Lost Pokemon Tales – Chapter 1
"Thoom!" ... "Thoom!" Near Slateport city, a large passenger ship carrying at least five hundred paying costumers and one hundred and fifty crew members was about to reach its final destination. It originally came from the Kanto region and through the sea's Kanto region, went to the Johto region and eventually took it's long journey southwards towards the Hoenn region. A lot of the passengers on the ship were trainers hoping to find a new challenge in this so called "Hoenn" region but there were others as well. Some simply visiting the area for some fancy business deal or some taking a long, relaxing vacation in one of the most beautiful places on earth. The loud horn of the ship echoed throughout the town but most of the townsfolk would most likely be used to it as ships come and go in Slateport City.
A female voice echoed throughout the upper decks, apparently through a speaker of some kind. "Dear passengers. We are due to arrive in Slateport City in roughly fifteen minutes. The captain, we and Kanto Ship corp. Hope you will have an enjoyable stay in the Hoenn region and hope to see you again soon".
In one of the cabins of the ship, a trainer was packing his things and getting ready to set foot onto land. He apparently came from the Kanto region and after a long one month journey was finally getting ready to get off and begin whatever he wanted to begin. His cabin was fairly small but it fit his needs. There being just a small desk, a bed, a TV and a fridge for which you'd have to pay if you'd want to use it. He grabbed a medium sized but strange looking pokeball from the table. It had a purple color and it looked like it had strange engravings on its sides. Regardless of that, the trainer, a guy that looked like he was just below the age of 20, held it in front of him and pulled a smile.
"Looks like we finally made it. Don't know if you're ready but I'm betting you disliked staying in this little room just as much as I did..well..I don't know really..seeing as you don't have a body and all.." he laughed like a guy who liked his own jokes a little bit too much.
"Eh...Sir..". A female voice said to his right near the cabin's entrance.
He immediately looked to his right and dropped his laughter, staring at her in a moment of complete awkwardness.
Trainer: "...Ekhem.." He pulled the most serious face he could think of at the moment.
Girl: "Yes.. uhm.. Sir, the ship is about to arrive. All passengers are instructed to report themselves at the top of the deck." "Oh right...thanks. I'll be there in a moment". The trainer said to the woman. Unlike all the other trainers he had mostly stayed in his little cabin. Most of the other trainers were busy trying to best each other in pokemon battles but this trainer didn't really seem all that interested. He walked out of his cabin and headed towards the upper decks, anxious to see what Hoenn would look like.
Meaningwhile, somewhere north of Slateport city..
A girl came slowly walking off route 110 towards the towns entrance gates. She had dirt covering her clothes and grass stains on her legs, like she had been resting on the ground still wet from a rainstorm. Route 110 had been longer and harder to cross then it had looked like from the region map she bought at a small market store in Mauville city. The sun had finally broken through after a gray morning and the female trainer who looked like she had been in an area of solitude and stormy climates shook the dirt out of her hair and from her clothes, -or at least tried to- happy to see civilization after all that time of being alone. Well.. not completely alone, of course she would never go out there on her own if she didn't have her trusted partner with her. out of her somewhat ripped backpack, she took a small dimly shining ball, for a part white and for the other part red, the sheen wasn't as strong as the pokeballs you usually saw at the market store, but that didn't seem to mind her in the slightest. It was the only pokeball she had that actually contained something, true, she had never been an outstanding trainer, but there was more in life than just to hoard pokemon, so she thought..
Smiling, she put the old pokeball back in and slowly walked up to the gates of the city she'd been trying to reach for the past 2 weeks now.
The sea bordered the city of Slateport, it was well known for its shining white beaches and all around market, not even to mention the harbor that had over a thousand of original sailing ships in them. The long dirt path with its endless fields of tall grass and tiny rivers bordered the other side of Slateport city. The city itself was skewed, the beach part was of course lowest, making the entrance gate a great lookout over the entire city.
In the eyes of the girl, the houses and boats looked so small from a distance, she could see sailing boats and ferry's slowly pass the shore near the beach. Breathing in deeply, she made a run for it, rushing off in the middle of the streets with seemingly no special destination in mind other than to get into the city...
Finally, after all this time the ship had finally docked and a plank was being lowered so the passengers could get off and do whatever they felt like doing in this region. By the time the trainer finally got to the upper decks most of the passengers were gone already and the crew was busy unloading all sorts of boxes, goods and what not. He walked up to a railing and looked out over the city. "Whoa..that looks amazing. I think we made a good choice coming here." the trainer said while glancing at the pokeball he still held in his hand. "Well..I'm sure it was worth the long trip anyhow! Let's go."
He directed his attention towards the plank ahead and smiled at the attendants that were coming to see everyone off. "Have a nice stay in Hoenn Sir, We hope to see you soon." One of the attendants said while the trainer passed. The trainer quickly responded with a "Yeah! Thanks!" before he rushed down the plank onto the dock. It was quite a large city, larger than what we was used to anyway back in Kanto, and his eyes obviously were filled with amazement. "Well..where should I go first.." suddenly he heard the most foul, awful sound he could possibly imagine..a growl comparable to that of a Charmander.. and it seemed to be coming from his stomach. He rubbed a hand over his belly and scratched the back of his head with the other. "Uh..I think I'm hungry..I bet the fish they prepare here is great! Well..that answers the previous question, Let's go find a restaurant!" He said with a big smile on his face. With a determined look on his eyes he quickly made his way towards the town, his quest: To find the most delicious piece of fish he'd ever tasted!
The female trainer had changed from running to walking, to simply wandering around. There was so much to see, she took a mental note to go see the ocean soon too, maybe even before it would grow dark outside..
"Where'd I sleep though..?" she murmured to herself. Looking around, she was surrounded by buildings and to the left of her was a small shopping district. She knew no one and had never been in Slateport before, so the best idea seemed to just wander about and look for a nice spot to spend the coming night. She could already see the bleach moon in the sky, the sun was nearing the edge of the endless ocean horizon little by little.
Passing store windows, she looked at the prize of a menu on the other side of the glass *Expensive...* she thought. But not nearly had she started to turn around to continue her search, when she realized how empty her stomach felt. With a look of utter annoyance on her face she went off to look for a place to eat at, if possible as cheap as she could find. Her hand graced the small pocket on the right side of her short-sleeved jacket, she could feel barely any coins in there, which meant she would probably have to do some side jobs again to still have something to live from.
With her hands inside her pockets, she walked onwards, on her way to what would hopefully bring her a place to stay at and a full stomach.
At the same time, the trainer had just found a restaurant that had gained his interest. It had a very unique, pokemon-like style and a menu had been printed on a paper that was attached to the restaurant's windows.
Just as he was about to inspect it, he heard a loud, grumbling voice from behind him. "Hey, Kid!" he turned around and found the voice strangely familiar.. While onboard the ship, the trainer didn't really involve himself with any of the battles that were happening on the decks. And while most of the trainers were busy competing, this one simply didn't care all that much. This apparently got him on the bad side of one of the ship's crew members that had challenged him (whose offer to battle he had shrugged off earlier) while he was getting himself some food in the mess hall.
"I've seen you keeping a pokeball around and that means you've got a pokemon and that means you've got a pokemon and -that- means you gotta battle!" the guy said. He seemed to be in his late twenties but constant exposure to salty sea air didn't seem to do his voice any good.
The trainer responded with an obviously annoyed tone "I told you before..I don't wanna battle..All I want to do is get something to eat because I'm sta-.." The trainer got interrupted before he could finish his sentence. "Yeah..guessed you were gonna say that. Well you're gonna battle me or you're gonna get really hurt.". The guy grabbed a pokeball and threw it on the ground, releasing a Raticate. "Go Raticate, teach this kid a lesson with a hyperfang!". The Raticate responded and immediately leaped towards the trainer to perform his attack.
A few streets away, the girl trainer got passed by several people who were nervously walking away from the direction she was heading in. Confused, she stared at the fast disappearing amount of people on the streets.
*What's going on here? I wonder why everyone left so suddenly.. not a minute ago the place was crowded.*
She shrugged and walked onwards, windows on both sides of the street were being closed and lights went off. "That is odd, it's nowhere near time to go asleep already, why are the people acting so strangely?".
Her pace had slowed down a little, now that it was quiet out on the streets, there was something that made her slow down and get her guard up. In the distance she could hear someone shouting in a raspy voice, curiousness got the better of her and she wandered off towards where the sounds were coming from. She had no wish to reveal herself to some kind of problems, but she just couldn't help but sneak a peek at what was going on out there. A large stone wall blocked the path to where the sounds were coming from, looking up, she decided the wall was too tall to climb over. Looking around for a way to get past the concrete wall she spotted the tough-looking branches of an old ivy plant against a corner in the wall. She went over to the corner and tried the strength of the branches by pulling it hard, it seemed to hold. Slowly and carefully she pulled herself up along the branches, climbing towards the edge of the wall. Luckily, the plant held out long enough for her to pull herself up and swing her legs over the edge, though her knee got scraped a little in the process.
She sat herself atop the wall, looking down, there was a staple of flour sacks below her to the right side, she'd get off easily. Looking up she noticed the source of the sounds she had come for, it looked like some sailor guy from her view, talking to another, smaller guy, which she couldn't get a clear look at since the sailor was blocking her view.
Curious to what would happen, she stayed put and watched the scene unfolding before her.
The trainer gasped in pain. Just before the Raticate could make a frontal attack, he leaped out of the way, but the sharp teeth of the pokemon still made a clean cut across his right leg just before he could avoid the attack completely. He fell on his chest and looked up at the sailor type. "Damnit that hurts..Hey! Using pokemon to attack people is against the law you know!" he shouted. The sailor type showed a grin in response, quite cliché, but he did it nonetheless.
"If that's your attitude you aint gonna come far in this region!" The sailor looked at his Raticate and shouted another command. "Come on Raticate, time to show him who's boss. Hyperfang!"
In a small instant the trainer grabbed his strange pokeball and released a pokemon right in the path of where the Raticate was going to make another strike. Within a single moment after the pokeball had landed on the ground the Raticate was send flying backwards and a veil of smoke surrounded the area where the Pokeball had landed. The trainer let out a sigh of relief and slowly pulled himself back on his feet. He directed his gaze towards the small puff of smoke that was now slowly starting to fade away, revealing the Pokemon that hid underneath. Something that looked like smoke, it was still thick, but it looked like a ghost type pokemon. "Thanks. Okay.. you wanna battle?" He said while directing his attention towards the sailor again.
The trainer looked at his summoned pokemon. The puff of smoke had now almost completely vanished and it revealed the looks of a certain pokemon..a pokemon that looked somewhat familiar to a Ghastly. "Rei!" obviously due to his tone of voice he seemed to be addressing his pokemon "Payback!".
A large grin appeared on the Gastly's face and a shadowy aura covered his round body, releasing in a ball-shaped energy attack in the Raticate's direction.
Was there a pokemon battle going on? She could hear the growls of a Raticate, leaning sideways she tried to see past the sailor, the other guy had fallen for some reason.. For a moment she wondered if she should help the guy, just then, the guy threw a pokeball and a cloud of smoke surrounded the site. She almost lost her balance on the wall, but managed to stay on top. Looking up in confusion, she saw that the boy had stood up again, in front of him was a ghost-like pokemon she had not seen before.
It had just become more interesting, it was rare that she got to see other trainers battle each other, she herself had avoided encounters as much as possible, which left her with not much experience as a trainer at all. She knew how most trainers would usually battle like their life depended on it, loudly claiming that they'd somewhere in the near future would beat the regional elite four and receive physical proof in the form of the national record book that they were the strongest trainers of our time. Many trainers held on to that dream, every village or city had countless young trainers each year again, heading out to become a so called 'pokemon master'. The girl was a trainer, yes. Even though her least favorite thing being battling, she was still intrigued by the battle before her.
The boy had finally decided to attack back and his pokemon followed his orders without question. She decided to stick around and see who would win.
For a moment there was complete silence where the fight was taking place. The Raticate had -just- managed to dodge the attack from the trainer's Ghastly, but it seemed that the area where the attack of said Ghastly had struck had simply vaporized, leaving a relatively medium sized crater where the ball of energy landed. Larger than the Raticate in any case. The sailor twitched in response of his Raticate almost being fried. "...Okay, now you done it-..Y-..you're gonna pay for this-!" Before -he-, this time, could finish his sentence the trainer interrupted him by giving another command to his pokemon.
Obviously he was not at all paying attention to the sailor guy, but was instead intent on finishing this battle as soon as possible. "Rei, use your sucker punch attack. And don't stop until they see some sense and leave us alone because I'm STARVING!" He said in a frustrated tone. Following the trainer's orders, the Ghastly disappeared in a cloud of smoke, only to appear right behind the Raticate and giving him a headbutt the Raticate probably soon wouldn't forget. The Raticate was once more send flying backwards, but this wasn't the end of the Gastly's attack. Before the Raticate could come to a complete stop, the Ghastly repeated the trick, appearing in the area where the Raticate would land and delivering a shadowy strike that would send him flying against the wall of the restaurant.
The Ghastly looked at the Raticate, and, deciding the battle was over, made his way towards his trainer's side. The sailor type rushed towards his Raticate and knelt down beside him, looking at him with desperation. "Raticate! Come on! Get up..GGAAAAAAHH.." He then directed an angry glare in the trainer's direction. "OKAY! PLAY TIME IS OVER!" He shouted while reaching in his pockets. What he grabbed was unclear for a moment. Retrieving his hand from his pockets the Trainer now saw him holding three other Pokeballs in his hands, and, without hesitation the sailor threw the three balls on the ground, releasing the Pokemon that held them. From left to right they seemed to be; Staryu, Starmie, Lickitung and a big, mean looking Blastoise. The sailor got back on his feet and directed his gaze fully towards the trainer "Hmpf. You're dead, kid. Better say your prayers.".
The sailor was clearly cheating, even with her limited experience she knew that using more than 2 pokemon at once was against the national battle rules. The boy had only the ghost pokemon to defend himself, it looked like an unfair battle. She retrieved her pokeball from her backpack, gripping it tightly. If the boy would get into serious trouble, she'd step in, even if there wasn't much she could do.
"Blastoise! Hydropump!" the sailor yelled at his pokemon. The fight was really getting started now, but it seemed kinda hopeless for the younger trainer. He grimaced at the situation, seeing his Ghastly being blown away by the Blastoises' powerful Hydropump attack. "So you're gonna cheat to win huh?" the trainer yelled at the sailor. The trainer quickly restored his attention on his Ghastly which was slowly getting up again. The grin on the Gastly's face still seemed to be a grin, but it was obvious the pokemon was getting annoyed now. The trainer ran to the side of his pokemon and turned, fixating his sight on the sailor that he was fighting.
The trainer looked at his Ghastly and though he didn't say anything, there seemed to be a mutual understanding for something. It is known by most people that ghost and psychic type pokemon communicate with their masters through telepathy so this might've been the case.
The sailor on the other hand shouted his commands to his pokemon as loud as he could possibly do. "Like I said kid, you're dead, game over! Staryu, Starmie! Water gun! Lickitung! Surf and finish him off with a Hydropump Blastoise!". Within a second the pokemon followed their master's command and leaped forward to perform their instructed move!
They got closer..
And closer..
AND closer...
