, as if there was something there. "Sorry, I'd tell you if there was time, but you've gotta go. See ya later!" Latias said hurriedly as it disappeared in fluff of feathers, many of which landed right on the poor Eevee who found herself standing outside next to Johnny on a street corner moments later, feathers still stuck on her.
§§§
Jessica stared at her Eevee. "Erika, how the hell did you get feathers on you when you were in your pokeball?" She asked as she knelt down and began plucking feathers off of Erika. Strangely, the feathers, which had seemed to be white and red at first, turned transparent when they caught the light. Of course, although she noticed, Jessica didn't really care about the feathers. She just wanted them off of Erika so that she could make Erika look presentable to her parents. Eventually, all the feathers were off and Jessica stood up.
"Come on, Erika. We gotta get home and show you off to my parents."
Erika looked up at Jessica strangely. It seemed like it missed Johnny.
"Don't worry girl, we'll see Johnny and Jack tonight." Jessica said to cheer Erika up. They walked off towards Jessica's house, and showed Erika to Jessica's parents. As Jessica had expected, her parents fell absolutely in love with Erika at first sight. She was just so pretty that the middle-aged couple couldn't help but comment on how "cute" she was. Which of course made Erika slightly mad. This is going to be a long day, she thought as she resigned herself to the boring game of "Figure out why the legendary pokemon is supposed to watch over you."
§§§
Jack walked home with Johnny by his side. Of course, Neither one of them had any idea what had made Jack tell Jessica that he wanted to meet her at the cliffs on the outskirts of town tonight. He just knew he had said it for an important reason. Whatever the reason though, he didn't really care at the moment.
At the moment, he was just focusing on getting home without losing Johnny, who had a tendency to stop and smell random things when he wasn't preoccupied with something else. By the time they got home, Johnny had stopped to smell the following: A fire hydrant, an old lady, three mailboxes in a row, an old man, another old lady, a bush, a Cheri tree, five Oran trees (one of the rich people in town had planted all sorts of berry trees outside their gate), a bar, and a crack in the sidewalk. Why he had stopped to smell the crack was beyond Jack, but that was what Johnny had spent the most time smelling.
In any case, he got home to find that his parents were both already home from work, and expecting him. They fussed over him and all his "newfound responsibility as a trainer" and stuff like that, as well as Johnny to a somewhat lesser extent. Their main worry with Johnny was that he looked like he "wasn't all there", his "mind was in a different place", whatever words you wanna use to say that Johnny was staring off into the distance the whole time. Eventually, Jack just put Johnny in his pokeball and went up to his room, turned on the stereo, and blasted loud rock music so his parents wouldn't come in and bother him any further.
§§§
Johnny had been thinking over what he saw in the crack in the sidewalk. It had looked like the Unown were in it, and trying to spell something at him but he couldn't tell what. The only word he had been able to make out was "tonight". Needless to say, that made him start thinking something along the lines of "What the hell is going to be going on tonight?"
In fact, that's exactly what he had said as soon as he was put into his pokeball. A few seconds later, the Unown appeared again. Only this time, they were much bigger, and not on the wall. They were floating in a little sphere of Unown. Nothing was being spelled, the Unown were just there in a little sphere for a while. Then they began to spin. Not individual Unown spinning, the whole sphere was spinning. It spun faster and faster and faster until eventually you couldn't see into the center of the sphere. And then it just stopped. It just stopped for no apparent reason.
Until Johnny noticed there was another pokemon in the sphere now. Not an Unown, because the Unown were smaller than Johnny, and this new pokemon was over twice Johnny's size. "Hello, Johnny. It's nice to see you at last. I'm sure you were made aware that I would be visiting you tonight?" It said as it stepped out of the sphere.
Johnny shook his head. "I wasn't told anything about anyone coming tonight. I was told something about tonight, but I couldn't tell what something was because the Unown refused to talk out loud to me."
The new pokemon turned around and glared at the Unown. "You spoke aloud to him?!"
There was a scattering of Unown spelling the words "Yes, Sir" and "Sorry, Entei" all around the sphere.
"I'll discipline you later." The pokemon said to the Unown before turning back to Johnny. "But in any case, I'm sure by now you've inferred from the Unown that my name is Entei. In case you have no idea why that should mean anything to you, and one of the Latiats told me it probably wouldn't, I am one of the legendary pokemon. One of the legendary dogs to be specific. I am known for being the legendary dog of fire, and also for having some control of the Unown. And more recently, I have been known for being assigned parallel jobs as the Latiats because of a small screw up I made in Johto. Celebi really needs to take into consideration that it was mostly the girl's fault, but in any case I have been assigned to watch over you because you have some sort of important role to play in the future."
Johnny just stared. "You memorize that, or did you just come up with it off of the top of your head?"
Chapter Five-
The Entei shook its head at Johnny. "No, I'm new to this, so I just came up with it five minutes ago. There's actually some Unown behind you who were writing it out for me." It laughed. On a more serious note, it added "But anyways, do you have any questions before I have to go back to watching your back for you from a distance?"
Johnny stared. "Wait, you're serious, you have to watch over me?"
"Yes, and I'm probably going to hate every minute of it." Entei replied.
"Why?" Johnny asked, somewhat stunned that he would need watching over.
"Well, watching you newbies isn't something most of us legendaries like doing, but – Oh! You were asking why I have to watch over you!" Entei shook himself a bit before going back to his noble demeanor. "Let's see, there's the fact that that asshat Celebi threatened to drop me in a time warp if I didn't."
Johnny was amused by a legendary using curse words so freely, especially while maintaining such a stance. "No, I meant why would I need watching over." He said as he choked back a laugh.
"Oh, that's simple. Like I said, you have an important role to play in the future. Unfortunately, no one wants to tell anyone what it is, so even I don't know." Entei replied quickly. "Now if that's all, I'll leave you to think about all this for a few hours before your trainer is supposed to be letting you out of your pokeball."
"I think that's it, but one more question. How do you know when my trainer is supposed to be letting me out?"
"Celebi can tell the future. It's a time traveler, hence the whole dropping me into a time warp thing." Entei said as he went back into the sphere of Unown and disappeared.
Well I can tell this is going to be fun. Johnny thought sarcastically.
§§§
A few hours later, Erika and Jessica left Jessica's house and started heading out towards the cliffs, where Jack had said to meet him and Johnny. Erika was still a little preoccupied with the little game she had been playing earlier, but she was more focused now on finding out as much about her trainer as possible. One of the first things she had learned was that her trainer's name was Jessica, and she was 'going out' with Johnny's trainer, Jack. She had no idea what 'going out' was, but apparently Jessica's parents didn't do it anymore, so she assumed it led up to mating somehow.
Their walk took them through most of the city, which she had learned was called 'Cinnabar', and eventually back out of it on the other side. On the other side, Erika found that the terrain was much more rugged and much more grassy. They kept walking until the came to a bunch of cliffs that had a fence on the top. Apparently, there was some sort of path up there, because a lot of people were coming down along the fence from the mountain the cliffs were part of.
In any case, Jack and Johnny soon came along. Johnny seemed to be concerned about something, which was out of the ordinary for him. "What's up?" Erika asked innocently.
Johnny just shook his head and stood next to Jack, thinking about whatever it was that had him so concerned.
Since she wasn't getting an answer out of him, and he certainly didn't seem to be in the mood to play, Erika just sat down next to Jessica and eavesdropped on the humans' conversation. They seemed to be discussing things they had done together in the past. After mentioning one memory that both humans seemed to be particularly fond of, Jessica leaned on Jack, and Jack began leaning on a part of the cliff. Strangely, there was a barely audible clicking sound when Jack hit the cliff. No one but Erika and Jack seemed to notice it.
Jack's reaction to the clicking sound was really strange though. Instead of a questioning look on his face, it was a vacant expression. Jessica had been talking when the click happened, so at first she didn't notice the difference in Jack. But when she stopped and he was silent, she knew something was wrong. She gazed up at Jack and asked him "What?"
§§§
Jessica wasn't hearing any response from Jack. He was holding her a little tighter than she would have expected him to, but that didn't seem to concern her. Suddenly, she heard a voice from the cliff say "IMCD." It was almost as if she had just heard someone who was in the cliff, and she had just heard the end of a sentence. Then, the cliff right next to them seemed to open up, like a door, and someone in a red uniform of some sort stepped out, carrying a gun-like device.
"Jack, what's going on? Who is that?" She whispered to him urgently.
No response from Jack. Instead, the man who had walked out said, "So the DMCD worked after all. And you brought a little friend with you, didn't you Jack?"
Finally, Jack moved. But it wasn't at all what Jessica had expected him to do. He nodded, and asked the man, "Want me to hold her for you while you inject it?" His voice was so emotionless, it was as if he wasn't in control of himself anymore, but it was actually someone else.
The man in red nodded and Jack gripped her even more tightly with one arm while he held her head with the other. The man moved the point of the gun so it was aimed straight down from Jessica's brain. He pushed it down as hard as he could, and pulled the trigger. Just as the fluid got injected into her head, Jessica figured out what DMCD and IMCD meant. "Mind control…." She whispered as she went limp. The last sounds she heard before the Instant Mind Control Device took its full effect were those of Johnny barking loudly and Erika growling.
§§§
Johnny had stopped thinking about why he would need watching over when the cliff opened up. By the time he figured out what was going on, it was too late to do much more than bark at the man in red. Something was wrong with his trainer, and Johnny had a feeling that the man in red had something to do with it. His barking ceased when he got sucked into his pokeball by Jack, and when he saw the same happening to Erika, whose trainer had gone to the state of mind Jack seemed to be in a few seconds after she went limp. As he went into the pokeball, he heard the words "Quiet, mutt!" being shouted at him.
After a few more seconds of useless barking, Johnny turned around to see Entei standing there in front of his sphere of Unown. "What do you want?!" Johnny screamed at him.
Entei's calm demeanor vanished so fast that Johnny's anger was turned into fear quicker than he could say his own name. "If you want to be told anything about what just happened, you will change your tone to something more respectful." Entei said in a dangerous sounding voice that seemed to echo even in the small space of the pokeball.
Johnny quietly whimpered out the words "I'm sorry."
"You better be." Entei said as he took on his normal voice again. "Now, first thing's first. What do you think just happened out there?"
Johnny shrugged. "Something's wrong with me and Erika's trainers. The man in red caused it."
Entei nodded. "That is true, that is true, but can you be any more specific?"
Johnny shrugged again. "I doubt it. Why do you need to know what I thought anyway? Don't you already know?"
Entei rolled his eyes. "So I know what I do an don't have to explain to you. It's a proven fact that young pokemon like yourself despise being told things they already know, and it'll just make my job that much harder if you hate me."
"So what really happened?" Johnny asked as he began to comprehend what Entei meant.
"Well, let's start from the beginning, shall we?" Entei began, "About six years ago, your trainer was walking home from school one day when he happened to go through an alley that a member of Team Aqua was terrorizing a member of Team Magma in. Jack, being the innocent child he was at the time, tried to stop the fight. It didn't work, but instead it dragged him into it, possibly for the rest of his life. He was given the Magma member's pokemon to battle with, as the Magma member had already been brought to a point where battling would be impossible, and he beat the Aqua member. You got that so far?"
Johnny nodded, and then asked "But what are Team Aqua and Team Magma?"
Entei sighed and muttered something about ignorant kits before saying "They are criminal organizations, similar to Team Rocket. Magma members tend to use fire-type pokemon, and Aqua members use water-types. But continuing with our story, after Jack won, some other members of Team Magma showed up, including an Admin. The grunts chased after the Aqua member, who had run away, and the Admin stayed with Jack and the wounded Magma. The wounded one told the Admin what had happened, and then the Admin decided that Jack would be a valuable asset as a Team Magma member in the future. They brought Jack to their base, which is where we are now, and used a DMCD on him. A DMCD is a Delayed Mind Control Device. The DMCD began taking effect earlier today, and took full effect just now. Erika's trainer had an IMCD used on her. Same thing, only instant instead of delayed. Understand?"
Johnny nodded and took notice of the fact that Entei was now breathing heavily after saying all of that in one breath. "But if we're in their base right now, where are they?" he asked.
Entei rolled his eyes. "We're in your pokeball, which is currently on your trainer's pokeball belt, which is being worn by your trainer, who happens to be in the base. If you were to be let out right now you would definitely see the Magma members."
Johnny finally understood it. "So, why would they take Erika's trainer?"
The legendary pokemon shook his head and said "Don't you get it? It's their way of recruiting members. There's an antidote to the DMCD and the IMCD they use in case the people the recruited either won't resist them or are too weak for them to use."
"So how can we get this antidote? That's what me and Erika are supposed to do now, right?"
"No. You're supposed to stay with your trainers and do as they ask for now. Eventually I'll come back and tell you what you're supposed to do. Erika will be doing the same, but she'll be waiting on the Latiats. Erika and you might get different assignments from us too, so don't expect she'll know what you're supposed to be doing." Entei replied patiently. Which was really strange for him. If Johnny didn't know better, he'd say that he was starting to rub off on the ancient pokemon. Instead, he asked one more question.
"Before you go, who are the Latiats?"
"The Latiats are the two legendary pokemon watching over Erika. You'll meet them some day, if you and Erika live long enough." Entei said as he jumped into the sphere of Unown and they all disappeared again.
Chapter Six-
Erika paced angrily in her pokeball. She had heard Jessica say 'mind control', and she didn't like the idea of her trainer possibly being under mind control one bit. Just as she was about to Tackle one of the pillows that were somehow in her pokeball, she was suddenly jerked out of the pokeball and went flying into a flying blue creature. A Zubat, if she remembered her lessons on other pokemon correctly. "What the heck?!" She cried as she landed on a rock floor, barely managing to keep her balance. Just as she was getting ready to turn around and examine her surroundings, there was a loud screeching sound and suddenly she got very dizzy. And although the sound seemed to be gone on the outside, it echoed in her head like a pulse, making her more and more dizzy each time.
"Oh. A Supersonic. No problem. Erika, use Tackle on the Zubat." An emotionless female voice said. Turning against the dizziness, Erika saw a fuzzy outline of someone who might be Jessica giving her the order. Not as if Erika thought she could actually use Tackle on the Zubat. Not only could it fly, but Erika was as dizzy as if she was drunk. Still, she turned around and looked for the fuzzy outline of a bat. As she stumbled around in a circle looking for it, she suddenly felt fangs biting into her side, and she was pushed to the floor.
"Fuck you!" She screamed at the Zubat, careless of her own cursing. The Leech Life had snapped her out of her dizziness, and now she pulled away from the fangs and Tackled the Zubat. Then she turned around and did it again. And again. She would have done it some more, but the Zubat was barely moving and a pokeball had just been thrown at it. She backed off as the ball began wiggling.
Taking the time the Zubat was in a pokeball to examine her surroundings; she found they were on a sort of rock path across a lake of magma. She then spotted the man who had put Jessica under mind control. He was standing next to Jessica and Jack, casually talking with them. Erika smirked evilly and then ran over and Tackled the man as hard as she could. When he fell she turned around and wiggled her tail at him tauntingly and then Tackled him again. This time he picked her up and threw her at Jessica.
"Deal with your pokemon, grunt!" The man yelled. Just then the pokeball the Zubat was in dinged. And then the ground began to shake. Jessica picked up Erika and stood there. The man looked around the room and saw a portion of the magma bubbling. Erika saw it too. She jumped out of Jessica's arms and ran for the doorway across the room. The man followed right behind, shouting "What are you thinking?! Run for your lives!"
Jessica and Jack immediately sprinted to the doorway and as far down the hallway as they could, Erika and the man following close behind. A door closed behind them as the reached the next door, and as the door in their way opened, they ran up a staircase. The room the came out in had a window facing down on the room they had just run out of. They all gazed out the window, and watched as a huge pokemon emerged from the magma. There was a murmur of the word 'Groudon' from the humans, and Erika gazed even more intently. Maybe this pokemon was important. The huge pokemon roared, and it swiped its arms across the floor they had been standing on. The pokeball Jessica had left on the floor that contained the Zubat went flying through the air and broke through the window as the pokemon below continued to rampage.
"We've had him here for years, but we still can't control him, you see." The man said quietly. Everyone still stared. Suddenly there was blur that went right past the rampaging pokemon that came from the entrance to the base. As the blur continued through the room at its extreme speed, it went above the window. Then there came a blue beam, straight towards Groudon. It hit the giant pokemon, and the beast fell back into the lava, sinking slowly. Erika heard a voice in her head.
"You got lucky this time. We'll try and get him out of here soon, but until we do be very quiet down in that room, and don't stay there for long." The voice sounded like Latias', but it was more masculine. "Latios?," Erika wondered as the blur went right out the way it had come. In answer to her thought, she got a very affirmative feeling sent to her.
Chapter Seven-
§§§
Jessica was vaguely aware of what was happening while she was under mind control. The first thing she was entirely sure of was that the lecture she had been receiving was about Team Magma, its goals, and how 'evil' Team Aqua was. The second thing she was sure of was that after the lecture they had walked into a chamber with one large rock platform surrounded by boiling lava. This chamber had apparently had a Zubat in it, and she vaguely thought she had captured it. Again, everything was pretty vague. The next thing she was sure of was the least vague thing. Groudon had waken up while in the lava in the chamber. The chamber had begun to shake and everyone had run out of it into the room looking down on it. And then Groudon had gotten out of the lava and thrown a fit for a while before [isomething[/i, a blur of some sort, had shot what looked like an ice beam at it and Groudon had fainted and fallen into the lava again. And then you got to where she was now.
Where she was now, was some sort of briefing room. And she was lucid, for the moment. Erika was sitting in her lap and glaring at the man who appeared to be the boss. The Zubat's pokeball was sitting on the table. At least, she thought it was the Zubat's. For all she knew it was some other pokemon that the boss had put there. The boss was sitting down and doing some paperwork of some sort, and Jack was sitting next to her staring at the boss. Jack was decidedly not lucid. After a while the boss spoke up:
"Well, I'm glad to see we finally have some test subjects for our mind control." (Erika growled at the words 'mind control'.) "So now we need to get you two some uniforms." The boss pushed the paperwork towards Jack and Jessica. "Please fill out your sizes on these forms as we go to the storage room. But not yet. For now, I have an assignment for you two."
Jack immediately took his paperwork and asked, "What's the assignment?" Jessica glanced at him without turning her head before realizing there was no reason to think he was lucid. His voice was still that monotone voice. She didn't say anything, for fear that her voice would give away the fact that she was lucid. She would almost certainly die if they found out that the IMC wasn't working.
The boss began talking again, but for some reason Jessica wasn't able to hear him. The mind control was coming back. Her hand picked up the paperwork for herself, but she hadn't told it to do so. Panicking, Jessica desperately tried to regain control over [isomething[/i. And then she felt it. The presence of the mind control. She could feel it in her mind, blocking out any attempt of hers to actually use her body, and using her body itself. She felt it, but could do nothing about it. She might as well have run circles around a locked safe to get at the money inside. There was no way to move it out of the way. Not yet, at least.
§§§
'Jack' paid attention while the boss explained to him that they were to go to Saffron City to help set up Team Magma there as well. Both Magma and Aqua already had a hold on Cinnabar and Fuchsia. Celadon was already Magma's, so Saffron was logically the next choice. They could've gone straight through Vermillion, but Team Rocket had apparently refused to let Team Magma go there. Apparently they were busy with the city. They were apparently busy with a similar situation in Lavender as well, so that small town was off-limits entirely to Team Magma as well.
"But why don't we just take those places anyway?" 'Jack' asked, "It's not like we have an alliance or something with Team Rocket, do we?"
The boss smirked. "In fact, we do have an alliance with them. We have more people than them, so we let them borrow some of us from time to time in exchange for us being able to use some of their territory. Celadon isn't ours alone; Team Rocket still has a stake in the City. Same thing with Saffron. The only reason we're doing so well compared to Aqua here and in Fuchsia is because Rocket is helping us take them down. So, are you rea¾"
Suddenly Erika jumped out of Jessica's lap and tackled the boss again. And then she was on his face and biting his head off. 'Jack' sent out Johnny and told him to stop Erika, who was now growling like a maniac as she tore at the boss' nose.
§§§
Johnny came out of the pokeball at Jack's request and tried to calm Erika down. Erika was on a man's face and trying to take his nose off. Great. He bit down on her tail and tired to drag her off of the man, but she wouldn't have it. She screamed "No! Let me go, the bastard put our trainers under mind control! I want to make him pay! I want to make the asshole give us the fucking antidote! FUCKING SHITHEADED MAGMA ASSHOLE!"
Johnny sighed through his closed teeth and pulled her off and onto the floor. Then he let go and said, "Look, we've got to behave. Don't fight against them yet, the Latiats will let you know when it's all right."
Erika was staring at him. "How do you know about the Latiats? And how do you know they talk with me?"
"I heard it from someone. Just, look, be nice to the guy. Don't try to kill him just yet. We'll get the antidote eventually, but for now we need to work for Asshole and The Brainwashed Trainers. Otherwise, I get the feeling that we'll get just as brainwashed as our trainers are."
Erika looked at the ground. "Well maybe they aren't as brainwashed as we think. Jessica was herself again for a few minutes there. And then she faded away again. That's why I attacked. They were taunting her with freedom, but really she was still unable to escape, and she was still going to be under mind control by the end of the day." She began walking away. Johnny thought he heard her crying.
"Hey, it's gonna be all right. We're going to free them. And trust me, Jessica is still fighting the mind control with all her might. And I think Jack is too…."
§§§
Jack, the real Jack, was perfectly aware of what was going on. It wasn't vague or anything. He just didn't have any control over it. Asshat, as he had come to think of the boss, had regained his composure after the attack, and after he made sure that he would be all right, Asshat said "As I was saying, are you ready?"
Silence from Jack, as if he was considering the question. What was really going on was Jack trying to conceal the fact that his parents expected him and Jessica to be leaving on their journey with their pokemon tomorrow anyway. Still, he knew he couldn't fight off the mind control just yet. After a minute or so he couldn't keep it from coming out. "Our parents were expecting us to leave on our journeys tomorrow anyway. It shouldn't be a problem to get on a ship to Fuchsia tomorrow."
Jack was focused on his peripheral vision. He had known that Jessica had been free from the mind control for a while, but now it was back. He saw her nod. Asshat nodded as well. "Then it's settled. I'll meet you at the docks tomorrow with your tickets and your uniforms. Now come, we need to go and get you fitted for uniforms."
Asshat got up from the table and went out the door, beckoning for Jack and Jessica to follow him. Jack and Jessica got up, Jessica picking up Zubat's pokeball, and then Jessica, Erika, Jack, and Johnny all left the room, following Asshat.
Chapter Eight-
Johnny woke up the next morning when 'Jack' kicked him off the bed. AKA: Three hours before 'Jack' woke up. He decided to stay awake for a while and found his way downstairs to the kitchen. After a bit of sniffing, he found the cabinet where they kept the berries. It was closed, and its door handle was too high for him to reach. He began to jump to try and get it open, but that wasn't working too well either. He sighed and sat down on the ground staring around the room for a way to get the berries. Then he saw a tree outside the window. A berry tree, with berries on its vines. His eyes lit up and he struggled to get the door open.After a couple minutes he got it open. He ran outside and found a vine that was low enough for him to grab. Problem number one: No berries that low on the vine. Problem number two: Johnny felt a burp coming, and burps meant fire breath these days. Well, minor fire breath. Enough to set some things on fire. Then it hit him. Send a fireball at the vine. So instead of just burping, Johnny prepared a fireball. The logistics of how he made fireballs were beyond him. He just did it. And when it hit the vine, the vine burned off and fell to the ground.
At last, berries! Johnny rushed to the first ripe red berry and bit it off of the vine. As soon as he started to chew, his mouth began to burn. It burned worse than a Mewdamned fireball stuck in his mouth, Mewdamnnit! He hastened to swallow it and immediately began looking around the backyard for water. He saw some in a fountain and ran towards it, but he couldn't make it. Something made him stop. And then the burp came out, along with a much larger stream of fire than Johnny could have ever expected to come from him before.
Out of breath, Johnny collapsed on the floor only to see Entei's paw in front of his face. "And I wonder why they don't let me have Cheris…." The legend muttered more to himself than to Johnny.
"Is that what they're called?" Johnny asked, his mouth still burning a little from the berry.
"Yes. And they make fire pokemon breath a hell of a lot of fire. Especially the younger ones who are only just learning how to breathe fire. Why that works the way it does is something some of the normal human scientists have been studying. But that doesn't matter. What does matter, is that you're leaving Cinnabar today. And since you are, I have some things for you to smuggle over to Fuchsia City." Entei said quite calmly.
"Smuggling?" Johnny asked, not quite sure why he would have to smuggle anything.
"Various things the other legendaries won't let me take with me to Fuchsia, various things you'll need, various things I'll need, and something your trainer will be surprised to see and will eventually use on you to make you more powerful." Entei said as an Unown sphere was suddenly appearing and spinning. Seconds later, a small bag of things stood on the grass. Entei somehow managed to get the bag open and the following things came out: some small bags of white powder, a leather pouch that seemed to contain some sort of stone, a vine of Cheri berries, some bags full of some sort of herb, a pair of stoppered plastic vials containing some sort of green liquid, and an envelope that apparently contained a letter to Jack.
"Why should I smuggle things for you if the other legendaries don't want you to bring them?" Johnny asked, raising an eyebrow. The fact that the other legendaries didn't want Entei to take something with him meant that obviously the legendary dog was hiding something from him. Something bad. Or at least embarrassing. Either way, he was determined to find out.
"That's none of your business. But either you do it, or Jack will most likely never get the mind control taken off. Because if I don't get what I want, I wont be able to help you. It's that simple, and the reasons for it are beyond something I should tell one so young as you." Entei replied, his face suddenly turning very angry. It was surprising that he hadn't yelled.
"Jeez, defensive much?" Johnny muttered to himself, deciding now wasn't the time to get the information. "How exactly were you planning on having me smuggle the things?" He asked, getting back to the matter at hand.
"I'll put them back in the bag. Your job is to get them into Jack's luggage without Jack noticing them until after he's on the boat." Entei said quite clearly, the anger fading from his face. Whatever he was hiding was obviously a big deal.
Johnny sighed and nodded his head. If it got Jack back to normal, it was worth smuggling some things for Entei….
§§§
Meanwhile, Erika barely got any sleep. Jessica had apparently decided to let the Zubat out of its pokeball while she slept, and while Jessica's mind-controlled self could fall asleep with the incessant shrieking from the Zubat, Erika couldn't. She sighed. The stupid thing kept screaming about being taken out of its home and forced to live with them. Not to mention that it also liked trying to attack Erika.
After the third time Erika had just gotten to sleep and Zubat bit her and used Leech Life, she decided that sleep was out of the question. "Would you shut up and stop biting me?! I'm sorry you were captured, but there's nothing we can do about it now, is there?" She asked it.
The Zubat turned to face her. If it weren't for the fact that she knew Zubats were blind, Erika would have said it was staring at her. "You're the one who battled me. You could've refused to fight." It said menacingly, its voice cold and reminiscent of Dracula ((Well, it would have been had Erika ever read Dracula. But seeing as how she most likely hadn't at the time, I only use the description for the readers. In all probability Erika has no idea what a vampire is.)).
"You attacked my trainer. What was I supposed to do, let her die?" Erika countered angrily. She had various moods that she had names for, and at the moment she was entering 'Bitch-Mode'. While not as bad as 'Berserk-Mode', it was a very dangerous mood to be speaking to her in.
"Your trainer and her friends were invading my home. My clan and I were fed up with people invading our home. So I attacked. Your fault for being there." Zubat replied calmly. Well, as calmly as a Zubat could. Zubats in general always seemed to be shrieking about one thing or another when they talked, even if they were telling someone that they loved them.
"Oh, 'your clan'. Puhleeze. If they were tired of their home being invaded then they would have moved or attacked already." Erika said, rolling her eyes.
"Who's to say they didn't attack? What if we tried to attack and were too outnumbered to face all of the human clan at once? What if ambush was the only way we could safely retaliate?" Said the Zubat.
"Whatever. It doesn't matter now; we're stuck with each other. So how about we just tell each other our names and go to sleep without attacking each other?" She asked.
"Sleep? At night? How many drunk Rattatas have you been sucking blood from lately?" Zubat asked.
"Oh, right, Zubats sleep at night in the wild. Well now that you've been caught, you're going to have to obey Jessica's orders and sleep at night like me. Otherwise things are going to go from bad to worse for you." Erika said, now out of Bitch-Mode and simply in Annoyed-and-Sleep-Deprived-Mode.
Zubat frowned. "We shall see about the sleeping. But as for my name, I am Sheedormo and I won't attack you while you sleep if you promise not to attack me anymore. You can call me Shee for short."
"And I'm Erika, and I won't attack you. Now, I'm going to try and catch some sleep before we have to get on the boat tomorrow." Erika replied before curling up and going to sleep.
§§§
An hour later, Johnny had snuck the bag into Jack's luggage, and gotten Entei to help him get some normal berries to eat for a snack. Zubat had just settled down to sleep for the day. And Jack and Jessica's alarm clocks went off at the exact same time. The two traveling, mind-controlled, Team Magma rookies woke up, ate breakfast and gave their pokemon breakfast, and met up at the docks with Asshat before their boat to Fuchsia left. The got on with the rest of the passengers, and the boat left.
AN: Well, there's the first eight chapters. Sorry if it was a little long for you, but what can I say? Please review!
- Ikaru Kakou