Red Tide
Summary:
New rules to an old game: Your Pokémon don't faint, they die. You must attempt to catch the first Pokémon you see on a new Route, and only that Pokémon. Ready for a challenge? Press Start. Rate T for poké-death, adult humor, and language.
Chapter Three:
It took forty five minutes for Nurse Joy to get back to me in the waiting room, and to ease my jumpy hands I pulled out the book that Birch had given me the day before. Vesicular Stomatitis (also known as Pokémon rabies, or Poké-rabies, go figure) was halfway between intriguing and disturbing; it outlined the symptoms that the infected Pokémon presented and gave play-by-plays of the vicious battles researchers and trainers had with the poor creatures. As I frowned in disgust at a particularly brutal battle, I couldn't help but think that an appropriate term for the aftermath was carnage. Not all of the Pokémon were left as intact as Vex had left the Poochyena and in quite a few cases all that was left was bits of fur and a mangled body. I held down my breakfast, but only barely, as Nurse Joy finally exited the back room. I looked up, shutting the small book and zipping it back into my pack, anxious to get Jeddy back and give him a look over myself. The look in her eyes made me pause, though. Her normally bright and sparkling face was downcast and sadness swept across her entire frame, her shoulders slumping slightly and her hands clasped in front of her – around my Pokéball. I sat back down slowly, half-knowing and dreading what was to come.
"Lucy – " she started, holding out the Pokéball. "I'm so sorry; there wasn't anything we could do." She placed the orb into my limp hand and I just looked at it as she walked away.
"No," I whispered before clutching it tightly to my chest. What had I done? I could feel my eyes hazing over with salty tears and I bit my lip to stop them; it didn't work and so I scrubbed my free hand across my eyes before giving up and letting out a small, choked sob. "I'm so sorry, Jeddy," I told the shrunken Pokéball in my hands, my voice breaking. "So sorry." I sat there for a few more moments to grieve the loss of my Pokémon – we'd become so attached so quickly it frightened me. It was barely after noon and already I'd lost one. I don't think I could ever look at my Pokémon games the same way again, not after this. I set my face in determination and pulled a length of leather cord from my pack, rapping it tightly around the Pokéball and then knotting the ends together. I slipped it around my neck and made myself a promise that I wouldn't let down my Pokémon again. I couldn't. I won't.
I set off out of the Pokémon Center slowly, walking towards the Gym that I knew I was going to have to visit at some point. I wasn't really thrilled about having to meet the abandonee father that the game had included, nor having to help Wally catch a Ralts, but I could find no way around it and I wanted out of Petalburg as soon as possible. I entered the new-looking building and the inside was surprisingly dark; the walls were covered in wood paneling and the entrance had two pillars proclaiming the Gym Leader and type on them. I looked toward the center of the room and, sure enough, there stood Norman, though he looked slightly different than I remembered; his chin wasn't as square, his face not quite so tan, and his hair didn't have that blue-tint of the video game. I walked up to him (he seemed distracted by the Pokéballs in his hands for some reason) and cleared my throat.
"Hmm?" he looked up and tilted his head at me. "Who are you?"
I blinked at him. What? "Uh, it's me, Lucy, your daughter?" I half-asked, half-said.
"You don't look like the sprite programmed into the game," he muttered, narrowing his eyes as he looked over me. It was true, I wasn't as… endowed as May was, nor as tan, nor as thin. My shoulders were a little too wide for my frame and my hair was short and black with my bangs flopping over my green eyes and obscuring my glasses. But it was odd – he should have recognized me as his daughter just as the woman back in Littleroot had. It clicked in my head what he had said to himself. "…the sprite programmed into the game."
"Wait, sprite?" I asked, making sure I heard right. Was he stuck in this world like I was?
"Uh – oh, um," he stuttered, realizing his mistake. "It's nothing – I was just – "
"Are you not… from this world, too?" I asked, my eyes wide. He paused and gave me back the same look.
"No, I'm not. And… you? You're not from, uh, here?" he asked, shaking his head slightly.
"Nuh-uh," I said and proceeded to tell him what had happened to me. He spent a minute thinking, eyes narrowed in concentration before I broke him from whatever was on his mind. "Did the same happen to you?" I asked. It would have been strange if it had – I mean, I knew some adults played the Pokémon games, though it was primarily something for kids and teens and young adults who'd grown up with them in hand, but it wouldn't have been out of the question.
"Oh, no," he shook his head. "I'm a designer consultant for the franchise. I was looking over the old games for inspiration for the next region of Black and White and decided the best way was to play through it," he said, shrugging. "I was playing it through an emulator on my computer when the power went out. Next thing I know, I'm in the backroom of this place," he gestured his hand in a semi-circular motion, "and someone was waking me up for a Gym Battle." He sighed. "I was lucky to remember what little I did about the Pokémon in these," he held out the Pokéballs he had been inspecting, "but I lost anyway."
"Oh. Wow," that was a lot more interesting than what happened to me. And, a game consultant? Pretty damn awesome. "Well, that rules out dreaming and insane."
"What?" he asked.
I sighed. "When I realized just where I was I decided that one of three things was happening: I was dreaming, I was insane, or, y'know, I was actually in the Pokémon world. I guess I can cross off the first two, though, since I don't think my imagination could come up with you."
He nodded. "Yeah, I'd pretty much thought the same thing. So, what do you think is actually happening then?"
"I'm not sure." We paused for a moment, both lost in our own, confusing thoughts. "So, is your name actually Norman then? Because it would be really awkward to call you Dad."
"No, sorry. My name is Eric Moldova; you said your name was Lucy?"
"Yeah, Lucy Spalding. Uh, nice to meet you, I guess." We looked at each other.
"This is still awkward," he said. I nodded and sighed.
"No kidding."
The door behind us opened, alerting us to a visitor. Sure enough, a kid about thirteen or fourteen wandered in, hunched over and looked around. His hair was nearly the color of lima beans and his eyes were the same color; he was a scrawny thing and looked frail. I recognized who he was and apparently so did Eric.
"Ah, Wally, hello," he said, playing the part of gentle, caring Gym Leader well.
"H-hi," the boy wheezed out. "Um, well, I was leaving for Verdanturf today and I was hoping that you could, uh, help me catch a Pokémon? For company?" he said, looking at his shoes and scuffing his toe on the floor.
"Well, I'm kind of busy right now," Eric lied, "but I'm sure my daughter, Lucy, would be happy to help you. Here, you can use my Zigzagoon and – do you have a Pokéball?"
"N-no," Wally shook his head.
"Well, here's an empty Pokéball," he handed the two items over and the green haired boy and I headed to the door.
Our walk over to Route 102 was silent, Wally too nervous and shy to talk to me, and I was too wrapped up in my thoughts. There was another person in this world from my world and it was throwing me through a loop. What was going on? Who was causing it? What was the purpose of this venture? Were Eric and I both having the same delusion and thrown into a mental asylum in the Real World? And were there more of us? My head started to throb from thinking about all of this and the more I thought the more questions I had, and each of those more complex than the last. The lack of answers was really starting to frustrate me and I had no clue as what to do now.
I pretty much ignored Wally as we wandered through the tall grass to find his Ralts. When he did eventually come upon it, he started talking to me but I just gave him nods and vague, "Good job, Wally"s and let him gain his own confidence. By the time he'd captured the psychic and we'd gotten back to the Gym I still had no self-confirmed answers. Wally thanked Eric and I and left us to our silence.
"Ugh!" I burst out, startling my not-father. "I don't know what to do, other than continue on with the game! What is there to do? How are we to find who put us here? When will we go home? If I win? What if all my Pokémon die on the way?" I said this all in succession, my face turning red. If you couldn't tell, I'm not a patient person and the whole situation was chiseling away at my nerves.
"Well," Eric start, "why not just continue on? I mean, so far mostly everything's been the same as the game, right? So maybe if you win – if you beat the Gym leaders and the Elite Four and the Champion – maybe we'll get to go home."
I thought about this.
"Yeah, maybe that's best," I agreed, after sighing.
We said our goodbyes, and I headed out of town and off towards route 104 with a single thought on my mind, What if I don't want to leave?
It was true, even with the short time I'd known Jeddy I had become attached, and the same was happening with Vexyl. I was sure Jesus would be the same and so forth with every Pokémon I caught. How could I just leave them? It's one thing to turn off a game for a little while and it's another to completely abandon the creatures that have come to depend upon you and trust you with their safety. I pushed the thought away, not wanting to think of the (possible) inevitability. I sighed again and released my two remaining Pokémon before kneeling in front of them.
"All right, you two," I started. I thought about what I was about to say and my breath hitched. I cleared my throat. "I hate to have to tell you this, but we lost one of our members today."
"Tor-or," Vexyl said, his chirping softer than usual. I knew he understood. Jesus tilted her head up at me in confusion, on hand resting just below her helmet.
"Jeddy," I supplied. "He fought bravely against a Taillow whose trainer didn't know the meaning of mercy or of honor," I growled the last part before pulling the grayed-out Pokéball from around my neck, holding it to my partners for inspection. Vex bumped his beak up against it in a sign of sorrow and Jesus placed her other hand on it briefly before lifting it to tug at her red fin nervously. I put the ball back around my neck and tightened the knot before righting myself. "Now, I know it seems soon, but we need another companion to our party; a fire type and a psychic type won't hold squat against powerful rock types, okay?"
"Torchic."
"Ra-ra."
"Good, I'm glad that we agree," I nodded and headed towards the tall grass. "Jesus, I want you to watch as Vex fights, okay? You need to gain some experience and with only a growl attack I don't know how else to do it."
We sifted through the grass for a while and Vex helped me with his beak while Jesus lay across my shoulders, watching. We weren't finding much, really, though I could hear the chirps of Wingull and Taillows above us; I didn't want either of those, though, Jeddy's passing still too soon to try for a quick flyer. I kicked through some more grass, almost ready to give up the search and head for Petalburg Forest when some rustling came from behind me. I glanced at Vexyl, motioning for him to stop, and we half-crawled over to where the rustling was at. I parted the grass and the three of us looked on. It was two Marills, tumbling on the ground. At first, I thought that they were either playing or battling and I suppose that the second one was true, in a sense. And, it would have been all fine and good – I could have waited until one of them was weak and captured it that way – had the attacking Marill not been foaming at the mouth and had red splotches of dried blood on its paws. It was another infected Pokémon and I had to stop it before the other Marill got hurt.
"Vex, use scratch!" I commanded, pointing at the infected Pokémon. He slashed the water mouse's back and the thing turned, foaming mouth set in a snarl. It tackled my Torchic roughly and I winced in sympathy. "Growl!" Vex did so, the Marill losing a bit of confidence and attack points, and Jesus and I snuck toward the injured Marill who'd been attacked. "Just keep using scratch!" I told Vex as he dodged a tail whip. I pulled out a Pokéball as I turned back to the mouse. "I can get you fixed up, but I'm going to have to capture you, okay?"
"Ma-marill," I said weakly.
"Go, Pokéball," I tossed the object and it dinged without protest. I picked it up and turned back to the battle. The infected mouse was weak, barely standing up, and I made a decision to capture it. "Go, Pokéball!" I repeated and tossed another device. It engulfed the Pokémon and shook for about thirty long seconds before settling down, the Pokémon inside too weak to struggle anymore. I took a deep breath in and blew the hair from in front of my eyes. I looked at Vex as he pecked the ball before I picked it up. "Well, I hope this helps the Professor," I shrugged. We walked back to Petalburg and I let the Nurse take my new Marill to heal before heading to the computer in the back. I scanned the Marill in, stored it in a box, and put a sticky note in my brain about calling Birch when I had the chance. But, until I got a phone, I didn't see that happening any time soon.
I stopped by the Pokémart – I only had one ball left and decided that some antidotes would be useful in the Forest, too – before leaving town again. The sun was still bright, though more golden than blinding and I knew that I'd have to run my way through if I wanted to make it to Rustboro before dark. As I entered the dank woods, the first thing I noticed was the lack of light and the way the smell of moist soil rose to meet my nose. It reminded me a bit of fresh cut grass on a hot summer day; it was pleasant and I could see why people took walks through here. Through the maze of trees, I battled a bug catcher whose Wurmples were easy targets for Vex's beak. I guess I was lucky that I didn't run into any wild Pokémon in the woods, for the certainly would have been Wurmples and my stomach churned at the thought. I was about halfway through – possibly fifteen minutes in? – when I ran into a middle-aged man with a briefcase and a nice purple-red suit on.
"Oh, oh, Miss! Excuse me, Miss!" he said as he rushed towards me. "I was just making my way through the Forest looking for a Shroomish, I love Shroomish. Have you seen any?" he asked, his voice higher than I would have imagined.
"No, sorry, I haven't," I shook my head. Then, around the next bend of trees, a man in a striped shirt, blue bandana and cut-off pants raced towards us.
"Hey, you!" he shouted, pointing a gloved finger at the man next to me. The man in question squealed girlishly and hid behind my back, which was not nearly big enough for him to be covered by.
"Oh, no!" he moaned. "He's a Team Aqua Grunt! He's trying to steal my Devon Goods!" he said, flinging around his briefcase as he gestured. He grabbed my shoulders and shook. "You have to save me!"
"What? Ohhh," I said, dawning realization. "Oh, okay." I shrugged and called for Vex who was looking on curiously. The man grinned at me viciously.
"You'll never win against my Poochyena!" he released the Pokémon and the bitty thing snarled at us. Still very cute, I noted mentally.
"Scratch 'im, Vex!"
"Tackle!"
Our Pokémon collided mid-attack and I was glad to see that my Torchic did more damage to the dark-type than he received.
"Urg," the Grunt growled, "howl!" The pup released a long, high-pitched noise as it raised its nose to the air. It looked back down at us and released a snarl, confidence (and attack points) getting higher. "Tackle!"
"Vex, jump him like you did with Brendan's Mudkip!" I ordered and the bird-type flung itself into the air, over the tackle attack, and scratched a long, deep gash into the back of the Pokémon. The pup whimpered, too weak to get up.
"Useless Pokémon," the Grunt sneered and I wanted to throw something at him; preferably Vex's sharp claws, but a rock would do. "Return! I'll get you some time! This isn't over," he glared and dashed off.
"Oh, oh, thank you!" Devon Man said, hugging me tightly. I stiffened up, not appreciating the close contact, and he released me. "Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly, still smiling widely. "Here," he dug around his briefcase, "take this! It's a Great Ball; think of it as a gift for saving me! Ta!" he dashed off. I blinked after him and shrugged down at my two Pokémon.
"Well… let's get going, shall we?" And so we did.
It didn't take long to get to the end of Petalburg Forest and I was still glad – though a little baffled – that we hadn't seen a single wild Pokémon. Maybe it was because I had Vex and Jesus out? Scared them off or something. Either way, I wasn't complaining. I saw a large blue, flowered building just to my left, but didn't go in; I wasn't all that interested in getting a watering pail and didn't know where to stow it; my pack wasn't as big as the game made it seem. I took a right instead and passed by two girls – one an adult and one a school girl – before reaching a pier that I remembered I had to cross to reach Rustboro. I looked at the water of the pond as it churned gently with the late afternoon breeze and gave a slight smile.
"Hey, you!" a high pitched voice called from behind me. I turned around but didn't see anything. "Down here," another voice of the same pitch called and I looked down. Right next to me on the pier was a set of dark haired twin girls dressed in pink. "Battle us!" the called in unison.
"Um, okay?" I shrugged. I turned to my starter and said, "Vexyl, I want you to stay out of this one, okay? Tilly," what I'd named my Marill, "and Jesus need some practice."
"Chic," Vex agreed and snuggled down to the wood boards beneath him.
"All right, Tilly, come on out!" I called my third Pokémon to attention.
"Ma-rill?" she grabbed her tail in her paws and looked up at me.
"Hi there, Tilly," I smiled at her and placed Jesus next to her. I gestured to the twins who'd requested the battle, both waiting impatiently and tapping their Mary-Jane glad feet. "All right, you two, you think you can take them on?"
"Ralts-ra!" Jesus proclaimed, sounding as enthusiastic as I'd heard hear in the near eight hours I'd known her. Maybe she had some fighting spirit in her yet.
"Maaa," Tilly agreed hesitantly.
"Great. All right, you two, call your Pokémon," I told the girls as my team turned to them.
"Hn. Go, Lotad!" The one on the left called.
"Go, Seedot!" her sister said.
The two easily recognizable Pokémon appeared in a flash of white and a small frown marred my face. Water and psychic versus grass and grass/water; not a good opposition.
"All right Tilly, Jesus, if you think you can't handle this then just give me the word, okay? Vexyl can always come in to replace one of you," I gave them both long looks to make sure they were okay before we started. And then, the battle began.
"Seedot, use bullet seed!"
"Lotad, absorb!"
"Damn," absorb was a powerful attack against a water type. But, to my surprise, Jesus shifted in front of Tilly before the attacks could hit.
"Ra-ALTS!" she exclaimed, raising her hands. The air in front of her distorted and pushed outward, which stopped the two attacks from hitting my team and kept pushing back towards our opponents. The hit was dead on and, surprisingly, it was pretty effective. The two Pokémon got back up, though, and I was ready to order another confusion attack (I'd looked it up on my PokéDex just what that was), but then their Pokémon started to attack… each other. I blinked. Then I started laughing as they bashed each other into unconsciousness.
"Good one, Jesus!" I grinned and hugged them both tightly to my chest. I recalled all three of them, collected my 192 pokébucks, and hightailed it to the Pokémon center for an long night of sleep.
A/N: And so Day 1 is completed. Do you like it? And, of course, the promised shout out to Dodectron. Thanks for my first review!
