When i reached the beach at Pallet town, I was soaking wet and looked somewhat drowned. dragging myself out of the water, my stomach growled at me. I looked around for someplace to stay, before rolling my eyes in a realization that Pallet was just a no-name back-road town. They didn't even have a pokecenter where i could sleep. Some guy at least twice my age gave me a strange look as I stood on the beach, dripping, before I caught him at stareing. The man turned back to his fishing pole rather quickly, shaking his head.
The air next to me became charged before shimmering into my sib. Mantis folded her arms and tisked at me, levetateing about two inches off the ground. "Tch, tch. Soshi's drawin' stares. You look like a choked Persian who got dumped in a pond, sis."
I gritted my teeth, trying not to let it become obvious I was going to quick-attack her. "Wouldn't look like I was drowned if SOMEONE hadn't dumped me in the middle of the ocean. Thanks a lot, Mantis."
Mantis shrugged simply. "Eh, you survived. Least you learned something." I launched myself sideways with my claws out, ready to slice at her face. The air flickered again and Mantis was suddenly behind me. I whirled and slashed at her, using the distraction to tackle my sibling and pin her. Mantis went down hard, her back to the sand. I stood on top of her and glared down, folding my arms.
"What did I learn? That I could swim?"
Again, my Sib used Teleport and appeared next to me with a sucker-punch just for my attacking her. I fell back, dazed. "You learned you're not weakened by water, stupid. You're still more Pokemon then person. You need to regard yourself like you would regard a pokemon you were training."
I shook my head, stunned. The fisherman who had stared at me made me remember. "Mantis, I had a Tentacool for a while there."
"With your bare hands?" Mantis rubbed her paws together but didn't seem to be watching me. "Where is it now?"
I scowled, thinking of that blue-haired freako Jenny. "The officer covering this route snagged it from me. She said I needed a license."
Mantis laughed aloud at me, and began teleporting first to my left, then my right, poking and proding me as she teased me. "You got caught by JENNY doing something illegal? WHOO! No member of Team Rocket are you, Sib!"
I growled at her, but stood the taunting. "I noticed," I said with gritted teeth. Something kept bugging me...if these Team Rocket guys were so good at what they did, how come I hadn't met any yet? They were like the Mafia, supposedly. Had their hands in everything. I intereupted my own thoughts and my sib's laughing with a question. "But still, where do I get a license?"
Mantis grinned evilly and flew ahead towards Pallet. "Follow me. I'll show you."
My sib flew much faster then I could run, but I did my best to keep up. Mantis vanished in front of a large building, where I stopped, looking around myself for her. "Hey, Mantis! Where are you?"
Just like herself, Mantis teleported behind me and shoved me against the building. I hit a large wooden sign hard, and fell back in surprise. "Oof!"
"Read! Dipstick.." Mantis pointed to the sign. I followed her gaze and skimmed the bright blue painted letters.
Pallet Town Pokemon Lab
Prof. Oak's classes meeting now
Inquire for Pokemon license within
Trainers must be at LEAST 10 years of age
She dismissed me with a parody of a lady-like gesture. "Pokemon aren't allowed to become trainers. I'm unsure if they'll allow you in as it is."
I furrowed my eyebrows and pouted. "Then how'll you catch Pokemon?"
Mantis rolled her eyes. "Cheeze and rice...Look, there's more ways to get Pokeballs then here. If you're GOOD at it, you won't be caught either."
I pointed at my sib dumbfoundely. "So you're gonna be..."
"An Illegal trainer," she stated with a simple shrug. "If they turn you down, I suggest you do the same. Even if it isn't honest, it's smart. You'll get no-where without pokemon."
I nodded solmnly and entered the Lab.
Part 7-> Some amount of intelligence.
"Soooo..." The old guy instructing our class took his pointer and indicated towards the board. On it were the three basic pokeball types. Regular, Great and Ultra. Regulars were red and white, Greats were Blue and white and Ultras were yellow and white. I knew there were at least two other kinds, those would be the Police and Safari, which were orange and green respectively. The Masterball I'd seen only once when I'd fought Mew and it was purple and white. But this class didn't cover that. No wonder half these kids didn't get to far.
"Great is better then normal and ultra is better then great," droned the classroom in reply to the instructor's prompt. I propped my head up on my fist and stared towards the window, mocking the zombie like reply.
"Blah phlaph phlamphla ba phlu, pha plumpla nyna na nya," I hung my tongue out of my mouth to show how bored I was and tried to drool a little on the desk just to let the prof. know i was ready to get my test and get OUT. He noticed alright.
"Soshika, this is the last time i'm telling you. Turn around and pay attention or you'll be asked to leave." He narrowed his eyebrows and glared at me. The entire class had come to a standstill, and there I sat with my tongue hanging out and my eyes rolled skyward. I pulled in my tongue and sat properly in the desk for about two minutes before lying on top of it inside my folded arms. This stuff was so AMATURE. How could they expect these kids even to CATCH a pokemon?
Class returned to paranormal with its brainwashing drone that i kept out of. It had taken me about an hour to convince them that half-humans at LEAST should be allowed to take the test, if not pokemon with Human abilities. I'd worked pretty hard to get in here, and even if i did feel like pushing the limit, i wasn't going to get thrown out. Cheeze and Rice, i thought, I've been here only three hours and I'm already bored.
"Soshika are you paying attention?"
"Yeeeeeeees," I muttered, drawing out my voice to let the prof know i was still bored to hell with this.
He finally seemed to notice. "Are you bored, Soshika?"
I snorted and sat up. "It's only that your lecture is baby stuff," I laughed. "I knew this when I was three. Sir."
"Well then, aren't we the little prodigy? If you're so good, what are you doing taking this class six years after you turned the legal age?" The professor looked pretty smug at that last remark. The rest of the class snickered and jabbed one another pointing at me. I growled deep in my throat. When I got my lisence, I'd come back and shove it up this guy's nose. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Mantis hovering outside the window. She shook her head and crossed her arms in a charge-up stance. She was gonna blast the school with Psychic energies.
I franticly started shaking my head "no" in her direction, mouthing off words. "No, Mantis. Don't do it!"
Mantis nodded and grinned evilly. I could practicly feel a headache from the Psy-powers coming on. Oh, she thought at me, Those jerks deserve it.
"No, no, no!" I mouthed more franticly and shook my head. I waved my arm in a sideways-chopping motion too, trying everything i could to stop her from attacking.
A shadow fell over me and I cringed as I turned to face the prof again. "Is something wrong, Soshika?" He asked grimly. I knew this was it. "Who are you talking to out there?"
Franticly, I scrambled for an excuse. Mantis had Teleported, smart of her. Wish she'd taken me with her. "Um, uh..ah...an..er..a...Spearow," I finally decided. A unconcious Magikarp could have come up with a better excuse.
"A Spearow?" the Prof put his hands on his hips, disbelieveing.
I grinned sheepishly. "Sure."
Next I knew i was on my acheing bum in the dirt outside the entrance. The Prof looked down angrily at me. "If you can't take pokemon seriously, you'll never be a trainer!" He shouted. I covered my ears, or at least the most sensitive part of them. He had a loud voice.
"Can't I just take the test?"
"NO!"
With that, the doors to the lab slammed shut in my face. I sat on my bum in the sand a while, thinking. This is a setback, I decided. If they weren't going to let me take the test, I'll just take Mantis's approach and train them without a lisence. No one would know the difference.
Mantis Teleported in front of me with her hands on her hips. I noticed that around her waist she had a weird looking black belt with some sort of holsters on it. It took me a minute to recognize the trainer belt without any pokeballs on it. Another one was slung over her shoulder. Mantis sneered. "Didn't let you pass, did they?"
I stood up and dusted my cargo pants off. They were still slightly damp from swimming. "No thanks to you."
"Trust me," laughed my Sib, tossing me the trainer belt. I caught it and put it on quickly. You didn't question where people found these things. For all i knew there were now two kids running around with their pants down. "They wouldn't have let you pass anyway," she continued. "I saw them in the back room, talking about you. They were fixing your test. Stuff no-one has memorized and that they didn't go over."
I frowned, aggrivated. "I coulda done it."
Mantis raised an eyebrow quizicly. "You know off hand what TM fifteen teaches?"
I thought a minute. "Earthquake?"
My sib shook her head. "I don't think so. Trust me, this is just cutting out a middle step."
Sighing, I admitted defeat. As we began to walk away from the lab, I realized I'd left my pack behind. Damp as it was, it still had all my cloths and my pokedoll in it. I started to run back. "Those jerks still have my stuff!"
Even as I reached the door, an extremely wet parcel soared through it to hit me in the face. I pulled my pack away from my eyes and ran to the re-closed door and began to kick it. "You jerks! You dumbasses! I hate you!"
Beating the wall did little to vent my anger and i returned to walking north out of Pallet with Mantis. My sib crossed her arms again in a power-up. "Want me to blast them?" she offered.
"No, thanks." I growled, slinging the wet pack over my shoulder. "When I get a fire pokemon I'm gonna come back here and burn them down." That thought made me feel slightly better as we walked onward.
"Well," Mantis said with a shrug, "Least you have your priorities laid out."
Part 8-> Camp out!!
Viridian Forest was much denser then the forests on Cinnibar, a lot more full of bugs too. Still, anytime I got near a pokemon, it dissapeared into the grass before i could catch it. Maybe Tentacool was one-of-a-kind, i wondered. Every now and again, Mantis would hear someone yelling in the distance, but we never saw them. It was starting to give me the creeps. I noticed Mantis was teleporting from side to side, investigateing the bushes. "What are you doing?" I finally demanded.
"Looking for pokemon, stupid," she replied cynically, never stopping in her Teleport search, "But these are all weakling bugs. They're only good against plant pokemon and only wimpy trainers have those. Still, I suppose if I could find a Beedrill or Butterfree and teach it the right TMs, it wouldn't be so bad."
"Yichth," I stuck my tongue out. "Bees. Ugh. Bees sting."
"Really?" My sib asked sarcasticly. Sighing, she began to slow down her Teleport search. "Well, I don't see any and it's going to be dark soon. I guess we should stop."
"Okay," I replied cheerfully, unslinging my pack. "I'll pitch camp!"
Mantis looked unbelieving. "How? We haven't got a tent or sleeping bags, dip."
Tossing my pack upwards, it tangled in the branches of a tree. I scrambled up the tree and lay flat on the limb, looking down at my sibling. "Like this."
Mantis laughed. "Oh, we're going to pretend to be a Mankey, huh? Well thanks but no thanks."
I rolled onto my back, judgeing the width of the limb. If I fell off, there were some larger branches under me. I'd be safely caught. "Then where're you gonna sleep?"
"Me?" Mantis lifted her feet but remained suspended in air. "I'll levitate."
I rolled over and shut my eyes snickering. "Psychic pokemon...Can't live with em.." I left off, expecting her to know the rest.
Aparently she did, but my Sib was more original then that. "..'d get eaten by a Snorlax without em. Really, Soshi, you're totally helpless."
"Am not!" I rolled over and nearly fell out of the tree yelling at her.
Mantis snorted and rolled over in thin air so she didn't have to look at me. "We'll see." she said simply.
Part 9-> How do Clones Clone?
Morning came quicker then it did on Cinnibar, and I was still groggy when I woke up. My stuff was still somewhat wet too, but hanging in the tree all night had let it drip-dry somewhat. I rolled onto my stomach and looked out into the open path at my sib who was levitateing cheerfully and looking fully rested. I rubbed my eyes and groaned before sitting up and tugging my pack into my lap. Pulling out clean cloths, i climbed higher into the tree and hopefully out of sight of anyone passing by to change. Mantis had noticed my retreat.
"Anyone glanceing up will be in for a rude surprise this morning," She commented cynicly.
"Only if you tell them i'm up here," I called back. Changeing quickly as i could, i jumped down from the tree and hit the ground hard, falling on my tuckass once again. Mantis shook her head and floated to the ground. I decided to sit on my rear a bit, i had nothing better to do.
"Your cloths are still wet," Mantis observed.
I scowled and stuck out my tongue at her for a change. "They wouldn't be if someone hadn't dropped me in the water!"
Mantis's feet touched the ground and she began to walk in a northward direction again. "Oh, get over that. I couldn't Teleport you to Pallet, you've never been before."
I blinked in surprise at this thought and climbed to my feet. Running after my sib, i urged her to elaborate. "You mean Teleport can only take you to places you've been? When did you go to Pallet?"
"Please!" my sib snorted, as if it was a stupid question. "I've been everywhere, Cinnibar is too boring to spend sixteen years on. I flew all those places the first time, in case you're asking that next."
"But you Teleported me to the middle of the ocean. I was never that far out at sea."
"Sure you were, I was too. As infants, that is." Mantis shrugged. "I don't remeber it, but Mewtwo did. She told me about it."
I noticed Mantis's pace had slowed. She had been forced to forget, perhaps I had too. But when Mewtwo had told her she began to force herself to remember. "What happened out there?" I asked.
Mantis shook her head. "Someone named George and that cop Jenny. I don't know why...I think they were planning to use us to destroy or at least beat the Rockets."
I began to inquire but something caught on my foot and I fell. Turning to see what had so rudely tripped me, my face lit up and i grabbed it in my hand. Jumping up, I shoved my find in my sib's face. "Look Mantis!! I found a pokeball!!"
Mantis raised an eyebrow and took the pokeball in her hand. Handing it back to me with a shrug, she stated simply; "Big deal."
"Big deal? Mantis, I can catch a pokemon now! Yes!!"
Mantis snickered as i did a victory dance. "Give me that," She stated calmly, levetateing the pokeball from my hands to hers. I spun and stomped the ground.
"That's mine!"
"Grow up and get a grip," Mantis growled, holding the pokeball in front of her face. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and the pokeball began to glow slightly yellow. My eyes widened as Mantis lifted her other hand. In it appeared a duplicate of the pokeball I'd found. Mantis handed the one I'd found back to me.
I gawked at the clone pokeball. "How'd you do that?"
Mantis snickered. "My secret," she told me.
I shrugged and clipped the original pokeball to my belt. I was determained to find a pokemon now!
Part 10-> Let's get ready to fumble!!
I was on my feet and into the air in a flash when the Butterfree showed up. It just flapped between Mantis and I, while we were eating a slightly soggy lunch and almost caught me offguard. I spun around in the dust to face the pokemon, which was apparently expecting a hand-out. I grinned wildly and pointed at it like a little kid. "Cool! Look, Sib! A wild Butterfree! I didn't know Butterfree evolved in the wild!"
Mantis scrambled to her feet, brandishing her pokeball and pointing to her head. "Think, dip! Don't fight it, CATCH IT!"
I nodded, i already understood. "Gotcha." Unlike that stupid professor back at the lab, I knew you needed to get a pokemon's health halfway down on average to catch it. Some more feisty pokemon like Raichus or level 40 monsters needed a lot of whooping to be able to catch them. I launched myself into the air in the same tackle attack I'd used on Mew the first time. The Butterfree reacted with surprise and flapped backwards, but not far enough. I caught it around the midsection and slammed it into the ground. I leapt back and Butterfree shot upward, angry now. It had only wanted lunch, I'd challenged it to a fight. It flew at me fast, slamming into my head and knocking me back. I tripped over my own tail and hit the dust again. Mantis groaned. The Butterfree hovered over and began to dust me with some sort of powder. I didn't know what kind until i felt my limbs locking up. "Stun Spore!" I cried in alarm.
Mantis chaged into action, leaping into the air behind Butterfree and pounding it on the back. Butterfree squealed in pain and soared higher, but Mantis pursued. I knew she was taking it gentle with the Bug, trying not to knock it out. I sat back up and cheered on my sibling. Above ground battles weren't for me, the best I could do was watch.
Then, to my amazement, Mantis started pushing the Butterfree groundward. I jumped on my feet and flexed my claws, ready. With one final shove, my Sib sent the pokemon tumbleing towards me, still quite capable of beating me. It had the flying advantage. "It's all yours, Soshi!"
"I thought you wanted a Butterfree!"
"I changed my mind. I've decided to stick with what I know and train Psychics."
"Thanks alot," I muttered, diveing towards the Butterfree. Increaceing my speed, I slammed into it with a Quick Attack that almost knocked it senseless. I didn't hesitate a second. Pulling my Pokeball free I tossed it at the Butterfree.
The bug dodged. My pokeball fell to the ground, useless for the moment.
"No!" I shouted in dismay as teh Buttefree began to fly away. It knew I was ready to catch it, and it wasn't ready to give up its freedom yet. I wasn't quite ready to let that happen. I raced up a treetrunk and out onto a limb, launching myself into an almost suicidal tackle attack. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"
The Butterfree saw me again and dodged. Again. I found myself plumetting groundward again. I hit harder then i would have liked and found myself looking upward at the Butterfree escapeing through a cloud of dizzy stars and danceing pokemon. Mantis appeared in my vision with her arms crossed. "Nice work."
"I think I need to hunt a weaker pokemon," I grunted before passing out.
Part 11-> Nifty hats and niftier moon pokemon!
"Hey, look! A Jigglypuff!" I'd regained conciousness a while ago and was already back to alerting every pokemon within ten miles to our presance. Mantis kept telling me to shut up, which i suppose was why i kept doing it. The KO and Stun Spore still had me a little loopy and my reaction time to everything was slowed.
The Jigglypuff's ears perked up and its eyes widened, if that was at all possiable for the little bugger. I mean, its eyes were HUGE. I'd've been creeped out if it wasn't so cute and fat. It turned and puffed out its cheeks at me with a frown that was way to cute on its face. "Puff!" It announced in an athouritive voice.
"Watch it," Mantis warned me. "They look cute but they can be trouble. Sleep attacks, Soshika."
I snapped at my sib. "I know what they can do!" Turning back around to face the Jigglypuff i sat on my hauches and smiled at it. "Hi there Jigglypuff!"
Jigglypuff's face puffed out more before returning to normal. Slowly, it started to sing at me. The song was kind of soft and almost lullybye like, and i fell into a trance.
"Jiiiiiigg-a-lyyy puuuuuuff Jigg-a-ly puff jiggly puuuuuff jigglyyyyyy..."
The lids of my eyes slowly started to shut, and i started to lean forward. A yawn escaped my throat and i fell forward, more then three tenths asleep. Out of the corner of my eye, i spotted Mantis toss her pokeball. Next i knew i was sleeping.
A moment later Mantis was shaking me awake. "Thanks for distracting that thing, Sib. I got a Jigglypuff now."
"Really?" I was awake in a second, and spotted Jigglypuff sitting on its rotund behind in the grass, smiling cheerfully. It seemed to enjoy having Mantis as a trainer. "Whoa," I muttered.
"Yeah," Mantis smiled smuggly and rubbed the balloon pokemon's fluffy head. "It's not really a Psychic pokemon, but it's close enough i figure."
"Jiggly!" Jigglypuff announced cheerfully.
A thought crossed my mind. "Hey Jigglypuff," I scooted towards it and tried not to look formidable. Aparently it didn't have any hard feelings towards me. "Would you teach me that Sing attack?"
The pokemon seemed to think a minute before waving its stubby arms in the air and exclaiming its name happily. "Jigglypuff!"
I pounded the dust and grinned hugely. "Great!! Show me how! But don't sing me to sleep again, okay?" I smiled sheepishly. Mantis just shook her head and sat to watch this.
Jigglypuff nodded and began to sing softly. The pretty sound floated through the woods and reflected off the leaves, echoing for what must have been miles. Mantis and I listened in awe. Jigglypuff finally stopped, to our dismay, and motioned for me to try.
I cleared my throat and started nervously. At first, it came out somewhat like Jigglypuff's song, only i sang my name instead of Jigglypuff's. Jigglypuff leapt into the air happily and clapped its stubby hands. Even Mantis smiled and nodded. I stopped singing, overjoyed. I'd learned Sing!!
We resumed walking, Jigglypuff outside its pokeball so we could all sing as we walked. Mantis chuckled. "If i keep this up, I'll be known as a Bard trainer!"
I was singing with my eyes shut and not watching where I was going. In mid-note I slammed into something big and tough. The thing pushed me back and I fell on my behind. Again. Mantis was laughing and not watching where she was going either. She soon suffered the same fate. Jigglypuff took one look at the thing and hid behind Mantis. My sib and I looked up and the biggest, ugliest thing we'd seen in a long while.
"Rhydon!" snarled the thing. It stood in the middle of the path with its paws on its hips. Strangely, a hugely streatched out trainer belt wrapped around its girth and a cool looking red and white hat perched on its head. The pokemon was a trainer like Mantis and me!
"It says we have to battle it to pass," Mantis told me.
"Jiggly?"
"It or its pokemon?" I wanted to know, pointing to the three pokeballs strapped to the belt on the Rhydon's waist.
"I don't know," Mantis admitted, climbing to her feet. She pointed to the expance of path between us and the Rydon. "Jigglypuff, handle it."
"Jiggly!" Jigglypuff leapt into the area with more agility then you'd expect from the chubby pokemon. Its cheeks puffed out angrily and its face looked as warlike as was possiable for a balloon.
Rydon roared and threw one of his pokeballs onto the ground. Out jumped something of cuteness to rival Jigglypuff's.
"Clefairy!" Cheered the pokemon.
Jigglypuff looked to Mantis for instructions. Mantis rubbed her chin in thought. I knew why. Both pokemon were mainly sleep attack pokemon, fairly similar in everything but appearance. "Jigglypuff, doubleslap!"
"Jig!" Jigglypuff leapt at the Clefairy angrily and began to smack it around. The Clefairy looked totally unprepared for such an onslaught and started singing out of confusion. Jigglypuff wasn't affected. The Rhydon roared in fury and called back the Clefairy and sent out a Drowsee. Jigglypuff squealed in surprise and scrambled out of the way just as the Drowsee let loose with a blast of confusion.
Mantis thrust forth her pokeball. "Jigglypuff, return!" Jigglypuff quickly returned to the pokeball. Mantis charged in to meet the Drowsee in battle. The Drowsee tried to slam into her, but Mantis was too quick on her feet. She jumped onto the pokemon's back when it was down and blasted the back of its head with Psibeam. Drowsee shuddered and whimpered, totally unprepared. Rhydon called that pokemon back too. Furious, the rock pokemon sent out its last pokeball. Mantis leapt aside as a full-grown Hypno surged free.
To my amazement, Mantis retreated and sent out Jigglypuff. The little pokemon sturck a truely warrior-like pose and screamed in anger. "Jiggly!!!"
Hypno started laughing, giving Jigglypuff an opening. The tiny pokemon jumped up and onto Hypno's head, smacking it on the nose. Hypno slapped at it but hit his own head instead. Angered, it charged after Jigglypuff who met it with an angry doubleslap. Hypno retreated to his pokeball, his pride wounded. Rhydon hadn't even called him! I gaped at the disobedient monster.
Aparently Rhydon had had enough of fair play. It ran forward with a war scream, nearly trampleing Jigglypuff. Mantis called it back quickly and pointed at me. "I handled his pokemon, YOU handle HIM!"
"Me?" I took one look at the angry steam engine waiting to run me over and shook my head. "No way! What'll I attack it with?"
Mantis rolled her eyes. "Sing, stupid! Put it to sleep, then we'll just slip by!"
"Are you nuts?"
"Look," Mantis released Jigglypuff who ran and hid behind her. "I'll send Jigglypuff in to back you up if you fail miserably."
"Thanks a bunch," I growled, striding in the meet the Rhydon. The big pokemon didn't waist a minute but lifted a huge boulder from the ground and threw it at me. I dodged and tried to Sing. But something went wrong and teh notes came out about three hundred octaves too high. The Rhydon dropped another rock and covered its ears, knocking the hat off its head. Behind me, Jigglypuff puffed out its cheeks and glared at Mantis acuseingly.
"Puff!"
"Don't look at me, it was your idea to teach her!"
But while they were complaining, I kept up the ruckass. In my mind, I realized I'd learned Screech, and Rhydon was having trouble adjusting to it. The rock pokemon's chest heaved in painful roars, streatching the old belt to its limit. The leather snapped, and pokeballs rolled to teh ground. The Rhydon didn't seem to care. Mantis and Jigglypuff seemed fine, their fleshy hands able to block the screech out of their ears, but Rhydon's rocky hands conducted the sound wonderfully. The huge pokemon turned and fled into the woods, crunching trees as it ran from my "music."
Part 12->Lyika, the Electric one
I stopped Screeching to take a breath. Grinnning, i pumped my fists into teh air. "I beat Rhydon!" I cried.
"Jig!" Jigglypuff seemed to forgive me for souring my notes and jumped up and down until Mantis called it back.My sib laughed and patted me on the back. "Nice work, Soshika. I have to admit, I was scared to go in there myself."
I tried to look modest, secretly gloating over the fact that she'd been scared and I'd beaten the big pokemon. It felt cool, and I'd learned a new attack too. That also meant I'd grown a level. Something occered to me. "Hey, Mantis, did you learn Psibeam just then?"
Mantis looked as if she hadn't even noticed it and was shocked. "Yeah, i did."
"I think we both grew a level," I muttered, surprised. I forced myself to get over it quickly and went to pick up the Rhydon's hat. I placed it on my head and twisted it around different ways, playing with poses.
Mantis took it more seriously and picked up the fallen pokeballs. She tossed me one. "I know you're good with Drowsees, so you can have this one. You damn well earned it, I'd think."
I caught the pokeball in my left hand and stared at it, somewhat stunned. It sure wasn't my old Drowsee, but I'd be able to fix this guy up, i figured. "Thanks," I said. This time it was sincere. I clipped the Drowsee to my trainer belt and pumped my fists in the air, hissing triumphantly.
Mantis wasn't listening. She'd taken the whole thing far more in stride and put Clefairy and Hypno on her belt next to Jigglypuff. Glanceing towards where the Rhydon had stood, her eyes widened. "Whoa, Soshika, check this out!"
I ran over, upset that my game of striking stupid poses was halted. In front of us was a big pile of pretty coloured rocks. Some were purple, some were blue, some were green, some were yellow and some were red. I scratched my head. "So? Rocks. Big deal."
Mantis ripped my pack off my shoulders and began shoveling the stones inside, the purple ones and red ones especially. "They're Element Stones, cheeze and rice! They can evolve pokemon of that type! The purple ones are Moon Stones, the reds are Fire, the blue is Water, green is Grass and the yellow is Thunder."
My eyes widened. "Can I have some?"
Mantis tossed me a red stone which i missed. "Why do you think I'm getting Fire Stones, stupid? So you can use them later!"
I kicked the stone back to Mantis. "I don't want just fire. Maybe some water Pokemon will come in handy, and you never know where electricity will play a game. C'mon!"
Mantis sighed and threw the three other Element Stone types at me, one of each. I bent to pick up the Thunder Stone and put it in my knee pocket when something weird happened. A spark leapt from the stone to my hand. I yelped but grabbed the stone anyway, not knowing any better. Holding the stone in my hand, electricity began to climb up my arms and against my skin. My fur started to glow white and my hair grew spikey, my claws longer. I dropped the stone in alarm and yelped. Mantis turned, without even jumping. I whimpered and cried as electricity tingled around my body. I felt weird, changed. Looking at my tail, I saw it had changed into one like a Raichu's, with a thunderbolt at the tip.
Taking it all in stride, Mantis cocked her head and thought. "Nifty. The Eevee in you is evolveing you in response to the stones. You're an Electric type now."
I clenched my fists and whimpered, I didn't like this. "How long will this last?"
Mantis shook her head. "No telling. I doubt it's perminant though. You're too much non-Eevee. In the meantime, you're a new species. What should we call you?"
"Call me my name! I don't like this!"
My sib disagreed. "Nope. You were Soshika before, now you're something different. I think we'll call you Lyika. Short for Lightning Cat. Yeah." Mantis smiled. "That works."
I pouted, folding my arms over my chest. I hoped that Drowsee wasn't getting shocked in his pokeball. "I don't like this."
"Oh, grow up. This could be an asset. Try Thundershocking that tree over there." My sib pointed.
"But I don't know Thundershock!"
Mantis laughed and waved her hand dismissivly. "That was when you were Soshika. You're Lyika now. Try it."
I didn't quite know what to do but try, so i visualized all my energy chargeing up and filtering into the tree. A bolt of energy flew from me towards the tree and zapped it into a pile of dust in a second. I gapped. "WHOA! That was almost like an Electrabuzz's Thundershock!"
Mantis nodded, taking it in stride still. "Very cool," she decided. "Well, get some sleep sib. Tomorrow I plan on checking out what the Fire Stone does."
I wasn't too keen on being a guinea pig, but seeing as the stones didn't seem to affect my sibling, i obayed and leaned against a tree to try and get some sleep. It wasn't that dark out yet, but I wasn't going to argue.
Part 13->Hellcat, the rather brash one.
I awoke the next day with a headache and my limbs sore as if i'd been slammed into the ground a few times. Supposedly this was what electric shock victems felt.I groaned as i woke up and streatched, a crik in my neck. Mantis lay against my pack a few feet away, the cheap fabric of the bag ready to tear so full of Element Stones. She blinked awake, senseing me awake myself. My sib grinned evilly.
"I knew it wouldn't last. See? Now we're gonna try the Fire Stone."
I groaned, but climbed to my feet. Mantis handed me a Fire Stone, which I put in both my hands like I'd done with the Thunder Stone. Small flames leapt out of the stone and crawled up my body like last time, only this time it felt much better. I laughed, looking and seeing my tail had changed to a flame-tip like a Charmander's. My hair too, seemed on fire like a Ponyta. My fur grew darker and almost gray. I snickered. "Hey, this isn't half bad."
Mantis gauged the reaction like a scientist. "Interesting, that. The Fire Stone seems to have flared your personality a little."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. When do I get to torch something?" I was grinning evilly now, clenching my fists tight. I had so much energy i was ready to set the whole forest on fire. I needed to blast something SOON or I'd explode. Maybe literally, but that wouldn't be all that bad, now would it?
Mantis seemed to be laughing, which didn't bug me at all. From teh forest, there was a slight rustle of bushes. From the foliage bounded something so sickeningly cute and obsessively loved that cringed.
"Pikachu!" Declared the bizzare little bugger.
I didnt' wait that long. I charged the 'Chu with an evil light in my eyes and Fire Blasted the little rat to Pikachu heaven. All that remained was a charred carcass on the ground. I kicked the dead pikachu back into the forest and grinned demonicly.
Mantis closed her eyes and nodded to herself. "Hellcat," she muttered. "This one is definitly Hellcat."
"Where's that Clefairy?" I growled to myself, snatching it from my sibling. Holding Clefairy's pokeball in one hand, i went to the pack and started unzipping it. "The damn thing's too cute for its own good."
Mantis's eyes widened. "You blast my Clefairy and I'll knock you unconcious for a week, Hellcat."
"Kill it?" I laughed aloud. "No way! I'm gonna evolve it!" Digging my hand into the pack, i started to pick up a Moon Stone.
Mantis yelled. "No, Hellcat! The Stone might evolve you again, maybe ireversably, I'm not sure yet! Don't do that, Moon Stones are still a mystery, no one understands them!"
I snorted. "Well I understand they make stupid Clefairys into something else." Ignoreing my sibling, I picked up the Moon Stone in my paw.
The change was instantanious. My fur lost its gray colour, my tail stopped flameing and my hair returned to normal. I shook my head, the brash and violent tendancys suddenly vacateing my mind. I fell on my rear, again, confused.
Mantis looked surprised. "Huh, how bout that? The Moon Stone returned you to normal. Well," she shrugged. "You always were a space cadet."
"Oh, be quiet," I muttered, handing her the Clefairy back. "When do I get to eat around here or are you just gonna give me split personalities all day?"
Mantis shrugged and materialized a duplicate breakfast of yesterday's on the ground, unfortunately it was just as soggy. Tiredly, i went about the same routine of eating the bannanas that weren't too bruised. The rest I left to my never-too-picky sibling.
