May 11
I woke up because a beam of sunlight, a beautiful beginning to the day, decided to stab me right through the eyelid, searing my retina and jarring me out of a sound sleep. I looked over and smiled when I saw Misty in my sleeping bag, both because she had decided to use and because she looked cute while she was sleeping. Not wanting to disturb her, I stretched the tightness out of my back from sleeping on the ground and woke Pikachu up so that we could do our early morning training out of Misty's earshot.
Since there wasn't much in the way of trees and bushes, we just had to make do by going to the next hill over and hope none of the various Pokémon attacks went too far off target. When I thought we were far enough away, I released all of my Pokémon and began rotating them through sparring pairs so each would get experience battling a variety of types. It wasn't until Misty spoke up that I realized we had been there for at least an hour, and that she probably had been watching me the whole time.
Misty's Memoires
I slept rather peacefully that night, but when I woke up, I was startled because I couldn't see anything. Then, I realized it was because Ash's hat was covering my face. As I took it off, I saw why. The light from the sun was blinding. It took me a few seconds to get used to the light, and when my eyes were finally adjusted to the blinding light, I noticed Ash was gone. Strange.
I was starting to wonder where he went, when I saw him on a hill, training. I could not see what Pokémon he was battling or which Pokémon he was using, so I decided to go find out for myself. I remembered that he had let me use his sleeping bag for the night. It was really comfortable too. I don't know why he would have given it up so just I could sleep on it while he had to sleep on the ground, but I definitely was going to thank him for it later.
I packed up my bag. I was trying to figure out how I would make Ash's sleeping bag fold up so I could carry it, when I saw a button that said "fold." Pretty self-explanatory. I pushed it and his sleeping bag folded up into the size of a book. Very convenient. I would need to ask him where he got it and go get one for myself.
I slung my backpack on my back and grabbed Ash's sleeping bag and held onto it. Now should I carry his hat or just wear it, I thought to myself. It would be much easier to just wear it. I flattened my Ponytatail and placed his hat on my head. I hoped he wouldn't mind. I did one last look around to make sure we didn't forget anything, and then I headed off to see what Pokémon Ash was battling.
As I climbed towards the top of the hill (which felt like a mountain to me) Ash was on, I saw he was fighting in an open field. He appeared to be battling a wild Sandshrew, but I still could not see what Pokémon Ash was using because there was a lot of trees and other vegetation blocking me from seeing the battlefield. I finally figured it out when Ash gave his attack command. "Tangela use Mega Drain!" What?! Since when did this boy catch a Tangela? He didn't use it to fight the Beedrill so he must have caught one when I was at the Pokémon Center. I crept closer to the battlefield to see how the battle was going. Tangela's attack hit its mark. Next, Sandshrew retaliated with a Scratch attack. "Tangela, dodge it!" Ash commanded. Back and forth the battle went, neither Pokémon gaining an advantage over the other. Sandshrew would use Fury Swipe, Tangela would dodge it. Tangela would use Vine Whip, Sandshrew would dodge it. Finally, Ash had enough. "Tangela, use Poison Powder and after that use Sleep Powder!" He commanded. Sandshrew was able to dodge away from the Poison Powder, but flew right into the Sleep Powder.
I came out, into the clearing saying, "Sandshrew is unable to battle. Tangela is the winner. The victory goes to Ash." Ash turned and smiled at me. Then he asked, "How long have you been standing over there?" "Since you had Tangela use Mega Drain." I replied. "Oh, here's your hat and sleeping bag. Thanks for letting me sleep in your sleeping bag, and thanks for putting your hat over my face to block the sunlight," I said Mareepishly while handing him his stuff back. "No problem," he replied, while putting his sleeping bag back into his backpack and putting his hat on his head.
"So how long have you had a Tangela, and where is Pikachu?" I asked him. "Oh yea, you haven't met my new Pokémon. Well this is Tangela, and I also caught a Spearow while you were recovering in the Pokémon center. Pikachu is out, running around, trying to find wild Pokémon and bring them here while I battle them. I suppose if you're up, then we can start walking towards Pewter City. Tangela, return!"
"What about Pikachu? When is he going to return?" I asked.
"I sent him to go find Pokémon in that direction, which is conveniently the path to Pewter City. We should run into him somewhere on the way." He said, pointing in the direction of a mountain.
We began walking down the hill and into another open field. To our left was a rather large hill and to our right was an empty pasture. "Hey look!" Ash said, "There's Pikachu on top of that hill. Hey Pikachu! Over here!" Ash yelled while starting to wave his arms frantically around.
"Pika Pika!" Said Pikachu running over. Pikachu covered the distance in no time and gave his master a big hug.
"You did a great job buddy. I'm so proud of you. Well now, we're off to Pewter City," Ash told him.
I looked over towards the hill where Pikachu had come from, and I saw a cloud of dust beginning to rise up into the air, and out of the cloud charged a herd of Rhyhorns! "Uh, Ash, we might want to RUN!" I said, motioning towards the stampede of Rhyhorns. "Quick, towards the cover of the woods over towards that mountain!" I said, pointing in the direction towards Pewter City while sprinting towards it.
We made it safely into the cover of the forest. "I wonder what made them cause a stampede." I stated.
"Well I am not sticking around to find out." Ash said.
We continued heading towards the mountain, going through the woods. We came into an opening in the valley, where there was an Onix lying around. "Alright! Go Gyarados! Use Aqua Tail on that Onix!" Ash said, calling out his Gyarados.
"Ash, I hope you know what you're doing." I said, cautiously backing away. He couldn't blame me for backing away, I mean, this is the same Gyarados that attacked me last week.
Well, that Aqua Tail hit the Onix and woke him up, and Onix didn't seem to like being woken up. "Ash! It's getting ready to use an Iron Tail attack!" I yelled out to him.
"Thanks Misty. Gyarados, dodge it!" He ordered. The Onix's attack missed. "Gyarados, use Dragon Rage!" Ash commanded. Suddenly, the Onix disappeared. "Where did it go?" Ash asked, looking confused.
"Ash, I think it used Dig. Be careful. It could pop up at any time. Ah!" I screamed as it resurfaced five feet away from me. I quickly ran out of the way.
"Gyarados, attack now!" Ash said. It knocked out the Onix almost immediately.
We continued walking towards the mountain. We walked through a forest, and saw many different wild Pokémon. Then we came upon a small pond. "Hey, Ash, let's stop and eat brunch here," I said.
"Yes! Food!" Ash exclaimed. I laughed and got out some sandwiches from my bag. I also got Pikachu some spare Pokémon food I had in my bag. "Thanks Misty," Ash said as he started to take a bite of his sandwich. Before it even got to his mouth, a burst of water shot directly at us. "Ack!" Ash yelled.
"Oh my gosh! There must be Water Pokémon in this pond! I'm going to catch one!" I said, reaching in my bag and grabbing an empty Pokéball. A Poliwag jumped out of the pond. "Oh my gosh! It's so adorable! Go Pokéball!" I yelled, tossing the Pokéball at it.
The Poliwag blocked the Pokéball, and Ash laughed and said, "Are you sure you're the daughter of a gym leader? You don't even know how to catch a Pokémon."
"I've never caught one before so stop distracting me." I said as I threw the Pokéball at the Poliwag again. The Poliwag blocked it again.
"Misty, you need to weaken the Poliwag first. Choose one of your Pokémon and start battling it." He explained.
"Fine. Go Staryu!" I said, grabbing the Pokéball off my belt and unleashing Staryu. "Staryu, use Rapid Spin! Then Water Gun! Now Tackle!" I commanded. "Now go Pokéball!" I said throwing the Pokéball a third time. This time, I caught it. "Yes! I caught Poliwag!" I cheered, striking a pose.
"Great job, Misty. Now can I have a sandwich?" Ash asked. I threw him another sandwich with as much force as possible, both of us laughing the entire time.
As we ate the sandwiches we started talking about our plan for the trip. "I am planning on going to Pewter City and beating the Gym Leader. Then I don't know which gym I should defeat next," Ash explained.
"Well, I probably need to let my mom know that I am planning on going on a Pokémon journey. Perhaps we could swing by Cerulean City after this. Of course, if you want to win a gym match, you shouldn't go there," I suggested.
"That sounds like a good plan. Sound alright with you, Pikachu?" Ash asked.
"Pika Pika Chu Pika!" Pikachu responded.
"So Misty..." Ash began.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Are you feeling better? Does the Gyarados bite still hurt? I feel so bad that my Gyarados bit you. I am so sorry."
"I am feeling much better. The bite only hurts when I stretch or reach up to grab something. Don't make yourself feel bad about what your Gyarados did. You probably just don't have enough badges for it to respect you," I said, gently placing my hand on his to reassure him that it was alright. After a few minutes of just sitting there, he got up abruptly.
"We had better get moving if we want to make it to Pewter City before dinner," he explained. He reached his hand down to help me up. I grabbed onto it and then he pulled me up with ease. I packed my bag and then we continued our journey.
We kept on heading towards the mountain. Once we got to the base of the mountain we saw a cave. "I wonder if that cave goes through the mountain," I said. "There's only one way to find out," Ash said and he started to enter the cave, Pikachu following closely behind.
We had easily navigated our through about half of the tunnel and were in a more open section when some of the rocks and boulders we had passed turned out to be about 20 Geodudes, Gravelers, and a few Golems. "Go Staryu and Poliwag. Ash, these Pokémon are really weak against water and grass attacks," I said, "Staryu, use water gun! Poliwag, use bubble beam!"
Ash said, "You're right Misty. Go Gyarados and Tangela. Gyarados use aqua tail and Tangela use mega drain." Our combined efforts easily knocked out every last Pokémon. "Great job Staryu and Poliwag. Return," I said. Ash also returned his Pokémon after congratulating them.
Suddenly, a cry from nearby in the cave caught our attention. It wasn't the cry of a human, it sounded like the cry of a Pokémon. Then the cry turned into a Screech attack. Ash and Pikachu covered their ears and collapsed to the ground because of the unbearably high pitch. I went to go find the source of the sound.
It didn't take me long to find that the source of the sound was a baby Larvitar. It looked like it had been abandoned. I picked it up and started trying to comfort it. It stopped screeching. Apparently Ash and Pikachu didn't realize that I left them because I heard Ash say, "Oh no! Where's Misty?" Then Pikachu started yelling, "Pika!" While Ash yelled, "Misty!" All the yelling started to make the Larvitar screech again. I quickly began trying to comfort it again, and it stopped. Ash, once again yelled, "Misty! Where are you?!"
I replied, "I am over here. You'll never believe what I found." He raced over quickly and saw me holding the baby Larvitar.
"So that's what was screeching. It looks too young to catch so how about we take it with us," he suggested.
"Really Ash? That's great!" I exclaimed.
We continued through the cave. I carried the baby Larvitar and it seemed to like that. Suddenly a wild Zubat flew into the cave and began dive bombing Larvitar and I. "Pikachu, Thundershock that Zubat!" Ash commanded. Well, that got to Zubat's attention.
"Ash! It looks like it's about to use supersonic!" I warned, but it was too late.
"Pikachu! Use Thundershock again!" Ash said, apparently not aware of side effects of supersonic. Pikachu's attack hit Ash instead of Zubat.
"Ash, supersonic can cause a Pokémon to become confused. Best to switch Pokémon," I suggested.
"Alright. Let's take this battle to the skies, or, as much sky as there is in a cave. Go Spearow!" Ash said as he sent out his new Spearow. "Spearow, use peck!" Ash commanded. Long story short, Spearow won the battle against Zubat. "Great job Spearow. Now return!"
"Hey Ash look! There is light at the end of that tunnel! It might be our way out!" We took off running down the tunnel when I tripped on a rock. "Geo!" The rock said. Wait, rocks don't talk! It was a Geodude! Ash started to say, "Go Tang..." "Ash, I want to battle the Geodude!" I exclaimed, "Go Poliwag!" "Fine," Ash mumbled, as he held Larvitar for me. "Poliwag, it's about to use tackle. Dodge it!" I commanded, watching the Geodude's movements. "Now use bubble beam!" I exclaimed, when there was an opening. That one water attack was powerful enough to knock out the Geodude. "Way to go Poliwag! Great job! You deserve a rest. Return!" I cheered Poliwag.
"Good job Misty. Here's Larvitar," Ash said, handing me Larvitar in the process.
After that, we ran out of the tunnel and into the wonderful sunlight. And on top of that, the tunnel must have been a short cut, because we were right on the outskirts of Pewter City!
Ash's Adventures
Pewter "City". My first stop on the way to the Pokémon League probably contained a whopping 100 people, and the entire city could fit into a couple of blocks of Viridian City. They didn't have much space to expand in, but they didn't have built in such an inconvenient location. The city was built on an oval shaped plateau maybe a mile across at the widest point, but only a quarter of a mile across where we were, which was surrounded completely by mountains that towered hundreds of feet over it, except a few strides east where the plateau just dropped off suddenly. I had a feeling that the road down to Stone Town used to be there before all of these rockslides, because the main (and only) road came right up to the edge and just stopped.
Most of the city was occupied by a massive building up at the top of the plateau as far from the edge as possible. The main road was actually a straight line from that building to the edge of the cliff with the rest of the city being a handful of homes scattered up and down it.
I was just turning to ask Misty what she thought we should do, when Larvitar gave a sharp cry all of a sudden and took off in the direction of that main building. Misty and I exchanged a quick glance before we took off after the little guy.
As we ran through the city, ducking around houses and jumping over random discarded objects in people's yards, I remember thinking that it was awfully strange that nobody seemed to be around. Later I would learn where they all were, and why, but at the time seemed really wierd.
When we reached the main road, having almost completely caught up to the running Larvitar, I noticed that there was a guy standing outside the entrance to the big building. He had been leaning against the wall, almost like he was resting, but us calling out to Larvitar to come back must have woken him up because he started walking in our direction. When Larvitar saw this, he started running even faster, and jumped into the guys waiting arms while we were still twenty feet away, so we slowed down and pulled up about five feet short of running into him.
"Who are you people," the guy asked, "and why did you have Larvitar?"
He was as tall as me, and pretty close to my age, but he seemed older for some reason, as if he was carrying a lot more on his shoulders that Misty or I. But aside from that, he gave off a good, older brother kind of vibe, which kind of made you let your guard down around him and think everything was alright.
"My name is Ash Ketchum, my friend Misty Waterflower, and my partner Pikachu." I reached out for a hand shake, and as he did so, shifting Larvitar over to one arm, he laughed out loud. "Umm, what's so funny?" I asked him after we dropped hands.
"It's just that, Ketchum is the family that runs the Viridian City Gym, and the Waterflowers run the Cerulean City Gym."
"And, so? Do you have a problem with that?" snapped Misty.
"No, no problem. My name is Brock Flint, and my family runs the Pewter City Gym.
An hour later and Brock was leading us to the kitchen of the big building, having returned Larvitar to its Pokeball. He also told how the building's actual name was the Kanto Fossil Research Lab, and a little bit of the local history. One of Brock's ancestors had moved into this area with a party of fossil hunters because there was rumored to be a large quantity of them in this region. Of course, this was back before standard gyms were up and running. Over time, a small town grew up here, centered around the research being done on the fossils, and eventually they were able to turn the fossils back into Pokémon. After this, Brock's ancestor began training these fossil Pokémon, as well as other local Pokémon, and when formal gyms were introduced several generations latter, Brock's family was immediately accepted into the league. The actual Gym was in an underground area beneath the research facility.
Although Brock had told us that it was important that we get to the kitchen quickly, so we couldn't get the full tour now, he wouldn't tell us why, and he didn't seem particularly concerned that scientist kept coming up to us and complaining how this Pokémon wasn't eating or that machine wasn't working right, and they always asked him why there were two strange kids in here, to which he always replied, "They are a Ketchum and a Waterflower."
Finally, after back tracking several times to fix various problems and probably seeing almost as much of the Gym as we would have if we had gotten the tour, we stopped at a pair of double doors where Brock announced we had reached the kitchen, which was a good thing because brunch seemed a far off dream by now.
The moment Brock opened the door, we were overcome by a swarm of little kids, and I immediately noticed that they all had Brock's narrow, squinty eyes, and they were all pulling him over to a little girl crying at the table in the center of the room. As soon as Brock noticed her, he ran over; after handing Larvitar's Pokeball over to a brother, he sat down and began to comfort her.
"Suzie, what's wrong?" The little girl, Suzie, threw her arms around Brock and began crying uncontrollably. Brock patted her on the back and hugged her, trying to calm her down while Misty and I looked on, myself uncomfortable because, being an only child, I have never had to deal with little kids before, and Misty torn between not wanting to intrude and wanting to help comfort Suzie. Fortunately, we were saved from that embarrassing family situation, by the brother with the Pokeball who looked exactly like Brock, although this one was only a year or two younger than us.
"Here, come with me," the kid said as he walked up to us from inside the kitchen. "Don't worry, Brock knows how to deal with us, but it may take a while, so I'll give you the grand tour." The kid wasn't much shorter than me or Brock, right around Misty's height, and I noticed that he was wearing a green collared shirt and khaki pants identical to his older brother. I took one last look at Brock and Suzy, and then decided that even if I had seen most of the research center, it was still the better option.
"Come on Misty," I motioned for her follow us. She hesitated for a minute, so the kid and I started walking, but before we had gotten too far down the hall she was running to catch up.
"Hey, wait for me guys!"
"Nice of you to join us. Misty, right?" The kid shook her hand, then turned to me. "And you are Ash, correct?"
"Umm, yeah," I responded. "But how do you know that?"
"I heard it down the nerd-vine."
"The nerd-vine?!" Misty and I both asked, surprised.
The kid laughed and replied, "Yeah, pretty much everyone here is involved in some way with the Pokémon research. Since they are all nerdy scientists, my brothers and I call them the nerd-vine. Brock told one white-coated weirdo who you were, then that one told another and the second told a third, until eventually one of them told me. I have no idea which one though, because they all start to blur together after a while. Oh, my name is Forrest by the way."
"Nice to meet you Forest."
"So I'm assuming you guys are Pokémon trainers, here for a Gym battle, right?"
"Well, yes, but how did you know?"
"Easy, people only come all the way up here to Pewter for three reasons. The scientists who join our team periodically all have the same kind of vibe going on, and they usually fly in by helicopter. Occasionally tourists, usually couples, come up here for the scenic view of the mountains, but with the road destroyed by all of these rock slides, that seems really unlikely. The last option is Pokémon trainers, who are the only ones dedicated enough to come up here, and they have the Pokémon with them that can allow them to actually get here. So has Brock already showed you around?"
"Just a little bit, he showed us some of the labs and stuff, but none of them seemed particularly interesting. Mostly it was us getting side tracked by scientists needing his help and he didn't really explain what all was going on."
"If that's all you've seen then you've missed the best part. Come on, follow me!" Forest took off down the hallway and we had to run to keep up.
Forest lead us through several different open corridors, past dozens of scientists who, if they were even looking up from their work at all, got whiplash as we went by, and into a massive open area near the center of the building. The place was basically like a giant Pokémon habitat. The carpeting felt like real grass underfoot, light and springy, with random rock formations sticking up in the air. At the center was a little artificial pond, and in the middle of the domed ceiling was a super intense light, probably intended to act like the sun. But that wasn't the most interesting part. The most interesting part was all of the Rock Pokémon!
A couple of Omanyte were playing in the water. An Onix was snoozing, peacefully curled around one of the large rock formations while a bunch of Geodude were playing together on its back. Another Geodude didn't seem to mind the fact that it was being used as a ball by a trio of Rhydon, which gave me a touch of homesickness when I thought about Dad's. The most intimidating Pokémon there was an Aerodactyl perched on the tallest rock, giving the impression of a master predator surveying its territory. And right in front of us a pair of Aron were practicing Headbutt on each other. Forrest released Larvitar, and he ran off to join in with Aron.
"So I'm assuming that this is a Rock Type Gym, right?"
"Yep all of these Pokémon are either the Gym's, or the fossil Pokémon resurrected in the lab." My mind immediately began formulating strategies of how best to gain this Gym's badge, but my thoughts were interrupted by Misty's question.
"Forest, I'm a little confused. What exactly are fossil Pokémon?"
"Wait, you don't know?" Now I know fossil Pokémon were becoming more commonly used by Pokémon trainers, but they were still rare enough that I could understand Misty not knowing. But the way Forest asked that made it seem like he thought she was a pretty stupid for not knowing. He seemed to realize this, because he was quick to apologize. "I'm sorry Misty; I didn't mean to insult you or anything. It's just that everyone else here knows what fossil Pokémon are, so I'm not used to having to explain to other people.
"To really explain what fossil Pokémon are, you need to know a little of the backstory. So I assume you know how my great-great-grandfather established this facility here because there were a large number of fossils in this area, right? Well, because of his research we were able to find a lot out about them. Of, course these findings were aided when we were able to recreate some of them from the DNA we found inside those fossils.
"All of the Pokémon that have been turned into fossils are Rock Type, which leads us to two different conclusions. Either only Rock Type Pokémon can fossilize, or when these Pokémon fossilized, their DNA was mutated some way so that they became Rock Types. The scientists here seem to think that the second one is true, because sometimes even when we find a complete DNA code that looks like we should be able to synthesize a Pokémon from it, the actual creation process fails horribly.
"Another cool thing about fossil Pokémon that you might like Misty, is that almost all of the Pokémon that have been created from these fossils are either also part Water Type, or if they aren't Water Type, they still seem to really enjoy and thrive in the water. Follow me."
Forest took us right up to the edge of the pond. As we passed, each of the Rock Type Pokémon would stop what they were doing, with the exception of Onix, and stare at us for a few seconds, then go back to whatever they were doing before. I could understand why they were staring at us, since they probably didn't see strangers too often except during Gym Battles, but that didn't make it any less awkward.
Instead of a basic swimming pool, which was what I was expecting, the bottom of the pond was completely covered in what looked sort of like Venus flytraps. There were a couple Pokémon I didn't recognize crawling around amongst the plants, but both of them bared a striking resemblance to other…
"Bugs!" Misty's shrieked, startling all of the Pokémon. "Bugs!" she screamed again, throwing her arms up in the air and taking off in the direction of the door. Hurling my backpack at Forest so I wouldn't have it weighing me down, I took off running after Misty.
It's a good thing Misty didn't know the layout of the research lab very well, because I didn't either. But even if she knew how to navigate through here, I would still be able to find her. That high-pitched shriek is very distinctive.
Following the screams, and the trail of knocked over and perturbed scientists, I caught up to Misty outside the cafeteria and was able to cut in front of her, almost causing her to run into me. "Whoa girl! What's your rush? You might hurt someone. Didn't your mother ever teach you not to run inside?"
The look of sheer terror on her face gradually faded as her bug-induced panic gave way to annoyance at my sarcastic comments. "Ash, you can be the most annoying person in the world, you know that right?" I made a mock bow with wide outward sweeping movements of my arms like a magician getting acknowledged for his skill. She looked like she was readying another insult, but whatever it was died on her lips when she looked over my shoulder. Following her gaze, I turned around, only to come face to face with the weirdest person I had ever seen before in my life.
Now granted, I had never spent a lot of time around scientists before today, and the multitude that I had seen in just a few short hours had really been an eye opener into how weird people could be, but this guy took the cake. He was a good foot taller than me, wearing a long white lab coat that was only buttoned at the top, allowing it to billow out behind him almost like a cape. Underneath he was wearing black pants, black boots, and something that looked like a black vest, but with weird blue stripes crisscrossing it, but most of it was covered by the coat. The weirdest part, however, was his hair.
For the most part, his short, blonde, very tight-to-the-skull hairstyle seemed fairly normal. But then sticking out of the left side of his forehead was this completely random spike of blue hair that curved up and over the left side of his head, around the back, and then ended about at the right side of his neck. I didn't even want to think about how much hair gel that guy had to put in to keep it up like that, and it didn't seem to be worth it, but who was I to judge?
Equally weird and much more disturbing than the guy's hair style was the fact that from behind his glasses gleamed the craziest pair of eyes I had ever, um, laid eyes on. "Children," he said to us in a low, cool voice, "mightn't you point me in the direction of the master of this facility?"
"Mister," I retorted in my most sneering imitation of his voice, "Mightn't you tell us who the heck you are first, before we go directing you around this building?" Usually I wasn't so forwardly out and out mean to adults, but there was something about this guy that gave me the creeps.
"My name is Colress. I am a representative from Plasma Tech. Does that satisfy your curiosity boy?"
Brock opening the door to the kitchen and stepping out into the hallway cut off the sarcastic comment I was about to make. "Ah, the representative from Plasma Tech. You are here for the Anorith, right? Just follow me." Brock started leading this Colress guy back in the direction we had come from, but turned back towards us before he had gone too far. "Hey you guys there's some food in the kitchen if you want a sort of lunch, dinner snack thing. This shouldn't take too long so make yourselves at home."
I was a little startled by this sudden show of generosity, but I managed to call out thanks before he went much farther. Brock just waved at me in an off-handed way as if to say it wasn't a big deal.
I spent the next ten minutes stuffing myself with cheese, crackers and other snack items while Misty hung out with Brock's siblings. Now, it's not that I wanted to ignore them, the few instances that I have had interactions with little kids, like my cousins, having been pretty fun, but when there is food to be eaten what else really matters? When Brock returned, about the time I was opening the second box of cookies, Forest was following behind him, carrying both my bag and Pikachu.
"Hey bubby, sorry about that. I didn't mean to leave you behind like that. I had to go after Misty, so…" I didn't have to finish because Pikachu had already jumped over into my arms and rubbed his nose against my face, letting me know all was forgiven. "Thanks Pikachu."
That problem solved, I turned my attention back to Forest and Brock, who apparently were continuing whatever argument they had started out in the hallway. "Look Forest, I can understand why you might feel uncomfortable just giving away valuable fossil Pokémon like that, but Plasma Tech is a real business that has been doing legitimate work with other fossil Pokémon over in the Unova region. There is no reason to assume that they have malicious intentions."
"I know Brock, but…"
"Forest, drop it. I've already given him the Anorith, and even if I thought that he was evil or something, what am I supposed to do? Go running after his helicopter and tell him to give it back?" Forest looked like he wanted to answer, but Brock was already walking away. He stopped halfway between me and Misty, looked at her, and must have decided that it was okay to leave his siblings in her care for a while longer because he nodded once before continuing in my direction, but he stopped a second time when he saw the massive pile of discarded food wrappers I had left behind me.
"I get the feeling that you were just the slightest bit hungry."
I looked at the mess that I made, and the food that I had piled up on my plate to eat next, before smiling back at him. "You know, I was a little hungry, but I think it's gone now."
"Yeah, along with the rest of our food." I hung my head in shame while Pikachu silently patted me on the back. "Hey Ash, it's no big deal. We have plenty of extra food. I mean with, hold on, how many siblings do I have again?" He did a mock count of the other people in the room. "Ten. That's weird, I could have sworn there were only nine yesterday. What happened?" I just laughed at him and pointed at Misty. Brock mock face-palmed himself then said, "Well that's good. I thought I was going crazy or something."
I shook my head, still laughing. I was beginning to like this guy. With his calm, easy going nature, he was sort of like the older brother I never had. "So, are you the actual Gym Leader here Brock, or what."
His laughing expression transformed into worry in no time flat. "No, I'm not supposed to be the Gym Leader here, my dad is. But that's the problem. Two weeks ago he went out with a small team to try and find the source of all of these rock slides, and he hasn't been seen since."
"I'm sorry Brock. Do you know anything about what happened?"
"No, nothing. Two weeks ago he decided he was tired of all of these rock slides barreling down past out town, so he grabbed his Pokeballs and went out to find what was going on."
"So all these rock slides, they aren't normal?"
"No, of course not. It would be kind of stupid to build a town in an unstable area like that." Brock sort of went quiet for a minute before he spoke again. "I really hope that Dad is okay. I'm not prepared to run this place by myself. All of these people depending on me, I can barely take care of my siblings, let alone deal with all of the problems we have here." All of a sudden he started breathing really heavy, like he was hyperventilating or something. Some sixth sense told me that Brock was barely holding himself together, and if anything else went wrong he would just break mentally.
One part of me just wanted to get my gym badge and head out; leave Brock to his own problems and be on my way. But my parents had taught me better than that. I walked over to Brock's younger brother. "Forest, give me my bag." He looked at me kind of funny before handing it over.
"What's up Ash?" Misty asked, stepping away from the kids and towards me.
"Brock needs our help. He needs to find his father and the cause of these rock slides, and we are going to help him. It would just seem tacky to beat the poor guy in a Gym Battle and leave him here to take care of this place by himself. I mean, if I'm going to destroy him in a battle, the least we could do is help him deal with his problems."
I walked over to the door and motioned for Misty to follow, but just as she started Bock spoke up. "Whoa! Whoa, no guys. You can't do that. We can't just go traipsing up and down these mountains. They are dangerous."
I just grinned at Misty. "I guess we will be looking for Brock's dad while he stays here with the kids. Ready for an adventure Pikachu?"
"Pika! Pikachupi!"
"Misty?"
"Yeah," she grinned, "sounds like fun."
"Guys. Guys!" Brock yelled at the three of us as we made our way down the hallway. I fixed my backpack on my back, then I started fake marching just to be annoying. Brock hung around for about a minute, standing in the doorway looking back and forth between us and the gathering of siblings inside the kitchen. Finally he threw up his hands in disgust and jogged after us. "Hey! Wait for me guys!"
I turned in mid-step and continued walking backwards. "Decided to come after all?"
"Well if you are going to go stomping through the mountains, you had better have someone with you that knows the terrain."
I smiled at Brock and then shook his hand. "Good to have you on the team."
Misty's Memoirs
I was searching around the mountain looking for clues, since Brock said that these rock slides were probably not natural, so I was looking for things like Pokémon or human footprints. I had been looking around for a while and had found nothing, and was starting to get bored when all of a sudden; little rocks began tumbling down past me.
I wasn't certain what to do because I was pretty sure this was another rock slide just beginning, when Brock yelled out to us. "Guys! Get back to Pewter!"
All of a sudden I realized that his voice was coming from the other side of the mountain. I guess I wasn't aware of how far I had travelled. "Wait for me guys," I yelled back to them. I took off back towards Pewter City.
I didn't make it far before I heard a random, little kid giggle and saw a yellow dress. Wait a second, this wasn't just any random little kid, this was Suzie, Brock's little sister! I immediately ran up to her. "Suzie! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be back in Pewter City, where it is safe."
"I wanted to play detective too!" She said, putting pride into the words The pebbles were falling faster and faster, and were beginning to be mixed with larger rocks. I quickly analyzed the situation. Pewter City was too far away with a little girl in tow. I spotted a cave about 20 yards away.
"Hey Suzie!" I said, getting the girl's attention. "Let's go look for clues in that cave over there!" I said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as you can while trying to get a little girl to quickly get out of danger. I grabbed her hand and we started running towards the cave.
We made it safely, although Suzie wanted to look at the view from the mouth of the cave. I decided to let her look while I checked out the cave. It wasn't a very large cave, and it didn't have any tunnels or paths leading out of it. "Hey Suzie, how about you come look for clues over here with me," I suggested, suddenly deciding it would probably be safer for her away from the falling rocks. She skipped over and then sat by me. I started to hear loud rumbling from outside the cave. I didn't want Suzie to freak out, so I needed to distract her as soon and for as long as possible. "Hey Suzie, you see this line? What do you think it means?" I asked her.
"I think it's a secret treasure map. It must lead to a huge treasure chest!" She informed me confidently.
"You think so? Well I have paper maybe you could copy it for Brock and show him later," I said, grabbing paper from my bag and handing it to her.
"You're silly," she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"I need a pencil too," she stated.
"Oh, of course. How could I forget? I guess, I am silly," I laughed, while handing her a pencil.
She turned around and started drawing the "treasure map" on the wall. I watched outside the cave. Rocks slowly started to pile up against the entrance. Under normal circumstances, I would have started to push them away, but if I did that now, I'm sure Suzie would want to help. I would hate for her to get injured by helping me. So, I decided I would sit down a few feet away from the entrance of the cave.
Suddenly, a huge boulder fell and blocked all of the cave entrance except the top. "Are we trapped?!" Suzie shrieked, turning around and just beginning to freak out.
"Of course not. I'll just push this boulder away," I said, trying to reassure her while doubting my own strength. I walked towards the boulder, which was about a foot taller than me. I started to push it. Then harder. Then with all of my might.
Nothing. More boulders fell on top of it, until the sunlight was completely blocked off and it was pitch black in the cave. Suzie sniffled. "It's dark in here," she whined. I rummaged around in the cave until I found my backpack and grabbed my flashlight out of it. I turned it on and checked on Suzie.
"See? Everything's alright," I said giving Suzie a reassuring smile. I sat next to her and started rubbing her back. Suzie rolled into a ball and began to sniffle.
"Hey, Suzie look at me. Everything will be alright. I have food in my bag and soon we will get out of here. Don't worry. You're with the daughter of a gym leader, and two other gym leaders' sons are on their way to find you." I reassured her. Actually, I didn't know whether Ash and Brock were on their way to find us. Besides, they probably didn't know Suzie was out of town too. I just hoped that Ash realized that I was gone. Then again, Ash has rescued me countless times already, so it's probably safe to assume he would rescue me now too. This whole damsel in distress thing was getting kinda annoying; although, I am glad I am being rescued by a guy as nice as Ash. I wonder if he will ask me out sometime...
"Misty?" Suzie asked, interrupting my thoughts.
"Yes Suzie?"
"How do you know Ash and Brock are on their way to find us?" She asked innocently. That was an excellent question that I did not know the answer to.
"Honestly Suzie, I really don't know. You just have to have faith in your friends and believe that they will prevail. If you believe enough, they eventually will." I summarized.
"But Misty, they don't even know I left." She pointed out. This girl was really good at pointing out uncomfortable truths.
"Suzie, I am sure when Brock goes back to Pewter City he will realize you're not there and send out a search party. You have nothing to worry about." I told her. But if Suzie had nothing to worry about, did I have no worries too? Maybe Ash and Brock thought I made it to Pewter City safely and they just couldn't find me anywhere. Or maybe they thought I was still on my way. And what if they didn't realize Suzie was missing. We could be trapped here for days.
Seeing as the only thing I could do in that cave was sit around and think, I started to think about how great my life was, you know, putting a positive spin on things to keep me from sinking into misery. I've always loved water Pokémon all of my life. My mom had taught me how to swim. I remember every day after I learned how to swim; I wanted to be in the pool. My mom always said I could swim as long as her or my dad was around, but one night I decided to swim and probably would have drowned then and there if our family Seel hadn't saved me.
Our Seel and I had developed an extremely tight bond after that. Seel would always swim when I was in the water. My mom would always have me run errands and then afterwards I would always hang out with Seel. When my mom let me go off and roam on my own for a month she said I could not take Seel with me. I started to cry and simply ran out of the city. After a while of exploring the woods, I stopped crying and spotted a lake. That's when I first met Ash...
All these thoughts of Seel and Ash swirled through my head. It didn't occur to me until now that I might not see them again. I had rarely gotten to know my dad because he was constantly busy somewhere else. I had spent an entire childhood with a Pokémon that I might never see again. And now, I thought I had met a wonderful teenage boy that had already saved my life a few times and I might never see him again or thank him. My vision started to blur. I might never see my parents again. I might never see Ash again. I might never see the water Pokémon that saved my life...
Wait a second! I had a few water Pokémon with me! While Staryu's and Poliwag's combined efforts might not move the giant boulder, they might be able to move some of the smaller ones and let some light in here. "Suzie, I have an idea." I told her as I stood up. "Go Poliwag and Staryu!" I said. "I need both of you to aim at the smaller stones around that big boulder. Staryu use your water gun. Poliwag use your hydro pump. Attack!" I yelled and the wonderful water Pokémon started their attack against the wall of stones separating us from the outside world.
Staryu's water gun attack and Poliwag' hydro pump knocked some small stones away. It was super effective for my plan. It allowed oxygen to get in, and our shouts to get out. "Now Suzie, this is a team effort. I need you to yell for Brock. Poliwag and Staryu, I need you both to choose a small opening and make a water fountain out of it. Ready? Go!" I shouted orders, and then we all shouted together.
After about five minutes, I heard Brock yell, "Ash! I found them!" I heard footsteps rushing towards us. "Suzie! Are you okay?" Brock asked.
"Yes I am thanks to Misty," she responded.
"Misty! Are you alright?!" Ash asked.
"Yes I am just fine. Although we need to move this giant boulder to get out," I stated. "Way to go Poliwag and Staryu. Return," I said putting the Pokéballs back in my bag.
"I have an idea that might just move this boulder. I need everyone's help. Go Geodude and Onix!" Brock said. "Okay, Misty and Suzie, if you're facing the boulder, I am going to need you to push it towards your right. Ash, Geodude, Onix, we're pushing it towards our left. Ready? Let's go!" We all pushed together, but I think Onix deserves most of the credit for getting us out.
There were hugs all around. Suzie gave Brock a hug and later Forrest too. Brock ran up and gave me a hug, which was a little weird and by a little weird, I mean really weird. "Thank you for saving Suzie," Brock said. He held the hug a little too long, which put me out of my comfort zone. In contrast to Brock's hug, Ash's was more relaxing and enjoyable and I would defiantly have been fine with it lasting a little longer.
Ash's Adventures
After rescuing Misty and Suzie, and suffering through the annoying and overly intimate hug fest that followed, especially from Brock and Suzie, we all headed back to Pewter while promising ourselves that we would be back tomorrow to search again. When we arrived, Forrest came running up to us freaking out about how he couldn't find Suzie anywhere, and seamed especially pleased to find that she was just fine. Brock whipped us up and meal, which was delicious, but for some reason no one seemed to enjoy it nearly as much as me. In fact, when I looked up from my third heaping plateful I noticed that everyone was looking at me really weird. "What's up guys?"
"Oh nothing Ash," Misty replied. "We were just wondering if you could possible eat faster if we gave you a shovel instead of just a fork and spoon."
I just stared at them. "What in the world are you guys talking about?"
Misty let out an exasperated sigh but then waved me off. "Never mind Ash. Just go back to your food." I chose to just forget about it and instead, graciously allowed myself to obey her orders.
When the meal was over (fortunately there weren't and leftovers to put away) all of us, Brock, his nine siblings, Misty and myself, as well as a little help from Pikachu and Larvitar, cleared and washed the dishes. With so many hands helping, it went fairly quickly and we were done in no time. Afterwards, Brock showed Misty and me two empty guest bedrooms, which he said were ours for as long as we liked. Since it was getting pretty late, and I knew Brock was anxious to get started early tomorrow (funny how he didn't want to go at all earlier, but now that he had started he couldn't wait to continue) I let all of my Pokémon except Pikachu out in the Pokémon habitat we had seen earlier and then retired to my room.
I was sound asleep when all of a sudden electricity coursed through my body from a Pikachu Thunderbolt! I shot straight up in bed, instantly awake, and made note of the time at 12:00 before rounding on Pikachu to tell him off. I was just opening my mouth to release a string of rather vulgar words when I realized that the window to my room that I had made certain was closed before I went to sleep was open, and Pikachu and I were no longer the only occupants of our room!
I am very sorry about how late this chapter is. I had every intention of finishing and posting this by at least spring break, but for some reason I have been feeling rather lazy lately and wasn't really inclined to work on it. But, on the plus side, this is a fairly long chapter.
While the cameo appearance of Colress might seem random, it is part of the grand over sweeping idea I have for the whole story.
If you have any questions or complaints about the story, don't just bad mouth it to your friends and then forget about it. Write a review or PM me and if I think it is an actual legitimate concern I will be sure to go back and fix it. Until next time Emerald Dragon, out!