Pokemon Go-ing Ghost
Written for Phanniemay '16, Day 10: Video Games
"There's an Arcanine on radar! I think it's this way!"
"No, it's probably this way. The forums said there was a spawn point for Arcanines over by the park fountain."
"Park fountain? That doesn't make any sense for a fire type."
"Oh, you're right. I mean the other fountain. The one made of fire."
"Oh, come on, Tuck. We're on the same team here. We both want an Arcanine."
"Danny, bro, we are in no way on the same team. You picked the loser group, remember?"
"Better than the nerd group!"
"Team Instinct is for casuals."
"Team Mystic is for… what do they call those types in anime? Tsundere!"
"Oh my god, don't start with the anime. You only started watching it because of Sam," Tucker pointed out.
"Okay, okay, fine. Mystic is better than Valor, at least," Danny admitted with a shudder.
"Too true," Tucker agreed, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose with a finger.
"Dude, you can't tell me not to relate you to anime then do shit like that."
"Shit like what?"
"Ugh, the Arcanine's gone. It must've despawned while we were arguing. Nice job, Mystic scum."
"Arguing takes at least two people! Just as much your fault as mine, dude."
"You're actually using logic to get out of this. You Mystic, you. See, I just go with my instincts for these things."
"Danny, please."
Danny cackled in response. "What? Gotta keep up the witty banter practice. Very important for superheroing."
"You're impossible. Wanna go take the Casper high gym? It's red right now. Tag team to take it down, free for all to claim it."
"You're on."
They made their way to the high school, hitting up PokeStops and catching the occasional Pokemon on the way. It wasn't a good day for catching Pokemon, it seemed. Everything was either a Drowzee or a Zubat and even the low CP Pokemon thought they were justified in escaping the first few Pokeballs.
"Why the fuck would a 10 CP Pidgey think it was allowed to pop out of a ball like that? Pidgey. You are nothing to me. Give me your candy," Tucker said, angrily swiping at his phone.
Danny laughed. "Got that Pidgey at 210 CP on the first try," he bragged.
"Like that's even good. Just like an Instinct to think a 200 CP Pokemon was impressive," Tucker griped.
"At least I caught it before it ran away," Danny said, dancing away when Tucker tried to snag his phone. "I'm an Instinct! I believe in the heart of the Pokeballs, man! The heart of the balls!"
"Pfffft," Tucker sputtered. "It's the heart of the cards, not the heart of the balls. Wrong anime."
"Yeah, but this isn't Yu-Gi-Oh!, it's Pokemon. You gotta adapt to the situation. You Mystics and your plans can't predict everything that happens in the heat of battle."
"In the heat of battle… with a 10 CP Pidgey."
"Hey, you couldn't catch it, could you?"
They finally reached the school. Danny was the first to notice that the gym leader had changed since they'd walked over. "Hey, the top Pokemon at this gym has changed. It's not a Flareon anymore."
"Oh, a stronger Valor came in and took it?" Tucker still held his phone upside down to keep it in power-saving mode.
"Yeah, and now it's a… shit."
"What is it?" Tucker righted his phone and tapped the gym, bringing it into focus. "This shouldn't be too bad, there's just four Pokemon in here and we have type advantages for the first three."
"Look again at the gym leader," Danny said, looking around nervously.
"It's just a Gengar, how bad could it...Shit! 2340 CP? How'd someone get a Gengar this early, anyways? I've only seen, like, seven Ghastly," Tucker said, shaking his head.
"The gym leader," Danny hissed, now checking behind them.
"What does the actual trainer matter? They may be level twenty-seven, but what's so different about a girl named- Oh. Fuck." The username read 'Chaos'.
"FOR VALOR!" Someone behind them yelled before they hit Danny's back with a thud. Sam wrapped her arms and legs around Danny in a parody of a piggy-back. "Git gud, noobs! This gym's Valor's."
"Sam, get offa me!" Danny turned this way and that, trying to dislodge his girlfriend. She laughed and held on tighter. "Don't make me make you fall right through me," Danny threatened, cocking his head back so Sam could hear him better.
"Would you really do that, though?" Sam asked cheekily, leaning forward to give Danny a peck on the cheek before dropping off of his back.
"You bet I would," Danny said indignantly.
"Just for that, I'm taking the FentonWorks gym," Sam said with a wicked grin.
As it had turned out, the FentonWorks sign was apparently such a landmark in the suburbs of Amity Park that the locals had immediately submitted it to Niantic to be a location in the game. Danny had woken up one morning to find crowds of people standing outside his house. He had panicked at first. Had someone figured out his secret? The media were always first to the scene of anything like this. Then he looked at the crowd again - they were all looking intently at their phones. A suspicion dawned on him and he grabbed his phone off of his bedside table, unlocking it with a swipe and starting up Pokemon Go. Sure enough, he was living in a gym.
"You wouldn't!" Danny cried in mock hurt. "It's bad enough that I have to fight off Dash and his crew. They think it's their personal mission in life to take control of my house with Pokemon."
"They did pick Valor, so they must not be wrong about everything," Sam said.
"Of course Dash picked the 'strength above all' team," Tucker grumbled. "Go ahead, go take over Amity with your Valor buds."
"Like I'd do anything to help them," Sam scoffed. "They're not true Valors. They don't know the true meaning of strength." Something glittered dangerously in her eyes. "You're welcome to take any gyms they hold. I take my gyms myself. Besides, I can always take them back later."
"If this continues like it is, I'm never going to be able to hold a gym in this town," Tucker groaned.
"Hey, at least you have other Mystics to help you out. Sometimes I feel like the only Instinct in this whole damn town," Danny said miserably.
"Aww, it's alright. I'm sure some middle schoolers who like yellow will get smartphones eventually," Sam said.
"Sammmmm," Danny said. "You can't bash Instinct. Everybody roots for the underdogs. We will rise up! There is no shelter from the storm!" He picked Sam up and slung her over his shoulder before running around the schoolyard, shouting more Team Instinct battle cries as he went.
Sam pounded on his shoulders with her fists in a show of protest but soon collapsed into laughter. She attempted to drown out Danny's cries with her own Team Valor lines, but bouncing upside-down on Danny's back made this impossible.
Tucker shot an amused look at his best friends but resolved himself to quickly grind down the gym before either of the other two noticed. Selecting his team to best oppose the gym Pokemon, he leaned against a picnic table and started tapping as fast as he could, occasionally holding a long tap to launch a special attack. He made his way through the first and second Pokemon - a Poliwrath and a Jynx - easily. The third Pokemon was a Snorlax, a veritable tank. It'd be a tough run trying to get all of its HP down before the battle timer ran out.
He had the Snorlax just about defeated when he noted movement out of the corner of his eye. Danny had let Sam down and they were coming back over to the picnic table. Increasing the speed of his tapping, he finally managed to defeat it. Readying the remaining Pokemon in his team, he began battling Sam's Gengar with a rather strong Golbat he'd caught the other day. It didn't quite have the type advantage to resist Gengar's moves, but with Bite and Ominous Wind he hoped it would hit Gengar a little harder and wear it down faster.
His tapping drew Sam's attention, however. "Tucker?" She asked suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Tucker said, backing away slowly while keeping an eye on his screen. "Nothing at all, just… kicking your Gengar's ass, actually."
Sam made a sound that could only be construed as a growl and advanced on Tucker. "D-Danny? A little help here?" Tucker said, trying to look both behind him to keep from tripping and look at his phone to keep from losing the battle.
"It's out of my hands, man." Danny raised his hands to underscore his statement.
Tucker grimaced nervously as he felt his back meet resistance. He'd run into a tree. Nowhere to go now. Sam continued her approach and Tucker closed his eyes to await the inevitable. He kept tapping, of course, and blindly swiping side to side occasionally in an attempt to dodge incoming attacks.
He felt as if Sam had to be on top of him by now. He opened one eye cautiously. Sam was standing a few feet from him, arms crossed. She had a satisfied look on her face. "What are you up to?" He asked.
"I don't need to worry. I believe in my Pokemon. They won't be defeated by the Blue likes of you," she said.
"You- you believe in your Pokemon?" Danny cried. "That's Team Instinct talk! Why didn't you join meeee."
"I believe in the strength of my Pokemon," Sam clarified. "You can try all you want, Danny, but I'm Valor through and through."
"Why have I been cursed with a Valor girlfriend?" Danny asked no one in particular.
"Because no one else would date your Instinct ass," Sam replied, linking her arm in Danny's. "Not that you don't have a cute butt, all things considered." She leaned back to appreciate.
Danny went bright red and Tucker groaned. "Guys, what did I tell you about talking dirty in front of me? Save it for date night."
Danny at least had the decency to look repentant. "So… you guys… wanna go look for that Arcanine?" He asked.
Sam whipped out her phone and pulled up the app's radar. "An Arcanine? I've been looking for one of those for ages! It's so hard to find anything with the radar broken like this. Come on, Niantic."
"It's gone, anyways," Tucker said sadly, checking his phone's radar. "We're probably too far away now."
Sam pushed up her lower lip in an exaggerated frown. "Dammit," she said.
"Holyshit," Danny grabbed Sam's shoulder in surprise, staring at his own phone. "Guys. Lapras."
Tucker's mouth dropped open. Sam leaned over Danny's arm, trying to see his screen. "I haven't even seen one of those on radar!" She said excitedly. "Let's go!"
"Go where? We have no idea which direction it's in and, as you said, radar's broken. It doesn't indicate when you're getting close," Tucker said.
"Ugh. True," she said. "Wanna walk around in circles anyways?"
"Of course," the boys replied.
Eyes glued to their phones, they walked away from Casper High in a spiral pattern, trying to cover the most ground in the least amount of time. It probably would have made more sense for them to split up but the three didn't trust that whoever did find the Lapras would tell the other two. They were correct in their suspicions.
An hour later, Danny flopped down on a grassy hill with a sigh. Still no Lapras. Sam crouched down next to him, groaning as her knees bent.
"I thought I was in decent shape but man, do Pokemon take out out of you," she said, leaning backwards to fall back into a sitting position.
"Tell me about it," Tucker said, collapsing onto the grass on Danny's other side. "My legs are killing me."
"Like you were actually in shape to begin with," Sam teased.
"I've been working on it! I at least thought I was in better shape than this. I blame the heat." Tucker put his head between his knees. "I think I may be sick," he declared.
Danny scooted away from Tucker in an instant, rolling onto his side. "Dude. Don't you dare."
"Just phase it off, okay?" Tucker replied weakly.
Danny opened his mouth to reply, but his breath came out in a puff of mist. He shivered slightly and sat up to look around.
Sam noticed the change in her boyfriend's demeanor and scanned the surrounding terrain, as well. "Ghost sense?"
"Yep," Danny replied.
"Coast looks clear if you wanna change."
"Nah, I'll wait to see who it is. If it's Boxy I don't wanna bother."
Tucker raised his head from his knees blearily. "Wha'? Ghost?"
"Don't worry about it, Tuck. Whoever it was must've left," Danny said, patting his friend's shoulder reassuringly. Just as the words crossed his lips, however, his eyes caught a twinkle of movement in the sky above. Before he could cry a warning, Skulker landed in front of them. The twin jets of flame scorched small spots in the grass and Sam's nose wrinkled at the burning smell.
Danny lept to his feet, white rings appearing around his waist as he mentally reached inside himself to find the icy cold core within. "Skulker! What do you-"
Skulker held up a hand, interrupting the ghost boy. "Ghost child, rest assured that I am not here to claim your pelt this day."
The white light flickered out and died. Danny watched Skulker suspiciously. "What are you up to?"
A small screen popped out of Skulker's wrist and he shoved the screen into Danny's face, blinding the boy for a few seconds. Danny blinked at the sudden bright light. As his eyes adjusted, a familiar layout started to take shape. His mouth fell open slightly, unsure of what to say.
"Based on this tracking device, it would appear that the beast known as an 'Arcanine' is somewhere in the vicinity. I wish to hunt this beast using this… computer application. Have you seen such a beast?"
Behind him, Danny heard Sam burst into laughter. Skulker's eyes narrowed. "This is no laughing matter, human girl. This is the hunt!"
His statement only made her laugh harder. "Good luck finding that Arcanine, man," she said in between chortles. "We've been looking for that and a Lapras all day!"
"There is a Lapras, as well? The hunt abounds! You, too, hunt this creature?" Skulker said surprisedly. "A fellow hunter! I laud your attempt, young hunter, but you will find yourself no match for me, the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter!"
Danny didn't need to turn around to understand what Tucker was choking out under his breath. "Ghost Zone's… Greatest… Pokemon Hunter!" The geek giggled.
Skulker paid the boy no mind. "This hunt has become a competition! Good luck competing with one with as much experience as I. The hunt continues! I will catch them all!" He launched back into the sky with that battle cry and was soon gone from sight.
Danny blinked again. "Should we have told him the radar is broken?"
Later on that day, the sun started to set and dusk settled over Amity Park. The Pokemon-hunting teens enjoyed this relief from the summer heat and stopped by the Nasty Burger for milkshakes. Danny was pretty sure soymilk wasn't an option on the menu, but Sam somehow got her milkshake made with it anyways.
They took their shakes to go and walked along the sidewalk, each teen sipping noisily through their straw once they reached the bottom of the cup. Danny was the last to finish his milk chocolate chip shake; he'd always been the slowest eater of the three. Once he finished, he chucked the foam cup into one of the trash bins lining the sidewalk and laced his fingers through Sam's.
"Spot anything good?" He asked Tucker. He had pulled up Pokemon Go to check for stops or Pokemon.
"Nothing really. Someone lured the PokeStops by the fountain. We could go take a break over there. Sit a while, restock on Pokeballs and such."
"Sounds good to me," Sam said.
They reached the fountain a few minutes later. Sam tilted her head to allow the fountain's spray to mist over her face. A slight breeze had picked up on the way to the park and it felt amazing in conjunction with the mist.
"Hey, are either of you guys seeing this?" Danny asked, staring at a strangely shaped gray blob on his app's radar.
Sam angled her face out of the mist to check his phone. "What, a childhood's worth of 'Who's that Pokemon?' training not working for you?" She teased. "Wait, what is that?" The shape was unlike any Pokemon she'd ever seen.
"Dammit, my phone died!" Someone from a nearby bench cried.
Tucker sniggered. "Noobs don't know to bring a backup battery," he said smugly. His own phone was plugged into the hefty external battery resting in back pocket of his cargo shorts. "The app's been out for weeks and they still don't plan for the battery drain. Must not be Mystics. We plan."
Another cry of disappointment rang out from another bench and soon half the people around the fountain were complaining about dead batteries. "Okay, that's weird," Tucker said. "No way everyone came here low on juice." His phone buzzed twice in his hand and the screen went dark. "Wait. What the fuck?" He pressed the power button on the side of his phone several times. It was deader than dead. Pulling the external battery out of his pocket, he checked the tiny LED readout on the side. The light blinked red.
"Danny, are you doing something ghostly right now?" Tucker asked nervously.
"What? No, why?"
"I charged this battery last night. It should be enough to charge my phone from zero to a hundred four times and it's dead."
"Are you sure you charged it?"
"Of course I'm sure! I don't mess around with keeping powered up."
"Huh," Danny said. He coughed suddenly and his hand flew up to cover his mouth. His friends knew what to look for and spotted the faint trail of mist escaping through his fingers.
"Skulker again, you think?" Sam asked. "I guess it's safe to assume here's a pretty attractive place to get some good Pokemon."
"Probably," Danny said. "Doesn't explain the blob on the- Oh, my God." A familiar nasal cackling emitted from the speakers of Danny's phone and his phone buzzed in the way that it did when a Pokemon appeared on the map.
Well, something appeared on the map, but it sure as hell wasn't a Pokemon.
From the green skin to the cheesy glasses and coat, it was clear that Technus had somehow made his way into Pokemon Go.
Danny stared at his screen blankly. "I… do not know what to do about this," he stated.
"What you always do when something pops up on the map. Try to catch it," Sam said with a grin, reaching over Danny's arm and tapping on the tiny Technus. The cackling grew louder and somehow more annoying as Technus appeared a little larger when the app switched over to catch mode. The little 3D-rendered Technus waved his arms in what he must have thought was a convincing manner. "It is I, Technus, Master of All Technology! I have infiltrated this popular smartphone application and soon I, Technus, will control every device in the world!"
"Dude, that's just evil," Tucker muttered, shaking his head.
"I will admit this transition to smartphones has been difficult for even the Master of All Technology! I am not used to controlling applications with such a following! The puny human servers could not handle my awesome might, nor could the pitiful Pokemon tracking feature! Now, no one will ever be able to find a Pokemon again!" Technus monologued, punctuating each sentence with a snort and another laugh.
"Holy shit. Technus caused the server crashes," Sam said. "I'm gonna kill him. Do you know how many lucky eggs I wasted?" She yelled at the phone.
"And the radar. He actually broke the radar. I should have guessed," Tucker said, slapping a hand over his face.
Danny slowly inched a finger towards the screen. "What if I just…" He swiped up with a finger, tossing a normal Pokeball at Technus. 'Excellent!' read the tiny text as the Pokeball hit Technus right in the middle of a very green tiny circle.
"Wait, what are you- Arghhh!" Technus cried as the Pokeball opened up, white light enveloping Technus and sucking him in. The trio leaned in intently to watch as the Pokeball rocked once, twice, then stopped.
"Pffft," Sam sputtered. "The fool hacked himself in the game and still let himself be this easy to catch? What did he even set his CP as?"
"Dunno. The profile hasn't come up yet- pfffft." Danny snorted. "10 CP! He literally has the lowest CP in the entire game!"
A grin slowly slid across Tucker's face. "That's what you get for draining my batteries, fucker!" He flipped off the phone screen.
Technus's figure on the Pokemon profile looked like it was trying to get out of the screen, but couldn't find a gap to escape through. It pounded on the screen, mouth opening and closing in what must have been threats and boasts from the technology ghost.
"What do I even do with him?" Danny asked. "I don't wanna keep him with my other Pokemon. He might mess them up somehow."
"Why not just…" Sam scrolled down to the bottom of the profile screen and tapped the green 'Transfer' button. "Let Professor Willow worry about him." She tapped her way through the 'Are you sure?' dialog and just like that, Technus was gone.
Danny looked at her incredulously. "Don't you worry about where he went?"
"Nope."
"You're crazy."
"I'm Team Valor. We take risks. Besides, it's easy enough to catch him again, right?" Sam grinned.
Danny grinned back. "Right you are."
"Ghost Zone's Greatest Pokemon Hunter alert," Tucker said, pointing up at the sky. Danny and Sam squinted up, following Tucker's finger. Skulker was flying back and forth erratically, screaming something in another language. Danny slowly placed a hand over his mouth. He looked like he was about to lose it.
"Danny?" Sam asked, curious.
"It's just.. Dora taught me a little bit of the ghost dialect as thanks for helping her out with her queendom. Some of her knights may have taught me some other… choice phrases. Skulker's up there cursing so much he might make Pariah Dark blush. Something about someone interfering with his hunt."
Skulker screeched something else that all three had no trouble understanding as he flew off in another direction.
"TECHNUSSSSS!"
A/N:
This game has taken over my life and my writing. Someone help me.
I'm very sorry about the title.
#TeamInstinct #NoShelterFromTheStorm
Comments and critiques always appreciated (:
-attu