The Hiccup Hotel
I would just like to thank you all for your patience. I know I don't update very often but you know how it is. I've finally found time and hope you like it. This time we are turning back the clock on our heroes. What I refer to, of course, is a "How we met" type of tale. Jax is our storyteller so, yeah, first person, POV and all that.
Chapter 7: How We Met Part 1
To be honest, I don't remember exactly how it started. I do, however, have a vague memory of it. I remember I was six years old and it was recess. There was this girl named Melissa. She was about my age, Hispanic, and had long black hair. We were hanging out in the jungle gym when she got hiccups while hanging upside down. Something inside me sparked. I didn't know what it was then, but I liked the feeling. It was kinda like a feeling of intrigue.
Hey! You better not be asleep! I swear to God, if you're sleeping through my tale, I will get up and gut you! This is important to me and…you are ignoring me, aren't you?! Of, all the inconsiderate…you know what? Fuck you! I'll get you later. You better sleep with one eye open from now on!
So, anyway, three days passed and I hadn't had another sighting since…that is, until my English teacher, Mrs. Fletcher, got them during class. I'll tell you this; that was the first time I paid any real attention in her class. Over time, I waited patiently for more sightings but hardly anyone ever got them. You know how it is. I'm sure you do.
Let's skip to a few years later. I reached my tenth birthday and I was psyched to get my pokemon license. I entered Prof. Elm's lab and saw that he was conversing with another boy. There were three balls on the table and he seemed confused with which one he was going to choose.
"You need some help?" I asked.
"I just can't pick," he sighed. "I was thinking Chikorita, but there's a bird gym leader further ahead. Then, I thought maybe Totodile, but then I remembered Sprout Tower is full of Grass pokemon. Then, I thought perhaps Cyndaquil, but then I thought what if I get my hands burned?"
I rolled my eyes and asked, "So what's your name?"
"Dodge," he said, simply.
"Like the car?" I asked.
"Very funny," He answered sarcastically.
I put my hand on his shoulder. "Well, Dodge, this is your lucky day. I, Jax, Pokemon Expert Extraordinaire, am proud to offer my services." I pointed at the pokeball with the word Chikoritawritten on the front. "This little powerhouse learns Razor Leaf at level 6. You could use that to distract the bird pokemon and then Tackle to knock it to the ground."
"I suppose so," Dodge replied, thoughtfully.
I moved on to Totodile. "This one is more agile and learns Ice Fang at level 8. With that, you can do great damage to the Bellsprout there."
"Interesting."
Next, was Cyndaquil. "Trust me when I say you're now going to get your hands burned, unless you have them on his back when he gets excited."
"Guess I bought all that burn cream for nothing."
"So do you know which one you'll go with?" I asked.
"Totodile!" He answered, snatching the middle pokeball.
I grabbed Cyndaquil. "Ha! Eat it, numbnuts! Totodile doesn't learn Ice Fang until level 20."
Dodge's jaw dropped. "You tricked me!"
I wagged my finger as Prof. Elm handed me my Pokedex. "Nuh Uh! The info about Chikorita was actually true." I took off like a flash. "Good luck at Sprout Tower, dork!"
"I'll get you for this, Jax! Make no mistake!" Dodge shouted after me.
Needless to say, things went…well enough. Hey! Give me a break, ok? It's one thing to read up on stuff and know it and another to actually DO said things. I fumbled on my first Wild capture, ate bad mushrooms, and accidentally…set some of my supplies on fire. I guess I should've been watching my Cyndaquil more carefully.
Let's not forget some of my bizarre experiences I had as I traveled Johto. I once got kidnapped by a Dragonite to be offered as a gift to its Articuno mate. I still ask myself how the hell an ice bird ended up with a dragon. Weird. A Drowzee gassed me with some kind of purple fog and I woke up in the woods a day later wearing only my underwear. There was also…wait, what? I'm rambling? Heh. Heh. I'm so sorry. I forgot you said you wanted the SHORTER side of my tale. What happened to Dodge, you ask? Hold on. I'm getting there.
Well, two years passed since my journey started and I was half-way through Hoenn at this point. It was late and I was in Fortree City, a place that's actually more like a village where all the residents live in, you guessed right, tree houses. There was a festival going on and I decided to partake in the fun. As the festival came to a close, I heard a familiar sound in the distance. I summoned my Typhlosion, the final form of Cyndaquil, and had him act as my lantern as we traveled through the woods. As we got closer, the repeating sound got louder.
We got close enough to see who it was, Winona, the city's Gym Leader. She was training her bird pokemon in a clearing. I quickly had Typhlosion dim the light so we wouldn't get spotted.
"Alright, Skarmory, hic! That descent needs more hic! speed. Tell you what? I'll hic! go up there with you this time. Hic! Now hold still." She instructed.
Skarmory nodded and lowered its legs so she could get on its back. She gave a command and they took off like a shot. It was an amazing sight. The moonlight shined on them with a gorgeous beauty as their silhouettes seemed to dance in it. Such grace. Such speed. It was perfection. They came back down at what looked like Mach speed. Just as they reached the ground, Skarmory quickly slowed down and landed gently in the center of the clearing.
"Nice job, Skarmory. Hiccup! Now, return." She held up her pokeball and a red light shot out from the center. It engulfed Skarmory and pulled him in. She pocketed it and pulled out another pokeball. "Swellow, go!" She threw it and it popped open, releasing a large swallow pokemon in a white flash of light.
I can't remember why, but for some reason, I wanted to move over a bit to get a closer look. As I did, I bumped into someone on my left. I slowly turned my head and met their gaze. Surprised, we both screamed and fell over backwards. I rubbed my rear end and took another look as I got up. It was Dodge.
"You!" we both declared pointing accusing fingers.
"What're you doing here?!" I questioned.
"Me?! What're you doing here?!" he shouted.
"That's a hic! very good question. Hic!" We got startled by a voice next to us.
"I, um, I was just…" I stammered.
"We were just admiring your training performance," Dodge said.
"Yeah, that's right!" I nodded quickly.
Winona smirked, looked at her Swellow, then back at us. "Is that so? Tell you hic! what, if you beat me hic! in a Double Battle, I'll give both hic! of you a Feather Badge and I'll hic! forget that you two were spying on hic! me. Whaddaya say?" She held out her hand.
We looked at each other and shrugged. "Deal," we both said and shook her hand.
We took our sides of the clearing and were about to start, when Winona said, "By the way, hiccup! what're your names?"
"The name's Jax," I answered.
"I'm Dodge," he followed.
"We're rivals," I informed.
Dodge turned to me. "Rivals? We spoke to each other twice."
I ignored him and continued, "We go way back to when we started our journeys! I, the master of Fire, he, the master of…water, I guess, shall put aside our rivalry and work to defeat you!"
"We. Spoke. Twice," Dodge repeated. "Stop making this sound epic."
"Weiner," I muttered.
"Yeeeaaaahhhh…" Winona said slowly. She looked at Swellow and he went up front. She pulled out a pokeball and shouted, "Pelipper, I choose you!" She tossed it and it released a pelican-looking pokemon with a large beak and blue tips on its wings.
"Go! Wigglytuff!" I tossed out a pokeball and a pokemon that looked like a big pink pillow with rabbit-like ears appeared.
"Get 'em, Spinda!" A pokemon that looked like a small panda with orange spots and swirls for eyes appeared in a flash of light.
The battle began with Winona. "Swellow, Quick Attack! Pelipper, Wing Attack!" Swellow disappeared and Pelipper charged forward with its wings glowing.
"Wigglytuff, Defense Curl!" Wigglytuff curled up into a ball.
"Spinda, Psybeam!" Spinda shot out a multi-colored ray of light from his forehead.
Swellow appeared out of thin air and crashed into Wigglytuff, sending her into a tree. Pelipper dodged Spinda's attack and smacked its wings hard against his head. Wigglytuff jumped out of the treetop and slammed into Swellow with Body Slam. Spinda retaliated against Pelipper by crashing into it with Double-Edge while it was still close enough. Pelipper fell and rolled a few feet on the ground and Swellow landed next to it.
"Thought you could beat our alliance?" I grinned.
"Temporary alliance," Dodge emphasized.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I said, absentmindedly. I thought for a moment that I heard Dodge growl at me but I pretended not to here him as our fight with the Gym Leader continued.
As the battle went on, I couldn't help but notice Winona had a smirk on her face. Did she notice something we didn't? She was up to something. She had to be. I didn't like it. Not at all. What was her plan? Was she gonna—
"Hey, asshole! Are you there?!" Dodge shouted.
Fuck! That surprised me. "What?"
"You're killing us, Jax! You just gonna leave me all by myself here?!"
I looked to see that Spinda was fighting both of Winona's pokemon and losing. Wigglytuff stood off to the side, waiting for orders. Before I gave my next command to Wigglytuff, Spinda took a Water Gun to the face by Pelipper and was down for the count. I knew there was no way Wigglytuff would survive the next attack. I was right. Pelipper dazed Wigglytuff with the sound wave, Supersonic, and Swellow finished her off with a powerful Hyper Beam attack. Wigglytuff was down.
"Maybe next time, guys," she said, holding out her hand. Dodge and I grumbled as we each gave her 600 poke-dollars. She hopped onto Skarmory's back, winked, and took off into the sky.
We called our defeated pokemon back to their pokeballs and Dodge turned to me. He was…upset. "What the hell, man?!"
I didn't quite know what to say. For the first time, I was at a loss for words. "Well, I...I—"
"Why did you space out?!"
"I…"
"Well?!" He demanded.
"I don't know! Okay?!"
"You don't know?! I thought you were a serious battler!"
"I AM!"
Dodge laughed sarcastically, "Sure you are. That's why I fell flat on my face and lost the last of my money."
"Wait, that was the last of your money? What do you spend it on? Those useless Pokeblocks?"
He grabbed me by the shirt. "Don't diss the blocks, bitch!" He warned in a whisper. "I will end you!"
He let me go and began to walk away. "Blow me, you tool." What the hell is wrong with me?
With that Dodge turned around and tackled me. We rolled around on the ground and proceeded to exchange blows. We got up and I gave him a punch to the gut. He recovered and swept his leg under me. After that, he kicked me a couple times in the side. I bit his ankle before he could do it again.
"Shit!" he exclaimed. "Dirty move!"
I got up and tackled him to the ground. Unfortunately, I did this when we were near a hill and we tumbled down it. As we recovered and began to get up for another go, a mysterious blue aura appeared in the trees next to us. I didn't know why but something about it caused all my rage to vanish as I stared in its direction.
Dodge seemed to share my feeling and we slowly began to approach it. Neither of us said a word as we looked through the trees. It looked like…it had to be a…it was the legendary pokemon, Suicune. I couldn't believe it. Suicune. In Hoenn. What was it doing here? It briefly glanced in our direction and took off. I had to follow it. I released my Dodrio and hopped on his back. We raced through the trees, trying to keep up. I heard something behind me and looked to see Dodge riding an Arcanine.
We eventually reached a clearing. I hopped off and had Dodrio wait where he stood. There was life all around us. The grass was a lush green and there were two small ponds on each side that were filled with Magikarp. In between the adjacent ponds were glowing, blue mushrooms that lined a path. Up ahead was Suicune, whose aura was lighting up the area.
A strong feeling inside me insisted that I get closer. I was a bit hesitant but soon gave in. Dodge walked beside me as we traveled the path. Once we were a couple feet away from Suicune, I heard a gentle voice say, "Don't be afraid." Was that Suicune? It had to be.
"You use telepathy, I see? Why did you call us here?" Dodge asked.
Suicune closed its eyes for a minute and opened them again. "A war is coming. This world has been connected."
"What?" I simply asked.
Suicune paused, and then said, "Darkness approaches. This world will soon fall."
"You're not making sense," I said.
"Only the chosen will survive. The rest will parish."
"Wait a minute. Are you saying that Jax and I are chosen to survive the apocalypse?"
"Of our world? Yes."
"How?" I asked.
"The Darkness will come and devour our world. All who remain here will parish except for the chosen few."
"All who remain here?" Dodge asked.
"I'm guessing you're referring to those who don't leave before our world blows up?"
"Now when you say our world—"
"There are as many worlds out there as there are stars. Many are unlike our own."
"I see," I acknowledged.
"So, what will you be doing?" Dodge asked.
"Raikou, Entei, and I will be traveling among the stars."
"Helping these other worlds?" I inquired.
"Yes."
"Anything else?"
"I can assume you don't have a Gummi Ship at your disposal?"
"A what?" We both asked.
"Yeah, I thought not." With that, Suicune vanished and the clearing disappeared as well, returning us to the open field we met Winona at.
"We should've tried to capture it," I stated simply.
"Yeah," Dodge agreed. "Then the dick would've just simply taken us with it."
"Personally, I'd rather not ride the darkness."
"Me neither," Dodge agreed.
Suddenly, I realized something and hit myself in the face with my palm. "Oh, Arceus! Am I really so stupid?"
"What?" Dodge asked.
"I have been working on a prototype for interdimensional space travel." I rummaged through my backpack and pulled out a small, metal cube. "It's my portable wormhole generator. I originally built it to take me to alternate realities but, considering what's going to happen eventually, I'm gonna have to recalibrate it for world-traveling."
"Wait. You're good with tech? Me, too, actually."
"Really? That's great! I could use the help!" Finally, we found something in common.
"Glad to help. What else needs to be done with it?"
I let out a sigh and replied, "Well, it's not fully functional yet, for starters. I've been working on it during my non-battling points of my journey, of course. However, due to Team Aqua and Magma stirring up trouble lately, I've had difficulty finding time to continue my project. Damn assholes. One's trying to raise land by reviving Groudon while the other wants to raise water levels by reviving Kyogre and blah, blah, blah, blah. Whatever."
"Well, you know evil corporations. Always think they're so big and mighty."
"Actually, I think they're activists but I don't think anyone really cares at this point."
I was observing the device, when Dodge brought something up, "When do you think the world will end?"
"Hard to say. Could be today, though there would be the obvious signs like the sky growing dark and the planet being consumed by shadow, as Suicune put it."
"How long do you think the device will take to finish?"
"A month. Hopefully sooner."
We didn't know how long it would be before our world ended but we both decided it best to carry on until signs of the inevitable made itself known. For the next few days, we practiced battling together by taking on Double Battles with regular trainers. It took some getting used to but we started getting the hang of it.
After a recent victory, we sat down for lunch and I pulled up my laptop to continue working on a project that I started quite some time ago but hadn't actually gotten back to until then. I typed with one hand and ate my ham sandwich with the other.
"Jax, what are you writing?" Dodge asked, leaning over my shoulder.
"I'm trying to finish my last chapter of fanfiction before the end of the world," I answered.
…but Gragnog wouldn't have it. As much as Super Norbot wanted to convince him, he wouldn't change his mind. So, left with no other choice, Super Norbot called down the power of Thunder itself and-
"Lightning," I heard Dodge say.
"Pardon?" I asked, turning away from my work.
"Lightning," Dodge repeated. "Thunder is the sound it makes."
"I always heard it was called Thunder," I said.
"It's a common mistake in fiction," Dodge explained.
"I'm pretty sure it isn't."
"It is."
"I've never heard Lightning."
"Lightning isn't the sound. Thunder is."
"Thunder's the sound?"
"Yes. You sure you're a scientist?"
"I work with sciency tech, not chemicals."
"WHAT?! LIGHTNING IS NOT A CHEMICAL, YOU TWAT!"
I stood up and faced him, shoving the rest of my lunch into my mouth, "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU CALL IT, IT STAYS AS IS!"
"BUT IT'S WRONG!"
"IT'S THE FUCKING INTERNET! ONCE YOU PUT SOMETHING IN, IT'S NO LONGER WRONG!"
We both stood there, noses almost touching. It began raining and a Nurse Joy came out of the Pokemon Center, insisting that we get inside before we got soaked. Reluctantly, we did so.
Well, I hope you liked it. Please leave reviews, if you can. It's nice to hear from fans. Stay tuned for part 2.
