Truth and Rumers
By Arina
babylofty@excite.com
Date completed: May 6, 2001
Dear Readers,
As the author, I feel it would be unjust of me to thrust upon you my shortest and worst Pokemon fanfic to date. I therefore I have scrapped the latest installment of Arina's Pokemon Fanfic Journey - Chapter 3 of Book IV - Rumer Has It. It's an absolutely unnecessary part of the plot and a total waste of what little time and effort was spent on it. In short, it details Arina's (uneventful) journey to Cerulean City, and winning the Cascade Badge from her three aunts. Whee, how exciting. :)
Anyway, I'm moving on to the next story, simply for the reason mentioned above. Enjoy.
~ Arina, Pokemon Trainer
* * * *
Dear Mom and Dad,
Having lots of fun on the road as a Pokemon trainer. All my Pokemon are pretty good and I'm fine. I won the Cascade Badge from Aunties Lily, Daisy, and Violet, which was a tough battle! You were right, the leaders do get tougher as you go!
Hope all is well at home. Will email or call when I get to Vermillion City.
Much Love,
Arina
I sighed as I flipped over the postcard I'd been writing on. On the front was a picture of my Mom's hometown, Cerulean City. It had almost been a month since I'd left home on my Pokemon journey. Everything (for the most part) had been going pretty smoothly, if you didn't count me running away from home and scaring my parents halfway to their graves.
But half of what I had just told my parents was a lie. I was not fine and neither were all my Pokemon. My Squirtle had been kidnapped (Poke-napped?) by a lunatic before I reached Cerulean City and as a result, my training had suffered due to my depression over failing to protect my Pokemon one hundred percent.
"I'm going to bed guys. 'Night." I said softly. My Pokemon called out return greetings as I slipped the postcard into my backpack and crawled into my sleeping bag.
No matter how hard I tried not to, my thoughts kept returning to Squirtle. Although there was nothing I could do about it now, I still felt terrible, even though it was never my fault Squirtle left. It was all Rumers'. My aunts, Lily, Daisy, and Violet, consoled me and revealed I hadn't been the first to be robbed by her. She'd taken dozens of other Pokemon and set them free in her zealous quest to prove that pokemon training was wrong. My aunts, in an attempt to cheer me up, even offered me a water Pokemon from the Gym, but I politely refused. Another pokemon couldn't make me feel better. I wanted Squirtle, not because it was one I had captured, but one I had won over after Rumer had set it free. I swore that if I ever met up with Rumer again, I'd make her pay. Vengeance didn't make me feel better, and on top of that, I felt like I was the worst trainer in the world for letting Rumer get away with the crime. Why hadn't I been more alert? Stayed up that night to protect my Pokemon? I started to cry for myself, and the pokemon I had lost, until I heard a soft "Ratta?"
I rolled over. Rattata was sitting next to my sleeping bag, with a placid expression. "Oh, Rattata, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"Rattata-Rat-atat-Ratta Ratta-Rat-tatta-tatta-Rattata. Rattata-ratta- rattata-rat." (We know you miss Squirtle very much. But at least you still have us.)
I smiled through my tears, and motioned Rattata to lie down by me, and I stroked its fur until we both fell asleep.
* * * *
The next morning, the fog was thicker than pea soup and it was difficult to see even five feet in front of me. I recalled all my Pokemon to their Pokeballs, except Rattata. Rattata's sense of smell would be useful in sniffing out other pokemon. It walked beside me until the fog got so thick that I had to lift it up on my shoulders so we wouldn't get separated. As I didn't have a compass, I wasn't positive I was going in the right direction, but I felt confident that if I wasn't, at least I wasn't heading back to Cerulean.
And then it seemed to appear out of nowhere - a town. The fog began to clear as I entered, and I took a good look around as I walked. "I don't remember a town between Cerulean and Vermillion." I murmured.
Women and girls in long skirts or dresses, most wearing bonnets, men in pants, boots, and shirts with vests, all wearing cowboy hats...and buildings made out of wood? What was going on? When the people saw me they moved out of the area as quickly as possible.
"We must have stumbled onto a movie set!" I realized aloud. Silly me! They must be shooting a western - perhaps a Spielbunk one?
"Let's go find the director, Rattata. Maybe we can lunch with some stars!"
"Ratta!" Rattata agreed.
After walking up and down the "town" for an hour though, my hopes started to sink and the growls in my stomach rise.
"Well, maybe they have a coffee shop on the set, where we can eat and I can email Mom and Dad." I shrugged.
"Ratta-Rat-Rattata!" Rattata raised a paw and pointed to a hanging sign above a door up ahead of us.
"'The Moon Kingdom Cafe'? Hey, good work Rattata! I didn't know you could read!"
"Ratta-Ratta-Ratta-Rat." (I have a lot of hidden talents.) "Ratta-Ratta- Ratta-Rattata." (Plus I saw the picture of the teacup on the sign.)
I was thankful later that Rattata had seen the cafe, because it turned out to be a very nice place, even if the customers weren't. A waitress named Mina didn't bat an eyelash at me or my apparently unusual clothes, and was only too happy to serve me. The rest of the lunch crowd, however, felt differently. They whispered about my clothes, my Pokemon, and even how blue my hair was!
"You'd think we'd dropped into the Twilight Zone." I muttered. I ignored their stares and comments, and asked Rattata what it wanted for lunch.
"Ratta-Ratta-Rattata-Rattata!"
"You want to bulk up for the next battle, so you'd like everything in both columns A & B?!"
"That's a lot for a small fry like yourself." A voice said behind us.
Rattata and I turned around. A young man was standing there, outfitted in gray pants, a black shirt and green vest.
"Hi, welcome to Pinkton City. I'm Darien, the manager of this café. I couldn't help but overhear your Rattata get excited. I am assuming you're a Pokemon trainer?"
I nodded.
"My daughter happens to be the local gym leader here. Would you like to meet her?"
Quite sure now that this wasn't a movie set, but an actual town (caught in some funky time-warp?), I found my voice and answered, "I'd love to."
"Great." Darien beamed. "I'll send her down after you eat."
* * * *
An hour later, as promised, a girl came by our table. I was in the middle of scolding Rattata for eating so much (it only managed a quarter of Column A), when she interrupted.
"Hi, I'm Rini. My dad said you wanted to meet me."
I looked up from Rattata to see a girl about my age with pink hair, wearing a long blue skirt and white top, standing in front of my table.
"Oh, hi, I'm Arina. I grabbed a napkin and wiped my hands before shaking Rini's. "Nice to meet you."
"Same here. So you're my next battle, huh?" Rini said as she grabbed a seat and sat down.
"I'm not, but Rattata is, if the little piglet learns that his eyes are bigger than his stomach!"
Rini giggled as Rattata groaned, begging for some sort of relief.
"It's your own fault for being so greedy." I scolded.
"Rattata," was all Rattata could say.
I sighed. "Hey Rini, do you know where the Pokemon Center is? That's where we'll be staying."
"Sure, it's a few minutes away. Two blocks up and three blocks over. You could stay here though."
"In the café?"
"No, silly." Rini laughed. "The Moon Kingdom hotel. Above the café!"
* * * *
"So how many Pokemon do you generally use in battle?" I asked as we walked up the stairs, cradling Rattata in my arms.
"Usually two, unless the trainer I'm battling only has one, or they want to battle more than two."
"That's nice of you."
Rini shrugged. "I figure I'm not going to get anywhere in life by being mean."
"How many Pokemon do you have?"
"Five, at the moment, I got them all before I became a Gym leader. I'm hoping I can give up this Gym position soon so I can travel again." Rini answered as we arrived at the top of the stairs. "Hi Mom!" she said to the tall woman with long blonde hair standing at the check-in desk.
"Hello Rini," the woman smiled. "What are you up to?"
"This is Arina, I'm battling her Pokemon in a couple of hours."
"It's very nice to meet you Arina, I'm Serena."
"A pleasure." I murmured. Something about both Rini and Serena seemed mystical, almost magical. However, before I could ponder anymore about it, Rini announced, "Come on Arina, I'll show you my room and you can put Rattata down for a nap."
"Nap?" I looked down at the little Pokemon and saw it had fallen asleep in my arms. "Some Pokemon." I muttered. Rini and Serena laughed.
As we arrived at her room at the end of the hall, Rini announced, "Here we are." I placed Rattata on Rini's bed before looking around. The room was filled with books, games, and stuffed animals.
"Nice room."
"Thanks. You can leave your backpack here; it'll be safe. I'll show you around town while Rattata's sleeping and then we'll battle."
* * * *
Two hours later, after a long walk around town and finding we had a lot in common as we talked, Rini and I returned to the restaurant.
"I've heard the Pokemon Center dinners are awful." I commented as we walked down the hallway
"I have news for you: they are. The Joys are good nurses, but they and their Chanseys can't cook to save themselves." Rini laughed she opened the door to her room, then stopped short when we walked in.
The room had been completely trashed. Stuffed toys were thrown about, furniture had been overturned, and pieces of games had been scattered.
And Rattata was GONE!
"Rattata!" I cried and ran to the bed. "Rattata!" I looked under the bed. No Rattata!
"I don't remember leaving the window open." Rini commented, still somewhat in shock.
"Never mind that! Help me find Rattata!"
Rini sat down on the bed next to a piece of paper.
"Do you see it anywhere?" I asked frantically.
"Rattata's not here." Rini turned and handed me the missive.
I brushed back my bangs before reading aloud. "Come to the town square at sundown for a Poke-battle. If you win, you get your Rattata back, if you lose, we keep it. Fail to show and your rat becomes a ... " I gulped, "ghost Pokemon." My eyes wide, I asked, "What are we going to do?"
"We'll get Rattata back from them, don't worry." Rini assured me.
"Who's they?"
Rini sighed. "There are two trainers in town that challenged me to a match a week ago. I beat them fair and square, but they said I cheated by using Butterfree. They swore they'd get even with me and I guess. . .now they have."
I was near panic, thinking Rumer had associates tracking me and my Pokemon, but I forced myself to keep calm. "Ok, what do we do first?"
"First we map out a strategy. I can battle them while you find out where they're keeping Rattata and get it to safety."
"Sounds good." I nodded, although I was still upset. I hadn't even noticed my backpack was untouched in the upheaval.
"C'mon, it's almost sunset now." Rini said and the two of us ran out, off to save my stolen Rattata.
* * * *
The town square was eerily quiet when we arrived. The shops were closed for the night, and nobody seemed to be out except us.
"Are you Rini?" a boy came out of an alley between two of the shops and, at Rini's nod, handed her a note, then quickly ran off.
"Wait!" I cried to the boy, but Rini touched my arm.
"Leave him. The note's more important." Rini gave me the piece of paper.
"We're glad you decided to come." I read. "Don't worry, your rat is safe - for now. Our battle will begin in a few minutes, however, a few rules:
1) Sudden death match
2) No Butterfree
3) No forfeiting."
The note was not signed.
Rini pursed her lips in anger. "They're not going to get away with this. As soon as we get Rattata back, we're heading over to the Pokemon Center and having them disqualified as Pokemon Trainers. Looking at me, she said. "We'll get Rattata back, or my name isn't Sailor -"
"Gym Leader Rini!" a female voice cried out. "We challenge you to a match!"
"And I accept your challenge, gladly!" Rini threw up her fist in front of her to show she meant it.
"Good then." The voices chorused and a man jumped from one of the building's rooftops. He wore a male Rocket outfit, but without the "R" on front.
Rini didn't seem the least bit phased. "Hey, Jesse, where's your sister? I want this to be a fair fight!"
"Oh this will be." Jesse said a little too smoothly, as he casually pushed his blonde hair away from his face. "It's going to be a one-on-one match. You and me, while Jamie holds our little bargaining chip."
My anger boiled over then, and I whipped out Bulbasaur's Pokeball. "I want the pleasure of taking you down then!"
"No Arina!" Rini said harshly and grabbed my other arm. "This is MY fight," she leaned in closer, "just stick to the plan, I can handle Jesse."
"But -" Jesse was being too calm about this. This guy had something up his sleeve, but if Rini said leave it...Slowly, I let my hand drop to my side.
Jesse smirked. "Now, if there are no more interruptions...?"
"Let's begin." Rini finished.
"Charizard, GO!"
"Please, Onix, help me win this battle! Go!"
"Flamethrower, Charizard!"
"Duck the flames, then Bide!"
As the battle started, I slipped away off into the woods, near the edge of town, where Jesse had first appeared on the rooftop.
"Rattata! Rattata!" I called into the darkening woods. Rattata, if he was here, was not answering, or . . . was forced to be silent.
Choking back the lump rising in my throat, I cried out to Rattata again. "Don't worry, I'm coming to save you, Rattata!" I began to run helter- skelter through the woods - until I tripped.
"Prepare for trouble!" a female voice said behind me.
I held my throbbing ankle as I rolled over to face the woman, who was dressed in a black female Rocket's uniform, except, like Jesse's there was no 'R' on the front. "Jamie." I presumed aloud.
"Correct. And this -" Jamie flipped her blue hair over one shoulder and held up Rattata by the tail, bound and gagged, "is my newest Pokemon."
"You give Rattata back, do you hear me?"
"What are you going to do? You can't battle in the condition you're in."
"Don't be so sure -" I jumped up, then fell back down in pain. My ankle must be in worse shape than I thought.
Jamie laughed. "Team Rocket wins this one, little girl." Cackling, she walked away.
I hardly knew what happened next. One minute, Jamie was standing, the next she was lying face down on the ground. Rattata, still tied up, flew out of her hands and into the darkness.
"Squirtle Squirt!"
"What on Earth?" I looked past Jamie to see a Squirtle, looking tough.
Wait a second, that wasn't just any Squirtle! It was MY Squirtle!
"Squirtle! Watergun now!" I called.
"Squirtle!" Squirtle cried with delight and started its special attack on Jamie. Jamie sputtered and coughed angrily, but was mobilized long enough for me to crawl over to Rattata and untie it.
"Alright, now that she's wet, let's hang her out to dry! Bulbasaur, I choose you! Vine Whip!"
Bulbasaur popped out of its Pokeball and wove its vines around Jamie's waist, then lifted her up to a high branch in a tree.
"The next time you steal a Pokemon, you'd better pray it's not mine." I yelled up to her as I stood, leaning against a tree for support. I turned to Squirtle. "And as for you - welcome back!" I held my arms open.
"Squirtle!"
* * * *
Rini met me at the edge of the forest as I hobbled back in to town.
"Where's Jesse?"
"Gone. I beat his Charizard without a problem."
"Great! Now we can have our match."
Rini smiled. "What's the rush? It's nighttime now and I'm sure the prospect of sleeping outside doesn't appeal to you, compared to a nice warm bed. Why not spend the night at the hotel as my guest and we can battle tomorrow morning?"
That was an argument I couldn't beat. I started to walk (ok, hobble) after Rini, when she noticed what I was doing.
"What happened?"
"Oh, I just tripped. I'll be fine."
Displeased with that answer, Rini knelt down.
"Rini, honestly, I'm fine." I affirmed, but Rini didn't listen. Instead she reached a hand toward my hurt ankle and closed her eyes.
"Rini," I whispered. As I watched, her hand hovered over my ankle and I felt warmth spread through the injury. A minute later, she opened her eyes and smiled.
"Try walking now." She said softly.
Wincing, as I expected pain, I stepped forward, hurt leg first, and opened my eyes in surprise when my foot landed on the ground and I didn't feel anything but my sneaker cushioning my foot from the pressure.
"How?" I looked back at Rini, who was dusting her knees off. "How did you do that?"
Rini only smiled. "A magician never reveals her secrets," was all she would say.
I left it at that. I couldn't argue with someone who had just "healed" my injury, and was offering me shelter for the night; and after the ordeal we'd just been through, our Pokemon deserved a rest too.
That night, at its request, I gave Squirtle a name - Kaeri. Kaeri told me that once Rumer had left it at its pond, it had trailed her right back to Mt. Moon the same day, and had seen me running from Mt. Moon. It had tried to keep up, but lost me in Cerulean City and had been looking for me ever since.
"Oh you poor thing! It's a wonder you were able to find me at all!" I hugged Kaeri, any resentment we had for one another was long gone now.
"Squirtle-Squirtle-Squirtle." (And I won't leave you again.)
"Thank you, Kaeri. You don't know how much that means to me."
That night was the first night since Pewter that I slept well.
In the morning, Rini and I battled, and I won, but only by a narrow margin. Rattata was my last Pokemon standing and he and Clefairy gave each other a good beating and the end only came when Rattata bit Clefairy's hand and refused to let go until Clefairy passed out.
"Good job, Arina!" Rini called. She seemed more excited than I was that I'd won. I recalled Rattata and Rini returned Clefairy to its Pokeball, then she walked over to me. "Here you go, as a symbol of your skill as a Pokemon trainer, I'm happy to present you with the Peace Badge."
"Thank you, Rini."
"Come on, I'll walk out with you."
I waved a final goodbye to Rini as I left town. Again, like yesterday, it was misty, but not as dense.
The fog began to thin an hour and a half later as the sun came out of the clouds. The sun hit me right in the eyes as I reached a sign post and at first I thought I misread it. But reading it again, I said aloud, "This is impossible!"
The sign proudly stated, 'Welcome to Celadon City.'
"How?" I muttered. How could I possibly be here already? I took out my map. Pinkton City wasn't on there and there was no way I could have reached Celadon without hitting Lavender Town beforehand at least!
Still very puzzled, I put away my map. Maybe here I could get my questions answered (and win another badge!)
End.
Author's note: Kaeri is Japanese for "return". I kind of figured it was appropriate, no? ^_^
In writing this, I had a lot of debates with myself over whether I would call the guest stars by their Japanese names or their English names. At the time this was written, only the original and Sailor Moon R series had been shown in the states, and I had no idea what they were going to call Sailor Chibimoon in the US (I want to keep with continuancy, as to not confuse the audience), so that's why I decided to stick with the U.S. names and that's why Rini never called out the rest of her Sailor name. :)
By Arina
babylofty@excite.com
Date completed: May 6, 2001
Dear Readers,
As the author, I feel it would be unjust of me to thrust upon you my shortest and worst Pokemon fanfic to date. I therefore I have scrapped the latest installment of Arina's Pokemon Fanfic Journey - Chapter 3 of Book IV - Rumer Has It. It's an absolutely unnecessary part of the plot and a total waste of what little time and effort was spent on it. In short, it details Arina's (uneventful) journey to Cerulean City, and winning the Cascade Badge from her three aunts. Whee, how exciting. :)
Anyway, I'm moving on to the next story, simply for the reason mentioned above. Enjoy.
~ Arina, Pokemon Trainer
* * * *
Dear Mom and Dad,
Having lots of fun on the road as a Pokemon trainer. All my Pokemon are pretty good and I'm fine. I won the Cascade Badge from Aunties Lily, Daisy, and Violet, which was a tough battle! You were right, the leaders do get tougher as you go!
Hope all is well at home. Will email or call when I get to Vermillion City.
Much Love,
Arina
I sighed as I flipped over the postcard I'd been writing on. On the front was a picture of my Mom's hometown, Cerulean City. It had almost been a month since I'd left home on my Pokemon journey. Everything (for the most part) had been going pretty smoothly, if you didn't count me running away from home and scaring my parents halfway to their graves.
But half of what I had just told my parents was a lie. I was not fine and neither were all my Pokemon. My Squirtle had been kidnapped (Poke-napped?) by a lunatic before I reached Cerulean City and as a result, my training had suffered due to my depression over failing to protect my Pokemon one hundred percent.
"I'm going to bed guys. 'Night." I said softly. My Pokemon called out return greetings as I slipped the postcard into my backpack and crawled into my sleeping bag.
No matter how hard I tried not to, my thoughts kept returning to Squirtle. Although there was nothing I could do about it now, I still felt terrible, even though it was never my fault Squirtle left. It was all Rumers'. My aunts, Lily, Daisy, and Violet, consoled me and revealed I hadn't been the first to be robbed by her. She'd taken dozens of other Pokemon and set them free in her zealous quest to prove that pokemon training was wrong. My aunts, in an attempt to cheer me up, even offered me a water Pokemon from the Gym, but I politely refused. Another pokemon couldn't make me feel better. I wanted Squirtle, not because it was one I had captured, but one I had won over after Rumer had set it free. I swore that if I ever met up with Rumer again, I'd make her pay. Vengeance didn't make me feel better, and on top of that, I felt like I was the worst trainer in the world for letting Rumer get away with the crime. Why hadn't I been more alert? Stayed up that night to protect my Pokemon? I started to cry for myself, and the pokemon I had lost, until I heard a soft "Ratta?"
I rolled over. Rattata was sitting next to my sleeping bag, with a placid expression. "Oh, Rattata, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"Rattata-Rat-atat-Ratta Ratta-Rat-tatta-tatta-Rattata. Rattata-ratta- rattata-rat." (We know you miss Squirtle very much. But at least you still have us.)
I smiled through my tears, and motioned Rattata to lie down by me, and I stroked its fur until we both fell asleep.
* * * *
The next morning, the fog was thicker than pea soup and it was difficult to see even five feet in front of me. I recalled all my Pokemon to their Pokeballs, except Rattata. Rattata's sense of smell would be useful in sniffing out other pokemon. It walked beside me until the fog got so thick that I had to lift it up on my shoulders so we wouldn't get separated. As I didn't have a compass, I wasn't positive I was going in the right direction, but I felt confident that if I wasn't, at least I wasn't heading back to Cerulean.
And then it seemed to appear out of nowhere - a town. The fog began to clear as I entered, and I took a good look around as I walked. "I don't remember a town between Cerulean and Vermillion." I murmured.
Women and girls in long skirts or dresses, most wearing bonnets, men in pants, boots, and shirts with vests, all wearing cowboy hats...and buildings made out of wood? What was going on? When the people saw me they moved out of the area as quickly as possible.
"We must have stumbled onto a movie set!" I realized aloud. Silly me! They must be shooting a western - perhaps a Spielbunk one?
"Let's go find the director, Rattata. Maybe we can lunch with some stars!"
"Ratta!" Rattata agreed.
After walking up and down the "town" for an hour though, my hopes started to sink and the growls in my stomach rise.
"Well, maybe they have a coffee shop on the set, where we can eat and I can email Mom and Dad." I shrugged.
"Ratta-Rat-Rattata!" Rattata raised a paw and pointed to a hanging sign above a door up ahead of us.
"'The Moon Kingdom Cafe'? Hey, good work Rattata! I didn't know you could read!"
"Ratta-Ratta-Ratta-Rat." (I have a lot of hidden talents.) "Ratta-Ratta- Ratta-Rattata." (Plus I saw the picture of the teacup on the sign.)
I was thankful later that Rattata had seen the cafe, because it turned out to be a very nice place, even if the customers weren't. A waitress named Mina didn't bat an eyelash at me or my apparently unusual clothes, and was only too happy to serve me. The rest of the lunch crowd, however, felt differently. They whispered about my clothes, my Pokemon, and even how blue my hair was!
"You'd think we'd dropped into the Twilight Zone." I muttered. I ignored their stares and comments, and asked Rattata what it wanted for lunch.
"Ratta-Ratta-Rattata-Rattata!"
"You want to bulk up for the next battle, so you'd like everything in both columns A & B?!"
"That's a lot for a small fry like yourself." A voice said behind us.
Rattata and I turned around. A young man was standing there, outfitted in gray pants, a black shirt and green vest.
"Hi, welcome to Pinkton City. I'm Darien, the manager of this café. I couldn't help but overhear your Rattata get excited. I am assuming you're a Pokemon trainer?"
I nodded.
"My daughter happens to be the local gym leader here. Would you like to meet her?"
Quite sure now that this wasn't a movie set, but an actual town (caught in some funky time-warp?), I found my voice and answered, "I'd love to."
"Great." Darien beamed. "I'll send her down after you eat."
* * * *
An hour later, as promised, a girl came by our table. I was in the middle of scolding Rattata for eating so much (it only managed a quarter of Column A), when she interrupted.
"Hi, I'm Rini. My dad said you wanted to meet me."
I looked up from Rattata to see a girl about my age with pink hair, wearing a long blue skirt and white top, standing in front of my table.
"Oh, hi, I'm Arina. I grabbed a napkin and wiped my hands before shaking Rini's. "Nice to meet you."
"Same here. So you're my next battle, huh?" Rini said as she grabbed a seat and sat down.
"I'm not, but Rattata is, if the little piglet learns that his eyes are bigger than his stomach!"
Rini giggled as Rattata groaned, begging for some sort of relief.
"It's your own fault for being so greedy." I scolded.
"Rattata," was all Rattata could say.
I sighed. "Hey Rini, do you know where the Pokemon Center is? That's where we'll be staying."
"Sure, it's a few minutes away. Two blocks up and three blocks over. You could stay here though."
"In the café?"
"No, silly." Rini laughed. "The Moon Kingdom hotel. Above the café!"
* * * *
"So how many Pokemon do you generally use in battle?" I asked as we walked up the stairs, cradling Rattata in my arms.
"Usually two, unless the trainer I'm battling only has one, or they want to battle more than two."
"That's nice of you."
Rini shrugged. "I figure I'm not going to get anywhere in life by being mean."
"How many Pokemon do you have?"
"Five, at the moment, I got them all before I became a Gym leader. I'm hoping I can give up this Gym position soon so I can travel again." Rini answered as we arrived at the top of the stairs. "Hi Mom!" she said to the tall woman with long blonde hair standing at the check-in desk.
"Hello Rini," the woman smiled. "What are you up to?"
"This is Arina, I'm battling her Pokemon in a couple of hours."
"It's very nice to meet you Arina, I'm Serena."
"A pleasure." I murmured. Something about both Rini and Serena seemed mystical, almost magical. However, before I could ponder anymore about it, Rini announced, "Come on Arina, I'll show you my room and you can put Rattata down for a nap."
"Nap?" I looked down at the little Pokemon and saw it had fallen asleep in my arms. "Some Pokemon." I muttered. Rini and Serena laughed.
As we arrived at her room at the end of the hall, Rini announced, "Here we are." I placed Rattata on Rini's bed before looking around. The room was filled with books, games, and stuffed animals.
"Nice room."
"Thanks. You can leave your backpack here; it'll be safe. I'll show you around town while Rattata's sleeping and then we'll battle."
* * * *
Two hours later, after a long walk around town and finding we had a lot in common as we talked, Rini and I returned to the restaurant.
"I've heard the Pokemon Center dinners are awful." I commented as we walked down the hallway
"I have news for you: they are. The Joys are good nurses, but they and their Chanseys can't cook to save themselves." Rini laughed she opened the door to her room, then stopped short when we walked in.
The room had been completely trashed. Stuffed toys were thrown about, furniture had been overturned, and pieces of games had been scattered.
And Rattata was GONE!
"Rattata!" I cried and ran to the bed. "Rattata!" I looked under the bed. No Rattata!
"I don't remember leaving the window open." Rini commented, still somewhat in shock.
"Never mind that! Help me find Rattata!"
Rini sat down on the bed next to a piece of paper.
"Do you see it anywhere?" I asked frantically.
"Rattata's not here." Rini turned and handed me the missive.
I brushed back my bangs before reading aloud. "Come to the town square at sundown for a Poke-battle. If you win, you get your Rattata back, if you lose, we keep it. Fail to show and your rat becomes a ... " I gulped, "ghost Pokemon." My eyes wide, I asked, "What are we going to do?"
"We'll get Rattata back from them, don't worry." Rini assured me.
"Who's they?"
Rini sighed. "There are two trainers in town that challenged me to a match a week ago. I beat them fair and square, but they said I cheated by using Butterfree. They swore they'd get even with me and I guess. . .now they have."
I was near panic, thinking Rumer had associates tracking me and my Pokemon, but I forced myself to keep calm. "Ok, what do we do first?"
"First we map out a strategy. I can battle them while you find out where they're keeping Rattata and get it to safety."
"Sounds good." I nodded, although I was still upset. I hadn't even noticed my backpack was untouched in the upheaval.
"C'mon, it's almost sunset now." Rini said and the two of us ran out, off to save my stolen Rattata.
* * * *
The town square was eerily quiet when we arrived. The shops were closed for the night, and nobody seemed to be out except us.
"Are you Rini?" a boy came out of an alley between two of the shops and, at Rini's nod, handed her a note, then quickly ran off.
"Wait!" I cried to the boy, but Rini touched my arm.
"Leave him. The note's more important." Rini gave me the piece of paper.
"We're glad you decided to come." I read. "Don't worry, your rat is safe - for now. Our battle will begin in a few minutes, however, a few rules:
1) Sudden death match
2) No Butterfree
3) No forfeiting."
The note was not signed.
Rini pursed her lips in anger. "They're not going to get away with this. As soon as we get Rattata back, we're heading over to the Pokemon Center and having them disqualified as Pokemon Trainers. Looking at me, she said. "We'll get Rattata back, or my name isn't Sailor -"
"Gym Leader Rini!" a female voice cried out. "We challenge you to a match!"
"And I accept your challenge, gladly!" Rini threw up her fist in front of her to show she meant it.
"Good then." The voices chorused and a man jumped from one of the building's rooftops. He wore a male Rocket outfit, but without the "R" on front.
Rini didn't seem the least bit phased. "Hey, Jesse, where's your sister? I want this to be a fair fight!"
"Oh this will be." Jesse said a little too smoothly, as he casually pushed his blonde hair away from his face. "It's going to be a one-on-one match. You and me, while Jamie holds our little bargaining chip."
My anger boiled over then, and I whipped out Bulbasaur's Pokeball. "I want the pleasure of taking you down then!"
"No Arina!" Rini said harshly and grabbed my other arm. "This is MY fight," she leaned in closer, "just stick to the plan, I can handle Jesse."
"But -" Jesse was being too calm about this. This guy had something up his sleeve, but if Rini said leave it...Slowly, I let my hand drop to my side.
Jesse smirked. "Now, if there are no more interruptions...?"
"Let's begin." Rini finished.
"Charizard, GO!"
"Please, Onix, help me win this battle! Go!"
"Flamethrower, Charizard!"
"Duck the flames, then Bide!"
As the battle started, I slipped away off into the woods, near the edge of town, where Jesse had first appeared on the rooftop.
"Rattata! Rattata!" I called into the darkening woods. Rattata, if he was here, was not answering, or . . . was forced to be silent.
Choking back the lump rising in my throat, I cried out to Rattata again. "Don't worry, I'm coming to save you, Rattata!" I began to run helter- skelter through the woods - until I tripped.
"Prepare for trouble!" a female voice said behind me.
I held my throbbing ankle as I rolled over to face the woman, who was dressed in a black female Rocket's uniform, except, like Jesse's there was no 'R' on the front. "Jamie." I presumed aloud.
"Correct. And this -" Jamie flipped her blue hair over one shoulder and held up Rattata by the tail, bound and gagged, "is my newest Pokemon."
"You give Rattata back, do you hear me?"
"What are you going to do? You can't battle in the condition you're in."
"Don't be so sure -" I jumped up, then fell back down in pain. My ankle must be in worse shape than I thought.
Jamie laughed. "Team Rocket wins this one, little girl." Cackling, she walked away.
I hardly knew what happened next. One minute, Jamie was standing, the next she was lying face down on the ground. Rattata, still tied up, flew out of her hands and into the darkness.
"Squirtle Squirt!"
"What on Earth?" I looked past Jamie to see a Squirtle, looking tough.
Wait a second, that wasn't just any Squirtle! It was MY Squirtle!
"Squirtle! Watergun now!" I called.
"Squirtle!" Squirtle cried with delight and started its special attack on Jamie. Jamie sputtered and coughed angrily, but was mobilized long enough for me to crawl over to Rattata and untie it.
"Alright, now that she's wet, let's hang her out to dry! Bulbasaur, I choose you! Vine Whip!"
Bulbasaur popped out of its Pokeball and wove its vines around Jamie's waist, then lifted her up to a high branch in a tree.
"The next time you steal a Pokemon, you'd better pray it's not mine." I yelled up to her as I stood, leaning against a tree for support. I turned to Squirtle. "And as for you - welcome back!" I held my arms open.
"Squirtle!"
* * * *
Rini met me at the edge of the forest as I hobbled back in to town.
"Where's Jesse?"
"Gone. I beat his Charizard without a problem."
"Great! Now we can have our match."
Rini smiled. "What's the rush? It's nighttime now and I'm sure the prospect of sleeping outside doesn't appeal to you, compared to a nice warm bed. Why not spend the night at the hotel as my guest and we can battle tomorrow morning?"
That was an argument I couldn't beat. I started to walk (ok, hobble) after Rini, when she noticed what I was doing.
"What happened?"
"Oh, I just tripped. I'll be fine."
Displeased with that answer, Rini knelt down.
"Rini, honestly, I'm fine." I affirmed, but Rini didn't listen. Instead she reached a hand toward my hurt ankle and closed her eyes.
"Rini," I whispered. As I watched, her hand hovered over my ankle and I felt warmth spread through the injury. A minute later, she opened her eyes and smiled.
"Try walking now." She said softly.
Wincing, as I expected pain, I stepped forward, hurt leg first, and opened my eyes in surprise when my foot landed on the ground and I didn't feel anything but my sneaker cushioning my foot from the pressure.
"How?" I looked back at Rini, who was dusting her knees off. "How did you do that?"
Rini only smiled. "A magician never reveals her secrets," was all she would say.
I left it at that. I couldn't argue with someone who had just "healed" my injury, and was offering me shelter for the night; and after the ordeal we'd just been through, our Pokemon deserved a rest too.
That night, at its request, I gave Squirtle a name - Kaeri. Kaeri told me that once Rumer had left it at its pond, it had trailed her right back to Mt. Moon the same day, and had seen me running from Mt. Moon. It had tried to keep up, but lost me in Cerulean City and had been looking for me ever since.
"Oh you poor thing! It's a wonder you were able to find me at all!" I hugged Kaeri, any resentment we had for one another was long gone now.
"Squirtle-Squirtle-Squirtle." (And I won't leave you again.)
"Thank you, Kaeri. You don't know how much that means to me."
That night was the first night since Pewter that I slept well.
In the morning, Rini and I battled, and I won, but only by a narrow margin. Rattata was my last Pokemon standing and he and Clefairy gave each other a good beating and the end only came when Rattata bit Clefairy's hand and refused to let go until Clefairy passed out.
"Good job, Arina!" Rini called. She seemed more excited than I was that I'd won. I recalled Rattata and Rini returned Clefairy to its Pokeball, then she walked over to me. "Here you go, as a symbol of your skill as a Pokemon trainer, I'm happy to present you with the Peace Badge."
"Thank you, Rini."
"Come on, I'll walk out with you."
I waved a final goodbye to Rini as I left town. Again, like yesterday, it was misty, but not as dense.
The fog began to thin an hour and a half later as the sun came out of the clouds. The sun hit me right in the eyes as I reached a sign post and at first I thought I misread it. But reading it again, I said aloud, "This is impossible!"
The sign proudly stated, 'Welcome to Celadon City.'
"How?" I muttered. How could I possibly be here already? I took out my map. Pinkton City wasn't on there and there was no way I could have reached Celadon without hitting Lavender Town beforehand at least!
Still very puzzled, I put away my map. Maybe here I could get my questions answered (and win another badge!)
End.
Author's note: Kaeri is Japanese for "return". I kind of figured it was appropriate, no? ^_^
In writing this, I had a lot of debates with myself over whether I would call the guest stars by their Japanese names or their English names. At the time this was written, only the original and Sailor Moon R series had been shown in the states, and I had no idea what they were going to call Sailor Chibimoon in the US (I want to keep with continuancy, as to not confuse the audience), so that's why I decided to stick with the U.S. names and that's why Rini never called out the rest of her Sailor name. :)