Hello again, everyone! I couldn't post my story last week - I didn't know I could be so busy at the end of my holiday. Anyway, I wish everyone a happy New Year!

Okay, maybe not exactly New Year. Happy New Year's Eve!

Yes! My story has reached exactly 300 views (yes, no more, no less, 300 views) when I post this volume!

Replies to reviews:

Falneou17: Thanks for all your advices! I'll try to imply them.

Norcarnik: Maybe...? Fine, it's not, since I don't ship them. But i don't want to say whether or not your guess was close.


- Round 18: Give Jr. Surge a Shock -

- Orange's P.O.V. -

Wow... She actually did the complete same thing as what I was thinking to be the best solution of defeating Jr. Surge. And she said that I could win her in a few minutes... What a liar!

I've proven myself to be right. She is strong. Very strong. Battling with her would pretty much be like battling with myself. I think that I have found the best competitor there is. I congratulated her when she went out of the gym door, with the Thunderbadge proudly pinned on her pink handbag... To be exact, her magenta handbag.

"I won't disappoint you. See you soon!" I said in a cheerful tone. I then went into the gym. I battled with every single trainer with only my Geosnake, since it was overwhelming every single Pokémon there, since none can use Electric moves which will not deal any damage at all. All the Pokémon can only use weak Normal-type moves, which is still not very effective due to Geosnake being a Steel-type. As a result, all the battles were easy, and I finished battling the trainers within 15 minutes, less than half the time used by Maggie. I then went to the Pokémon Centre to heal my Pokémon before coming back to face Jr. Surge.

"Hi there, Orange!" He greeted with a strong, clear voice.

"Jr. Surge! Wait, I need to ask... How did you know my name?" I asked.

"Don't you know that you're famous? You're the son of the champion! And your battling skills, they're perfect! All the Gym Leader, including me, are very excited to face you!" He informed me, which made me feel a bit nervous. Am I that famous?

"So... Let's begin with the match. Go, Electrode! Use Supersonic!"

"Go, Geosnake! Use Earthquake!"

Geosnake got confused, but still dealt the move. Geosnake's level wasn't as high as Maggie's Sandslash, so Electrode didn't faint in a single shot.

"Earthquake again!"

"Hmm... A Ground-type, again... Well, I do think that I've learned from the last match, which was with a strong trainer before you challenge me. Electrode..." He covered his ears. Okay, he is doing it, he really is going to do it... I've got to cover my ears. If I had known earlier, I should have used Dig.

"SELFDESTRUCT!"

He done it. His Electrode was much faster, and dealt that reckless move. Geosnake only had a third of its health left.

"Go, Raichu! Use Quick Attack!"

"Use Earthquake!"

I had no luck. Raichu landed the attack, and Geosnake hurt itself due to confusion.

"Raichu, one last Quick Attack!"

Geosnake fainted. "Go, Neudot, use Take Down!"

The battle continued, and Raichu fainted because of a Take Down. However, Neudot fainted at the same time due to recoil damage.

"Go, Magneton!"

Magneton is an Electric and Steel type. Herba can't do much against Steel, whereas Bugpie is weak to Electric. So how?

I thought for a moment.

"I know how. Go, Herba! Use Razor Leaf as many times as you can!"

"Use Sonicboom!"

After a few Razor Leaf attacks, Herba was down to low health due to Magneton's attacks, but due to type disadvantage Magneton was still at half of its health. There was a leaf pile in front of Magneton.

Bang! Herba fell onto the ground.

"Switch out, go, Bugpie!"

"That is way much easier to handle. I wonder why someone that famous would use a Flying-type Pokémon to challenge me. It's illogical." Jr. Surge said, crossing his arms while tilting his head.

I whisper to Bugpie and tell it to go and stay near the leaf pile. Also, I told it to attack after Magneton.

"Maybe you just want to buy time to do something? I don't know. Magneton, use Thunderbolt!"

"I only have one Pokémon left. What do you expect? Use Gust!" I said in a relatively low voice.

"If that's the case... I win!" Jr. Surge said, proudly.

'You'll be stunned seconds later, don't worry.' I thought.

Bugpie is hit by the super-effective move and is almost down. However, the Thunderbolt move also hit the leaf pile, setting it up on fire. Bugpie then uses Gust, which blows the burning leaves to Magneton. After being hit by Razor Leaf a couple of times, Gust and the fire, Magneton fainted.

Jr. Surge gasped. "Wow... So the legend, they are all true... You're as strong as they said."

"Am I?" I said while smiling brightly.

"You're as strong as the trainer who fought me just now." He said, taking out a Thunderbadge - as well as some other random stuff - while handing it to me. Normally I wouldn't like people to compare me with others for battling, but this time I am just settling on his comment. I agree with him too.

I went out of the gym, heal my Pokémon, at got ready.

"Next stop, Celadon City!"


- Somewhere in Viridian Forest -

"What are you thinking in that tiny brain of yours by getting those puny, useless gym badges?"

"Err..."

"Clean your ear, Magenta, and listen to me carefully. What I want, is information. About that blond-haired boy."

"Yes, Boss!" Magenta then went to do the usual chores.

'Well at least now I know something about that blond-haired boy...' The boss of the Junior Rocket Squad thought, watching at his Enviometer. 'He's very good in battling, however...' He smiled evilly.


- Round 19: Darkness -

After having a sufficient amount of rest, Cyan continued in his search for Orange. He went to the east exit of Cerulean City.

- Rock Tunnel -

"Firetail, use Flash!"

By now Firetail is already at level 31, Roundplant has evolved into a Gloom, and Cyan didn't combine his Procle and Elecle, which he called Propoint and Elepoint.

The originally dark Rock Tunnel became much brighter.

And that was when Cyan heard a scream.

"Ow! My eyes!" The scream sounded.

"Err... Hello? Who's there?" Cyan asked.

That was when the shadow turned his body and attacked.

"Go, Champ!" The shadow sounded, summoning his Machamp.

"W... Wait! Wait!" Cyan shouted. "I mean no harm at all!"

"Then please don't use Flash! It hurts a lot, you know!" The shadow replied.

"Okay..." Cyan then retreated Firetail. The Rock Tunnel went back to darkness. In almost complete and utter darkness, Cyan barely saw the shadow approaching him.

"... Who are you...?" Cyan asked in a trembling voice.

The shadow was now standing beside him. "Thank you." He said, while patting Cyan's shoulder. Cyan immediately moved his shoulder away.

"And... To answer your question... My name is Jack. I'm the son of a former Elite Four Member. I like to train in the dark, so Rock Tunnel is the best choice. I've been training here for quite a few hours, so I couldn't bear that Flash."

"Okay..." Cyan didn't say anything much.

Suddenly, the noise in Rock Tunnel got louder.

"Oh... Your Flash did attract quite a number of wild Pokémon..." Jack said.

"Is that good or bad?" Cyan asked.

"Good for me. I was intending to attract wild Pokémon in other means, oh well. For you though... If you're not strong enough, then bad for you. No worries, you'll be okay. Champ, use Bullet Punch to all of them!"

The Machamp knocked out every single Geodude, Graveler and even Zubat that it hit. There were only a few weakened Golbats left.

"A few more! Use Karate Chop to them!"

And that was how the Golbats fainted.

"Wow... You are quick!" Cyan said.

"Hmm... Let's see... 6 Geodudes, 4 Gravelers, 7 Zubats and 3 Golbats in 14.5 seconds... Yeah, that's quite good, but still not the fastest. Last time Champ defeated 23 Pokémon in 14 seconds.

"Wow! You're even quicker than my best friend, Orange!"

"Oh, you mean the son of the champion?"

"Yeah! I hope that one day he would challenge you!"

"I hope so." Jack said. 'He will.' He thought. "Well... I think I've trained enough here for today. Bye!"

"Oh, wait!" Cyan said. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure, I'm not in a hurry." Jack replied.

"Why do you train in the dark? Don't people train when there is sufficient light such that they can observe the battle and think of ways to win?"

"Oh... The most important benefit of training in the dark is that it trains your reflexive abilities, as well as your ability to react. You see, you can't always expect to have sufficient light when battling. However, darkness isn't all that bad. It can help you if you are prepared for it, and if it doesn't help the opponent. However..."

Jack took a deep breath and continued. "Just remember one thing. Darkness helps only if you use it correctly, and use the correct darkness. Physical darkness is thus no big deal at all. There is, however, a kind of darkness that I, and I believe you and most people, fear of. It is the mental darkness. I mean, the darkness in the heart. It never helps anyone. There is no way you can use it correctly. Once you use it, it's wrong."

"I understand, Jack." Cyan said. "Thanks a lot for your advice."

"No problem, and bye!" Jack then went out of Rock Tunnel.

'Good that it's already 7 pm. He won't get his eyes hurt.' Cyan thought. 'Use darkness? I'll try. Err... Um... Argh! No use. I'll just use the old-fashioned way.'

"Firetail! Use Flash!"

Rock Tunnel was lightened up again.

There were some noise, again.

'Let's see if I can handle this myself... The noise is much softer than just now, I wonder why... Maybe Jack defeated a lot of the wild Pokémon already.'

A wild Pokémon came out.

"A Clefairy! No, wait, a Jigglypuff! Wait a minute... What is that?"

Cyan took out his Pokédex. "A... Combination?"

"Jigglairy. FN017. One of the first artificially made Pokémon by the means of combining ordinary Pokémon. It occurs rarely in nature."

"If it's that rare, I think I'm going to catch it. Firetail, use Mega Punch!"

To avoid Jigglairy fainting, Cyan used a not very effective move.

But still, Jigglairy fainted. It was a critical hit, happening at a wrong time.

"Ugh... Bad luck."

Suddenly, Firetail was being attacked. Cyan used his Pokédex again.

"A Wigglable?!" Cyan shouted.

"FN018. Legends say that its egg has magical healing powers. Attempts to artificially create this extremely rare Pokémon has failed."

"Forget about bad luck. I'm having an unbelievable luck! Firetail, use Metal Claw!"

It was super effective, but Wigglable's health was long enough to withstand it.

It took a few seconds for Cyan to notice that Wigglable didn't fought back. It slowly crawled to Jigglairy, using a Wish. For some reason, Wigglable's body was kept curled.

Soon, Jigglairy was revived. However, Wigglable didn't look good. It collapsed head first onto the floor.

Cyan looked at his Pokédex, and got shocked. Not only the health bar went to zero, but Wigglable's signal slowly faded and disappeared.

'No...' Cyan thought. But it was too late. The Jigglairy went to the side of the body. After a few calls from the Jigglairy which didn't have replies, it cried in depression. The Jigglairy soon walked away slowly.

The only shadow now standing beside it had tears running down his face. 'I... I killed it..."

An object rolled down from the now uncurled body. It was seen by Cyan that it was an egg.

"I... I promise... I will take care of it... I will..." Cyan looked up, wanting to watch the moon. But it looks like he was still in the tunnel.

"... The House of Memories... Is not far away... It's...the least I can do."

Cyan used a Max Repel, carefully carried the body. He soon went out of Rock Tunnel. By the time he arrived at Lavender Town, it was already 8:15 pm. He placed it in front of the House of Memorials, with a note attached. Cyan walked away, wiping off his tears, took one more glance before entering the Pokémon Centre.

'For a loveable mother.'


"Argh! Lost it again! That damn freaking Wigglable... I give up!" A shadow, holding an electric shock baton shouted. The echoes of the shout lasted for seconds before dissipating.


Aw, man... Why did this volume has to be that sad? It's New Year's Eve! I can't help it. Cyan is going to Lavender City anyway, so I decided to write this volume in this way. Forgive me! One more thing to mention: round 19 was sad and quite dark, but not violent, so I didn't include this volume into the two most violent volumes of PS2G Ch.1.

Schools starting! No...

From this chapter on, I will be writing the expected date of release

Expected date of release for volume 10: By 16th January


Pokédex entries

FN017: Jigglairy - Balloon Fairy Pokémon -

Type: Fairy/Normal

Height: 1' 10" (55.9 cm)

Weight: 14.3 lbs. (6.5kg)

Ability: Cute Charm

Entry: One of the first artificially made Pokémon by the means of combining ordinary Pokémon. It occurs rarely in nature.


FN018: Wigglable - Balloon Fairy Pokémon -

Type: Fairy/Normal

Height: 3' 9" (114.3 cm)

Weight: 57.3 lbs. (26.0 kg)

Ability: Cute Charm

Entry: Legends say that its egg has magical healing powers. Attempts to artificially create this extremely rare Pokémon has failed.