Dream 1: A Living Nightmare
"Hey, Dante! Wake up already!"
"M-maybe you sh-should leave him a-alone, W-Wildfire."
"Who asked you, turtle? Go back to your ball."
"B-but—"
"But nothing! Get out of here!"
"Th-that's enough! Q-quit picking on Rocket, you two!"
"Y-yeah!"
"Why don't you lovebirds be wise and stay quiet? Wildfire and I could kill you both in an instant."
"Try it, feather-butt!"
"Are you challenging me, Talon? I'm stronger than you."
"Ignore him, Gale. He's not worth it."
"Duly noted, Wildfire."
"What did you say, lizard-breath?"
All the shouting was making my head hurt. I struggled to open my eyes. When I finally did open them, I almost wished that I hadn't.
This has got to be a dream.
I was lying on a bed (that was obviously not mine) in a room that I didn't recognize. The Poke Ball symbols on the walls gave me a clue as to my location, which is what spawned my previous thought. The only place like this would be a Pokemon Center…
The other thing that brought that thought to my mind was the squabbling creatures around me. Two of them were birds, one with a crooked beak and the other with freshly-preened brown and white feathers. Two were quadruped spiky creatures, one being blue and the other being purple. One was a bipedal blue turtle. The last creature was a bipedal orange lizard with a flame on the tip of its tail.
I recognized them as Pokemon…and not just any Pokemon. Judging from the names I had heard them say (Wildfire, Gale, Talon), they had to be the Pokemon in my Pokemon Red version game. Why was I dreaming about them?
The turtle suddenly noticed that I was awake. "Dante! You're awake!" it—no, he—cried. It was Rocket, my Squirtle starter.
"Thank Arceus you're up!" the spiky blue creature said, relieved. It was Empress, my Nidoran female.
"At least Wildfire didn't hurt you while you were out," the spiky purple creature pointed out. It was Emperor, my Nidoran male.
"Hah! Take that, feather-butt!" the crooked-beaked bird squawked, pointing its—no, his—wing at the other bird. It was Talon, my Spearow.
"He would've awoken one way or another. This time, it didn't require violence on Wildfire's behalf," the brown and white bird—a male, judging from the voice—commented. It was Gale, my (possibly once Rook's) Pidgey.
"About time you woke up, Dante!" the lizard—also a male—growled, clawed arms crossed over his chest. It was Wildfire, my (formerly Rook's) Charmander. "Come on! We've got more training to do!"
So, they were calling me by my in-game character name. That made me slightly relieved. If they were calling me by my real name…
"Are we going or what, Dante? We can't reach the top if we're weak!" Wildfire barked, heading for the door.
I slowly got up from the bed, noticing that I was wearing the game protagonist's clothes as opposed to my own. The rest of my Pokemon got off the bed with me and followed me out the door. Wildfire and Gale both traveled ahead of me, unlike the other four members of my team. Rocket stayed the closest to me, practically clinging to my leg. I could tell straight away that my four normally-caught Pokemon (Rocket included) seemed to be afraid of my glitch-caught Pokemon (Wildfire and Gale).
Was it really a glitch that had caused me to catch Wildfire and Gale? It had to be. Why else would Rook seemingly disappear the way he did? And the weird things that Prof. Oak and Daisy had said after I defeated him…
"Here we are! Let's get to work, Dante! The stronger we are, the quicker we'll get to the top and prove our strength!" Wildfire declared.
I looked up and stared in shock. We were back on Route 22. Didn't we just leave? I thought we were going to Viridian Forest!
I was about to voice my complaints when I realized something. I couldn't talk! I opened my mouth but no words came out. Nothing I did could cause me to make a peep. Why couldn't I talk?
"Hey, are we going to train or what?" Wildfire growled, glaring at me. "If you can't make me strong, then I have no reason to stick around you."
I froze, terrified at the pure rage and outright cruelty of that statement. It was like I got stuck in a block of ice. Everything seemed to slow down. It was frightening.
It all ended when Rocket spoke. "L-leave Dante alone, W-Wildfire!"
The ice broke and everything was back to normal speed. The Charmander's gaze shifted from me to Rocket. The Squirtle instantly cowered behind my leg from the ferocity in the Fire-type's glare. With a triumphant snort, Wildfire turned and headed into the tall grass of Route 22.
"Come along now." Gale said curtly, hopping after his companion.
Fear driving me, I led the rest of my team into the tall grass. I soon found that I didn't even need to give orders like I had to while playing the game. Everyone simply fought by themselves, taking out opponents left and right. I simply sat in the grass nearby, watching as everyone began to rack up levels.
Remembering the PC pocket, I dug through my bag until I found a very large pocket that contained a single Poke Ball. Pulling it out, I realized that the red top was transparent. I could see Ratso the Rattata inside, snoozing without a care in the world. He was lucky to have not met Gale, who apparently managed to intimidate everyone else on my team (minus Wildfire, who he apparently got along with just fine).
A loud scream caused me to jump before leaping to my feet, shoving Ratso's Poke Ball back into the PC pocket. Running toward my team, I felt my jaw drop when I saw what was attacking Empress (the one who had screamed). It was a cream-colored monkey with brown paws and pink pig-like nose.
No way! Mankey can't be found in Red version!
But that was exactly what was standing there, eyes narrowed angrily at Empress. Just as it moved to attack again, it shrieked in rage when Emperor rammed into it from the right with Tackle. Talon hit it from above with Peck, causing major damage. Just as Emperor was getting ready to deliver the final blow, he was pinned to the ground by Wildfire. Gale quickly intercepted Talon, driving him beak-first the ground.
"What was that for, feather-butt? We've nearly got him!" Talon squawked angrily.
Gale ignored him, looking at me instead. "Well? Are you going to capture her?"
I stared at the Pidgey in surprise. Then I noticed Wildfire giving me the same questioning look. Then the Charmander spoke.
"If you're going to, hurry it up. Pinning this guy's annoying. Plus, I'm getting spikes on my butt!" he growled.
I would've laughed if I could've. It just seemed like such an out-of-character thing for Wildfire to say. I chose not to test his patience, however, and tossed a Poke Ball at the weakened Mankey. It twitched three times and clicked. She was caught.
I decided to name her Xena since she was a Fighting-type and a girl. You know, like Xena the Warrior Princess? It seemed to me like it would fit.
I waited for the Poke Ball to disappear into the PC…only to remember that I had a PC pocket. I dropped her Poke Ball into it. Now that I thought about it, this was easier than having to run to a PC every time you wanted to swap Pokemon out. Nice and convenient…
"Aren't you going to add her to the party? She's strong." Wildfire asked.
I would've told him, "Maybe later," if I could speak. Seeing as I couldn't, I opted to shake my head. I noticed that Empress stayed close to Emperor, who was released from Wildfire's grasp once the Mankey had been captured. Both were trembling with terror, tears shining in their eyes.
"Whatever. As long as we get to the top, remember?" Wildfire grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from me.
Is getting to the top ALL he thinks about? I wondered.
The training continued without any more mishaps. I didn't see any other Mankey on Route 22. Maybe Xena was the only one?
Predictably, Wildfire and Gale were the strongest at Level 13. Rocket managed to get to Level 12, though he seemed fearful to get any stronger. Talon achieved Level 11 while both Emperor and Empress reached Level 10 together. Ratso and Xena, both having stayed in the PC pocket, stayed at Level 3 and Level 5 respectively since I hadn't used them yet. I had no idea if I ever would, actually.
Deeming my team strong enough to continue, I dropped by the Pokemon Center to heal them before moving on to Route 2. Since we can encounter mostly the same Pokemon there as we can in Viridian Forest, I decided to simply head straight for Viridian Forest. I was pretty sure, if memory served, that all the trainers there had Bug-type Pokemon. Experience galore, in other words.
I was still kind of curious about my situation. I was asleep, right? How come I was still in the game, standing in for my in-game character Dante instead of simply watching it all happen from my Gameboy? How was this possible?
"Dante?" A tug on my pant leg drew me from my thoughts, directing my attention to Rocket, who had tugged my pant leg. He looked afraid. "How come Wildfire joined us? Where's Rook?"
Oh, great. That question. And I was unable to answer it, both literally and figuratively. Curse in-game character muteness! This was my dream! How come I couldn't talk?
"Wildfire says he killed Rook because Rook was weak and lost to you, Dante." Rocket continued, chewing on a stubby finger nervously. "Does that mean Wildfire will kill you if you lose, Dante?"
I hoped not. I didn't want to die to a power-crazy Charmander. What would happen if I lost in my dream? Would I die for real? I suddenly didn't want to think about it.
"I don't want you to die, Dante. You're my friend. What'll happen to us if you die?" the Squirtle whimpered, tears springing to his eyes. "Will Wildfire kill us too?"
The only thing I could do was shrug. Then I remembered something. This was my dream, right? I could do whatever I wanted! I wasn't just a sprite, I was a person. I could do stuff here that I could never do in-game!
So I did the first thing that came to mind. I knelt down and hugged Rocket. The Squirtle froze briefly, shocked at the sudden sign of affection. Then he hugged me back, tears flowing down his blue cheeks.
I suddenly wished I could talk. I'd tell him how sorry I was that all of this was happening. Rocket and I were supposed to be happy. We were leaving Pallet Town to go on a journey together! We were going to defeat the Gym Leaders and collect all of the badges! We were going to fight against Team Rocket and disband them! We were going to challenge the Elite Four and then the Champion! We were going to be the very best!
But that probably wasn't possible now. Not with Wildfire and Gale in my party. The two of them, with their obsession of "getting to the top", had sucked the joy out of our journey. They had also taken my rival, Rook, away from me. What was a journey without a rival?
"Hey! Are you coming or what?"
I lifted my head and glared at Wildfire, who stood in front of the building that would lead us into Viridian Forest. I could feel the tears running down my face. I felt nothing but hatred for the Charmander standing before me. This was all his fault! This stupid glitch-fest started when he killed Rook! No, before Rook died! Right when I had to pick my starter! The moment Rook lost that first battle, the glitches really started up! And this stupid Charmander was the start of it all!
"What's with the glare? Are we going or what? We can't reach the top if we're sitting around here, crying and stuff." Wildfire said, frowning.
If I could talk, I would've cussed him out so badly that my grandmother would've had a heart attack. But I couldn't, so I settled for glaring hatefully at him. Wildfire either didn't notice…or didn't care. Probably the latter, knowing my luck. If I had been allowed to nickname him, he'd be called Dick.
I felt talons on my shoulder as Talon landed. "Come on, man. Let's go," he muttered, feathers ruffled slightly. The Spearow looked a tad more withdrawn that earlier. "Better off not causing trouble for the moment…"
Reluctantly, I agreed with him. Releasing Rocket, I slowly stood up. Once Wildfire, a triumphant smile on his scaly face, had turned his back on me, I reached up to pat Talon's head. The Spearow leaned into my touch, pleased with my actions. Rocket stayed close to my leg, though I no longer blamed him for it. If I were him, I would too.
As we entered the building that allowed us to exit Route 2 and enter Viridian Forest, I turned my attention to Emperor and Empress. Both of the Nidoran trailed directly behind me, staying close to Rocket. Empress sniffled softly, still shaken by the Mankey attack. Emperor held her tightly as he shuffled along, sending glares at Wildfire between his comforting words. I could understand his anger. Wildfire didn't seem to mind hurting others, even his own teammates (or mine, more precisely, since he hadn't hurt Gale), to get what he wanted.
"Here we are," Gale said as we entered Viridian Forest. "This shouldn't be too hard to get through. It's just a bunch of bugs, after all."
"Aren't there Pidgey here, too?" Empress squeaked fearfully.
"Barely," Gale replied dismissively. "Mostly just bugs. Free experience for me."
"What about me, feather-butt?" Talon squawked, annoyed at being forgotten.
"If you find a few for yourself, congrats. I doubt it, though, slow as you are." Gale said, turning away.
"I'll show you slow, yo—"
I reached up to snap Talon's beak shut, leaving only muffled insults behind. Gale smirked triumphantly. I glared at him just as I did with Wildfire. Gale hardly noticed…or cared, whichever one it was. He simply flapped away to hunt for Bug-types to defeat.
Once he and Wildfire disappeared, I let go of Talon's beak. The Spearow huffed but, other than that, didn't seem too angry at me. Rocket, Emperor, and Empress huddled closer to my legs, afraid. I knelt down and gathered Empress up in a comforting hug, as I had done with Rocket earlier. Her sniffles ceased almost immediately.
"So, now what? Do we train again?" Emperor asked, eyes narrowed bitterly at the surrounding grass.
"I don't want to. What if another one of those…things…jump out again?" Empress whimpered, looking on the verge of tears.
I hugged her tighter before letting her go. Then I patted her on the head and smiled. I would've said something comforting, but I couldn't thanks to in-game character muteness. There's got to be a way to solve that…
Regardless, the poor Nidoran seemed to understand what I was trying to say. Standing up, Talon on my shoulder, I led the way into the tall grass of Viridian Forest. I wanted to find a Caterpie, a Weedle, and a Pikachu, especially the latter. Since I could do what I wanted in my dream, maybe I could put Wildfire and Gale in the PC pocket. I'd have to try that out once I found them.
I didn't even make it around the first bend in the trail when Wildfire and Gale found me. Gale seemed to be keeping his distance, cleaning his beak and feathers. I was shocked to see what Wildfire had with him.
The triumphant Charmander stepped aside to reveal a Caterpie and a Weedle, both attempting to edge away from him. The Caterpie was trembling heavily while the Weedle stood slightly in front of her, eyes narrowed hatefully at Wildfire. With a sweep of his claws (and a slight lash of his flaming tail, barely noticed by me), both worms quickly approached me and scaled my legs fearfully. I could tell right away that Wildfire must've scared them horribly.
"I thought you might want these two, so Gale and I went around hunting for the strongest ones." Wildfire explained, sharp teeth bore in a grin. "Just in case you choose to add them to the team, you know?"
I was suspicious immediately. It had been a while but I knew you couldn't find Level 6 Caterpie or Weedle in Viridian Forest. The highest you could find was Level 5, right? Where did Wildfire and Gale find these two?
"Please, help us. Hide us, sir, please!" the Caterpie wailed, tears rushing down her cheeks.
The Weedle stayed silent, just inching his way further up my leg.
Pulling two Poke Balls from my bag, I captured both of the worms and dropped them in the PC pocket. Neither of them put up a fight. If anything, they seemed relieved to see Poke Balls. That increased my suspicion. Had these two formerly been trainer Pokemon? If so, who's? And where were they? Did Wildfire…
I had a flashback of the bloody grass patches back on Route 1, when I battled Wildfire back when I was awake. Wildfire claimed to have killed Rook, or so Rocket said. Had Wildfire killed the trainer of these two, too?
A chill settled over me when I realized that I hadn't been allowed to name either of them. Pulling out my PokeDex, I bit back a cry when I saw their OT listed as Dante yet their nickname slots were filled. The Caterpie was Wiggles and the Weedle was Sting. These two had already belonged to someone! And that someone was…
I suddenly looked at Gale. He was cleaning his feathers and beak nonchalantly. Had Gale helped kill Wiggles and Sting's trainer? But why?
"What's wrong? Aren't you happy with how strong they are?" Wildfire suddenly asked, grinning cruelly.
I stared at him in shock, then in horror. He knew. Wildfire knew that I knew what he and Gale had done! He knew! And he didn't care! He was proud of it, even! How could such a sick and twisted Pokemon exist?
I bared my teeth in hatred and grabbed the Poke Balls at my belt, the ones that held Wildfire and Gale. Talon instantly took off, eyes wide in surprise at my sudden anger. I raised both of the spheres over my head, fully intending to destroy them. Maybe Wildfire and Gale would die if their Poke Balls were destroyed. I doubted it but with this glitchy game, I decided to assume that anything was possible.
Wildfire grinned, taking a step back. "I don't think so."
Just as my arms swung down, Wildfire pounced. One second he was on the ground, the next he was in my face. Razor-sharp claws glinted brightly as he struck. The moment the claws of his right paw touched my left cheek, my world exploded into white…
.o.o.o.o.
PARTY
Rocket, Squirtle, male, Level 12, Tackle, Tail Whip, Bubble, received in Pallet Town
Wildfire, Charmander, male, Level 13, Growl, Scratch, Ember, caught on Route 1
Talon, Spearow, male, Level 11, Peck, Growl, Leer, caught on Route 22
Emperor, Nidoran male, Level 10, Leer, Tackle, Horn Attack, caught on Route 22
Empress, Nidoran female, Level 10, Growl, Tackle, Scratch, caught on Route 22
Gale, Pidgey, male, Level 13, Gust, Sand-Attack, Quick Attack, caught on Route 22
PC POCKET
Ratso, Rattata, male, Level 3, Tackle, Tail Whip, caught on Route 22
Xena, Mankey, female, Level 5, Scratch, Leer, caught on Route 22
Wiggles, Caterpie, female, Level 6, Tackle, String Shot, caught in Viridian Forest
Sting, Weedle, male, Level 6, Poison Sting, String Shot, caught in Viridian Forest
