Pokemon Legend
Part II
Enter the Pokemon League
"Sounds like someone's in trouble." Xander told her. Then, without warning, Ryan dashed off in the direction of the cloud. As he got closer, he saw that there was really someone in trouble. Behind the screaming girl was a pack of furious primeapes, and they were gaining on her. Letting his anger fuel him, Ryan continued to race towards the girl and tackled the closest one to her. The other primeapes skidded to a stop when they saw what had happened to their friend. He saw the girl hide behind a tree, then focused his attention to the angry pokemon. A very large primeape stepped forward and looked him over with its bloodshot eyes. One of the smaller primeape began to step forward as well, but the larger one sent it flying. The others quickly backed off, leaving just Ryan, the large primeape, and the smaller unconscious one on the road.
"You wanna fight huh?" Ryan said, grinning. It nodded and went into its stance. Ryan went into his own stance and said, "Ikuyo." The Primeape chuckled, and the rest of the primeape laughed along too, while Ryan, getting impatient, grew red with anger. Ryan yelled a scream of pure rage and charged the main Primeape. "ARGGGGHH!!!" Ryan screamed, running full blow into the Primeape, knocking it back only 2 feet. "Uh-oh. I think I'm a bit overpowered." Meanwhile, Xander and Camry were gradually walking toward the situation.
"Hungry? Tired? Need a break?" Xander asked Camry.
"No, not really." she said.
"Aren't you even the slightest bit worried about Ryan's well-being?!?" Xander smirked.
"Nah, I know Ryan should be able to take care of himself. Maybe. Ok, not really."
Back at the fight, Samantha (our used to be damsel in distress) was now hiding behind a tree trying to convince her Jiggypuff to sing its heart out.
"Come on, come on, you can do it. It's not hard" The little pink Pokemon shook its little pink head wildly.
"Jiggly." She said tearfully. Samantha sighed in frustration.
"IT'S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL, IT'S JUST A PRIMEAPE!!!" she shrieked. The Jigglypuff cowered away.
"Jigglypuff, jiggly jiggly."
"Aaaahhhhhh!!!!!" Ryan screamed, as he flew through the air.
"That's gotta hurt." said Xander, wincing at the hit. Ryan landed on the ground with a loud thud. He rolled along the ground for several feet, crashing into the tree that Sam and her jigglypuff were hiding behind, with a sickening snap.
"JUST SING ALREADY!!!" she screamed.
"Jigglypuff." She said, pulling out her microphone. Jigglypuff's mind numbing melody floated through the air, sending everyone in the vicinity, excluding Ryan, who was already unconscious, into a deep sleep.
"Good for you, JigglyPuff." Samantha said as she dropped off, too.
Squirtle slowly opened his eyes behind his squirtle shades, looking around at the sleeping bodies laying on the ground around him.
"Squirtle?" he said, running over to Xander and shaking him.
"Huh? Wha? Where, who, what? Huh?" Xander said sleepily. The Squirtle pointed over at Camry, who was peacefully sleeping nearby. Ryan still lay at the base of the tree, his arm twisted at an impossible angle. Samantha was sleeping under the tree, her Jigglypuff sitting with a haughty look on her face. Xander blinked a few times, then stood. "Camry? Wake up!!!" he shouted, shaking her wildly. Camry woke up and began panicking.
"What? What is it?!?!" she screamed, flailing her arms around. Ryan let out a moan of pure pain, trying to sit up.
"ARRGGHHH!!!!" he screamed, looking around. "Where did that Primeape go?!" He asked, turning to Xander. Xander shrugged.
"I don't know. I was sleeping." He said. Camry was looking over at the Jigglypuff in fear.
"You aren't going to sing again, are you?" She asked softly. The Jigglypuff began to try and wake up its master.
"Jiggly! Jigglypuff! Jigglypuff, puff puff!" Jigglypuff went flying as Samantha sat up, batting the pink pokemon as she began screaming.
"PRIMEAPE!!! OH NO, EVERYBODY RUN!!!!!!!!" she screamed, getting up and running away. The others just sat there, blinking, twitching, wondering why this crazy girl was running away from her own jigglypuff.
"Uh, what's wrong with her?" Xander asked. The jigglypuff was tapping its foot, waiting. A few seconds later, Sam came running back.
"Uh, I'm sorry about that. I thought that there was a Primeape, instead of my Jigglypuff."
"Uh, yeah, we know." Ryan said, holding his arm. He stood slowly and looked over at Samantha. "Well, I tried to stop the primeape."
"Well, at least HE tried to stop it." Camry growled at Xander. Xander laughed pathetically and slumped down. All of a sudden, the famous and unmistakable music of Team Rocket played in the sky.
"To protect the world from devastation." Jesse said.
"To unite all people within our nation." James added.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jesse!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight, fight."
"Magikarp karp karp karp karp karp karp karp karp karp KAAAARP!!!!"
"DANNY!!!! Would you get your stupid magikarp back in its pokeball already; it's disrupting our motto!!" Jesse screamed up at the Meowth shaped balloon in the sky. A large figure leaned over the side of the balloon.
"Sorry Jesse, but Chris threw it out of the balloon while I was playing with it." Soon another figure appeared beside the first one screaming, "BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! EAT MAGIKARP, FOOLS!!" Jesse looked over at James and sighed.
"Now Jesse?"
"Yes James, now." And with that final word they fell flat on their faces into the ground.
"Who are these clowns?" Samantha asked.
"Ugh! Don't you know they're the infamous and very evil Team Ocket?" Xander replied. Jesse came running at Xander, swinging a hammer over her head and screaming, "THAT'S ROCKET WITH AN R, YOU BAKA!!" Flashing his sword at the furious Team Rocket member, she stopped dead in her tracks. "Never mind."
"Why exactly are you bothering us?" Ryan queried.
"We're here to steal your Houndoom and Squirtle." answered Jesse. "And maybe even you. You're kinda cute." Ryan began to fume in anger at Jesse's statement.
"And no one can stop Team Rocket." chimed a Meowth beside the blue haired Rocket. With that, the balloon lowered to the ground and all three hopped in. It flew back up into the sky and what looked to be a large vacuum came out of the bottom.
"How exactly do they have room for a giant vaccuum and all of those people in that basket?" Camry asked.
"Beats me." responded Xander. Meanwhile, Danny's Magikarp was still flopping around on the ground, oblivious to what was going on.
"Hey, Dan. What about Magikarp?" Chris asked him.
"Oh, right! Magikarp, return." he said, holding up a pokeball.
"Are you quite finished?" questioned an annoyed Jesse.
"Yeah." the two rookies said in unison.
"Meowth, turn it on." she commanded.
"Right o!" he said, flipping a switch. The machine started to whir, then the giant vacuum began to suck things in. Being so light, Jigglypuff was the first to start flying. That problem however, was quickly solved by Ryan's Girafarig. Squirtle was clinging to Xander's leg in hopes of safety, and Camry had her arms wrapped around her Vulpix.
"I've had enough of these guys. Houndoom, use fire blast." Ryan ordered. Houndoom let loose with a devastating blast of fire that hit the vaccuum dead on. It exploded, sending the Team Rocket members flying off into the distance.
"It looks like Team Rocket's flying off again!" cried Chris and Danny.
"That's blasting off again, you idiots!" yelled Jesse and James.
"Blasting... Off... Again. Gotcha." replied Chris, taking down notes on his notepad. The group of teens and their pokemon watched as the Rockets disappeared into the horizon.
"Now, where were we before that unfortunate disturbance?" asked Camry.
"I think we were on our way back to New Bark Town." said Xander.
"Squirtle." the turtle pokemon said in agreement.
"Really? I'm on my way there too." chimed Sam. "Are you going to enter the Pokemon League Tournament?"
"Uh huh." said Xander.
"Then I'm coming with you!" she cried.
"Great, that's all I need. First I meet Xander, then he invites his girlfriend to come with us, and now this hyperactive psychopath and her cowardly jigglypuff. Oh, what fun." Ryan grumbled. Then he thought to himself, "Kind of makes me wish I was still in Team Rocket."
"What was that?" she growled.
"Don't mind him. He likes to be by himself a lot." explained Xander.
"Oh."
"C'mon guys." Ryan sighed. "We've got to make it into town before dark."
"Why?" Samantha questioned.
"That's when all of the dark type pokemon come out." he told her. "You've never seen a pack of ravenous houndour, have you?"
"Nope."
"Trust me, you don't want to." Growing impatient, Houndoom shot a large ball of fire at Ryan, completely roasting him. "Right. We should go."
So, the large group finally continued on their way back to New Bark Town. They arrived just as the sun was setting and decided to go home for the night. Sam, not actually coming from the town, stayed at Camry's house for the night.
The next morning, they wasted no time in leaving. They quickly stocked up on the supplies they needed, ate breakfast, and said goodbye to their friends and family. They were traveling down the river in no time, with a crowd of people still waving to them from land.
"Look out Elite Four, cause here we come!" cried Xander.
"Xander, how many cups of coffee did you have before we met up with you this morning?" Camry asked.
"This many!" he replied, holding up five fingers.
"Let's see. Five cups before breakfast, plus another three at breakfast, and not to mention the chocolate chip pancakes covered in jam and syrup. Wow, he's gonna be like this all day." said Ryan.
"Is that a bad thing?" questioned Sam. Ryan, Camry, Vulpix, and Houndoom nodded in affirmation. Squirtle would've as well, but he was too busy spinning around in his shell like a pinball. "How many cups did Squirtle have?"
"Four in total." replied Xander, twitching in an inhuman fashion.
"Oh man." Ryan groaned.
The group finally arrived at their destination, the entrance to Victory Road. Straight ahead of them was the entrance to the cave, to their right was the path to Kanto, and to their left was the path to the Mount Silver Caves.
"Hey." Ryan thought. "There are Larvitar in the Mount Silver Caves. I have to catch one." he immediately began a mad dash towards the mountain, running as fast as his legs would take him.
"Ryan, where are you going?" cried Sam.
"I'm going hunting." he shouted back. "I'll meet you at Indigo Plateau. Houndoom, let's go!"
"Doom!" he said, charging after his friend.
"Whatever. C'mon you five, we have to get through this cave." said Xander.
"But what about those two?" queried Camry.
"They'll be fine by themselves. What are the chances of them running into those Primape again?" he responded.
"Well, okay."
The six remaining members of the group continued on their trek into and through Victory Road. Fortunately for them, there were torches lining the path, but, unfortunately there were trainers everywhere to challenge them. The group of trainers tried their best to sneak past them, failing horribly as Xander kept screaming, "I'll fight you, and you too,! ALL OF YOU AT ONCE! BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!" Everyone sweatdropped and facefaulted. One trainer decided to take this yelling and screaming as a challenge and ran over to battle Xander.
"Hey there, wanna battle?"
"FINALLY! but you know, I'm just as good as I look." Xander said.
"If only." Camry muttered.
"If only you looked as well as you battle."
"BAKA!" Camry yelled, as she pulled a hammer from her interdemensional locker and smashed Xander over the head.
"YEOUCH!" Xander screamed, as he held his head in pain.
The battle started with the trainer pulling out a pokeball and yelling, "Go, Machop!" as he threw the pokeball into the fighting circle.
"BWA HA HA HA HA! I could beat that thing with one Hitmonchan behind my back. In fact, I think I will!!" Xander said. He pulled out a pokeball and threw it into the circle. "Hitmonchan, I choose you! But not you Ampharos, maybe next time though." The battle began.
"Machop, seismic toss, now!!" the trainer cried, and Machop started towards Hitmonchan.
"Hitmonchan, Mega Punch!!" Xander said, flailing his arms around.
"Monchan." the pokemon replied, countering the attack that the Machop launched.
"HA HA HA HA!!" four voices cried suddenly.
"Oh no, not again!" Samantha cried.
"We are here to steal your pokemon!" Danny said.
"Let's hope Duo and Heero don't interfere again." Chris said, looking around nervously. Jesse turned to him slowly.
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU DIMWIT! WE'RE GOING TO STEAL POKEMON, NOT FIGHT GUNDAM PILOTS!!" she shrieked. Xander clapped his hands.
"Oh boy, now I can fight Team Ocket too! Yay!" he said happily.
"DON'T START AGAIN YOU FOOL! IT'S TEAM ROCKET!!" Chris said. Jesse looked at him.
"Chris, I'm impressed."
"AHHHH!!! GUNDAMS!!!" Chris jumped and hid behind Jesse.
"Oh, boy." sighed James. Meanwhile, the trainer whom Xander was about to fight had gotten frightened by Team Rocket and had walked away unnoticed.
"Can't you just leave us alone?" asked Camry.
"Not until we steal your Squirtle and Houndoom." said Jesse. "Speaking of which, where is that cute guy you hang around with and his pokemutt?"
"He went to catch a pokemon." explained Sam. "He should be back soon."
"Someone mention me?" called a voice.
"Ryan!" cried Xander. "Whoa!! What happened to you?" Ryan and Houndoom walked up to them, all battered and bruised, and Ryan clutching his sprained arm. A trickle of blood could be seen seeping through the cracks between his fingers.
"I found out something very important." he began. "If you find a pokemon that's not the right color, make sure that you can catch it before you piss it off."
"What exactly did you run into?" questioned Sam.
"Golden misdreavus." he groaned, falling to the ground.
"He fainted." stated Danny.
"No, ya think?" Chris asked sarcastically.
"What're we waitin for?" chimed Meowth. "Let's steal Houndoom and Squirtle while those nutcases are helping him."
"Right. Get the..." James yelled but was interrupted by Chris throwing a pokeball.
"Go Magikarp!!!" Chris cried.
"Hey, that's my magikarp!" Danny wailed. Chris just laughed.
"Will you two just STOP PLAYING AROUND?!" Jesse shrieked.
"Hey!" All of the members of Team Rocket turned to see Samantha standing there with her Charizard behind her. "Do you really want to make me use this thing?"
"You wouldn't dare." Jesse replied.
"Try me, you old bat!!" Sam yelled back.
"Aunty Jesse is not an old bat!" Chris wailed.
"Why thank you Chris." Jesse said.
"Bats only live up to seven years. They can't get old, can they?" Chris continued. A stress mark appeared on Jesse's forehead and she pulled out her mallet, smashing Chris over the head.
"AHHHHH!!!!!! Get it away!!" he screamed.
"Why you little... Go Arbok!!" The two of them ran off, Jesse screaming at the top of her lungs and Chris yelling for help.
"Charizard!"
"NO! PLEASE, SPARE ME!!!" James screamed. Danny nodded his head vigorously.
"Flamethrower, NOW!" Sam yelled. Still unaware of the incoming danger, Danny's Magikarp still stayed flopping around.
"KARP KARP KARP KARP KARP KARP KARRRRRRRRRP!!!" it yelled as it was engulfed in a pure flame.
"Wow, she's kinda cute when she uses that Charizard of hers." Xander commented.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." Camry growled as she smacked Xander over the head with a big mallet.
"Only when I use my Charizard? How insulting!" Charizard blew fire at him while Samantha fumed.
"OUCH!! Burn." Xander replied, quite toasted by now.
"Literally." Ryan laughed, as he sat up. "Hahahahaha! Burn... Funny." He fell backwards again and looked up. "Hate... Misdreavus... Big, golden, evil misdreavus... Ow..." He got up painfully, looking around. "Hey, what's going on?"
"Stay still!!! Once I get my hands on you, I'll... ARGHH!!!!!" Jesse shrieked as she ran past, still chasing Chris. Danny was whimpering as he rescued his fried Magikarp.
"Koishii." he cooed. The Magikarp flopped around, oblivious to everything.
"SHUT UP!!!" Everything ceased. All the people in the area turned to see Ryan standing there, twitching. "Thank you. Go, Larvitar!" he yelled, throwing his pokeball.
"Go, Weezing!" James yelled, also throwing a pokeball. His Weezing let out a fowl cloud, obstructing everyone's vision. "Let's go, we've had enough screwups for today, Jesse."
"No, wait! I still have to... Larvitar, sandstorm!" The smoke cleared quickly, and Team Rocket could be seen floating away in their balloon.
"Bye Bye, cutie!" Jesse called.
"Ta ta, twerps. We'll be back for your Houndoom and Squirtle!" James cried, waving.
"FOOLS!!!!" Chris screamed, leaning over the edge of the balloon and almost falling out. "EEE!" he cried, waving his arms around.
"Save me, Danny!" he cried. Danny yawned, sitting on the floor of the balloon.
"No. You stole my Magikarp."
"EEE!" Chris shouted, falling. Jesse grabbed ahold of him and dragged him back into the balloon.
"Oh no you don't! I still have to hurt you mortally for that old bat remark! You're not going anywhere!" she yelled.
"EEE!" Chris lept for the side of the balloon, but Jesse held him back. The group below all sweatdropped.
"Ya know, they would be a lot more successful if they stopped arguing all the time." Samantha said, putting a hand behind her head. Camry was still glaring at Xander. Ryan sighed.
"So would we." he said. "Let's keep going."
Eventually, they made it through the large tunnel. As soon as they stepped out of the cave into the bright sunlight, they saw the massive arena that was the Indigo Stadium.
"That's it, huh?" asked Xander. Ryan's face turned red and steam began to build up around his head. He grabbed a pokeball from his belt and enlarged it to full size.
"THAT'S IT!?!?!?" he roared, chucking the pokeball at Xander's head.
"YEEOOW!!!" the other cried, clutching his head where a bump had appeared. Calmly, Ryan picked up the projectile and placed it back on his belt. "What was that for?"
"Don't be an idiot." he growled.
"Will you two knock it off! Let's go." said an annoyed Camry. The two had gotten into such a large arguement that they failed to notice that Sam and Camry were dragging them into the stadium. Squirtle and Houndoom trailed behind, shaking their heads in disgrace.
"Sqiurtle." the turtle pokemon sighed.
The next thing Ryan and Xander knew, they were lying on the ground in front of a desk.
"Wha?" Xander moaned, noticing a second bump on his head.
"Oh, good. They're awake." said Sam.
"Are your friends registering too?" asked a voice. The two guys stood up and pulled out their pokedexes in unison.
"Yes!" they both said simultaneously.
"Me first, me first me first me first!!!" Xander kept repeating, and Ryan growled.
"Shut up already!" he said loudly. The girls both sweatdropped.
"Me first! Hi lady. Hey, you're cute!" Xander looked over his shoulder at Camry. "Uh oh." Camry had a stress mark on her forehead. "I meant cute in a friendly sorta..." Camry slammed him over the head with her mallet and he fell to the ground. Ryan shhok his head and stepped forward to register.
"Don't mind them, they're all crazy." Sam stepped forward casually and pushed Ryan aside.
"Me first." She calmly registered and then offered the counter to Ryan, walking away. Both Ryan and Camry blinked, then Ryan stepped back up to the counter.
"And I have to put up with stuff like this everyday." The lady at the counter chuckled softly as she took Ryan's pokedex. Camry looked down as Xander woke up and looked around dizzily.
"ME FIRST!" he cried, than he noticed that Sam already went and his jaw dropped. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" Camry sighed.
"Don't worry, you're still first in my book." she cooed. Xander looked up at her painfully.
"That doesn't matter." he moaned. A few seconds later he was unconscious on the floor again. Camry stepped over Xander and walked away. Xander registered and followed the rest of the group to select their first fields.
"Please select which field you will be battling. Please press the red button." The attendant pointed to a big red button that said, 'press me'.
"I wanna press the button, I wanna press the button, I wanna..." Sam slammed Xander over the head with a paper fan.
"SHUT UP, WILL YOU!" she cried, making a sound of disgust and pressing the button. The first field she was battling on was Ice. "Hmm. Shouldn't be a problem." she mused, standing back and waiting. Xander ran up to the button and started pressing it vigorously.
"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" he said happily, finally stopping. The first field he was battling in was Rock. "YES!!!!! HA HA HA!!! I WIN, YOU GET NOTHING, YOU LOSE! HA HA HA!!!" he yelled. Camry dragged him away by the ear.
"Shut up, you." she said, exasperated. Ryan was last of all, and he hit the button. He was going to be battling on Grass.
"Well, duty calls. Guess I had better catch up with insanity. Oi." He walked away, shaking his head.
"Go pokeball!" Curtis called, throwing out his first pokeball. Sam stood watching him, an amused look on her face. The pokeball opened and out came a Sneasel. Sam smiled, closing her eyes and selecting her pokemon.
"This will be altogether too easy." she murmered, throwing her pokeball. "Go Charizard!" Out in the stands, Camry turned to Xander.
"One word." she said, and Xander waved his hands in surrender.
"Heh heh. Well, I was only being honest about it. She does use the Charizard well." Xander crashed to the floor of the stands unconscious yet again. Curtis narrowed his eyes and ordered his Sneasel to attack.
"Sneasel, use blizzard!" Samantha smiled slightly and sprang into action.
"Charizard, beat it back!" Charizard used his wings to blow the blizzard back at the Sneasel, freezing it solid. Curtis stared in shock, then sighed. The announcer piped up.
"Hey! What a startling upset by newcomer Samantha Yobematsu! What is Curtis going to use next?" Curtis got a determined look on his face and threw out his next pokeball.
"Go Misdreavus!" he yelled. The purple ghost type appeared on the field with a shriek.
"It's a good thing Rai-chan's not here, or he'd be furious." she thought to herself. Then she shouted, "Charizard, fire spin!" Charizard blew a twister of fire, and the misdreavus, not moving fast enough, was engulfed in the funnel.
"Misdreavus, destiny bond, now!" Curtis said. The ghost shot a thin beam at the dragon pokemon. The beam appeared to do nothing, but as the misdreavus fainted from the fire blast, Charizard fell as well.
"Charizard, noooo!!" Sam screamed, falling to her knees. "Return. Go Jigglypuff!!!" The round, pink pokemon landed on the field as Charizard and Misdreavus disappeared.
"Go, Espeon!" shouted Curtis. The purple psychic type appeared on the opposite side of the field from Jigglypuff.
"Jigglypuff, sing!" she commanded. Due to the large size of the arena, only the espeon fell asleep, and Sam's pokemon moved in for the finishing blow. "Finish it with a seismic toss!" Jigglypuff tossed the psychic type high into the air and pounded it on the way down. Dust filled the air as it landed with a loud thud.
"Espeon is unable to battle. Sam wins the battle." Announced the ref. On the screen at the far end of the stadium, Sam's image was enlarged and the word congratulations appeared underneath.
"Yay! We won! Jigglypuff, return." Sam cried.
Meanwhile, Ryan was about to begin his second battle. He was battling Kit, a trainer from Viridian City.
"Go Snorlax!" she cried.
"Go Gyarados!" he yelled. The two pokemon appeared on the field, ready for battle. "Gyarados, start things off with an ice beam."
"Snorlax, uhhh... Roll out of the way!" Kit shouted. The huge pokemon did as it was told, dodging the ice beam. Ryan, amazed by the Snorlax's speed, jumped, then ordered his gyarados to use hydro pump. The water blast hit the snorlax dead on and it rolled backwards into the raised platform Kit stood on. Screaming in terror, Kit held on for dear life.
"Snorlax! Do something!!!" she screamed.
"Lax, lax. Snorlax." the large creature said in affirmation. A white glow appeared around its right hand as it made a fist and it charged at Gyarados. The mega punch missed the water type, but slammed into the raised platform that Ryan was standing on, sending him flying onto the field. Falling towards the ground, Ryan suddenly bounced off the fallen snorlax that was now stuck helplessly in the platform. The bounce broke his headlong flight and sent him harmlessly to the ground.
"Oww! Huh? Whoa!" Getting to his feet, Ryan ran screaming out of the way as his Gyarados moved across the field to attack. "Wait! LET ME MOVE FIRST!!!" he screamed. Kit laughed hysterically and pointed at him.
"I win, you get nothing, you lose!" she cried in a singsong voice, laughing again. Ryan turned slowly to face her, his eyes with a strange fire in them. He climbed back up to the top of the tower and shouted, "Gyarados, thrash attack!" The giant water pokemon attacked and Snorlax was caught off guard. When the dust cleared, Snorlax had landed beside Kit's platform and started to dizzy eye. The round was called a victory to Ryan. Kit sighed and recalled her Snorlax. Ryan snickered menacingly. Kit, now very angry, jumped into attention. A little devil appeared on her shoulder and then disappeared.
"Go Dugtrio!" the little three headed pokemon popped out of its ball and bobbed up and down in the dirt.
"Trio, trio, trio!" The pokemon smiled and looked at both Ryan and his Gyarados, then his smile, slowly and sadistically, turned into a look of evil.
"Dugtrio, use Earthquake now!" Kit hollared. Gyarados just watched as the three headed pokemon disappeared under the ground and the earth started shaking. Ryan held on for dear life, wincing as Gyarados went flying.
"Uh oh." he murmered. Kit smiled triumphantly, but Gyarados came back down and landed on top of her platform, smashing it into the ground. From the stands, all people opposed of the girl howled with laughter while all the people for her booed and hissed hysterically. After Gyarados moved, Kit lay on the ground in pain.
"Not funny." she said in a painful tone, jumping up, and sprouting fangs. Her eyes turned red. "You die now, Rai-chan." Ryan facefaulted and than jumped up, steam pouring from his ears.
"What?! What did you just call me?" he shrieked. Kit gave him a calm victory smile, a placid, unafraid look on her face.
"Rai-chan." Ryan sweatdropped and growled.
"NEVER, EVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN!!! GYARADOS, HYPER BEAM, NOW!!!" he roared. His pokemon responded and fried the poor Dugtrio horribly. The round was once again called and Kit looked on with an exasperated look on her face.
"Well, looks like I'll have to use something else now." she said softly, calling back her injured ground type. "So I will choose Venomoth!" The large bug Pokemon appeared and fluttered about above the ground. Ryan thought for a second, then called back Gyarados.
"You need to rest." he said, pulling out another pokeball. "So now I'll use Girafarig!" The psychic pokemon appeared, it's back end letting out a vicious snarl. Kit laughed.
"Oh, It's so scary!" she said in a mocking tone. Ryan snickered silently, then Kit attacked. "Venomoth, stun spore, now!" The yellow powder flew from the giant bug's wings and floated slowly towards Ryan and his Girafarig.
"Girafarig, future sight, now!" The pokemon responded, but nothing seemed to happen. As Kit stood laughing at the seemingly useless attack, Venomoth's attack missed, due to an unexpected change of wind direction. Facefaulting, Kit stood up and screamed in frusteration.
"How could you miss?!" she shrieked. "Try it again, now!" Her pokemon was about to obey when a huge blast of psychic energy appeared out of nowhere and hit the Venomoth from behind. It was immediately rendered unconscious. The announcer raised his flag in triumph and Ryan congratulated Girafarig.
"Venomoth is unable to battle. This battle goes to Ryan!" The crowd cheered him on and he called back his pokemon.
"Good job, I guess." Kit said in a soft voice, looking quite disappointed.
During the break, Kit met up with an old colleague of hers, a guy named Chris who worked for a team of thieves.
"Long time no see, Neko-chan. What's going on with you?" he said in a bored voice, wondering where Danny went and thinking about the seemingly looming armageddon of Gundam Pilots descending upon them. Kit shrugged.
"Not too much. I just got my butt kicked by some punk kid and his gyarados and girafarig. I can't believe it! I was doing so good! Well, I did bad, but still, I tried to win and that's all that counts." Idly tossing a pokeball up and down, Chris looked over.
"Oh, and what's this guy's name?" he asked suspiciously. Kit looked up at him.
"Ryan Lachlan." The pokeball bounced out of his hand and hit the ground, a magikarp popping out of it and flopping around uselessly. Chris turned and raced off.
"Aunty Jesse, Aunty Jesse!" he cried, the Magikarp flopping off after him. Kit stood with a sweatdrop and a raised eyebrow. She turned and put an arm behind her head.
"And I thought I had problems."
Elsewhere, during the second battles, Xander was about to have a match against a trainer named Gord. Xander yawned as he entered the water field, scratching his head.
"Hmm... Water field. Squirtle... Yeah, I'll use Squirtle, cause he's a water pokemon..."
"Go Raichu!" Gord cried. Xander blinked and then yawned again, taking out a pokeball. With his eyes closed, he threw the pokeball listlessly onto the field.
"Go Squirtle. Do it, go. You can do it... Aww man... Coffee wearing off." he gave a tremendous yawn and sat down. Squirtle yawned as well and rubbed his eyes.
"Squirtle." he said miserably. Gord blinked a few times, than started laughing hysterically.
"Raichu, thunderbolt!" he said, pointing out to the field triumphantly. Raichu stepped forward and let loose with an amazing display of electricity. Squirtle didn't know what hit him, as he was still suffering from lack of energy. With a groan and a yawn, Xander called squritle back and threw out another pokemon.
"Go Ampharos..." he moaned. The yellow pokemon appeared on the field with a cry and several bolts of lightning. "You know what to do... Zzzzzzzz." Ampharos' right paw began to glow with intense heat, and he charged at Gord's raichu. Ampharos landed an incredible dynamic punch to the unsuspecting raichu's jaw, knocking it out cold. The crowd began to cheer at the turn of events, and Xander woke up, this time seeming more awake. "Whoa, Ampharos, you did it!" he cried. Gord returned his Raichu and threw another pokeball onto the field.
"Go ditto!" he shouted, the purple blob appearing on the ground. It immediately transformed into the yellow electric type, ready for a fight.
"Ditto, use ice punch, then use dynamic punch!" he ordered. The fake ampharos ran at Xander's and the two pokemon began to fight. They were delivering fierce blows to each other, but neither would go down. Finally, one last ice punch from Ditto froze Ampharos on the spot. Xander called him back, and sent out his final pokemon.
"Go, Snorlax!" he shouted.
"Uh oh." said Gord. "Ditto return, and go Crobat!" The large, purple bat pokemon appeared in the air, and began swooping at the ponderous snorlax.
"Snorlax, use bide!" commanded Xander. Snorlax nodded and concentrated for a moment, then began to glow.
"Crobat, hit it with hypnosis and then use giga drain!" Crobat flew at Snorlax, its eyes glowing an eerie blue. Snorlax fell over on his back, and Crobat continued his attack by draining the energy right out of Snorlax.
"Snorlax, no!!!" cried Xander.
"Do you concede?" Gord asked him.
"Yes." he said reluctantly.
"You should know that Crobat is one of the fastest pokemon around. Using a snorlax against it is like using an ice cube to fight a charmeleon." the trainer gloated.
"Xander Richmond concedes." announced the ref. "The battle goes to Gord!" Xander returned Snorlax to his pokeball, then sighed and walked off with Squirtle to mope.
Ryan and Sam won the rest of their matches, and were going on to face the Elite Four the next day, which was, conveniently enough, Ryan's seventeenth birthday. Camry comforted Xander, while Ryan and Sam spent the rest of the day in town. They went to a congratulatory dinner, then went shopping, much to Ryan's dismay. Along the way, Sam and Ryan bumped into two guys and a girl. The girl had red hair, a yellow shirt, blue jeans, and was carrying a togepi. The younger of the boys had black hair, covered by a red and white cap. He had on a blue denim jacket and a black shirt, as well as a pair of jeans. The older and taller of the two had spiky dark brown hair, a green vest, an orange shirt, and brown slacks. A pikachu was sitting on the smaller boy's shoulder.
"Hey, wow! That's a cool pokemon!" stated the younger boy, pulling out his pokedex. He opened it up and the screen flickered on.
"Houndoom, the dark pokemon." said the computerized voice of Dexter. "It communicates with others of its type to trap its prey."
"I heard that houndoom are really great battlers." commented the older guy.
"That's true." Ryan said. "My name is Ryan, and this is Sam, Jigglypuff, and of course, Houndoom."
"Aren't you the two trainers who made it to the Elite Four?" queried the girl.
"Yeah. We're going to fight them tomorrow." responded Sam.
"My name's Ash, and I'm trying to become a pokemon master." said the younger boy.
"My name's Brock, and I'm gonna be a pokemon breeder." said the older of the two.
"And my name's Misty. I'm trying to be a water pokemon master." said the girl.
"Togepriii!" the egg shaped pokemon chimed.
"It's nice to meet you all." Ryan said.
"We were just doing some shopping. Why don't you guys come with us?" asked Sam.
"We'd love to!" cried Misty.
"Good. I'm not the only one who's going to be bored tonight." Sam's friend sighed.
"Rai-kun." Sam growled. Ryan went silent.
The increasingly larger gang of pokemon trainers went from store to store, usually just browsing. On occasion, the guys would get to look in a store that interested them but usually it was Sam and Misty that did the browsing. More than once, when Ryan said that Sam looked really good in a certain outfit, she joked that he should try it on himself, bringing back memories of his Team Rocket days. Remembering that a lot of the officers and nurses from other cities were there, Ryan became a bit paranoid that one or more might recognize him from the old picture that they had of him. He was especcialy worried that Nurse Joy from Viridian City might be there, as she was the only one other than Houndoom and Team Rocket to know his secret. Sure enough, she did show up, doing some shopping of her own. Overhearing a conversation between Brock and Ryan, Nurse Joy walked up to them.
"Excuse me." she said politely. "Are you, by any chance, Ryan Lachlan from Viridian City?"
"Long time no see, Nurse joy." Ryan said, putting down a bag he was carrying for Sam.
"Yes, it has been a while." she agreed. Brock popped up from his seat, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Ryan, you know this Nurse Joy?" he asked. Ryan nodded. "Hi. My name's Brock. I'm a good friend of Ryan's and was wondering if we could maybe get together for dinner sometime. Misty came from behind a rack of clothes and dragged him away.
"Ryan, could I speak to you for a bit?" Nurse Joy asked the pokemon trainer. "Just for old times sake."
"I suppose I could get away from Sam for a bit." he said. "Just let me tell her." Sam came out of the change room at that moment, wearing a gorgeous, long black gown.
"So, what do ya think?" Sam queried.
"It looks good on you." he said. "Don't tell me you're taking me dancing."
"For your information, I am!" she shouted back. "Keep it up, and you'll be the one wearing this, Rai chan!" Ryan flinched.
"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to an old friend of mine. I'll meet you back at the hotel." Ryan growled.
"Oh. Okay. Sorry for snapping at you." Sam apologozed. "Have fun."
"You too. Go easy on Ash and Brock, will ya?" With that, Ryan left the store with Nurse Joy. The two went back to the pokemon center, where they took care of an injured pokemon, then went into Joy's room.
"I knew I could trust you to make a fresh start." she said.
"Yeah, well, I was only in Team Rocket because I had nowhere else to go." Ryan sighed. "I wish I'd never joined though. I still feel guilty. Especially for stealing all of those eevees. If only I had returned them. But I couldn't, otherwise I would've been caught. And fooling all of those people with my disguise."
"You can't change the past now." Joy said. "Would you like a cup of coffee?"
"Yes please." Nurse Joy began to make a pot of coffee as Ryan continued to speak. "When I first met the leader of Team Rocket, he told me that your opponent can do two things; they can fear you, or respect you. He said that respect will get you much farther than fear. After being the top member of Team Rocket, I'm not so sure of that anymore."
"Well, he may not have followed his own preachings, but he was right." said Joy, as she handed him a cup. "But, enough about Team Rocket. How have you been doing lately?"
"Well, for one thing, I'm going to face the Elite Four tomorrow."
"That's great news! I see your houndour has evolved into a houndoom as well. Did you ever evolve Eevee into a jolteon?"
"Yeah. I got another one too. Well, actually, Eve was given to me after I stole all of those eevees. She was just an infant then, and was useless to Team Rocket, so the leader gave her to me to raise, because I had experience with eevees. I guess she was the only one I could save." Ryan said, in between sips of the dark liquid. Having wanted to train Eve a bit, Ryan had switched Gyarados for her, and now, released both Eve and Jolteon from their pokeballs. Jolteon immediately jumped up on Nurse Joy, remembering her from all those years ago. Eve hopped up onto Nurse Joy's bed and sat down.
"I guess he still remembers me." Joy laughed. "Mind if I take a look at your eevee? Tilting his cup back one final time, Ryan motioned for her to go ahead. Nurse joy examined Eve thouroughly, then sat down on her bed, beside the small pokemon. "She's in excellent condition."
"They say a pokemon's attachment with its trainer determines how long it'll take to evolve. If that's the case, then I think she'll evolve anytime now. I just have to wait for the right moment."
"What are you going to evolve her into?" Nurse Joy questioned. Ryan sat down on the bed next to her and Eevee hopped onto his lap.
"An umbreon. Other than Jolteon, the only eeveelution I want is an umbreon."
"I see. You know, it's been so long since we last talked." she sighed.
"Yeah. All those years ago. It was four years ago since we last met, and seven since you gave me my first eevee. But I still remember all of those years."
"You're seventeen?" Joy asked.
"Tomorrow." Ryan replied.
"Congratulations. But we can celebrate tomorrow. For now, why don't we look back into the past? Maybe I can help you relieve some of your pain. I did major in psychology for a while, and besides, I want to hear the whole story this time."
"Nurse Joy, you're a true friend." he said, petting Eve gently. "Well, I guess it all started when I was ten..."
To Be Continued
Part II
Enter the Pokemon League
"Sounds like someone's in trouble." Xander told her. Then, without warning, Ryan dashed off in the direction of the cloud. As he got closer, he saw that there was really someone in trouble. Behind the screaming girl was a pack of furious primeapes, and they were gaining on her. Letting his anger fuel him, Ryan continued to race towards the girl and tackled the closest one to her. The other primeapes skidded to a stop when they saw what had happened to their friend. He saw the girl hide behind a tree, then focused his attention to the angry pokemon. A very large primeape stepped forward and looked him over with its bloodshot eyes. One of the smaller primeape began to step forward as well, but the larger one sent it flying. The others quickly backed off, leaving just Ryan, the large primeape, and the smaller unconscious one on the road.
"You wanna fight huh?" Ryan said, grinning. It nodded and went into its stance. Ryan went into his own stance and said, "Ikuyo." The Primeape chuckled, and the rest of the primeape laughed along too, while Ryan, getting impatient, grew red with anger. Ryan yelled a scream of pure rage and charged the main Primeape. "ARGGGGHH!!!" Ryan screamed, running full blow into the Primeape, knocking it back only 2 feet. "Uh-oh. I think I'm a bit overpowered." Meanwhile, Xander and Camry were gradually walking toward the situation.
"Hungry? Tired? Need a break?" Xander asked Camry.
"No, not really." she said.
"Aren't you even the slightest bit worried about Ryan's well-being?!?" Xander smirked.
"Nah, I know Ryan should be able to take care of himself. Maybe. Ok, not really."
Back at the fight, Samantha (our used to be damsel in distress) was now hiding behind a tree trying to convince her Jiggypuff to sing its heart out.
"Come on, come on, you can do it. It's not hard" The little pink Pokemon shook its little pink head wildly.
"Jiggly." She said tearfully. Samantha sighed in frustration.
"IT'S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL, IT'S JUST A PRIMEAPE!!!" she shrieked. The Jigglypuff cowered away.
"Jigglypuff, jiggly jiggly."
"Aaaahhhhhh!!!!!" Ryan screamed, as he flew through the air.
"That's gotta hurt." said Xander, wincing at the hit. Ryan landed on the ground with a loud thud. He rolled along the ground for several feet, crashing into the tree that Sam and her jigglypuff were hiding behind, with a sickening snap.
"JUST SING ALREADY!!!" she screamed.
"Jigglypuff." She said, pulling out her microphone. Jigglypuff's mind numbing melody floated through the air, sending everyone in the vicinity, excluding Ryan, who was already unconscious, into a deep sleep.
"Good for you, JigglyPuff." Samantha said as she dropped off, too.
Squirtle slowly opened his eyes behind his squirtle shades, looking around at the sleeping bodies laying on the ground around him.
"Squirtle?" he said, running over to Xander and shaking him.
"Huh? Wha? Where, who, what? Huh?" Xander said sleepily. The Squirtle pointed over at Camry, who was peacefully sleeping nearby. Ryan still lay at the base of the tree, his arm twisted at an impossible angle. Samantha was sleeping under the tree, her Jigglypuff sitting with a haughty look on her face. Xander blinked a few times, then stood. "Camry? Wake up!!!" he shouted, shaking her wildly. Camry woke up and began panicking.
"What? What is it?!?!" she screamed, flailing her arms around. Ryan let out a moan of pure pain, trying to sit up.
"ARRGGHHH!!!!" he screamed, looking around. "Where did that Primeape go?!" He asked, turning to Xander. Xander shrugged.
"I don't know. I was sleeping." He said. Camry was looking over at the Jigglypuff in fear.
"You aren't going to sing again, are you?" She asked softly. The Jigglypuff began to try and wake up its master.
"Jiggly! Jigglypuff! Jigglypuff, puff puff!" Jigglypuff went flying as Samantha sat up, batting the pink pokemon as she began screaming.
"PRIMEAPE!!! OH NO, EVERYBODY RUN!!!!!!!!" she screamed, getting up and running away. The others just sat there, blinking, twitching, wondering why this crazy girl was running away from her own jigglypuff.
"Uh, what's wrong with her?" Xander asked. The jigglypuff was tapping its foot, waiting. A few seconds later, Sam came running back.
"Uh, I'm sorry about that. I thought that there was a Primeape, instead of my Jigglypuff."
"Uh, yeah, we know." Ryan said, holding his arm. He stood slowly and looked over at Samantha. "Well, I tried to stop the primeape."
"Well, at least HE tried to stop it." Camry growled at Xander. Xander laughed pathetically and slumped down. All of a sudden, the famous and unmistakable music of Team Rocket played in the sky.
"To protect the world from devastation." Jesse said.
"To unite all people within our nation." James added.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jesse!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight, fight."
"Magikarp karp karp karp karp karp karp karp karp karp KAAAARP!!!!"
"DANNY!!!! Would you get your stupid magikarp back in its pokeball already; it's disrupting our motto!!" Jesse screamed up at the Meowth shaped balloon in the sky. A large figure leaned over the side of the balloon.
"Sorry Jesse, but Chris threw it out of the balloon while I was playing with it." Soon another figure appeared beside the first one screaming, "BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! EAT MAGIKARP, FOOLS!!" Jesse looked over at James and sighed.
"Now Jesse?"
"Yes James, now." And with that final word they fell flat on their faces into the ground.
"Who are these clowns?" Samantha asked.
"Ugh! Don't you know they're the infamous and very evil Team Ocket?" Xander replied. Jesse came running at Xander, swinging a hammer over her head and screaming, "THAT'S ROCKET WITH AN R, YOU BAKA!!" Flashing his sword at the furious Team Rocket member, she stopped dead in her tracks. "Never mind."
"Why exactly are you bothering us?" Ryan queried.
"We're here to steal your Houndoom and Squirtle." answered Jesse. "And maybe even you. You're kinda cute." Ryan began to fume in anger at Jesse's statement.
"And no one can stop Team Rocket." chimed a Meowth beside the blue haired Rocket. With that, the balloon lowered to the ground and all three hopped in. It flew back up into the sky and what looked to be a large vacuum came out of the bottom.
"How exactly do they have room for a giant vaccuum and all of those people in that basket?" Camry asked.
"Beats me." responded Xander. Meanwhile, Danny's Magikarp was still flopping around on the ground, oblivious to what was going on.
"Hey, Dan. What about Magikarp?" Chris asked him.
"Oh, right! Magikarp, return." he said, holding up a pokeball.
"Are you quite finished?" questioned an annoyed Jesse.
"Yeah." the two rookies said in unison.
"Meowth, turn it on." she commanded.
"Right o!" he said, flipping a switch. The machine started to whir, then the giant vacuum began to suck things in. Being so light, Jigglypuff was the first to start flying. That problem however, was quickly solved by Ryan's Girafarig. Squirtle was clinging to Xander's leg in hopes of safety, and Camry had her arms wrapped around her Vulpix.
"I've had enough of these guys. Houndoom, use fire blast." Ryan ordered. Houndoom let loose with a devastating blast of fire that hit the vaccuum dead on. It exploded, sending the Team Rocket members flying off into the distance.
"It looks like Team Rocket's flying off again!" cried Chris and Danny.
"That's blasting off again, you idiots!" yelled Jesse and James.
"Blasting... Off... Again. Gotcha." replied Chris, taking down notes on his notepad. The group of teens and their pokemon watched as the Rockets disappeared into the horizon.
"Now, where were we before that unfortunate disturbance?" asked Camry.
"I think we were on our way back to New Bark Town." said Xander.
"Squirtle." the turtle pokemon said in agreement.
"Really? I'm on my way there too." chimed Sam. "Are you going to enter the Pokemon League Tournament?"
"Uh huh." said Xander.
"Then I'm coming with you!" she cried.
"Great, that's all I need. First I meet Xander, then he invites his girlfriend to come with us, and now this hyperactive psychopath and her cowardly jigglypuff. Oh, what fun." Ryan grumbled. Then he thought to himself, "Kind of makes me wish I was still in Team Rocket."
"What was that?" she growled.
"Don't mind him. He likes to be by himself a lot." explained Xander.
"Oh."
"C'mon guys." Ryan sighed. "We've got to make it into town before dark."
"Why?" Samantha questioned.
"That's when all of the dark type pokemon come out." he told her. "You've never seen a pack of ravenous houndour, have you?"
"Nope."
"Trust me, you don't want to." Growing impatient, Houndoom shot a large ball of fire at Ryan, completely roasting him. "Right. We should go."
So, the large group finally continued on their way back to New Bark Town. They arrived just as the sun was setting and decided to go home for the night. Sam, not actually coming from the town, stayed at Camry's house for the night.
The next morning, they wasted no time in leaving. They quickly stocked up on the supplies they needed, ate breakfast, and said goodbye to their friends and family. They were traveling down the river in no time, with a crowd of people still waving to them from land.
"Look out Elite Four, cause here we come!" cried Xander.
"Xander, how many cups of coffee did you have before we met up with you this morning?" Camry asked.
"This many!" he replied, holding up five fingers.
"Let's see. Five cups before breakfast, plus another three at breakfast, and not to mention the chocolate chip pancakes covered in jam and syrup. Wow, he's gonna be like this all day." said Ryan.
"Is that a bad thing?" questioned Sam. Ryan, Camry, Vulpix, and Houndoom nodded in affirmation. Squirtle would've as well, but he was too busy spinning around in his shell like a pinball. "How many cups did Squirtle have?"
"Four in total." replied Xander, twitching in an inhuman fashion.
"Oh man." Ryan groaned.
The group finally arrived at their destination, the entrance to Victory Road. Straight ahead of them was the entrance to the cave, to their right was the path to Kanto, and to their left was the path to the Mount Silver Caves.
"Hey." Ryan thought. "There are Larvitar in the Mount Silver Caves. I have to catch one." he immediately began a mad dash towards the mountain, running as fast as his legs would take him.
"Ryan, where are you going?" cried Sam.
"I'm going hunting." he shouted back. "I'll meet you at Indigo Plateau. Houndoom, let's go!"
"Doom!" he said, charging after his friend.
"Whatever. C'mon you five, we have to get through this cave." said Xander.
"But what about those two?" queried Camry.
"They'll be fine by themselves. What are the chances of them running into those Primape again?" he responded.
"Well, okay."
The six remaining members of the group continued on their trek into and through Victory Road. Fortunately for them, there were torches lining the path, but, unfortunately there were trainers everywhere to challenge them. The group of trainers tried their best to sneak past them, failing horribly as Xander kept screaming, "I'll fight you, and you too,! ALL OF YOU AT ONCE! BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!" Everyone sweatdropped and facefaulted. One trainer decided to take this yelling and screaming as a challenge and ran over to battle Xander.
"Hey there, wanna battle?"
"FINALLY! but you know, I'm just as good as I look." Xander said.
"If only." Camry muttered.
"If only you looked as well as you battle."
"BAKA!" Camry yelled, as she pulled a hammer from her interdemensional locker and smashed Xander over the head.
"YEOUCH!" Xander screamed, as he held his head in pain.
The battle started with the trainer pulling out a pokeball and yelling, "Go, Machop!" as he threw the pokeball into the fighting circle.
"BWA HA HA HA HA! I could beat that thing with one Hitmonchan behind my back. In fact, I think I will!!" Xander said. He pulled out a pokeball and threw it into the circle. "Hitmonchan, I choose you! But not you Ampharos, maybe next time though." The battle began.
"Machop, seismic toss, now!!" the trainer cried, and Machop started towards Hitmonchan.
"Hitmonchan, Mega Punch!!" Xander said, flailing his arms around.
"Monchan." the pokemon replied, countering the attack that the Machop launched.
"HA HA HA HA!!" four voices cried suddenly.
"Oh no, not again!" Samantha cried.
"We are here to steal your pokemon!" Danny said.
"Let's hope Duo and Heero don't interfere again." Chris said, looking around nervously. Jesse turned to him slowly.
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU DIMWIT! WE'RE GOING TO STEAL POKEMON, NOT FIGHT GUNDAM PILOTS!!" she shrieked. Xander clapped his hands.
"Oh boy, now I can fight Team Ocket too! Yay!" he said happily.
"DON'T START AGAIN YOU FOOL! IT'S TEAM ROCKET!!" Chris said. Jesse looked at him.
"Chris, I'm impressed."
"AHHHH!!! GUNDAMS!!!" Chris jumped and hid behind Jesse.
"Oh, boy." sighed James. Meanwhile, the trainer whom Xander was about to fight had gotten frightened by Team Rocket and had walked away unnoticed.
"Can't you just leave us alone?" asked Camry.
"Not until we steal your Squirtle and Houndoom." said Jesse. "Speaking of which, where is that cute guy you hang around with and his pokemutt?"
"He went to catch a pokemon." explained Sam. "He should be back soon."
"Someone mention me?" called a voice.
"Ryan!" cried Xander. "Whoa!! What happened to you?" Ryan and Houndoom walked up to them, all battered and bruised, and Ryan clutching his sprained arm. A trickle of blood could be seen seeping through the cracks between his fingers.
"I found out something very important." he began. "If you find a pokemon that's not the right color, make sure that you can catch it before you piss it off."
"What exactly did you run into?" questioned Sam.
"Golden misdreavus." he groaned, falling to the ground.
"He fainted." stated Danny.
"No, ya think?" Chris asked sarcastically.
"What're we waitin for?" chimed Meowth. "Let's steal Houndoom and Squirtle while those nutcases are helping him."
"Right. Get the..." James yelled but was interrupted by Chris throwing a pokeball.
"Go Magikarp!!!" Chris cried.
"Hey, that's my magikarp!" Danny wailed. Chris just laughed.
"Will you two just STOP PLAYING AROUND?!" Jesse shrieked.
"Hey!" All of the members of Team Rocket turned to see Samantha standing there with her Charizard behind her. "Do you really want to make me use this thing?"
"You wouldn't dare." Jesse replied.
"Try me, you old bat!!" Sam yelled back.
"Aunty Jesse is not an old bat!" Chris wailed.
"Why thank you Chris." Jesse said.
"Bats only live up to seven years. They can't get old, can they?" Chris continued. A stress mark appeared on Jesse's forehead and she pulled out her mallet, smashing Chris over the head.
"AHHHHH!!!!!! Get it away!!" he screamed.
"Why you little... Go Arbok!!" The two of them ran off, Jesse screaming at the top of her lungs and Chris yelling for help.
"Charizard!"
"NO! PLEASE, SPARE ME!!!" James screamed. Danny nodded his head vigorously.
"Flamethrower, NOW!" Sam yelled. Still unaware of the incoming danger, Danny's Magikarp still stayed flopping around.
"KARP KARP KARP KARP KARP KARP KARRRRRRRRRP!!!" it yelled as it was engulfed in a pure flame.
"Wow, she's kinda cute when she uses that Charizard of hers." Xander commented.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." Camry growled as she smacked Xander over the head with a big mallet.
"Only when I use my Charizard? How insulting!" Charizard blew fire at him while Samantha fumed.
"OUCH!! Burn." Xander replied, quite toasted by now.
"Literally." Ryan laughed, as he sat up. "Hahahahaha! Burn... Funny." He fell backwards again and looked up. "Hate... Misdreavus... Big, golden, evil misdreavus... Ow..." He got up painfully, looking around. "Hey, what's going on?"
"Stay still!!! Once I get my hands on you, I'll... ARGHH!!!!!" Jesse shrieked as she ran past, still chasing Chris. Danny was whimpering as he rescued his fried Magikarp.
"Koishii." he cooed. The Magikarp flopped around, oblivious to everything.
"SHUT UP!!!" Everything ceased. All the people in the area turned to see Ryan standing there, twitching. "Thank you. Go, Larvitar!" he yelled, throwing his pokeball.
"Go, Weezing!" James yelled, also throwing a pokeball. His Weezing let out a fowl cloud, obstructing everyone's vision. "Let's go, we've had enough screwups for today, Jesse."
"No, wait! I still have to... Larvitar, sandstorm!" The smoke cleared quickly, and Team Rocket could be seen floating away in their balloon.
"Bye Bye, cutie!" Jesse called.
"Ta ta, twerps. We'll be back for your Houndoom and Squirtle!" James cried, waving.
"FOOLS!!!!" Chris screamed, leaning over the edge of the balloon and almost falling out. "EEE!" he cried, waving his arms around.
"Save me, Danny!" he cried. Danny yawned, sitting on the floor of the balloon.
"No. You stole my Magikarp."
"EEE!" Chris shouted, falling. Jesse grabbed ahold of him and dragged him back into the balloon.
"Oh no you don't! I still have to hurt you mortally for that old bat remark! You're not going anywhere!" she yelled.
"EEE!" Chris lept for the side of the balloon, but Jesse held him back. The group below all sweatdropped.
"Ya know, they would be a lot more successful if they stopped arguing all the time." Samantha said, putting a hand behind her head. Camry was still glaring at Xander. Ryan sighed.
"So would we." he said. "Let's keep going."
Eventually, they made it through the large tunnel. As soon as they stepped out of the cave into the bright sunlight, they saw the massive arena that was the Indigo Stadium.
"That's it, huh?" asked Xander. Ryan's face turned red and steam began to build up around his head. He grabbed a pokeball from his belt and enlarged it to full size.
"THAT'S IT!?!?!?" he roared, chucking the pokeball at Xander's head.
"YEEOOW!!!" the other cried, clutching his head where a bump had appeared. Calmly, Ryan picked up the projectile and placed it back on his belt. "What was that for?"
"Don't be an idiot." he growled.
"Will you two knock it off! Let's go." said an annoyed Camry. The two had gotten into such a large arguement that they failed to notice that Sam and Camry were dragging them into the stadium. Squirtle and Houndoom trailed behind, shaking their heads in disgrace.
"Sqiurtle." the turtle pokemon sighed.
The next thing Ryan and Xander knew, they were lying on the ground in front of a desk.
"Wha?" Xander moaned, noticing a second bump on his head.
"Oh, good. They're awake." said Sam.
"Are your friends registering too?" asked a voice. The two guys stood up and pulled out their pokedexes in unison.
"Yes!" they both said simultaneously.
"Me first, me first me first me first!!!" Xander kept repeating, and Ryan growled.
"Shut up already!" he said loudly. The girls both sweatdropped.
"Me first! Hi lady. Hey, you're cute!" Xander looked over his shoulder at Camry. "Uh oh." Camry had a stress mark on her forehead. "I meant cute in a friendly sorta..." Camry slammed him over the head with her mallet and he fell to the ground. Ryan shhok his head and stepped forward to register.
"Don't mind them, they're all crazy." Sam stepped forward casually and pushed Ryan aside.
"Me first." She calmly registered and then offered the counter to Ryan, walking away. Both Ryan and Camry blinked, then Ryan stepped back up to the counter.
"And I have to put up with stuff like this everyday." The lady at the counter chuckled softly as she took Ryan's pokedex. Camry looked down as Xander woke up and looked around dizzily.
"ME FIRST!" he cried, than he noticed that Sam already went and his jaw dropped. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" Camry sighed.
"Don't worry, you're still first in my book." she cooed. Xander looked up at her painfully.
"That doesn't matter." he moaned. A few seconds later he was unconscious on the floor again. Camry stepped over Xander and walked away. Xander registered and followed the rest of the group to select their first fields.
"Please select which field you will be battling. Please press the red button." The attendant pointed to a big red button that said, 'press me'.
"I wanna press the button, I wanna press the button, I wanna..." Sam slammed Xander over the head with a paper fan.
"SHUT UP, WILL YOU!" she cried, making a sound of disgust and pressing the button. The first field she was battling on was Ice. "Hmm. Shouldn't be a problem." she mused, standing back and waiting. Xander ran up to the button and started pressing it vigorously.
"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" he said happily, finally stopping. The first field he was battling in was Rock. "YES!!!!! HA HA HA!!! I WIN, YOU GET NOTHING, YOU LOSE! HA HA HA!!!" he yelled. Camry dragged him away by the ear.
"Shut up, you." she said, exasperated. Ryan was last of all, and he hit the button. He was going to be battling on Grass.
"Well, duty calls. Guess I had better catch up with insanity. Oi." He walked away, shaking his head.
"Go pokeball!" Curtis called, throwing out his first pokeball. Sam stood watching him, an amused look on her face. The pokeball opened and out came a Sneasel. Sam smiled, closing her eyes and selecting her pokemon.
"This will be altogether too easy." she murmered, throwing her pokeball. "Go Charizard!" Out in the stands, Camry turned to Xander.
"One word." she said, and Xander waved his hands in surrender.
"Heh heh. Well, I was only being honest about it. She does use the Charizard well." Xander crashed to the floor of the stands unconscious yet again. Curtis narrowed his eyes and ordered his Sneasel to attack.
"Sneasel, use blizzard!" Samantha smiled slightly and sprang into action.
"Charizard, beat it back!" Charizard used his wings to blow the blizzard back at the Sneasel, freezing it solid. Curtis stared in shock, then sighed. The announcer piped up.
"Hey! What a startling upset by newcomer Samantha Yobematsu! What is Curtis going to use next?" Curtis got a determined look on his face and threw out his next pokeball.
"Go Misdreavus!" he yelled. The purple ghost type appeared on the field with a shriek.
"It's a good thing Rai-chan's not here, or he'd be furious." she thought to herself. Then she shouted, "Charizard, fire spin!" Charizard blew a twister of fire, and the misdreavus, not moving fast enough, was engulfed in the funnel.
"Misdreavus, destiny bond, now!" Curtis said. The ghost shot a thin beam at the dragon pokemon. The beam appeared to do nothing, but as the misdreavus fainted from the fire blast, Charizard fell as well.
"Charizard, noooo!!" Sam screamed, falling to her knees. "Return. Go Jigglypuff!!!" The round, pink pokemon landed on the field as Charizard and Misdreavus disappeared.
"Go, Espeon!" shouted Curtis. The purple psychic type appeared on the opposite side of the field from Jigglypuff.
"Jigglypuff, sing!" she commanded. Due to the large size of the arena, only the espeon fell asleep, and Sam's pokemon moved in for the finishing blow. "Finish it with a seismic toss!" Jigglypuff tossed the psychic type high into the air and pounded it on the way down. Dust filled the air as it landed with a loud thud.
"Espeon is unable to battle. Sam wins the battle." Announced the ref. On the screen at the far end of the stadium, Sam's image was enlarged and the word congratulations appeared underneath.
"Yay! We won! Jigglypuff, return." Sam cried.
Meanwhile, Ryan was about to begin his second battle. He was battling Kit, a trainer from Viridian City.
"Go Snorlax!" she cried.
"Go Gyarados!" he yelled. The two pokemon appeared on the field, ready for battle. "Gyarados, start things off with an ice beam."
"Snorlax, uhhh... Roll out of the way!" Kit shouted. The huge pokemon did as it was told, dodging the ice beam. Ryan, amazed by the Snorlax's speed, jumped, then ordered his gyarados to use hydro pump. The water blast hit the snorlax dead on and it rolled backwards into the raised platform Kit stood on. Screaming in terror, Kit held on for dear life.
"Snorlax! Do something!!!" she screamed.
"Lax, lax. Snorlax." the large creature said in affirmation. A white glow appeared around its right hand as it made a fist and it charged at Gyarados. The mega punch missed the water type, but slammed into the raised platform that Ryan was standing on, sending him flying onto the field. Falling towards the ground, Ryan suddenly bounced off the fallen snorlax that was now stuck helplessly in the platform. The bounce broke his headlong flight and sent him harmlessly to the ground.
"Oww! Huh? Whoa!" Getting to his feet, Ryan ran screaming out of the way as his Gyarados moved across the field to attack. "Wait! LET ME MOVE FIRST!!!" he screamed. Kit laughed hysterically and pointed at him.
"I win, you get nothing, you lose!" she cried in a singsong voice, laughing again. Ryan turned slowly to face her, his eyes with a strange fire in them. He climbed back up to the top of the tower and shouted, "Gyarados, thrash attack!" The giant water pokemon attacked and Snorlax was caught off guard. When the dust cleared, Snorlax had landed beside Kit's platform and started to dizzy eye. The round was called a victory to Ryan. Kit sighed and recalled her Snorlax. Ryan snickered menacingly. Kit, now very angry, jumped into attention. A little devil appeared on her shoulder and then disappeared.
"Go Dugtrio!" the little three headed pokemon popped out of its ball and bobbed up and down in the dirt.
"Trio, trio, trio!" The pokemon smiled and looked at both Ryan and his Gyarados, then his smile, slowly and sadistically, turned into a look of evil.
"Dugtrio, use Earthquake now!" Kit hollared. Gyarados just watched as the three headed pokemon disappeared under the ground and the earth started shaking. Ryan held on for dear life, wincing as Gyarados went flying.
"Uh oh." he murmered. Kit smiled triumphantly, but Gyarados came back down and landed on top of her platform, smashing it into the ground. From the stands, all people opposed of the girl howled with laughter while all the people for her booed and hissed hysterically. After Gyarados moved, Kit lay on the ground in pain.
"Not funny." she said in a painful tone, jumping up, and sprouting fangs. Her eyes turned red. "You die now, Rai-chan." Ryan facefaulted and than jumped up, steam pouring from his ears.
"What?! What did you just call me?" he shrieked. Kit gave him a calm victory smile, a placid, unafraid look on her face.
"Rai-chan." Ryan sweatdropped and growled.
"NEVER, EVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN!!! GYARADOS, HYPER BEAM, NOW!!!" he roared. His pokemon responded and fried the poor Dugtrio horribly. The round was once again called and Kit looked on with an exasperated look on her face.
"Well, looks like I'll have to use something else now." she said softly, calling back her injured ground type. "So I will choose Venomoth!" The large bug Pokemon appeared and fluttered about above the ground. Ryan thought for a second, then called back Gyarados.
"You need to rest." he said, pulling out another pokeball. "So now I'll use Girafarig!" The psychic pokemon appeared, it's back end letting out a vicious snarl. Kit laughed.
"Oh, It's so scary!" she said in a mocking tone. Ryan snickered silently, then Kit attacked. "Venomoth, stun spore, now!" The yellow powder flew from the giant bug's wings and floated slowly towards Ryan and his Girafarig.
"Girafarig, future sight, now!" The pokemon responded, but nothing seemed to happen. As Kit stood laughing at the seemingly useless attack, Venomoth's attack missed, due to an unexpected change of wind direction. Facefaulting, Kit stood up and screamed in frusteration.
"How could you miss?!" she shrieked. "Try it again, now!" Her pokemon was about to obey when a huge blast of psychic energy appeared out of nowhere and hit the Venomoth from behind. It was immediately rendered unconscious. The announcer raised his flag in triumph and Ryan congratulated Girafarig.
"Venomoth is unable to battle. This battle goes to Ryan!" The crowd cheered him on and he called back his pokemon.
"Good job, I guess." Kit said in a soft voice, looking quite disappointed.
During the break, Kit met up with an old colleague of hers, a guy named Chris who worked for a team of thieves.
"Long time no see, Neko-chan. What's going on with you?" he said in a bored voice, wondering where Danny went and thinking about the seemingly looming armageddon of Gundam Pilots descending upon them. Kit shrugged.
"Not too much. I just got my butt kicked by some punk kid and his gyarados and girafarig. I can't believe it! I was doing so good! Well, I did bad, but still, I tried to win and that's all that counts." Idly tossing a pokeball up and down, Chris looked over.
"Oh, and what's this guy's name?" he asked suspiciously. Kit looked up at him.
"Ryan Lachlan." The pokeball bounced out of his hand and hit the ground, a magikarp popping out of it and flopping around uselessly. Chris turned and raced off.
"Aunty Jesse, Aunty Jesse!" he cried, the Magikarp flopping off after him. Kit stood with a sweatdrop and a raised eyebrow. She turned and put an arm behind her head.
"And I thought I had problems."
Elsewhere, during the second battles, Xander was about to have a match against a trainer named Gord. Xander yawned as he entered the water field, scratching his head.
"Hmm... Water field. Squirtle... Yeah, I'll use Squirtle, cause he's a water pokemon..."
"Go Raichu!" Gord cried. Xander blinked and then yawned again, taking out a pokeball. With his eyes closed, he threw the pokeball listlessly onto the field.
"Go Squirtle. Do it, go. You can do it... Aww man... Coffee wearing off." he gave a tremendous yawn and sat down. Squirtle yawned as well and rubbed his eyes.
"Squirtle." he said miserably. Gord blinked a few times, than started laughing hysterically.
"Raichu, thunderbolt!" he said, pointing out to the field triumphantly. Raichu stepped forward and let loose with an amazing display of electricity. Squirtle didn't know what hit him, as he was still suffering from lack of energy. With a groan and a yawn, Xander called squritle back and threw out another pokemon.
"Go Ampharos..." he moaned. The yellow pokemon appeared on the field with a cry and several bolts of lightning. "You know what to do... Zzzzzzzz." Ampharos' right paw began to glow with intense heat, and he charged at Gord's raichu. Ampharos landed an incredible dynamic punch to the unsuspecting raichu's jaw, knocking it out cold. The crowd began to cheer at the turn of events, and Xander woke up, this time seeming more awake. "Whoa, Ampharos, you did it!" he cried. Gord returned his Raichu and threw another pokeball onto the field.
"Go ditto!" he shouted, the purple blob appearing on the ground. It immediately transformed into the yellow electric type, ready for a fight.
"Ditto, use ice punch, then use dynamic punch!" he ordered. The fake ampharos ran at Xander's and the two pokemon began to fight. They were delivering fierce blows to each other, but neither would go down. Finally, one last ice punch from Ditto froze Ampharos on the spot. Xander called him back, and sent out his final pokemon.
"Go, Snorlax!" he shouted.
"Uh oh." said Gord. "Ditto return, and go Crobat!" The large, purple bat pokemon appeared in the air, and began swooping at the ponderous snorlax.
"Snorlax, use bide!" commanded Xander. Snorlax nodded and concentrated for a moment, then began to glow.
"Crobat, hit it with hypnosis and then use giga drain!" Crobat flew at Snorlax, its eyes glowing an eerie blue. Snorlax fell over on his back, and Crobat continued his attack by draining the energy right out of Snorlax.
"Snorlax, no!!!" cried Xander.
"Do you concede?" Gord asked him.
"Yes." he said reluctantly.
"You should know that Crobat is one of the fastest pokemon around. Using a snorlax against it is like using an ice cube to fight a charmeleon." the trainer gloated.
"Xander Richmond concedes." announced the ref. "The battle goes to Gord!" Xander returned Snorlax to his pokeball, then sighed and walked off with Squirtle to mope.
Ryan and Sam won the rest of their matches, and were going on to face the Elite Four the next day, which was, conveniently enough, Ryan's seventeenth birthday. Camry comforted Xander, while Ryan and Sam spent the rest of the day in town. They went to a congratulatory dinner, then went shopping, much to Ryan's dismay. Along the way, Sam and Ryan bumped into two guys and a girl. The girl had red hair, a yellow shirt, blue jeans, and was carrying a togepi. The younger of the boys had black hair, covered by a red and white cap. He had on a blue denim jacket and a black shirt, as well as a pair of jeans. The older and taller of the two had spiky dark brown hair, a green vest, an orange shirt, and brown slacks. A pikachu was sitting on the smaller boy's shoulder.
"Hey, wow! That's a cool pokemon!" stated the younger boy, pulling out his pokedex. He opened it up and the screen flickered on.
"Houndoom, the dark pokemon." said the computerized voice of Dexter. "It communicates with others of its type to trap its prey."
"I heard that houndoom are really great battlers." commented the older guy.
"That's true." Ryan said. "My name is Ryan, and this is Sam, Jigglypuff, and of course, Houndoom."
"Aren't you the two trainers who made it to the Elite Four?" queried the girl.
"Yeah. We're going to fight them tomorrow." responded Sam.
"My name's Ash, and I'm trying to become a pokemon master." said the younger boy.
"My name's Brock, and I'm gonna be a pokemon breeder." said the older of the two.
"And my name's Misty. I'm trying to be a water pokemon master." said the girl.
"Togepriii!" the egg shaped pokemon chimed.
"It's nice to meet you all." Ryan said.
"We were just doing some shopping. Why don't you guys come with us?" asked Sam.
"We'd love to!" cried Misty.
"Good. I'm not the only one who's going to be bored tonight." Sam's friend sighed.
"Rai-kun." Sam growled. Ryan went silent.
The increasingly larger gang of pokemon trainers went from store to store, usually just browsing. On occasion, the guys would get to look in a store that interested them but usually it was Sam and Misty that did the browsing. More than once, when Ryan said that Sam looked really good in a certain outfit, she joked that he should try it on himself, bringing back memories of his Team Rocket days. Remembering that a lot of the officers and nurses from other cities were there, Ryan became a bit paranoid that one or more might recognize him from the old picture that they had of him. He was especcialy worried that Nurse Joy from Viridian City might be there, as she was the only one other than Houndoom and Team Rocket to know his secret. Sure enough, she did show up, doing some shopping of her own. Overhearing a conversation between Brock and Ryan, Nurse Joy walked up to them.
"Excuse me." she said politely. "Are you, by any chance, Ryan Lachlan from Viridian City?"
"Long time no see, Nurse joy." Ryan said, putting down a bag he was carrying for Sam.
"Yes, it has been a while." she agreed. Brock popped up from his seat, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Ryan, you know this Nurse Joy?" he asked. Ryan nodded. "Hi. My name's Brock. I'm a good friend of Ryan's and was wondering if we could maybe get together for dinner sometime. Misty came from behind a rack of clothes and dragged him away.
"Ryan, could I speak to you for a bit?" Nurse Joy asked the pokemon trainer. "Just for old times sake."
"I suppose I could get away from Sam for a bit." he said. "Just let me tell her." Sam came out of the change room at that moment, wearing a gorgeous, long black gown.
"So, what do ya think?" Sam queried.
"It looks good on you." he said. "Don't tell me you're taking me dancing."
"For your information, I am!" she shouted back. "Keep it up, and you'll be the one wearing this, Rai chan!" Ryan flinched.
"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to an old friend of mine. I'll meet you back at the hotel." Ryan growled.
"Oh. Okay. Sorry for snapping at you." Sam apologozed. "Have fun."
"You too. Go easy on Ash and Brock, will ya?" With that, Ryan left the store with Nurse Joy. The two went back to the pokemon center, where they took care of an injured pokemon, then went into Joy's room.
"I knew I could trust you to make a fresh start." she said.
"Yeah, well, I was only in Team Rocket because I had nowhere else to go." Ryan sighed. "I wish I'd never joined though. I still feel guilty. Especially for stealing all of those eevees. If only I had returned them. But I couldn't, otherwise I would've been caught. And fooling all of those people with my disguise."
"You can't change the past now." Joy said. "Would you like a cup of coffee?"
"Yes please." Nurse Joy began to make a pot of coffee as Ryan continued to speak. "When I first met the leader of Team Rocket, he told me that your opponent can do two things; they can fear you, or respect you. He said that respect will get you much farther than fear. After being the top member of Team Rocket, I'm not so sure of that anymore."
"Well, he may not have followed his own preachings, but he was right." said Joy, as she handed him a cup. "But, enough about Team Rocket. How have you been doing lately?"
"Well, for one thing, I'm going to face the Elite Four tomorrow."
"That's great news! I see your houndour has evolved into a houndoom as well. Did you ever evolve Eevee into a jolteon?"
"Yeah. I got another one too. Well, actually, Eve was given to me after I stole all of those eevees. She was just an infant then, and was useless to Team Rocket, so the leader gave her to me to raise, because I had experience with eevees. I guess she was the only one I could save." Ryan said, in between sips of the dark liquid. Having wanted to train Eve a bit, Ryan had switched Gyarados for her, and now, released both Eve and Jolteon from their pokeballs. Jolteon immediately jumped up on Nurse Joy, remembering her from all those years ago. Eve hopped up onto Nurse Joy's bed and sat down.
"I guess he still remembers me." Joy laughed. "Mind if I take a look at your eevee? Tilting his cup back one final time, Ryan motioned for her to go ahead. Nurse joy examined Eve thouroughly, then sat down on her bed, beside the small pokemon. "She's in excellent condition."
"They say a pokemon's attachment with its trainer determines how long it'll take to evolve. If that's the case, then I think she'll evolve anytime now. I just have to wait for the right moment."
"What are you going to evolve her into?" Nurse Joy questioned. Ryan sat down on the bed next to her and Eevee hopped onto his lap.
"An umbreon. Other than Jolteon, the only eeveelution I want is an umbreon."
"I see. You know, it's been so long since we last talked." she sighed.
"Yeah. All those years ago. It was four years ago since we last met, and seven since you gave me my first eevee. But I still remember all of those years."
"You're seventeen?" Joy asked.
"Tomorrow." Ryan replied.
"Congratulations. But we can celebrate tomorrow. For now, why don't we look back into the past? Maybe I can help you relieve some of your pain. I did major in psychology for a while, and besides, I want to hear the whole story this time."
"Nurse Joy, you're a true friend." he said, petting Eve gently. "Well, I guess it all started when I was ten..."
To Be Continued