-Zaaaack
-Zack!
-Breakfast is re-
I awake with a start and race to the kitchen
Before me upon the table lies a feast of bacon and spearow eggs, sunny side up. I was hungry
"Good morning to you too, Zack" says my mom as she comes down the stairs from my room
"Good morning mom" I try to say, through a mush of bacon and eggs
"Gee, you're hungry" says mom "Is it just that good this morning?"
"It's just as amazing as usual mom. I'm just excited. I told you how I'm going to the caves today. Steven promised to take me on his archeological expedition today. You know how long I've been waiting for this?"
"Yeah, Zack, I know. It's what you've been dreaming about for years now" she answers unenthusiastically
...And so the day continues. Zack prepares for his expedition, in anticipation of what he will find there. Not know that what he finds there will change his life forever...
I jog to the place on the coast, the meeting place for the day. Today's cave is near the water, and was recently discovered because ocean erosion on the coast. I see Steven approach on his bike, and I call out to him. "Hey, Steven, I'm over here!"
In came riding a moderately tall, thin blonde man, with tight short curls adorning his pleasant face. As always he's wearing his worn jean shorts and a canvas shirt.
"Sorry I'm late, little man" says Steven "I didn't know you'd be here so early"
"No worries, Steven, let's just hurry up and go!"
"Hold yer horses little man," says Steven, grabbing me by the shoulder, "there's something that we need to discuss first."
"Like what? I've been studying for so long for this moment!"
"Like this, bro. You gotta cool yer jets. This is a newly discovered cave. Nobody knows how safe it is to go into yet, so we have to move very slowly, very quietly, and most of all, we can't touch anything"
"Come on, please? I really want a souvenir! I want to remember this day forever, please?"
"No, and that's final. Sorry dude, but that's the way it's gotta be."
"Fine, I won't touch anything." I say. "Now let's go to the cave! What's it called again?"
"That would be 'Rock-Water Cave.' It's called that because it's exactly half filled with water. That is, for the most part."
We head on down the beach, him before me, watching as the sand diminishes and the stone increases along the side of the island. Eventually the sand disappears beneath the waves entirely, and we wade through the water. Only up to my ankles at first, but then then it rose up to my knees, proceeding higher and higher until I can stand it no longer when we arrive at Rock Water Cave.
It was a hole, about the size of a fully grown man, which went deep into the island. The water went halfway up the walls, as promised, and we climbed inside easily. The walls were smooth, but not rounded. They were covered in bulbous stones, smooth as finely crafted glass, and it made the walking tough.
We progressed, Steven and I, into the cave, I chest deep, Steven groin deep in the warm southern waters, when all of a sudden everything becomes dark. I look back, only to see the opening just as it had been before, with a strange foreboding feeling.
"Everything alright, little man?" calls Steven, a little bit further ahead.
"Yeah, I'm fine"
I wasn't fine.
We progressed further into the cave when all of a sudden, a torrent of water rushes towards us. Steven is swept away by the water and I see him fly past me, carried by the water. I try to shout but the water begins to suck me outwards. I am about to be lost to the ocean when my hand strikes upon the wall, and I hang on for dear life, but it came loose, and was swallowed by the ocean
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...
...
...
BREATHE!
BREATHE, GOD DAMNIT!
Those were the first words I remembered.
I awoke, coughing up water profusely, to a middle aged man beating my chest in with all of his might. You have no idea what it's like to drown until you actually experience it. Your lungs burn as you run out of oxygen, like its being attacked by a rabid cheese grater from the inside, your eyes begin to fail you as salt stings your eyes, but the most painful part of the experience was yet to come.
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"Oh my god, y'alright, boy?!"
My vision began to clear, as I was awaking for the first time from the ocean, and to see my savior.
"I said, y'alright, boy!?"
I sat up with much effort, and looked at my surroundings. I was sitting on a boat, seas and waves all about me, not an ounce of land in sight.
"Ya better be answerin' me, else I be throwin y'off me boat!"
"Where am I?" I asked my loud savior.
"Thank the gods y'aint damaged from th'ocean. That sometimes be happenin' cuz o' the tentacools, useless bits a trash. Ya can't even eat the damn things. Ya be on the finest craft south o' fuchsia, boy, and I be the fastest sailor upon these here seas. Where ya from, boy? Awful far from home, I reckon, 'specially for a mite like yaself."
"Hey, I'm Zack, from Cinnabar Island."
"Cinnabar Island! Ya be a far ways from home now. Pleasha ta meet ya Zack. I be Oscar, o' the great Blue Seas. Now, might I ask, what be that thing stickin ta ya'r chest?"
"Hmm? What do you me-" I began to say as I looked down to see my entire chest covered by a dome of stone.
I screamed. What else can you do when you see your whole chest covered in stone?
"I guess ya hadn't noticed it yet. Don't worry, I got it"
Oscar grabbed the done by the lip near my face and ripped it from my chest, revealing 4 tears on my clothing
"Ah, it must've gotten stuck with these sharp bits on the bottom."
I was panting hard, scared half to death by what had just happened. I looked at it closely. I thought I had seen it before. I looked at it, trying to remember, but I came up with nothing.
"What is that?!" , I asked, breathing heavily
"Damned if I know, but if'n ya don't mind I'd like ta keep it with me. I aint neva seen a rock like that before."
"By all means, keep it" I say "That things scares the crap out of me"
"Thank ya kindly boy. Now i guess ya be wantin' a ferry home, eh?"
"That would be much appreciated, sir"
"WELL I CAN'T ABANDON ME GOD DAMN JOB SO EASILY! DON'T BE SO SELFISH!"
"Y-yes, sir"
"Now, if ya are ta be useful, ya'r gonna have to fish"
"Y-yes, sir"
Then Oscar handed me a fishing rod, and I went to work for him as we made our way slowly back to Cinnabar Island
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ONE WEEK LATER
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"Looks like we be at ya home now, boy. Thanks for helpin' me out with me fishin'. I ain't neva caught so many fish!"
"Don't mention it Oscar, you did save my life after all." I said, slightly embarrassed.
"Naw, as a thank ya, I be givin' ya this'ere Goldeen thatcha caught. I wouldn' dare let such a beautiful pokemon be eaten by land lubbas. Not that the mite thing would go for much. Go ahead, take it ta rememba me by."
"Gee, thanks sir. I don't know what to say" I said, but what I was really thinking was "What the heck am I going to do with a Goldeen, not to mention a tiny one like this"
"Don't mention it. Maybe sometime if I be round these here parts, I'll visit ya, say me 'how d'ya do 's and the like."
"Sounds good to me, sir"
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All things to be said, said, and all things to be done, done, I began my trek home, and he, his, when I remembered the rock.
The rock.
THE ROCK!
Just then I remembered where I had seen it! It was one of the rocks from Rock-water cave! The professor would probably be very interested in such a find. I ran back to the harbour where I was dropped off, to find Oscars boat in the distance. What could I do? He was leaving with a possibly very important find...
When I remembered my Goldeen. I hadn't so much as thought of her since I got her in Oscars Pokéball. I tossed the pokéball into the water , and she came bursting forth, suddenly incredibly beautiful.
"Goldeen! Find Oscar and bring him back here!" I commanded her, and she was gone in a moment.
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I sat on the docks, filled with apprehension and stress, when I hear a familiar voice above me.
"That was ya'r Goldeen, wasn't it? Why ya be sendin her afta me like that?"
"Oscar! I'm so glad you came back. Sir, I'm going to need that rock of yours. I just remembered it and I really need it."
"Well, if it be that important to ya, ya can have it. It was nothin more than a souvenir for me anyway. So this is goodbye now, can I leave to return to me kids, or is there anythin' else ya wanna discuss?"
"No, I promise I won't send Goldeen after you again. Goldeen, good job, you can return to your pokéball now... how do I use this thing, she won't come back. Oh, never mind, there's a button here, I got this."
Goldeen returned to her pokéball safe and sound.
"Bye Oscar! I hope to see you again someday!"
"If fate be allowin' us. Farewell, boy!"
And so I returned Home. When I arrived, the door was locked at an unusual hour, so I knocked on the door.
No answer.
I knock again.
No answer.
I knock a third time.
The door flies open and suddenly I am being crushed by a woman in tears. My mother. After all the explaining and storytelling, I made her take me to the professor, who I thought would be very interested in my story and in the rock for the cave, as she wouldn't let me out of her sight.
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I arrived at the Science Lab. Where all of the local scientists worked, and I asked around, until I found the man I was looking for. He was a bald headed man, and well moustached, with a brilliantly white lab coat, and smelled of something fierce, like charcoal and brimstone. I knew him well enough to recognize him, but we'd never spoken before.
"Excuse me, Mr. Blaine, there's something that I need to talk to you about."
"Oh, so you're the boy Steven has told me so much about. You were the one he was with the day he went missing, I presume?"
"What?" I asked in disbelief "Stevens gone? He can't be gone! I'm back, and Steven is way better than me! This can't be true!"
"I'm afraid it is. Can you tell me what happened?"
So for the second time of many, I recounted what had happened a week prior. At the end of my tale, Blaine sighed.
"May I see the rock you mentioned?" He asked.
I gave him the rock, wordlessly. The reality of Steven's disappearance was starting to set in. He muttered something to himself beneath his breath, which I couldn't hear.
"This is all very interesting, young man, Zack, was it? You can go home now, I will need some time to ponder the ramifications of what you have told me and find any significance to this rock you gave me. Come see me when you're ready"
"Ready for what?" I asked
"I wish I knew"
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I returned to the Science lab every day at noon and asked for Mr., I mean Dr. Blaine, but he hadn't been seen at all. Everyone thought he was sick or out at the gym every day, so he must have been a pretty good trainer, to spend every day training there, but I knew different. That look in the eye as I left . . . it wasn't a good one.
It was about two weeks before I caught Dr. Blaine in his lab, and he had a bit to say.
"Zack, sit down in my office, I have some things to say to you."
I sat as he asked. He looked quite professional from the other side of the desk.
"I have some serious matters to discuss with you, are you sure you're ready for this?"
I nod, reluctantly.
"Alright, this isn't easy for me to tell you, but your friend Steven was murdered. His body was found on the beach 3 days ago. It had all the signs of a regular Tentacool incident, except for one thing. I will spare you the details and say that we are fairly certain that we know who the culprit is."
I was rocked. Steven was dead? How? I had clung to the hope that he would soon find his way back home as I did for the last two weeks.
"Who could do such a thing?" I whispered.
"I knew you'd ask. We have reason to believe that it was caused by an organization called Team Rocket. We don't know why they killed Steven, but this is not a first time that Team Rocket has done such a thing. The worst part is that the police are useless when it comes to handling this terrorist group. They are too busy with their internal politics to take on such a massive organization."
"Someone has to stop them" I whispered, my hand slowly closing into a fist.
"That leads to my next point." As he says this he reaches beneath his desk. He lifts up a tan object, about a foot-and-a-half in diameter, a large dimple on each side with 2 black dots near the top. I felt like it was staring at me
"Meet this little guy" says Dr. Blaine, and places it dimple side up on the desk. As he finishes, it lifts itself off the ground with 4 short yellow legs, and, then upon its back two alone, revealing its black as night underbelly, and two bright red eyes. "This is the rock that you gave to me 2 weeks ago. He was a fossilized, extinct pokemon, whom we have revived using recently discovered technology. He is, in fact a new discovery and seems to be the first of his kind in modern times, to my knowledge. I want you to have it. You found it, and we have done all the research that we can at this point. It would be best if you kept it and observed it for now, as it grows. And now, for my final point. I know that you are angry with this team Rocket, and I have a proposition for you, if you are interested."
"What is it?" I asked through my tears. I had been crying for some time.
"I propose that you come and train with me. You see, not only am I one of the head Scientists here in Cinnabar, but I am also the Gym leader here. Now, you may be surprised to hear this, but I can see in your eyes, a faint glimmer it may be now, but I can see that there is great potential in you. If you were to train under me, I think that you may be able to do something about them."
"Like what?" my tears beginning to leave me with curiosity.
"Like destroying this horrendous organization for good. What do you thi-"
"I'll do it."
"My, you're eager"
"Somebody has to do it. I don\t what any more people to die. People like Steven" That was when the tears returned.
"Well said, Zack. Two last things. If you are to train under me you will refer to me as Master Blaine, rather than Doctor. Second, you are to befriend your pokemon. Do not be blinded by your rage. They are your partners, not your tools or weapons. If that is the case, you are as bad as Team Rocket."
"How can I start being friends with my pokemon?"
"How about naming your Pokemon, for starters?"
"Alright, I'll do it"
"Excellent. Meet me at my gym, tomorrow at noon. We will discuss the rest and begin your training at that time."
"See you tomorrow Doct- . . . Master Blaine"
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