Disclaimer: I don't own pokémon, though I wish I did, or the people in my story.
After coming down from the mountain Steve found a crowd awaiting him. They all gathered around him to hear what had been said to him by Zack.
"Zack has left the mountain. Unfortunately he flew away before I could fight him. He'll be sending the most promising trainers instructions to get to where he is in many different ways. Also, I found out another of his pokémon. He owns a mew. Does anyone know what a mew is?"
At the mentioning of the name mew, the crowd became silent. Finally, one person stepped forward.
"Mew is a devastating pokémon. Its psychic powers are incredible. No one has ever caught a mew, at least no one that we know of. If he has one then he holds immense power in his hands. His pokémon are even more powerful then expected. Steve, one last question. Did you see Joseph up on the mountain? After his defeat today we didn't know if he would challenge that man again."
"Unfortunately, I did see the pokémon champion up there but he… (Maybe I shouldn't tell them he attacked me. I should give them hope.) He was fighting Zack when I got there, so you have nothing to fear. He'll protect you. I'm sure the only reason he got beaten before was because the man caught him off guard. I'm sure Joseph will follow Zack and keep fighting. Now I have to leave now to follow Zack. I sent my Fearow up to keep watching him. So, I need to leave before my fearow loses his track. Good-bye."
As a cheer went up from the crowd, Steve was uncertain about how this would turn out. He also made sure to try and give the villagers hope. He found his Fearow down quite a ways and asked him where Zack had gone when a voice appeared in his head.
(No cheating, Steve. Your Fearow was psychically frozen. He couldn't keep up with us so you have to wait to find out where we're going just like everyone else. Good-bye.)
Steve smiled, seeing as there was no alternative he decided to follow in the last known direction of Zack. He was going down the road, whistling a song when all of a sudden a pokémon started doing back-flips in front of him. This might not have seemed odd if it had been a small creature like a jigglypuff or a clefairy, however a snorlax was doing back-flips, well if you could call them back-flips. Steve immediately recognized this as an odd occurrence. He waited for the snorlax to finish his routine before he asked what it was doing.
(Sorry if you don't like me talking to you psychically, but it's the only way to give you my
message. You are on the correct path Steve. Unsurprisingly, you have been able to keep ahead
of the rest of the trainers. However, your lead is being cut short by another. Zack took his name
for the tournament. His name is Mario. He's almost as good a trainer as you. He will try to
defeat you in a battle, so keep your guard up and don't trust anyone. Go east into the village of
Montanell. There you will find a person named Jarred. He will give you instructions on where
to go from the village."
After the snorlax walked away, Steve continued on to the village of Montanell. Unfortunately, he didn't know where Jarred lived, or what he looked like. So he decided to talk to the villagers to gather as much information as he could about Zack or any other pokémon trainers that came through their village.
"Not many people have come through here lately. In fact, you are the first one I've seen in weeks." Commented one villager.
"Nice to know. Have any odd things been happening in the village? An odd man left his home near my town and some strange things were happening there."
"Nothing really out of the ordinary. However, some people can say they hear a man laughing in the back of their minds, and some have seen pokémon doing some odd things."
"Odd things?" (Steve could remember the snorlax doing back-flips)
"Some pokémon are helping out others in ways never recorded before. The rattata's are helping the digletts dig their homes. It's like a society is being shaped right outside our town. It just doesn't seem normal."
"That really doesn't seem normal. Do you know who Jarred is?"
"Is that the reason you came here, Steve?"
"How did you know my name? Let me guess yours then. You're Jarred, right?"
The man laughed a bit, "Of course it is. You could've been asking around for quite a while in this village before anyone would point you n the right direction. Anyway, I know why you're here. However, I can't tell you more than a single direction. Go north through the forest. After a while he will send another messenger. Steve, this will be your hardest battle. Don't slack, for fear of your life!"
With that the man started walking away. Steve decided not to follow him and to continue on in the forest. After walking for a while, another kid came walking up the same path and Steve started talking to him.
"I haven't seen a lot of kids taking this path."
"Not many are supposed to. I'm guessing you're Steve."
"Good guess, though I'm not sure how you know my name. Unless you've been talked to by Zack."
"Yes. Zack has been talking to me about fighting him for a while. Traveling is boring, though and no one I knew could fight Zack. My friends weren't very good trainers and any other people that were good trainers became my enemies. When I heard about Zack and his public statement of resenting mankind I decided to follow him and someday beat him."
"You know my name, but I don't know yours. Who are you?"
"I'm Mario. I plan on taking down Zack, so stay out of my way. I heard from Zack that you're a better trainer than I am, so I won't fight you yet. I will stay with you and watch you battle. Even if we're fighting for the same cause, we won't be allies. Plan for a fight after Zack's gone."
At this point all talking between them stopped. Steve thought about what was said and was trying to figure the new kid out.
(He seems a little arrogant, but he does seem nice enough. Excessive pride. I guess to him I'm strong competition. I should get used to him though. If he plans on following me he'll be watching how I battle. Hopefully, I will watch him fight sometimes and see his weaknesses and strengths. Also Zack doesn't want me to get to know him. He told me to think of him as an enemy. )
