Sinnoh Legends
Campfire Stories

Author's Notes: Most of the things you see that aren't part of Viridian Trio are sure signs that I'm experiencing one manner of roadblock or another with that story, and need to flex my creative muscles elsewhere. This is one such story, and I thought about it while brainstorming ideas for a Rocket-centric story that may run parallel to Viridian Trio.

The four friends sat in the comfort of the Pokémon Center common room, in front of fireplace, all with cocoa in one hand and snacks in the other. They laughed, and joked, and carried on as the sun set in the night sky.

Jeffry Tambor, the oldest at 17 years old, sat with his back to the fire and looked at his fellow trainers. "This is it," he said. We're there. Victory Road. We're practically knocking on the League's doorstep." It was true, too. The four trainers had all collected eight badges from the Sinnoh gyms, and now rested at the Pokémon Center outside of the front entrance to Victory Road, which would prove to be their toughest trial yet.

16-year-old Alysa Crandall and 14-year-old Tommy Sharpton nodded, thoughtfully, and the youngest of the group, 11-year-old Jenny Wilson, asked, "What do you think it's going to be like? The Championships, I mean."

"We've all seen it on TV," Tommy said, mussing Jenny's hair. "Lots of trainers, lots of different Pokémon to see and battle with."

"What if we have to fight each other?" Jenny asked. "I don't think I could battle with any of you guys."

Alysa laughed. "Well, I hope we get paired up, then." Jenny stuck her tongue out at Alysa, and Alysa responded in kind.

Jeffry shook his head, and said, "Hey, guys, lemme ask you something: when did it first hit you, when did it sink in that, y'know, this was for real? That you were going to take it all the way?"

"Oh, that's easy," Alysa said. "My first catch, outside of outside of Sandgem." Alysa took a sip of her cocoa and excitedly told her story...

I was just leaving, up Route 202, and a Starly swooped down from a branch, chasing after a baby Bidoof. I loosed Piplup (he was so cute before he evolved!) and had him chase after Starly when the Bidoof got away.

Starly only circled in the air, eying Piplup like he was a snack, and I waited until it came down before I told Piplup to do anything. When it was right in front, I told him to use Bubble, and the waterlogged Starly hit the ground hard.

I threw the Pokéball and gritted my teeth, and just a second later, I had it! Starly was my first catch, and Staraptor is still one of the best on my team. And I'll never forget the adrenaline rush that came with it – I never felt so alive!

"Good grief, Alysa," Tommy snorted. "Even a two-year-old could catch a Starly."

"Shut up, brat," Alysa snapped. "You didn't catch one!"

"Psh, my Hoothoot was way better."

Jeffry cleared his throat, halting the argument. "What about you, Jenny? When did it hit you?"

"Um," the pre-teen gulped her cocoa down and yelped at the heat. "Well, I don't know. I guess..." She trailed off.

Alysa looked at her sympathetically. "What is it, sweetie?"

"No, it's stupid," Jenny said, staring into her mug and blushing.

"Of course it's not, don't be silly. Go ahead and tell us. We want to hear it."

"O-okay," Jenny agreed. "Well, it was near Sandgem, just like yours, Alysa..." Jenny took a deep breath, then she, too, related the events that would stick with her for the rest of her Pokémon career.

I was on the beach, right outside of town, you know, where the big rocks are? There was this little Shinx, he couldn't have been more than a few months old, and he was being attacked by a flock of Wingull. My daddy told me I'd see stuff like that, y'know, Pokémon fighting other Pokémon for food or their homes or something, but it just seemed so unfair, y'know? This poor baby Shinx didn't know any electric attacks or anything, and the Wingull didn't kill it – it looked like they were just pecking at him for fun!

So I had to do something, right? So I picked up a little rock and threw it – not to hurt the Wingull or anything, just to scare them off. Well, I hit one, right on the head! It squawked and almost fell out of the sky, but then it stopped bothering Shinx and came after me, and so did all of its friends! They were pecking at me and they chased me all the way down the beach, and there was this girl, she saw me, and she sent her Pikachu out to scare them off.

She asked me a lot of questions, why I was out there, where my mommy and daddy were, but I just couldn't stop crying! I guess she got fed up, 'cuz when I finally got better, she was gone. But when I was gonna leave, I heard the Shinx meow at me, and then it ran up to me and curled up against my legs. And I caught my first Pokémon! I didn't even have to fight or anything!

Alysa reached over and wiped a tear from Jenny's eyes. "Aww, see, that wasn't so bad. That was a great story."

Tommy nodded, and Jeffry said, "And I saw you use Luxray in Snowpoint Gym, it got really strong."

"Thanks, guys," Jenny said, and her usual bright smile crossed her face again.

"All right, my turn!" Tommy said.

Alysa rolled her eyes. "Here we go," she muttered under her breath. "Another Corphish story."

"Are you calling me a liar?" Tommy snapped.

"I don't need to, everybody knows you are."

"Well, at least-"

"Hey, guys!" Jeffry raised his voice. "Come on, Tommy, go ahead and tell your story."

"It was a dark and stormy night," he began, adding "oooooh," for effect. Nobody reacted. "Aw, whatever. Anyway..." And he began his story as well, recounting the events of what really was a dark and stormy night, south of Solaceon Town...

I was halfway from Hearthome, headed for Solaceon Town. I just got out of the woods, after I beat this punk trainer with Machoke, and it started pouring. Well, it was late in the day, and it was getting dark, and I didn't want to get soaked, so I ran as fast as I could, trying to find somewhere to go to get out of the rain. It got really dark really soon, and I could barely so in front of me with all the rain.

Well, I saw this place, and I didn't ask any questions – I just barged in. I couldn't believe what I saw, either – a bunch of gravestones! It was the Lost Tower! Talk about creepy, y'know? There were gravestones everywhere, and it was really dark – there were just a bunch of candles everywhere.

Nobody was there, either, which was kinda strange, since the doors weren't locked. Well, I sat around for, like, ten minutes and got bored, and decided to go exploring. How could I pass up? It was supposed to be an honest-to-goodness haunted tower!

Well, I went up the stairs, and I got this really eerie feeling, like somebody was watching me. It was even darker up there, too, and I went through all the rooms, and I didn't find anything cool, except more gravestones. Well, I went up to the next floor, and it was darker and creepier, and I kept on feeling more and more like someone was with me. I looked around, and it looked like this place was for storing stuff – unmarked stones, and caskets and stuff. Uber-creepy, yeah?

And that's when I heard it, somebody calling out, "Help me... Help me..." Really weak, though, like they were far away, or tired or something. Well, I had to go and check it out! I thought maybe I'd find a real, live ghost. That would've been the coolest thing ever!

So I walked around more, and the voice got louder – I was getting closer, right? Well, I went into this one room, and it was right there with me. It was in the same room, but it was all dark and stuff – no candles or lights or anything. Well, there was lighting outside, and it lit the place up, and I swear I saw somebody, and I freaked and I ran out of the room!

But I could still hear it, "Help me, help me..." So I let Monferno out – not because I was scared, but so it could light up the room, y'know? And we went back in the room, and I saw it...

It was a kid! His leg was trapped under a tombstone that fell off a shelf, and he'd been crying for help for hours! Well, I had Monferno lift it off of him, and I helped him down the stairs and stuff, and after he got his leg all fixed up at the hospital, he was so grateful he gave me an awesome Pokémon – his Chimecho!

"And that's how I got Chimecho in the first place," Tommy concluded. "I know I never battle it much, but it makes really cool music. It won a contest once!"

"That's it?" Alysa asked. "That's your defining moment? Being given a Pokémon you could've just evolved yourself? That's stupid."

"I don't think it's stupid," Jenny defended him. "I think it's really nice, how you helped that guy."

"Whatever," Alysa said, and went back to sipping her cocoa.

Tommy looked at Jeffry. "Hey, what about you? You haven't given us a story yet."

"Yeah!" Jenny chirped. "I want to hear one of Jeffry's stories!"

Alysa said. "Yeah, c'mon. Out with it. What was your big moment?"

Jeffry set his cocoa mug down and yawned. "It's kind of a long one. Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Yeah!" they all replied, in unison.

"All right," he said. "Well, it actually started before I became a trainer, but it's when I decided I had to be." A dreamy look came across Jeffry's eyes as his mind traveled to the rooftop of Veilstone City's famous department store...

My parents were visiting a friend in Veilstone City, and they wanted me to go with them. Well, I didn't really know the friend, so I sorta wandered around the town for a while. Well, I heard the department store there was really big, and had a lot of cool stuff, so I figured I could check it out.

They barely had anything I liked, though – it was almost all Pokémon trainer stuff. So I went to the roof. It was kinda like a mall food court up there – fast food places, and vending machines, and tables and stuff.


So I got some food and I sat down, and while I was eating, I heard an explosion. It came from just north of the building, up by the waterfront where all of those warehouses and garages are. Everybody on the roof ran to the side to see, and the side of one of the building's was blown out, and a guy in a funny uniform burst out, riding on top of a Skarmory! This other guy ran out of the building after him, but the guy on the Skarmory took to the sky – and he was headed right toward the rooftop.

The other guy threw out a Pokéball – he had a Charizard, and he got on it to chase the other guy. Well, the Skarmory kept on shooting these spikes at Charizard, but Charizard was too fast – it dodged all of them, and they all stuck in the sides of the warehouse they came out of. So, Skarmory stopped ascending, about halfway up the department store building, and Charizard came in close. I guess that's what the Skarmory's owner wanted, 'cuz it started slashing and biting at Charizard, and they were practically brawling in mid-air! It was like something out of a movie.

The thing was, the guy on the Skarmory was playing dirty. Every so often, he'd have Skarmory try to knock the other guy off of Charizard, or shoot him with spikes. But Charizard was too fast, and too good.

Well, they kept on flying closer and closer to the building, and eventually you had to lean over the railing to see anything – almost everybody else had gone inside to try to get away by now, so it was just me and a few other people, but nobody else was on the rails like I was.

Well, they kept on the mid-air slashing and biting for a while, until Charizard got a good grip on Skarmory and smashed him right up against the building! The whole place shook, and it sent me sailing over the side! The guy on the Charizard saw me, and he immediately set to catch me. The guy on the Skarmory, though, I guess he took the distraction as a blessing and he flew off.

"Needless to say, Charizard caught me, and the guy brought me back to the ground," Jeffry said, and the others were fixed, unblinking, on his face. "I found out later that the guy he was chasing was a criminal, part of some weird eco-terrorist group. And that's when I decided I wanted to be a Pokémon trainer like the guy with the Charizard. I wanted to be able to help people, like he helped me."

"Wow," Jenny said, staring dreamily at Jeffry. "That was amazing!"

"Yeah," Tommy said. "It was really cool!"

"I guess," Alysa muttered. "I've heard better."

"Oh shut up," Tommy snapped back. "No you haven't!"

"Have too!"

"Hey, hey!" Jeffry raised his voice again. "Chill out, eh? Come on, let's all get some sleep. We've got a big day ahead of us."

Everyone agreed, and they all put their cocoa aside and slid into their sleeping bags on the floor. Jeffry tended to the fire, and looked at his three friends and smiled.

They all started separately, and for separate reasons, and logic dictates that they should be rivals, but it was their adventures that brought them closer together. They'd fought beside each other, and would soon have the chance to fight against each other, and their friendship was ever stronger for it. Jeffry silently wished each of them luck for the coming trials, and remained in his seat, watching them until his eyelids were too heavy to hold open any longer.