Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I affiliated with Pokémon or any of its parent companies. I am merely a humble storyteller. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this journey with me.
Note: I am English, so some of the wording, spellings, and expressions will be those commonly used in England.
Chapter Sixty: The Return of MissingNo.!
Pinsir clicked his pincers agitatedly as the Gym Leader returned the Pokémon he had just defeated, declaring that he was ready to claim victory over her final one, even if he was running on fumes.
The Gym Leader, a tall, young woman with silvery-blue hair down to her back and donning a dark dress, sent out her final fighter, a black, four-legged creature with yellow rings on its legs and forehead and yellow bands around its long ears and thick tail. Blue's Pokédex was more than happy to oblige:
Umbreon, a Dark-type Pokémon, and one of the evolved forms of Eevee. When darkness falls, the rings on its body begin to glow, striking fear in the hearts of anyone nearby.
Blue jutted out his jaw, eyeing the Eeveelution warily. It was weak after taking a pummelling from Machamp, but still had enough within itself to sweep a flagging Pinsir and exhausted Wartortle. Oh, why did he try to defeat Honchkrow with Machamp, why did he try to pit a Fighting-type against a Flying Pokémon? Maybe he was feeling cocky because Machamp completely dominated her Houndoom (albeit with a lucky critical hit)? Perhaps if Rock Slide did not miss, if Honchkrow's Air Cutter did not find its target, then maybe he would be in a far more comfortable position than what he found himself in.
However, despite how much he was sweating, despite the thumping in his head, Blue was relishing the challenge. Who would have thought that his battle for his seventh Badge would be against a former Johto League Champion? Granted, she was a stand-in Gym Leader and most likely just battling a little off her best, but it was still such a wonderous and challenging and long experience. After he won the Kanto League, he would rechallenge her, but for now he would make do with this battle.
Umbreon created multiple clones of itself, Pinsir missing the real one with an aggressive Close Combat, punching and kicking the floor and the air. He groaned and stumbled as his futile onslaught ended, leaving him susceptible to a Confuse Ray, the two ethereal red orbs claiming Pinsir's mind, leaving him dazed, deaf to his Trainer's angry shouts.
"Feint Attack," the Gym Leader said, and Umbreon rushed towards the disorientated bug from the left before vanishing and reappearing an instant later at Pinsir's right. It rammed its body into Pinsir with enough force to send him toppling over.
Blue scowled and returned Pinsir without so much as another word and immediately called out Wartortle. Wartortle's fluffy ears were slightly limp and his shell was scuffed, but Blue was certain he would not allow the damage from Honchkrow and Houndoom affect him.
First thing first, getting Wartortle's speed up, which worked remarkable well when the first Rapid Spin bashed Umbreon. The second one hit it from behind, but the third went through an illusory Umbreon, who then avoided a fourth and responded with Feint Attack.
Protect negated Confuse Ray, the red orbs dissipating against Wartortle's transparent shield like mist, and Rapid Spin and Feint Attack rammed into each other, neither Pokémon giving the other an inch.
"Scald, Wartortle!" Blue shouted.
"Double Team!" said the Gym Leader.
Boiling water hit everything but Umbreon, steam rising off the floor, but Blue was not done yet: "Rapid Spin!"
Picking up speed, Wartortle drilled his shell into Umbreon, who howled as it bore the attack. Yet the Gym Leader only smiled as she said, "Payback."
Umbreon's rings lit up and its body was engulfed by a dark force, wispy and black. It barrelled into Wartortle with such force, Blue visibly cringed, as if he had taken the blow himself. "Wartortle!"
Darn it. He had been baited, encouraged to raise his speed until what should have been his advantage became anything but. That was why the attack was called Payback for pity's sake! It was always going to do more damage when the user took a hit first.
Was it game over for Blue? Had his winning streak against the Kanto Gym Leaders come to an end? Of course not! If this Gym Leader here could turn things around, then he would have to do that too.
So, a Protect blocked another Confuse Ray, but Blue did not have Wartortle attack.
Umbreon went on the offensive and belted Wartortle with another Payback, much more toothless than the first.
And there it was.
Not enough to knock Wartortle out, but enough to cause an aquatic aura to surround him. He raised his tail, his ears perked up, and water seemed to leak from his toes and fingers.
Blue did not need to say it for the Gym Leader did: "Torrent!"
Yes, Wartortle had been pushed to the brink, enough to activate his Ability, and the next Scald it fired from his mouth was so intense, covered so much area, that even Umbreon's Double Team was not enough to avoid it. The boiling water was simply too much for it to handle. It fainted.
Blue's Meowth jumped down from his vantage point on the rafters and nodded approvingly at Wartortle, who gave him an enervated thumbs-up back.
All Blue needed now was to receive the Earth Badge and be on his way. However, there was a delay in the form of his Wartortle.
The watery aura that enveloped him became a bright white light that hid Wartortle from sight.
Blue grinned. "About time, Wartortle."
The light dimmed and Wartortle no longer stood there. Instead, there was now another creature, twice as tall as his former self, Wartortle's fluffy tail exchanged for a short stubby one, his long, feather-like ears replaced by small, triangular ones. His lower jaw was coloured cream as opposed to blue, his eyes were smaller, but most impressively of all were the two metal cannons that protruded from his shell over his shoulders.
"I guess you needed that extra push to get you to evolve, eh, Blastoise?" Blue said, quickly adapting to his Starter's new name. He gave him a playful slap on his shell. "We're just getting stronger and stronger."
Blastoise growled good-naturedly, attempting to swivel around to face his Trainer, the added weight from his metamorphosis making simply pivoting an ordeal in itself.
As Blue tried to stop Blastoise from falling back onto his shell and onto Meowth, the Gym Leader strode up to him, her silvery-blue hair flowing out behind her.
"You did well, Blue," she said. "A deserved victory. All your Pokémon fought hard for you, even culminating in an evolution. It's almost poetic, isn't it?"
"'Poetic'?" Blue scoffed. "Not really. Wartortle was already close to evolving, it got experience from the battle, and it evolved. And I won because my team is super strong." He shrugged. "It's just the standard things you'd expect to happen in battles, Karen."
"Maybe we just have to look at things differently," Karen said. "After all, different points of view are what makes the world go round."
Karen rubbed Blastoise's chest and tickled him under his chin. "Do you battle with your favourites, Blue?"
"My favourites?" Blue said. "What do you mean?"
"It's exactly as I say. Do you battle with your favourite Pokémon, or do you stick to only the most powerful of all?"
"That's a dumb question," Blue said, rolling his eyes. "Of course it's the most powerful ones. I'm a battler. I battle. I'm obviously going to need the strongest Pokémon like Blastoise, Pinsir, and even Meowth, otherwise how can I win?"
"I see," Karen said, sounding neither disheartened nor satisfied. "Anyway, you and your Pokémon have achieved victory here today, so you have earned the Earth Badge." She pressed it into the boy's hand. "Good luck for the rest of your journey, Blue."
"I don't need luck," Blue said, stuffing the Earth Badge into a pocket-sized case with his six other Badges. "My skill and strength are going to be enough to make me the Champion."
o~o~o~o~o
Blue whistled a chirpy tune as he strolled westwards through Viridian City. One more Badge and he could officially compete in the Indigo League! It had not taken him that long to reach this stage, but in some ways, it felt like he first received Squirtle a lifetime ago.
He thought of Red, considering whether his former friend would even qualify.
He thought of Leaf and her wasted battle potential.
He thought of the fun they used to have growing up in Pallet…
No! The past was the past. There were too many hurtful things back there. Red and Leaf were weak and had to be left behind, along with everything else.
Blue walked and he walked, Meowth keeping pace without any complaint or moan or even an exasperated glower, and they arrived at an empty Route Twenty-Two.
Ah, Route Twenty-Two, where he would return and traverse through to get to the Indigo League, where Victory Road lay between the two, a fitting name for his path to greatness.
Meowth's ears perked up. He stared towards the sky and his pupils narrowed, growling deep from his stomach.
"What's the matter with you?" Blue said, looking towards where the feline was peering. "What do you… do you… you…"
It could not be, it just could not. Did Blue have a tongue anymore for he could not speak? He might not have had a mouth anymore for how dumbstruck he was. Had he gone insane? Or was this a dream? Yes, it had to be a dream. He pinched himself. Or maybe not.
What did he see that amazed him so? I bet you are curious to know. How about we let Blue's Pokédex help out:
Moltres, a Fire and Flying-type Pokémon. It is one of the three Legendary birds. As it flaps its flaming wings, even the night sky will turn red.
It could not be a real Moltres. But the Pokédex confirmed it, showing carvings and artists renderings that matched the skyborne creature: a large, avian Pokémon that shone gold, its crest and its tail not mere feathers but pure fire, its wings swathed in flames.
Unblinkingly, Blue watched as Moltres flew in the direction of Victory Road and disappeared, and he stood there for almost twenty minutes before remembering that he needed to go heal his party at the Pokémon Centre.
So, he made the long trek back, his wonder eventually giving way for pride as he imagined the disbelief in his grandfather's face once he rated his Pokédex.
What a day it had been! His seventh Gym Badge, his Starter evolving, and catching sight of and even recording a Legendary Pokémon!
He would love someone to try and tell him he was not the future greatest Trainer of all time.
Everything pointed towards it.
o~o~o~o~o
As Blue had a remarkable day, it does make one wonder how Leaf was getting on after leaving Pewter. Well, if you can recall, she said her next stop was to capture some Electric-types at the Abandoned Power Plant, didn't she? And it had been quite a lucrative trip, catching a Pikachu, Voltorb, Electrode, Magnemite, and an Electabuzz. She even found a wild Jolteon and an Elekid, Electabuzz's pre-evolution.
When Leaf first arrived at the Power Plant, she had been more than a little reluctant to enter. The facility covered an area of ten acres, the grass out front overgrown and filled with tonnes of wild Pokémon. The colossal building was rundown with broken doors and smashed windows, a corpse that was still forced to stand. Inside, metal machines were scarred with rust, stray wires hung loose from them, the floor was cracked and filthy, safety rails no longer existed, time feasting on them years ago, and there was the lingering smell of something that made Leaf cough, that made her throat and nose burn.
Still, she persevered, her desire to complete the Pokédex urging her on. And as we read above, she was quite successful, wasn't she? All she realistically needed was a Magneton and a Raichu, the former of whom she was currently locked into a battle with.
"Dodge it, Growlithe," Leaf said, and her fire puppy rolled out the way of an electric sphere that bounced off the floor harmlessly.
"Flame Wheel," came the next order, and Growlithe transformed into a ball of flames and charged into the Magneton. The robotic Pokémon that was literally three Magnemite connected together whirred and beeped, its pupils spinning wildly.
Drained, Magneton could not resist the Great Ball, and it too became another number on Leaf's Electric-type run.
"Good boy!" Leaf cooed, rubbing Growlithe on his belly. "Who's a good boy? Yes, you are! Great work, Growlithe. Okay, return. We'll play later once we get out of this dingy place."
Eevee butted Leaf's shin and patted at her foot, whining as she did so. Leaf rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said, tickling Eevee behind her ears. "Didn't realise you got so jealous."
Eevee purred and wagged her tail.
"But we can go now," Leaf said. "We've got everything except a Raichu, but we can buy a Thunder Stone in Celadon. I mean, if the Pikachu we caught even wants to evolve. It could be like Red's, couldn't it?"
Eevee wagged her tail even more vigorously at the mention of Red's Pikachu. Then she stopped. She frowned. She growled at Leaf.
"Eevee?" Leaf said, looking over her shoulder, hoping to find something behind her, dismayed to confirm that Eevee had her hackles raised at her. "What's wrong with you?"
Eevee barked at Leaf, utter, unmitigated fury distorting her usually sweet visage. She barked louder and howled.
Careful not to make any sudden movements, Leaf unclipped her Pokédex off her belt, for maybe it would be able to enlighten her on Eevee's sudden strange behaviour.
She did not have the chance to check.
The fox-like Pokémon tackled Leaf, knocking the Pokédex out of her hand. Leaf winced as her elbow hit the floor, sending an unpleasant, shocking sensation shooting through her arm.
"Eevee!" Leaf shouted, clutching her elbow. "What are you doing!"
A fair question. It was a pity that Leaf received her answer in the most horrific way possible.
Her Pokédex, which had slid several metres away, spoke, listing off the Pokémons' names it had within it, speaking in its standard voice before its words became more guttural, monstrous, until Leaf could hardly understand what it was saying anymore.
It shook like there was an earthquake that only affected it, static and alarms competing with the rasping words until it almost deafened Leaf.
Her surroundings changed, not drastically, but everything around her became otherworldly, as if she had been transported to an uncanny realm that threatened to make her mind melt. It was frightfully familiar.
"No," she moaned, shuffling away from the Pokédex. "No, no, no."
The Pokedex's shaking grew more aggressive, Leaf half expecting it to break into pieces, the shrill noises it produced reaching higher and higher levels on the decibel meter.
Then it stopped.
The silence that ensued was louder than what came from the Pokédex.
Yet, it was not safe. She was still in the strange world.
She swallowed and waited for it to emerge, holding Eevee close to her, thanking her quietly for knocking the Pokédex away, her odd behaviour justified.
MissingNo.
How a massive entity like MissingNo. emerged from a tiny thing like the Pokédex, Leaf could not say, but that is what it did, clambering out the device like a creepy girl climbing out from a well, no regards for physics in the slightest.
It pulled itself out, its form undefined, Leaf barely able to look at it for how its appearance hurt her head, made her question what she was really seeing. It seemed to glitch too, like a computer infected with a virus, coming in and out of focus with an intense static sound. It flexed its claws or wings or fingers or whatever the heck it had and gazed at Leaf so intensely she felt as if her skin was boiling, as if she was being blinded.
"I Am mIssINgO." it growled. "i WiLl deVOuR yOu."
Leaf trembled, her throat constricted, her heart beating hard, as if it had no desire to be part of MissingNo.'s feast and wanted to leave its owner's chest.
Had MissingNo. been biding its time since Cinnabar? Had it been recovering its strength since its mauling at the hands of Mew and waiting for an opportune moment to get Leaf by herself, miles away from another soul? Oh, why did she not insist on giving the Pokédex to Professor Oak, insist on him examining its every nook and cranny? Or was it on her too? Did her desire to complete the Pokédex affect her memories, mitigating the danger posed by MissingNo., make her feel as if she could achieve her goal before it reappeared?
There was no Mew to save her this time.
It was only her and the six Pokémon she had on hand.
She and they were not going to be around much longer.
MissingNo. stomped/glided/danced towards her, muttering about how famished it was, and with each inch it took nearer, the more a fire within Leaf's racing heart burned.
No, she would not run away or freeze up. Leaf rose to her feet, and Eevee, sensing her increasingly strong will returning, hopped forward, growling at the unknown eldritch being. She had almost been killed so many times, had been involved in things she could have gone without, and she was sick and tired of it. She would not make a last stand against MissingNo., hoping she could die with pride. Heck no! She and her team were going to fight MissingNo. and they were going to win!
They did not need Legendary Pokémon to save them.
They did not need the Elite Four either.
They just needed each other.
"Eevee," she said, slowing her breathing, forcing herself to fully behold the beast that called itself MissingNo. "Start off with Sappy Seed."
Eevee howled and raised herself on her hindlegs, which followed with her slamming down her front paws on the floor. The floor cracked and a giant beanstalk burst through, rising higher and higher until it touched the ceiling. MissingNo. paused for a second, as though entranced, and seeds fell upon it like green hail. It roared and shrieked as the seeds clobbered it, and from a few of them tiny tendrils emerged and wrapped themselves around it, gifting Eevee its energy in the form of ghostly bubbles.
"Great work, Eevee, it's seeded," Leaf shouted, throwing out a Premier Ball as the beanstalk crept back into the earth. "Jigglypuff, use Sing!"
The pink balloon Pokémon sang the instant it emerged, its sweet melody touching the brainwaves in whatever MissingNo.'s head was. It yawned and stumbled, throwing out its limbs, as though fighting off sleep itself. It could not win and drifted off.
"We're not done!" Leaf screamed. "Not by a long shot! Rhyhorn, I choose you!"
From his Safari Ball materialised Leaf's onetime pursuer. He lowered his head and scraped his hooves on the floor. He charged at MissingNo. and rammed his horn deep into its glitchy body, producing a sleepy yelp from the monster.
"Now, Stomp!" Leaf shouted.
Rhyhorn raised a hoof and brought it down like a collapsing cliff onto MissingNo., who awoke yet did not attack, cringing as it felt the full force of the move.
"Put it back to sleep, Jigglypuff," Leaf yelled. "Get it with another Horn Attack, Rhyhorn!"
Jigglypuff began her song, her gentle tune ready to usher in another wave of sleepiness and leave MissingNo. vulnerable to the onslaught Leaf and her Pokémon were eager to unleash on it.
It was not to be.
MissingNo. reached out and grabbed Jigglypuff with a limb, sealing her mouth shut, and lashed out at Rhyhorn, flinging him into one of the old machines, disintegrating it under his weight. It hurled Jigglypuff after him.
"No!" Leaf shrieked. "Stockpile, Jigglypuff!"
Before Jigglypuff was dashed against the wobbly Rhyhorn and the hefty machines, she ballooned up a tad, letting her bounce off her teammate and the surrounding metal constructions, barely saving her from oblivion.
"Darn it," Leaf said to herself, glaring at MissingNo. less sure of herself than a moment ago. At least its health was still being absorbed by Eevee. "Eevee, hit it with Freezy Frost."
Eevee mustered a blistering cold wind as Leaf summoned Growlithe and Venonat, and the wind surrounded MissingNo., encasing it in a black crystal. It roared, distressed, and the icy crystal shattered. The beast staggered forward, weakened but still dangerous.
They could do it. She had five of her Pokémon out. They would not need Venusaur.
Growlithe peppered MissingNo. with Ember and Venonat sprinkled Poison Powder on the atrocity, which it rid of with Refresh, albeit giving Leaf's Pokémon the opportunity to attack it from all sides, avoiding its gaping maw and every body part it threw out to try and crush them into pulp.
MissingNo. shrieked and wailed, smashing the rundown machines and already broken floors, hitting everything but its enemies.
But Leaf would not even afford herself a slight grin. Things could go topsy-turvy all of a sudden, so they needed to keep up the offensive and rid themselves of Missingno's presence, force it to leave her Pokédex and go back to whence it came.
Oh no.
She froze.
MissingNo.'s maw had a dreaded carmine glow about it.
"No!" Leaf screamed, shielding her eyes. "No! No! No!"
Hyper Beam's explosive power knocked her off her feet, even though it was not aimed at her. When she regained a modicum of composure, Leaf was heartbroken to find Venonat and Jigglypuff down for the count.
"It… it took out both of them with one attack," she mumbled to herself, dazed.
Growlithe yapped and riddled MissingNo. with more fiery embers, and Eevee joined in, striking the monster with one more Freezy Frost.
However, it was still not enough to take it out. They were close, they just had to be, but the finish line was still out of reach.
Eevee and Growlithe were both too near each other.
A single Hyper Beam pulverised them too.
"Eevee…" Leaf said, her knees threatening to buckle. "Growlithe…"
MissingNo. turned to her, and Leaf did not have to be able to comprehend its face to know it was grinning. Recovering from using Hyper Beam, it prepared to use it once more.
"No!" Leaf screamed, stamping her feet, pulling at her hair. "No! I said we were going to beat you, and we will! You don't scare me, MissingNo.! NO. YOU. DON'T! NO! NO! NO!"
MissingNo. did not care. MissingNo. was famished. MissingNo. fired off its Hyper Beam.
Leaf dove to the side, but there was no need to: Rhyhorn jumped in front of her, taking the entirety of the destructive technique head-on, and unlike his allies, he did not faint. He bellowed triumphantly and tossed his head back and forth, only a sliver of energy keeping his legs from falling out beneath him.
"Rhyhorn," Leaf breathed. "Rhyhorn, thank you."
Rhyhorn snorted, breathing as hard as if he had run for hundreds of miles nonstop.
"You've all done so well," Leaf said, taking out her last Poké Ball. "Now we end this. Please, Venusaur, we need you!"
It was a risk, wasn't it, to use a Pokémon that did not obey you. It was a particularly risky risk since she was in quite the life-or-death situation. Well, it was not as if she had much of a choice anyway; her Pokémon Box would be unusable just like the last time on Cinnabar. If she had known this was going to happen, she would not have deposited only Fearow.
Ah, Venusaur was here!
But he seemed more interested in sleep, so he shut his eyes and snored away.
"Venusaur, no!" Leaf said sharply. "Look around you. Do you recognise this? Do you see what's happened to the others?"
Venusaur lazily half opened an eye.
He fully opened it.
Both were open.
He picked himself up, pupils dilated, unadulterated rage etched into his face as he glared at the monster who had pools of saliva at its feet.
"It's MissingNo.," Leaf said, softening her voice. "And we need you. Let's work together and –"
Two thick vines snaked through the air and wrapped themselves around MissingNo., looking for what could have been its throat, not finding it. Unsatisfied with trying to crush the unearthly being, Venusaur offered it the same technique that saved him from being its meal all that time ago, a Sludge Bomb that was parried by Dark Pulse.
Freeing itself from the vines, MissingNo. launched itself at Venusaur, desperate to have the feast it was once denied, and Venusaur responded in kind, barrelling into it, whipping it in a frenzied manner.
"Venusaur!" Leaf yelled. "You have to listen to me! We can beat it together!"
Leaf might have not said anything at all. Venusaur continued to go toe to toe with MissingNo., his Trainer's words nothing but than a slight breeze against a mountain.
Leaf would have returned Venusaur if the situation was not so desperate. She would just have to hope Rhyhorn sapped enough energy from MissingNo. to mount another challenge and hope she had at least one Revive in her bag.
Venusaur bellowed as he was chucked away like Rhyhorn, landing heavily on his side, groaning as he righted himself.
Leaf gritted her teeth. She needed to revive Eevee and maybe use a Super Potion on her and Rhyhorn, regardless of the seeds. As quick as a flash, she lunged for her rucksack as MissingNo. settled for a Dark Pulse to finally subdue his prey, which travelled an inch or two over her head.
"Come on," she muttered, rifling through her bag. "Come on, where are you?"
A shadow loomed over her. Leaf searched quicker, trembling hands making it all the more difficult.
Charging footsteps. MissingNo. shrieked. Another Dark Pulse. Rhyhorn gave a final cry as it, too, suffered defeat.
Aha, she found the Revive!
Oh no, MissingNo. had its attention back on her.
Leaf tried to crawl away from the monster, blocked from going anyway by its bulk. She needed to get to Eevee. That was it. Revive Eevee and they had a chance. But she could not. She was trapped. No, she could squeeze through. Yes, she could… she could…
Someone grunted. MissingNo. shifted itself as it turned to the grunt's source, allowing Leaf to wriggle through the smallest of gaps. Success! She could revitalize Eevee! Nevertheless, before she could, she too was distracted by the same thing as MissingNo.
Venusaur was up, the glare he beheld MissingNo. with deathly, the flower on his back shimmering gold.
Was this Overgrow? No, this was something else. A new technique? Yes, yes it was! Oh, was it the one Leaf was thinking of?
Venusaur absorbed the sunlight that streamed into the Power Plant, the gold light shining more brilliantly with every passing second.
As though sensing what was to come, MissingNo. let out a bloodcurdling shriek and stormed towards Venusaur.
It was too late.
From his flower, Venusaur fired off a beam of light that rivalled MissingNo.'s Hyper Beam, blasting through the beast, obliterating the machines that stood behind comatose.
MissingNo. crumpled to the floor, glitching like mad, and suddenly the world righted itself again, freed from their alien Hell.
Now, what happened next would be quite strange to some, perhaps considered downright insane to do if you went through the torment Leaf did. Yet she did it anyway, more of an instinctual act as opposed to an action done with any semblance of thought.
She tossed an Ultra Ball at MissingNo.
The Ball shook three times.
MissingNo. did not escape.
The funny thing, though, was that MissingNo. did not get an entry in the Pokédex, nor did the Ultra Ball it was housed in dematerialise. The Ball glitched as it did, though it did not cause Leaf harm nor pain when she touched it, nor did it disintegrate her bag once she placed it in there, rolled up in a sock.
Maybe it was for the best it did not go to her Pokémon Box.
Now she could keep a proper eye on MissingNo. until she could show it to Professor Oak.
Convinced she and her Pokémon were safe, Leaf resuscitated Rhyhorn with a Revive and placed her four unconscious ones onto his back, for they deserved a nice ride and fresh air after that nightmare they went through.
And then there was Venusaur.
"Thank you, Venusaur," Leaf said, rubbing his head. "You sure showed MissingNo. what for, and even learned Solar Beam. It'll think twice before trying that again."
Venusaur nudged her away and proceeded to exit the Power Plant, shaking his head, as though asking himself why he had such an incompetent Trainer.
Leaf and Rhyhorn followed, the setting sun that reflected like diamonds off the river's surface almost bringing a tear to Leaf's eye, such sights all the more beautiful after such horrid experiences. We can all appreciate that, right?
Leaf collapsed onto her back, gazing up at the red sky, the sun bidding adieu as she checked out of work, replaced by dark clouds that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Rhyhorn settled next to her, Eevee, Growlithe, Jigglypuff, and Venonat resting on his back, perhaps not the most comfortable of beds really.
Venusaur laid down several metres away from them, facing the opposite direction.
It had been quite the day for Leaf, hadn't it? It started off great, then descended into utter chaos. But she and her team were alive and were stronger for it. Now, she and they could rest and pray nothing else happened…
What was that noise? It was a bird, certainly. It sounded mournful, and it was accompanied by the sound of running electricity.
Electricity? The Power Plant was dead, was it not?
Leaf sat bolt right up, staring towards the dead facility. Nothing there. She craned her neck, and her breath left her body.
Soaring above was a bird, larger than her Fearow, plumage yellow with some black, beak thin and orange, wings expansive and glorious.
Hardly daring to believe it, Leaf scanned it, and her Pokédex told her this:
Zapdos, a dual Electric and Flying-type Pokémon. It is one of the three Legendary birds. It is said to appear when the sky turns dark and lightning showers down.
Leaf could not take her eyes off Zapdos, pupils glued to it until it disappeared into the clouds. Thunder roared and a few drops of rain fell before becoming a light shower.
"Zapdos," Leaf whispered, wondering if any of her Pokémon saw it.
The answer was no, as four of them were still snoring away, and even Rhyhorn had joined them in slumber. And Venusaur…
… was awake. The plant dinosaur was gazing at the sky, exactly where Zapdos had disappeared. He caught Leaf's eye. Leaf smiled. He did not.
Was it mere coincidence that she saw Zapdos? Or was it a reward for how well she had done on her journey so far? Or maybe it was compensation for her MissingNo. curse? Well, whatever the reason, she got to see a Legendary Pokémon.
Things were tough, but she was getting through them.
She was getting stronger and so were her team.
She would complete her goal and what followed would be anyone's guess.
Hey, maybe she would meet Mew and Zapdos again?
There was so much in this world for her to experience.
