Rumer Has It

Chapter 2

"Squirtle!" I yelled. "Where are you?"

I had woken up early this morning to pack my stuff and feed my Pokemon, and to my dismay, had found Squirtle gone.

"Squirtle! Come on, stop hiding!" I cried.

"Spearow!"

"Pidgey!"

"Weedle!"

"Rattata!" All my Pokemon called out as one for the water Pokemon.

"Squirtle!" I cried one last time. Sinking to my knees in despair, my Pokemon flocked around me. "It must have run off." I said sadly, "Even after I promised I'd bring him back."

"Pidge-Pidge." (It's not your fault.)

"If you're wondering where Squirtle is," a familiar voice said - and as I looked up I realized it was that strange girl again, sitting on the boulder she'd disappeared behind yesterday, "you can stop wondering. I set it free this morning."

"YOU WHAT?!" I gasped angrily.

"No need to thank me. Squirtle's happy back at its pond, that's thanks enough."

"I don't believe you! How dare you do this! You've stolen my Pokemon!"

"Squirtle wasn't yours to begin with. None of your Pokemon are. They are wild animals that have the right to stay free."

"What gives you the right to decide what Pokemon want?"

"Almost 1.2 million Pokemon are captured and evolved per year." She jumped off her rock and started walking toward me. "Almost a quarter die in captivity from depression, starvation, or abuse. My setting yours free helps reduce the number of fatalities."

"You're crazy!" I cried as I picked my Pokeballs from my belt. "Rattata, Weedle, Spearow, Pidgey, Bulbasaur, return!" Then I looked at the girl. "You'll never get the chance to free another of my Pokemon. As soon as I get to Cerulean, I'll have Officer Jenny arrest you for stealing Squirtle."

"Where's your proof?"

"In my Pokedex. My Pokedex lists all the Pokemon I've caught since I started training."

"Oh, you mean this thing?" The girl pulled out Dextra from her dress pocket, to my absolute horror. "This is a nice piece of equipment Professor Gary Oak cooked up." She tossed it to me. "Much better than my old one." here she pulled out her own.

She opened it and it chirped merrily, "This Pokedex belongs to trainer Rumer Herbe. If lost or stolen it cannot be replaced. In the event of the Pokedex breaking, contact-" and with a click, she shut it again.

"You hypocrite!" I cried. "You say you're trying to save all Pokemon and yet you're a trainer yourself!"

Rumer snorted. "Don't be stupid. I gave up training a long time ago, after I saw a Pokemon nearly killed by its trainer for not winning a Gym match. Back then, when I was ten, all I ever thought about was myself, how I was going to be world famous for catching all the Pokemon I could. But when I saw that Charmander being hit by its own trainer, something came over me and I never trained a day after that."

I gulped. "What happened to the Charmander?"

"Brain-damaged for life. It stayed at the Pokecenter I took it to. It'll never fight again, but it's a help to Nurse Joy, since that Pokecenter didn't have a Chansey."

"I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience as a trainer," I said softly, but my throat tightened and I raised my voice as I continued, "but that still doesn't give you the right to touch my Pokemon, and you still haven't changed my mind about being a trainer. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Pokemon to catch." Head held high, I marched into the entrance of Mt. Moon.

"Good luck trying to find any Pokemon here willing to leave their natural habitat!" Rumer call after me. "You'll need it!"

* * * *

"I haven't seen one Pokemon yet. I wonder if Rumer's up to something." I muttered. I'd been in the mountain for hours now, taking detours to see if Pokemon one would pop out. So far I'd been having no luck. If I didn't have my flashlight with me, it would have been black as night in here.

"Those Clefairy must have excellent eyesight if they can bounce around in the dark like this." I muttered. "They'll be a great addition to my journey, presuming I find one, of course."

"Geodude."

I stopped dead in my tracks and shone my flashlight around the tunnel. "I'm imagining things."

"Geodude-dude!"

I did an about-face to see the Geodude I'd tripped over earlier, and it didn't look any happier to see me either.

"Geodude," I began, "let's not do anything rash. What happened back there was an accident."

"Sure, I hear that from every trainer." Geodude said. "Every time people come through here, they trip over me or one of my brothers. We're getting kind of tired of it."

"Honest, I am sorry!"

"No human's that honest!" Geodude began picking up rocks. "See how it feels to get hurt!"

"No, Geodude, PLEASE!" I screamed and covered my face with my arms.

"Squirtle!" a high-pitched voice called and a second later the Geodude hit the wall next to me.

"Come on!" a male voice called to me as he grabbed my arms roughly, helping me stand. "This way!" He led me down the tunnels of rock. After what seemed like hours later, we reached the exit of Mt. Moon. Just like I had started my journey into the mountain, I ran out again and collapsed on the grass, gasping for air.

The boy who had grabbed me was sitting next to me, breathing hard also. "That was too close." he gasped.

I was almost too weak to speak. "I heard a Squirtle..."

"Mine, it stopped the Geodude from attacking you. Squirtle! You ok in there?"

"Squirtle-Squirt-" there was a sudden pause.

"Squirtle!" the boy stood up.

"Wartortle!" The Squirtle had evolved during the run from Mt. Moon, into a cute Wartortle! "War-Wartortle!" it jumped into the boy's arms.

"Congratulations." I said softly.

"Don't you have a Squirtle?" the boy asked as he pushed back his dark mauve bangs.

"I did." I said softly, "but it's gone now."

"Oh, sorry to hear," the boy sat down next to me and held out a free hand. "My name's Jonathan."

"I'm Arina."

"You're a Pokemon trainer?"

"Yeah, attempting to look like a decent one at least. You don't look like a -"

"I'm not. I'm more of a wanderer. If I catch a Pokemon while I'm traveling, that's great, and if I don't, I'm no worse for wear."

"Nice philosophy." I lay back on the grass. "Thank you for saving me, I owe you one."

"No problem. What were you doing to make that Geodude angry?"

"Is being the latest person to trip over it reason enough?"

"Aha. And the lesson you learned there was -"

"Don't go tripping over Geodudes." I answered him.

"Actually, I was going to say 'Don't go into Mt. Moon without a water Pokemon'."

I sighed, and then stood up. "Well, thanks for all you did. I have to get going now."

"Wait, aren't you forgetting something?" Jonathan stood up as well, recalling his Wartortle to a Pokeball.

I looked around. "I don't think so."

"Your Clefairy. I heard you say you wanted one."

I put my hands on my hips. "Exactly how long have you been in that cave?"

Jonathan shrugged. "Long enough. But if you want a Clefairy, you've got another chance." He nodded to something behind me.

Uncertain, I turned around. Peeking out from a bush was another little pink fluff ball. I became was excited and drew in a happy breath, but instead of the usual screaming hysterically routine, I quietly knelt down and held out my hand. "Hi, little guy." I said.

"Guy? What if it's a girl?" Jonathan teased.

"Clefairy." the little pink ball of cuteness chirped.

"You want to come with me, Clefairy?"

The Clefairy nodded with a smile.

"I have to tell you, I battle Pokemon like most other trainers. Are you prepared to leave home and train with me?"

"Clefairy-Clefairy." (Life's boring here.) "Clef-Fairy-Fairy-Clefairy-Clef- Airy." (I want to meet other Pokemon, like your Squirtle.)

I started. "What do you mean?"

It spoke rapidly in its own language. "The one Rumer is letting go. It changed its mind and wanted to stay with you after it saw you arguing on its behalf this morning."

Again, I was startled. "She said she released Squirtle before that."

"No, while you were in the cave today, she walked the Squirtle home."

I could have burst into tears then. "I don't believe it." I whispered. I stood up stiffly and started walking away in a daze.

"Arina, where are you going?" Jonathan called after me.

I didn't answer. All I wanted to do was be alone. I started walking faster and faster until I broke into a run. My heart felt like it had been shredded. Squirtle had trusted me after all, and that girl had taken my Pokemon away from me, probably lying to it as she had lied to me. She probably wasn't even a trainer, and that story she'd told me was probably made up. But right then I couldn't have cared less. All I wanted to do was run, be as far away from this horrible place and Rumer as I could get.

I heard Jonathan yelling after me, but I didn't stop. In my haze of tears, I stumbled over tree roots, rocks, and then finally, a sleeping Ekans curled up in the middle of the road. I picked myself up into a half- sitting/half-lying down position, as I heard the Ekans rear up, hissing angrily.

I didn't think, didn't care about the consequences then. Grabbing Squirtle's empty Pokeball, I flipped over, tossed it hard at the Ekans, screaming in a hoarse voice, "Pokeball, GO!"

The Pokeball hit the Ekans just as it was about to strike. It turned red and was sucked into the ball. The red and white ball rocked for a moment, but didn't re-open.

I took a few deep breaths and then started laughing hysterically. I grabbed the Pokeball and stood up. I threw my head back and gave another laugh. "I did it! I got one of your precious Pokemon, Rumer! You hear me?"

Rumer clapped as she sat on a boulder nearby. "I congratulate you. You caught Ekans without fighting it. I think that's the cheap way out, but I suppose whatever method works for you despicable Pokemon trainers, you'll use."

I looked down at the Pokeball and immediately felt my stomach flip-flop.

"Go ahead, ask it why it was caught."

Like an obedient child, I tossed the Pokeball to the ground. The Ekans reappeared, looking up at me expectantly. "Master." it hissed.

"Why?" I asked softly. "Why were you caught?"

"Master, you were stronger than me. You showed me how weak I am because you caught me without a battle. With your help now as my trainer, I can become stronger."

"Oh my God." I whispered and backed off a few feet in astonishment.

Jonathan and the Clefairy ran up to me again. "Arina, why'd you run?"

"Oh, and that's another ingenious device the professors of old cooked up. The Pokeball brainwashes the Pokemon to obey its master." Rumer smiled knowingly.

"Arina?" Jonathan was puzzled.

"You're free." I whispered to the Ekans, and started running again.

"Arina!" I heard Jonathan cry.

I refused to stop. Picking on a weak Pokemon, catching them when they were vulnerable - Rumer was right, Pokemon weren't for battles, weren't meant to fight. They were just creatures who wanted to live in peace.

Before I realized it, I had reached the outskirts of Cerulean City, and without bothering to look where I was going, I soon slammed into someone.

"Ow." I moaned as I lay on the ground, "what happened?"

"Are you ok?" The woman whom I'd hit was more concerned with my well-being than hers.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Here, give me your hand." The woman helped me stand, and as I rose to my feet, I realized who was helping me.

"Aunt Daisy?"

"Arina?" Daisy asked in shock. She brushed back my bangs. "It is you! What are you doing here?" She paused and gave me a once over glance. "You've been crying! What's happened?"

I sniffled as I looked behind me. No one had followed me, or if they had, caught up yet. "It's a long story."

"Uh-huh. Most of them are. Let's go home and you can tell me everything."

End Chapter 2