Royal Unova
Yesterday, I made a new friend. A human. His name is Bryce. He's a really nice kid, who offered to let us stay in his cabin on the ship. He happens to be a Pokemon trainer as well. I don't know which Pokemon he has, but he only has one. Because he's mine and Ariana's friend, I tell Ariana my crazy idea:
"Ariana." I say, trying to get her attention.
"Hm?"
"I have a crazy idea."
"I like crazy ideas. Let's hear it." She tells me, really wanting to hear this.
"Okay, but I don't want Bryce to hear this."
"Why not?"
"It's supposed to be a surprise."
I look at Bryce, who seems to be listening to music while playing Minecraft on his laptop.
"Okay, he's not listening. Here's my crazy idea:"
I whisper the crazy idea into Ariana's ear.
"What?! That's a crazy awesome idea!" She states her opinion.
"I know! Let's tell him, now!"
I tug on Bryce's jeans. He doesn't respond. I get up on the bed next to him, and start pulling on his shirt. He turns around and looks at me. He takes one of his headphones off of his ear.
"What's up?" He asks me.
"Well, Ariana and I were talking, and..." I cant finish my sentence. Maybe another way to word it?
"Yeah?" He asks, waiting for me to finish.
"Well, you see..." Ariana stops, maybe thinking of a way to word the sentence better.
"I'm listening." Bryce tells me.
"Well, we'd like to come along with you!" I blurt out, finally finding the correct words for the sentence.
"Yes! That's what it is!" Ariana just blurts out in agreement with me.
"Are you serious?! Are you truly serious?!" Bryce sounded excited. It made me and Ariana smile. It made Bryce smile.
"Yeah, we're serious!" I yell in excitement.
"You're NOT joking me, right?!" Bryce asks us.
"We're not joking at all!" Ariana says.
"Okay, then! Just give me one second!" Bryce tells us.
Bryce reaches into his bag, and pulls out two Premier Balls. He goes to the engraving process of adding our names on them.
"Why do you engrave the Poke Balls?" I ask him.
"It's so I don't get confused with another Pokemon, of course! You always need to have a method of keeping track of stuff!" He answers.
He finishes engraving our names into the Premier Balls. They're somehow written in black, but they're engraved, unless the Premier Balls are originally black before they're painted over. One reads Chewshoe, and the other says Ariana.
"So, which one of you wants to go first?" Bryce asks us.
"Can you just throw them both at the same time?" Ariana asks him in response to his question.
"No, they'll interfere with each other; so one of you has to move away in order for this to work, otherwise, it may get the wrong one of you." Bryce answers.
"Is it a painful process?" I ask.
"Nope. Just ask my friend here. He can't talk, but you two can understand Pokemon language! I'm not very good with it, that's for sure!" Bryce responds... Now this doesn't seem like a good idea, since he cant understand Pokemon language.
"I guess I'll go first. Ariana, stand back, or sit next to Bryce." I say.
"I can't watch!" Ariana says tp herself.
Ariana grabs her pillow, and she buries her face in it. Bryce reaches for the two Premier Balls, and makes sure he has the one that says Chewshoe on it.
"You ready?" Bryce asks me.
"You bet I'm ready!" I answer.
"Alright, let's hope this works!" Bryce says as he throws the ball.
The white ball hits me on the head, opens up, and pulls me inside, completely harmless. I sit there waiting for something to happen, then I hear a click. He then, lets me outside of the ball.
"Did it work?" I ask him.
"Yes. It did. Is there anything different about you that you know of other than the fact that you were caught?" Bryce asks me.
"Don't feel any different." I answer.
He then picks me up, and checks my back for anything wrong.
"Nope. Nothing different. Here. Wear this." Bryce tells me.
He then strings an Everstone, and ties it around my neck. It looks nice on me. It's not thick like a collar. It's more of a necklace.
"Okay, Ariana, it's your turn!" Bryce tells her.
As he says that, he clips my ball to his belt, and reaches for Ariana's.
"Okay." She says shyly, still unsure about this.
She gets up, and stands in the middle of the floor, hesitates, then says:
"I'm ready."
"Okay, let's hope this works again!" Bryce responds.
Ariana's ball does the exact same thing as mine does. However, it clicks faster than mine did. He then lets her out of her ball as well, and clips her ball to his belt, right next to mine. He then checks Ariana for any issues, and then says:
"Alright! Nothing wrong with you, either!" Bryce says.
"Umm... why do you do that?" I ask.
"It's the law. Apparently there are some defective Poke Balls getting on the production line, and adding extra limbs and messing up their genetic code, and such. I know. It's weird, but I have to do it, otherwise, I would have to pay A LOT to get it fixed." Bryce explains to us.
"Oh, okay. I'm just glad you didn't look THERE..." Ariana says.
"I'm not supposed to. It's the Pokemon Center's job to do that. Only medical professionals can do that. I'm only supposed to be looking for extra limbs, and nothing else." Bryce explains.
"Now, what would you have to do if there WEREN'T any defective Poke Balls?" I ask, feeling like a five-year-old with all these questions.
"Then, I wouldn't have to do this." He answers. I should have known that from the start.
"Wait, did you say that defective Poke Balls can mess up a Pokemon's genetic code?" I ask.
"Yeah, I did. Why?" Bryce answers.
"That means his eyes could be messed up!" Ariana says.
"Okay... let me piece this together here... You're a treasure huntng Quilava and a treasure hunting Sandslash that can both talk, and Chewshoe, there's something with your eyes that I don't know about?" Bryce asks, even though my eyes have nothing to do with the treasure-hunting and talking.
"Yeah..." I answer.
"His eye color changes depending on health and mood!" Ariana explains.
"Wait... WHAT?!" Bryce seems so mind-blown at this.
"I know! It's so cool!" Ariana says.
"What's the pattern?" Bryce asks.
"I dunno! It's cool, though!" Ariana answers.
"Come on, let's just go to the Pokemon Center on board to get your checkup finished." Bryce tells us.
We leave the cabin and head towards the Pokemon Center on the ship. There, we find a nice lady with an Audino at the desk.
"Hi, how can I help you?" The lady asks us.
"I recently caught these two, and they need their checkup." Bryce tells her.
"Okay, we'll call for Ariana when we're ready for them. That defective Poke Ball fiasco is really starting to become a problem. Anyway, go ahead and take a seat." The lady tells us.
"Okay. Thank you." Bryce says to the lady.
We sit there for what feels like HOURS until we were called. We were so bored that we decided to play board games. Ariana ended up winning a lot of them. The buzzer at our table goes off, and the lady calls:
"Ariana, we're ready for you."
"Do you want Chewshoe as well?" Bryce asks her.
"Yes, please." The lady replies.
Ariana and I head towards the nice lady, who then lifts us up, and carries us to the examination room.
"Chewshoe, can you go take a seat over there, and don't touch anything? Also, I'd look away." The lady says. I think to myself: "Don't hurt my girlfriend."
I just wanna get this done and over with, so I decide to not put up a fight and do what she tells me to do. It feels like forever until it's my turn.
"Ariana, you look very healthy. Your claws are in great condition. Your spines are nice. Nothing wrong with your ears." The lady lists off.
She takes forever examining Ariana. Then, I realize, she's probably gonna take just as long with me. I really hope she doesn't try to fix my eyes.
"Chewshoe, it's your turn. Ariana, can you go take a seat where Chewshoe was? Don't touch anything. Also, I'd look away." The lady says to both of us.
"Please, do be gentle." I tell her. Sensitive spots and such.
"You look very healthy as well! Fur is nice. Flame organs have a little bit of sand in them. Have you been digging?" The lady asks me.
I answer: "Yes, I have."
"It's okay. The sand won't affect the combustion of your flames. I was just curious. Your ears are certainly fine, your paw seems to look as if it was recently injured. Is it okay if I take an X-Ray of it?" She asks me.
"Sure. I recently fell from a ceiling and I hurt it. It feels fine, but it's probably still healing." I tell her.
She takes an X-Ray of my paw, and shows it to me. My paw is broken, but not too majorly. It's healing quickly.
Seeing this, the lady says to me: "Here, lemme fix your paw for you."
So she does. My paw isn't broken anymore, but the shape is all funky. Now I can finally let out my very small claws.
After that, she says: "Let's take a look at your eyes."
And this is exactly what I was afraid of. My eyes change color out of fear. They turn a very light pink.
"Your eyes just changed color. Here, I'll fix that for you." The lady says.
"No!" I immediately yell rudely, but I fold my ears back as an apology for yelling. The lady seems fine with this.
She then asks me: "Why not? You do get annoyed by the color changing of your eyes, do you?"
I answer: "No, I really don't. I actually like it when my eyes change color."
"His eyes change color based on health and mood." Ariana says to her.
"Yeah, they do. I would at least like to know why it happens." I tell the lady.
The lady replies: "If I tried to do that, I'd have to stick a needle in your eye, and you could go half-blind."
Immediately after that, I just say: "Actually, no, don't do that. it sounds painful with a horrible consequence."
The lady says to me: "Okay then, it looks like you're done after I look at everything else that could possibly be affected."
So she does. I feel a little bit offended and my eyes turn a dark red, but at least she's finished. Out of relief that there's nothing wrong, my eyes turn yellow. When we leave, the lady tells Bryce that we're all good and healthy, and that neither of the Poke Balls were defective. Out of happiness that it's over, my eyes turn to the normal purple color that was recorded on the medical form that Bryce had to fill out. Finally, we can return to the cabin and get some sleep.
5-25-2014
Royal Unova
So, we're still on the cruise ship, and we're not stopping for quite a while. Yesterday, we were officially named Bryce's Pokemon. He's a good trainer who doesn't see us as just mere tools of war, but as friends, partners, and trusty companions. He's not like all the rest of the humans. He really appreciates us for being his friend, and with all the help around the cabin he's been getting. He also cooks and bakes for us, rather than to just give us plain old everyday Pokemon food. I have never had a steak until Bryce cooked one for us.
"Ariana." I say, getting her attention.
"Hm?"
"What do you think of Bryce?"
"I like him. He takes good care of us, and he's not too harsh on us at all."
"What do you think of his cooking?"
"His cooking is heavenly! I loved those little dough things he made with the meat and cheese inside with the dipping sauce! What was that called again?"
"A Stromboli?"
As soon as I say 'Stromboli', Bryce walks into the cabin, carrying colorful pouches with stuff inside of them. It looks as if it's mostly in boxes.
"What's in the bags?" I ask him.
He just replies: "It's a secret. Go play video games, or something. Lunch will be ready shortly."
"Okay."
I go into the backroom, and pull out a big blue box. I pull off the lid, and there's sheets inside. I lower my head into the box, and clench the first sheet with my teeth, and pull it out. It flies up into the air, and covers me. I roll around trying to find an exit, and end up wrapping myself in it. Ariana just sits there and giggles at my stalemate like I have the intellegence of a kitchen shelf.
"Ari, it's not funny!" I tell her.
"I never said it was. I'm laughing because it's cute!"
"Aww. Come on, help me out."
"Okay, fine, but only because your eyes are black out of embarrassment, and it's creepy."
I find it hugely ridiculous that I got wrapped up in a sheet and couldn't get out of it, so I had to ask Ariana to help me. It was embarrassing, yes. And yes, my eyes do turn black when I'm embarrassed, so I am going to close my journal for the day, just so I don't have to write about anything else that happened.
5-26-2014
Royal Unova
Bryce doesn't feel like cooking today, so he told us that he's taking us to one of the restaurants on the ship, and that it's apparently a really nice place, so we have to get ourselves cleaned up. Once I head to the bathroom, Ariana says:
"Chewshoe, I need in there first." Ariana tells me.
"You do? How come?" I ask in response.
"I'll be fast. Dry shampoo is messy. Bryce told me that we also need to put these on, and that you need to style your fur." She explains to me.
"Clothes? This must be a really nice place we're going to."
Ariana rummages through the colorful pouch, and throws something to me. I hold it out in front of me. It looks like a jacket and a shirt. Ariana pulls out what looks like a shirt and a skirt. Ariana runs into the bathroom as quickly as she can and shuts the door. I hear her say through the door:
"Like I said, I'll be fast. I'll be out in a few minutes."
I wait for about 7 minutes, and Ariana pops out of the bathroom. Her clothes look very nice on her. Black skirt, Pink and Gray shirt.
"Ari, you look lovely!" I tell her. She is beautiful in those.
In response, she says: "Hehe, thanks! I love these clothes!"
"Yeah, they look very nice on you!" I respond.
I rush into the bathroom. I take longer than she does. Unlike her, I actually have to WASH my fur. It's intolerant to dry shampoo. I throw on my clothes. Gray and Red shirt, with a Black jacket. It looks nice. I spike my fur up a little bit in the front, then head out of the bathroom. Ariana looks at me, and then says:
"You look nice. There's only one thing I see that doesn't look right."
She then approaches me, and starts messing with my fur. It looks messy on my head. It just looks the same as it usually does everywhere else.
Immediately after, she says: "There! Now you look like you're ready to go!"
We walk outside the cabin, and Bryce looks at us. He looks towards me, and says:
"Chewshoe, you don't need to take your journal. You'll get food all over it, then it'll get ruined. Trust me, I know what I'm saying."
"Okay. I'll go put it in the cabin." I say.
It's time to go, and I can't take my journal, so I'll have to leave it at the cabin, otherwise it could get ruined, and I don't want to risk that, so I'll close my journal for the day.
5-27-2014
Royal Unova
The dinner yesterday was fun, especially when Ariana and I had to dance with each other. It's been a very eventful cruise, and we're nearing our destination, Kalos. I look out the window of our cabin. It looks like it's gonna storm soon. Bryce packs our stuff up in his bag, mainly because we brought hardly anything. My bag is already choc full of stuff, and Ariana's bag looks like it's full of stuff as well. Bryce looks out the window soon after I do, and says:
"Huh. It looks as if it's gonna rain today."
"RAIN?! I-uhh... Let me in the Poke Ball!" Ariana says in panic.
Bryce asks in response: "But why? Don't you like being outside of it?"
"I do, but I want to be inside of it! Please, let me in!" Ariana answers.
Unintentionally cruelly, Bryce says: "Not until you tell me why."
"Please, I'm begging you!" Ariana yells.
At this point, Ariana was almost to the point to where she was crying. I think I know what's up. The thought of it almost made me want inside of MY Poke Ball as well. I knew Ariana needed emotional support, and badly. I get up from the bed, and approach Ariana. I put my paw on her back, and tell her:
"Come on, Ariana. Just let him know why you want to be inside. It's okay. You just need someone to support you. You don't need to cry. Please, tell him."
I immediately regret the "You don't need to cry" part of that, because immediately after I stopped talking, she fell into an emotional breakdown. I don't want to see Ariana like this. Neither of us do, so I try to calm down Ariana by giving her a hug, and just asking to talk about why she's so upset. She agrees, and tries to spill the beans.
"I-I-I-I'm... deathly afraid of water." She explains.
Bryce responds: "You are? Why didn't you just take a plane, if you're afraid of water that much?"
I explain to him: "The airport was too far away. Plus, we couldn't afford airline tickets."
"Ah, I see... Ariana... tell me something. Why are you afraid of water?" Bryce asks.
Ariana replies: "It's a personal thing."
"Ariana, it's okay. We're with you. Can't you tell us?" I ask, trying to calm her with the presence of our friend and myself.
"I'm your friend, aren't I?" Bryce asks, trying to calm Ariana down in an attempt to direct her mind toward something else.
Ariana tries to explain: "Well, the reason I'm afraid of water is-"
The boat rocks majorly. Bryce and I run over to the window to see what's going on. We turn around towards Ariana, and Bryce says:
"It's a storm. A thunderstorm. Both of you get inside your Poke Balls, now!"
He transports us into our Poke Balls, grabs his bag, and storms out of the cabin as fast as he can. We hit a huge wave and Bryce slips back to the railing of the ship's deck. He takes his hat off, and sticks it in his bag. We hit a huge wave, and Bryce flips over the railing. Before he could fall into the water, he grabs onto the railing, then calls for help. Without a response from anyone, he had to use his last chance of life. He calls out his Pokemon that he had before he met us.
"Eagleheart, I need you!"
The Poke Ball opens, and a mighty Staraptor comes out.
"Eagleheart, you need to put me back up on the ship! I saw a lifeboat on board. I need to get to it!"
"Star!"
Quickly, Eagleheart's talons grab Bryce by the shoulders, and he flies Bryce onto the ship. He then calls Eagleheart back into his Poke Ball.
"Thanks, Eagleheart. I could have died if it weren't for you. You saved my life."
Bryce rushes across the deck of the ship, and grabs the on board lifeboat. Without hesitation, right when the ship tilts, Bryce jumps off of the ship with the lifeboat and his bag , and lands right in it. He manages to get some distance away from the cruise ship on the lifeboat before it sank. That was very sad for him to watch, he says. He also had told us that many lives were lost during that shipwreck. As far as we know, he had only seen 3 lifeboats with people on them, so we weren't the only survivors. Next stop, Kalos!
5-28-2014
Royal Unova Lifeboat
Well, the storm's over, and we managed to get the last lifeboat. Bryce manages to find towels in his bag, and covers up the seats of the boat, and floor of the boat with towels. I don't even know how many towels he has, but as soon as he covers up the boat with towels, he lets us out of our Poke Balls. Ariana did not take that too well, because as soon as Bryce lets her out of her Poke Ball, she says:
"Water?! No no no, let me back in! LET ME BACK IN!"
Bryce then holds Ariana, and says:
"Ariana, it's fine! It's fine! We're on a boat. Be cool! You don't need to freak out!"
He then starts to pet her to comfort her. I approach Bryce and Ariana, and sit next to Bryce, then I start to stroke Ariana's spines. Bryce then tells Ariana:
"Look who's come to see you. It's Chewshoe. He doesn't want you to be scared by the water. It'll be fine. We'll reach Kalos soon."
Trying to comfort my girlfriend, I tell her: "Hey, Ariana, you don't need to be scared. This boat will get us to Kalos soon. Then, you won't have to deal with a lot of water. It's okay. Lots of Pokemon and humans are afraid of water. You're not alone. Imagine the Royal Unova never sank. Imagine we're still in the cabin on the Royal Unova, which never sank. How does that make you feel?"
"It makes me f-f-f-feel... NO! LET ME BACK IN! LET ME BACK IN!" She starts to panic.
She starts scrambling around on the boat. Sure, she's a Ground Type, but that may not be the reason why she's afraid of water. That doesn't mean she is afraid of water. Sure, I'm a Fire Type, but that doesn't explain my fears. I'm not afraid of water. I actually like the water. It's pretty. Hours pass while we try to calm Ariana down. It's now dark. For light, I ignite my head flame, but a soft flame, as I don't want to end up melting the boat, or burning the towels. I get a good idea. I turn to Bryce.
Getting his attention, I turn to Bryce. "Hey, Bryce?"
He turns back to me. "Yeah, what's up Chewshoe?"
"I have an idea."
"Let's hear it."
"How about we go around, and talk about our fears?"
"Ooh, I like that idea. Ariana, you'll have to take a seat on the boat."
"No." Ariana says.
"Please, Ariana? You can sit by me." I ask her, offering a seat next to me so I can hold her and comfort her.
"No." She says.
Trying to direct her attention away from the water, I say: "Please? You can just lay back, and look at the pretty night sky."
"No. I want inside the Poke Ball." She says.
I reply: "Well, you won't be able to talk to us about fears if you don't take a seat. Come on, take a seat. We'll tell you about our fears as well. All you have to do is take a seat. Look at the sky. Eat snacks if you'd like."
Ariana sighs and says: "Okay. I can't overcome my fears if I don't talk to anyone about them."
Ariana gets up from the floor of the boat, takes a seat, and lays on her back. She then looks at my flame, burning bright in the night sky.
"So... which one of us is gonna go first?" I ask.
Bryce answers: "I will."
Bryce closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, opens his eyes again, and confesses.
"I... have a fear of hail. It's small, but deadly, y'know? There are pieces of hail that have been the size of golf balls. It's already painful as it is. As much as I love snow, I hate hail. I'm also afraid of heights to a certain extent."
I comment: "Wow. Heights I would have expected, but hail? That's surely something I haven't seen anyone be afraid of."
Bryce replies: "Hey, shutup! I haven't seen you freak out after getting pelted with ice falling from the sky."
In response, I say:"Okay, okay, geez. Anyways, I'm afraid of animatronics. It's just something about these crazy-realistic looking robots that gives me the creeps. Maybe it's those eyes that never close, and stare into your soul. Whatever it is, I'm totally unsure. I've been afraid of them ever since I was a Cyndaquil."
Bryce asks me: "Is this because you may or may not have played Five Nights at Freddy's when you were young?"
"Huh? What's Five Nights at Freddy's? I've never heard of it." I ask.
Bryce answers: "It's a horror game with animatronics. Anyways, it's Ariana's turn."
Ariana hesitates, and lets it out: "I've always been afraid of water ever since I was a Sandshrew. Maybe because it's a post-traumatic thing. You see, when I was young, I lived in a tunnel system underground. The next thing I know, my home was being flooded. All I hear was Papa saying: 'Flood! Ariana, David! Get out while you can!' So, David and I run throughout the tunnel system as fast as we can. I escaped, but by the time I found out that David took a wrong turn and we split up, it was too late. Hours later, when the water was all soaked up by the land, I went back in to see the damages. I can't believe what I saw. Mama, David, Papa, Auntie and Uncle, Grandma, and Grandpa, just laying there. Then, I realized, they're all dead. My entire family was gone. Even David, my brother, drowned. I was then caught mourning my family by a Sandslash. She took me in, and raised me, to who I am. I grew up with a Sandshrew named Almonds. He also became a Sandslash, like me. I haven't seen Almonds ever since we left his parents' home, except for on TV. The last time I saw him on TV was when he was fighting a man named Steven, alongside a boy named Devin. And that's why I'm afraid of water."
I start: "That was the longest-"
Bryce continues: "And saddest-"
I finish: "Story we've ever heard."
Bryce summarizes Ariana's story: "So, you're afraid of water, because a flood killed your entire family except for you, and you couldn't save them?"
Ariana replies: "Yeah... I miss them."
After listening to Ariana's long, heartbreaking story about why she's afraid of water, I'm closing my journal for the night. I'm tired anyways. I feel really bad for her to know that she had lost her whole family in a flood. Looks like I'm sleeping now.
