Pokémon - The Journey Begins
Chapter 17: A Careless Mistake
"Matt! I just captured a Haunter!" Lizzie yelled out loud.
"You did? Where did you find it?" Matt asked.
"They're everywhere! You were right; Articuno is doing an awesome job!" Lizzie smiled.
Matt also smiled, looking through the shrubs. It was morning, and even during the day, Lavender Town looked ominously dark, perhaps because of its dark coloured buildings, Matt wondered. He also wondered what it would be like when the sun shone, since a blanket of clouds reigned the sky on this day. "Damn it, where the hell's the gym?!"
"Calm down, we've only been searching for about ten minutes. We should stop for a quick rest." Lizzie sighed. She then shivered. "It's getting pretty cold lately."
"Huh? What's this?" Matt saw something peculiar that was buried underneath some sand and dust. He wiped it away and tapped at what seemed to be a wooden door. It made a dull, hollow sound. After dusting some more he found a handle and pulled it. The door opened. There was a ladder which lead down into darkness. "Honestly, these hidden gyms become much harder to find everytime!" Matt started to climb down.
"Hey! Wait up!" Lizzie started to climb down as well.
"Take your time! I don't want my hands stepped on!" Matt yelled. "It's dark down here; go slowly! You okay, Zenigame?"
"Squirtle..." Squirtle said quietly.
Eventually, Matt made it to the ground, but it was very dark. He waited for Lizzie to arrive before going further. Their eyes couldn't adjust to the dark, even after waiting a couple of minutes.
Matt took out a Pokéball. "Shield your eyes...I'm letting out Charmeleon." Matt closed his eyes as he let Charmeleon out of the Pokéball. Matt and Lizzie put both their hands over their eyes, as they slowly readjusted themselves to the light. He saw that he, Squirtle and Lizzie were in a small room, with some cobwebs surrounding them in the corners of the ceiling and the floor. There was also a door a few feet away from where they were standing.
"Eww, spider webs," Lizzie cringed.
"All right, let's go through that other door," Matt said. Everybody nodded and slowly followed him towards it.
"Char?" Charmeleon was pointing to a lightswitch.
"How convenient. All right, let's turn it on." Lizzie walked towards the switch and flipped it on before going through the door. Nothing happened. "Perhaps the light turned on in the next room?"
Matt looked under the space of the door. "No, it's dark in there, too. Let's keep on going anyway." Matt opened the door and let Charmeleon go through first. There were several cages, each one trapping Ghost Pokémon.
"Ghost Pokémon in cages?!" Lizzie exclaimed. "That's terrible!"
Matt observed the Ghost Pokémon carefully. He saw no movement in any of them. "They can't be real! Ghost Pokémon have the ability to go through solid objects, so why can't they go through these cages?"
"That's right!" Lizzie looked around the room. "I think that they're stuffed!"
"And stuffed they are..." a deep harsh voice sounded and echoed in the room as suddenly lights filled the area. "So, nosey kids decided to come and check out my collection of Ghost Pokémon in cages."
Lizzie made a face. "What a weirdo..."
"This is a hidden gym. If you want the Orange Crystal Badge, you have to first defeat me." The character moved into the room, wearing a cloak. However, due to the lighting, that's all that Matt would see. He saw the character's eyes flashing for only for a swift moment, as a chill ran down his spine.
"All right, let's go Char--"
"I'm going first!" Lizzie stepped out in front of Matt.
"Hey! I found the gym--"
"I have less badges than you! Come on, let me fight!" Lizzie said.
"Well, you're going to be the first and only people here, since there's only one badge. Decide who gets to fight for it," the leader rudely muttered, tossing it up and down several times.
"Fine. Lizzie can do it this time." Matt sighed.
"This room is too small to battle; shall we go to the gym?" the man offered.
They entered a dimly lit room which was a bit smaller than any of the other gym floors with which Matt and Lizzie were familiar. As usual, the battlefield was made of wood. He then walked to the far end of the gym floor, while Lizzie walked to the opposite end. The gym leader then turned himself towards the two Pokémon trainers and stared at them with a sly grin on his face. "From what I've heard, I thought you kids were smarter; I had no idea that this would work so well."
"Who are you?!" Lizzie exclaimed, pulling out a Pokéball.
The man pulled off his cloak, and Matt could finally make him out clearly. He was wearing pitch-black jeans, a black T-shirt with a cyan blue 'R' printed in the middle of it. His eyes glowed with a cold, dark brown colour. His brown sideburns were all that were visible to Matt, for the rest of his head was wrapped with a blood-red bandana. His age could not be determined. Matt guessed around his mid-twenties, if not younger, or maybe even slightly older. "So, you were the ones who foiled the middle-class Team Rocket members. It's odd to receive an order to chase around meddling kids, but Giovanni seemed so concerned about his great name."
"Team Rocket," Matt snarled. "I'm sick of you stalking us!"
"Oh, come now, is that any way to talk to me?" The man pulled out a Pokéball and enlarged it. "I want to see for sure if you really are worth all of this trouble. You should be honoured to have the chance to battle one of the Elite Team Rocket Trainers, Arrmun."
Squirtle growled, stepping himself in front of Matt. Charmeleon also growled, stepping himself beside Squirtle.
"Fine! Let's see how you can deal with--"
"Matt! Let me take him!" Lizzie pulled out a Pokéball and jumped in front of Matt. "I want to prove my worth to you! You've battled in the past, now I want to see how good I am against Team Rocket!"
Matt nodded, and stepped back, pulling Charmeleon and Squirtle with him. "All right then, we'll just use Zenigame and Charmeleon for back-up."
"Dragonair, go!" Arrmun threw a Pokéball as a long, slippery-skinned Pokémon appeared. Its body was long, and blue, with bright, dark eyes, and the face of a dragon told in fairy tailes. "Now, let's see what you have."
"Val, go!" Lizzie let out her Vulpix.
"Really, now. Dragonair, Hyper Beam!"
Dragonair allowed itself to drop to the ground charged up a beam inside its mouth.
"I don't think so! Confuse Ray!" Lizzie commanded.
Vulpix concentrated her energy, then let out a ray which baffled and altered the vision of the Dragonair. The Dragonair then launched its head forward, firing the beam, but its target, the Vulpix, was missed entirely, and struck the back wall, causing the building to slightly shake.
"Flamethrower!"
With Dragonair's mind still baffled, Vulpix jolted its head forward, firing a stream of scorching hot flames towards its opponent. The Dragonair was completely engulfed, and after the attack was finished, it collapsed hard into the gym floor, creating a loud bang. It was not moving.
"Dragonair, return!" Arrmun scowled, cursing under his breath. Dragonair was then absorbsed inside of its Pokéball. While minimizing it, he threw another enlarged Pokéball out on the field. "Porygon, go!"
"What is THAT?" Matt said, staring at the strangely designed Pokémon. Matt wasn't certain what it looked like. It looked like it was shaped using polygons. Its belly, claws, beak and tail were coloured gray, with its head and back coloured pink. Its eyes shown a bright white. "Wait! My Pokédex! I can't remember the last time I used it." He took it out and pointed it at the Porygon.
"Porygon, a Pokémon that consists entirely of programming code. Capable of moving freely in cyberspace," the electric encyclopedia replied.
"That doesn't tell me much," Matt said, putting his Pokédex away. "Does that mean it's synthetic, then?"
"Porygon, Psybeam attack!" Arrmun commanded.
Porygon charged a beam in its mouth, and instantly firing it at Vulpix, who had no time to counter-attack. It struck the fox-like Pokémon hard, and it was sent colliding roughly into the gym floor. It was not moving.
"Come back," Lizzie stated, disappointed as Vulpix returned into its Pokéball. She then pulled out a Greatball. "Looks like I'll have to go with my trump card. Articuno, let's go!" She tossed the Greatball as Articuno appeared.
"A Legendary Bird?! How did you get your hands on that?!" Arrmun pulled out a Greatball and enlarged it. "That Pokémon is mine!" He tossed the Greatball.
"No!" Lizzie shouted, as Articuno was flying around, unaware of what was happening.
A bright light appeared onto the battlefield suddenly, as the Greatball was struck away hard by the creature's tail, as it crashed into the wall, shattering completely. The large, snake-like creature unleashed an intimidating growl.
"Nobody attemps to steal Pokémon from one of my friends and gets away with it!" Matt scowled. "Onix will make completely sure of this!"
"You brats! You can try whatever you like, but nobody is leaving until that Articuno belongs to me!"
"Listen to me you stuck up creep!" Matt yelled. "Find Pokémon and capture them in the wild or in a trade! Stealing them is just low!"
"Where the hell to you think I come from, kid?!" Arrmun said, laughing.
"You REALLY disgust me!" Matt angrily lunged forward at Arrmun and launched his right fist towards his face. Arrmun reached his hand out and absorbed the hard blow. He then began to squeeze Matt's fist.
"Look, I have no interest in a street fight. Fighting belongs only with Pokémon."
"Not in this case!" Matt threw forward his right knee, connecting roughly with Arrmun's lower abdoment. Arrmun grunted, and released Matt's fist from his grasp. Matt then grabbed Arrmun's empty arm and threw him into the wall violently before crashing down into the solid ground below. "I'll kill you if I have to!" Matt approached Arrmun and continued kicking him in the lower abdomen, before Arrmun blocked his foot, then pulled on it, causing Matt's balance to wobble. He used this opportunity to pull himself to his feet, and tackled Matt to the ground. Matt began to toss more punches, but Arrmun grabbed both of his fists.
"Listen to me you little pest. I'm serious, you don't want me to have to get rough, do you?" Arrmun started squeezing Matt's fists.
"Stop it! Stop it at once!" Lizzie shouted desperately, running towards the two fighting Pokémon trainers. "Matt, you don't need to resolve fights this way!"
"Now, what do you say, will you stop attacking me?" Arrmun asked.
"Oh, like hell I will! Onix, tackle attack!" Matt yells. Arrmun, his eyes widened, turned his head to the side as Onix came quickly roaring off the gym floor towards Arrmun. Lizzie screamed and jumped to the side, while Onix's head collided with Arrmun's entire body, with the impact sending him off his feet into the wall. Matt pulled himself to his feet, with Onix waiting beside Matt, waiting for his next command. Arrmun fell towards the ground, almost lifelessly. He was not moving.
"Unconscious? We're far from over. Onix! Get him!" Onix started to lunge forward towards an unconscious Arrmun.
"Matt, no! Stop this now! Onix, don't do it!"
"He tried to steal your Pokémon, and he's going to pay for it!" Matt yelled.
"By killing him?! Matt, you're not a killer! You can't treat a person this way! Even though he's from Team Rocket, that doesn't give you automatic rights to start killing! Don't let Onix attack him! Come on, please!"
"He tried to make a mockery of us, too, Lizzie!" Matt scowled, his eyes burning with anger. "I don't care that he's a human being; he's going to pay for his ignorance!"
"Matt!" Lizzie screamed, slapping Matt twice across the face. "Stop this insanity! Do you want to give yourself a bad reputation that will haunt you for the rest of your life?! If the Pokémon League found out that you killed somebody, you would lose your trainer's license, get a huge fine for ording your Pokémon to kill, and go straight to jail for the rest of your life! Is that what you really want?!"
A tear ran down Matt's cheek as he stared deep into Lizzie's eyes. "Onix, return." Matt absorbed Onix back inside its Greatball as Matt buried his face in his hands. "What..what has come over me? What was I thinking? I have no right to be called a Pokémon trainer."
Lizzie quickly went to Matt and embraced him. "It's all right; we all make mistakes. Thank goodness you were able to stop at the last moment. Come, we should call him an ambulance; he should go straight to jail after this."
* * *
"So there's no hidden gym then." Lizzie sighed. "Well, so much for that. It was just a Team Rocket scam."
"Well, we should go back to Saffron City, since you haven't been there yet," Matt said.
"Yeah, we'll go straight to Fucshia City right after that," Lizzie said, smiling. She then noticed that Matt was hanging his head low. "What's wrong?"
"I don't think I'll ever get over what happened this morning."
"Matt look. Don't let this haunt you for the rest of your life! Don't worry about it. You're good at learning from your mistakes; so next time, you won't go quite as far as you did," Lizzie let out another smile.
"You'd better be right," Matt said, lifting up his head and staring into the bright afternoon sun. "Let's go back to Saffron, then."
TO BE CONTINUED.
Chapter 17: A Careless Mistake
"Matt! I just captured a Haunter!" Lizzie yelled out loud.
"You did? Where did you find it?" Matt asked.
"They're everywhere! You were right; Articuno is doing an awesome job!" Lizzie smiled.
Matt also smiled, looking through the shrubs. It was morning, and even during the day, Lavender Town looked ominously dark, perhaps because of its dark coloured buildings, Matt wondered. He also wondered what it would be like when the sun shone, since a blanket of clouds reigned the sky on this day. "Damn it, where the hell's the gym?!"
"Calm down, we've only been searching for about ten minutes. We should stop for a quick rest." Lizzie sighed. She then shivered. "It's getting pretty cold lately."
"Huh? What's this?" Matt saw something peculiar that was buried underneath some sand and dust. He wiped it away and tapped at what seemed to be a wooden door. It made a dull, hollow sound. After dusting some more he found a handle and pulled it. The door opened. There was a ladder which lead down into darkness. "Honestly, these hidden gyms become much harder to find everytime!" Matt started to climb down.
"Hey! Wait up!" Lizzie started to climb down as well.
"Take your time! I don't want my hands stepped on!" Matt yelled. "It's dark down here; go slowly! You okay, Zenigame?"
"Squirtle..." Squirtle said quietly.
Eventually, Matt made it to the ground, but it was very dark. He waited for Lizzie to arrive before going further. Their eyes couldn't adjust to the dark, even after waiting a couple of minutes.
Matt took out a Pokéball. "Shield your eyes...I'm letting out Charmeleon." Matt closed his eyes as he let Charmeleon out of the Pokéball. Matt and Lizzie put both their hands over their eyes, as they slowly readjusted themselves to the light. He saw that he, Squirtle and Lizzie were in a small room, with some cobwebs surrounding them in the corners of the ceiling and the floor. There was also a door a few feet away from where they were standing.
"Eww, spider webs," Lizzie cringed.
"All right, let's go through that other door," Matt said. Everybody nodded and slowly followed him towards it.
"Char?" Charmeleon was pointing to a lightswitch.
"How convenient. All right, let's turn it on." Lizzie walked towards the switch and flipped it on before going through the door. Nothing happened. "Perhaps the light turned on in the next room?"
Matt looked under the space of the door. "No, it's dark in there, too. Let's keep on going anyway." Matt opened the door and let Charmeleon go through first. There were several cages, each one trapping Ghost Pokémon.
"Ghost Pokémon in cages?!" Lizzie exclaimed. "That's terrible!"
Matt observed the Ghost Pokémon carefully. He saw no movement in any of them. "They can't be real! Ghost Pokémon have the ability to go through solid objects, so why can't they go through these cages?"
"That's right!" Lizzie looked around the room. "I think that they're stuffed!"
"And stuffed they are..." a deep harsh voice sounded and echoed in the room as suddenly lights filled the area. "So, nosey kids decided to come and check out my collection of Ghost Pokémon in cages."
Lizzie made a face. "What a weirdo..."
"This is a hidden gym. If you want the Orange Crystal Badge, you have to first defeat me." The character moved into the room, wearing a cloak. However, due to the lighting, that's all that Matt would see. He saw the character's eyes flashing for only for a swift moment, as a chill ran down his spine.
"All right, let's go Char--"
"I'm going first!" Lizzie stepped out in front of Matt.
"Hey! I found the gym--"
"I have less badges than you! Come on, let me fight!" Lizzie said.
"Well, you're going to be the first and only people here, since there's only one badge. Decide who gets to fight for it," the leader rudely muttered, tossing it up and down several times.
"Fine. Lizzie can do it this time." Matt sighed.
"This room is too small to battle; shall we go to the gym?" the man offered.
They entered a dimly lit room which was a bit smaller than any of the other gym floors with which Matt and Lizzie were familiar. As usual, the battlefield was made of wood. He then walked to the far end of the gym floor, while Lizzie walked to the opposite end. The gym leader then turned himself towards the two Pokémon trainers and stared at them with a sly grin on his face. "From what I've heard, I thought you kids were smarter; I had no idea that this would work so well."
"Who are you?!" Lizzie exclaimed, pulling out a Pokéball.
The man pulled off his cloak, and Matt could finally make him out clearly. He was wearing pitch-black jeans, a black T-shirt with a cyan blue 'R' printed in the middle of it. His eyes glowed with a cold, dark brown colour. His brown sideburns were all that were visible to Matt, for the rest of his head was wrapped with a blood-red bandana. His age could not be determined. Matt guessed around his mid-twenties, if not younger, or maybe even slightly older. "So, you were the ones who foiled the middle-class Team Rocket members. It's odd to receive an order to chase around meddling kids, but Giovanni seemed so concerned about his great name."
"Team Rocket," Matt snarled. "I'm sick of you stalking us!"
"Oh, come now, is that any way to talk to me?" The man pulled out a Pokéball and enlarged it. "I want to see for sure if you really are worth all of this trouble. You should be honoured to have the chance to battle one of the Elite Team Rocket Trainers, Arrmun."
Squirtle growled, stepping himself in front of Matt. Charmeleon also growled, stepping himself beside Squirtle.
"Fine! Let's see how you can deal with--"
"Matt! Let me take him!" Lizzie pulled out a Pokéball and jumped in front of Matt. "I want to prove my worth to you! You've battled in the past, now I want to see how good I am against Team Rocket!"
Matt nodded, and stepped back, pulling Charmeleon and Squirtle with him. "All right then, we'll just use Zenigame and Charmeleon for back-up."
"Dragonair, go!" Arrmun threw a Pokéball as a long, slippery-skinned Pokémon appeared. Its body was long, and blue, with bright, dark eyes, and the face of a dragon told in fairy tailes. "Now, let's see what you have."
"Val, go!" Lizzie let out her Vulpix.
"Really, now. Dragonair, Hyper Beam!"
Dragonair allowed itself to drop to the ground charged up a beam inside its mouth.
"I don't think so! Confuse Ray!" Lizzie commanded.
Vulpix concentrated her energy, then let out a ray which baffled and altered the vision of the Dragonair. The Dragonair then launched its head forward, firing the beam, but its target, the Vulpix, was missed entirely, and struck the back wall, causing the building to slightly shake.
"Flamethrower!"
With Dragonair's mind still baffled, Vulpix jolted its head forward, firing a stream of scorching hot flames towards its opponent. The Dragonair was completely engulfed, and after the attack was finished, it collapsed hard into the gym floor, creating a loud bang. It was not moving.
"Dragonair, return!" Arrmun scowled, cursing under his breath. Dragonair was then absorbsed inside of its Pokéball. While minimizing it, he threw another enlarged Pokéball out on the field. "Porygon, go!"
"What is THAT?" Matt said, staring at the strangely designed Pokémon. Matt wasn't certain what it looked like. It looked like it was shaped using polygons. Its belly, claws, beak and tail were coloured gray, with its head and back coloured pink. Its eyes shown a bright white. "Wait! My Pokédex! I can't remember the last time I used it." He took it out and pointed it at the Porygon.
"Porygon, a Pokémon that consists entirely of programming code. Capable of moving freely in cyberspace," the electric encyclopedia replied.
"That doesn't tell me much," Matt said, putting his Pokédex away. "Does that mean it's synthetic, then?"
"Porygon, Psybeam attack!" Arrmun commanded.
Porygon charged a beam in its mouth, and instantly firing it at Vulpix, who had no time to counter-attack. It struck the fox-like Pokémon hard, and it was sent colliding roughly into the gym floor. It was not moving.
"Come back," Lizzie stated, disappointed as Vulpix returned into its Pokéball. She then pulled out a Greatball. "Looks like I'll have to go with my trump card. Articuno, let's go!" She tossed the Greatball as Articuno appeared.
"A Legendary Bird?! How did you get your hands on that?!" Arrmun pulled out a Greatball and enlarged it. "That Pokémon is mine!" He tossed the Greatball.
"No!" Lizzie shouted, as Articuno was flying around, unaware of what was happening.
A bright light appeared onto the battlefield suddenly, as the Greatball was struck away hard by the creature's tail, as it crashed into the wall, shattering completely. The large, snake-like creature unleashed an intimidating growl.
"Nobody attemps to steal Pokémon from one of my friends and gets away with it!" Matt scowled. "Onix will make completely sure of this!"
"You brats! You can try whatever you like, but nobody is leaving until that Articuno belongs to me!"
"Listen to me you stuck up creep!" Matt yelled. "Find Pokémon and capture them in the wild or in a trade! Stealing them is just low!"
"Where the hell to you think I come from, kid?!" Arrmun said, laughing.
"You REALLY disgust me!" Matt angrily lunged forward at Arrmun and launched his right fist towards his face. Arrmun reached his hand out and absorbed the hard blow. He then began to squeeze Matt's fist.
"Look, I have no interest in a street fight. Fighting belongs only with Pokémon."
"Not in this case!" Matt threw forward his right knee, connecting roughly with Arrmun's lower abdoment. Arrmun grunted, and released Matt's fist from his grasp. Matt then grabbed Arrmun's empty arm and threw him into the wall violently before crashing down into the solid ground below. "I'll kill you if I have to!" Matt approached Arrmun and continued kicking him in the lower abdomen, before Arrmun blocked his foot, then pulled on it, causing Matt's balance to wobble. He used this opportunity to pull himself to his feet, and tackled Matt to the ground. Matt began to toss more punches, but Arrmun grabbed both of his fists.
"Listen to me you little pest. I'm serious, you don't want me to have to get rough, do you?" Arrmun started squeezing Matt's fists.
"Stop it! Stop it at once!" Lizzie shouted desperately, running towards the two fighting Pokémon trainers. "Matt, you don't need to resolve fights this way!"
"Now, what do you say, will you stop attacking me?" Arrmun asked.
"Oh, like hell I will! Onix, tackle attack!" Matt yells. Arrmun, his eyes widened, turned his head to the side as Onix came quickly roaring off the gym floor towards Arrmun. Lizzie screamed and jumped to the side, while Onix's head collided with Arrmun's entire body, with the impact sending him off his feet into the wall. Matt pulled himself to his feet, with Onix waiting beside Matt, waiting for his next command. Arrmun fell towards the ground, almost lifelessly. He was not moving.
"Unconscious? We're far from over. Onix! Get him!" Onix started to lunge forward towards an unconscious Arrmun.
"Matt, no! Stop this now! Onix, don't do it!"
"He tried to steal your Pokémon, and he's going to pay for it!" Matt yelled.
"By killing him?! Matt, you're not a killer! You can't treat a person this way! Even though he's from Team Rocket, that doesn't give you automatic rights to start killing! Don't let Onix attack him! Come on, please!"
"He tried to make a mockery of us, too, Lizzie!" Matt scowled, his eyes burning with anger. "I don't care that he's a human being; he's going to pay for his ignorance!"
"Matt!" Lizzie screamed, slapping Matt twice across the face. "Stop this insanity! Do you want to give yourself a bad reputation that will haunt you for the rest of your life?! If the Pokémon League found out that you killed somebody, you would lose your trainer's license, get a huge fine for ording your Pokémon to kill, and go straight to jail for the rest of your life! Is that what you really want?!"
A tear ran down Matt's cheek as he stared deep into Lizzie's eyes. "Onix, return." Matt absorbed Onix back inside its Greatball as Matt buried his face in his hands. "What..what has come over me? What was I thinking? I have no right to be called a Pokémon trainer."
Lizzie quickly went to Matt and embraced him. "It's all right; we all make mistakes. Thank goodness you were able to stop at the last moment. Come, we should call him an ambulance; he should go straight to jail after this."
* * *
"So there's no hidden gym then." Lizzie sighed. "Well, so much for that. It was just a Team Rocket scam."
"Well, we should go back to Saffron City, since you haven't been there yet," Matt said.
"Yeah, we'll go straight to Fucshia City right after that," Lizzie said, smiling. She then noticed that Matt was hanging his head low. "What's wrong?"
"I don't think I'll ever get over what happened this morning."
"Matt look. Don't let this haunt you for the rest of your life! Don't worry about it. You're good at learning from your mistakes; so next time, you won't go quite as far as you did," Lizzie let out another smile.
"You'd better be right," Matt said, lifting up his head and staring into the bright afternoon sun. "Let's go back to Saffron, then."
TO BE CONTINUED.
