WARNING:

This is just a remake of the Crystal game. Basically it's a walkthrough in novel format. If you, also, have played through the game enough times to make you sick, you may not particularly enjoy this.

Disclaimer:

I do not own Pokémon. I own myself, my muses, and all original parts to this fic.

A Journey to Remember

Prologue

Greetings, all yea of the audience. I am Artemis Nightingale, authoress extraordinaire. Today I will begin an experiment in which I hope to create a pokémon to act as a new muse. I will place myself within Poké Space, more specifically within a Crystal Game Boy Game, and play through the game either until I give up or until I can create the muse I desire. I will be bringing along a few items normally not a part of the game. These include:

-a compass

-a backup muse

-sunglasses

The compass will be set like the game screen, north being the top, west being left, east being right, and south being the bottom. I will bring along Cerulean/Lapis, because she can use the vampiric abilities to remain hidden from the characters in the game. I need a backup muse in case I accidentally fall victim to any odd effects in the game and must be pulled out, plus I need someone to act like me when I pull out of the experiment to return to Real Space from time to time. The sunglasses are just kawaii. -^_^-

Now then. It is time to perform the jump in POKé SPACE!

~~~~~~~~~~~

I found myself in a wooden walled and floored room, in a body I vaguely recognized as being mine- my hair was a bright blue and in pigtails. That definitely did not make me happy, so I took off my cap and let my hair down, then braided it quickly and stuffed it above the adjustment strap in the back so that it hung down out of the way. I frowned at the rest of my outfit- perhaps sunglasses weren't the only addition I needed to make. I snapped my fingers to allow for an appropriate change of clothing. Nothing happened. I frowned, blinked down at my clunky shoes, snapped my fingers again. I clapped. I tried a few poses. Nothing. "Great. I'm stuck in Poké Space with no authoress abilities. Cerulean? Lapis? You here?" I watched as a woman with long, blond hair that rested in locks ending in blond scythes appeared before me. Lapis, the vampire- it was night here, then.

"Glad your here. Can you restore my authoress powers right quick? I'd like to get started."

"No, of course not!" She laughed like the wicked witch she was.

"Why not?"

"Because, my silly mistress, you could interfere with your journey if you had your powers!"

"Duh, that's the idea. Return my powers, muse, or else you will spend your night hours away from the moon forever."

"Mistress, in case you haven't noticed, you're in a foreign Space with no power or allies but me. I want to enjoy watching you suffer through the same torture of a story that you put others through every day."

"Cerulean- does she feel the same way?"

"Of course not. But if she tried to return your power, I'll just take over this body again when a bird gives her shadow. Besides, we muses have a little betting involved in this. We're just going to sit back and enjoy the show of the regular little girl in the big bad Space of Pokémon." She vanished with a final, clear, loud laugh that echoed within my mind a few moments longer then I would have liked.

"Oookkk... So my muses have abandoned me. Well, so much for the option of giving up. I'll just have to go through the experiment no matter what- I will find the aüia of a muse here, and call it to the body I want to have my Kaijin. If I find a nice, strong aüia, I should be able to teleport on out of this Space and into Authoress Space. Then all of you, my muses remaining, shall be tortured until you beg me to stop. Or," I said with a giggle, "until my insides are burning so much from laughter that I can barely breathe." I smiled at the thought. "Oh, yeah, sweeties- enjoy your fun while you can, 'cause Kaijin is coming!

Chapter One

My surroundings were simple, just like the video game I knew so well. A table, bed, computer, TV, bookshelf, and the town map. I walked around for a few minutes, making a metal note of the much more detailed version of the map then that which I knew.

I reached my hand casually into my pocket and felt a small silken pouch, within which was þ3000. It would do, for now.

I headed for the stairs, which were surprisingly short, taking moments to complete. That was when I noticed just how short the ceiling was, and how short I was. It was almost scary. "Why, oh why, did Pokémon have to be Japanese?" I shook my head in frustration, and looked around at the new room.

This, too, seemed simple. Two women were sitting at a table chatting- one I recognized as my "mother" from the game. She was surprisingly beautiful in this space, though I though she could use a fashion adjustment- I would just have to get used to the absence of taste in this Space.

Noting that the conversation seemed fairly deep, I attempted to sneak past the table without being seen. No such luck.

"Oh, Artemis...! Our neighbor, Professor Elm, was looking for you. He said he wanted you to do something for him.

"Oh! I almost forgot! Your Pokémon Gear is back from the repair shop. Here you go!" I raised an eyebrow curiously. I had expected to simply go by the game's default name in this space- not that I was one to complain. I grew curious as to whether or not I would also be allowed to name my rival. Shrugging the thought off, I accepted the bulky, boxy backpack and proceeded to examine it on the table. "Pokémon Gear, or just Poké Gear. It's essential if you want to be a good trainer.

"By the way, do you know how to use the phone?" I looked at her with an expressionless face. Best way in the world to answer a stupid question. "Don't you just turn on the Poké Gear and select the phone icon? Phone numbers are stored in memory. Just choose a name you want to call. Gee, isn't that convenient?" She returned to her previous conversation while I inwardly puzzled over how to use the phone without the use of the START button on my Advance. I looked over the pack again, and spotted a ridiculously boxy blue phone. I pulled it out and fiddled with the buttons until I more or less understood how it worked. "Why couldn't she just buy me a regular cell phone?" I muttered so that my "mother" could not hear.

Pulling on my new accessory, I turned to my mother's friend. I grinned despite myself when she immediately began speaking to me as soon as I got within about two feet of her. "Good evening, Artemis! I'm visiting!" Duh. "Artemis, have you heard? My daughter is adamant about becoming Professor Elm's assistant. She really loves pokémon!" I nodded, and backed away from the woman to examine what I guessed was the kitchen.

There was a delicious smell coming from the stove- upon examining the room and coming across a recipe on the counter, I found out that my mother was cooking Cinnabar volcano burgers. I glanced around to make sure that the two women hadn't noticed me, and snuck a taste. Fire danced on my tongue- it was as though a raging swarm of ants were crawling inside of my mouth! If I were not used to keeping my mouth shut I would have surely screamed in agony. My eyes flashed as they searched for any way to settle the screaming nerves.

There! The fridge! Of course!

I dashed the three two steps to the fridge and chugged several lemonade and water cans.

"Ugh..." I muttered. The fire was out, but that still left a lot of liquid in my stomach juggling like a half-filled water balloon. Well, only one way to relieve it- walk it off.

Groaning, I walked outside into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

meanwhile...

"I'll give her an hour," she muttered. All of the muses belonging to Artemis Nightingale (except Cerulean/Lapis, the schizophrenic vampire) rested casually in a cozy room in Author Space.

"Oh, come on, Lydia. Cut her a break."

"And what do you think, Authoress' pet?"

"Well, I think that she might get through it. I mean, I don't think she'll die," the green-skinned woman replied.

"You are such a little suck-up," Zoin cut in, tossing her dark blue hair back and rolling her grey eyes.

"No, I'm just her favorite," she said, and grinned, causing her black lips to shimmer viciously against sparkling teeth.

"You're all a bunch of fools if you think she's going to give up easily," whispered Cerulean, who had appeared from thin air.

"Hey, sweetie, aren't you supposed to be watching little miss I'm going to rule your life and you're going to like it?" Zoin scorned.

"I was, but Lapis stopped me from aiding her every time I tried. She'll be fine, for now. I assume that you have some way of watching her?"

"Of course," Lydia stated. She nodded at Mumei, who in turn rotated a green hand. A sphere formed in her palm, and her black horn glowed a dark silver. The sphere solidified into an opaque grey ball, which she set down and enlarged by more of her power which strongly resembled that of an authoress. As the group looked on, the ball shimmered and revealed Poké Space, the exact place at which the girl they barely recognized was located. She looked up, into what should have been the night sky. To her, yes it was. The muses saw, not a stargazer, but a view directly into the eyes of their mistress.

"Oh, I hate her," they each muttered in turn. But they would not go back on their decision to punish she which they loved enough to hate. Artemis Nightingale of Author Space.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The stars were absolutely gorgeous. The sky was so... Clear. I was used to such polluted skies as I saw in Real Space- skies orange and brown at night with pollution. The moon I knew was not that which I saw here, but a hazy spot in the sky. I could see everything in that sky. I could have fallen asleep beneath it for eternity and been at peace.

But I had a job to do.

Ignoring the breathtaking scenery surrounding the town, I headed west towards Professor Elm's home and laboratory. It was very close- after all, he was my neighbor.

Upon entering, I noticed two things. First, I saw lots, and I mean LOTS, of pokémon books. The second thing was the two men in the room- one a dorky aide with absolutely, ridiculously, unearthly large glasses, literally reaching from above his head to below his chin. I burst out in laughter. Oh. My. Gosh. Never had I ever seen anything so hilarious in my entire life.

Regaining my composure, I walked ahead (past Mr. Magnifying Glasses) to reach Professor Elm. I noticed that he, too, had large glasses, but thankfully not so alien- these were very similar to Lady Une's glasses from Gundam Wing. He had mousy, thin hair, and a simple, science-like manner about him.

"Artemis!" He greeted, "There you are! I needed to ask you a favor." Goody for you. "I'm conducting new pokémon research right now, and I was wondering if you could help me with it, Artemis. You see... I'm writing a paper that I want to present at a conference. But there are some things I don't quite understand yet. So! I'd like you to raise a pokémon that I recently caught."

"No." I said, snickering. I was mouthing along every word with him- I had read over this entire speech so many times playing the game that I was ready to puke.

"But... Please! I need your help!"

"Yes." I laughed, loudly, for a few moments.

"Thanks, Artemis," he continued. "You're a great help! When I announce my findings, I'm sure we'll delve a bit deeper into the many mysteries of pokémon. You can count on it!"

"You've got mail," said a monotone voice. I had locked eyes with the computer in the last word of Elm's little pep talk.

"Oh, hey! I got an e-mail!" Aren't you a genius. "............. Hm....... Uh-huh.......... Okay........... Hey, listen. I have an acquaintance called Mr. Pokémon. He keeps finding weird things and raving about his discoveries. Anyway, I just got an e-mail from him saying that this time it's real. It is intriguing, but we're busy with out research... Wait, I know! Artemis, can you go in our place?"

I nodded as he walked away from his computer to a table on which were three pokéballs.

"I want you to raise one of the pokémon contained in these balls. You'll be that pokémon's first partner, Artemis. Go on. Pick one!"

Three pokémon. Fire, water, or grass. Well, I know what the strongest is, and I know which one will make this game the easiest. Guess I'll take the other one. There's no way I will show weakness at my own game.

I took the beautiful, mystical green ball into my hand...