Chapter 1
Enter the Game
Shane poked his head out of the cave and looked around hesitantly. Nothing immediately visible. Taking the risk, he full-on sprinted toward the bushes on the other side of the dirt road. He made it without incident, thankfully, and began searching the nearby area for anything dangerous. So far, nothing. He turned around and signaled for his friends to follow him. They came out, one at a time, until all four of them were hidden safely in the bushes. He counted them out. A Geodude, a Joltik, a Shedinja, and a Klink, which made four, not including himself (an Aron). He knew for a fact that the Joltik, Annie, was close to evolving, but he wasn't sure about the other two. Jason, the Shedinja, was already max evolution, so he didn't have any more big surprises in store for them. And himself? He would have to wait a while. But it would all be worth it.
They started their daily routine as soon as everyone was accounted for. They began foraging around for anything useful, be it berries, hold items, TMs, etc. This session's yield: several junk items (nobody uses Status Orbs), two evolution stones (they would fetch a good trade price), and a few Leppa berries that someone had dropped on the ground. Altogether, not a bad find. At least the Status Orbs could be traded for equivalent berries. They decided unanimously to move to another area and expand their search. As Shane scouted ahead, he found a berry bush. He immediately recognized it as Sitrus, but he didn't know how many berries had grown on it. He decided to harvest it and wait for his friends to catch up.
When everyone had caught up to Shane, he was just sitting and staring, looking shocked and dumbfounded. "Guys?" He whispered.
"Yes, what is it?" Audrey, the Klink, asked.
"We have eighteen Sitrus berries." Now it was everyone else's turn to stare.
"You're kidding!" Was Annie's only reaction.
"Nope. And I really think we should split them up."
After splitting them as evenly as possible (and planting one), they returned to their journey.
"I'LL be taking those!" Crap.
Something just crashed in front of them, blocking their path. That "something" was a Metagross. Figures.
Shane got an idea. Stepping in front of everyone, he quite literally spat in the Metagross' face. He then proceeded to challenge him to a fight for their berries (and his friends' lives). Metagross accepted, then launched itself into the air, not giving them a second to react. It's using its weight as a weapon! Shane realized. Still, he held his ground. He had a few tricks up his sleeves.
Metagross landed on him. Hard. Hard enough make a Metagross-shaped crater in the ground. Not a sound emanated from beneath the metal giant. It waited for about ten seconds. It then noticed something horrifying: Its HP dropped to 1. How? It was the attacker!
Joltik used Thief!
Metagross stood up in shock, then fell onto its back. It had fainted. And, out of the crater it had left earlier, the small form of an Aron struggled out. After helping him out, everyone was asking him questions of how he managed to pull the win off, as none of the others attacked Metagross before its health dropped. He replied "Endeavor," before falling onto the ground in exhaustion. James, the Geodude, turned him over onto his back, stuffed a Sitrus berry into his mouth, and forced him to chew. After the force-feeding, he asked how Shane survived the body slam, that kind of crushing power could have squashed just about anything, let alone a Level 20 Aron. Shane's response made everyone fall onto their rear ends with laughter (except Shedinja): "We both have Sturdy, idiot!" The aforementioned Shedinja only stared and muttered "What I wouldn't give for Skill Swap." Continuing on their path, they found a good spot to stop. Time to call it quits.
One by one, they logged off, until Shane was the last one left. Surveying his environment, he memorized it and vowed that tomorrow, he would conquer any challenge it had to offer. And with that, he disappeared, returning to his reality, where there was dinner to be had and a family to spend time with.
