Pokemon2:The New Dimension

by Sarie Cigam

The beginning's not to good, but it gets a lot better... this is not your average Ash&Misty fic

4. Chapters 1-18

Chapter 1
The saga begins
In Celedon City, the city of skyscrapers, there was only one thing on every ten-year-old's mind, and that was their trainer's licence. Each child had to take a test to prove their knowledge of Pokémon and only by passing the test could they train their own Pokémon. The trainers from Celedon were some of the best on Indigo Island because of this test. The students who passed with a grade of 90% could choose their own Pokémon out of a variety of Pokémon, whereas trainers who scored lower could only choose from three Pokémon. Sarie Cigam had studied very hard so she could get a very powerful Pokémon, and was ready for the test the next day.
"Ok, go ahead and ask the next question, Mom." Sarie said as she sat at her dining room table across from her mother who was holding a book entitled Everything You Will Ever Need to Know About Pokémon.
"In a battle, who would be most likely to win. Ponyta or Squirtle?"
"Squirtle! Fire is weak to water!"
"Correct. Last question: Gengar, the ghost Pokémon, is weak to what?"
"Psychic! Gengar is also a poison type, and that makes it weak to psychic!"
"Very good! I think you'll do well tomorrow, Sarie. Now go to bed so you'll be fresh in the morning."
"Ok, mom. Good night!" Sarie kissed her mother good night and raced upstairs to her room.


The next morning Sarie grabbed her trainer's gear and rushed to the Celedon City Gym where her test would take place. Once inside, she was surprised by the fact that the young trainers-to-be were battling, not testing. She walked up to the gym leader, Erika, and asked what was going on.
"The test is a test of skill. You will be asked to select a belt of pokeballs and you will be battling each other without knowing what Pokémon you have. Most trainers win by about two Pokémon, and that's considered a ninety percent. Losing by one Pokémon is a seventy percent, and that's what you have to score in order to get a licence. Go to the table over there and one of the gym trainers will help you. Good luck!"
Sarie chose a belt of three pokeballs and faced off against a girl trainer called Krad Reniart. Krad sent out her first Pokémon which turned out to be a beedrill. Sarie was taken aback, were the Pokémon all advanced or did Krad just get a very powerful Pokémon? Sarie released her first Pokémon which was a vicious looking Nidorino.
"This is too easy. Beedrill, twinneedle attack now!"
"Nidorino, focus your energy!"
Beedrill smashed, stinger first, into Nidorino which caused the horn Pokémon to be knocked backwards. It shook its head as it pumped itself up.
"Beedrill, finish it with a poison sting!"
"Nidorino, horn drill attack now!"
Nidorino dodged the stinger and struck beedrill with its swirling horn, instantly KOing beedrill. Krad returned the fainted bug Pokémon and sent out her next mystery Pokémon, which was golem.
Nidorino, this one you can't win. Return! Pokeball, go!" "Cookie, Cookie!"
"Ok, smash kingler with a tackle attack!"
"Kingler, hydro pump!"
The battle was short, as kingler's hydro pump was super effective against the rock hard golem.
"Dang! Return, golem. Go, pokeball!" Jolt!"
"Return, Kingler! Go, pokeball!" "Raiiiii!"
"Jolteon, Thunder!"
"Raichu, show it a real thunder! Now!"
Raichu grounded itself with its tail before lifting jolteon off the ground and electrocuting it. Jolteon stood no chance against the Raichu.
"No! I lost!"
"Hahah, way to go Raichu! We won!"
Every head turned to stare at Sarie, including that of Erika.
"How many Pokémon do you have still fit to battle?" The gym leader asked.
"All of 'em. Jolteon, Kingler, and Nidorino!"
"Come with me, Sarie. I think I have just the Pokémon for a person of your skill. Krad, see me after the test, Ok?"
Sarie followed the gym leader to the very back of the gym, where almost 100 pokeballs rested. Each one had a symbol engraved on its top. Many were regular pokeballs but some, like the masterball with a shining psychic symbol on its top, were reserved for more powerful Pokémon.
"You may choose any of the pokeballs you wish. You do know that no one has ever won by three Pokémon, don't you? You are the first." Erika looked approvingly at Sarie.
Sarie looked at nearly all of the Pokémon, finding each one more fascinating than the last. All of them were adorable, and she wanted them all. It was very difficult to choose just one, but she tried anyway. She then discovered a pokeball containing a small nidoran female. The little girl Pokémon grinned up at Sarie as soon as it was it out of its pokeball.
"Nidoran!" It exclaimed.
"Oh, you're so cute!" Sarie exclaimed. The Nidoran was defiantly the Pokémon for her.
"Erika, I'd like this little one. She's so adorable!"
"Ok. Little nidoran is yours. Here are her pokeball and your pokedex. In order to learn about new Pokémon, you have to capture them. Any Pokémon that you capture and can't keep because you've already got six Pokémon will come here. Would you like to see our Pokémon care facility?"
Sarie toured the beautiful care center before heading out of the city. Her first stop would be her grandpa's house outside of town. He would provide a bird Pokémon for her to fly to Pallet Town on.
Nidoran loved to follow Sarie closely without her pokeball, and Sarie had no objections to this. The little Nidoran was strangely cheerful for her species, who were mostly somber and quiet.
As the pair walked along the outer city rout, they spotted another trainer who had just captured a Pokémon. The girl was holding it up to inspect it, but the species of the Pokémon was unfamiliar to Sarie. It looked like a tail-less electabuzz with two ear-like appendages on its head. The "ears" were rectangular and thin with a hole at the top of each one, much like a pair doorknob hangers.
"Hey, who're you?" Sarie said in greeting as she approached the girl.
"I'm Beth Burts. Nice Nidoran. I suppose you got it from Erika back in Cerulean city? I got this Pikachu from her, too. She said that it had been looking for a good home. So, what's your name?"
"I'm Sarie Cigam. Nice to meet you."
"You want to battle?" The girl asked suddenly. The Pokémon that Beth had just caught jumped to the ground in a fighting pose.
"Nah, I only have little Nidoran here. I'd probably lose."
"Ok, I'll follow you until you capture a new Pokémon. Ok?"
"Ok, sure. It would be nice to have a human to talk to along the way."
The two trainers walked onwards until they came to a small cabin nestled in the woods around the road.
"That's my grandpa's place. He raises bird Pokémon and I'm hoping to get a ride to Pallet Town from him. I'm sure he'll lend you one to, Beth."
"Thanks. I only have pikachu and El Ekid, so I can't fly down there by myself yet." The El Ekid was the Pokémon that Beth had caught.
The trainers knocked on the door and a kind faced old man walked out to greet them.
"Hello, Sarie. How's my favorite grandchild? Is that your Nidoran?" He asked as he hugged Sarie.
"Yep. She's my first Pokémon. I haven't captured any new Pokémon yet, but I wanted to ask if I could borrow a flying Pokémon to get to Pallet Town. Oh, and this is Beth. She needs a ride to."
"Any friend of my Sarie is a friend of mine. Come in the back and I'll see what I can do. Sarie, I have a gift for you. I was going to give it to you when you got your first Pokémon, so I suppose now's the time."
Sarie's Grandpa led the two girls into a huge aviary filled with every type of flying Pokémon from baby spearows to fully grown Pidgeots. Beth and Sarie were stunned. A giant Zapados soared overhead making the other birds scatter. Two Articunos were fighting with a Moltres over some Pokémon food. Grandpa picked up a beautiful carved wooden box containing a masterball.
"This is a charmander, he'll evolve into the fastest flying Pokémon ever. Take good care of him. I'll let you use Freezer, my Articuno. Freezer, over here!" A giant Articuno landed next to Grandpa and bowed to Beth and Sarie. They bowed back before climbing onto Freezer's back. The Articuno lifted off the ground in a rush of icy wings and soared off through the now opened roof. On the cold back of the icy bird Sarie and Beth were awed by Indigo Island as it was laid out like a massive carpet below them. The Safari Zone was a patch of green while Indigo Plateau's famous four stadiums stood out with all of the trainers gathered for the annual Pokémon league championships. Nidoran clung to the massive bird's feathers as it glided downwards to Pallet Town. Sarie directed it to land in the outskirts of town, far from prying eyes. She bade farewell to the bird before setting off to Pallet with Beth, Pikachu, and Nidoran Following her. The journey had just begun.
Chapter 2
Team Rocket!
"Hey, Sarie? Now that you've got Charmander with you, why don't we battle?" Beth asked as she stopped to examine her pikachu.
"Sure. We can battle, and I can test charmander's skills. Lets go!" Sarie sent charmander out of his pokeball.
"Char, char!"
Just then a red car drove up to the two trainers. A ten-year-old boy was sitting in the front with the back of his car packed with six cheerleaders.
"Why, hello there! I haven't seen you two around. Are you from Pallet?" The boy sounded like he had bad allergies.
"No, were from Celedon City. My Grandpa's bird Pokémon brought us here so we could start with all the other trainers. " Sarie patted charmander as she spoke.
"Well, my name's Gary Oak, and I don't like outsiders who try and take away the fame from us pallet town trainers! Isn't that right, girls?"
"It sure is!" The girls spoke in unison, and it made Sarie and Beth sick to see them cheering for the snobbish trainer.
"Well, Gary, my name is Sarie Cigam and I am Celedon's best!"
"What about me?" Beth asked crossly.
"Ok, you too. So, Gary, how 'bout showing us what Pallet's best can do?" Sarie challenged.
"Fine. Pokeball, go!" "Eevee!"
"Charmander, go!" "Char, char!"
"Eevee, body slam now!" Eevee slammed itself onto charmander, causing the fire Pokémon to fall over.
"Charmander, use a flamethrower slash!" Charmander threw itself at eevee, slashing the evolution Pokémon deeply while blasting it with flames. Eevee fainted.
"No! Return! Pokeball, go!" "Nidoran!" A nidoran male flew from the pokeball and used double kick on charmander. Charmander fainted.
"Charmander, return! Nidoran, go!" "Nid! Nidoran!"
"Haha, a puny little nidoran female! Nidoran male, show her your horn drill!"
"Nidoran, dodge! Use fury swipes!"
"No, nidoran! Kick it!"
"That's it nidoran, use your agility! Now finish it with a body slam!" Sarie's nidoran used its speed to confuse Gary's nidoran, then used a body slam on the little male. Nidoran male wobbled unsteadily on its four feet for a minute before fainting.
"Yes! Nidoran, you were great! All right!" Sarie hugged nidoran and stroked the little poison pin Pokémon. Charmander wobbled out of its pokeball and congratulated nidoran. Nidoran smiled ant charmander and told the fire Pokémon how great it had done. Charmander thanked nidoran shyly as Sarie sprayed a potion on it.
"Hahah, maybe you ought to start training Gary! If your pallet town's best, then I feel sorry for them!" Beth laughed.
"Why don't you try battling me, Beth?" One of the cheerleaders sent out a powerful looking squirtle. Beth laughed out loud as El Ekid sprang from her pokeball.
"Squirtle, tackle!" "Squirtle!"
"El Ekid, Thunder punch!" "El Ekid! KID!"
Squirtle was fried by El Ekid's thunder. The girl returned squirtle and sent out an abra. Beth sent out pikachu.
"Abra, psyshock!"
"Pikachu, counter it with thunder!"
Abra sent out a bolt of psychic energy, which was blocked by pikachu's thunder attack. Abra was also fried by the electricity.
"Abra! Return. How could I lose?"
"You were just lucky. The girls made me lose my concentration! Next time it will be different!" Gary drove away, leaving Beth and Sarie in a cloud of dust.
"That was great! Gary won't bother us!" Beth patted pikachu on the head.
"No way! He's just a snobbish brat. We'll beat him. Ok, lets go!"
As the two trainers turned to leave, they heard a voice behind them.
"Well, well, well. What have we here, Draco?" It sounded like a woman's voice.
"Looks like a pair of Pokémon trainers, Millicent. I think they may have some Pokémon with them." It was a man's voice that followed the woman's.
Suddenly, a man and a woman, dressed in green with large, silver R's on their shirts, leaped out of the bushes. The woman's name was Millicent and the man's, draco.
"Who're you?" Beth shouted.
The man, who had a pale, pointed face and near-white hair, spoke. "Were team rocket, you twerp! And were here to take your Pokémon!"
Millicent, who was heavyset and green-haired, said "So hand 'em over!"
"You can't take our Pokémon, Rockets! My parents told me about your team! Your evil!" Sarie held tight to nidoran and returned charmander.
"That's right! El Ekid, return! No one's taking you! Pikachu, stay close!" Pikachu clung to Beth's leg.
"Hahahah, you can't stop us! Go, Meowth!" Millicent sent out a meowth.
"Go, Ekans!" Draco's ekans curled up next to meowth.
"You want a Pokémon battle? We'll give ya a Pokémon battle! Hey Beth, why don't we show 'em our Tag-Team maneuver?" Sarie suggested.
"Sure thing, Sarie! Go, El Ekid!" "Kid!"
"Go, Nidoran!" "Nid!"
"Fine. We'll give you a battle you'll never forget! Meowth, slash!" Millicent's Meowth rushed towards El Ekid.
"Let's show 'em, Slythren! Bite!" Draco commanded his Ekans, Slythren, to bite nidoran.
"El Ekid, Thunder pound!"
"Nidoran, Use the thunder to kick up your Horn Attack! Now!"
El Ekid slammed his fists into the ground, causing a massive bolt of lightning to sizzle along the ground towards Ekans. Nidoran ran, lightning fast and inside the bolt, towards Ekans. The combination of the Thunder Pound and the Horn attack made Ekans faint.
"Return, Slythren! It's all up to you, Millicent! Don't mess it up!"
"Ok, El Ekid. Time to show 'em your agility! Quick attack!"
"Nidoran, poison sting attack! Let El Ekid ram you into Meowth!"
El Ekid picked up Nidoran and rammed it with great speed into Meowth. Meowth, of course, fainted.
"Oh no! Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Both team rocket members screamed as they and their Pokémon were flung into the air by El Ekid's massive thunder jolt.
"All right! We beat 'em! Wohoo!" Sarie shouted as she pounded Beth on the back.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! We won! We rule! Yahooo!" Beth jumped around like a maniac as El Ekid and Nidoran danced around her feet.
"Hey, you guys just won a battle?" A weird looking boy, aged ten with black hair, a red hat, and a pikachu on a string was watching them.
"We sure did! Some creep from pallet town named Gary, then a couple of weirdos from Team Rocket. We are the best!" Beth held El Ekid up and hugged him.
"Umm, why is your pikachu on a string?" Sarie asked as she patted Nidoran on the head.
"He won't listen to me and doesn't want to go in his pokeball." The boy said. "My name's Ash. Can I see your Pokémon?"
"Sure can. We've only got two each, but they're cool. Pokeball, go!" Sarie sent charmander out and Beth's pikachu jumped out from behind her. The pikachu ran up to Ash's and started talking to it. Charmander began having a conversation with Nidoran and El Ekid.
"Wow! I love your charmander! I wanted one, but Prof. Oak was out of them." Ash said.
"Prof. Who?"
"Never mind. Hey, what's your pikachu saying to mine?"
"You can't even understand your own pikachu? Sheesh! It's saying, "Why are you on a string?" Now yours is saying that, oh Jeeze! Hahahahahahahaahah! Sarie, listen to this! His, his pikachu is saying that, Hahah, that this Ash kid is so stupid that he, Hah, doesn't even know how to capture Pokémon! Hah!" Beth rolled on the ground with laughter.
"Hehehe, that's hilarious! Good luck, Ashy Boy! Haha, can't even catch Pokémon! What a loser!" Sarie could barley stand.
"Ok, enough. Let's go. We've got Pokémon to train!" Beth giggled.
Chapter 3
Veridian Forest
"Hahaha, Ash the loser! I can't believe his pikachu said those things! My pikachu would never say them about me. Right, Chester?" Beth's pikachu, who had a distinctive fluff on his head and ragged ears and a tail and was now nicknamed Chester, hopped along in front of Beth and Sarie.
"I bet Nida wouldn't be mean to me." Sarie's Nidoran, Nida, had a dark green coat of short fur and lighter spots than most of its species.
"Hey look, it's Veridian Forest! We should be able to catch plenty of Pokémon there!" Beth shouted in excitement.
"Look! It's a pidgy! That one's mine! Charmander go!" "Char!" "Charmander, fire spin now!" "Char, CHAR!"
Pidgy was engulfed in a fiery tornado. After a few minutes, Sarie threw a pokeball into the fire. She heard the ball wobble and shake, then silence, then the "Ping!" that told her she had caught pidgy. The pokeball was red hot, which made Sarie grateful that she had remembered her bike gloves. They were purple, with a green leaf stone symbol on the top. She pulled them on and picked up the ball, happily patting charmander.
"Good going, Char. We caught a pidgy!"
"Would you like to nickname pidgy?" Sarie's pokedex had recorded the info for pidgy and was now prompting Sarie to nickname Pidgy.
"I think I'll nickname it Flapper. F-l-a-p-p-e-r. Ok. Thanks, Computer!"
"You nicknamed your pokedex?"
"It has a name already. Check yours."
"It says "Dixi". How odd."
"Hah, that kid's pokedex was called dexter."
"Ash's?"
"Yep. Dexter the pokedex."
"Ok. Let's go into the forest. I don't think any of the Pokémon there will be very good for me, but I'll try to find one. Let's go!"
As the two trainers entered the forest, they were stunned by the silence. The forest was dark and quiet and filled with shadows. It was only natural that when a samurai-like warrior leaped from the trees at them, sword first, that they were afraid. Nida and Chester scrambled behind their respective trainer in fear.
"Are you trainers from Pallet?" He asked.
"Umm, sorta. We came from Celedon, but we flew to Pallet and stared from there. Why?" Sarie asked.
"I wish to challenge you to a Pokémon battle. I choose, as my first Pokémon, Pinser!"
A large and mean-looking pinser appeared out of the samurai's pokeball.
"Ok, flapper go!" Flapper flew out of pinser's reach easily.
"Pinser, crush it with guillotine!"
"Pidgy, blow it away with gust!"
Pidgy was to high up for pinser, but not to high to use an effective gust attack on the bug Pokémon. Pinser was smashed against a tree and knocked unconscious.
"No! Pinser return. Go, butterfree!"
"Return, Flapper! Go, Char!"
"Butterfree, Confusion!"
"Char, ember!"
Char began to spin in circles, releasing deadly sparks and embers from his tail. Butterfree did its best to dodge the flying flames, but was badly burned on its wings. Char finally stopped spinning, holding its head dizzily. Butterfree took this chance to attack, by sending small, psychic waves at char. Char's dizziness was made worse by the confusion attack, and he toppled over. The Samurai looked triumphant, but Char wasn't fainted yet. He got up, growled slightly in his throat, and launched himself at Butterfree. Butterfree tried to dodge, but Char was too fast. He clawed Butterfree's remaining, unburnt wings until the bug was no longer able to fly. Butterfree fell to the ground and was deemed fainted, due to the fact that a butterfree who couldn't fly couldn't fight. Samurai thanked Sarie for a great battle and quickly walked back into the forest, heading towards his house where he could heal his Butterfree.
"Wow, that was too cool!"
"You're on a winning streak!"
"Yeah, hope this lasts 'till the pokemon leagues."
"Wow, you sure do think ahead don't ya?"
"In this business, thinking ahead is a very good thing."


Chapter 4
The Rocks of Brock
"So, this is Pewter City? It's kinda small, don't you think? Oh well, a gym's a gym, I suppose. Ok, let's go." Sarie had prepped her Pokémon by teaching Nida how to use water attacks. Charmander would not be much help, and Pidgy was weak to rock attacks, so Sarie wasn't counting on using them.
"I only have Chester and El Ekid. They won't effect Onix or Geodude. What am I gonna do?" Beth said as she looked over her two Pokémon.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll do ok. If not, we'll backtrack into Veridian and you can get a butterfree or something." Sarie reassured her.
"Yeah, your right."
They gym was dark inside, and filled with rocks.
"Hello? We need to earn our Boulder badges! Hello?" Beth called into the gloom.
"Welcome. I am Brock Bedrock, leader of this Gym. Do you wish to challenge me for a badge? Fine, but expect no mercy!" Brock, the gym leader, stepped down from a platform at the end of the gym. Just then, the floors began to move inward, creating a rocky arena on which to battle. "Go, Geodude!" "Dude!"
Nida the nidoran leaped onto the rocky floor and growled at Geodude. "Nida, confuse it with agility! Now!" "Nidoran! Nida, nida, nida!" Nidoran sped in circles around Geodude, causing it to hold its head. "Ok, finish it with surf attack!" "NIDORANNNNN!" Nidoran made a massive wave and surfed towards Geodude. The rock Pokémon fainted.
"No! Geodude, return! Go, Onix!" "Ooooonix!" "Slam it now!" "ONIX!" "Doraaaaaaaaan" "NO! Nidoran, return! What now?" Suddenly, Sarie's pokeball popped open to reveal char. "What are you doing, char? You'll get killed!" "Char char! Mander!" "You want to battle? You don't want me to look like a loser, like Ash?" "Mander!" "Ok, char! Lets beat him! Fire blast attack, now!" "CHARRRRRRR!" Onix fell to the ground with a thud.
"All right, char! We did it! We won our first badge! Thanks, bud!" "Mander! Man? Der!" Charmander began to glow brightly, evolving into a charmelion! "Wow! Char, you're a charmelion! Cool!" "Char! Melion!"
"Ok, I want to earn my badge Brock! Go, El Ekid!" "Kid!"
"This one will be easy. Geodude, go!" Brock's freshly healed geodude popped out of his pokeball to face El Ekid.
"El Ekid, blast him with your most powerful blast! Mega thunder thrash now!" "Kid!" El Ekid began to thrash as electricity gathered between his ears. He hit geodude with amazing force, but geodude held firm. El Ekid thrashed about, frying Brock with electricity. Brock was thrown backwards as Geodude finally gave in and fainted. El Ekid calmed down a bit as he panted to regain his breath. Brock stood for a second, stunned, before bringing out Onix. Onix bound El Ekid who could not fry the rock snake like he did Geodude. Roaring from pain and fear, he thrashed about. Beth saw her Pokémon's pain and called out for Brock to let El Ekid down from Onix's coils.
"Please! El Ekid's had enough. Let me return him!"
"Ok. Onix, let El Ekid go!" Brock commanded. Onix obeyed, and soon El Ekid was being rushed to the Pokémon center by Sarie. Beth was alone with only Chester to battle. She sent out the pikachu, who ran up from behind her. "Chu? Chu, Pikachu! Chu, chu chu! Pikachu chu!" "Ok, you know you can beat Onix? You want to help me win? Lets go!" "Chu!" "Pikachu, agility!" "Chu!" Pikachu ran in circles around Onix, confusing the Rock Pokémon. "Pikachu, use your double team!" "Pika!" Pikachu made mirror images of itself and surrounded Onix with them. Onix tried to smash pikachu, but it and its copies were too quick. "Finish it with combine Thunderbolt!" "Chu! CHUUUUUU!" Pikachu filled the gym with thunder and brought down onix. Beth cheered as Pikachu leaped into her arms. "Chu!" "Wow, that pikachu is good. Here is your boulderbadge, take good care of it. You and your friend have the makings of true Pokémon masters."
Beth set off happily to the Pokémon center to meet Sarie and sleep for a while. The next day would be a big one.
Chapter 5
Mt. Moon's secrets
The two Pokémon trainers, Beth and Sarie, had finally won their first badge. They were quite happy for themselves and their Pokémon. The next hurdle for them to jump was Mt. Moon, the massive mountain that stood between them and Cerulean City, where the next badge-bearing gym was located. Beth would have no trouble beating its water-loving trainers, but Sarie was a different story. Before they could plan their attack on the next gym, however, they had to pass through Mt. Moon.
"Wow, it's huge! This mountain must be miles wide! How will we ever get across?" Beth said as they approached the mountain.
"We need to look for Pokémon inside. Hey, look! A squirtle and a Meowth! Let's catch 'em!" Sarie said as she spotted two Pokémon.
"Ok, but I get the squirtle! Go, El Ekid!" "Kid!"
"All right, I like meowths anyway! Go, flapper!" "Pidgy!"
In a matter of minutes, the two Pokémon were caught. Beth nicknamed her squirtle Bubblebeamer. Sarie had chosen Mew as her Pokémon's name.
"Do you know that Mew is a psychic Pokémon that became extinct a long time ago?" Beth asked as they entered the Mt. Moon Pokémon center.
"No, but now I do. Mew is a Meowth for now, though. I like Mew a lot, she's really fast." Sarie petted her new meowth who, like Nida, preferred not to be confined to a pokeball.
"Hello! Welcome to our Pokémon center. We heal your Pokémon back to perfect health. Shall we heal your Pokémon?" A nurse named Joy asked as they entered the center. A chansey stood next to her with a nurse's hat on.
"Yes, please. Is it OK if we sleep here for the night? We don't know anywhere else to stay." Beth asked Nurse Joy.
"That's fine with me, but please try to keep it down. The Pokémon need rest as well." The kind Nurse said. Beth and Sarie unrolled their sleeping bags and slept on the floor in one corner. A few other trainers also slept on the floor or the couch. As Sarie drifted off to sleep she had the strange impression that someone or something was watching her.


A lone clefairy hopped off of the Pokémon center windowsill and bounded away into Mt. Moon, a fearful look on its face. A long, jagged scar stood out on its soft, pink fur, shining white in the moonlight. It knew time was short for it and its tribe of Clefairys living in the mountain.


"Well, Draco, looks like we landed ourselves a catch of clefairys!" Millicent laughed as she spied on the Clefairy tribe living inside Mt. Moon. Draco laughed evilly as he held up a remote control.
"Yes. All we have to do is press this button and well have clefairys galore for the boss!"
"Don't touch that button, boulder brains! We need to make sure that the runty clefairy that we hurt the other day hasn't snitched on us!"
"Fine! But I won't wait very long, Millicent. They might escape!"
"Good morning, everyone! Rise and shine!" Nurse Joy and her chanseys woke everyone up with cheerful smiles and a hot cinnamon bun apiece. Sarie yawned and sent out Char and Flapper to enjoy the bun. Nidoran and meowth had already been out. Beth did the same for her squirtle and El Ekid.
"Mmm, this is quite good! How do you like it, Bubblebeamer?" Beth asked Squirtle.
"Squirtle, squirtle! Mmm!"
"He obviously likes it! How's yours, Mew?" "Meowth! Mmmeowth!"
"Let's get going. Unless we want to camp in the mountain, we have to move quickly. Return, Bubblebeamer! Ready, Chester?" "Chu!"
"Let's go, nida and Mew. We have a mountain to cross!" "Doran!" "Meeeeowth!"


The mountain was pitch black inside. The darkness gave both trainers chills as they made their way, bumping and stumbling, through the rocky inner tunnels. Sarie finally sent out Char, who lit the way for the two trainers. Mew and Nidoran trotted close to each other for comfort while Chester stayed close to Char.
"Melion, char. Char?" "I don't know how far it is, Char. We just have to keep going or else we'll never finish our journey and you'll never evolve into Charizard." "CHAR?! Char!"
"Squirt! Squirtle!" "Hey, squirtle's evolving?!" "Squirt? SQUIRTLE!!!!!!" "How Is he EVOLVING?!" "WAR!" "I don't know, he just did!" "Look, he just beat a zubat while we were talking to Char!" "Cool! Bubblebeamer is now a wartortle! Cool!" Char!" "War!"
Meanwhile on a ridge above our heros...
"Look! The squirts! Let's capture them in our super remote control net!" Draco whispered loudly. Sarie looked up and shouted "Look! It's team rocket!"
"That's right, so you'd better prepare for trouble!"
"Better make it double!" Shouted Millicent leaping over Sarie and Beth's heads. They began trading off lines, starting with Millicent.
"To defend our evil from devastation!"
"To steal all Pokémon in every nation!"
"To destroy all trainer's truth and love!"
"To extend our evil to the stars above!"
"Draco!"
"Millicent!"
"Team rocket's power is faster than the speed of light!"
"Better give up now or prepare to lose the fight!"
"Puuuuf! That's right!" At that moment an evil looking jigglypuff flipped over team rockets' heads and landed at Beth's feet. Beth promptly stepped on it. It let out a sound like a balloon with a hole. "We don't care for your tricks, Team Rocket! You'd better leave us alone!"
"Sorry, that won't happen! We are here to steal all of the pretty clefairys, and there's noting you can do about it!" Millicent gloated. "Hah, go Slythren!" Draco shouted Ekans slithered out of his pokeball.
"Ok, let me handle this one. Go, El Ekid!" "Kid!" "Slythren, bite!" "El Ekid, use its fangs to charge your thunder!" "Kid!" "Ekans!" Withing moments, Slythren was lying on the ground, paralyzed. Enraged, Draco returned his Ekans and sent out a nasty looking Zubat named Bat. Bat proceeded to suck the life from El Ekid. Sarie saw what was happening and sent out Mew. ""Meowth!" "Bat! Zubat bat!" Zubat fainted with one bite attack. Draco backed off to seethe by himself while Millicent sent out her own meowth. "Show the puny, girly meowth who's boss, Meowth!" "Meowth! Rrroawr!" The evil meowth slashed Mew across the cheek. Mew snarled and soon the two were locked in mortal combat, slashing and biting each other ferociously. Millicent's meowth was larger and stronger, but his muscles inhibited his movement. Sarie had seen similar instances where tomcats were beaten by smaller, younger males by speed. Sarie commanded Mew to break away from the other meowth. "Mew! If he grabs you with his front paws, the battle's over! He's coming! Wait for it . . . Jump!" Mew sailed over the big tomcat meowth's head and onto his back. She spun around, pulling fur as her claws fastened themselves into his broad shoulders. She slashed at the back of his head and bit his ears angrily. For a moment she had to hold on tightly to his cream-colored fur as he spun around, but soon he slowed, then fell into a battered heap at Millicent's feet. She screeched in rage as she returned her cat Pokémon. Sarie returned Mew to her side. Millicent's next Pokémon sent the cat scrambling up a stalagmite in fear. "Growwwwwww! Growlithe!" The puppy Pokémon barked. Sarie sent out her nidoran to battle. Nida was soon beaten down by numerous take-down attacks. The brave little poison pin Pokémon could barely move, and Growlithe's speed kept Sarie from saving her Pokémon. Suddenly Team Rocket grabbed Nida and ran up a rocky slope calling, "We got a nidoran, we got a nidoran!"
"No! Come back with my nidoran! No! Pidgy, go!" "Pidgy!" "Chester, climb on pidgy's back and go get them!" "Chu!" Pidgy flew powerfully after Team Rocket and their Evil Jigglypuff friend.
"Beth, lets head them off at the exit! Go, Charmelion! Light the way through the tunnels!" "Char!" Charmelion's tail flame cast a bright glow across the cave walls as he pounded forward.
"Bubblebeamer, see if you can blast through these rocks!" "Wartortle!" Beth's wartortle blasted a tunnel through the rocks stacked around the cave. Soon, the two friends burst through into sunlight.
"We made it! Now, lets set up an ambush!" "Right! Go, mew! Watch for them, and tell us when they're coming!" "Ok, El Ekid, get ready to shock them with your best thunder! Sarie, could you cover this net with brush?" "Ok, No problem! Char, go in that tree with this rope. We'll nab 'em in this net!" "Bubble, use a haze attack on the ropes so no one can see them." Beth and Sarie worked quickly and quietly to rig up a nasty surprise for Team Rocket.
Back in the tunnels...
"Draco, don't make me do all the work! Pick up this bag!" "Shut your trap, Millicent. I'm carrying more than my share. Let's just get out of here so we can give these clefairys to the boss." Team Rocket picked up their clefairy bag and jogged towards the exit and Sarie and Beth's trap. Jigglypuff shouted, "Look! It's that pesky meowth! Lets capture it to!" Team rocket ran after Mew, who cleverly led them right into the net. The trap sprung perfectly, and soon Team Rocket was up in a tree with jigglypuff. The clefairys hopped out of their bags and started tossing rocks at the net. Then, El Ekid shocked Team Rocket into space.
"It looks like Team Rocket's shocking off again!"
One of the clefairys hopped up to Beth and thanked her. The other timid fairy Pokémon nodded their thanks and then ran back into their cave refuge. Beth picked up the one bold clefairy.
"Do you want to come with us?" "Fairy!" "Ok, welcome to the team, clefairy!" And that was how Beth and Sarie beat Team Rocket a second time and saved the clefairy tribe.
Chapter 6
The Cerulean Sisters
"Hey, look! The gym! We gotta earn our badges!" Beth shouted when the two travel-worn trainers reached the Pokémon center. The gym loomed above them like a massive water temple. Sarie shook her head and walked into the pokecenter.
"We need to rest, Beth. The battle won't be easy for me. Char will be useless, Nida's ok. Flapper is also pretty good, and so's meowth, but none of 'em's really going to be to great against the water Pokémon in that gym." Sarie pondered as she strode into the pokecenter. The two trainers healed their Pokémon and slept soundly, dreaming of the upcoming gym match.
The next morning, the two trainers were rudely awakened by a loud female voice near their sleeping bags.
"Well, Diana, It looks like were the first ones up." Then another girl's voice; "Yes, but that's because were the only real Pokémon masters around here." Then the first; "Yes, they will call us Krad and Diana, the Pokémon masters."
Sarie remembered Krad from the gym, so she immediately jumped up from her sleeping bag, knocking Beth off of the couch where she had been sleeping. "Hey, Krad. I remember you from the gym match. How did YOU get a licence? You lost by three Pokémon!"
"Erika merely said that the match was unfair, and gave me my licence and my Pokémon. So there!" Krad sneered.
"So, you did lose by three Pokémon? I thought you said it was one!" Jessica glared at Krad.
"Ahem, some people are trying to sleep!" Beth shouted over the arguments. Chester pulled a nightcap over its eyes and curled up, emphasizing Beth's words.
"Well, some people aren't lazy, runt!" Diana screeched.
"RUNT! Take it back or prepare to get your rear kicked in a Pokémon match!" Beth did not like being teased on her short stature.
"Ok, lets go outside." "And I'll have a re-match with Sarie!"
The two trainers met outside to battle, right in front of the gym. Suddenly, three women emerged from the gym.
"Like, what's going on here?" Asked the first. Sarie got the impression of three valley girls.
"Just a little match. No biggie." Sarie shrugged. Krad turned a queer shade of red.
"Ok, that sounds, like, so cool! Come in the gym, then. Our fans would love to see a match!" The second sister said.
"Ya, that'd be like, soooo cool! Like, come on in and see the gym. Oh yea, and whoever wins gets the totally cool cascade badge! Oh, by the way, my name's daisy. Nice to meet you four." The third sister led them into the gym. It was like a huge aquarium with a giant pool in the center. The three cerulean sisters pulled a lane line across the pool and divided the floating platforms evenly. The four trainers faced off on these platforms. Sarie was worried that charmelion wouldn't be able to swim.
"Ok, go!" Daisy blew a whistle, starting the match. Sarie sent out pidgy vs Krad's rattata.
"Flapper, gust attack! Blow rattata into the water!"
"Rattata, jump up and bite it!" Pidgy's gust kept rattata down flat on the platform. Pidgy then dove in to swipe at Rattata. The rat Pokémon was knocked into the pool by pidgy's rock-hard wing.
"Rattata! No! You can't swim. Return! I choose you, farfetch'd!" "Fetched!"
"Flapper, break its leek!" "Farfetch'd, it's ok! Use your bill to beat pidgy!" Farfetch'd was a strong fighter, and flapper was soon beaten. Across the pool, Beth was having an interesting battle with Diana.
"Bubblebeamer, freeze the water in the pool over dratini's head!" "War!" The stocky wartortle froze the pool, trapping Diana's dratini under the water. Dratini broke through the ice, but was too weak to continue battling.
"Return, dratini. I choose you, gyrados!" "What?!" Diana's gyrados beat wartortle with one swipe of its tail. Beth returned her Pokémon, looking beaten. Across the pool...
"Now, Char, melt the ice out from underneath ryhorn!" "Char!" Ryhorn fell into the water with a 'plop!'
"Return, Ryhorn! Go, Tangela!" "Ok, good thing I know about this Pokémon. Char, Flamethrower!"
"Tangela, no! Return! Go, Parasect! Ok, spore attack now!" "Char!" Char fell into a deep sleep and slid off of the floating battle platform into the water. It woke up and scrabbled around for a moment before being returned by Sarie.
"Nidoran! Nida!" "You want to battle? Ok, go Nida! Poison sting!" Nida plowed into Parasect with her horn, fainting the bug Pokémon.
"Return, parasect! Wow, your nidoran is evolving!" Nida evolved into the powerful nidorina with a roar. Across the pool...
"I've only got one Pokémon left! Go, Porygon!" "What's that? Dixi, i.d. it!" "Porygon, a cyberspace Pokémon. This Pokémon is entirety made of programing code. It can slip freely in and out of computer systems." "Chester, short circuit Porygon like you did to Gyrados!" "Chu!" Porygon was disabled by the electric blast from pikachu. Beth grabbed pikachu and hugged it as Daisy gave her the cascade badge. Back on Sarie's side...
"No! Nida! Mew, go bring Nida back here!" "Meowth!"
"Hahah, I guess that my diglett was too much for you, huh? Well, do I win?"
"Not yet, Krad! Go, mew!" "Yowth!" Meowth dove through the water and rammed into Krad's platform, making both trainer and Pokémon fall into the water. Diglett fainted.
"Wow, that battle was, like, sooo cool! Here's your cascade badge, you guys!" Daisy gave two shining cascade badges to Sarie and Beth. Krad shoved Sarie into the pool as she passed by.
"Your still a loser, Cigam. I'll beat you next time."
"Sure you will, Krad. I could beat you with my eyes shut." Sarie bragged as she hauled herself out of the pool. Krad and Diana stalked out of the gym with their noses in the air.
"They look like a pair of peacocks." Beth giggled. Sarie laughed along with her friend, once again victorious and with two badges shining on her backpack. Beth adorned her belt with the badges.
"Next stop, Vermillion City!" "Chu!" "Nidorina!" "Meowth!"
Chapter 3
Chester's shocking showdown
"Hey, we have two badges already!" Sarie said to Beth as the two walked up the road to Vermillion City.
"Yup. We're pretty far along for such a short time! Our Pokémon are really strong too." Beth's pikachu, Chester, nodded in agreement. Nida hopped alongside the pikachu, purring happily in her throat.
"Nidorina, nido!" The Nidorina challenged Chester to a race. "Chu!" Pikachu agreed. Nidorina's larger size made her quick, but pikachu was much faster. Pikachu's short legs were mere blurs as he streaked past Nida. Nida panted as she raced to keep up, but Chester was just too fast. Finally, Nida slowed down to wait for her master. Chester hopped up along side her and complimented her on her speed.
"Hah, maybe I should just challenge the gym leader in Vermillion to a race!" Beth laughed.
Sarie checked her pokedex. "Err, I don't think that's such a good idea. The gym leader, Lt. Surge, uses electric type Pokémon. If he's using a Raichu, your pikachu might be beaten."
"Hmmm, this might be a very interesting match. There's the gym!" Beth shouted as she spotted the Vermillion City gym. The huge building was decorated with many lights and thunderbolts. Beth stepped inside with a gulp. Sarie stood in front of her and whispered, "It's best if I go first. You can see what his Pokémon are like, then you'll know who to send out." Then Sarie walked boldly to the center of the dark room. "Hello? I want a gym battle with Lt. Surge!"
"Well, well, well. Looks like a baby challenger! Are you ready to lose, little girl?" The Lt. mocked her. Lt. Surge was very tall, at least six feet. He was bare-chested with a leather vest, covered in medals. Sarie glared at the haughty gym leader, not in the least intimidated by his speech. She followed him to the gym floor, where electric lights glared from the walls.
"Three Pokémon each! I choose you, Electrode!" Sarie chuckled to herself as she sent out Mew.
"Go, mew. Slash!" "Electrode, Explode now!" "Mew, duck!" Meowth dodged the flying shards of metal as electrode exploded. Lt. Surge returned the remaining shell of the bomb-like Pokémon, glaring at Mew.
"This one's not going to let your kitty cat win! Go, electabuzz!" An angry looking electabuzz kicked Mew in the air, then shocked the meowth. Sarie grabbed her cat Pokémon and set it down next to Nida.
"Go, char!" "Charmelion!" "Char, fire spin now!" "Chaaaaaaar!" Electabuzz was engulfed in a fiery tornado. When char stopped breathing flames, electabuzz fainted.
"Your down by two, surge! Send out your last Pokémon, my charmelion needs some more easy exp!
Stung by the taunt, Lt. Surge sent out his 'worst' Pokémon. It was a jolteon. "Jolteon, double kick!" Charmelion fell to the floor under a rain of heavy kicks from jolteon.
"Return, char! Nida, go on out there!" "Nidorina!" "Nida, show the jolteon your double kick!" Nida's feet were far more powerful than jolteon's. The electric eevee fell with a thud.
"Fifth badge, you're mine!" Sarie shouted as Lt. Surge gave her the thunder badge. Beth laughed as she stepped up to battle.
"Hey, Surge! I want a match too! Go, Chester!"
Lt. Surge fell over laughing when Chester hopped into the middle of the gym floor. "Hahahah! The short baby sends out a short baby toy! Hahah! Go, Raichu!" "Raaaaaaichu!"
"A Raichu! Pikachu's evolved form! Chester, don't let it scare you!" "Chu!"
"Raichu, beat that pikachu with mega kick!" "Chester, wait until you can grab its foot, then use your seismic toss!" "Chu!" Raichu aimed a powerful kick at Chester, but the agile mouse Pokémon dodged easily. It swung Raichu hard by the foot, then tossed the Electric Pokémon towards a wall. Raichu pivoted in mid-air, then landed easily on its feet. Enraged, Raichu charged at pikachu with the intent of grabbing the smaller Pokémon around the waist and squeezing it.
"Chester, remember what Mew did to Millicent's meowth? Jump now!" Chester cleared Raichu's head with a giant leap. Raichu could not turn very fast, so Chester hopped onto its back with incredible ease. Then, it grabbed onto Raichu's tail and touched the tip of it to Raichu's cheek. The high voltage power from the electric sacks stunned Raichu for a moment, which was all the time Chester needed. The smart pikachu touched its own tail tip to Raichu's other cheek and let loose with a thundershock that smashed Lt. Surge and Beth into the walls. Overloaded with voltage, Raichu began to let forth blasts of electricity. Chester had been waiting for this. Quick as lightning, the pikachu tied Raichu's tail to its cheek and leaped off of Raichu. The larger evolution tried to shock Chester, but shocked itself instead. Raichu fell to the gym floor with a thud that shook the walls.
"Go Chester! Thanks, buddy!" Beth petted her pikachu behind the ears.
"Wow, your pikachu is really great! It's better than that Ash kid's pikachu. You both deserve a round of applause." Lt. Surge and all of his Jr. Trainers clapped for Sarie and Beth, who seemed unstoppable. The two trainers stopped the applause with waves of their hands.
"I think it's our Pokémon who deserve the applause. Great job, guys!" Sarie, Beth, the jr. trainers, and the gym master all clapped loudly for the four Pokémon who had won the day. Then, Lt. Surge handed Beth and Sarie a free meal (up to 50 $) at the Vermillion Port Café.
"I ran out of Tms, but this restaurant has the best food in town. I especially like the pot roast!" The Lt. laughed.
"Thanks so much, Lt. We'll eat there tonight before we head off to Lavender town." Sarie pocketed the gift certificate.
"Well, you missed the St. Anne cruise round the world. She left port just a few days ago. That Ash kid and his friends got free tickets. Hmph, I wish I could have gone on the cruise." The Lt. frowned.
"What? Ash got here first? No way! Hey Beth, we need to get going. No little kid with a pikachu on a string is going to beat us!"
"Your right. Lets go eat, then we can wake up early tomorrow. Hey, its Christmas eve! I almost forgot! Lets go get a tree."
"Err, you go get the tree, Beth. I have a bit of... shopping to do for tomorrow. 'K? I'll meet you at six in the pokecenter."
"Heh, ok. You go 'shop' and I'll get a tree. See ya at six!"
After Beth left, Sarie inspected her wallet. "Hmmm, only 1000 yen. I'll see what I can do. Nida, lets go get Christmas gifts!"
Chapter 7
The Christmas Surprise
Beth stepped briskly into the Vermilion Forest to find the tree. Chester made suggestions about which kind would be best for a Christmas tree. Clefairy, nicknamed Moonstone, suggested that a quick slash attack from her would cut down the tree. Finally, Bubblebeamer hit paydirt. A huge and beautiful fir tree stood at the edge of the forest, just waiting to be cut down as a holiday tree. Clefairy chopped the tree down and helped Bubble, Beth, Chester, and El Ekid to carry the tree to the Pokémon center. Nurse Joy greeted them at the door.
"What a beautiful tree! Do you want to display it here?" She asked.
"Sure! I think that all of the other trainers will love to admire this tree. Do you have decorations we could use to decorate it?"
"Yes, we have a lot of nice decorations. Chansey, could you bring the box of tree decorations out?" "Chan-See!"
"Hey, you look like the nurse Joy from Cerulean, Celedon, and Pewter! What's up with that?"
"Well, the Joy in Pewter is my first cousin, the Joy in Celedon is my twin sister, and the Joy in Cerulean is my little sister!"
"Uhh, ok. That's weird. I have to go get Christmas gifts for my Pokémon, could you decorate the tree?"
"Sure. Maybe your Pokémon will want to shop for you. You can leave them here and my Chanseys will take them shopping!"
"Ok! Chester, Bubblebeamer, El Ekid, Moonstone, come out!" Beth's Pokémon made themselves at home in the center.
"Ok, I'm off to buy Christmas gifts!"
At the Vermillion shopping center...
"Hey, Nida, do you think I should buy Beth one of these funky radio things?" "Nid." "No? Ok, how about a gold-plated pokeball containing a magikarp?" "NIDORINA!" "No, ok, ok! Oh, look! An eevee! How about that?" "Nida!" "Ok, lets go buy it! Ohhh, it costs a bunch. How will we ever afford it?"
"You look like you want to buy this eevee, madam. If you can capture it, you can keep it." The owner said.
"Ok! Nidorina, get ready for an eevee chase!" "Nida!" Eevee launched itself out of the box at Nida, bowling the poison Pokémon over. Nida wasn't nearly fast enough to catch the fox-like Pokémon, so Sarie sent out Flapper. Even it couldn't catch eevee, but it wasn't done yet. It began to glow, evolving into a pidgeotto. Even then, it was too slow. So it once again began to glow. Sarie was amazed when her once-tiny little pidgy became a Pidgeot! The huge bird Pokémon could glide at speeds of up to match 2, so it easily snagged eevee. Sarie tossed a pokeball at eevee and captured it! She got the pokeball wrapped in cute paper, then placed the gift in her backpack. Nida took Sarie's pokeballs away to do a bit of her own shopping. Sarie returned to the pokecenter after a quick stop at the pokemart for a few potions and gifts for her Pokémon, as well as a cherry wood box containing three evolution stones for the eevee.
Beth, on the other hand, was far from done. She had bought a moonstone necklace for Clefairy, a tiny pair of sunglasses for Chester, a special shell-shiner for Bubblebeamer, and a pair of yellow ear muffs for El Ekid. After all, it was December. She was stuck on a gift for Sarie, though. What would she want? Then she spied a strange looking two headed fluffball in the corner of the store. It turned out to be a female doduo.
"Who are you, little girl? Are you lost?" Beth took out her pokedex to ID the little bird Pokémon.
"Doduo, a twin bird pokemon. This pokemon's two heads are used in planning attacks. It is very intelligent.."
"Dododuo!" (No one wants to buy me because I'm worthless!)
"Oh, I'll buy you, Doduo. How would you like to be a gift to my friend?"
"Dod!" (Sure!)
"Ok, hop into this pokeball and I'll take you with me."
"Doduo!" (Yay!)
Back at the center....
"Wow, Beth did a nice job on the tree! It looks great! And look at all the gifts underneath! Heres one from Chester and one from Bubblebeamer, even the other trainers left gifts for each other under here! Who's this Roxanne kid? I've never seen her. Hmmmm, even Krad and Diana put gifts under here! Wow." Sarie looked over here gifts to her pokemon and Beth and placed them decoratively underneath the tree. She even had purchased a gift for nurse Joy and her chanseys. After placing the gifts, she ran outside with many other trainers to watch the snow fall and play in it. Nida, Mew, Flapper, and Char quickly put a load of presents beneath the tree and ran outside to play. Beth snuck in the back, and was soon outside along with her friends.
"Wartortle! Tortel war tortel?" (This is great! Who wants a sled ride?) "Chu!" "Char!" "Geottot!" (Me!) (ME!) (I'm to big!)
"Hahah, look at them play! They're having so much fun!" Beth giggled as Bubblebeamer slid down a snow bank with Chester and Char on his shell.
"Hey, lets go build a snow pokemon!" Sarie shouted. "How about that new Mewtwo thing?"
"Sure! How about over there next to that tree?" "Sure!"
Another trainer with purple colored hair stepped up to them. "Can I help?" She asked. Sarie had a feeling she knew the girl from somewhere.
"Sure! My name's Sarie, she's Beth. What's your name?" "Roxanne Petani. Nice to meet ya. Can my pokemon help?"
"Ok, no problem, Roxy." Sarie didn't know where the nickname had come from, nor did she understand the slight tingling sensation of remembrance at the back of her head. She also didn't notice Beth's confusion.
"Have I seen you before? You're name sounds so familiar." Roxanne asked.
"Err, I don't think so. Anyway, that's ok! Nida, do ya want to help us build a snow mewtwo?" "Nida!"
"Ok, Sirius, let's build a snow mewtwo!" "Ark!" A huge Arcanine sprang from a wrist bracelet pokeball onto the snowy ground. Sarie again had a very weird feeling of deja vu, but she didn't show it. The arcanine plowed snow towards the three humans and pokemon with overlarge claws. Nida helped pat the snow into legs and a tail, while Beth and Chester gathered sticks and rocks for foundation and decoration. Sarie worked on a body, while Roxanne sculpted the head. After about an hour, the mewtwo had taken shape. Dirt colored the 'skin' grey while berry dye stained the stomach and tail purple. The finishing touch consisted of two broken masterball panels for the eyes and tennis ball fingers. It looked like a mewtwo ready to strike, and all the other trainers were awestruck by the six foot tall snow pokemon. Roxanne, Beth and Sarie shook hands afterwards.
"Nice! Now how 'bout a poke battle?" Roxanne challenged. Sarie was a bit surprised, but agreed. A pokemon battle was a welcome chance to evolve her meowth.
"Ok, let's go. I'll ref!" Called Beth. The trainers gathered around to watch the fight.
Suddenly, a pink mew-like pokemon appeared from the snow clouds and landed on Sarie's shoulder. "Myst!" it called.
"What the heck is this?" Sarie grabbed the pink pokemon firmly around the waist and stared at it. Not only did it have black-as-night wings, but it also owned a pair of sharp, black horns on its head and one on its nose. Needle-like retractable claws stuck out of its long feet and short paws. It was bonier and taller than a mew, but it had the same long, thin tail and basic shape. Anyone would have thought that it was a devil mew. For some reason, Sarie knew what it was as soon as she saw it. "Mysterio!" She shouted. Beth looked at her like she was nuts. Roxanne grinned in satisfaction as Sarie recognized the bird-like pokemon. She hid it from the other trainers and laughed.
"You didn't even recognize your own pokemon? Hah! Lets get this, err, SHORT battle over with!"
"Take it back! Hey, little thing, do ya think ya could just hold up a sec while I beat the crud outta this here Roxanne?" "MYST! Myst, st!" (Sure! But you'll need me...)
"I choose you, Kirby!" "Hiya!"
"What?! Ok, then, I choose you Mew!" "Meeeowth!" "Mew, use the famous jumpslash!"
"Kirby, final cutter!" "Ok!" Kirby launched himself into the air and crashed down with an energy sword, inches away from the leaping meowth. Mew felt her fur singe from the blade, and was enraged. Spinning around in mid air, she planted her front paws firmly on kirby's head. The small puff ball spun around and threw Mew off of him. Then, he grabbed Mew and jumped up, then crashed her into the ground in a move known as Body Slam... Kirby style! Mew was flung into Sarie's arms.
"MEW! Are you ok? Go use your payday!" "Meeeeeowth!" Mew dashed from her owner's arms and bashed Kirby into Roxanne, who lost her wallet. While kirby was helping pick up the change, Mew finished the battle with a slash attack. Kirby fell over and rolled for a while before Roxanne was able to return him into her pokeball.
"Grrrr, go Sirius!" "Ark!"
"Mew, your evolving!" "Persian!" "YESSSSS! I got a persian! Now, lets see who's better, the dog or the cat? Persian, screech!" Persian howled a high pitched note at Arcanine, who fell over from the sound. Then, while Arcanine was still stunned, Persian landed a slash attack on Arcanine. The huge dog flew into a rage and flung persian into the snow mewtwo. Then, it clawed Mew until the cat pokemon fainted. Sarie grabbed Persian and placed it on the snow beside her while she calculated her next move. She thought of her remaining pokemon. She had Pidgeot, Mysterio whom she didn't want to use, and her Nidorina. She also had Char. He was a fire type, so Arcanine's fire attacks would be useless. Char had good normal attacks, so he was a good bet. She sent out the Charmelion to beat Arcanine.
"Char, use a jump slash attack!" "CHAR!"
"Sirius, Fireball!" "Ark!" Char dodged an enormous fireball and jumped into the air. It slashed Arcanine's back as it went. The already weakened Dog Pokemon fainted. Roxanne Returned this pokemon and sent out a Massive Charizard. It proceeded to beat Char, Flapper, and Nida with slash attacks. Sarie was devastated. Mysterio was on the battle field in an instant. It flew into the air and taunted Charizard. The big fire lizard was no match in speed and was quite clumsy in the air. As it flew in circles to get at Mysterio, the bird pokemon caught hold of its tail and doused it with water. Charizard fainted.
"Nice one, mysterio, we might have to keep you after all!" Sarie patted the bird poke on the head.
"Nice battle, Sarie. We might make a master out of you after all." Roxanne patted Sarie on the shoulder. Sarie looked over at her to ask what the heck she meant, but Roxanne was already walking away.
"Hey, Rox, wait! Thanks for the compliment!" Roxanne, though, did not turn. She disappeared in a cloud of dust before Sarie's very eyes!
"What?! Did you see that?" She asked Beth. Beth was not listening, rather she was glaring at Mysterio.
"That thing broke my pokedex!" She raged. On the ground in front of Beth was a blackened lump of metal, still smoking and sizzling.
"How did she do that?" Sarie was puzzled. Beth explained that she had just been trying to ID Mysterio when her pokedex had exploded. Sarie took her own computer out of her pocket and searched for Mysterio's name. It brought up an odd static picture and began speaking.
"Mysterio, the glitch pokemon. This pokemon will use a magnetic field around its body for protection against electric pokemon, such as Magnaton. The magnetic field will destroy pokedexes that come within 2 feet of this pokemon."
"Wow, she's pretty cool! Hey, Beth, why don't we battle pikachu and mysterio? Who'd win?" Sarie said.
"OK! FINE WITH ME! PIKACHU, GO KILL THAT POKEDEX DESTROYER!!!!!" Beth shouted at the top of her lungs. Pikachu lunged out at Mysterio, shocks and sparks flying from both cheeks. Mysterio fluttered just out of pikachu's reach, then dove in for the attack. Pikachu blasted an electric shock at Mysterio, but the mew pokemon flew right through it unscathed. Sharp fangs met yellow and brown fur as Mysterio grabbed Pikachu by the tail and hefted it into a tree. Then, mysterio sat down beside Sarie and proceeded to groom itself. Pikachu leaped down from the tree and kicked at mysterio. Mysterio just hopped out of the way, and pikachu fell on its butt. Sarie was beside herself with laughter. Mysterio merely sniffed in mock anger and indignation at pikachu.
"Chuuuuu" Pikachu hid behind Beth's leg. Beth was seething.
"That stupid thing isn't even a POKEMON! It's a GLITCH!" Beth kicked Mysterio's tail.
"Hey, don't insult Mysterio! She's a pokemon too!" Sarie picked up her sniffling pokemon and cooed to it.
"Well, it is." Beth was beginning to feel sorry for what she had said. Mysterio was weird, though, and Beth's instincts told her it was no good. "Sar, just keep it inside a pokeball and I'll be happy." Beth said.
"Ok, fine. Be that way. Mysterio, return!" Mysterio yelped as it was sucked inside Nida's pokeball. Sarie felt bad for cooping her up like that, but it was the only way to keep her safe. She whistled for Mew and Nida to come. Beth followed inside silently.
The next morning, Sarie and Beth forgot their quarrel the day before. It was Christmas! The two trainers, along with everyone in the Pokecenter, released their pokemon to enjoy the day. Pikachu forgave Mysterio for the day, and Mysterio forgave Beth. Sarie's pokemon gathered around Mysterio cautiously, sniffing her experimentally.
"Who're you?" Nida growled.
"Mysterio" Was the small reply.
"Hmpf, you don't smell like any pokemon I've ever seen. Ah well, welcome to the team!" Nida patted Mysterio on the back, nearly knocking her over. Flapper, Mew, and Char all gathered around and greeted Mysterio. The bird pokemon blushed with embarrassment at all the attention she was getting.
"Let's open the gifts!" Beth said as she handed doduo's pokeball to Sarie.
"Here, this one's for you!" Sarie gave eevee to Beth. They both gasped in surprise as the red coloring of the pokeballs showed through the paper.
"Let's open them together. One, two, three! Pokeball, go!" "Vee?" "Doduo!"
"WOW! A doduo! Ohhh, she's soooooo cute!" Sarie hugged the doduo, which was beaming with all the love it was receiving. Beth's new eevee was licking her face so hard, she had fallen backwards.
"Doduo, what should we name ya?" Sarie took out her pokedex and accessed Lavender town's Name Rater.
"Why, hello Sarie. Who's getting a new name today?" He asked. Doduo pecked the screen experimentally.
"I see, a doduo. Well, what's her new name?" The name rater asked.
"I think Stryka is a good name. What do you think, Stryk?" Doduo hopped about joyfully, showing extreme happiness at her name.
"Hey, Mr. Name Rater? Could I name my Vaporeon?" Beth had discovered and unwrapped the stones and immediately evolved Eevee into Vaporeon.
"Sure, Beth. What should we name it?"
"Waterpup!" Beth exclaimed. Vaporeon hopped around happily.
"It seems you both have very good names for very good pokemon. Good bye for now!" The name rater switched off.
"Thanks, Beth!" "Same to you, Sarie!" Both trainers hugged, looking very much like sisters. In fact, it was almost unnerving how much like sisters the two looked.
Chapter 8
Ryvee? What's a Ryvee?
Stryka was having trouble adjusting to life in a team. Pidgeot had the crazy idea that the Doduo was going to steal its position as the lead flyer. Seeing as Pidgeot was everyone's friend, any enemy it made was everyone's enemy.
(From this point on, all pokespeak is translated into human speak)
"Hey, two heads, where do ya think you're going?" Nida grabbed doduo's two necks and yanked them to her.
"I-I-I was just going to g-go get some food, Nida..." The doduo's two heads spoke in unison.
"Well, you can't. Not until the rest of us get food. Now you just park your little, feathery butt right here and SIT!" She bellowed. Doduo fearfully complied.
"Hey, Nida, how're you? There's some good eats with our masters!" Waterpup pointed her tail fin towards Beth and Sarie's camp.
"Ok, I'm coming. Tell the others that I'll be right there." Nida dragged doduo through the trees.
"Please, let me go!" Stryka's one head cried pitifully.
"Yes, please!" The other head yelped as Nida's grip grew tighter.
"Shush, two heads! I'll let ya go, just hold on! I gotta make sure that Flapper isn't anywhere around!" Nida growled. Doduo was puzzled, but kept quiet. A little ways further into the forest, Nida let Stryka go. The twin bird rubbed its beaks over its sore neck and whimpered. It truly thought Nida was out to kill it.
"Stryka, I'm not gonna eat you or anything! I don't like the way flapper's been acting lately. He seems changed, like you brought out the worst in him. I'm trying ta save ya. Just play along when we get back to camp, ok?" Nida patted Doduo's heads in a friendly manner. Doduo saw that she was sincere, and thanked her.
"Nida, thanks. I really, really appreciate your help... Yark!" Nida clamped her paws over Stryka's two beaks and motioned for silence. Suddenly, flapper dove from the trees at them.
"Traitor nidorina! I knew you were bad all along!" He squawked as he pinned her to the ground with steely talons.
"Go get help, Stryka! Go! Aaarrg!" Nida squealed in pain as the talons closed over her throat.
"Ryvee, get her." Flapper said in a bored voice.
Stryka had only a moment to puzzle over what a Ryvee was before a large brown furball pounced on her back.
"Don't move, bird, if you value your life." The voice of this creature was like oil sliding over water.
"Get off me! Nida!" Stryka turned one head around to attack the thing. Its eyes met with a pair of white and black eyes... that is, black eyes with white slitted pupils. A foul breath washed over doduo's beak. It smelled of death and pain.
"I said to stay still, bird. I meant it." The thing unsheathed three claws on one paw and pressed them into Stryka's side. Stryka saw sparks forming on the beast's two yellowish cheek spots and realized that this thing was an electric type! She stood still, feeling a dribble of blood from the beast's three claws. She didn't feel any pain, but knew it was because she was numb with fear.
"Nightshade, bring the doduo to me." Flapper beckoned to the beast, who was apparently named Nightshade.
"What are you?" Stryka managed to gasp out as Nightshade dragged her towards the Pidgeot.
Nightshade's oily voice growled into Stryka's ear. "I am your worst nightmare, bird. I am a Ryvee."
Back at the camp...
"Where's Flapper and Nida? They're missing out on the sushi!" Chester asked. Mysterio thought to itself for a moment.
"It seems that they have been missing for a while. Stryka's with them as well. That can not be good. I beleive Stryka is in danger." Mysterio's calm voice unnerved the high-strung pikachu.
"Danger? Pidgeot wants to kill Stryka, who is out in the woods alone, and all you can say is DANGER?! Mysterio, it's more like she is going to be DEAD soon! We have to DO something!" The nervous pikachu hopped around, shocking the entire group of eating pokemon. Mew picked up the electric pokemon and shook it.
"Chester! Listen to me! Stryka-is-not-going-to-die! She will be safe! Nida is with her!" The persian's smoking fur seemed to calm the pikachu. It laughed.
"I shocked you all, didn't I? Hahahah... hah..." It looked up to see five very angry eyes staring at it. Wartortle brushed ashes off of his shell and punched Chester. Char caught the pikachu and roared at it. Persian strode up to Char and forced him to let Chester go.
"Char, the pikachu's right. Come on team, let's go!" Mew tossed Chester onto her back and leaped towards the woods, followed by a Wartortle, a Charmelion, and a Mysterio. El Ekid, Vaporeon and Clefairy were safe inside Beth's pokeballs. They were too timid to fight anyway.
"Umm, where are we going?" Wartortle asked. His feeble sense of smell could not detect anything, and his sight and hearing were useless in the deep forest. Persian looked worried.
"I can't smell them anymore. I wish we had an arcanine with us. It could sniff them out in no time." The way persian was talking about its enemy was even more worrying than the fact that is could not smell them. It meant things were really bad.
"Hey! Dried blood! Over here, too! It smells like Nida's blood. That over there is Stryka's blood, I'd know her's anywhere." Mysterio said. No one wanted to ask how she knew Stryka's blood scent so well.
"Well, do you know where they went?" Char asked impatiently. All the trees were making him nervous.
"Lend me pikachu a moment, will ya?" Mysterio said. Without warning, she grabbed Chester and flew into the trees.
"Can you see any more blood?" She asked. Chester used his vision to spot more dark droplets on the forest ground.
"There!" He shouted. Mysterio dove and dropped Chester lightly on the ground before hovering over the red marks.
"Nidorina. And Doduo. They were hurt right here, I can smell it. Not much blood, it .looks like they were bashed with something. Ahah!" Mysterio grabbed a tree branch with her mouth.
"Chester, send up a flash so they know to come here." Mysterio said.
"Chuuuuuu!" Chester shot up a thunderbolt into the sky. Soon, the sounds of pawsteps alerted Mysterio to her friend's approach. Persian winkled her nose at the smell. She could sense the pain too. Wartortle and Char were oblivious, though. Char wandered over to Mysterio and sat on his haunches.
"What's that stick for?" He demanded. Char was always angry.
"It is a stick used to beat Nida and Stryka. Can you identify claw marks?" Mysterio asked simply. Char took the stick and blasted flames at it. Mysterio did not flinch, but the others gasped in surprise.
"That was evidence!" Mew snarled.
"That, my furry friend, is science." Char changed now that he had something to work on. He gathered the ashes and placed it on a leaf. He yanked a hair from Persian's paw and placed it in the pile.
"Ouch! Why did you do that?" She snapped.
"That was evidence!" He mimicked. Mew sulked away to mumble to herself while Wartortle watched with interest as Char lit a fire. He took a flat rock and picked up the burning embers. Then, he added the ashes and Mew's hair. Finally, he told Wartortle to put out the flames.
"Now, use thundershock to electrify this pile." Char held the damp ashes to Chester. Chester shocked the embers, making them glow.
"Hmm, this is pidgeot and something else. See how it glows white and black? White is pidgy, I don't know what black is. It smells evil, though. Mysterio, Flapper is behind this. The black thing, it also smells powerful. We may not survive this, but we have got to save them. Nida and Stryka, they are friends!" Char's tail flame blasted them all with heat as he became enraged.
"Wait for meeeeeee!" The voice of Waterdog rang through the trees. She skidded to a stop next to Mew.
"I know where they are, and you'll die if you go in there!" Her eyes were wide with fear, and she panted heavily form terror.
Chapter 9
Nightshade evolves
"Ryblade, I have the captives here...." Nightshade purred in her oil and water voice. Her body was merely a shifting shadow in the darkened central cavern.
"Good. Bring them to me. I will deal with them. Do not leave this place until I give a command. These captives have brought new opportunities, you will be rewarded." Another voice, one of pure fury, rang out in the still darkness. In spite of herself, Nightshade shivered.
"Yes, Ryblade. I shall do as you ask."
In the clearing...
"Mew, get yer tail moving! We gotta go. Nida, she needs us." Char was showing the first signs of kindness since his evolution.
"Someone's got a girlfriend..." Mew growled under her breath. Wartortle hoped that no fights would break out, he hated fights. Mysterio just flew in morbid silence, engrossed within her own thoughts. Chester was dragging Waterpup along on a vine, determined to keep her from freezing them all to the ground. Waterpup herself was incoherent with fear.
"Stop." Mysterio demanded when they reached a clearing. The pokemon skidded to a halt, ending up with Mew, Waterpup, and Chester in a tangled blob.
"Let me go! Let me GO!" Waterpup burst free and ran back the way they had come. Chester glared at her fast receding form and dusted himself off.
"Let her go. She almost bit me!" He growled, pointing to his scuffed up tail.
"She DID bite me!" Mew snarled, nursing a slashed up tail.
"Want me to burn it so we can see who bit it?" Char smiled, breathing flames.
"Quiet! No fights!" Wartortle put a paw between the three.
"All of you, shut it now. We are in danger. Now, we must not fight. No fighting. Dig now, here." Mysterio began to dig into the ground, followed by Chester, Mew, Wartortle, and a reluctant Char. Suddenly, with a huge crack, the earth split! The four pokemon who could not fly fell into a black underground cave. Just as they got to their feet, many vines tied them down.
"Now we have them." Snarled an evil voice close by.
At the camp...
"Chester! Bubblebeamer! Waterpup! Where are you?" Beth shouted.
"Nida! Char! Mysterio! Come back! MEW!" Sarie shouted. No one answered. Suddenly, two huge forms slammed into the backs of their heads. Sarie's shout of panic was cut short by a slam to the back of her head. Beth only saw a pair of black eyes with white slit pupils before a clawed paw smashed into her face...
In the dark cavern...
"You have the two trainers?" Snarled Ryblade. Nightshade dragged the two limp human forms towards the source of Ryblade's voice.
"I have them here. What do you want me to do with them?" Nightshade asked.
"Place them in a cell. Then come back to me." Ryblade growled dangerously.
Nightshade dragged Beth and Sarie by their arms into a very dark, very dank cell far below the earth. Sarie groaned as she felt the Ryvee's fangs on her arm. She was about to do something about it when the pain from her head hit. She fell unconscious again.
"Good, you are waking up. More pain." Nightshade laughed. She smirked as she assessed the two human's wounds. The smaller one had slash makes across her forehead and left shoulder. Minimal damage. Nightshade would have to have a talk with the Ryteon in charge of bringing the small trainer in. The taller one was a different story, though. Nightshade liked what she saw. The girl not only had slashes over her face, but across her back and both arms as well. One eye was swollen shut, and a bruise ran up her side. Ryflares were a heavy species. Nightshade knew both trainers would be quite upset when they woke up. She laughed sadistically as she bounded back to Ryblade's chamber. Within moments, she was just a shadow again.
In Ryblade's chamber...
"Master, the two humans are locked away in the cell farthest away from their pokemon. What are your orders?" Nightshade asked.
"You have done well, Ryvee. It is time you evolved." Ryblade's words sent a shiver of excitement and a glimpse of fear through Nightshade. Hadn't the others told her that evolution was painful? Ryblade handed her a box of evolution stones.
"Hmm," thought the Ryvee. Her master, Ryblade, was a very large creature. Ryblades were very strong, too. But it also meant that she might be killed by Ryblade in order to reduce the competition, so she left the leaf stone alone. Her paw touched the fire stone next. Ryflares had strong firepower, but they were too bright and big to sneak around, and too weak to defend themselves from multiple attacks. She sniffed the next stone, a thunder stone. Ryteon. There was a good evolution. Ryteons had spines for protection, and their coat was a fearful yellow. But they were just electric. Nothing special. She finally hit the water stone. A shiver want up her spine, and she knew that this was her stone. She placed both paws over it and shoved downwards.
"Ah, a Ryporeon. Good choice." Ryblade purred.
Nightshade squeezed her eyes shut against the pain beginning to creep up her spine. Suddenly, a cry of pain broke free from her throat as spines emerged around her neck, dragging the skin with them to form a frill. "This hurts..." She whimpered as her tail's end split and hardened, forming a tail fin. Skin grew, paper thin, between the tail ends. Ryvee's ears elongated and a long bit of skin, now light blue in color, curled into a spiral beneath her ear. A water droplet mark burned itself into her head.
Ryblade looked upon the half evolved Ryvee with what looked like sympathy. "Don't resist it, Nightshade. It will hurt, but even more so if you do not relax."
"It huuuurts" Her bones began to lengthen and bend, and she fell over from the sudden change. Her head ached as the weak electricity from her cheek sacks blasted into oblivion and new, more powerful electricity took their place. Ryvee fell over in pain as her spine lengthened.
"Get up now, Ryporeon. You are done." Ryblade extended a vine and picked up the new Ryporeon. Nightshade still felt shots of pain across her skin and bones.
"It hurts. It still hurts. Why?" Nightshade thought it would be over after she was finished evolving, but it was not.
"It will stop soon." Ryblade said as he dropped the Ryporeon. She limped away to check on the captives. Maybe that would stop this pain...
Chapter 10
Torture
"Ryteon! Ryflare!" Ryblade's furious voice tore through Sarie's thoughts and awakened her into reality. At first, she could not feel anything. Then, the pain hit her. The slashes across her head began to bleed again as she fell over. She could not stand up. The blood slowly found its way into her eyes, down her nose, and onto her torn shirt. She wiped an aching hand across her face to wipe away the blood. She stifled a scream as her fingers brushed over her swollen eye. What had happened?
"Beth, wake up!" Sarie's cracked and dry throat hurt, but she needed to make sure her friend was still alive. Beth's eyes fluttered open, but shut instantly again in pain.
"Where are we?" She asked. Her arm was broken.
"I, I don't know. We're really in trouble now. Where are our pokemon?" Sarie stood up, only to fall over again.
"What did this to us?" Beth asked as she looked at her wounds in shock.
"I don't know. I'm so tired..." Sarie leaned back against the rocky cell wall and instantly was asleep. Beth dragged herself next to Sarie and was asleep soon afterwards.
In Ryblade's chamber...
Two more Ryvee evolutions approached their master. One, a Ryflare, was massive compared to either Ryvee or Ryporeon. Its red fur shimmered as it walked, creating the illusion of moving flames. Her ears were long, black rods covered in flames, as was her tail. A ruff of super-heated fur bristled around her neck.
The second evolution was smaller than the first, but still larger than Nightshade's new evolution, the Ryporeon. It had black fur, bristling with yellow spines. Its tail sported a lightning bolt shape at its tip. Its ruff looked like lightning bolts. It was Ryvee's electric evolution, Ryteon.
"What do you wish, master?" The two spoke in unison, like twin devils.
"Where are the trainer's pokemon?" Ryblade asked. Ryflare shifted her flame-tipped tail in agitation.
"We did not get them. We could not find them. They rolled away when we pounced." The Ryteon said. He was clearly just as frightened as his sister, the Ryflare.
"Fools! You will pay." Ryblade stepped out of the gloom. His shaggy mane of vines brushed the ground like a blanket of snakes. His green-brown fur rippled, showing off his muscles. On his head were two black ear-rods supporting a thin leaf ear lining. His massive claws, each as big as Ryflare's ear, scraped along the ground eerily. He placed his black nose right up to Ryflare's.
"Fools must be taught a lesson." His voice was full of menace. He wrapped one of his three tails around Ryteon and Ryflare's necks and lifted them off of the ground. "I will teach you not to mess up." He growled again as he unsheathed his massive claws. "Time for pain." His claws came down upon the hapless Ryvees.
"Aaaaeeeeeeeeeee!"
"What was that?" Sarie was awakened from her sleep by an unearthly screech of pain.
"It was horrible." Beth shuddered involuntarily at the sound.
"Ryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyflaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... Arh!"
"There it is again! Something's in pain." Beth covered her ears. Sarie covered her own ears with her red and raw hands.
"Yeah, us." She sighed and leaned against the stone again. Beth was listening for the scream again.
"Ryteonnnnnnn!" This time, the cry was higher in pitch and shorter.
"There's two of them, whatever they are. They sound hurt." Beth sat on a rock and thought.
"Blade." A rumbling voice shook the rock walls. Beth shook with fear at the Ryblade's voice. A huge claw came through the wooden door and tore it open. They Ryblade grabbed Beth and Sarie with its vines.
"You will not resist." It said simply. Sarie kicked out at the beast, catching its elbow with her shoe.
"Yes.... we.... WILL!" Sarie and beth swung together, smashing Ryblade's nose from both sides. Greenish blood dripped from the Ryblade's snout.
"No, you won't." The Ryblade focused mental powers on them, and soon the trainers were shrieking with pain from inside their heads.
"You see, you can not resist. I will soon destroy all of the trainers in this world, including you. I can not stand a trainer's love for their pokemon. I also cannot stand the pokemon's love for their trainers. It disgusts me." Ryteon's foul breath hovered in a cloud around Beth's head, causing her to choke and cough.
"Beth! Are ya ok?" Sarie's worry for her friend seemed to infuriate the Ryteon. Sarie clutched her head in pain as Ryteon's psychic power reached into her brain.
"You see? Kindness only creates pain. It is a weakness. You shall see what kindness has gotten your pokemon." Ryteon motioned to the shadows, and two very battered looking Ryvee evolutions began to drag a cage towards him. Inside the cage, six bloody balls of fur and feathers groaned and stirred within the cage. With a gasp of horror, Sarie realized what the things were. They were her and Beth's pokemon.
"Every time they showed kindness, they were slashed. You see them now? That is how you will look soon." Ryblade grinned, showing razor sharp fangs.
"Stryka, Mew, Mysterio, speak to me!" Sarie screamed towards the cage. Beth echoed her with the names of her own pokemon. Ryblade lashed his tail, striking both bruised trainers across their faces. Blood dripped from their faces onto Ryblade's massive paws. He laughed.
"You see? It... Will... get... you... NOWHERE!" With each word, Ryblade's tails smashed down onto the trainer's head's. Sarie bit her tongue to stop herself shouting in pain, and Beth was too far gone to do anything but hang limp in Ryblade's massive paw. This seemed to please the huge grass beast, and it stopped beating them.
"Now, lets see what happens when we show you your pokemon?" Ryblade dragged the cage in front of her and kicked it. Stryka lifted one bruised head, the other one remained still. Her small wing was broken, and so was one long leg. Her other head made a feeble gagging noise, then fell silent. Nida raised her one remaining ear and the stump of the other one. Her back spikes had been worn down or torn off, and her fur was matted with dried and fresh blood. She patted Mew on the head, motioning for her to get up.
"Prrrr?" the persian purred feebly, looking around in fear. She saw Sarie, and instantly grew concerned. As she purred to her master to comfort her, the beat up Ryteon sneaked up behind her. Sarie watched in pain as the Ryteon tore through Mew's remaining ear. Mew wiped a paw over the bleeding wound, mute from shock and too many punishments. Sarie cried hysterically.
"You can't do that! LET US GO! LET US GO! LET US GOOOOOOOOOOO" Sarie kicked out furiously at the Ryblade, smashing her foot again into its nose. Green blood soaked her shoe, but she couldn't care. The Ryblade tore through Sarie's mind with psychic power, ripping through every memory, every though, everything she had ever done, searching for a very painful memory. Sarie shrieked aloud with pain, but continued to swing to and fro, lashing out with her blood-covered shoe. Finally, the Ryblade found what he was looking for.
"No, nooooo! Dad, the mewtwo, noooooooo!" Her screams echoed through the cavern as the Ryblade played her father's death through her mind, over and over again...
Chapter 11
Memories
Beth woke up to a splitting headache and darkness. She tried to open her eyes, but failed. She passed a raw hand over her eyelids and realized, with a sick jolt of horror, that they were crusted closed by her own dried blood. She clawed the blood from her eyes and opened them painfully. Where was she? The Ryblade's caves. She was still trapped.
"Sarie? Sar, wake up. Wake up! Now!" Beth knew Sarie was unconscious, and shouted into her ear to revive her. Sarie woke up screaming.
"Nooooo! Nonononononooo! No! Daddy!" She screamed incoherently. Just as suddenly as the screams had started, they stopped. Sarie opened her one eye that was not bruised shut and stared up at Beth without recognition.
"Who are you, and where am I?" Sarie asked. Beth felt a tingling at the back of her neck, but pushed the thought back. Sarie was fine.
"I'm Beth, Sarie! You're a pokemon trainer who's trapped in Ryblade's caves! Don't you remember?" Beth asked. Sarie stared blankly at her.
"Pokemon? Trainer? Beth? And what's a Ryblade?" Sarie shook her heads as a sudden pain shot through her skull.
"Sarie! Remember!" Beth felt tears stream down her bloody face. Sarie had amnesia!
"I hurt..." Sarie flopped over into unconsciousness again. Beth sat crying with her best friend's head resting in her lap.
It was dark and scary that night... Mom and dad locked the doors, they were afraid... The little girl trembled as her strong father picked her up and hugged her. It was safe in daddy's arms. No one could hurt her. Now Daddy gives the girl to her mother and stands by the door... The girl hugs her mother, trying to stop the tears coming down, splashing on the girl's hair... Mom sits the girl in the cupboard, tells her to stay there, the girl sees through the crack... Light! Flashes! A huge purple and grey pokemon is at the door, surrounded by black shapes... Daddy brings out a pokeball, but they steal it... Mommy is thrown into the wall... Blood stains, pain, father... Father is in the air! The black things step aside, now a bigger green thing comes through... Grass swishes over the wooden floorboards, claws click along the tile, now father's screams, gasps, her father, thrown against the stove... Red skin, now black, burnt skin... Now more blood, he is thrown again, into the cupboard! Claws, slashing, more black things. The cupboard shakes, falls over! The girl is thrown against the side, but no one notices... Silence, no mother or father to re-assure her that all is well. She creeps out of the cupboard and runs to her mother, who is bleeding from her head. She drags mother over to father, who is lying in a pool of red... Slashes, blood, pain, Father! Father! Come back!
"The humans are safely restrained?" Ryblade nursed a bruised nose, the green blood sticking to her fur.
"Yes. They are asleep. The larger one keeps crying out, but the small one just groans from the pain." Nightshade's body had stopped hurting, and now she reveled in the newfound power.
"Yes, I should have done a mind tear to the other one too... Oh well, I'll get around to it. How are the other captives faring?"
"The Doduo looks dead, or soon to be dead. The Nidorina is resisting, and the Mysterio isn't much fun. The persian is mute now, and so is the pikachu. They will soon be dead, all of them. When can we kill the humans?"
"Soon, Nightshade. I need to do a mind tear on the smaller one now, and then you may kill them. Hmm, why don't you bring them here now?"
"Yesssss" Nightshade's hiss of pleasure in the killing brought a smile to Ryblade's face.
"Ah, a Ryporeon after my own heart. Evil, pure evil. Go now."


Beth woke up to find Sarie sitting up, looking blindly at the wall. She had obviously not regained any memory. Beth sat up and scratched her head, only to find a cloth there, covering her wound.
"Wasn't your name 'Beth'? Anyway, you were bleeding so I decided to bandage you up. This jacket was hot anyway." Sarie held up her prized pokemon league jacket, now in shreds.
"You loved that jacket!" Beth cried in horror. Sarie stared at her puzzledly.
"I did?" She asked. Suddenly, Nightshade broke through the door. She wrapped her tail around Sarie's neck and dragged her forwards, then bit onto Beth's torn shirt and pulled her along. Beth tried to struggle, and succeeded in bashing Nightshade's paw. The Ryporeon howled then dropped Sarie.
"Hit her over the head with a rock!" Beth shouted to the bewildered Sarie. She picked up a rock of her own and deflected one of Nightshade's claws.
"Why?" Sarie had a rock, but didn't know why she had to whack such a cute creature. Beth was getting annoyed.
"Just do it!" She shouted. Sarie bashed the rock across the Ryteon's skull with a sickening thud. Ryteon dropped like a stone.
"Now follow me!" Beth hauled Sarie around the labyrinth of passages, kicking many Ryvees along the way. Finally, they found themselves in Ryblade's chamber. The sick beast was slashing at a pikachu. Beth realized it was her pikachu.
"Pikachu, thunder now!" Beth cried. Chester was spurred into action by his master's voice. He let loose with a thunderbolt that lit the cavern like a camera flash. The Ryblade smiled and laughed a bone chilling, evil laugh.
"Hahahah, this will be fun. I like games like catch. Or tag. Especially when I'm IT." The Ryblade let Chester go and prowled closer to Beth and Sarie. His claws snagged both of their shirts and they were lifted into the air.
"No! Let me go, you thing! What did I do?" Sarie had no idea what was going on, but Beth did. A probing mind forced its way into hers and began searching.
"You see, I plan to destroy all beings with the feeling 'love'. It sickens me. I have already killed many with my servants, such as Team Rocket and many pokemon. Hmm, I seem to remember destroying one of your families. Now who was it? I beleive it was yours. You can't remember, though, can you?" Ryblade snarled into Sarie's face.
Pain, blood, headache... Dad, mom! Wake up! Mom, daddy's not moving! Dead! DEAD! NOOOOO!
"NOOOOOO! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED MY FATHER!" Sarie slammed her foot into Ryblade's lower jaw as memories flooded back into her head. Beth, who had been in a trance-like state awoke with a start. Ryblade dropped both humans, roaring with pain as his jaw snapped.
"Now! Nida, Mew, Mysterio, Char, Bubblebeamer, Chester, ATTACK!" Sarie and Beth launched their bruised and broken bodies at the furious Ryblade. Nida pinned two Ryvees to the wall and tore at them with her fangs. Char viciously attacked the Ryflare, going into a rage unlike any the others had ever seen. Waterpup leaped through the hole in the roof, coming to save her master and friends. She landed on Nightshade who had come to help and began to smash her stiff tail fin into his head.
Mysterio hovered silently over the scene. Her memories stirred as she watched the fighting. Memories of the static... EVIL! They had created the static things. Die. She hurtled down onto the back of the Ryblade, ramming razor sharp, poison filled fangs into the thick, green skin. She smiled as blood and sap coursed down her neck. Battle.
Chester began to slam his small body into Ryblade's large one, bruising himself in the process. Wartortle (as he called himself because his own name was too long to say) saw his small friend beating himself up as he attacked the Ryblade, and leaped into the fray. Mew hurled herself onto Ryblade's head and attacked with all the fury of a full grown, rage-using Persian.
"This is for my Mother's owner, and this is for my abandonment, and this is for my ear! This is for Sarie and Beth and all of my friends! This is for all the pain and suffering and killing! This is for everyone who you've hurt or killed! This is for YOU!" Persian's claws flashed down again and again, reddening as blood flew from the wounds. It seemed she had hit a red blood vessel.
Sarie's eyes streamed with tears as she cried for her dead father and hurt mother, and for the pain she had felt. Her wounds and Beth's opened again, covering the cave floor with the blood of humans and pokemon alike. Finally, Ryblade fell. Beth fell back, panting from exertion. Sarie ran over to her Persian, who was still slashing Ryblade's head.
"Mew! Nida! Mysterio! Char! We won!" Sarie hugged her four pokemon, while Beth's three licked their owner's wounds.
"Chu, chu, pikachu! Pika pika chu! Chu chu chuuu!" Chester crazily hugged Beth. His bruised little body was broken and bleeding, but no where near Stryka's body. The doduo had been lying unconscious in the cage, but at the sound of Sarie's voice, she dragged into consciousness.
"Stryka! What happened to you?" Sarie picked up her near-dead pokemon and fearfully probed through her scabbed fur. Underneath, there was no in-tact skin left to be seen, and several bones poked grotesquely through the skin.
"We need to get her outta here. Now!" Sarie tried to pick herself off of the floor, but found it impossible to do so. Her body had given out after the fight, as had Beth's. She and her pokemon were now either asleep or not conscious. Sarie knew this was bad.
"Bra? Abra?" A very small, sleepy looking pokemon appeared in front of Sarie. It sniffed once, then shook its head in fear. Quietly, it floated Beth and Sarie towards it. Sarie could not resist.
"Abra..." The abra crossed its arms and squeezed its eyes tightly, then vanished along with Sarie, Beth, and all of their pokemon. Teleport was quite a handy move.
Chapter 12
Mysterio's tale
"Abra, abrabra! Abra!" The Abra pounded the glass doors of the Lavender Town Pokemon center, shouting at the top of his lungs. Behind him lay the bodies of two humans and their eight pokemon.
"What in the world... Oh my gosh! Joy, get help! There are eight Pokemon and Two humans out here in bad condition!" Nurse Joy of Lavender grasped Beth firmly underneath her shoulders and dragged her into the center. Another identical twin of Joy picked Sarie up and motioned for her chanseys to grab the pokemon. One Chansey gently grasped the body of Mysterio and gasped as her paw went right through the thin wing membrane. It had been torn completely off. She rushed after her companions, into the darkened emergency room. Many lives had to be saved.
Silent wing beats, bated breath,
Gusty winds, smells of deaths,
The missing ones of evil birth,
Shed dark clouds of evil across the earth.
Static beasts,
Mysterio cries,
Missingo fangs,
Mew's daughter dies,
Glitch of the future,
Glitch from the past,
Evil and good,
Mew and beast's fearful clash.


"Sterio!" Mysterio woke with a scream, beating her bloody and torn wings against the glass case which held her. She shook herself back to reality, and realized she was in the Pokemon Center's emergency care unit. She calmed down and breathed in the cool, oxygenated air. It was safe in here.
What had she been dreaming? Something evil, and bad. It hit her, sending a shiver down her spine. The Missingos.
She knew her specie's history very well. The Mysterio flocks of Cinnabar prided their heritage, although it wasn't the best in pokemon history. In fact, it was rather embarrassing.
When Mew was captured so many years ago, the scientists had just begun working on genetic engineering. Mew's DNA was taken and stored away to be used later. Mew herself was studied and tested, battled a dozen times a day and taught every TM or HM created. Her type was cataloged carefully, and her species recorded.
One day in late December, Mew broke out. She was very old, and rumors are that she died alone of age only weeks later. Her DNA, however, remained.
Years passed, with genetic engineering becoming more and more common. Ancient pokemon like Arodactyl were reborn from their fossilized DNA, just as powerful as ever. She scientists may have made another Mew, but this was never publicized. Instead, the researchers made their studies on creating more powerful pokemon clones from DNA public. Mew's DNA was the perfect testing bed.
So many attempts were made and failed. Many died from malformed organs, and some just died because they were not 'correct'. These were the perfectly healthy ones who were not strong enough to meet the scientist's demands.
Finally, the researchers found the pokemon they had been looking for. It was a mew with horns on its head and nose and bat-like wings. It was strong and interesting, and the studies began.
This beast was named Mysterio from its mysterious beginnings. It seemed to have a quiet temper, and was very friendly. The researchers loved it. Finally, he last test was preformed. A pokedex scan. When the electronic device got within three feet of the Mysterio, it exploded! One scientist of high honor was killed by the sharp metal shards. The Mysterio was scheduled to be destroyed. But their plans went wrong.
Mysterio escaped, realizing what was at stake. An entire species was at risk! She fled to the coastal caves of Cinnabar and eventually crossbred with several dittos, starting the Mysterio species.
In the lab, a new test to create a new pokemon out of over 100 different pokemon's genes had gone horribly wrong. The scientists entered the lab one day to find the glass containment device for their new hybrid smashed, and the lab in ruins. Many pokemon had been slain, others were badly maimed. One Bulbasaur lived just long enough to gasp out a few words to the shocked scientists.
"Missingo killed us all"
Missingo... The horrible beast made of static. It literally was an evil static ball, being the same color as the static on a TV screen. It reproduced by splitting, so soon the one Missingo became two, then four, and on and on. It had an inborn hatred of Mysterios, born from the fact that theirs was the only DNA not used in their creation. The Missingos had slaughtered most of the Mysterios, helped by humans who viewed the magnetic Mysterios as a virus.
Sarie's own Mysterio was one of the very few who had escaped their crumbling world, a world wracked by evil forces beyond the Mysterios.
That was where Sarie came in. She and her friend, as well as several other humans soon to join them, would save this world from the fate that had killed the other.
Chapter 13
Adnap's arrival
The first thing Beth noticed when she awoke was the absolute silence. She strained her ears, but could not hear anything but her voice. Her open eyes met with darkness, and her groping hands felt nothing but her bed, and air.
"Hello? Anyone here? Where am I?" She shouted into the all-encompassing darkness. Only silence answered her words. She felt down to where her pokeball belt should have rested, and felt only two of her five pokeballs. Now she was beginning to worry. She picked up one of her pokeballs and sat it on the bad, pushing the release the contents. A tiny voice sounded in the darkness.
"Clef? Fairy..." Beth's clefairy, Moonstone, grabbed onto her arm and stick there.
"Moonstone! I'm sure glad to see ya! Where are we?" Beth hugged her clefairy close. She picked up her other pokeball and pushed the release button.
"Kid! Elelekid!" Beth's spunky El Ekid hopped from his pokeball and looked around in annoyance. Darkness!
"El Ekid! I'm glad you're here. Use a flash attack now!" "KID!" The black room lit up like the inside of a lightbulb, causing Beth to put her hands over her eyes. El Ekid kicked down the door and guided Beth into the hallway. He sat her down in a chair and pried her hands off of her eyes. Beth blinked once or twice and shook her head. Moonstone patted her head and used a metronome-induced recover attack on her trainer. El Ekid growled viciously at passers-by, protecting Beth. Beth laughed and grabbed El Ekid around the waist. She hugged him ad told him that, because she was in a hospital, nothing would hurt her.
Just then, a girl with brownish colored hair and a very cheerful face walked up to Beth.
"Hi! You must be one of those girls who was brought in here a few weeks ago by that Abra. I'm Adnap Shiddo. What's your name?" Adnap was holding a strangely colored oddish in her arms.
"I'm Beth. Do you know where the other girl is? She's Sarie, my friend. And where's the Abra?"
"Err, the other girl is still in a coma. The Abra is with her, he won't leave her side. Nurse Joy says that they might not be able to wake her up." Adnap blinked back a tear.
"No, she can't be a vegetable for her whole life! She needs to become a pokemon master!" Beth shook her head, refusing to believe what Adnap had just said. El Ekid gasped and held onto Moonstone when he heard her proclamation.
"Beth! What are you doing awake!" Nurse Joy grabbed onto Beth's hand and gave her a complete lecture on the dangers of getting out of a Hospital Bed while still in critical condition. Beth pulled away and complained that she had been awake in that pitch black room, and that she was perfectly fine. El Ekid shoved at Nurse Joy, backing her away.
"She seems in good condition, Nurse Joy. She wanted to see Sarie." Adnap came to Beth's defense.
"Sarie? She's not going to be able to communicate or hear either of you. But, I suppose you can go see her if you want. And Beth, you'll have that scar on your arm forever now because you left that healing room. Humph!" Nurse Joy stalked off to find another patient to fuss over.
Beth was surprised when Nurse joy had assumed that Adnap wanted to go see Sarie, and even more surprised when Adnap DID follow her into Sarie's hospital room.
"Um, you can go now if you want. I'm fine here alone." Beth said awkwardly, thinking Adnap was just there to keep her from falling over or something.
"That's ok. Maybe your friend just needs someone to be with her, but I can help if she needs more than one friend." Adnap's oddish jumped onto Sarie's chest and examined her. It shook its head and hopped back into Adnap's arms.
"Sarie, I know you can't really hear me, but oh well. If you can, you have to come back. We haven't even beaten Ash yet, remember? And Gary, you don't want him to beat us, do you? What about Krad and Diana, they'll laugh and say they knew we'd never make it. And all of your pokemon will be sad if you don't wake up, so please come back." Beth shook her head, still refusing to believe that Sarie might not wake up. Adnap was crying, even though she had never known Sarie. Beth ran a finger over a thin scar running over Sarie's eye. It made her look like a tiger.
"Odd, oddish? Oddish!" Oddish asked Adnap what was wrong, wiping away the tear with one of his lime-green leaves. Adnap hugged the oddish.
"It's just, I can't stand sadness! That poor girl..."
"She's not a poor girl, she will wake up! She's like a sister to me! She's the closest thing to a sister I've ever known! If she was really gone, I wouldn't believe she could come back. She's gonna come back!" Beth shouted as she ran out of the room. Adnap took one last look at Sarie's unmoving body before following Beth. Maybe she needed a friend to help her through this.
Chapter 14
The battle for life
In her mind, Sarie knew what was happening to her. She reached out a ghostly hand and touched her own forehead. It was cold. She moved her hand to her scarred eye. It really did look like a tiger's stripe, didn't it? Her ghost hand passed itself over her real hand, which was also cold and unmoving. She had seen Beth and Adnap, and she saw Beth's pain. For some reason, she was drawn to Adnap as a friend. Of course, she couldn't have any more living friends. They wouldn't be able to see her. And, strangely enough, Sarie didn't care. She could not think. She couldn't feel. She wasn't even alive any more. Or was she?
A voice at the back of her head screamed for mercy, for release. It was her only shred of life left. Sarie struggled to bring it back, if she could she would still have that even if she died. She forgot everything except that shred of life. She pulled it from the back of her mind, taking the last thing that was keeping her alive. The body on the bed gave one last, shuddering breath and died.
Was she ever alive? Now everything was mixed up. Sarie floated between life and death, her spirit too willful to let go. Half of her longed for life, the other half wanted the peace of death. The weird thing was, she knew she was dead, but she didn't know. She was so confused!
Then came the thoughts from her conscious self. She remembered everything, from her birth to the Bladeon's attack. The worst memories surfaced, just like when the Bladeon had torn her mind. The Bladeon had shredded her memories, ripped her brain from end to end, and wrenched her mind away. It had been a while before she remembered who she was. Now she was experiencing the same feeling of remembrance. Ghost tears flowed openly from her eyes as she realized what she was. She was dead. What would her pokemon do? What about Beth? This could not end this way. It would not end like this. She would fight.
But how?
"I see you are in quite a bind, Sarie." A very familiar voice filled Sarie's mind, flowing around it like music. Sarie knew that voice.
"Father! Oh, Father!" Sarie felt strong hands lift her up as if she was a small child again. Her father's ghost kissed her forehead lovingly, hugging his only child again. Sarie returned the reuniting embrace with equal love. Her father!
"Sarie! What happened to you! You grew so big!" Her father looked admiringly upon his daughter. Sarie blushed for a moment, before blinking back a tear at the realization that she would never grow another inch.
"I'm sorry, Father, but I can't be with you. I need to be in the living world! You should see my pokemon, dad, they are so strong. I have to be with them. Beth needs me, I'm like her sister!" When Sarie said the word sister, a caring look crossed her father's face.
"She is your sister, Sarie. She's your twin sister. You two were born only minutes apart, but she was much shorter." The memory caused her father to give a short chuckle. "We could not keep you both, though. We cried for days. We had to give her to another family. We always hoped that you two would figure it out. We never told you, for we feared you would be angry with us. Now I see you've found her yourself. Adnap, the other girl, was our Best Friends' daughter, so it seems it has come full circle. You three were meant to be together." Sarie's father knew his daughter had to leave the world of the dead.
"Look! There they are! Beth, you're my sister! Adnap! Please, hear me!" Sarie shouted to her friends as they gathered around her bed. Nurse Joy was trying desperately to revive her.
"You may go back if you defeat me in a battle. If you lose, I keep your soul." A demonic figure appeared through the mists. Sarie backed up fearfully, but nodded her head.
"One pokemon each. Choose yours now." The daemon said. Sarie wondered how she could use one of her still-living pokemon, and before she could ask the words, "Go, Mysterio!" had escaped her lips. Mysterio, who had been sitting on her master's chest, toppled over without a sound. Suddenly, her ghost form was beside Sarie. She seemed to know what she had to do.
"Fine, then. Go, Missingo." "Sssssssssssss" A huge static ball hovered over the battle field. Mysterio flapped er black wings in agitation, which then turned to pure fury as the ghosts of her dead family, killed by missingo, floated in fear around her head. It had killed them. Missingo!
"Sssssterio!" Mysterio sank its fangs into the static. Missingo gave a coughing laugh as it flung Mysterio into a mist wall.
"Ksssssssssinnnnnn" Missingo flung itself at Mysterio, who weakly fluttered out of the way. She collapsed at Sarie's feet, defeated. Sarie screamed as a bright beam of light shot at her from the daemon. Mysterio gave a hoarse cry and blocked the beam with her own body. Mysterio's tiny voice rang into the stillness.
"Take me now, let her go."
The daemon shrieked as Sarie fell infinitely towards her body. A terrible pain shot across her entire body as she came back into the living world. Her cry of pain cut through the death world and into the living one. Nurse Joy leaped from her chair and placed a hand upon Sarie's now-beating heart. Sarie opened one eye, the other one was still scarred shut. Beth wiped away a flood of tears and hugged Sarie, while Adnap shyly stood next to the bed. Sarie reached out for the limp body of Mysterio and held it to her. She opened one eye and gave a weak wink to Sarie before drooping limply, dead again. Sarie wept for the pokemon who had given its own life for hers.
Chapter 15
Replacement? Helia!
It took two weeks for Sarie to heal, physically and mentally. She had been dead, and had seen evil and her dead father. It wasn't easy to recover from that.
Beth now knew Sarie was her sister, and spent a long time asking her about her parents. It helped Sarie to recover from the losses she had suffered. Adnap's kind presence helped, as did her pokemon's support. Nida had led the others in a kind of funeral for Mysterio which included burying her with several small artifacts and gifts. Sarie had given her a small, ruby-red heart shaped amulet, a reminder of Mysterio's selfless gift.
Of course there was a lot of crying. Beth wept for mysterio's kind concern for everyone. Sarie wept because Mysterio had become somewhat of a guardian spirit for her. Adnap wept because the others did. In the end, they stopped crying because everyone's tear ducts dried up.
In the four weeks that Beth and Sarie had spent recovering in the pokecenter every wound had healed, except for a long, thin scar on Beth's underarm and three light scars across Sarie's left eye. Luckily for Sarie, the scars left no lasting damage to her eyesight.
"So, who's gonna take Mysterio's place in your team, Sarie?" Beth asked as the trio of trainers left the Lavender pokecenter.
Sarie blinked back a slight tear and ran a finger over the small bit of black horn hanging from her necklace. "No one's going to 'replace' my Mysterio. I'm gonna get something to fight so I can get into the pokemon leagues, but no one will 'replace' Mysterio. I was thinking of getting a pikachu, because I need an electric type and you both say they're great. I don't like how popular they are, though. Ick." Sarie had a thing against over-popular pokemon. "Raichu, now there's a pokemon. If I got a pikachu who wanted to evolve, I'd have it made." The Abra that had saved Beth and Sarie's lives walked next to Sarie, who it had deemed its owner.
"CHUUUUUUUU!" A female pikachu's voice shattered the morning silence. Sarie trotted over to the bush from which the shriek had emitted. She looked inside and was immediately shocked with thunder. A small female pikachu was slapping a Meowth's face, hard. The meowth was a large tomcat with six scars on his back. He looked familiar. Sarie grabbed the pikachu just as the Meowth slashed into the dirt. Abra teleported into its pokeball in fear.
"Meowth, get it right!" Another familiar voice completed the scene.
"It's team Rocket!" Sarie, Adnap, and Beth shouted at the same time. Nida shook her head at the classic reaction.
"That's right, twirp trio! Hand over the Mysterio, little girls!" Draco snarled. Millicent glared daggers at Draco.
"That won't work! Don't just say, Hand em over! That's just stupid!" She smacked him with a paper fan.
"Mysterio's dead." Sarie stated plainly. Nida growled at Draco's Arbok (It had evolved) menacingly. Mew laughed at Millicent's puny meowth and unsheathed her claws.
"Then you'd better prepare for trouble." Draco started.
"Yep, and make it double." Millicent sniggered.
"To defend our evil from devastation!"
"To steal all Pokémon in every nation!"
"To destroy all trainer's truth and love!"
"To extend our evil to the stars above!"
"Draco!"
"Millicent!"
"Team rocket's power is faster than the speed of light!"
"Better give up now or prepare to lose the fight!"
"Puuuuf! That's right!" The annoying Jigglypuff flipped and landed at Beth's feet. She stepped on it again.
"You are just annoying, Team Rocket. How could you even THINK that you could ever be trouble for ANYONE?" Beth shouted in Draco's face. Sarie giggled in spite of herself. Beth was rather amusing.
"You are the annoyance!" Millicent swung her fist at Beth, who dodged agilely away. Millicent flopped down on her stomach. Draco laughed so hard, he fell over as well. Beth quickly reached into their pack, grabbed a bag of moonstones, a pokeball, and the pikachu, and kicked both rockets into the bush.
"Nida, double kick now!" "Chester, Thunder!" "Oddish, Acid!" The three pokemon attacked in order, with Nida double kicking Team Rocket towards Adnap's oddish, oddish spraying highly flammable acid all over Team Rocket, and Chester blasting them both into the sky. Adnap laughed at the two stupid Team Rocket members, because she had never encountered them. Sarie kept Beth from stomping Jigglypuff in order to allow Adnap to do the honors. She kicked Jigglypuff like a soccer ball.
"That was soooo funny!" Adnap wiped away tears of mirth from her eyes. Sarie was doubled up laughing.
"Jigglypuff soccer! What a great game!" Beth giggled. Nida, Oddish, and Chester shook paws and leaves for a job well done.
"Chu!" The pikachu from the bushes demanded attention. It shocked the trio with a thunderbolt, getting the attention it wanted. Sarie shook embers off of herself and looked at the pikachu.
"Hi, Shocker! Do you want to be named Shocker?" Sarie asked the pikachu, who seemed drawn to her.
"Chu, pikachuchu! Chu, chu pikachu! Chu!" The little female pikachu demanded to be evolved. Sarie picked up the very small pikachu.
"You know, you're just the kind of pikachu I've been looking for. I have always loved Raichus! Pikachus are great, to, but are too popular." Sarie patted the pikachu on the head.
(Translated from pokespeak)
"I don't like being a pikachu! It's so stupid! I have NO speed, and I can't thundershock worth beans! Please, please evolve me! I'll be loyal forever to you if you evolve me."
"Beth, do ya still have that three piece stone set with ya?" Sarie asked Beth. Beth was way ahead of her with a thunder stone ready. Pikachu sniffed it, then grabbed it. Suddenly, she began to glow white!
"Owch." She said simply as her tail bones snapped and elongated. Her spine lengthened and her feet grew huge. Her ears flattened and curled into the flat ears of a Raichu. The electricity from her weak thunder sacks was replaced by new thunder, and with a sickening crunch, her skull reformed itself. Within seconds, a Raichu appeared. She rubbed a sore paw over her back, grimacing. Sarie gently placed a hand between the Raichu's ears, careful not to hurt the newly-evolved pokemon. Sarie didn't know it, but Raichu was slowly replacing Mysterio, closing the gaping hole in her soul.
"NIDOQUEEN!" A deafening voice shook the air, as Nida leaped from the rock where Beth had placed the moonstones. Her tail thrashed with power and she reveled in the spikes on her back. With a swish and a crack, the rock was broken. Raichu congratulated Nida on an excellent evolution. Moonstone fluttered shyly onto Beth's shoulders, now a clefable.
"Wow, three evolutions at once!" Adnap exclaimed. Her oddish squealed gleefully at its new friends.
"All right, Shocker, you need a new name. Nida, your fine, right?" Sarie's Nidoqueen nodded an affirmative.
"Raaaaaaichu!" Sarie's new Raichu growled its new name playfully. Sarie, who understood Raichu perfectly, nicknamed her Helia, the sun goddess. Helia, Nida, Stryka, Mew, Char, and the Abra all popped out of their pokeballs to cheer for each other. For just a few moments, the trainer trio forgot their sadness and had only joy.
Chapter 16
Homecoming
"Hey, look! A sign! What does it say?" Beth ran towards a large sign. It read 'See the evolution fair at Celedon City's department store! Try to win a free stone set!'
"Wow! An Evolution fair! We should have loads of fun there." Adnap re the sign with interest. Sarie's Raichu waved its new tail at the two pikachus, Adnap's and Beth's.
(Translated from pokespeak)
"Hey, Chester and Pika! Look, you two can evolve like me!" Helia proclaimed. Chester nervously looked back at his own tail and shrugged.
"Maybe. Hey, Pika (Adnap's pikachu had been named pika by the two other chus.) How do you feel about evolving?" Chester asked Adnap's pikachu.
"It sounds like fun!" Pika was a lot like her owner, always happy. She wasn't nervous about evolving at all.
"Heheh, Evolution is great!" Nida waved her tail around. She thought it was the greatest thing in the world!
"Well, I like my wings." Moonstone said. She slowly flapped her thin, pink wings and gracefully floated alongside Beth.
"I don't know. I like my own form." Oddish looked at his leaves thoughtfully.
"You are fine the way you are, odd. Don't evolve if you don't want to." Nida had a soft spot for the little oddish.
(Back to human speech)
"Look, Celedon City! Were home!" Sarie shouted as they neared the grass gym city. She and Beth broke into a run, dragging Adnap along beside them. It was great to be home in their own city, where everything was familiar. Adventures were nice, but home was always welcome. Adnap found herself wishing that she was back home in Fusha City.
Sarie led Beth towards her apartment next to the Celedon Department Store. Beth nervously followed towards her mother whom she had never met.
"Mom, were home!" Sarie shouted as she entered the apartment. Her mother owned the large building, and was quite a good manager. Most of the tenants said it was the best apartment building they had ever lived in. Sarie agreed.
"Hi, Sarie! Oh my gosh, is that Beth? How did you ever meet each other!" Sarie and Beth's Mother hugged Beth tightly, crying as she did. After a tearful reunion and many sad and happy stories, Sarie's mother began to ask the questions.
"You say that scar on your eye is from the Ryblade? And that poor, poor Mysterio. And George..." Her Mother's eyes clouded over with tears as he remembered her dead husband. Sarie patted her mother's back gently.
"It's ok. He looks well... For a dead man, I mean. It's ok." Beth hugged her mother, drying her tears away.
"Sarie, you poor thing. And Beth, I'm so sorry for giving you up like that, it was the hardest decision I have ever had to make. But now we're all together again! Oh, my girls!" Their mother hugged them again, then noticed Adnap.
"Oh, hello, Adnap. Are your parents well?" She asked. Adnap smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, they're fine. They just finished selecting their pokemon for the races this year." Adnap smiled.
"Oh, are you three going to enter the big P race?" Mother asked.
"Yes, I'm gonna ride Stryka, my doduo. She's going to beat the pants off of my competition!" Sarie clenched her fists.
"I am thinking of evolving Growlie, my growlithe for the race. How about you, Beth?" Adnap held a pokeball containing her growlithe and inspected it.
"I don't know. I'll have to see who's in my team. That reminds me, I haven't looked at that pokeball from team rocket!" Beth tossed the mystery pokeball and out popped a small, purple rat pokemon.
"Rattata!" It exclaimed. Beth looked down at it critically.
"A rattata? What level is it?" She asked herself. Her pokedex beeped in reply.
"This pokemon is at level 34."
"It hasn't evolved yet? Ah, well, I'll take it!" Beth picked up the rat pokemon and hugged it gently. The rattata snuggled up underneath her chin.
"I'll name you Fang." She said to the rattata. Fang squeaked happily.
"If I remember correctly, we need to go down to the gym to say hi to a certain Gym Master..." Sarie recalled her favorite adult besides her mother fondly. Erika had taught her everything she knew.
"Lets go! I need to get a Rainbow Badge!" Adnap shouted, hugging her oddish happily.
"Let's go to the gym!" All three said in unison.
Chapter 17
Rainbow Badges all around
The Celedon City Gym was one of the most hospitable on Indigo Island. It offered pokemon training classes, daycare services, and even a garden to walk through. It was a beautiful place to spend the day in, training pokemon or just enjoying the smells and friendly faces.
Erika, the leader of the Celedon Gym, was a very nice person. She never became angry unless the reason was just. She did, however, share a deep passion for pokemon with the other leaders, so she often battled without mercy. Of course, that was what a gym was for anyway.
As soon as she saw the three young trainers enter the gym, Erika rushed over to them and greeted them warmly.
"Hi, Beth, Sarie, and Adnap! So, you've gotten this far this fast, have you? I must say, I'm impressed! Come on into the garden and we can talk. You three need to tell me about your journeys to date."
After a long walk and many questions, Erika's curiosity was satisfied. "Adnap, your parents were just in here the other day asking me about cold treatment in Vileplumes. I assume you three are racing this year?"
"We sure are. I've got permission to invite anyone I want to race this year, because I turned ten. I'm going to invite these two to race! We may even beat the favorite, Taro. He's been the winner three years in a row with his Tauros." Adnap growled.
"Well, it looks like you three need your badges. I have an Idea. Instead of three long battles, how about one battle? I will choose six of my pokemon and you three will decide on two each of your pokemon. You will consult each other on which one to use in the battle. Ok?" Erika smiled.
"That sounds great to me!" "Oddish's gonna be one of mine!" "Ready, Helia?"
"Let the battle begin!" Erika said as she strode confidently into the gym's battle ring. Sarie noticed the six pokeballs at her waist and was struck by a sudden nervousness. How many times had she seen Erika beat trainers hands down in that same ring? She blinked her scarred eye once in agitation.
"Ok, I'm gonna use Oddish and Growlie. Who're you gonna use, Beth?" Adnap asked as she placed Oddish next to Growlie's pokeball on the ground. Beth sat Chester next to oddish and placed Fang's pokeball next to Growlie's.
"Helia and Nida, go." Sarie commanded her Nidoqueen and Raichu to sit next to Oddish and Chester. On Adnap's command, oddish let Growlie and Fang out of their pokeballs. Erika nodded approvingly before tossing her first pokeball into the ring.
"I choose you, Tangela!" A vine ball emerged from the pokeball. Sarie recognized it instantly.
"We need to use something that can escape bind." She whispered to her two friends.
"How about Chester or Helia? They can thundershock the vines!" Beth supplied.
"Helia's got more charge and Chester might need to be used later on for speed and small size. I say go Helia." Adnap suggested.
"I choose you, Helia!" "Raaaaaaaai!" The Raichu glared down at Tangela.
"Tangela, Wrap it up now!" Erika commanded. Tangela sent out its vines towards Helia.
"Helia, don't dodge! Now, grab those vines and Thunderbolt!" Sarie shouted. Helia grasped Tangela's vines firmly and sent a huge thundershock through them. Tangela became paralyzed, but still stood to fight.
"Oh no, Tangela! Use your solar beam now!" Erika said to her weakened pokemon. Tangela blasted a huge beam of light strait at Raichu. Helia gave a pained cry as the solar beam hit her. She staggered a few steps before falling into a heap of burned fur at Sarie's feet. She immediately returned Helia to prevent further damage.
"Ok, who's next? I think we ought ta use Growlie. We'll torch 'em." Sarie said. Adnap sent out her growlithe.
"Growlie, show her your flamethrower attack, NOW!" "GROWWWWWWWW!" A huge bolt of fire struck Tangela, fainting it. Erika frowned, then threw out another pokeball.
"I choose you, Weepinbell! Go!" "Bell, bell!" A weepinbell flew from the pokeball and landed on Growlithe. The puppy pokemon rolled a few feet before shakily getting to his feet. Weepinbell spat acid all over Growlie and then tackled him again. Growlie fainted.
"No! Growlie! Return!" Adnap cried. She turned to face Beth and Sarie. "There goes our fire. Now what?" She asked.
"Go, Fang!" Beth's new rattata leaped onto Weepinbell and sank his long, sharp fangs into its plant flesh. Weepinbell cried in pain before falling over with the rattata's fangs still attached to its leaves. Suddenly, rattata began to shimmer.
"It's evolving!" Beth shouted. The rattata grew in size and power, transforming into a lethal looking raticate. It snarled in fury, waiting for its next victim.
"Return, weepinbell! Go, Victreebell!" A victreebell, weepinbell's evolved form, let loose with a terrifying razor leaf attack that thoroughly demolished Fang. Fang fell over as the leaves cut deep slashes all up and down his sleek body.
"Return, fang! What now? Who can beat THAT thing?" Beth asked. Chester pulled on her shorts leg.
"CHU!" He cried as he jumped into the ring. Victreebell chuffed in laughter at the electric mouse pokemon. Chester puffed out his small chest and growled, positive he could be as good as Helia, if not better. All over his body, fur stood on end. His cheek sacks buzzed as short bursts of electricity flew from them. At Beth's command, he let loose a thunder attack. The bolt flew across the room and smashed into Victreebell. The grass pokemon flew backwards a few feet before shaking itself and slamming into Chester. The pikachu gave a futile cry as he smashed into the wall. Beth grabbed him and put him in her backpack. Now they only had two pokemon, Nida and Oddish. Erika still had Victreebell and three others.
"Oddish, go!" Adnap cried. Her oddish tumbled into the ring. It gave a tiny, very cute cry and glared at the Victreebell. Erika merely laughed.
"I'm sorry, but why hasn't that evolved yet?" She asked. Adnap glared at her and ordered her oddish to attack.
"Use body slam, now!" Sarie and Beth looked at her in mild surprise, as oddish did not learn Body Slam on its own. It must have been a TM attack, then.
Oddish ran with all of his might and jumped over Victreebell. Hie seemed to grow in size as he smashed down onto the huge flower pokemon. Victreebell fainted.
"Yay, oddish! You did it!" Adnap hugged her oddish joyfully. Oddish waved its leaves around in a traditional oddish victory dance. Erika looked miffed, but threw her next pokeball.
"Gloom, go!" "Gloom, gloom!" Erika's fabled gloom appeared from inside his pokeball. He smiled up at oddish, but it was not a smile of friendship.
"Go, oddish!" "OOOODIIIISH!" The oddish fumed with rage as the gloom taunted it.
(Translated)
"Ah, a little oddish. Puny, pathetic, weak. Die now!" Gloom cried as it launched itself at oddish. Oddish braced itself and felt the crushing weight smash into his body.
"Stuck up, conceited, ugly looking gloom! Aaaaaarg!" Oddish smashed itself into gloom's side, knocking the breath from the evolution's body. Gloom fell to the floor, paralyzed.
(Human speech)
"Oddish, absorb now!" Adnap cried. Oddish shot a beam of greenish colored light at gloom and stole a few of gloom's hit points. It felt much better, whereas gloom felt like fainting. As it was, it could not move for the paralysis.
"Oddish, finish it with your body slam!" Adnap called. Oddish smashed itself into gloom, fainting him. Erika looked shocked, then angry. It was an expression few trainers had seen in her face.
"I choose you, Vileplume!" She cried. Sarie was startled, she had never heard of Erika's Vileplume. The other two didn't know Erika well enough to be surprised.
"Oddish, watch out for this one! Solarbeam now!" Adnap called for oddish's most powerful attack. Oddish began to gather sun rays, shimmering slightly as the power built in his leaves.
"Vileplume, petal dance!" Erika called. Adnap grimaced, Petal Dance was Vileplume's ultimate attack.
Vileplume began to dance around oddish, releasing petals as sharp as razors as it did. As it spun faster and faster, the petals became thicker and thicker until oddish's skin was a mass of cuts and scrapes. Vileplume began to thrash around with the intensity of the dance. Oddish released the sun energy, smashing it into Vileplume with a raging energy like none the trainer trio had ever seen. Thus, with his energy spent, he fainted along side the beaten Vileplume. Both trainers recalled their pokemon with tears in their eyes.
"Go, Nida!" Sarie cried. Suddenly, without warning, the abra who had been inside his pokeball ever since the team rocket encounter suddenly teleported free. It pushed Nida away and sat sleepily in the ring.
"Abra, you want to fight? Ok, you've got the floor. You're the last one, so try hard." Sarie didn't trust the psychic pokemon, whom she knew could only be truly controlled by a psychic.
"I choose you, Venusaur!" Erika shouted. A beautiful Venusaur plodded towards the Abra. Sarie loved the big beasts, and almost didn't want to fight it.
"Venusaur, Razor leaf now!" Erika commanded.
Just as Sarie was about to order an attack for Abra, she felt his mind in hers. It was as if he and she were one creature now, two minds connected together. She closed her eyes and telepathically told him to Teleport just as the leaves smashed to the floor. Venusaur was puzzled, but ran after the Abra.
"Venusaur, use a vine whip attack!" Erika commanded. Venusaur shot many vines from his huge flower, smashing the cement floor and walls in his anger. He hated psychics.
"Abra, time to evolve!" Sarie shouted. The Abra began to glow brightly, blinding the Venusaur. As his flash attack finished up, so did the Abra's evolution. A kadabra stood, ready for battle, right in front of the Venusaur.
"Venusaur, Solarbeam now!" Erika was truly frightened now. Her Venusaur's poison sub-type was weak to psychic attacks.
"Abra, confusion!" Sarie telepathically commanded her Kadabra. The kadabra waved his spoon in circles, creating a large charizard portrait in front of him. Phantom fire balls hit the Venusaur with terrible power, knocking him over. With one last, angry cry, he fainted.
"You beat my best. I must confer you all the rainbow badge." Erika looked truly stunned as she handed out three gleaming rainbow badges.
"Thanks, Erika. We appreciate it! Now lets all go have some fun at that evolution festival!" Beth shouted as she pinned her badge to her hat.
Chapter 18
The Evolution Festival
The front of the Celedon Department store was packed with trainers of all ages and skills. Some had just come out of Pallet town, and others were taking a vacation from the league. One thing all the trainers had in common was the fact that they all had pokemon that evolved through stones. The annual festival was held in honor of the stone evolving pokemon, and the only place where you could buy those stones, the Celedon Department store.
"Hey, look at all of the pikachus! There's a million of 'em!" Beth exclaimed as they entered the throng.
"Oh, what a pretty gloom! And look at those Vileplumes!" Adnap was falling all over the oddish's evolutions. Sarie's Raichu, Helia, was having a good time showing off her long tail and strong leg muscles.
"This place is so cool! Look at all of the games and junk!" Sarie didn't have a stone evolving pokemon, except for Helia who was already evolved.
Many booths were set up, advertising stone sets and stat raising items. Sarie looked over at a set of proteins, but quickly walked away when she saw the price. 9800 yen for one protein bottle! Beth used the last of her money to purchase a full stone set for use later. Adnap looked around for a fire stone for her growlithe, who she needed to evolve before the big P race in her hometown. She also wanted a grass stone to use on Oddish when it evolved into gloom, and a thunder stone for Pikachu. Unfortunately, stone sets usually came with only the eevee stones. She was just about to give up when a green gleam caught her eye. There, on a bargain table, was a complete stone set with a grass stone in place of the water stone! She immediately purchased it and stuck her prize deep in her backpack, safe from thieves.
"Lets all go over to the pokemon show ring! We can enter a pokemon each!" Sarie exclaimed when she heard the announcement for the contest. Beth nodded and held up pikachu, while Adnap started fussing over her Oddish's leaves.
The entrance to the sign up tent was blocked by dozens of trainers with their best and most precious looking pokemon. Everyone was arguing over who's was the best, and Sarie could hardly think with all of the noise.
"Hey, what do you think your doing with that Nidoqueen?" A snobbish, rich looking brat boy asked Sarie. He had a shining-furred Nidoking on a leash at his side. Nida growled at this beastly menace. The Nidoking growled back.
"This is Nida, my best and strongest pokemon. What've you got, a porcelain doll on a leash?" Sarie goaded. She wanted a pokemon battle with this kid, she needed to show him who was boss.
"If that's your best pokemon, I feel sorry for you. Erika must have GIVEN you that badge. This is shredder, my Nidoking. I beleive he could beat your tiny Nidoqueen any day."
"Ok, why don't we test your theory? One on one match, Nidoqueen vs Nidoking. Right over here." Sarie guided the boy to a small grass field designed for the purpose of small battles.
"Go, Shredder!" "Go, Nida!" The Nidos glared at each other, testing dominance. The huge Nidoking was outraged that a mere female would challenge his position, while Nida was fiercely protective of her trainer, unwilling to be beaten.
"Nida, use your special well! Bubblebeam attack now!" Sarie had given several Tms to her Nidoqueen, making use of her relatively good special stats. Nida blasted bubbles from her mouth, hitting the Nidoking squarely in the chest. The Nidoking wheezed a moment as the water seeped into his skin, then galloped full speed at Nida, and rammed his horn into her shoulder. She gave a short scream of anger, barely feeling the pain as the blood dripped slowly from her arm.
"Nida, fury swipes now!" Sarie commanded just as the boy shouted to his Nidoking to use a horn drill attack. Nida knocked the Nidoking down by jumping on his stomach, then began to shred his face with her sharp claws. Her paws smashed over his scaly face five times before he knocked her off and charged her with his swirling horn. The blood flew from it as it spun, spattering the fresh green grass with its red stain. Nida dodged the horn, then struck back with a scratch attack. Her claws sunk deep into the Nidoking's side, drawing blood onto them. The Nidoking fell to the stained grass, limp and lifeless. Sarie knew he was only in faint, but to a casual observer, he might have been dead.
"Nidoking, return! Your so useless, like all of my pokemon! What I need is some crushers, not wimps like you!" The boy shouted in rage. His Nidoking gave him a hurt and crushed look, then allowed himself to be returned to his pokeball.
"I've never heard such mistreatment in my life! How dare you hurt him like that! You shouldn't be allowed to train pokemon!" Sarie raged. The boy threw out another pokeball, releasing a scarred Bulbasaur.
"Attack her now, Powerplant!" He raged. The Bulbasaur extended a whip and looked as if he wanted to cry, and just as the vine was about to smack into Sarie's knee, it stopped.
"What! Get out of my sight, you worthless thing! Go on, get away!" The boy kicked the bulbasaur hard, then stalked off.
"Oh, you poor little thing! Come here, I'll take care of you!" Sarie picked the crushed bulbasaur and stroked its head. Under closer examination, she revealed it to be a boy. He had long scars all over his bulb, which was tiny in comparison to his level. Obviously, the boy had been beating this poor bulbasaur, and the constant fear had kept his bulb from growing.
The bulbasaur looked up at her with adoration in his eyes, and gently nosed one of her empty pokeballs. To Sarie's surprise, he was sucked inside and didn't make a move to escape. She had caught a bulbasaur!
"You now have seven pokemon. Who do you wish to deposit?" The mechanical voice of her pokedex chimed.
"Oh yeah, I totally forgot! I can only carry six pokemon at a time! Who am I gonna get rid of?" Sarie asked herself. Charmelion came to mind. "I'd bet he'll want a vacation. Ok, Computer, send 'ol Char to Grandpa's computer. Bye bye, Char!" Sarie said as her Charmelion's pokeball disappeared. She took bulbasaur out of his pokeball and looked him over. He was a strong looking little guy, even though he was a bit scrawny. She checked his level and saw he was at 15. On his next level, he would evolve. Also, his nickname was Powerplant, which he seemed to like. Sarie decided to keep the name.
"Hey, look! Chester evolved!" Beth shouted as she skidded to a halt in front of Sarie holding a smallish Raichu in her arms. Its ragged ears proclaimed it as Chester.
"Good job, Beth! Where's Adnap?" She asked.
"Getting her prize for the contest. Her oddish won first prize! She got a Masterball for winning!" Beth shouted in excitement.
"A masterball! Wow! I heard it can catch any pokemon in one hit! What a prize!" Sarie shouted in excitement. A masterball!
Adnap joined the two within moments, holding both her prize-winning oddish and a purple and white masterball. "Lookit what I won! I had to go up against a vileplume, but oddish's weird color made me win!"
"That's so cool! It's getting kinda dark, we'd better get to a Pokecenter or something." Beth suggested. The sun had set, making the Celedon Department Store look like it was on fire. To the west, the first shadings of blue and purple contrasted beautifully with the fiery reds and yellows to the east. What an end to an amazing day.