Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo, GameFreak, or Pokemon Company.
Pokemon Legends: Sidestories
Chapter Seven
The Hunt for Red
Date: 6 days after the Sanctuary's completion.
Early morning, the day after Ashley's encounter with Galactica, Rina and Pippi were still hanging out at Rina's place and were in front of the tv in the living room. For the past two days, they did almost nothing but watch tv, and this day was no different. With the remote in her hand, Rina flipped through one channel after another until she finally dropped it in frustration and sighed.
"There's nothing to watch today..." Rina mumbled.
"-Why don't we go back to the island? You liked it better there, didn't you?-" Pippi asked her.
"I did, but..." Rina thought for a moment and shook her head. "I don't want to go back yet, as much as I'd like to be with all those pokemon..."
"-Why not? You must have a reason!-" Pippi asked, pressing the matter.
"Umm...well..." Rina blushed slightly. "Melany practically lives there now, right? And her and May seem like they're dating or something now, so what if I show up and they're both there? I might be interrupting something!"
Pippi's right ear twitched. "-Interrupting something? Like what?-" She asked, peering at Rina curiously.
"W-well...something...something like..." Rina, realizing she didn't actually have the answer, grimaced. "Umm...actually, I have no idea what two girls dating might do together." She admitted sheepishly, then blinked and thought about it again. "Come to think of it...what do a guy and a girl even do together?!"
"-You...don't know?-" Pippi asked, blinking in disbelief.
"UWAAA! I'M COMPLETELY CLUELESS ABOUT ROMANCE!" Rina cried out, then collapsed onto the floor. Pippi remained quiet, thinking over her trainer's predicament while stroking her furry chin.
"-Well...don't you start by getting all embarassed and confessing your love to him?-" Pippi said to her.
"EHH?!" Rina bolted up and looked at Pippi incredulously. "Pippi! How do you even know that?"
"-Actually that's what a girl did in one of those things on the tv.-" Pippi said, smiling brightly.
Rina sighed. "I kinda zoned out through most of them...maybe I should have been paying more attention?" Rina sat back and folded her arms over her chest, pondering Pippi's suggestion. "Now that you mention it though...I never did tell Red how I feel about him."
"-So you should definitely do that then!-" Pippi said excitedly, clenching her paws into fists.
"But we don't know where he is..." Rina thought over it some more, then uncrossed her arms and hit her fist against her palm. "Ok! I've decided!" Rina quickly stood up with a determined expression. "I'm going to find the missing Red!"
"-Woohoo! I smell an adventure!-" Pippi cheered.
"I just have to get changed first." Rina added. With no reason to get dressed, she was still in her yellow Pikachu pajamas.
"-Oh yeah...-" Pippi looked at the felt face on Rina's top and winced. "-That Pikachu face still creeps me out too...-"
Rina went to her room to change, quickly changing out of her pajamas and into her usual black pants and long sleeved black shirt. Over her pants and shirt she wore a yellow tunic, tied at the waist with the purple belt she had her six pokeballs clipped to. On her way out the door she stopped to put on a pair of purple hiking boots and grabbed a wide brimmed straw hat off a nearby hanger.
"Feels kinda silly to wear this old thing, but for some reason I feel like wearing it today." Rina said to Pippi as she placed the hat on her head. She frowned when she noticed it didn't seem to fit properly, but then realized it was her ponytail getting in the way and quickly tucked it under her hat.
"There we go!" Rina said, smiling to herself with the hat now firmly on her head, then turned to face Pippi. "How do I look?"
"-Like a boy.-" Pippi replied, grinning.
"That's...that's not entirely the response I was looking for..." Rina said, rubbing the top of her head through her hat. "Well anyway, let's go find the missing Red!"
Pippi nodded in agreement. "-But where should we start looking?-"
"Well, I was thinking, Red's a pokedex holder, right?" Rina said. Pippi nodded in agreement. "So I bet Professor Oak will know something about where he is!"
"-Oh! Good idea!-" Pippi said, nodding enthusiastically. The two of them then set off, heading south toward Pallet Town.
A short flight on Knight later...
"I'm looking for Professor Oak!" Rina announced loudly as she barged through the front doors of the lab in Pallet Town with Pippi riding on her shoulder. She looked around the lab, spotting a stunned aide standing nearby. "Excuse me, sir! Where would I find Professor Oak?"
"Erm..." The aide tried to muster up a response, but eventually just pointed down the hall toward Oak's office.
"Thanks!" Rina replied, then set off down the hall, leaving the aide to wonder who the strange boy who barged into the lab was. Continuing down the hall, she eventually reached the door to Oak's office and kicked it open much like she did the first door.
"Professor Oak? Are you in here?" Rina called out into the room before the door was even open. Professor Oak was sitting in front of a computer and quickly spun around in his chair.
"Yes, I'm here! And I'm rather busy!" Professor Oak snapped. "Who the blazes do you think you are to just barge in here like that?!"
"My name's Rina, I'm a friend of Ashley's and helped her work on her pokedex." Rina said to him. "Anyway I was wondering if you'd have any idea where Red is!"
"Hrm. So you're Rina?" Professor Oak looked her over and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a boy?"
"-I said the same thing.-" Pippi said, nodding in agreement.
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT!" Rina yelled, clenching her fists. "Do you know where Red is or not?!"
"Hmph. Of course I know where he is." Professor Oak replied, folding his arm over his chest. Hearing this, Rina smiled to herself, but her smile quickly faded as Professor Oak continued to speak. "However I am not going to tell some rude child who just barged into my office."
"But...but...I helped you with that pokedex!" Rina pleaded. "You have my pokemon registered in Ashley's pokedex."
"Even though that may be true, a child like you would have no chance at surviving against the wild pokemon where Red is." The professor said sternly. "If you want to find Red then you will have to prove your capability as a trainer."
"Ok...so what do I have to do?"
"You must defeat me in a one on one battle." Professor Oak said to her. Rina gave him an odd look in response and Professor Oak frowned. "I'll have you know that even though I might not look it now, I was quite the accomplished trainer back in the day! Why, I held my own even against the Elite Four's Agatha!"
"I guess you can't judge a book by its cover, huh?" Rina said to Pippi. She then nodded to Professor Oak. "Ok then! If I have to battle to find out where Red is then I'll do it!"
"Very well. But only one pokemon each, as I said." Oak glanced back at his computer. "I have too much work to catch up on to waste time with pokemon battles."
Professor Oak, Rina, and Pippi headed back outside the lab for their battle. The same aide Rina passed on the way in regarded them in confusion as they left. Once outside, they distanced themselves for the battle and Pippi hopped down from Rina's shoulder to stand next to her.
"This pokemon will be your opponent." The professor said as he held out a pokeball and released Fearow. The pokemon immediately flapped its wings and took off, flying high into the air. "If you want to find Red, then prove your capabilities by ending this battle."
"Ok, this shouldn't be too hard." Rina thought, taking a pokeball from her belt. "Berry, you can take this one on! Go!" Rina held out the pokeball and released her pokemon, sending out Berry the Butterfree to battle Oak's Fearow.
"-I'll do my best, master!-" Berry said enthusiastically.
"-After all this time she still calls you master.-" Pippi snickered to herself.
"Using a bug type? You won't survive very long then." Professor Oak said to Rina, shaking his head sadly. "Fearow, end this quickly with Drill Peck." Fearow reared its head back, forming a drill-like vacuum of air around its beak, then dove down toward Berry.
"Berry, Whirlwind! Aim for the ground!" Berry tilted her body horizontally and then started flapping her wings rapidly, creating a strong whirlwind that rose up and pushed her up with it. The wind against her wings prevented her from continuing the attack, cancelling it out, but it had already pushed her up high enough to evade Fearow's Drill Peck. Fearow backed off the attack and pulled out of its dive, realizing it had no chance of striking Berry now.
"Ok, now's your chance! Supersonic!" Rina called out. Berry shrieked, emitting a high pitched frequency that humans couldn't hear. Fearow could hear it just fine, however, and the noise caused the bird pokemon a massive headache and forced it to land.
"Using status effects to make up for a type disadvantage. Standard procedure." Professor Oak thought to himself. "Though it's strange she would choose to battle with a disadvantage in the first place, especially when she has a Pikachu with her..."
"Fearow, use Agility to increase your speed." Professor Oak ordered his pokemon. Fearow was able to focus enough to use the technique, relaxing its musclesto enable it to move faster.
"Ok, let's keep using status techniques! Sleep Powder, Berry!" Berry started flapping her wings, releasing a green powder into the air and forcing it toward the ground. Spreading the powder downward, and from directly over Fearow, caused the powder to become spread over a wide area and left little room for Fearow to evade. The bird pokemon still tried, moving to the right and keeping its eye on the powder to see where it would fall, but in its confusion it tripped over its own feet and fell. The powder then landed on Fearow and put it to sleep.
"Hmm. Asleep now too." The professor gave a light shrug. "Fearow will be ready to strike back by the time it wakes up."
"Ok, now use Stun Spore!" Berry flapped her wings again, this time sending a cloud of spores down toward the ground. The spores landed on the sleeping Fearow, rendering its muscles paralyzed.
"Paralysis too?" Professor Oak narrowed his eyes at Rina. "Young lady, in my day trainers had a sense of honour! A pokemon was either paralyzed, poisoned, asleep, frozen, or burned. If one status effect was already in place, then the trainer would not order..."
"One more! Poison Powder!" Rina called out, ignoring Professor Oak's rant. Berry released a cloud of poisonous purple powder that descended upon Fearow, leaving it poisoned now as well. "Even if there was some kind of code of honour like that, I'm not going to hold back if it means I won't find Red!"
"-You know, those tactics really do seem kinda unfair.-" Pippi said to Rina. "-I mean, that Fearow didn't have a chance to resist the poison or paralysis while it was asleep like that, and its not like it can really fight back in that state when it wakes up either.-" Pippi shook her head. "-I don't think any pokemon really stands a chance against something like that...-"
"Sh-shut up! I really need to win here!" Rina shot back.
"-I could have ended this with one Volt Tackle.-" Pippi said indignantly, nodding to herself.
"You're certainly determined, I'll give you that." Professor Oak said to her, though he still didn't look pleased by her choice of tactics. Noticing his Fearow was starting to open its eyes, he quickly called out an attack. "Fearow, strike from below with Drill Peck!" Fearow started to get up, propping itself up with its wings. It struggled for a moment, summoning its strength to overcome the paralysis and poison wracking its body.
"Berry, Gust!" Berry began flapping her wings rapidly, sending strong gusts of wind down upon Fearow. Fearow raised its head, forming a vacuum of air around its beak as it prepared to attack, but was pushed back into the ground by Berry's Gust attack. In its paralyzed state, Fearow didn't have the strength to fight back against the wind.
"-So now you're just going to keep it pinned and slowly wear it down?-" Pippi asked Rina in a condescending tone.
"I know! Its cheap! I get it already!" Rina shot back.
"Yes, that combination is quite cheap indeed." Oak said, nodding in agreement. "However, there is one flaw to it. A pokemon with a ranged technique could still fight back."
"But...don't most ranged attacks a pokemon like Fearow would know mean using their wings anyway?" Rina asked, recalling Ashley's Pidgeot using Swift with its wings.
"True, but Fearow has one technique that doesn't require use of its wings." The professor replied. "Fearow, roll onto your back and fire at Butterfree with Tri Attack." Oak's Fearow curled its wings under it and rolled over so it was lying on its back. It then opened its mouth and formed three balls of energy, consisting of fire, ice, and electricity, then fired a triple colored beam at Berry. Berry cried out as the beam struck her in the chest and flipped her over, sending her pummeling to the ground. With Berry no longer using Gust, Fearow was able to get back up.
"Tri Attack?! I've never seen a Fearow use an attack like that before!" Rina said in disbelief.
"-Wait, how many Fearow HAVE we seen?-" Pippi folded her arms and pondered over it for a moment, trying to recall the last time she had seen a Fearow.
"Fearow, Drill Peck." Fearow mustered all the strength it had left, which wasn't much by then after being drained by Gust and poison, to flap its wings and jumped into the air. With a vacuum of air swirling around its beak, Fearow was quickly closing the gap between it and the falling Berry.
"No time to make another attack!" Rina thought, frantically trying to come up with a solution. "Our only chance now is to try to turn it into a glancing blow instead of a full-on attack..."
"Berry, turn sideways!" Rina called out. While still falling through the air, Berry turned her body so she was falling sideways. Fearow's beak then finally struck her, causing her to cry out in pain as it slashed across her stomach. Berry was sent spiralling backwards through the air until she hit the ground and was seemingly knocked out. Oak's Fearow then landed next to her, looking triumphant.
Oak remained quiet for a moment, observing the battlefield, then sighed. "It seems you win." He said to Rina.
Rina blinked. "Huh?"
"That last attack almost definitely did not knock out your Butterfree." He said to her, at which point the bug type pokemon finally got up on its feet. Berry was badly injured, but still conscious. At the same time, Oak's Fearow suddenly collapsed. "My Fearow, on the other hand, could no longer endure the poison." Oak explained.
"Hehe...guess that means my desparate gambit actually paid off." Rina said, grinning sheepishly.
"In any case, I acknowledge your capabilities as a pokemon trainer." Oak said as he held out a pokeball and recalled his Fearow. "If you want to find Red, he is likely still at Mt. Silver, training against the powerful wild pokemon which reside there."
"Mt. Silver? Where's that?" Rina asked, having never heard of the place.
"It's near the Indigo Plateau, just beyond the border of Kanto and Johto." Oak said to her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some important work to get done."
"Well I was planning to go now anyway." Rina replied, then took out Berry's pokeball. "Berry, good job out there! Take a well-deserved rest!" Rina recalled Berry and placed the pokeball back on her belt, then took out another one and released Knight. Professor Oak gasped in shock when the alternate-color Dragonite appeared.
"Ok, Knight, we've found where Red is! We're heading to a place near Indigo Plateau!" Rina said to him. Knight nodded and crouched down so Rina could climb onto his back. Pippi then jumped up onto him and sat in front of Rina. Once both of them were mounted and holding on tight, Knight took off into the air and headed straight for Indigo Plateau.
"Its as if she chose the worst match-up just to add insult to injury when she beat me. And using a cheap strategy, no less!" Professor Oak said to himself. "What a rude and obnoxious little girl. I can't believe Ashley or Red would ever be friends with someone like that."
A little over an hour later, Rina passed over the Indigo Plateau while riding on Knight and could see Mt. Silver in the distance. Spotting a pokecenter near the base, though, she decided to have Knight set down there instead. She then went inside and, after recalling Knight, headed straight for the PC.
"Umm...right...how did this go again?" Rina wondered for a moment.
"-Usually Ashley is here to help us with this.-" Pippi said.
"I can handle this! It's just transferring Pokemon, she showed me a million times!" Rina messed around with the PC a bit, managing to get a few error screens before she finally managed to log in. At that point, she was able to use the touch screen interface to more easily switch pokemon. She placed a pokeball on the transfer pad next to the PC and pressed an on-screen button to activate it. The pokeball disappeared and another one soon appeared in its place.
"-What are you doing anyway?-" Pippi asked her.
"Professor Oak said the wild pokemon here are tough, and I deposited Deoxys, Jirachi, and Mew yesterday. So I'm getting them back now." Rina said. She then made two more switches to do just that, putting the three legendary pokemon into her team. "Ok! That takes care of that, now let's go explore that mountain."
Rina headed for the door, but as she was about to leave the automatic doors opened and an old fisherman walked into the pokecenter. He immediately spotted Rina and turned to face her.
"Young boy...how would you like to fish?"
"I...really never gave fishing any thought." Rina replied. "I can see this boy thing is going to become a running gag too. I'm so getting rid of this hat when I get home. This must be how Melany feels..."
"Good enough for me. Here." The old fisherman threw a fishing rod toward Rina. She clumsily managed to catch it. It looked like an ordinary fishing rod, but completely lacking a reel and the line ended with a pokeball. "I'm retiring." The fisherman added, then went and plopped down in one of the waiting room chairs.
"Pippi...do you get the feeling this was a contrived coincidence just to give me a fishing rod for some reason?" Rina asked, glancing back at the fisherman.
Pippi shrugged. "-Any importance it might have is lost on me.-"
"That makes two of us." Rina said to her. She then shrugged and left the pokecenter with Pippi following behind. The two of them set out for Mt. Silver, with Rina now carrying a fishing pole over her shoulder, but stopped when they saw a cave entrance near the base of the mountain.
"A cave...I bet we won't see anything but Zubats and Golbats in there." Rina said in a bored tone. "I thought we were supposed to find really powerful wild pokemon around here?"
"-They could be really powerful Zubats and Golbats?-" Pippi suggested. Rina let out an audible sigh.
"What do we have here? A young boy dares to challenge Mt. Silver?" A woman's voice said from out of nowhere.
"That voice...why does it sound familiar?" Rina wondered, looking around for the source of the voice.
"-I think someone's in the cave!-" Pippi said to Rina, then ran off ahead.
"Pippi! Wait up!" Rina called out, running off after her. Pippi eventually stopped when they reached the mouth of the cave. When Rina caught up with her, she could see three figures standing just inside the shadow of the cave.
One of the figures spoke, the same one Rina had heard before. "Well if it isn't little Rina...and here I thought a cute boy managed to make his way up here."
"Who are you?! Show yourself!"
"You should already know that...but we'll humor you." An older, red haired woman wearing glasses stepped out of the darkness. "I'm Lorelei of the Elite Four, my specialty is ice."
An old lady in a purple dress stepped out next, standing to the right of Lorelei. "I am Agatha. I specialize in ghost-type pokemon, dearie." A muscular man wearing only a pair of ragged-looking pants stepped out on Lorelei's left, but remained silent.
"The Elite Four?!" Rina said in disbelief, but quickly corrected herself. "Or...well...three of the Elite Four...what are you three doing here anyway?!"
"Oh? Didn't you know?" Lorelei said, chuckling to herself. "This place is where we elites come to train. Only the strongest trainers even stand a chance of surviving against the wild pokemon that live within the mountain."
"I keep hearing that..." Rina said indignantly. "I might not be one of the Elite Four, but I'm still pretty strong! There's no way I would lose to wild pokemon!"
"-I have a light ball. And electricity. And that mountain cave is probably just full of bat pokemon. I can probably take them all down in one Thunderbolt.-" Pippi added smugly.
"You seem quite confident in your abilities, child. What do you say to challenging us?" Agatha said to her. "A strong trainer such as yourself would be a decent workout for our pokemon, so what do you say to a one on one battle against each of us?"
"Well, I guess I'm not much of a hurry." Rina replied, scratching her head.
"Then I shall be your first opponent." Lorelei said, stepping away from the other two elites and taking a pokeball in her hand. She held it out and released a large, purple shell covered in spikes. "My Cloyster shall be your opponent."
"-I could probably take that down in one hit too.-" Pippi said, nodding to herself. "-Though, as much as I hate to say it, Volt Tackle would probably just hurt me...-"
"If I'm going up against the Elite Four, I definitely can't hold back!" Rina said, taking a pokeball from her belt. "Good thing I took my best pokemon then! Mew, you can take this one on! Go!" Rina held out the pokeball and released the legendary pokemon, Mew, from it. Mew twirled in the air, mewling happily.
"-This time I'll definitely win!-" Mew said, confident in spite of the competition.
"Interesting choice, but don't you think using a legendary pokemon like Mew against ordinary trainers is a bit unfair?" Lorelei said to her.
"It probably would be a bit unfair, but you're not an ordinary trainer." Rina said in response.
"Touche." Lorelei muttered. "Well, let's not waste anymore time. Cloyster, begin with Spike Cannon!" Cloyster quickly closed its shell and rapidly fired off a barrage of spikes from the top of its shell, firing five spikes in total.
"Mew, block with Psychic!" Mew's eyes lit up in a blue flash as it focused its psychic powers. One by one, a blue glow surrounded the five spikes and stopped them in mid-air. The final spike stopped just before hitting Mew.
"Nice block. But as long as Cloyster has its shell closed, you won't be able to hurt it." Lorelei said with a menacing-sounding laugh. "Meanwhile, Cloyster can continue to fire spikes at your pokemon and it will slip up eventually."
"I'm pretty sure a jolt of electricity could pass through it just fine." Rina whispered to Pippi. "But I'll play this her way..."
"-Is there any reason for that?-" Pippi asked out of curiosity. Rina shook her head.
"Lorelei, your Cloyster might be safe now, but what would you do if its attacks were aiming your way?" Rina asked, smirking.
"What would I...what?!"
"Mew! Turn Cloyster around with Psychic!" Mew's eyes flashed as it focused again. A blue aura surrounded Cloyster, spinning it around. With its shell closed, it couldn't manuever easily, nor could it even see where it was pointing. With Cloyster now aiming at Lorelei herself, she knew she couldn't call another attack until she got Cloyster turned around.
"Cloyster, open your shell and turn around." Lorelei ordered her pokemon, though she wondered if it would help her any. Cloyster opened its shell and peered about from inside, looking a bit embarassed when it found itself facing Lorelei. Moving the two halves of its shell like legs, it slowly began to turn around. "Well, you've managed to slightly inconvenience my pokemon, but how do you plan to defeat it?"
"Oh, well, I don't know if you know this or not, but Mew can learn pretty much any and every attack." Rina said to Lorelei. "So I've had a few of my pokemon tutor it."
"Oh? And what attack did it learn that you seem to think can defeat Cloyster?"
"Mew, Thunderbolt!" Rina called out, answering Lorelei's question. Mew put its hands together, generating electricity between them, then pointed one hand at Cloyster and fired a bolt of electricity as it finally turned to face it. Cloyster shrieked in pain as the bolt struck its black core, the full power of the bolt passing straight through it. Shortly after, its shell closed up and the pokemon clattered to the ground, unconscious. After firing the attack, Mew turned to Pippi and smiled.
"-You have learned well, my young apprentice.-" Pippi said, bowing to it.
"-Thank you, master.-" Mew replied, bowing in return. Rina smiled at the exchange.
Lorelei recalled her Cloyster and glared at Rina. "Damn you! To be defeated this easily...its a disgrace!" Lorelei growled. Frustrated, she turned to Bruno and pointed back at Rina. "Bruno, this one's all your's. Teach her a lesson!" Bruno nodded and remained silent as he walked past Lorelei, taking up position as Rina's next opponent.
"You know, I could be wrong, but I don't remember the Elite Four seeming this...mean." Rina said to Pippi and Mew. "Its almost like Lorelei turned evil and Bruno is under some kind of mind control."
"-I don't remember what they were like, really.-" Pippi said, scratching her head. "-Maybe the Elite Four really IS evil?-"
"Pippi...Lance is one of the Elite Four, remember?" Rina said to her. "Anyway, you can sit out this next match, Mew. I'll use a different pokemon."
"-Ok! I'm happy I had the chance to battle anyway!-" Mew replied. Rina then recalled Mew and placed its pokeball back on her belt. While she got another pokeball ready, Bruno had silently released his own pokemon, a Hitmonlee.
"Deoxys, go!" Rina called out, releasing the shape-shifting Deoxys to battle Hitmonlee. Deoxys was in its normal form, in which its most noticeable feature was the different arms on either side of its body. One ended in a four fingered hand, the other was actually two tendrils. In its normal form, Deoxys was fairly frail defensively but had a lot more speed and power than almost any other pokemon except itself in either speed or attack form.
"Hitmonlee, Blaze Kick." Bruno ordered groggily. Hitmonlee spun around and made a kicking motion from where it stood, several dozen feet away from Deoxys. As it kicked out with its right foot, it became enveloped in flames and stretched out toward the alien psychic pokemon.
"Deoxys, quick! Switch to defense form!" Deoxys' body began to distort and changed shape, becoming much larger and bulkier. When Hitmonlee's flaming foot finally struck it in the chest, Deoxys barely flinched. The attack had very little effect on it.
"Phew...that was close...forgot Hitmonlee's legs could stretch like that." Rina thought, breathing a sigh of relief. "Still..." Rina looked at Bruno's Hitmonlee with a puzzled expression. "I thought only Blaziken could learn Blaze Kick? Could May's Blaziken teach Hiro that technique maybe?"
"Mega Kick." Bruno commanded, sounding just as groggy as before. His Hitmonlee spun around again, throwing its foot toward Deoxys and putting its full power into the kick. Deoxys stumbled back a foot as the Hitmonlee kicked it in the chest with tremendous force, but it easily withstood the attack. In its defense form, Deoxys was easily one of the most durable pokemon in existance.
"Oh, right, the battle. Whoops." Rina grinned sheepishly. "Deoxys, switch to attack form now and use Psycho Boost." Energy began to crackle around Deoxys body as it began to shift, simultaneously changing into attack mode and powering up for a Psycho Boost. A crackling sphere of psychic energy had formed around it by the time it had shifted into attack form, a form with a similar build to its normal form but with greater attack power and even weaker defenses.
Deoxys stretched out its four limbs toward Hitmonlee and fired, sending a large blast of pure psychic energy at the fighting pokemon. Hitmonlee screamed as the energy struck it and began to pour into its body, inflicting tremendous pain on it. When the energy finally subsided, Hitmonlee collapsed to the ground. Being struck by the most powerful psychic attack, from the most powerful psychic pokemon, was too much for it.
"I've lost too." Bruno muttered, recalling his Hitmonlee and stepping aside. "Agatha." The old lady of the Elite Four stepped up in Bruno's place to fight Rina.
"You've been putting on quite the show, young lady. As expected of a trainer adopted by Lance."
"I barely talk to him, how could that have anything to do with it?" Rina asked in an annoyed tone. "On that note...where is he anyway? Why isn't he here if the rest of you are?"
"Lance prefers to do his training in Dragon Den." Agatha explained. "All of us have been training tirelessly ever since we lost three times in a row to trainers from Pallet Town..."
"Training tirelessly?" Rina blinked and looked at each of the Elite Four. "So then...you three haven't been getting much sleep, have you?"
"A few hours a night for me and Agatha, zip for Bruno here." Lorelei replied.
"I guess that explains their odd behaviour then, anyone would be a little strange if they were getting so little sleep!" Rina thought, staring in disbelief.
"Now, shall we move on?" Agatha said while reaching into her pouch and pulling out a pokeball. She pressed the button, releasing her pokemon, but nothing seemed to come out at first. A ghost pokemon, Gengar, then soon rose from the ground in front of her.
"Deoxys, good job, but that's enough for now! Return!" Rina held out Deoxys pokeball and recalled it, then quickly switched it with another pokeball from her belt. "Jirachi, your turn now! Go!" She then called out, releasing Jirachi from its pokeball. Jirachi looked around and then quickly turned to face Rina.
"Rina, I have to say you have impeccable timing. That crazy girl on the island was planning to experiment on me to find out why I'm a steel-type pokemon!" Jirachi said to her.
"You're...a steel-type?" Rina asked, blinking.
"Apparently." Jirachi replied. "By the way, with that hat on you look like..."
"Don't say it." Rina bitterly interrupted Jirachi. "I've gotten that a lot today..."
"Hohoho. This one even talks, does it?" Agatha said to Rina. "You have quite the team of pokemon. I'll be interested in seeing what this one is capable of."
Jirachi turned around to face Agatha and Gengar, quickly looking over his opponent. "You know, I think this marks my first battle in several millenia. I might be a bit rusty at this." Jirachi said to Rina.
"-I hope you don't mean that literally.-" Pippi said, snickering. "-What with you being a steel-type and all.-"
"Don't worry about it, it's not a serious battle anyway." Rina assured it. "Now, let's start off with that technique! Doom Desire!" Jirachi nodded in agreement. The eye on its chest opened up and glowed briefly, then closed again, seemingly having no affect on Gengar.
"A useless gesture. Gengar, Hypnosis!" Gengar began emitting hypnotic, psychic energy waves at Jirachi. Jirachi felt its eyelids grow heavy and then dropped onto its back, falling into a deep sleep.
"Now...if its a steel-type, then Dream Eater is useless." Agatha said to herself. "Gengar, use Nightmare. Then, follow up with Curse."
Gengar held out its hands toward Jirachi, focusing a dark energy around it that seeped into the pokemon's dreams. Jirachi grimaced as the nightmares began and squirmed in its sleep. The dreams immediately started to take an effect on its body. Gengar continued to focus the dark energies, this time forming them into a pin to stab through itself. A dark aura then descended on Jirachi again, laying a curse on it.
"Now even if Jirachi wakes up, it will not last long enough to attack." Agatha said smugly. "I am afraid I win, young girl."
"Actually...about that, your pokemon still has to survive Doom Desire." Rina said to Agatha. Agatha raised an eyebrow, not understanding at first. Suddenly, darkness descended upon the area like an eclipse and a bright beam of light shot down from the sun and struck Agatha's Gengar. Gengar cried out in pain as the light engulfed its body. When the light faded, and the sky returned to normal, Gengar fell to the ground. The intense sunlight had dealt the finishing blow, courtesty of the damage Gengar inflicted on itself with Curse.
"I see...so that's Doom Desire." Agatha mused, recalling her Gengar. Rina recalled Jirachi likewise, before the combination of Curse and Nightmare could finish it off as well. "With pokemon like that on your side, you should have no problems in Mt. Silver."
"Well of course, Deoxys and Mew could easily beat up any wild pokemon that attack us." Rina replied. "By the way, you three didn't happen to see Red around, have you?"
"No one's seen Red in days..." Bruno mumbled, but Rina couldn't hear him from where she was standing. Lorelei repeated what Bruno had said so Rina would hear it.
"Hmm...I thought maybe you guys told him about using for training." Rina said to them, then shrugged. "Guess not then. By the way, you three should really consider getting some sleep."
"We don't have time for sleep. We need to get stronger." Lorelei replied.
"That might be true, but if I were to, say, challenge the Elite Four tomorrow...you guys would be pretty easy to beat right now." A smile crossed Rina's lips. "A fourth loss in a row would look even worse for you, you know."
The three elites stared at Rina in shock, realizing she was right and worried she might make good on her threat to challenge them with less than a day to prepare.
"Well! I'll be going into Mt. Silver now to train my pokemon to be unstoppable forces of nature!" Rina said happily. "Let's go, Pippi!" Rina and Pippi then moved past the Elite Four, heading into the cave entrance to Mt. Silver.
"Being shown up by a girl like that would be even worse for our reputation." Agatha said thoughtfully, glancing back at Rina. "We must rest up for tomorrow." Lorelei nodded in agreement, but Bruno made no response. He had managed to fall asleep while standing up.
"-You're not really planning to challenge the Elite Four tomorrow, are you?-" Pippi asked Rina.
"I couldn't even if I wanted to! I'm seven badges short, remember?" Rina replied, grinning sheepishly and placing her hands behind her hand. "Nope! I just thought it'd be good motivation for those three to get some rest."
"-Oh.-" Pippi said, snapping her fingers in disappointment. "-So much for that then. By the way, if Red's training here then isn't it odd that those three wouldn't have seen him?-"
"He must be training deeper inside than they were." Rina replied.
The inside of Mt. Silver was large and cavernous, with hills rising and falling all around them. There was even a waterfall in the cave, just to the right from where Rina and Pippi entered. Remembering her recently acquired fishing rod, Rina approached the body of water gathered under the waterfall.
"Couldn't hurt to try a bit of fishing while we're here." Rina said cheerfully. She sat down near the edge of the water and cast off with her rod, sending the pokeball hooked on the end into the water.
"-I wonder what kind of wild pokemon are in this cave anyway?-" Pippi said, looking around. "-I don't see any, but they're supposed to be tough, right?-"
"We keep hearing that." Rina replied quietly. "Anyway, keep it down or else you'll scare the fish." Pippi blinked in confusion, but kept quiet as Rina had asked.
Rina sat in silence, patiently waiting for a pokemon to snag the line. Minutes went by without so much as a ripple in the water near the floating pokeball. Pippi began to grow bored and flopped down on ground. Even the wild pokemon in the cave didn't seem to be bothering them. Or at least, Rina and Pippi didn't see any wild pokemon around.
Eventually, though, one pokemon did take an interest in them. A Misdreavus floated up to them from behind, regarding Rina and Pippi curious through eyes that looked as though they were still half-asleep. "A young trainer and his pokemon, huh?" The ghost pokemon thought. "Well, since I'm up anyway, a snack couldn't hurt..."
The Misdreavus floated closer to them until it was hovering almost directly over Pippi. Still unnoticed, the ghost pokemon let out a creepy, sobbing cry, startling Rina and sending a shiver down her spine.
"What was that?!" Rina shrieked, bolting up and turning around. She tensed when she saw the ghost pokemon floating behind her, remembering the last time she encountered a ghost. "Pippi! It's a wild pokemon! Why aren't you doing anything about it?!"
"-Hmm?-" Pippi slowly stood up and looked at the Misdreavus floating over her. "-This guy?-" Pippi shrugged. "-I don't know, he just doesn't seem very threatening compared to that Haunter...-"
"-H-hey now! I just woke up!-" The Misdreavus countered frantically. "-If I had a good day's sleep I'd scare you both witless and happily drink of your fear!-"
"'Drink of your fear'?" Rina blinked. "Okay...that's just a bit creepy."
"-EEK! You heard that?!-" Misdreavus shrieked. "-What kind of monster are you!?-"
"I'm not a monster, I'm just able to understand pokemon." Rina said to Misdreavus. "Anyway...if you usually sleep during the day, why are you up now?"
"-Ugh! Someone pissed off one of those stupid Ursaring.-" Misdreavus replied, looking off into the cavern. "-Something poisoned it, probably a Golbat, and now its wrecking everything in sight.-"
"-Wouldn't it just faint eventually from the poison?-" Pippi asked.
"-Probably has already, but that didn't stop it from waking me up.-" Misdreavus said bitterly, then looked at Rina. "-Hey! You're a trainer, right? Do something about that Ursaring, will ya?-"
"Hmm..." Rina thought for a moment and looked back at where she dropped her fishing rod. "Well, guess I wasn't going to catch anything anyway."
"-Maybe there was a good reason he was retiring. Maybe his fishing rod just isn't that good?-" Pippi suggested.
Rina picked up her fishing rod and stuck it through the back of her tunic, making it look like it was strapped to her back, then turned and nodded to Misdreavus. "Ok, take us to where this Ursaring is."
The Misdreavus nodded and lead Rina and Pippi deeper into Mt. Silver, passing through several sub-caves and similar structures within the large cavern. Eventually they started to come across the remains of large boulders, shattered into pieces, and shredded leather-like tissue scattered about that might have been a Golbat at one point. Rina shuddered at the thought of the fate the Golbat met, torn to pieces by an Ursaring that it had enraged.
"Ursaring must be a pretty strong pokemon..." Rina noted grimly.
"-It doesn't help matters any that a poisoned Ursaring is even stronger.-" Misdreavus said to her. "-I'm rather thankful I'm a ghost. I've seen some Ursaring around here that will come just short of killing their own cubs after one of those stupid bats gets the bright idea to attack them.-"
"I can't imagine any pokemon being that violent..."
"-Normally, they aren't. They're usually quiet and keep to themselves.-" Misdreavus said. "-However, the Ursaring around here tend to fly into a rage if they've been poisoned. Also, you do not want to mess with their cubs.-"
"Her voice is really starting to creep me out." Pippi thought to herself, shivering. When it spoke, Misdreavus sounded like it was crying or wailing, much like the sound it had made to startle Rina earlier. It didn't bother Pippi at first, but hearing Misdreavus speaking over and over was starting to get to her.
"-There it is there.-" Misdreavus said to them, then quickly moved behind them. The wild Ursaring was unconscious on the ground with a wild Donphan unconscious next to it. The Ursaring was snoring loudly, indicating that it was asleep rather than knocked out.
"Looks like it calmed down and went to sleep after fighting that Donphan." Rina noted. "Guess there's no need for us to get involved afterall."
"-What if its just using Rest to heal?-" Pippi said to Rina, crouching down and getting ready to fight. "-We can't relax if we don't know for sure!-"
"You're right." Rina folded her arms over her chest. "Hmm...should I catch it then, just to be sure?"
"-You left your backpack at home though...-"
Rina hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Knew I should have grabbed that...but I have one pokeball at least." Rina took a purple and white pokeball from a side belt clip. It was the Master Ball she received from the president of Silph, which she kept with her incase of an emergency after hearing from May how she ended up catching her Salamence.
"-Is this really something you want to use the Master Ball on, though?-" Pippi asked her. "-I mean, it's not exactly a threat while it's still asleep...-"
As Pippi was saying this, the Ursaring up ahead from them started to wake up. It let out a low growl as it opened its eyes and stood up. It eyed the unconscious Donphan lying next to it with a look of hatred, then glanced back and spotted Rina and Pippi. The Misdreavus, meanwhile, quickly snuck off into the darkness, grinning to itself.
"W-well, it's awake now!" Rina pointed out. "Think you can take it, Pippi?"
"-Of course I can!-" Pippi replied, grinning widely as sparks shot out from her white cheeks. "-Just one Volt Tackle and I'll have it out cold!-"
The Ursaring let out an enraged roar and charged toward the two.
"Forget the Volt Tackle! Paralyze it with Thunder Wave!" Rina said to her.
Pippi rolled her eyes. "-Fine.-" Pippi pointed her hands at the charging Ursaring and fired a pulse of electricity. The electricity passed through Ursaring's body, causing it to drop to its knees as paralysis spread through it with only a few feet between itself and Pippi. This didn't stop it, though. Letting out another enraged roar, and with a fire burning in its eyes, the Ursaring lashed out at Pippi with its claws. Its claws raked across the front of her body, throwing her back past and knocking her out instantly. The Ursaring fell onto its stomach from the paralysis soon after, but was now mere feet from Rina herself.
"Pippi!" Rina cried frantically. She quickly reached for Pippi's pokeball and recalled her. When she turned around to face the Ursaring again, it was lashing out at her now.
"EEK!" Rina fell back, barely avoiding the Ursaring's claws as they lashed out toward her waist and cut through the fabric of her tunic. Ursaring reached out to attack with its other hand, but Rina quickly crawled away and then got up and ran. She came upon a rocky slope leading up to a ledge and climbed up it. The Ursaring soon got up and chased after her, but Rina was just out of its reach when she backed away from the edge of the rock. The hill was too steep for Ursaring to climb in its paralyzed state.
"Phew...looks like I'm safe up here at least." Rina said to herself. The ledge was only a few feet wide and from where she was sitting she could only see the pokemon's claws swatting at the air. "I don't think I've ever been this scared of a pokemon before, I can see why they only let strong trainers in here..."
Rina sighed to herself, then reached for her belt. Now that she was finally safe, she could send out a pokemon to fight Ursaring. When she reached for a pokeball, though, she found herself grabbing at empty air. Looking around frantically, she spotted her belt on the lower level she just climbed up from. The Ursaring managed to slash it off in its near miss.
"Wha! Great, now I'm stuck up here!" Rina said in dismay. "If only I had my backpack, then I would at least have something to catch it..." Rina paused and looked down at her hand, still clutching the Master Ball. "...with." Rina looked toward the edge of ledge she was on, where the Ursaring's claws could still be seen swiping at the air
"Still...from this angle, I can't see it very well. If only I had something to tie the Master Ball to just incase I miss." Rina said to herself, then reached back and pulled out her fishing rod. "This can't be just a coincidence." She thought, removing the pokeball from the end of the rod and attaching the Master Ball in its place. She then cast the rod toward the attacking Ursaring, hitting the bear pokemon in the head on her first try. The Master Ball opened and pulled Ursaring inside, then used its special locking mechanism to seal the pokemon inside without any chance of it breaking free. The ball then glowed white and vanished, sending Ursaring off to the Sanctuary.
"Well! Guess that's Melany's problem now!" Rina said to herself as she stood up and placed the rod in the back of her tunic again. "I just hope she doesn't decide to let it out of the Master Ball as soon as it arrives there. Not without other pokemon with her at least." Rina then looked down at herself to survey the damage from Ursaring's claws. She had managed to avoid getting scratched at all, but the side of her tunic and pants had three diagonal rips from it. Her panties, now visible through that gash, had managed to avoid being damaged as well. Still, Rina decided to remove her hat and hold it over the rip to preserve her modesty.
"Rina? Is that you up there?" A male voice asked. Rina froze and slowly turned her head to the source of the voice in very jerky movements. Red, the boy she had come all the way to Mt. Silver to see, was on the ground below her now and standing near her pokeball belt. He was surprised to see her there. "What are you doing here?" He asked. "You didn't come to train, did you?"
"Err...no...actually, I..." Rina blushed slightly and turned away. "I was just curious, that's all!"
"Mt. Silver is no place for curiosity." Red replied tersely, bending down to pick up Rina's pokeball belt. "I came when I heard someone screaming, but you seem to be fine now. So just forget you saw me here and go."
"Forget I saw you here?"
"I don't need visitors dropping by while I'm here training." Red said to her. He walked closer to the ledge she was standing on and tossed the belt up to her. Rina didn't dare make a move to catch it for fear of dropping her hat in the process.
"Just...just how long do you plan to stay holed up in Mt. Silver for?" Rina asked him.
"Until I can beat someone as powerful as Drake on my own." He said, turning away from her. "I want the power to overcome anyone who abuses pokemon for their own selfish and misguided goals. Only when I'm confident I've achieved that power will I be ready to leave. Until then, this is goodbye. Again." Red then started to walk away.
"...That's it?" Rina called out after him, causing him to stop in his tracks for a moment. Rina quickly picked up her pokeball belt and slid down the steep slope of the ledge, clutching her hat tightly against her side. "Red...the real reason I came here was because I was looking for you! Do you have any idea what I've been through?!" Rina yelled at him.
"Just why was it so necessary for you to find me that you came to a place like this?" Red asked her without looking back.
"Because...because..." Rina struggled with the words, working up the courage to say it. "Because I like you, Red! You care for pokemon, and I can tell you're a really nice guy deep down, and...and...you're really good looking too!"
"...I already knew that, you didn't exactly make an effort to hide it." Red said to her.
"You're right, I didn't hide it, but I never came out and said it either." Rina said to him. "I came here because I wanted to tell you how I feel. But what about you?"
"What do you mean by that?" Red asked, looking back at her.
"Do you like me? Do you hate me? Do you just think of me as a friend? Do you even think of me at all? Or are you even able to be honest with me?" Red clenched his fist, but couldn't muster a response. Feeling it was the only answer she was going to get, Rina turned and started to leave. "Well, I won't have any trouble sleeping tonight." She said to herself as she made her way back toward the exit. Red turned and watched her leave, unable to bring himself to say anything.
"Rina...you're right." Red thought. "I couldn't bring myself to tell you how I felt...in fact, I'm not even sure how I feel. I always told myself that it didn't matter, that you would find someone else. And maybe you will. But even if that happens, I promise I'll decide for myself how I feel. And I'll tell you myself, just like you came here to tell me today..."
Author's Notes: When I first thought up the concept for this chapter it was basically "Rina goes to see Red at Mt. Silver". Then at some point the idea that Rina was searching for the "missing Red" popped into my head, and from there...well, you can see what happened after that. It fits though, since Rina is basically Yellow from the manga only with the ability to understand pokemon speech instead of reading their mind or healing them.
Also, as some people might have noticed, I make an effort to depict relationships realistically. Far from perfect, I'm sure, but it didn't make sense for Red to really have any feelings toward Rina at this point. While it wouldn't be fair to say there's nothing there, Red's still...Red. He respects Rina's feelings for him, but doesn't necessarily share the same feelings in return. At least, not at this point.
Was going to close out this chapter with a joke of sorts relating to Melany, but the ending scene with Red and Rina wasn't going to be so serious either. It was originally intended to end at the top of Mt. Silver, Rina confessing to Red, and Red saying its hard to take her seriously when her hat makes her look so androgynous, followed by Red getting hit in the head by a pokeball on a fishing line.
Well anyway, next chapter will be something very different. It's going to involve two or more characters. Talking. All known already, none of them main characters, and talking about several close acquaintences that aren't main characters either. Yeah, I could probably be a bit more vague about this, I'm sure. I want to say where the conversation is taking place, but that'd make it too obvious who the next chapter is starring.
