Chapter XX
Mystic Water
We headed east from New Bark towards the tiny hamlet known as Cherrygrove. The route was short, and it was filled with enemy Grunts. Bryan and I whirled around, him with his sword, me with my stick. We knocked out all of them, jumping up and down ledges, spinning this way and that, hitting with wood and flat metal.
Our little multitude (whoa, oxymoron) continued on. I walked grimly, because I was really ticked off. From what Red had reported, they had been ambushed by a huge gene-Pokemon. Giovanni was trying to kill us.
He would not succeed. I would make sure of that, whatever it took.
We would not die like Jessica had.
He would not kill us.
That was my only motivation: revenge.
Right before the last little grass patch, I yelled out orders.
"All right, as soon as we reach Cherrygrove, fan out and check for Pokemon.
"Dwayne, you and the other members of the Federation go ahead to scout out Violet City."
And we were out. I led the party out into the open.
"Bryan, go!"
He charged out without his sword. "What're you doin'?" I yelled.
"I can handle this!" As he spoke, he went all blond.
His hands shot out beams of energy at the guards, leaving them unconscious and stunned. One snuck up behind him while he was charging up for a "Kamehameha".
"Bryan, look out!" yelled Janine, Koga's daughter and the Gym Leader of Fuchsia. He whirled around and yelled as a metal pipe came down at his head. With lightning reflexes, the police chief lifted an arm up and stopped the plumbing with a force that should have shattered his arm bone.
He began yelling maniacally again. His hair grew longer and changed color, this time to a bright red.
Not an orangey red, but real red.
"Whoa!" yelled the guard as he was knocked back by a beam of immense power.
"Bryan, are you okay?" asked Katy.
He didn't answer, but just spun around with his arms touching at the wrists. A beam spun with him, creating a tornado of bright light that seemed to cut off right as he spun towards the group, so as not to hit us.
All the Grunts and even a few Executives lay on the ground groaning.
The entire group stood statue-still, gaping at the sight they had just witnessed. Mouths hung open. Meagan fainted. Rob caught her before she hit the paved street.
We decided to take a rest before we tried to find our new opponent.
I sat at a table by myself at the Pokemon Center, studying a map of Johto.
"So, what do you think the next Pokemon we'll find will be?"
I looked up to see the blonde Kendra.
"I dunno. There might not even be one here, since the spot isn't very important. Giovanni may have thought that if we took it, it was no biggie."
"Ah. Can I sit here?" She looked at the empty seat across from me.
"Mm-hmm," I answered without lifting my eyes from the large map.
"So, anything from Red?"
"Not since the report about Dragonight."
"That's a good thing, right?"
"I guess."
"Cool. Hey, I heard you go to Earl's in White."
"Yeah. It's my 4th year."
"I'm going to go there next year, for 4th year, too."
"That's cool. Where were you going?"
"The EPA in Violet. It was getting too easy for me, so my parents are sending me to the harder Goldenrod campus."
"Too easy? You're insane."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"Whatever. Anyway, what class are you taking this year?"
"I don't know yet. You?"
"Maybe the Pokemon Handling class."
"That one is new, isn't it?"
"Yeah. They just set it up for Pokemon that evolve by Friendship evolution."
"So it tells how you get them to like you?"
"Right."
We kept talking for a while. Little did I notice that many people had left the Center and were almost ready to go.
Suddenly, May burst in and yelled, "Has anyone seen Rob?"
* * *
I stood on the beach, looking at the sparkling water. Wait a minute. There was no reason for the water to be sparkling. Why was it?
Was it Mystic Water?
Hmmm… Could it be that this water was actually where the Water- strengthening item came from?
There was a small island out in the middle of the water. I decided to swim out to it. I could get a better view of how far the water went from there.
I jumped in (still wearing my clothes) and swam over to the little rock. When my hand touched the slick stone, I pulled my head up and grabbed it.
I hauled my soaking body up onto it and shook off. Amazingly, the water had been calm, no currents. Not a wave rose and crashed up against the shore.
Something was wrong with that.
I put my feet in the water and tried splashing, but there wasn't even a ripple. The water felt like a gel. It became thicker the longer I had my foot in it.
"Rob!" I heard from the shore.
I looked and saw Jim, May and Kendra standing there waving to me.
"Hi!" I called as if nothing was wrong.
My foot was stuck in the water!
"Rob, come on!"
"Wait a minute!"
"All right."
I tugged hard. Nothing. I tried again, only to see the water creeping up my leg.
The water was trying to get me!
That sounded weird.
The jellylike mass moved up my leg to my knee.
"Ayaaah!"
I kicked at it. That didn't help much.
"Help me!"
As the "water" sucked me farther in, a large shape grew in the water. It got bigger and bigger, until it was twenty feet tall and looked like a huge snake!
"What is this?" I yelled.
All it did was emit a large roar that sounded like a person screaming underwater.
"Let…me…go!" I said, pulling hard and hitting at it with a clenched fist.
Another roar was the only reply.
"Jim!" I yelled.
There was nobody on the shore. They had gone back to patrolling for Pokemon.
And I had found it.
"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!" I said.
I began to tire from struggling. I calmed down and thought. Water serpents were a thing of legend. The way to defeat them was…
…cut off their water supply!
I pulled out a Pokeball which contained Feraligatr. The huge jaws of Godzilla would help, a lot.
The giant blue gator leapt onto the dry part of the island.
"Godzilla…chomp…the…water…"
I almost passed out.
But, in my last sight, I saw the croc lunge and bite down on the steadily flowing stream that was the snake's body. It fell apart, into tiny droplets of sparkling water.
Darkness consumed everything.
* * *
"He's awake!" I heard someone call.
I ran over to the soaked body lying on the bed.
"Huh? How did I get here?" he asked.
"Rob, you don't remember what happened?" I asked.
"I remember the water serpent… Godzilla beat it, then I passed out."
"Water serpent? We found you on the beach, unconscious."
I wonder what had happened to him.
I never found out.
Mystic Water
We headed east from New Bark towards the tiny hamlet known as Cherrygrove. The route was short, and it was filled with enemy Grunts. Bryan and I whirled around, him with his sword, me with my stick. We knocked out all of them, jumping up and down ledges, spinning this way and that, hitting with wood and flat metal.
Our little multitude (whoa, oxymoron) continued on. I walked grimly, because I was really ticked off. From what Red had reported, they had been ambushed by a huge gene-Pokemon. Giovanni was trying to kill us.
He would not succeed. I would make sure of that, whatever it took.
We would not die like Jessica had.
He would not kill us.
That was my only motivation: revenge.
Right before the last little grass patch, I yelled out orders.
"All right, as soon as we reach Cherrygrove, fan out and check for Pokemon.
"Dwayne, you and the other members of the Federation go ahead to scout out Violet City."
And we were out. I led the party out into the open.
"Bryan, go!"
He charged out without his sword. "What're you doin'?" I yelled.
"I can handle this!" As he spoke, he went all blond.
His hands shot out beams of energy at the guards, leaving them unconscious and stunned. One snuck up behind him while he was charging up for a "Kamehameha".
"Bryan, look out!" yelled Janine, Koga's daughter and the Gym Leader of Fuchsia. He whirled around and yelled as a metal pipe came down at his head. With lightning reflexes, the police chief lifted an arm up and stopped the plumbing with a force that should have shattered his arm bone.
He began yelling maniacally again. His hair grew longer and changed color, this time to a bright red.
Not an orangey red, but real red.
"Whoa!" yelled the guard as he was knocked back by a beam of immense power.
"Bryan, are you okay?" asked Katy.
He didn't answer, but just spun around with his arms touching at the wrists. A beam spun with him, creating a tornado of bright light that seemed to cut off right as he spun towards the group, so as not to hit us.
All the Grunts and even a few Executives lay on the ground groaning.
The entire group stood statue-still, gaping at the sight they had just witnessed. Mouths hung open. Meagan fainted. Rob caught her before she hit the paved street.
We decided to take a rest before we tried to find our new opponent.
I sat at a table by myself at the Pokemon Center, studying a map of Johto.
"So, what do you think the next Pokemon we'll find will be?"
I looked up to see the blonde Kendra.
"I dunno. There might not even be one here, since the spot isn't very important. Giovanni may have thought that if we took it, it was no biggie."
"Ah. Can I sit here?" She looked at the empty seat across from me.
"Mm-hmm," I answered without lifting my eyes from the large map.
"So, anything from Red?"
"Not since the report about Dragonight."
"That's a good thing, right?"
"I guess."
"Cool. Hey, I heard you go to Earl's in White."
"Yeah. It's my 4th year."
"I'm going to go there next year, for 4th year, too."
"That's cool. Where were you going?"
"The EPA in Violet. It was getting too easy for me, so my parents are sending me to the harder Goldenrod campus."
"Too easy? You're insane."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"Whatever. Anyway, what class are you taking this year?"
"I don't know yet. You?"
"Maybe the Pokemon Handling class."
"That one is new, isn't it?"
"Yeah. They just set it up for Pokemon that evolve by Friendship evolution."
"So it tells how you get them to like you?"
"Right."
We kept talking for a while. Little did I notice that many people had left the Center and were almost ready to go.
Suddenly, May burst in and yelled, "Has anyone seen Rob?"
* * *
I stood on the beach, looking at the sparkling water. Wait a minute. There was no reason for the water to be sparkling. Why was it?
Was it Mystic Water?
Hmmm… Could it be that this water was actually where the Water- strengthening item came from?
There was a small island out in the middle of the water. I decided to swim out to it. I could get a better view of how far the water went from there.
I jumped in (still wearing my clothes) and swam over to the little rock. When my hand touched the slick stone, I pulled my head up and grabbed it.
I hauled my soaking body up onto it and shook off. Amazingly, the water had been calm, no currents. Not a wave rose and crashed up against the shore.
Something was wrong with that.
I put my feet in the water and tried splashing, but there wasn't even a ripple. The water felt like a gel. It became thicker the longer I had my foot in it.
"Rob!" I heard from the shore.
I looked and saw Jim, May and Kendra standing there waving to me.
"Hi!" I called as if nothing was wrong.
My foot was stuck in the water!
"Rob, come on!"
"Wait a minute!"
"All right."
I tugged hard. Nothing. I tried again, only to see the water creeping up my leg.
The water was trying to get me!
That sounded weird.
The jellylike mass moved up my leg to my knee.
"Ayaaah!"
I kicked at it. That didn't help much.
"Help me!"
As the "water" sucked me farther in, a large shape grew in the water. It got bigger and bigger, until it was twenty feet tall and looked like a huge snake!
"What is this?" I yelled.
All it did was emit a large roar that sounded like a person screaming underwater.
"Let…me…go!" I said, pulling hard and hitting at it with a clenched fist.
Another roar was the only reply.
"Jim!" I yelled.
There was nobody on the shore. They had gone back to patrolling for Pokemon.
And I had found it.
"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!" I said.
I began to tire from struggling. I calmed down and thought. Water serpents were a thing of legend. The way to defeat them was…
…cut off their water supply!
I pulled out a Pokeball which contained Feraligatr. The huge jaws of Godzilla would help, a lot.
The giant blue gator leapt onto the dry part of the island.
"Godzilla…chomp…the…water…"
I almost passed out.
But, in my last sight, I saw the croc lunge and bite down on the steadily flowing stream that was the snake's body. It fell apart, into tiny droplets of sparkling water.
Darkness consumed everything.
* * *
"He's awake!" I heard someone call.
I ran over to the soaked body lying on the bed.
"Huh? How did I get here?" he asked.
"Rob, you don't remember what happened?" I asked.
"I remember the water serpent… Godzilla beat it, then I passed out."
"Water serpent? We found you on the beach, unconscious."
I wonder what had happened to him.
I never found out.