Disclaimer-For those of you who DON'T know, I do NOT own anything. No, I
don't even own myself. I'm sold to the devil for thirty-three dollars and
thirty-three cents; so if you feel the urge to sue me, think again, the
devil has all my money. Unless you want a penny?
And now on with tha story! Only here's tha tiny little thing. Kayos, tha story starts off in Celadon city. And ya know, I'm havin it as it is an ancient city with ancient unique customs and all, 'cause it's like the biggest one an all. Or at least one of the biggest ones. And yes, ma grammar will improve in tha story, I just find it amusing beyond belief to type with Ma, tha, and other such fun fun words. Though, on the record, I do NOT talk like that in real life. And this is not a author adding his/herself into tha story, nope nope, tisn' me, just is a cute little story that is LEEKING out of my head onto the keyboard, so please, blame the maid for not cleaning it up before it could torture ya'll into reading this. Now here's where the real story start. Riiiiight.. NOW! Or now! NOW! Teehee. Sorry for putting you through all that.
~Neon Orange~= Wade's thoughts. %Neon Aqua%= Brian's thoughts. [Neon Peach]=Pokemon Translations.
Just like every other city in the world, Celadon has it's own unique culture, one that's evolved and developed for a long time, ever since the end of the last ice age. But on this dreary November morning people wonder if the ice age is even over because a massive blizzard is blowing harshly at the peaceful city, the majority of the citizens avoiding the streets, staying all warm and nestled in their homes. But sadly not all are sitting warm by the fireplace, the workers at the Pokemon Lab are in a busy rush, getting pokemon starter kits, making sure the pokemon are all healthy, all as preparations for the new trainers coming any minute to pick up their pokemon.
Four small areas are set off, each area, except the one under the golden yellow glow have three small pokemon in the areas, most of them curled up, still sleeping because of the early hours. The traditional pokemon starters in secluded areas to prevent fights between the opposing sides of Fire, Water, and Grass pokemon, and one small little area for an electric Pikachu is set aside. The doors swing open, snow and cold air rush in, waking up all the young pokemon quickly, none of them particularly enjoying the frigidness of the outdoors. Ten teenagers walk in, five girls and five boys walk in, all of them shaking even though they're wearing thick winter jackets of assorted colors, their lips blue because of the cruel weather. They line up quickly in a straight horizontal line, their eyes shifting over each and every pokemon, trying to re-solidify which pokemon they want, and wishing to whatever they believe in that they get the pokemon of their dreams.
"Welcome to the lab. I'm glad you all came here despite the weather. Well today's the day you get your pokemon. We will choose who gets to choose their pokemon first through random numbers." A voice echoes from their side. All of the ten teens quickly turn around to see Professor Peach standing on a small peach box. "Ah. Now I have your attention. Now if you look down at your feet you should see a number at your feet. When that number is called you will be allowed to go foreword and choose your pokemon. But be careful about which one you choose, you do not get a second chance, there is no resetting the events that take place in the next few minutes, and they will control how your career as a pokemon trainer goes on. Choose wisely." His face getting redder and redder as he yells over a silent crowd, looking more like a tomato then the fruit he's named after. All of the teens look down, numbers appearing at their feet from lights set above them. "Number 7!" A young girl wearing a light pink jacket walks towards the small areas of the pokemon.
"Oooh! How cute! I'm gonna be just like Ash Ketchum!" She squeals loudly, reaching for and grabbing the yellow pokemon in a blur, the said pokemon looking rather traumatized at the high-pitched voice of his new mistress. "I'm gonna name you.. Buttercup." If a creature could scream "KILL ME NOW" without making a noise, this one could, would and was in the process of doing so, the idea of being called Buttercup obviously sickening to the pokemon.
"Err.. Right. Number 2!"
A short slightly chubby guy wearing a dark blue jacket walks to the areas, obviously he had his heart set on getting the Pikachu, because he stands there for a minute before reaching out, and grabbing a Charmander, in a more slow paced, and calm manner then the girl before him. The baby lizard seems calm with the large teen, mostly for image sake, he's a lizard, NOT a teddy bear. If the obese teen doesn't learn the difference soon enough, he'll get a few burns. "I guess I'll have a Charmander then." The voice is deep, and almost bellowing, the word 'guess' making the Charmander have to clench its teeth to withhold the urge to burn the young man. And so the pokemon are chosen quickly, and in less then fifteen minutes only four remain without a pokemon.
"Number 3!" A tall silvery blonde wearing a black leather jacket walks to the cages, watching the pokemon deciding on which one to choose, one fire and grass remain, the more common water pokemon still having two in their ranks.
He stands there, his sapphire blue eyes glittering with doubt of which pokemon to choose; A Vulpix, Oddish, Poliwag and a Horsea remain. He quickly decides, and reaches for and carefully puts a collar on the Vulpix and walks back to the group, one of the only two trainers to not grab a strange pokemon before being properly introduced.
"Number 9!"
With that bellow, a short quiet gothic girl walks towards the group, her trench coat flowing in the air behind her, she nods at the Oddish, and walks back, the Oddish hopping after her, careful to not get squished under her large black combat boots.
"Number 6!"
The only jock in the crowd walks towards the group, "Poliwag, let's go!" He walks back, quickly anticipating leaving these freaks, and losing his so called partner quickly.
"And lastly! Number 1!"
A beautiful cheerleader type girl wakes up out of her trance, shaking her head lightly her long blonde hair bouncing around in a perky fashion. She walks over to the last remaining pokemon, perk and energy in her step. She grins at the small blue Horsea, "I guess that means we're partners, don't you agree?" she says, her voice leaking with energy and happiness. She bends over, picking up the Horsea, mostly because of the pokemon's inability to walk on solid ground.
"After you're put into groups, you may go!" Professor Peach proclaims in a loud bossy voice. "One and nine! You will go together! Three and six! Four." and after that, the male blonde quickly stops paying attention to the old man on the box. Quickly looking over at the arrogant looking sandy blonde across from him, frowning expecting bad times will soon come. ((A/n Yes, we're finally going to creep out of the third person creepy cold uncaring and impersonal point of view. We'll mostly watch the Blonde guy now.))".You can now go off in your partners!" With a sigh, the silvery blonde quickly walks over to his arrogant partner, not letting appearances get the better of him. %The guy might be nice, right? %
"Hi! My name is Brian, I guess we'll be traveling together then?" The newly announced to be Brian says in an optimistic tone of voice, standing a few inches over the jock.
"If you're lucky. and only if you can keep up with me. I'm Wade, you'd do well to not forget it." The shorter blonde says, looking at the Professor's Aide for a moment, grabbing the Pokemon kit (which contains 6 pokeballs, a mini computer and a potion) the black haired man in a lab coat with thick glasses was handing to him. Brian quickly does the same, with a quiet murmur of "Thanks."
Brian gets down on his knees, putting the kit on the ground, flicking the latch and opening it quickly. Pulling out one of the six pokeballs, looking over at his cinnamon red Vulpix and giving it a small grin "I guess I should name you, shouldn't I? Since you seem to be a guy, I guess I'll name you Blaze. If that's all right?" The fire-pokemon nods tiredly, the curls on his head bouncing lightly as it yawns widely. "Kay, in you go." He quickly opens up the Pokeball pointing it at the Vulpix, and watches it get consumed into a red energy and held in the ball. Brian stands up, watching Wade repeat the same process only without the tender appearance, more in a military sort of style. "What do we do now? The pokemon and the gyms in the area are a bit. really advanced for us at this point. Do we have to break onto a train and like, hide underneath pillows while we get a ride to Johto?"
Wade looks blankly at Brian, blinking trying to absorb the mass stupidity that just flooded out of his mouth. "They provide us a flight. Didn't you read ANYTHING before now?"
"Yes. I read a book on how to kill people while they're sleeping. Using nothing more then a toothpick and a fork." And with that mighty comment, everyone within hearing range all give Brian the same blank look, all of them pitying Wade.
"How. Nice? Let's just go already." ~The faster we go, the faster I can get away from you.~
".I think it'd be a lot better if you lead. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Duh." Wade turns around and walks off, most of the group following in a stream of colorful coats, the girl in the pink bragging about her new Pikachu to Wade, obviously annoying him to no end.
On the other end of the group, Brian and the short gothic girl are walking within a few feet of each other, the violet haired gothic girl muttering to herself about plans on making her hair match Oddish's. "Hmm. I wonder how much gel it'd take."
"You can't be serious. Are you.? Bright. Tall. Green. Hair?" Brian wonders partly in shock, Humor, and absolute terror. The gothic girl with the pale milky white skin turns and looks at Brian with a glare that out does the frigid blizzard around them.
"And why do YOU care? How does MY hair matter to YOU? Hell! You don't even know my fucking name!"
".I was just wondering. Because it'll take a lot of work. And a hell of a lot more time to do every morning. Plus, it isn't my fault you haven't told me your name yet... My name is Brian by the way."
"Rose. But the hair'd be succulent, so it would be worth it." Rose says, managing to pull off little to no emotion in the statement.
".Okay then." He imagines the pale five foot five girl with long green hair standing up, and nearly bursts out laughing. "Shouldn't you be with you're partner.?"
"Oh? You mean the blonde giggly bimbo who obviously has more chance as a cheerleader then a pokemon trainer?"
".I guess? I don't really know who your partner is?"
"Well that'd be her, and I'd rather spend as little time with her as possible. She's too.perky." Rose shudders at the final word, almost as if it were a curse. ((A/n Oh, but isn't it?))
"She seems pretty nice though?" Brian says quietly, unsure of what to say, and not quite happy about saying anything bad about someone he doesn't know. "I think that's our bus up there. Let's hurry. My ass is freezing!" They both hurry towards the bus, being the last two on it, finding their seats and sitting down next to their own partners (Much to their dismay.). And with their presence, the bus takes off driving slowly through the blizzard, the bus completely silent save the squealing of the girl in the pink jacket that people are becoming used to, or so it'd appear until. the sound of a slap echoes throughout the silent bus.
"Stop screeching in my ear! We know you have the Pikachu. We get the idea that you think you're going to be a pokemaster. Now, just shut UP!!!" Says the tragically paired partner of the one in the pink. ((A/n Meep. Need a thesaurus...)) and from that point on, the bus was a lot quieter; a few people falling asleep as the bus slowly trudges through to the airport.
The rest of the time spent on the bus, and the formalities in the airport rush by with nothing major to say, and soon they find themselves on a massive airplane, headed towards Johto, and NewBark Town. Brian sighs in a fit of boredom. displeased with the "No unleashed Pokemon on the flight" rule on the plane, desperate to find something to pay attention to besides the horribly boring in flight movie about. something with a lot of ketchup. Or at least that looks like ketchup. You can never tell nowadays between bad movie blood and ketchup.
In order to prevent from dying of a massive boredom attack, and taking the whole plane with him in a fit involving crayon, markers and paint, he decides to sleep, leaning back against the cushions of the seat, sighing and closing his eyes, letting the sandman molest him into a deep slumber.
Only to be burst out of his peaceful slumber within an hour of catching it by someone poking his side harshly, his thick coat that's wrapped around him like a blanket blocking out most of the prodding induced alienated feeling. "Wake up! We're almost there." Wade's voice pierces any hopes of regaining slumber and he sits up with a sigh, adjusting his seat and puts back on his seatbelt.
".Thanks." Brian manages to yawn out, while quickly checking his appearance over in the reflective metallic seat in front of him, making sure he didn't do anything embarrassing in his sleep, like drool. ((A/n NO we're not talking wet dreams here people! He'd notice that instantly, ne?)) Thankfully, his appearance remains pale and flawless with no drool indications on it. He nearly crashes into the seat as the plane lands roughly onto the icy ground quickly leaning back into his chair to avoid the need of plastic surgery for his nose. "Was the in-flight movie any good?" out of the blue, and out of his logical mind Brian asks Wade, bored of the silence.
"It was a cheap horror movie with tones of blood, guts and gore. Of course it was good." Wade says tonelessly.
"Oh. So that's what the ketchup was!"
".Your stupidity amazes me."
"Everyone always said I was amazing." Brian says with a grin, happy to play around as a stupid little blonde.
"The plane has stopped, let's hurry up and start exploring. I want to battle."
"Fine fine." Brian sighs standing up, and picking up his large navy blue backpack, walking towards the exit, his size intimidating people to give him room. There are advantages to being six foot three. until he hits his head on an overhead compartment, muttering about the hardships of the tall.
They quickly walk out of the airplane and airport, the original group of ten grouping together into their smaller groups, all deciding on what to do, and when to leave. The sky is clear and the ground is covered in freshly fallen snow, and the sun is burning brightly, a massive digital clock above the airport flashes the time to be 11:43am, obviously the early departure gave them the better part of the day to either travel, or decide what to do.
"NEW TRAINERS FROM CELADON! PLEASE COME OVER HERE!!!" A loud voice carries over each and every group, all of them sighing and making their way to the voice, which turns out to be yet another old man on a box.
"Where do all these old people get their boxes?" Brian asks, honestly wondering why EVERY old man they've seen this morning all have had a box to stand on.
"Celadonian Trainers! Professor Peach called in and told me to give four groups of you rivals! So I've already assigned each group a number, and I will be rolling dice to see who your rivals will be. The first group that lands on six, or the last group chosen will be free of the whole entire rivalry thing. So here we go. Three and Four!" He calls out, pointing to Wade and I with his left hand, and Rose and Perky blonde with his right, making the four of us quickly ignore him and walk off, now knowing the face of the enemy.
"HIIIIIII!!!!!!!" The obscenely perky voice cuts through the crowd as the unnamed perk runs up quickly to us, grabbing both of our hands and shaking them at once. "My name is Angel! Since we're going to be rivals I thought it'd be nice if I said "Hi!" and good luck! Well. Rose and I have to go shopping for some pokemon status nullifiers! So bye!!!" The five foot seven blonde grabs the violet haired girl's hand and drags her towards the newly built pokemart, Rose's heavy combat boots sounding dangerous on the pavement.
".Uhh Hi? My name's Brian. Nice to see you listened for our names." Brian muttered more to himself, knowing it's too late for the blonde to hear.
"Come on let's go! We should go to Cherrygrove today, or at least be close to it tonight. Plus, I want to battle wild pokemon and try to catch them!" Wade announces in a proud powerful voice.
"You have some built up anger that you like releasing through violent means, don't you?"
"Do you want to help me with that? You'd make an excellent beating toy!"
".For a few hundred dollars a punch? Sure."
".Let's go! Quit stalling!" With that, Wade marches off, Brian having to dance through a crowd of people in order to keep up. Wade keeps walking pompously, walking west towards the edge of the town, people on the streets generally avoiding him because of his obvious proud attitude.
"This is such a small quaint little town. How could anyone live here? No obscenely large malls? No pokemon gym? No restaurants? God the people here must be bored to hell!"
"They spend their time staring at pokemon, they find their perks."
"That sounds wrong on so many levels." They quickly near the edge of the small town, small houses becoming spaced far apart as they get closer to the wilderness, Brian having a bit easier time walking in the deep thick snow then Wade because of his long legs, one more perk of being a blonde six three, most blondes have wonderfully long legs. As they finally break free of the small town, they hear the chirps of Pidgey's, the squeals of Sentret, and the occasional high-pitched squeal from a Rattata. Brian looks around in awe at the beautiful scenery, absorbed and trudging behind Wade, getting the hint that the shorter blonde likes being in charge.
"We should keep heading this way for a." Wade's comment is quickly cut off as a Sentret falls out of it's hiding spot, landing right in front of us, standing up quickly on it's tail and quickly screeching for help from it's Sentret friends. "Sentret?"
The Sentret stands on its tail; it's usual colors faded and white, obviously for winter. The usual O marking on its chest the only brown on it, the tail rimmed with black, instead of the usual dark brown, and white looking rather beautiful. And with more screeches more Sentret seemingly appears out of the snow, quickly building up to a small army of four white masses.
"Uhh. Kay? Should we battle them, or run like hell?" Brian asks uncertainly, moving up beside Wade.
"Let's battle them. It'd be great experience! Go Poliwag!" With a crimson blast of red light, the dark blue tadpole pokemon stands on the snow, using it's long tail as a snowshoe.
"All right? Go Blaze!" With that, the cinnamon red pokemon appears beside Poliwag, standing out against the pale surroundings. "Use ember!" Fire lights up in the Vulpix's mouth, launching out quickly at one of the Sentret hitting it on the brown circle on its chest.
"Poliwag! Bubble!" The blue pokemon releases water bubbles into the air, the bubbles quickly hardening freezing over, falling down like Christmas ornaments, falling down and hitting the four Sentret on their heads, making them fall to the ground stunned.
".Since when did Poliwag become Little Bunny Foofoo and bop things over the head. with ice balls?" Brian wondered, remembering the innocent nursery rhythm. %Little bunny foofoo went hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and BOPPING them on the head! %. After finishing that amusing thought with newly found mental images, he pulls out a pokeball and throws it at one of the white Sentret. Noticing last minute that Wade has already done the same thing just a second ahead of him, and he crosses my fingers, hoping that he catches the Sentret. It'd come in handy in the future. Plus, the pokemon is whiter and fluffier now then it is in summer, so if it bites him, he can skin it and have a new fur coat.
Noticing that their two other partners have mysteriously disappeared, the remaining two Sentret quickly bounce up and scurry away quickly, obviously frightened. Wade walks over to where the Sentret once were laying, picking up both pokeballs, and tossing one over to Brian. "Are you going to name it?"
"Yes." Brian quickly pulls out the kit the black haired man gave him at the lab, pulling out the small computer which starts telling him his new pokemon's level, sex and stats. "Uhh. He's a guy. So I guess I'll call him. Bandit?" He quickly types in the name, registering the pokemon with that name.
"Okay let's call back our pokemon and get going. We want to get a good distance done today, plus, if we go fast enough we can avoid confronting our 'Rivals'."
"You sound a bit sarcastic. Care to explain why you discredit their ability to be rivals?"
"One of them is a ditz who knows more about big city shopping then pokemon, and the other is a short, probably pessimistic, gothic freak who probably will scare off any pokemon they try to catch."
"Ouch! If they were here I'm sure they'd try to kill us." Brian said, laughing, while still thinking that comment was a bit harsh.
"Like totally? Well at least we're not a jock who is probably too dumb to use a pokeball without smashing it open, and a male valley girl reject!" A familiar perky voice echoes through the field, causing both Brian and Wade to quickly look around before spotting Angel and Rose, both of them matching their new pokemon's hairstyles. Angel wearing Horsea's fins on her earmuffs while Rose is wearing what appear to be Oddish's leaves on a black headband. "And as your official rivals we challenge you! So there! We'll win and make you all go whimpering back to Newbark town!"
"Fine. We accept your challenge, but as the challenged, we get to choose who battles whom. And guess what? I choose to battle Rose!" Brian declares, quickly pulling out his potion from the pokekit and using it on his newly gained Sentret, thinking that the two girls have something up their sleeves.
"What? That's not fair! We should pick who fights who!" Angel shrieks, now noticing the hole in her plan. "Fine! We withdraw our challenge and demand you challenge us!"
"Sorry, can't do that. Brian's right, we choose, and you can't withdraw from the battle! It's in the rulebook!" Wade says, pride and arrogance leaking into his voice.
"Meanies!" Take a wild guess.
"The first match will be between Brian and Rose! Rose, Brian, on the count of three, throw out your first pokemon. Good luck Brian!" Wade says, sounding like an official coach, obviously watching too many trainer battles in his childhood.
"Go Bandit!" "Go Pidgey!"
Both pokemon appear in a crimson blur, the Pidgey looking the same as it does in summer while the Sentret is still in its unusual winter fur. Both of them eyeing each other up, both trainers quickly pulling out their mini- computers, analyzing the other pokemon's stats, only to find out they're both level four. The only difference is the Pidgey is a female, and a flying type as well. Surprise surprise.
"Sentret use your tackle, please!" "Pidgey Tackle the damned thing!" Rose shouts at the same time, determined to win this battle so her Oddish might stand a chance.
The Pidgey pushing off of the ground going into the air, flapping it's wings hard to gain leverage, the space between it and the Sentret rapidly dwindling down as it slowly gains lift and altitude. The white Sentret leaps into the air, pushing off a second time with it's tail, bouncing up higher then the original jump would have let it, crashing into the Pidgey with as much force as it could, continuing to go straight up into the air as the Pidgey falls down painlessly landing into the frigid snow. The Pidgey struggles to get up, the snow making it difficult to regain standing for the armless bird.
Bandit takes this moment of weakness to his advantage, leaping up onto a snow-covered log, bouncing up higher and higher onto an out sticking thick branch. Snow slowly floats down as the Sentret stands on the branch, and then the particularly demonic Sentret leaps off the branch, planning on hitting the Pidgey while it's down. The Pidgey barely avoids the attack, the Sentret crashing through the snow painlessly and pointlessly, until it's a full three feet under the snow. The Pidgey takes this advantage to fly up into the air, the squirrel pokemon using its tail to push itself up and out of the hole it made for itself. And right as he stands out of the hole, the Pidgey tackles down at the squirrel, crashing into it knocking it back into the snow. The Sentret rolls onto it's stomach, and quickly jumps up and back into the snow, hiding among the thick fluffy frigid white flakes waiting for the Pidgey to fly over head of it close enough to tackle it. The Pidgey flaps and remains still in mid-air, blinded by an ocean of white and unable to see its target. Both pokemon linger, waiting for the other to make a foolish move, the Pidgey slowly getting lower and lower as it slowly becomes physically tired. And that's when the Sentret makes its move, leaping out of the ground at the Pidgey.
Not only did the Pidgey expect this, it planned for it, quickly turning to the left diving down and crashing into Bandit before it can re-enter the snow. Both pokemon temporarily fall, but Pidgey quickly regains its stability in the air, soaring up high once again. The Sentret lands on the snow, tired, panting and bruised, it's health low, and easy pickings for the mean spiteful Pidgey of doom.
"Bandit, Return!" Brian yells, recalling his pokemon depressed that the new pokemon didn't win, but still pretty entertained at how well the battle was fought. "You tried your best, that's all that matters. Now to finish off the damned bird. Go Blaze!" The Vulpix appears where the Sentret was last seen, standing out like a bloodstain in the snow. "Keep an eye on that Pidgey. And use ember!" Blaze just sits on the snow, it's six tails surrounding it like a cape, watching the Pidgey fly around in the air, watching it go higher and higher, waiting for it to start diving. As if on cue, the tiny bird pokemon dives down at Blaze, it's speed picking up quickly, it's wings folded in so it looks more like a rocket or a spear then the plump bird. And all too easily Blaze just walks out of the way, last second before the Pidgey crashes into the snow with a big white fluffy explosion. And the Vulpix walks back to where the pokemon lays trapped in the snow, looking down on it with an obvious smirk, before opening it's mouth and shooting out fireballs at the trapped pokemon. The icy prison around the bird quickly melts under the heat of the attack. And another shot of ember is released hurtling through the air at the helpless bird hitting it deeper into the snow, and causing it great pain. Hearing a weakened whimper of "Pidjee" from the bird, the fox pokemon walks away with its chin held high, the Pidgey too tired and hurt to be considered a threat.
"Pidgey Return. You did great, now go Oddish. Good luck!!!" And out bursts the grass type Oddish at Rose's feet, standing out like a blueberry with long green leaves. Rose bends over, whispering something inaudible to all but the two her pokemon, patting weed pokemon on its leafy head and standing back up. The Oddish marches towards Vulpix, with small little black combat boots on its feet, obviously a recent buy as it shines brightly in the sun.
"Is it marching to the end? Whatever. A battle's a battle, no matter how easily won it is!" Brian mutters to himself, before continuing to say, "Blaze! Use Ember! Let's win this fight!"
"You know what to do Oddish!"
Both pokemon are within three feet of each other, both of them with smug looks on their faces, obviously both planning on winning. Blaze's mouth drops and fire shots are launched into the air all aimed at the leafy pokemon. Barely blinking, the pokemon kicks up snow with it's feet, and hurls snowballs with it's leaves, not only killing the fire, but making wet water hit the fire friendly pokemon. "Vulll!" the fox screeches as it recoils away from Oddish, moving far away, as the Oddish launches more rounds of snowballs at the many tailed pokemon. Vulpix quickly bounces away from the snow, launching another fire attack, and making sure to not stay still long enough to be assaulted by the snow. The battle is fought hit per hit equaling out each other, the obvious winner not so obvious. Vulpix bounces up onto the same log that Bandit bounced up on earlier, shooting Ember attack after Ember attack at the Oddish, hitting the snow under the pokemon, making the seedling fall down and be planted and trapped into the snow. The vindictive Vulpix leaps off the branch, landing gracefully on the snow, walking over to the Oddish's hole in the snow, and hitting it on the head six times with it's tails pointlessly before dropping it's jaw and shooting fire at the pokemon, the grass pokemon squealing in pain.
"Oddish! Return! You did better then anyone thought possible. You should be proud of yourself!" Rose said, talking sweetly to her poisonous seed. "Okay Brian. You've won, congratulations, here's your money, and don't think you'll get away so easily next time. Don't forget how close this was!" She tosses a small violet sack with some money in it, which Brian quickly catches and pours into his own royal blue money sack.
"You did great. I thought the Oddish would be an easy beat, but you added a twist to it. Way to go! To you AND your pokemon. I doubt Oddish would have thought up the plan without you, and you would still be in Celadon without your pokemon. But now Wade and Angel gotta battle. I think there's a water shrine around here." Brian says, his voice sounding sure.
"What the fuck are you talking about? The maps never shown anything watery around this area!" Wade states, with his pompous arrogant attitude.
"Generally, there are no rivers, ponds or swamps on the maps. But there are rivers, ponds and other assorted water masses in reality. Most of them are man made though, usually places for aquatic pokemon battles to take place. Ever since the bloody pokemon television show Misty created a huge swarm of popularity for water pokemon such as Goldeen, Staryu and Horsea. And there is a pond within like. Half an hour from here."
"Whatever you say. Just lead the way." Wade demands his voice drenched with curiosity, and doubt.
"As always, us blonde gotta do everything. Life isn't."
"Shut up and keep walking"
"Whatever." With that, Brian quickly leads the quartet across the field. Slowly a large fence comes into view, assorted water pokemon on the posts. "Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the New Bark via Cherrygrove Water Shrine. Created by hippies for you." Brian announces, a smirk on his face. The group walks through the gates their jaws dropping as they see the small pond flooded with water pokemon, all of them wild, however by law protected from collection.
"Holy shit. there is. a lot of water pokemon." Wade stutters in awe, his eyes dancing over all the pokemon.
"Before you get any fish filled ideas, all of these pokemon are protected by law. They keep this pond filled, and are actually tame. Sort of. They move out of the pond on command, my father showed me how to do it, and gave me everything needed. So yeah, this'll be the battleground for Horsea and Poliwag." Brian explains, making a mental note to thank his father for teaching him about the lesser-known facts of the area. He steps towards walking to the edge of the pond reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small pouch of food. "Kay, you all know the drill, I give you these fish friendly feeding packs, and you get out of the pond for a bit and let these trainers battle." With that, he tosses the small aqua pouch over to the larges Poliwrath in the pond, watching all the pokemon quickly evacuate the water.
Quickly Wade and Angel move to opposite sides of the pond, pulling out and throwing their pokeballs, releasing both of their starting pokemon into the misty water. The two water pokemon quickly disappearing underneath the surface of the water, fading in perfectly because of their blue bodies. The Horsea shoots out high-pressure bubbles at the tadpole pokemon; the sub- aquatic pokemon's attacks almost useless on Poliwag, who quickly launches his own volley of bubbles, the water becoming a minefield full of dangerous bubbles. The two pokemon are forced to float still in the water, surrounded by their bubbles and resort to blowing more bubbles and evil glares at their rival. The bubbles quickly grow larger as they merge with other bubbles, slowly becoming one large bubble floating in-between the two. The frigid, blue-green water masks the bubble, it floating there invisibly as each pokemon send out more bubbles, unaware they're feeding the quickly growing bubble, making it come closer and closer to both of them. It's obvious what's happening above the surface, Wade and Angel watching helplessly seeing the massive bubble grow dangerously large.
Too large, with one final launch of the Bubble attack from the two blue pokemon, the bubble finally gives way and pops, releasing enough air pressure that both pokemon are sent sailing out of the water hitting the wall with a solid thud, the snow falling off the fence onto the dazed pokemon, both of them now heavily bruised and unable to battle. The once quiet pond looks furious, waves splashing about dangerously looking very similar to the sea during a storm.
"I guess that battle was a tie." Brian whispers, standing still watching the battle in awe.
"Go Sentret!"
"Go Rattata!" The two rodent like pokemon glare daggers at each other, a savage intent to cause harm dancing in their eyes, but the massive height difference making the Rattata look up at it's most cursed squirrel like opponent. Both pokemon circle the pond after each other, not only looking humorous at two small little creatures trying to beat the other's brains in, but the fact that they are both running at the same pace, in the same direction trying to get to the other. Until Sentret broke the cycle, leaping into the frigid frosty waters and quickly swimming across, it's fur keeping it warm in the below zero water.
Now, both rodent pokemon are face to face, hissing their names out dangerously, leaping at the other quickly trying to tackle their opponent down and cause more damage to their enemy. The Rattata jumps up over the Sentret and out of the way of the attack, having to rely on speed and agility more then strength as it is the smaller of the two. Rattata leaps and slams into the Sentret's back, tackling it and knocking it down to the ground, sitting pompously on its back jumping up and down it every so often for good measure. The Sentret struggles to get up, trying to push off the ground with the smaller rat on it's back, but realizing it is unable to do so, quickly swings its tail around sending the rat pokemon flying into the water. The rat quickly doggie paddles out of the water, shivering and stiff from the water, it's fur thinner then the Sentret's and useless for staying warm in water. The Sentret takes its unfair advantage, quickly leaping forewords and tackling the purple mouse to the ground, bouncing off it quickly and clubbing it with it's massive furry tail.
The Rattata screeches in pain, but quickly rolls out of the way, and launches itself at the squirrel, biting onto the tail and staying firmly latched on it, the Sentret waving it's tail around trying to free itself of the over grown rodent. The Rattata lets go at the peak of the tail's flail, flying at the wall and quickly and with an unseen agility bounces off the wall, using the added momentum to slam into the squirrel and knock it down on its back. The Sentret is bruised and now with a crimson stained tail, gives up, tired and hurt.
"Sentret. Return. We will have to work hard to beat that rat next time." Wade's voice is bathed in withheld emotions, obviously holding back his anger and his sorrow, the idea of losing to a valley girl like Angel seeming to be humiliating for the jock. "You win Angel, enjoy your victory as long as it lasts, because it will NOT happen again." Wade comments, with a fierce determination, and a surge of power in his voice. He tosses a small crimson red sack to Angel, and strides towards the gate, watching out of the corner of his eye the small pond become swarmed with the water pokemon again. Brian, realizing Wade is going to leave without him hurries after his partner, quickly waving goodbye to Rose and Angel, and pondering when or if steam will come pouring out of Wade's ears.
"Calm down. If we train hard enough we will win next time. Don't worry 'bout it!" Brian says quietly in a soothing tone, trying to calm Wade down. The two male blondes keep walking in silence, Brian sighing quietly and just enjoying the scenery, watching the sun slowly creep below the horizon, and the sky start becoming stained orange and pink. The snow glistened a light peach looking awe-inspiring. "We should start setting up camp. It's going to be freezing tonight apparently."
"Hmph. Fine. I'll set up the tent and you go get some firewood. Make sure to bring enough." Wade ordered, obviously regaining his pride from losing by dominating Brian.
"Uhh. Sure." Brian sauntered off, nervously toying with his navy blue mittens, and decides to try to get his two pokemon to help him. He tosses the two pokeballs out lightly, the white and black Sentret, and the cinnamon Vulpix sit in the snow, obviously bored. "I know that it's prolly going to be no fun and all. But can you two please help me collect firewood so that way we can have a nice warm fire for tonight?"
Both of the pokemon, being newly obtained and not all that loyal yet just hmphed pompously, not willing to do the dirty work of some. human.
"You do realize I'm going to be the one who feeds you, and your food is probably frozen solid, and of course, you must be starving since you've battled a lot today. If I'm alone getting the firewood, it will take a lot more time than if you two powerful and intelligent pokemon helped me. So. Are you sure you two aren't going to help me?"
After Brian's manipulative play of their egos and their stomachs, both pokemon nod quickly, running off to get sticks, logs and twigs. Brian grins to himself, sighing quietly as he brushes snow off a log and picks it up, collecting logs quickly, taking trips back and forth from the camp back out into the wilderness until he collects a grand total of around twenty logs, and a lot of food for the fire in the form of sticks and twigs from Bandit and Blaze's hard work. Brian arranged the fire two feet down wind from the tent, setting up the fire in such a manner that it would catch easily, and go on for a while. "Blaze. Can ya be a dear and start the fire? It'll be a lot easier and faster for you to do it then for me." The Vulpix sighs quietly launching a flame at the fire, the twigs catching quickly and the whole thing burning contentedly almost instantly. "Perfect!"
"Vul Pix, pix vull pix pix!" The cinnamon pokemon said, winning an utterly confused look on Brian's face.
[Y'know, you can just stop being so sugary, Neither Bandit or I are children!"]
"Err. Yeah?" Brian quickly pulled out the mini-computer, and translated what the Vulpix just said, "Sorry! I was just trying to make sure y'all felt appreciated?' Brian quickly said to the two, his nervousness bringing back the accent he accidentally picked up from watching some Jhoto TV shows. He flops down in front of the fire, pulling out some containers containing different kinds of pokechow. "Let's see. Pokechow for Carnivorous dog like pokemon, fire brand, and pokechow for normal rodent pokemon." Brian muttered to himself as he pulls out the mentioned types of pokemon food, pulling out two small pans and holding both pans over the fire for two minutes, pulling them out of the amber flame and pouring the food into bowls for them, putting the appropriate heated food in front of the right pokemon.
"Vulpix!" "Sentret!" [Thanks. We think.]
Brian watches the pokemon eat, watching their reactions, and seeing them actually enjoy the steaming food. He sighs, waiting for them to finish before recalling them into the pokeballs, the crimson glow almost blinding in the low light. He sits alone in front of the fire, sitting on one of the logs that have yet to be thrown in fire, listening to the cries of the Hoothoots, hearing some of them come closer and closer. Brian becomes nervous, hearing a Hoothoot near-by; he quickly jumps up, pulling out the pokeball that contained Bandit. He watches the round Owl pokemon fly into view, obviously enticed by the smell of Pokechow. Wade, hearing the owl come so close, leaps out of the tent.
"I want to catch this pokemon. Buzz off!" Wade demands, a fire in his eyes as he throws out his Poliwag, yelling his order to attack the chocolate brown Hoothoot.
Brian sighs, recalling the Sentret, and walks into the tent, taking off his jacket, boots, gloves and his hat, and begins setting up his sleeping bag, and releasing both pokemon again. He hears the battle outside, but, isn't really interested, he's bound to find out the events soon enough. "Both of your furs are messed up and knotted. I'm going to have to brush you both so your fur doesn't cause you trouble. Allright?" Brian asks, with the mini- computer nearby for quick translations.
"Vulpix! Vull pix vul!" [Fine, but don't brush too hard unless you wanna end up a crispy critter!]
"No problem!" Brian grins quietly, pulling out the brush and watching the pokemon move over closer to him. He collects all the stray furs, untangles the knots making the Vulpix look beautiful and well cared for, his cinnamon fur shining healthily. "What about you Bandit? Do you want your fur combed as well?"
"Sentret, sent ret!" [Fine, but don't get too touchy feely.]
Brian just laughs, finding the sarcastic squirrel amusing, with it's high- pitched voice full of what seems to be power. "Okay, no touchy feely." He watches his starter pokemon move to make room for the zebra-colored pokemon in front of him, he ends up taking more time on Bandit then he did on Vulpix because of the massively long fur. "There! You both look like uber- sexy pokemon models!" Brian says with a chuckle, the two pokemon just giving him an odd look. Brian grins, his blonde hair falling over his left eye, the deep-sea blue eye hidden under the silvery hair. Wade abruptly pulls the tent open, walking in and closing the door quickly taking off his jacket and boots, flopping down on top of his already prepared sleeping bed. "Did you catch the pokemon?"
"Yeah, I caught her. I'm doing pretty well. I managed to catch three pokemon on my first day." Wade says proudly, before continuing after taking a small breath, "Tomorrow you and I should train our pokemon together, so that way not only do their loyalties raise, but so does their power."
"Okay? You'll have to tell me what to do, I only learnt to train by battling."
"No problem." Wade says, taking off his shirt and pants, and crawling into his black sleeping bag. "I'm going to sleep, you should do the same."
"Blaze, Bandit do you two want to sleep in or out of your pokeballs?" Brian asked, not wanting to seem cruel to his pokemon, watching both of the pokemon walk over and poke the pokeballs themselves, going in by their own free will. Brian sighs, pulling out his pajamas from his bag, taking off his shirt and pulling a large sweater over his pale thin body. He quickly takes off his pants, pulling the bottoms over, a deep crimson blush staining his cheeks. He quickly crawls into his blue sleeping bag, curling under and falling asleep, drained by the excessive exercise spent during the day.
And now on with tha story! Only here's tha tiny little thing. Kayos, tha story starts off in Celadon city. And ya know, I'm havin it as it is an ancient city with ancient unique customs and all, 'cause it's like the biggest one an all. Or at least one of the biggest ones. And yes, ma grammar will improve in tha story, I just find it amusing beyond belief to type with Ma, tha, and other such fun fun words. Though, on the record, I do NOT talk like that in real life. And this is not a author adding his/herself into tha story, nope nope, tisn' me, just is a cute little story that is LEEKING out of my head onto the keyboard, so please, blame the maid for not cleaning it up before it could torture ya'll into reading this. Now here's where the real story start. Riiiiight.. NOW! Or now! NOW! Teehee. Sorry for putting you through all that.
~Neon Orange~= Wade's thoughts. %Neon Aqua%= Brian's thoughts. [Neon Peach]=Pokemon Translations.
Just like every other city in the world, Celadon has it's own unique culture, one that's evolved and developed for a long time, ever since the end of the last ice age. But on this dreary November morning people wonder if the ice age is even over because a massive blizzard is blowing harshly at the peaceful city, the majority of the citizens avoiding the streets, staying all warm and nestled in their homes. But sadly not all are sitting warm by the fireplace, the workers at the Pokemon Lab are in a busy rush, getting pokemon starter kits, making sure the pokemon are all healthy, all as preparations for the new trainers coming any minute to pick up their pokemon.
Four small areas are set off, each area, except the one under the golden yellow glow have three small pokemon in the areas, most of them curled up, still sleeping because of the early hours. The traditional pokemon starters in secluded areas to prevent fights between the opposing sides of Fire, Water, and Grass pokemon, and one small little area for an electric Pikachu is set aside. The doors swing open, snow and cold air rush in, waking up all the young pokemon quickly, none of them particularly enjoying the frigidness of the outdoors. Ten teenagers walk in, five girls and five boys walk in, all of them shaking even though they're wearing thick winter jackets of assorted colors, their lips blue because of the cruel weather. They line up quickly in a straight horizontal line, their eyes shifting over each and every pokemon, trying to re-solidify which pokemon they want, and wishing to whatever they believe in that they get the pokemon of their dreams.
"Welcome to the lab. I'm glad you all came here despite the weather. Well today's the day you get your pokemon. We will choose who gets to choose their pokemon first through random numbers." A voice echoes from their side. All of the ten teens quickly turn around to see Professor Peach standing on a small peach box. "Ah. Now I have your attention. Now if you look down at your feet you should see a number at your feet. When that number is called you will be allowed to go foreword and choose your pokemon. But be careful about which one you choose, you do not get a second chance, there is no resetting the events that take place in the next few minutes, and they will control how your career as a pokemon trainer goes on. Choose wisely." His face getting redder and redder as he yells over a silent crowd, looking more like a tomato then the fruit he's named after. All of the teens look down, numbers appearing at their feet from lights set above them. "Number 7!" A young girl wearing a light pink jacket walks towards the small areas of the pokemon.
"Oooh! How cute! I'm gonna be just like Ash Ketchum!" She squeals loudly, reaching for and grabbing the yellow pokemon in a blur, the said pokemon looking rather traumatized at the high-pitched voice of his new mistress. "I'm gonna name you.. Buttercup." If a creature could scream "KILL ME NOW" without making a noise, this one could, would and was in the process of doing so, the idea of being called Buttercup obviously sickening to the pokemon.
"Err.. Right. Number 2!"
A short slightly chubby guy wearing a dark blue jacket walks to the areas, obviously he had his heart set on getting the Pikachu, because he stands there for a minute before reaching out, and grabbing a Charmander, in a more slow paced, and calm manner then the girl before him. The baby lizard seems calm with the large teen, mostly for image sake, he's a lizard, NOT a teddy bear. If the obese teen doesn't learn the difference soon enough, he'll get a few burns. "I guess I'll have a Charmander then." The voice is deep, and almost bellowing, the word 'guess' making the Charmander have to clench its teeth to withhold the urge to burn the young man. And so the pokemon are chosen quickly, and in less then fifteen minutes only four remain without a pokemon.
"Number 3!" A tall silvery blonde wearing a black leather jacket walks to the cages, watching the pokemon deciding on which one to choose, one fire and grass remain, the more common water pokemon still having two in their ranks.
He stands there, his sapphire blue eyes glittering with doubt of which pokemon to choose; A Vulpix, Oddish, Poliwag and a Horsea remain. He quickly decides, and reaches for and carefully puts a collar on the Vulpix and walks back to the group, one of the only two trainers to not grab a strange pokemon before being properly introduced.
"Number 9!"
With that bellow, a short quiet gothic girl walks towards the group, her trench coat flowing in the air behind her, she nods at the Oddish, and walks back, the Oddish hopping after her, careful to not get squished under her large black combat boots.
"Number 6!"
The only jock in the crowd walks towards the group, "Poliwag, let's go!" He walks back, quickly anticipating leaving these freaks, and losing his so called partner quickly.
"And lastly! Number 1!"
A beautiful cheerleader type girl wakes up out of her trance, shaking her head lightly her long blonde hair bouncing around in a perky fashion. She walks over to the last remaining pokemon, perk and energy in her step. She grins at the small blue Horsea, "I guess that means we're partners, don't you agree?" she says, her voice leaking with energy and happiness. She bends over, picking up the Horsea, mostly because of the pokemon's inability to walk on solid ground.
"After you're put into groups, you may go!" Professor Peach proclaims in a loud bossy voice. "One and nine! You will go together! Three and six! Four." and after that, the male blonde quickly stops paying attention to the old man on the box. Quickly looking over at the arrogant looking sandy blonde across from him, frowning expecting bad times will soon come. ((A/n Yes, we're finally going to creep out of the third person creepy cold uncaring and impersonal point of view. We'll mostly watch the Blonde guy now.))".You can now go off in your partners!" With a sigh, the silvery blonde quickly walks over to his arrogant partner, not letting appearances get the better of him. %The guy might be nice, right? %
"Hi! My name is Brian, I guess we'll be traveling together then?" The newly announced to be Brian says in an optimistic tone of voice, standing a few inches over the jock.
"If you're lucky. and only if you can keep up with me. I'm Wade, you'd do well to not forget it." The shorter blonde says, looking at the Professor's Aide for a moment, grabbing the Pokemon kit (which contains 6 pokeballs, a mini computer and a potion) the black haired man in a lab coat with thick glasses was handing to him. Brian quickly does the same, with a quiet murmur of "Thanks."
Brian gets down on his knees, putting the kit on the ground, flicking the latch and opening it quickly. Pulling out one of the six pokeballs, looking over at his cinnamon red Vulpix and giving it a small grin "I guess I should name you, shouldn't I? Since you seem to be a guy, I guess I'll name you Blaze. If that's all right?" The fire-pokemon nods tiredly, the curls on his head bouncing lightly as it yawns widely. "Kay, in you go." He quickly opens up the Pokeball pointing it at the Vulpix, and watches it get consumed into a red energy and held in the ball. Brian stands up, watching Wade repeat the same process only without the tender appearance, more in a military sort of style. "What do we do now? The pokemon and the gyms in the area are a bit. really advanced for us at this point. Do we have to break onto a train and like, hide underneath pillows while we get a ride to Johto?"
Wade looks blankly at Brian, blinking trying to absorb the mass stupidity that just flooded out of his mouth. "They provide us a flight. Didn't you read ANYTHING before now?"
"Yes. I read a book on how to kill people while they're sleeping. Using nothing more then a toothpick and a fork." And with that mighty comment, everyone within hearing range all give Brian the same blank look, all of them pitying Wade.
"How. Nice? Let's just go already." ~The faster we go, the faster I can get away from you.~
".I think it'd be a lot better if you lead. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Duh." Wade turns around and walks off, most of the group following in a stream of colorful coats, the girl in the pink bragging about her new Pikachu to Wade, obviously annoying him to no end.
On the other end of the group, Brian and the short gothic girl are walking within a few feet of each other, the violet haired gothic girl muttering to herself about plans on making her hair match Oddish's. "Hmm. I wonder how much gel it'd take."
"You can't be serious. Are you.? Bright. Tall. Green. Hair?" Brian wonders partly in shock, Humor, and absolute terror. The gothic girl with the pale milky white skin turns and looks at Brian with a glare that out does the frigid blizzard around them.
"And why do YOU care? How does MY hair matter to YOU? Hell! You don't even know my fucking name!"
".I was just wondering. Because it'll take a lot of work. And a hell of a lot more time to do every morning. Plus, it isn't my fault you haven't told me your name yet... My name is Brian by the way."
"Rose. But the hair'd be succulent, so it would be worth it." Rose says, managing to pull off little to no emotion in the statement.
".Okay then." He imagines the pale five foot five girl with long green hair standing up, and nearly bursts out laughing. "Shouldn't you be with you're partner.?"
"Oh? You mean the blonde giggly bimbo who obviously has more chance as a cheerleader then a pokemon trainer?"
".I guess? I don't really know who your partner is?"
"Well that'd be her, and I'd rather spend as little time with her as possible. She's too.perky." Rose shudders at the final word, almost as if it were a curse. ((A/n Oh, but isn't it?))
"She seems pretty nice though?" Brian says quietly, unsure of what to say, and not quite happy about saying anything bad about someone he doesn't know. "I think that's our bus up there. Let's hurry. My ass is freezing!" They both hurry towards the bus, being the last two on it, finding their seats and sitting down next to their own partners (Much to their dismay.). And with their presence, the bus takes off driving slowly through the blizzard, the bus completely silent save the squealing of the girl in the pink jacket that people are becoming used to, or so it'd appear until. the sound of a slap echoes throughout the silent bus.
"Stop screeching in my ear! We know you have the Pikachu. We get the idea that you think you're going to be a pokemaster. Now, just shut UP!!!" Says the tragically paired partner of the one in the pink. ((A/n Meep. Need a thesaurus...)) and from that point on, the bus was a lot quieter; a few people falling asleep as the bus slowly trudges through to the airport.
The rest of the time spent on the bus, and the formalities in the airport rush by with nothing major to say, and soon they find themselves on a massive airplane, headed towards Johto, and NewBark Town. Brian sighs in a fit of boredom. displeased with the "No unleashed Pokemon on the flight" rule on the plane, desperate to find something to pay attention to besides the horribly boring in flight movie about. something with a lot of ketchup. Or at least that looks like ketchup. You can never tell nowadays between bad movie blood and ketchup.
In order to prevent from dying of a massive boredom attack, and taking the whole plane with him in a fit involving crayon, markers and paint, he decides to sleep, leaning back against the cushions of the seat, sighing and closing his eyes, letting the sandman molest him into a deep slumber.
Only to be burst out of his peaceful slumber within an hour of catching it by someone poking his side harshly, his thick coat that's wrapped around him like a blanket blocking out most of the prodding induced alienated feeling. "Wake up! We're almost there." Wade's voice pierces any hopes of regaining slumber and he sits up with a sigh, adjusting his seat and puts back on his seatbelt.
".Thanks." Brian manages to yawn out, while quickly checking his appearance over in the reflective metallic seat in front of him, making sure he didn't do anything embarrassing in his sleep, like drool. ((A/n NO we're not talking wet dreams here people! He'd notice that instantly, ne?)) Thankfully, his appearance remains pale and flawless with no drool indications on it. He nearly crashes into the seat as the plane lands roughly onto the icy ground quickly leaning back into his chair to avoid the need of plastic surgery for his nose. "Was the in-flight movie any good?" out of the blue, and out of his logical mind Brian asks Wade, bored of the silence.
"It was a cheap horror movie with tones of blood, guts and gore. Of course it was good." Wade says tonelessly.
"Oh. So that's what the ketchup was!"
".Your stupidity amazes me."
"Everyone always said I was amazing." Brian says with a grin, happy to play around as a stupid little blonde.
"The plane has stopped, let's hurry up and start exploring. I want to battle."
"Fine fine." Brian sighs standing up, and picking up his large navy blue backpack, walking towards the exit, his size intimidating people to give him room. There are advantages to being six foot three. until he hits his head on an overhead compartment, muttering about the hardships of the tall.
They quickly walk out of the airplane and airport, the original group of ten grouping together into their smaller groups, all deciding on what to do, and when to leave. The sky is clear and the ground is covered in freshly fallen snow, and the sun is burning brightly, a massive digital clock above the airport flashes the time to be 11:43am, obviously the early departure gave them the better part of the day to either travel, or decide what to do.
"NEW TRAINERS FROM CELADON! PLEASE COME OVER HERE!!!" A loud voice carries over each and every group, all of them sighing and making their way to the voice, which turns out to be yet another old man on a box.
"Where do all these old people get their boxes?" Brian asks, honestly wondering why EVERY old man they've seen this morning all have had a box to stand on.
"Celadonian Trainers! Professor Peach called in and told me to give four groups of you rivals! So I've already assigned each group a number, and I will be rolling dice to see who your rivals will be. The first group that lands on six, or the last group chosen will be free of the whole entire rivalry thing. So here we go. Three and Four!" He calls out, pointing to Wade and I with his left hand, and Rose and Perky blonde with his right, making the four of us quickly ignore him and walk off, now knowing the face of the enemy.
"HIIIIIII!!!!!!!" The obscenely perky voice cuts through the crowd as the unnamed perk runs up quickly to us, grabbing both of our hands and shaking them at once. "My name is Angel! Since we're going to be rivals I thought it'd be nice if I said "Hi!" and good luck! Well. Rose and I have to go shopping for some pokemon status nullifiers! So bye!!!" The five foot seven blonde grabs the violet haired girl's hand and drags her towards the newly built pokemart, Rose's heavy combat boots sounding dangerous on the pavement.
".Uhh Hi? My name's Brian. Nice to see you listened for our names." Brian muttered more to himself, knowing it's too late for the blonde to hear.
"Come on let's go! We should go to Cherrygrove today, or at least be close to it tonight. Plus, I want to battle wild pokemon and try to catch them!" Wade announces in a proud powerful voice.
"You have some built up anger that you like releasing through violent means, don't you?"
"Do you want to help me with that? You'd make an excellent beating toy!"
".For a few hundred dollars a punch? Sure."
".Let's go! Quit stalling!" With that, Wade marches off, Brian having to dance through a crowd of people in order to keep up. Wade keeps walking pompously, walking west towards the edge of the town, people on the streets generally avoiding him because of his obvious proud attitude.
"This is such a small quaint little town. How could anyone live here? No obscenely large malls? No pokemon gym? No restaurants? God the people here must be bored to hell!"
"They spend their time staring at pokemon, they find their perks."
"That sounds wrong on so many levels." They quickly near the edge of the small town, small houses becoming spaced far apart as they get closer to the wilderness, Brian having a bit easier time walking in the deep thick snow then Wade because of his long legs, one more perk of being a blonde six three, most blondes have wonderfully long legs. As they finally break free of the small town, they hear the chirps of Pidgey's, the squeals of Sentret, and the occasional high-pitched squeal from a Rattata. Brian looks around in awe at the beautiful scenery, absorbed and trudging behind Wade, getting the hint that the shorter blonde likes being in charge.
"We should keep heading this way for a." Wade's comment is quickly cut off as a Sentret falls out of it's hiding spot, landing right in front of us, standing up quickly on it's tail and quickly screeching for help from it's Sentret friends. "Sentret?"
The Sentret stands on its tail; it's usual colors faded and white, obviously for winter. The usual O marking on its chest the only brown on it, the tail rimmed with black, instead of the usual dark brown, and white looking rather beautiful. And with more screeches more Sentret seemingly appears out of the snow, quickly building up to a small army of four white masses.
"Uhh. Kay? Should we battle them, or run like hell?" Brian asks uncertainly, moving up beside Wade.
"Let's battle them. It'd be great experience! Go Poliwag!" With a crimson blast of red light, the dark blue tadpole pokemon stands on the snow, using it's long tail as a snowshoe.
"All right? Go Blaze!" With that, the cinnamon red pokemon appears beside Poliwag, standing out against the pale surroundings. "Use ember!" Fire lights up in the Vulpix's mouth, launching out quickly at one of the Sentret hitting it on the brown circle on its chest.
"Poliwag! Bubble!" The blue pokemon releases water bubbles into the air, the bubbles quickly hardening freezing over, falling down like Christmas ornaments, falling down and hitting the four Sentret on their heads, making them fall to the ground stunned.
".Since when did Poliwag become Little Bunny Foofoo and bop things over the head. with ice balls?" Brian wondered, remembering the innocent nursery rhythm. %Little bunny foofoo went hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and BOPPING them on the head! %. After finishing that amusing thought with newly found mental images, he pulls out a pokeball and throws it at one of the white Sentret. Noticing last minute that Wade has already done the same thing just a second ahead of him, and he crosses my fingers, hoping that he catches the Sentret. It'd come in handy in the future. Plus, the pokemon is whiter and fluffier now then it is in summer, so if it bites him, he can skin it and have a new fur coat.
Noticing that their two other partners have mysteriously disappeared, the remaining two Sentret quickly bounce up and scurry away quickly, obviously frightened. Wade walks over to where the Sentret once were laying, picking up both pokeballs, and tossing one over to Brian. "Are you going to name it?"
"Yes." Brian quickly pulls out the kit the black haired man gave him at the lab, pulling out the small computer which starts telling him his new pokemon's level, sex and stats. "Uhh. He's a guy. So I guess I'll call him. Bandit?" He quickly types in the name, registering the pokemon with that name.
"Okay let's call back our pokemon and get going. We want to get a good distance done today, plus, if we go fast enough we can avoid confronting our 'Rivals'."
"You sound a bit sarcastic. Care to explain why you discredit their ability to be rivals?"
"One of them is a ditz who knows more about big city shopping then pokemon, and the other is a short, probably pessimistic, gothic freak who probably will scare off any pokemon they try to catch."
"Ouch! If they were here I'm sure they'd try to kill us." Brian said, laughing, while still thinking that comment was a bit harsh.
"Like totally? Well at least we're not a jock who is probably too dumb to use a pokeball without smashing it open, and a male valley girl reject!" A familiar perky voice echoes through the field, causing both Brian and Wade to quickly look around before spotting Angel and Rose, both of them matching their new pokemon's hairstyles. Angel wearing Horsea's fins on her earmuffs while Rose is wearing what appear to be Oddish's leaves on a black headband. "And as your official rivals we challenge you! So there! We'll win and make you all go whimpering back to Newbark town!"
"Fine. We accept your challenge, but as the challenged, we get to choose who battles whom. And guess what? I choose to battle Rose!" Brian declares, quickly pulling out his potion from the pokekit and using it on his newly gained Sentret, thinking that the two girls have something up their sleeves.
"What? That's not fair! We should pick who fights who!" Angel shrieks, now noticing the hole in her plan. "Fine! We withdraw our challenge and demand you challenge us!"
"Sorry, can't do that. Brian's right, we choose, and you can't withdraw from the battle! It's in the rulebook!" Wade says, pride and arrogance leaking into his voice.
"Meanies!" Take a wild guess.
"The first match will be between Brian and Rose! Rose, Brian, on the count of three, throw out your first pokemon. Good luck Brian!" Wade says, sounding like an official coach, obviously watching too many trainer battles in his childhood.
"Go Bandit!" "Go Pidgey!"
Both pokemon appear in a crimson blur, the Pidgey looking the same as it does in summer while the Sentret is still in its unusual winter fur. Both of them eyeing each other up, both trainers quickly pulling out their mini- computers, analyzing the other pokemon's stats, only to find out they're both level four. The only difference is the Pidgey is a female, and a flying type as well. Surprise surprise.
"Sentret use your tackle, please!" "Pidgey Tackle the damned thing!" Rose shouts at the same time, determined to win this battle so her Oddish might stand a chance.
The Pidgey pushing off of the ground going into the air, flapping it's wings hard to gain leverage, the space between it and the Sentret rapidly dwindling down as it slowly gains lift and altitude. The white Sentret leaps into the air, pushing off a second time with it's tail, bouncing up higher then the original jump would have let it, crashing into the Pidgey with as much force as it could, continuing to go straight up into the air as the Pidgey falls down painlessly landing into the frigid snow. The Pidgey struggles to get up, the snow making it difficult to regain standing for the armless bird.
Bandit takes this moment of weakness to his advantage, leaping up onto a snow-covered log, bouncing up higher and higher onto an out sticking thick branch. Snow slowly floats down as the Sentret stands on the branch, and then the particularly demonic Sentret leaps off the branch, planning on hitting the Pidgey while it's down. The Pidgey barely avoids the attack, the Sentret crashing through the snow painlessly and pointlessly, until it's a full three feet under the snow. The Pidgey takes this advantage to fly up into the air, the squirrel pokemon using its tail to push itself up and out of the hole it made for itself. And right as he stands out of the hole, the Pidgey tackles down at the squirrel, crashing into it knocking it back into the snow. The Sentret rolls onto it's stomach, and quickly jumps up and back into the snow, hiding among the thick fluffy frigid white flakes waiting for the Pidgey to fly over head of it close enough to tackle it. The Pidgey flaps and remains still in mid-air, blinded by an ocean of white and unable to see its target. Both pokemon linger, waiting for the other to make a foolish move, the Pidgey slowly getting lower and lower as it slowly becomes physically tired. And that's when the Sentret makes its move, leaping out of the ground at the Pidgey.
Not only did the Pidgey expect this, it planned for it, quickly turning to the left diving down and crashing into Bandit before it can re-enter the snow. Both pokemon temporarily fall, but Pidgey quickly regains its stability in the air, soaring up high once again. The Sentret lands on the snow, tired, panting and bruised, it's health low, and easy pickings for the mean spiteful Pidgey of doom.
"Bandit, Return!" Brian yells, recalling his pokemon depressed that the new pokemon didn't win, but still pretty entertained at how well the battle was fought. "You tried your best, that's all that matters. Now to finish off the damned bird. Go Blaze!" The Vulpix appears where the Sentret was last seen, standing out like a bloodstain in the snow. "Keep an eye on that Pidgey. And use ember!" Blaze just sits on the snow, it's six tails surrounding it like a cape, watching the Pidgey fly around in the air, watching it go higher and higher, waiting for it to start diving. As if on cue, the tiny bird pokemon dives down at Blaze, it's speed picking up quickly, it's wings folded in so it looks more like a rocket or a spear then the plump bird. And all too easily Blaze just walks out of the way, last second before the Pidgey crashes into the snow with a big white fluffy explosion. And the Vulpix walks back to where the pokemon lays trapped in the snow, looking down on it with an obvious smirk, before opening it's mouth and shooting out fireballs at the trapped pokemon. The icy prison around the bird quickly melts under the heat of the attack. And another shot of ember is released hurtling through the air at the helpless bird hitting it deeper into the snow, and causing it great pain. Hearing a weakened whimper of "Pidjee" from the bird, the fox pokemon walks away with its chin held high, the Pidgey too tired and hurt to be considered a threat.
"Pidgey Return. You did great, now go Oddish. Good luck!!!" And out bursts the grass type Oddish at Rose's feet, standing out like a blueberry with long green leaves. Rose bends over, whispering something inaudible to all but the two her pokemon, patting weed pokemon on its leafy head and standing back up. The Oddish marches towards Vulpix, with small little black combat boots on its feet, obviously a recent buy as it shines brightly in the sun.
"Is it marching to the end? Whatever. A battle's a battle, no matter how easily won it is!" Brian mutters to himself, before continuing to say, "Blaze! Use Ember! Let's win this fight!"
"You know what to do Oddish!"
Both pokemon are within three feet of each other, both of them with smug looks on their faces, obviously both planning on winning. Blaze's mouth drops and fire shots are launched into the air all aimed at the leafy pokemon. Barely blinking, the pokemon kicks up snow with it's feet, and hurls snowballs with it's leaves, not only killing the fire, but making wet water hit the fire friendly pokemon. "Vulll!" the fox screeches as it recoils away from Oddish, moving far away, as the Oddish launches more rounds of snowballs at the many tailed pokemon. Vulpix quickly bounces away from the snow, launching another fire attack, and making sure to not stay still long enough to be assaulted by the snow. The battle is fought hit per hit equaling out each other, the obvious winner not so obvious. Vulpix bounces up onto the same log that Bandit bounced up on earlier, shooting Ember attack after Ember attack at the Oddish, hitting the snow under the pokemon, making the seedling fall down and be planted and trapped into the snow. The vindictive Vulpix leaps off the branch, landing gracefully on the snow, walking over to the Oddish's hole in the snow, and hitting it on the head six times with it's tails pointlessly before dropping it's jaw and shooting fire at the pokemon, the grass pokemon squealing in pain.
"Oddish! Return! You did better then anyone thought possible. You should be proud of yourself!" Rose said, talking sweetly to her poisonous seed. "Okay Brian. You've won, congratulations, here's your money, and don't think you'll get away so easily next time. Don't forget how close this was!" She tosses a small violet sack with some money in it, which Brian quickly catches and pours into his own royal blue money sack.
"You did great. I thought the Oddish would be an easy beat, but you added a twist to it. Way to go! To you AND your pokemon. I doubt Oddish would have thought up the plan without you, and you would still be in Celadon without your pokemon. But now Wade and Angel gotta battle. I think there's a water shrine around here." Brian says, his voice sounding sure.
"What the fuck are you talking about? The maps never shown anything watery around this area!" Wade states, with his pompous arrogant attitude.
"Generally, there are no rivers, ponds or swamps on the maps. But there are rivers, ponds and other assorted water masses in reality. Most of them are man made though, usually places for aquatic pokemon battles to take place. Ever since the bloody pokemon television show Misty created a huge swarm of popularity for water pokemon such as Goldeen, Staryu and Horsea. And there is a pond within like. Half an hour from here."
"Whatever you say. Just lead the way." Wade demands his voice drenched with curiosity, and doubt.
"As always, us blonde gotta do everything. Life isn't."
"Shut up and keep walking"
"Whatever." With that, Brian quickly leads the quartet across the field. Slowly a large fence comes into view, assorted water pokemon on the posts. "Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the New Bark via Cherrygrove Water Shrine. Created by hippies for you." Brian announces, a smirk on his face. The group walks through the gates their jaws dropping as they see the small pond flooded with water pokemon, all of them wild, however by law protected from collection.
"Holy shit. there is. a lot of water pokemon." Wade stutters in awe, his eyes dancing over all the pokemon.
"Before you get any fish filled ideas, all of these pokemon are protected by law. They keep this pond filled, and are actually tame. Sort of. They move out of the pond on command, my father showed me how to do it, and gave me everything needed. So yeah, this'll be the battleground for Horsea and Poliwag." Brian explains, making a mental note to thank his father for teaching him about the lesser-known facts of the area. He steps towards walking to the edge of the pond reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small pouch of food. "Kay, you all know the drill, I give you these fish friendly feeding packs, and you get out of the pond for a bit and let these trainers battle." With that, he tosses the small aqua pouch over to the larges Poliwrath in the pond, watching all the pokemon quickly evacuate the water.
Quickly Wade and Angel move to opposite sides of the pond, pulling out and throwing their pokeballs, releasing both of their starting pokemon into the misty water. The two water pokemon quickly disappearing underneath the surface of the water, fading in perfectly because of their blue bodies. The Horsea shoots out high-pressure bubbles at the tadpole pokemon; the sub- aquatic pokemon's attacks almost useless on Poliwag, who quickly launches his own volley of bubbles, the water becoming a minefield full of dangerous bubbles. The two pokemon are forced to float still in the water, surrounded by their bubbles and resort to blowing more bubbles and evil glares at their rival. The bubbles quickly grow larger as they merge with other bubbles, slowly becoming one large bubble floating in-between the two. The frigid, blue-green water masks the bubble, it floating there invisibly as each pokemon send out more bubbles, unaware they're feeding the quickly growing bubble, making it come closer and closer to both of them. It's obvious what's happening above the surface, Wade and Angel watching helplessly seeing the massive bubble grow dangerously large.
Too large, with one final launch of the Bubble attack from the two blue pokemon, the bubble finally gives way and pops, releasing enough air pressure that both pokemon are sent sailing out of the water hitting the wall with a solid thud, the snow falling off the fence onto the dazed pokemon, both of them now heavily bruised and unable to battle. The once quiet pond looks furious, waves splashing about dangerously looking very similar to the sea during a storm.
"I guess that battle was a tie." Brian whispers, standing still watching the battle in awe.
"Go Sentret!"
"Go Rattata!" The two rodent like pokemon glare daggers at each other, a savage intent to cause harm dancing in their eyes, but the massive height difference making the Rattata look up at it's most cursed squirrel like opponent. Both pokemon circle the pond after each other, not only looking humorous at two small little creatures trying to beat the other's brains in, but the fact that they are both running at the same pace, in the same direction trying to get to the other. Until Sentret broke the cycle, leaping into the frigid frosty waters and quickly swimming across, it's fur keeping it warm in the below zero water.
Now, both rodent pokemon are face to face, hissing their names out dangerously, leaping at the other quickly trying to tackle their opponent down and cause more damage to their enemy. The Rattata jumps up over the Sentret and out of the way of the attack, having to rely on speed and agility more then strength as it is the smaller of the two. Rattata leaps and slams into the Sentret's back, tackling it and knocking it down to the ground, sitting pompously on its back jumping up and down it every so often for good measure. The Sentret struggles to get up, trying to push off the ground with the smaller rat on it's back, but realizing it is unable to do so, quickly swings its tail around sending the rat pokemon flying into the water. The rat quickly doggie paddles out of the water, shivering and stiff from the water, it's fur thinner then the Sentret's and useless for staying warm in water. The Sentret takes its unfair advantage, quickly leaping forewords and tackling the purple mouse to the ground, bouncing off it quickly and clubbing it with it's massive furry tail.
The Rattata screeches in pain, but quickly rolls out of the way, and launches itself at the squirrel, biting onto the tail and staying firmly latched on it, the Sentret waving it's tail around trying to free itself of the over grown rodent. The Rattata lets go at the peak of the tail's flail, flying at the wall and quickly and with an unseen agility bounces off the wall, using the added momentum to slam into the squirrel and knock it down on its back. The Sentret is bruised and now with a crimson stained tail, gives up, tired and hurt.
"Sentret. Return. We will have to work hard to beat that rat next time." Wade's voice is bathed in withheld emotions, obviously holding back his anger and his sorrow, the idea of losing to a valley girl like Angel seeming to be humiliating for the jock. "You win Angel, enjoy your victory as long as it lasts, because it will NOT happen again." Wade comments, with a fierce determination, and a surge of power in his voice. He tosses a small crimson red sack to Angel, and strides towards the gate, watching out of the corner of his eye the small pond become swarmed with the water pokemon again. Brian, realizing Wade is going to leave without him hurries after his partner, quickly waving goodbye to Rose and Angel, and pondering when or if steam will come pouring out of Wade's ears.
"Calm down. If we train hard enough we will win next time. Don't worry 'bout it!" Brian says quietly in a soothing tone, trying to calm Wade down. The two male blondes keep walking in silence, Brian sighing quietly and just enjoying the scenery, watching the sun slowly creep below the horizon, and the sky start becoming stained orange and pink. The snow glistened a light peach looking awe-inspiring. "We should start setting up camp. It's going to be freezing tonight apparently."
"Hmph. Fine. I'll set up the tent and you go get some firewood. Make sure to bring enough." Wade ordered, obviously regaining his pride from losing by dominating Brian.
"Uhh. Sure." Brian sauntered off, nervously toying with his navy blue mittens, and decides to try to get his two pokemon to help him. He tosses the two pokeballs out lightly, the white and black Sentret, and the cinnamon Vulpix sit in the snow, obviously bored. "I know that it's prolly going to be no fun and all. But can you two please help me collect firewood so that way we can have a nice warm fire for tonight?"
Both of the pokemon, being newly obtained and not all that loyal yet just hmphed pompously, not willing to do the dirty work of some. human.
"You do realize I'm going to be the one who feeds you, and your food is probably frozen solid, and of course, you must be starving since you've battled a lot today. If I'm alone getting the firewood, it will take a lot more time than if you two powerful and intelligent pokemon helped me. So. Are you sure you two aren't going to help me?"
After Brian's manipulative play of their egos and their stomachs, both pokemon nod quickly, running off to get sticks, logs and twigs. Brian grins to himself, sighing quietly as he brushes snow off a log and picks it up, collecting logs quickly, taking trips back and forth from the camp back out into the wilderness until he collects a grand total of around twenty logs, and a lot of food for the fire in the form of sticks and twigs from Bandit and Blaze's hard work. Brian arranged the fire two feet down wind from the tent, setting up the fire in such a manner that it would catch easily, and go on for a while. "Blaze. Can ya be a dear and start the fire? It'll be a lot easier and faster for you to do it then for me." The Vulpix sighs quietly launching a flame at the fire, the twigs catching quickly and the whole thing burning contentedly almost instantly. "Perfect!"
"Vul Pix, pix vull pix pix!" The cinnamon pokemon said, winning an utterly confused look on Brian's face.
[Y'know, you can just stop being so sugary, Neither Bandit or I are children!"]
"Err. Yeah?" Brian quickly pulled out the mini-computer, and translated what the Vulpix just said, "Sorry! I was just trying to make sure y'all felt appreciated?' Brian quickly said to the two, his nervousness bringing back the accent he accidentally picked up from watching some Jhoto TV shows. He flops down in front of the fire, pulling out some containers containing different kinds of pokechow. "Let's see. Pokechow for Carnivorous dog like pokemon, fire brand, and pokechow for normal rodent pokemon." Brian muttered to himself as he pulls out the mentioned types of pokemon food, pulling out two small pans and holding both pans over the fire for two minutes, pulling them out of the amber flame and pouring the food into bowls for them, putting the appropriate heated food in front of the right pokemon.
"Vulpix!" "Sentret!" [Thanks. We think.]
Brian watches the pokemon eat, watching their reactions, and seeing them actually enjoy the steaming food. He sighs, waiting for them to finish before recalling them into the pokeballs, the crimson glow almost blinding in the low light. He sits alone in front of the fire, sitting on one of the logs that have yet to be thrown in fire, listening to the cries of the Hoothoots, hearing some of them come closer and closer. Brian becomes nervous, hearing a Hoothoot near-by; he quickly jumps up, pulling out the pokeball that contained Bandit. He watches the round Owl pokemon fly into view, obviously enticed by the smell of Pokechow. Wade, hearing the owl come so close, leaps out of the tent.
"I want to catch this pokemon. Buzz off!" Wade demands, a fire in his eyes as he throws out his Poliwag, yelling his order to attack the chocolate brown Hoothoot.
Brian sighs, recalling the Sentret, and walks into the tent, taking off his jacket, boots, gloves and his hat, and begins setting up his sleeping bag, and releasing both pokemon again. He hears the battle outside, but, isn't really interested, he's bound to find out the events soon enough. "Both of your furs are messed up and knotted. I'm going to have to brush you both so your fur doesn't cause you trouble. Allright?" Brian asks, with the mini- computer nearby for quick translations.
"Vulpix! Vull pix vul!" [Fine, but don't brush too hard unless you wanna end up a crispy critter!]
"No problem!" Brian grins quietly, pulling out the brush and watching the pokemon move over closer to him. He collects all the stray furs, untangles the knots making the Vulpix look beautiful and well cared for, his cinnamon fur shining healthily. "What about you Bandit? Do you want your fur combed as well?"
"Sentret, sent ret!" [Fine, but don't get too touchy feely.]
Brian just laughs, finding the sarcastic squirrel amusing, with it's high- pitched voice full of what seems to be power. "Okay, no touchy feely." He watches his starter pokemon move to make room for the zebra-colored pokemon in front of him, he ends up taking more time on Bandit then he did on Vulpix because of the massively long fur. "There! You both look like uber- sexy pokemon models!" Brian says with a chuckle, the two pokemon just giving him an odd look. Brian grins, his blonde hair falling over his left eye, the deep-sea blue eye hidden under the silvery hair. Wade abruptly pulls the tent open, walking in and closing the door quickly taking off his jacket and boots, flopping down on top of his already prepared sleeping bed. "Did you catch the pokemon?"
"Yeah, I caught her. I'm doing pretty well. I managed to catch three pokemon on my first day." Wade says proudly, before continuing after taking a small breath, "Tomorrow you and I should train our pokemon together, so that way not only do their loyalties raise, but so does their power."
"Okay? You'll have to tell me what to do, I only learnt to train by battling."
"No problem." Wade says, taking off his shirt and pants, and crawling into his black sleeping bag. "I'm going to sleep, you should do the same."
"Blaze, Bandit do you two want to sleep in or out of your pokeballs?" Brian asked, not wanting to seem cruel to his pokemon, watching both of the pokemon walk over and poke the pokeballs themselves, going in by their own free will. Brian sighs, pulling out his pajamas from his bag, taking off his shirt and pulling a large sweater over his pale thin body. He quickly takes off his pants, pulling the bottoms over, a deep crimson blush staining his cheeks. He quickly crawls into his blue sleeping bag, curling under and falling asleep, drained by the excessive exercise spent during the day.