Kazo Myst walked along a narrow bridge that led over a dark river. With every tap of his foot, a piece of the wood along the bridge would "clack", and run a chill down his spine. The water rumbled below him as a Carvanha jumped out of the water, then jump back in.
Kazo, along with his Pidgeotto, Pidge, leant over the edge of the bridge upon hearing a continuously loud crashing noise. A whirlpool had appeared in the dark, murky water! Kazo gulped, and walked along the bridge slower than usual. Water condensation from the whirlpool had put beads of water on Kazo's shirt.
He put his hand on two of his pokeballs, and released them both at once. In a blinding flash of light, two pokemon appeared. A small dog, and a Rattlesnake.
"Check out the view, guys!" Kazo said, pointing towards the gradually setting sun. The sun's light reflected off the ocean to reveal a crimson color spread across the ocean. But, the whirlpool seemed to drain all color from the sea as well, or so it seemed for Kazo. He was just glad he wasn't swimming.
They continued walking for about an hour as the sun began to set along the horizon. This bridge seemed to never end.
Kazo felt a small vibration under his feet. Eevee had obviously felt it too, because it seemed to be inspecting the bridge. Kazo felt it again, it was stronger this time. Ekans felt it as well.
The third time, the bridge actually shook. Eevee crumbled to the floor, her small legs collapsing under the shaking bridge. Kazo actually had to grab a rail for support. Darkness had befallen them now, the sun completely vanishing into the distance
"Weird…" Kazo said, staring into the distance. He returned his pokemon, and mere seconds after returning them, he heard a loud roar, and the sound of cracking wood. He saw a silhouette of a sea serpent-esque creature, heading towards him. Not thinking twice, he ran. His pokedex gave a full description on the pokemon as he was running.
"Gyarados- The Atrocious pokemon;
Rarely seen in the wild, these pokemon are known for mass destruction and mercilessness. Although that is only the stereotype, it is most often correct. It is almost confirmed that a huge group of Gyarados are responsible for the destruction of the infamous city, Atlantis."
The suspense was building as the crashing of wood drew nearer. He was tiring out, when a wet spot on the bridge made him pivot and land on his back. Without even having the time to get back up, the Gyarados collided with him. He felt as though his life was immediately over, although he still maintained a steady heartbeat. His right arm had a huge gash in it, and smeared blood all over the bridge. The bridge supporting him crumbled, as he fell backwards into the cold, dark ocean. He screamed loudly, but shut his mouth as soon as he hit the water.
Up to this day as I write this, Kazo still cannot explain what the sensation felt like. Crashing into the water, that is.
The whirlpool immediately began pulling Kazo in. He knew he would go down. But it would not happen without a fight.
He began swimming in the opposite direction of the whirlpool. Every time he stroked with his right arm, his momentum fell greatly. The salted water stung awfully as it cleansed Kazo's wound, but the blood was still pouring out into the sea. Kazo was being pulled into the depths of the water now, being pulled under the rough current. He felt his three pokeballs unleashing themselves from his belt. He sprung for one, and grabbed it, but the others were cast away into the sea. His head was now completely underwater. Kazo gave his fight. It was not enough. Now it would end.
He woke up on the sand.
His right arm was bandaged, and he felt warmth from fire. He sat up, and looked around where he was. It didn't seem too familiar, so it couldn't be Mossdeep. There was a blazing fire in a circle of rocks right in front of him, lighting up the dark night.
"Colo!" Kazo turned around immediately to see a blonde girl in a skirt walking up to him. Beside her was a Ludicolo, holding a plate of fruit.
"You're okay! Great!" She said, smiling.
"Um… what happened? Why aren't I dead?" Kazo asked.
She bit her lip. "It's kind of weird actually. Sit down." Kazo obeyed orders. "Take a Mango and an Apicot Berry." Kazo reached for Ludicolo's tray and took one of each, and began biting into the berry. The girl, who introduced herself as Zoe, continued. "I'm the beach patroller. I see if anything's wrong. I was on the ocean on my Wailord, and I saw that Gyarados long before you did. I followed it towards you, but it was hard to maneuver around the whirlpool, so I slowed down a bit. Had we gone a bit faster, we might have been able to warn you… but by the time we got to you, the Gyarados had already smashed the bridge. It's a good thing Wailord knows dive, or else you would have been done for."
"Gee… um… Thanks!" Kazo said, pathetically. He felt his belt for pokeballs and sulked. He realized he had lost two in the ocean, but felt one on the far, left hand side of his belt.
A beeping noise came from Zoe's belt. She picked up a pager.
"Wild Sharpedo? Lilycove? I'm on it." She put the pager away, mumbled a barely audible "bye" to Kazo, jumped on Wailord and was off instantly.
Kazo saw that the waters had finally calmed. If he squinted, he saw the outline of a city.
"Mossdeep!" He cried in happiness. Moments later, a man in a small canoe passed by. Kazo hitched a ride with him and before you knew it, they were in Mossdeep city, Kazo running up the steps of his house.
--
Kazo was almost twelve now. After that ill-fated day with the Whirpool, he gave up training for a while, and went on vacation. His last stop was Valencia Island in the Orange Archipelago. He took one last visit to the beach and saw a group of idiots bullying an innocent Horsea with a Manectric, a Minun and a Plusle.
Furious and without thinking, Kazo blurted out loud:
"What are you doing!"
The one with the Manectric stopped laughing and turned to Kazo, his pathetic smile turning into a frown.
"You don't like the way we do things? Is that it? Punk?" he said, his comrades nodding.
Kazo inspected them quickly. The leader was wearing dark shades with flame logos on the edges and had a toothpick in his mouth. He had a firm, muscly build, and a long tattoo on his right arm. His sleeveless shirt was adorned with skulls and flame. He was wearing dark pants, even though it was at least 95o farenheight outside. His pokemon was the Manectric, and he wore a Manectric-theme headband as well.
His accomplices were much more unintimidating. The one with the Minun was short and plump, also with a toothpick in his mouth. His hair was much like Scott's, and he wore a t-shirt that said "I don't bother with people who can read." The one with the Plusle was tall, blond and wore transperant glasses. He had a mischevious grin spread across his face. He also wore a white labcoat buttoned up tightly, and long, silver pants with Magnemite designs.
"I asked you a question. I expect you to answer."
Kazo gained a spontaneous boost of confidence and answered. "Yes. I do have a problem with it. Now go jump in a tar pit." he said triumphantly. Although his mockery resulted in frowns from the leader and the tall one, the short, plump one raised an eyebrow in obvious stupidity.
"Whassa tarpit?" he asked, quite resembling Patrick the Starfish from Spongebob Squarepants.
Ignoring the oblivious imbecile, the leader raised a fist and struck Kazo across the face, sending him flying into the water. The Horsea frowned this time around and dove underwater, into the depths of the sea.
Kazo was about to surface when he saw the Horsea dive. He followed it for about half a minute, when he seriously lacked air. Pivoting upwards in a spiral towards the surface, he grabbed his Eevee's pokeball.
On the shore, the plump one was blabbering again. "Didja kill him?" he asked pathetically. Almost right after the words left his mouth, Kazo erupted out of the water in a fanfare of water droplets. "Eevee! Go! Use Return!" Eevee flew out of the pokeball and glowed white. It then charged into the tall one and sent him flying into a Durin berry bush. "Magnemite! Use Thunderbolt on the Eevee!" He sent out a silver, one-eyed floating creature that blasted powerful shocks of lightning at Eevee. Just as it was shocking the small dog, a burst of fire came from the ocean. Everyone's attention turned to the open water as a Kingdra, followed by the Horsea, blasted continuous rays of fire at the Magnemite. It then blasted water at the three rogues who fled like the cowards they were.
As Kazo turned around to leave, with grin from ear to ear a, small something poked his foot. He saw the Horsea at his feet smile at him. It jumped and reached one of Kazo's pokeballs on his belt, and vanished inside. Kazo had caught his first water pokemon! The surge of delight was so amazing, Kazo immediately realized that he should start traning again.
Once he returned to Mossdeep, he realized that was the only place he hadn't gone yet on vacation! And his hometown too… tsk tsk… He trotted down to Mossdeep beach for a day of fun in the sun.
And what fun it was! He splashed around in the water with old friends and he saw the newly rebuilt bridge. He played in the water with wild Krabby, but the fun stopped immediately after the head lifeguard called off swim time on reports of wild Sharpedo.
There were four ominous-looking dorsal fins in the distance. Sometimes they would jump out of the water. Fortunately, they seemed to be standing still, and not charging towards Kazo. But, he knew Sharpedo could move VERY quickly, so he turned around and ran, along with the dozens of other people, towards the beach.
As he ran along a narrow sandbank, he suddenly fell into very deep water. He looked into the distance- the fins were gone. He suddenly saw a glow of light emitting from a Chinchou, and saw that the Sharpedo were charging at him from underwater! He took the bucket that he had in his hand, scooped up the Chinchou, jumped back on the sandbank, and ran back to shore.
Once at shore, Kazo collapsed on the sand, breathing heavily. Then, he got up, shook his head, and looked in the bucket. He had caught a Chinchou and a Shellder as well! They seemed to be playing. He smiled, and rushed them back home to put in his aquarium for the time being.
It was a long, tiring day. He caught two new pokemon, but he knew that in two days, on his twelth birthday, he would really set off on his journey. But that was two days from now. Tommorrow, he would go on a deep sea fishing cruise with his dad.
--
Kazo felt the ocean wind rush against his face. He had left off very early in the morning, and the sun just finished rising completely. "Dad, the SS Feebas is just as sturdy as it was a few years ago, isn't it?" the Feebas logo along the side of the ship was fading and chipping.
"'Course it is son. Now, let's use my dive rods and get-a fishin'." Kazo's dad opened a case with his own invention in it, Dive Rods. Super Rods with Dive Balls put as the lure, and small video cameras embedded in the rods so you can see what's going on.
"Thanks Dad!" Kazo said. He casted his into the water and he watched on the screen. A few Tentacruel came close to being caught, but they left at the last second. "C'mon… Kazo said." Suddenly, a Relicanth sprang out of nowhere and grabbed the lure. It took Kazo by surprise and he fumbled, leaning against the rail. He got his posture back quickly though, and the game of tug-of-war between person and pokemon began. He pulled hard and eventually the Relicanth gave in. Kazo reeled it up to the boat and smiled as his dad took a picture of him with it. He stuffed it in a pokeball.
After a full day of fishing, Kazo's dad turned the Feebas around and they went home.
"Kazo! You're awake! Happy Birthday!" His mom greeted him. "Hon, Your aunt Bria is flying in from Jhoto at the Rustboro airport. She needs an escort. I'm looking at you. Why don't you go pick her up? Be sure to come back though! Bye!"
"Mom…How am I-"
"You'll take the Feebas. Hurry now! Her plane's landing in a few minutes.
He got out of bed, grudgingly. "Happy Birthday to me." he said, rolling his eyes. He got dressed, and stuffed Shellder and Chinchou into pokeballs, leaving the aquarium empty again.
As Kazo passed the bridge on his way to Rustboro, a few men were on the bridge talking about something. If Kazo had heard it, many things may have been revealed.
"The kid said it was a Gyarados, right? Well, it's impossible for a level seventy Gyarados to randomly pop up. Unless you caount this note I found in my email inbox that was sent to me two years ago and was put in my spam folder." The man held up a note to the others who gasped. It said:
"Let the kid die or you surely will." they all read aloud. Suddenly, the bridge rumbled and a Gyarados popped up out of nowhere and bit the bridge in half. Just to their luck, a whirlpool had just finished forming and was sucking them in. Only one of the men made it safely to shore, with very many scrapes and bleeding cuts from the wood. He brought his hat to his chest in mourning of the others that had gone under the face of the sea.
Redone on August 16th, 2006
