Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
"HEY! Watch it!"
We were approaching the gates of Hearthome City when a buneary hopped about in the middle of the road. Gardenia shrieked as she hit the breaks. She lost her balance and her bike ran into mine. Both of us ended up on the ground in a mess of gears and wires. Once again, I must thank my helmet for protecting my head. Gardenia managed to avoid getting scratches by landing on me. The buneary didn't even blink at the crash. Some people near the fountain gathered to see what the commotion was. I tried to untangle myself without getting hurt from the bicycle.
"My goodness! Are you okay?" A young woman rushed to us. Catching the brown bunny, she scolded, "Buneary, bad girl! See what you've done!"
"We're fine." Gardenia groaned as she pushed her bike off her leg. "Is she hurt?"
"She's okay. I'm terribly sorry for this. Do you need any help?" The woman held out her hand and I grabbed it to get up.
"Thanks, but no thanks. Nice to meet you, by the way." She beamed as she curtsied slightly.
"I'm Keira, Contest Judge. It's a pleasure to meet both gym leaders of Oreburgh and Eterna."
Ah, I almost forgot. There was a short scene meeting the contest judge upon arriving at Hearthome in the actual games. Funny that I ran into the exact buneary the player character does. She just stared at us without any signs of guilt or surprise.
"Are you going to be one of the judges in our contest as well?" Gardenia asked.
"Well, no. I'm going to help out backstage. I hear Fantina is going to invite very important judges for this contest." Keira said without bothering to lower her voice. Fortunately, the onlookers didn't seem to hear us.
"Do you know who?"
"I have no idea. But if it's someone Fantina knows, then it ought to be someone very famous. I should get going now. I wish you two good luck!" With a hasty wave, she skipped down the road and out of sight.
"Now what do we do? Look at our bikes. I'm not sure if we'll be able to ride them again." Gardenia said as she kicked one of the tires.
"You're being rude, you know?" A familiar sarcastic voice came near the fountain. "It's your fault the bicycles ended up that way." Gardenia snorted and turned to face the speaker standing in front of the spraying water, only to raise her eyebrows in surprise.
"Volkner?" An afro was next to him, grinning. "And Flint?"
"So you were watching the whole thing? And you didn't even bother to come help?" Gardenia said in disbelief. The bystanders had gone, and we dragged our bikes over to the fountain and let Volkner fix them with his handy tools he always seemed to carry. He was already done with one bike in less than a minute. For someone who renovated a whole gym , I guess it's a piece of cake to fix a bicycle.
"Well, the buneary lady was there instead." He said indifferently. When Gardenia threw Flint a glare, he shrugged. I falm-paced and muttered.
"You're not a really nice person." Volkner snorted and ignored me.
"Here. Take care of your bikes. Shame on you for not knowing how to fix them yourselves." He said as we got our bikes back. Flint laughed before shoving him.
"Don't take it personally - he's always been like this." When Volkner scowled, Flint hurridly changed the subject.
"So, what brings you here early? You still have over an hour left till the meeting."
"Roark wants to spend some time in Hearthome." Gardenia said sweetly. "Do you have any places you'd recommend, Flint?" I noticed she was deliberately putting pressure on her words.
"Let's see... How about the Contest Hall? Oh, wait, you're going to be there later. Hmmm... there's a cooking place where you can make poffins for free if you bring a berry. There's also Amity Square." Flint grinned. "Say, why don't we make some poffins and take a stroll in the park?"
"That would be wonderful! Why don't we go right now?" She clapped her hands.
"Umm, guys - " I started to say.
"Then, off we go!" Flint said as he ran in the direction of the poffin house, with Gardenia kicking the ground to get on her bike. Volkner rolled his eyes before following them.
I sighed as I pulled my bike. Even if we made poffins, I had no pokemon to take into Amity Square. They allow only certain pokemons, and I'm sure Cranidos was not on that list. Well, I guess I should just take my share of poffins and tour the city myself.
While I was walking, I noticed how hearthome looked like any ordinary city in real life. Lots of buildings, streets bustling of people... It felt great, nostalgic, even. I grew up in a large city myself, and Hearthome reminded me of my hometown. The only difference between here and real life, I suppose, was the slightly smaller buildings. No towering skyscrapers here.
It brought back memories of my childhood days, when I would play hide-and-seek in alleyways with my friends. We would make believe that there was a hero jumping from building to building on a string of webs, which made every kid pretend to be heros. Ah, those were the good days. I miss where I lived.
Rather a lot. I felt a slight twitch somewhere around my heart.
"You're not coming in?" I was awakened by an irritated voice. Shoving my bike next to where Gardenia left it, I walked through the door Volkner was holding open for me.
I was greeted by a delicious scent. Immediately, a plate of sweet cookies came to my mind and I felt another twitch at my heart - my mother used to make cookies as hobbies, and I would be the first to taste the samples.
"Thanks." I didn't wait for a reply. "So, how many poffins are we going to make, Gardenia?"
The cooking place was rather small. There was a bar on one side, and cooking tables at another. A lot of ingredients were on the table. Perhaps this isn't as simple as spinning the stylus on the screen?
"Oh, just a few. There could be other people who wants to make poffins, and we can't stay here all day." She said as she put on an apron. There were already a five berries in a pot, which was quite huge - about the size of a large frying pan.
"I'm glad they provide everything else. Where did you get those berries?" Flint picked up a blue one and was about to bite it when Gardenia smacked his hand with a batter. The berry fell back into the bowl with a clattering sound. Gosh, it must have a hard shell.
"Those aren't for you, and for your information, I grow berries myself and always carry a few on me. Now, if you'll kindly read the instructions on the note over there..." She pointed to a small piece of paper, which I picked up.
"Ummm, first you put half a cup of flour in a bowl..."
After about fifteen minutes, there were twenty poffins in our hands, each colored differently. It was just like making cookies like in the real world - using flour, the berries, and moo-moo milk. I expected the process to include eggs, but it didn't. Gardenia had done a good job in mixing up the ingredients and making the dough. She was also the most successful stirring them without any spills or burns. I had been too cautious and burned the whole thing, while the the other guys had stirred too fast and spilled most of the dough.
Even though we produced a lot of foul poffins, we had fun. At least I had a good time. I enjoyed being included with other people, and actually felt they could be my close friends. I wish I had cooked more often with my mom...
"Five for you, for you, for you, and for me!" Gardenia said happily as she distributed the poffins. We all got five poffins with different colors - the colors of the contest categories. I packed them carefully in a plastic bag. I won't need a poffin case since I won't be making anymore in the future.
"We're done making the snacks - let's go to Amity Square!"
I was a little intimidated by the large flashy gate. I knew it was a free public park that allows anyone with certain pokemon to enjoy, yet I couldn't help imagine those expensive private properties in the real world. Once, I had the opportunity to take a look in someone's garden, and it was more beautiful than a huge park. Perhaps Amity Square would have the same kind of quality?
"So, you have these pokemon! Would you like to take a stroll with your infernape?" The lady at the entrance gate of Amity Square scanned Flint's pokeballs with a machine that resembled those bar code scanners in real world supermarkets.
"I sure would!" He said. Lucky guy - the starter pokemon can go in, even though they're not suitable for the square's standards.
"I'm going with Turtwig!" Gardenia said as she brought out her pokemon.
"That's fine. And you, sir?"
"Pikachu, of course." Volkner didn't even looked at the lady as his pikachu was half sitting on his left shoulder. She then turned to me, waiting to scan my pokeball. I glanced at Cranidos' ball before putting it back in my pocket. Shrugging, I was about to open my mouth to tell her I wasn't going in when Volkner threw me a pokeball. I almost missed, but caught it nonetheless.
"Oh, and you forgot to take him back." He said before heading inside. The lady scanned the pokeball and beamed.
"Very well! You may go in with your pachirisu!" The ball popped open, revealing the exact pachirisu I had met at Valley Windworks. I was glad to see him.
"Hey, buddy!" He squeaked non-stop while running around my feet in circles. I picked him up and carried him to where the rest the group was waiting.
"Huh? Isn't that a pachirisu? Since when were you into electric-type pokemons?" Gardenia asked as she put her turtwig on the ground, where it sniffed the grass eagerly.
"Not mine - I didn't have any pokemon to get in here, so I borrowed from him." I stroked the squirrel's fur, and he flicked his tail. Pachirisu seemed in a much better condition than we last met. Being with a whole lot of Volkner's other electric-type pokemon must have helped him recover from being used and abused by Team Galactic.
Speaking of Team Galactic, should I tell Volkner about what happened in Eterna City? Well, it would probably be in the news sooner or later, but maybe he should get the details? Maybe I should tell him. I pondered on how to tell him secretly without letting the other two know - they didn't need to worry over it for now.
"Ouch!" A spark occurred and I felt as if my hand was being pricked. Pachirisu jumped down from my arms and started fleeing across the park.
"Come back! Wait!" I called as I went after him. Volkner's pikachu zoomed past me and pounced on pachirisu. The two rodents tumbled and rolled, until they entered a large stone structure. Their squeaks echoed faintly as I reached it.
"Both of you get out, now!" I said firmly. However, their voices grew distant until after a minute or so, I heard nothing. I poked my head into the entrance of the stone structure, but it was pitch dark. I couldn't see anything.
"What, you're scared to go in?" As always, someone has to be sarcastic.
"I'm just trying to figure out where the two went. I can't hear them." I paused before reaching out my hand. No wall.
"You're not going to find them like that." Suddenly, he pushed me into the darkness.
"HEY!" I toppled over stone steps and grasped onto one of the rocks sticking out, preventing myself from bumping into anything. When I stopped, I slowly let go of the rock, letting myself skid down a slope back out to daylight. It didn't take long for me to realize I had moved to another part of the square through the stone structure. In one of the games, these supposedly had some sort of teleporting features.
Pachirisu and Pikachu were both emitting sparks as they fought tooth and nail in a grassy patch in the park. Several people gathered to see what was happening. I didn't want to get shocked, so I just sat where I was, watching the fight.
"Out of the way." I felt a light kick, and Volkner brushed me aside. Heading over to the two rodents, he pulled out leather gloves from his pocket.
"Alright, you two. Enough." Catching them by their tails, he pulled them apart. Dangling in mid-air, they kept shooting electricity to each other. Narrowing his eyebrows, he said in a louder, strict voice.
"I said, enough! Roark, bundle him up with your jacket." He held out Pachirisu to me. I took off my mining jacket and wrapped the squirrel with it as Volkner did the same to his pikachu. However much the rodents tried to shock one another, the flow of electricity was shut down, and they were confined.
"Show's over. I'm not letting you go until you calm down." Volkner said sternly. The crowd left. Pikachu desperately squeaked and sparked, trying to tell him something. Pachirisu bawled as he slowly reduced his sparks. I walked over to the nearest bench in sight and cuddled him. They had been on good terms the last time I saw them, so what happened?
Pachirisu exhausted himself after all the screaming and calmed down. Pikachu took a much longer time to cool. I sighed as Volkner sat next to me with pikachu in his arms.
"What happened? Weren't they friendly just a few days ago?"
"They were. However, there had been a few problems ever since Pachirisu joined our gym." He said casually as if this wasn't anything new.
"Like...?"
"He tried his best to fit in, but as you might know, there were territory fights among the pokemon outside the pokeballs. Of course, Pachirisu wasn't even daring to steal anyone's space, but Pikachu seemed to think this newcomer was taking away all the attention - which is half true. The trainers at our gym were pretty fond of Pachirisu, and that must have led Pikachu to think his own spot and space was in danger. So they've been fighting a lot. Especially since their special training started."
"Special training?" He showed disdain and didn't reply. I was taken aback, but didn't push the matter any further. It must be something to be discreet about.
"Ah, well. If they're not that friendly to each other, then I suppose they shouldn't stick together. I'm going back to the other two. They'll probably wonder where we went - "
"They won't." Volkner pointed to an area on a slightly higher altitude, and there was Gardenia and Flint, leaning on the fence and waving at me.
"Oh." I was about to open the bundle, but immediately held it tightly again as Pikachu started growling. Pachirisu whimpered at the sound.
"Easy, boy." I whispered as I reached out to pat him on the head. However, I decided not to when I saw blue sparks. So I wrapped him with my arms instead and rocked back and forth to comfort him.
"You don't have to be afraid of him... He's just scared like you." I don't know if he'll understand, but I felt this was necessary.
It had worked for me when I was young.
'You don't have to be afraid of her... She's just scared like you.'
'Do you think so, Mommy? But she said she hates me!'
'Be patient. You're bound to understand her soon...'
"Be patient. You're bound to understand him soon...
An image of my mother hugging me tightly popped up and her voice echoed. Not long after, my dad joined the scene, standing behind me firmly and saying everything would be alright.
'Dad, will everything be alright? Mom, I don't know where I really am when I need you...' I thought desperately.
I felt my eyes sting as my family appeared inside my head, and faded repeatedly. No, I wasn't going to cry, I won't cry...
However, I soon reached my limit. A million worries that had at least crossed my mind up till now spilled and soon drenched me all over in no particular order. The problem was, every time a worry passed through my brains, the amount of fear building up inside me doubled.
What if I never get back home?
Will Mom and Dad miss me?
Would I forget the real me?
Will I get stuck being a game character forever?
What if I have to live here forever?
What if humans can die here?
What if humans can't die here?
Am I already mad?
Would I be -
"Roark? Roark! Are you okay? Snap out of it!" Volkner said roughly as he gripped my shoulders firmly and shook me back and forth. I blinked, and two tears rolled down my cheeks. Dropping the bundle, I rubbed my arms.
Although the weather was warm, I was shivering. Every inch of my skin tingled and my heart pounded so hard that it might burst any moment. I don't know why, but I was scared of something I didn't know. I felt nauseous and cold. I couldn't think of any other details except that I was starting to get sick. I was sweating a lot that my clothes were getting soaked, and the people I wanted to see the most were my mom and dad. Another image appeared in my head - my bedroom, me lying in bed with a thermometer, and Mom feeding me hot porridge while Dad checked the prescription for my medicine. Even when I was nearing the end of my teen years, my parents always cared for me - more like babying me - no matter what. I often thought they were being obsessed with their child for no reason, but then again, it was all because they just loved me.
Would they be wondering where I went? God, I missed my mom dearly right now. Dad would probably be fighting on the phone with the police, demanding where I was. Would they be crying over their missing girl? The thoughts made me cry, too.
My head was swimming, and everything seemed fuzzy. I couldn't breathe well. I was more like gulping for air.
"I... I wanna go home..." I managed to whisper before clutching my stomach and curling up on the ground. I heard squeaks from the two electric pokemons and Volkner shouting something I couldn't understand.
Maybe if I close my eyes and rest a little, everything would be back to normal...
"...are you sure that it's not the poffins?"
"There's no reason that he, I mean, she would've eaten pokemon food! Besides, she kept her share."
"This isn't food poisoning. There's no sort of damage done by anything invading her body. It's got something to do with nerves..."
The next thing I knew, I was hearing voices. They were being so loud that I was having a splitting headache. I moved my body a bit, and realized I was on a bed with a sheet covered over me. Good, I groaned. I'm either in my room or at a hospital.
I opened my eyes and instantly the voices died down. Seeing that everything was blurry, I guessed my glasses were somewhere else - along with my helmet. I tried getting up, but someone held me down by pushing my shoulder. I looked up to see the outlines of Byron.
"Don't move - you're only going to stress yourself."
"I can't rest with all that noise." I half-whined. I heard a few 'sorry's, and tried going back to sleep. No use - I was totally awake. Sighing, I decided to hear the situation.
"What happened?" I asked.
"You passed out in Amity Square." Gardenia said hoarsely, sitting on the edge of my bed. Even without glasses, I could see that her face was red and puffy. "Thank goodness Volkner was with you - we got help just in time."
"Thank goodness there was a Nurse Joy in the square." I heard Volkner somewhere behind Byron. "After giving you some sedatives, she told us to move you to the pokemon center, so here we are."
"You looked like you were having some sort of stroke or shock." Flint's voice was trembling. "I thought you might've gotten sick by eating the poffins when you were probably allergic to them..."
"I'm telling you, this has nothing to do with poffins!" Volkner snapped. He appeared next to Gardenia and looked down at me. "Anyway, we contacted Fantina to postphone the meeting and photo shoot today, but she told us that everything had been scheduled beforehand, and that it was impossible to change anything. So... we had the meeting without you."
"Huh? I missed the meeting?" Just when I thought I was finally joining the gym leader group, I was absent at an important meeting. Swell, I thought bitterly.
"Yeah... it ended a few hours ago." I looked out the window, and sure enough, it was dark.
"We also took our pictures. And... uh..." Gardenia hesitated before continuing. "Fantina said she's not sure if she should allow your participation, seeing how you disappeared for weeks without a warning before, returning with partial amnesia, and getting sick today quite suddenly. We can't blame her - this contest is extremely important to her and Hearthome."
"So, no photo or contest for me, right?" I asked.
"Well, you're still going to have to come to the Contest Hall and help out. But Fantina probably wouldn't let you on stage." She said.
"What did you talk about in the meeting? Did she say anything about the new appeals?"
"Yeah. But they're mostly the same as the previous visual appeals except for a few changes. The only real new thing is a special Double Battle corner. We're all going to be teamed up as pairs and have a contest tournament." Hmmm, wasn't there something similar to that in the anime?
"Anyway, what happened to you? How come you fell sick?" Flint kicked off his shoes and sat cross-legged on the bed near my feet. "You were riding a bicycle before you got to Hearthome, didn't you?"
"I just got nervous all of a sudden." And I don't want to talk about it, I secretly added.
"Yeah, you could get nervous after babying a pachirisu." Volkner rolled his eyes.
"It's none of your business." I snapped. He glared at me. Gardenia looked at me to him, and stood up.
"I'll bring some cool drinks from the cafeteria." She said as she hurridly left the room. Flint, uncertain to take anyone's side, jumped off the bed and followed her barefoot. After they left, someone else entered.
"I heard you collapsed. Are you okay?" Oh my goodness, that voice of worry... I pushed Byron's hand away and sat upright, only to receive a ringing pain in my head. I squinted briefly before attempting a smile. A tall man in a dark blue suit appeared with a bouquet of yellow flowers. How sweet.
"Thanks for visitng, Riley. I'm fine. What are you doing here in Hearthome?" I managed to continue the conversation. I must not show any weakness in front of him...
"The gym leader meeting is today, so I came to get some training information. Then I heard you were in the pokemon center - bed-ridden again. Here, these are for you. Seriously, did you miss the nurses dearly?" I laughed at his half-joke and accepted the flowers.
"Thanks, they're lovely. You're so considerate." I said fondly. Riley showed concern, and closed his eyes with his hands outstretched.
"Your aura is unstable. You must have had some emotional problems today. May I ask you what happened?" For a brief moment, I thought of opening up to him, but then I pushed that away. I shouldn't make him worry.
"It's not important. I'm fine - really." I told him with a grin. He patted my shoulder in a friendly way, though that action made me go scarlet. Seriously, did this guy had to be this cool?
"Then I guess we should wait for you to get better. Have a nice rest." Then turning to my supposed-father, he said, "Say, Byron? If it's okay with you, I'd like to discuss the mine in Iron Island. It could get lengthy, so shall we go outside?"
"Sure." He picked up his shovel, whirled it around, and pointed it directly at Volkner. "Don't you dare upset her." The other gym leader showed signs of rage building inside, but said nothing. Riley lifted his hat in a polite manner and left with Byron. Volkner kicked the bedside table before sitting on the edge of my bed.
"I'm leaving as soon as Gardenia returns, so don't think that I'll take care of you."
"I don't want anything from you - you're not nice." I retorted, leaning back down. He paused before talking again.
"You know, before you fell unconscious, you said you wanted to go home." I froze. Did he actually hear that?
"If you'd like, we can take you to Oreburgh." He said slowly. I shook my head. "Then... do you want to go to Canalave? I heard you used to play on Iron Island a lot." I shook my head again. Soon, he got impatient.
"Well, then what is this place you call 'home'? Do you have a secret house somewhere nobody knows? Ah, maybe your base underground?" That sarcastic tone again. But I didn't want to fight with him, so I shook my head again and stayed silent.
"You're not going to get any help if you don't talk."
You're not going to understand what I say, anyways, I thought. I come from a different world - how am I going to explain that I had warped from a living room couch to someplace in the middle of Eterna Forest?
If I went and checked out the place, would I be able to find some answers...?
I shoved the sheets away and got out of bed, my legs wobbling. I noticed that they hadn't changed my clothes. Good.
"Hey, you shouldn't be moving." Volkner tried to make me sit in the bed again, but instead gave me an opportunity to grab his arm and lean on him.
"Give me my glasses, and helmet. I'm leaving." I said slowly.
This chapter got longer than intended. I found it hard to cut it midway, so here's the result XD
It will follow the game storyline partially, but will go through a different route. So keep that in mind.
Please review. Anything - suggestions, point outs, advice, and criticism are all welcome. If you don't like how the story is going, then I'm willing to listen to what you've got to say.
Flames will be deleted.