Special thanks to Flintfur for Beta-Reading this chapter.
Cy89: Welcome to the next installment of Once Upon a Clefairy! Blade! I command you to do the Disclaimer! Mrwahah!
Blade: Whatever. Cyberweasel89 does not own Pokemon. Nintendo does. However, the original characters in this story, though most of them are Pokemon, were created by him.
Cy89: Very good, Blade. I also do not own Pocky. I don't know who does own Pocky, but I know for sure that I don't. I could never own something that delicious... Now, I have a special message about my frustrations.
I received a review telling me to leave out all the detail, especially the detail put into describing the characters. I did so. Then I got a review telling me to add more detail. Now I'm just confused. Let me explain my origins. That may clear some things up.
I grew up on GameFAQs. It was there that I learned how to RP in online RPs. I found it the most fun thing in the world, as I got to live out my fantasies in another life. During GameFAQs, I started RPing on MSN Groups. I was still a very inexperienced RPer. In other words, I was a n00b. It was there on MSN Groups that I met a very advanced RPer. She basically taught me how to RP, though not intentionally. I merely learned all my best skills from her. After all my friends I made on MSN Groups abandoned me, including that girl, I went back to GameFAQs for a while. I soon grew apart from GameFAQs and joined GaiaOnline. It was a great place to RP. It was there that my RP skills really sky-rocketed. I'm a veteran RPer now, but I still have my faults.
What's my point with all this? There's one thing I've learned in my years or RPing. It's that if you wanna RP, ya need detail. Extreme detail. As much detail as possible. Especially when describing characters. If you don't have detail, you get ignored and shunned. I've seen it happen to many, many amateur RPers. That's why I apparently put "too much detail" into describing my characters. I was RAISED to use detail on my characters. I want everyone to picture the beautiful characters I have pictured. I don't know what that guy's problem was, but I'm sticking with detail. It's how I was raised. In fact, I'm going to PUT BACK all the detail that was removed from the Prologue. Thank you for your time, readers. Though I'm sure I'll lose most of my readers because of this speech.
Cy89: Also, I would like to make a note. Some of the new characters in this chapter have accents. Unfortunately, my dialects suck. I tried to find a site that had a guide to dialect/accents in various countries, but alas, I found nothing. I don't wanna admit it, but Google failed me. TT
So if any of ya have a site that has a guide to accents/dialects, that would be great.
Chapter 1
Meet the PROs
A bellow of sound shook the casino arousing all of the caged Pokemon from their sleep. The door was flung open and light flooded into the room.
"Blade, did you hear that?" Nikki called to the Farfetch'd in the cage next to her.
"Gimme' a quarter…I wanna' ride the Ponyta…" the bird mumbled in his sleep. Typically, he was the only one who hadn't awoken.
Growling slightly the little Clefairy rammed the side of her cage thus causing Blade's to jerk.
"Wake up!" she shouted.
"Damn! What the hell?" the Farfetch'd uttered harshly as he woke.
A shadow passed across the light streaming into the room, looming as does an assassin over his sleeping victim. Its figure hunched slightly the shape seemed to eye the bowels of the room before tensing its muscles and barking the orders "Get as many cages as you want, only the rare or powerful ones though!"
"No, Stop!" shouted a voice.
Nikki recognized that voice. It was Lucky, the boy who worked at the casino.
"Get outta' the way kid" somebody growled, approaching the boy.
"Don't come any closer, and don't touch the cages!" Lucky shouted.
A crowd of people now stood facing the cages, the boy barring the way. Still, the leader stood in the doorway, silently observing.
"And why not?" the same voice called out mockingly.
"Because I've got the remote to all these cages, a simple press of this ever so shiny red button will send the doors open, and if I give the order all these Pokemon will attack," Lucky replied, smugness in his voice.
"Do you even know if they'll take orders from you?" another person asked cautiously. There was a hell of a lot of Pokemon here…
Lucky merely shrugged two slim shoulders. "Let's find out shall we?"
There a small click and the doors instantly sprang open, gaping mouths, all hanging wide.
"Pokemon! Attack Team Storm!"
All the Pokemon leaped out of their cages, eager to repay the boy who had given them freedom. Blade bounded out of his iron confinement brandishing his stick, he directed his gaze immediately to Nikki who had clambered out as well.
"Took ya' long enough." Blade growled impatiently. "Now, shall we honor them with a duel?"
"But I don't know any Clefairy attacks!" Nikki wailed.
"What? You're a Clefairy! How could you not know your own attacks?" Blade asked flapping his brown wings for emphasis on how ridiculous it sounded.
"I told you, I wasn't even a trainer when I was human." Nikki replied.
A small battle raged on in front of the pair. Team Storm had no room to throw their Pokeballs so they had resorted to hand-to-hand combat with the casino Pokemon.
"Oh... right... you weren't a trainer when you were human... yep... Then you just stay here and I'll protect you." Blade obviously didn't believe that Nikki used to be human and was just humoring her.
"Hey guys! Why aren't you over there with the other Pokemon?" Lucky said stepping over to Nikki and Blade.
"I don't know any of my attacks!" Nikki squeaked, but it just sounded like "Cle-clefairy, clefairy!" to him.
"We'll if your not fighting, I guess I better!" the boy shouted as if the prospect with an extra big present from Santa.
Lucky grabbed a broom and ran into the scuffle, whacking and pummeling the people clad in uniform.
Nikki quickly evaluated the scene. The people in uniform were Team Storm, the newest Pokemon crime gang in the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Orre regions, having troops stationed in each. Her eyes skimmed over to the door, where the leader still stood, silently observing. To blow it off its hinges they had used a fairly powerful explosive, unfortunately this had also weakened the roof dramatically and it creaked ominously. These noises went unheard in the fight though…
"The roof Blade," Nikki whispered nudging Blade and beckoning towards the roof.
"Really pretty yep, its not much fun if you're not fighting, we can't compare. We can't leg it either with that bloke barring our way though," Blade replied irritably.
"Idiot, its all cracked…it sounds like it might cave in," she said harshly.
Only then did the bird Pokemon notice. The sounds were getting louder and coming at more frequent intervals.
"Get down everybody, the roof's about to fall!" Blade shouted to all the Pokemon.
With a feathered wing Blade pushed the Clefairy towards the ground, following cue quickly, and just in time. The roof gave way, falling into a V shape. Slabs of cement fell towards the ground and shattered as they hit. Shards fell all over the place, skimming over the pair's bodies. The man from the doorway had disappeared, Team Storm fled, filing out through the doorway.
"Right, now, Nikki! Leg it through the door!" Blade shouted grabbing Nikki's pink hand.
"Um…O.K…" the Clefairy replied unsure about trying escape when a roof was falling down on them.
"Move it!" the Farfetch'd shouted slapping his stick against the calf of a Team Storm Member. "People are so slow!"
Once the pair was safely away from the casino they stopped, both panting heavily. Nikki looked upwards to see a sign looming over her, it read, "You are now leaving Celadon City,"
"Nikki, this way," Blade said jerking his head in some random direction.
"Where are we going?" the Clefairy asked.
"Not to worry, I've got a place not too far from here. Follow," Blade replied beckoning for Nikki to tag along.
Blade led Nikki all the way to Saffron, then to Route 8. He went up to a rock, made sure no one was around, and then knocked on the rock with his stick.
"Who is it?" came a voice.
"It's Pokemon Delivery! I've got a package for you!" Blade replied sarcastically.
"Oh, Blade. Its part of the secret organization code to have a password, so you gotta' say it!" came the voice again
"Fine. Slowpoketail." Blade reluctantly grunted, seeming to not like the stupid password.
The rock slid to the side, revealing a hole.
"C'mon, Nikki." Blade said walking into the dark hole.
A Geodude with hand wrappings and bracers was sitting there and he greeted the Farfetch'd. Noticing Nikki though, he sprang up as if expecting an attack.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who's this?" The Geodude asked Blade.
"Oh. She's with me. Not to worry. Harmless." Blade told the Geodude.
"Fine. Welcome in, miss." The Geodude said curtly to Nikki.
The bird led Nikki down a tunnel and into a large man-made (Pokemon-made, actually) cave. Inside were a few Pokemon. A Jigglypuff with a yellow ribbon ran up to Blade.
"Blade! Where have you been? We sent Tracker to look for you, but he couldn't find a trace of you! Are you okay?" The Jigglypuff asked, worry in her voice.
"Nope, I fell off the roof, cracked my head, and now I'm dead," Blade answered with his trademark sarcasm.
"Good, then I guess you're okay." The Jigglypuff said with relief. She peered behind Blade to view Nikki. "Who's this?" She asked.
"Oh. That's Nikki. She's a lost and confused Clefairy. She thinks she used to be human. Real nut-job." Blade pointed to his head with his stick and made a circular motion.
Nikki glared at him; she didn't like being called crazy, after all it was the truth that she used to be human. But she stayed silent; causing an uproar might cause unnecessary trouble.
"So, did any missions go on without me?" he asked eagerly.
The Jigglypuff shook her head. "Sorry Blade, finding you was top priority,"
"Aw, that's so sweet that I could toss my berries." Blade joked.
Nikki giggled at his gag.
"So, seein' as how Nikki here has no place to go, I'm thinkin' she could join us," Blade said to the Jigglypuff.
"Well, I'll go talk to Milkshakes, he's second in command. He'll decide," the Jigglypuff replied, glancing at a Pikachu talking to a Chinchou across the room. The Pikachu had a backpack on, with an official-looking badge pinned to the strap.
She walked over to the Pikachu and the two began conversing, occasionally glancing towards Nikki and Blade. Finally, Milkshakes approached the pair.
"Hey! I'm second-command of PRO, name's Milkshakes," he said greeting them.
Nikki stifled a giggle. Milkshakes?
"We're always glad to have a new recruit. Let me explain about PRO. It stands for Pokemon Resistance Organization. As you know, a new gang has sprung up called Team Storm. The human's resistance, the police are having trouble dealing with them and the officials at the Pokemon League don't seem to be doing anything about it, just like with Team Rocket," he paused. "And that's why we formed PRO, we're gonna' stop Team Storm,"
Milkshakes face suddenly exploded into a huge grin.
"Blade, why don't you give our newest recruit here a tour of the place?" he suggested. "I'll write up the paperwork for her joining,"
"No, I'm just gonna' let her wander round here and get lost," Blade said fixing Milkshakes with a glare.
"Good, still sarcastic as ever," Milkshakes replied seeming satisfied. He then trotted down a hall, apparently to do paperwork.
"I suppose I better show you round then Nikki," he said, turning to her.
She followed him into some sort of sky port. Inside was a huge Pidgeot wearing a pilot helmet with goggles.
"This here is Starfeather. She's the crew's air transportation. She's big enough to carry about four of us comfortably,"
"Pleasure ta' meet ye, wee lass," Starfeather replied with a soft Irish accent.
Nikki followed Blade to a mess hall; a Sandshrew with a miner's helmet and a bandana around his neck was sitting at one of the tables, twitching his nose.
"This is Picky. He's the team's underground infiltration artist. He knows Dig and Secret Power and all that junk, enabling him to dig this entire base for us! And because of that, he gets to eat whatever meal he wants at any time. Which is tough since Sandshrew are just such picky eaters," Blade informed Nikki.
"Junk, lock Cut is useful!" Picky snorted, apparently with a heavy southern accent, and then looked down at the table with wide eyes. "Where is mah snack? I orduhd some Berres cooked in tomatuh sauce with some salted grubs and some roasted tree roots on the sod..."
The Farfetch'd led Nikki into the kitchen where the Jigglypuff Nikki had seen earlier was wandering around.
"The Jigglypuff here is Cupcake. She makes the best food in the world!" Blade complimented, sniffing the delicious smells of the kitchen.
Nikki sniffed, too. It did smell delicious.
The Clefairy then followed Blade to some sort of hospital wing. Everything was a dazzlingly white, nearly blinding Nikki. If you looked closely though you got see many beds and softly purring machines. Where did Pokemon get such technology that rivaled humans? A Chansey with a stethoscope round her neck and a headband with a reflector came up to the pair,
"Nikki, this is Dr. Egg, she's the medical technician here," Blade informed.
"Blade, you're back! Any injuries?" she asked.
"Nah, I'm fine. Oh, this is Nikki, our newest recruit," the Farfetch'd said pointing at Nikki.
"Pleased to meet you, miss," Dr. Egg replied bowing from the waist.
"Um…" Nikki replied not sure what to say. "Yeah, pleased to meet you too,"
Blade then took Nikki to some sort of underground lake, a dense mist hung over the water.
"MISTY!" he yelled, wing to beak.
A shadowy form appeared under the surface of the water, getting closer. Nikki shuffled behind the bird; it might be some sort of monster…as it neared the edge of the lake it was distinguishable. Lapras.
"Nikki, this is Misty, she's our water transportation. She knows very single water-related HM, so she's ready for any obstacle to do with liquid. Could be diving, whirlpools or waterfalls," he informed.
"Pleasure to meet you dearie'," the Lapras said bobbing her head.
Leaving the water cavern with its dense mist they turned into a hall and reached for the handle of a door.
"Paint's probably in his room, he rarely comes out unless he's hungry, has to use the bathroom or if there's a mission," he said over his shoulder.
He knocked the door with his stick.
"Come on in," came a gruff voice.
Blade opened the door and walked in, followed by Nikki. The room appeared to have a Western feel to it, a potted cactus in a corner and an old wagon wheel resting against the wall. It seemed to be furnished with all the necessities. A desk with a chair, a dresser, a wastebasket, a bed, and a trunk. Lying on the bed was a Smeargle, the paint on his tail a pretty orange color. All of the items of clothing he wore were black, gloves, belt, elbow-pads and knee-pads as well as a pair of boots by the bed. He appeared to have a cigarette in his mouth, but on closer inspection, it was actually a stick of Men's Pocky.
"Paint, this is Ni-"
"YEEEEHAAAW! Whah din't ani-one tell meh' we had a hot lil' Clefairy in our base?" he shouted jumped off his bed and landing in his boots.
He walked over to Nikki, ignoring Blade.
"Well, lil' darlin', what's your name?" he asked, grabbing Nikki's paw and lightly pecking it.
"Um... I'm Nikki." Nikki said, blushing at the gesture.
"Nikki, this is P-" Blade began but was interrupted again.
"Ahm Paint! Ah' come from the Wild, Wild West. Ahm, on this here team for mah' strength!" Paint boasted.
"Correction, Paint. Stoner is on this team for his strength. You're on this team because you were banished from the West and had nowhere to go. The only reason we keep you around is because-"Blade was interrupted again.
"As a Smeargle, ah' can copeh' aneh' move ah see with Sketch! Ah know Flamethrowah', Wotah' Gun, Thundabolt', and Razah' Leaf!" Paint shouted puffing out his chest.
"Right, that's why. Well, I gotta' finish showing Nikki the rest of the base. See ya' later, Paint." Blade said plainly ignoring the Smeargle's swaggering.
He grabbed Nikki's hand and led her out the door rather forcefully.
"Ya'll come back here?" Paint waved cheerfully as Blade shut the door.
Next, Blade led Nikki down a hallway to a metallic door with a keypad on the wall next to it. He jabbed a few buttons and the door slid open, much like on Star Trek. He led her into a small room, the door behind them closed.
"Be prepared, Nikki." Blade said.
She raised an eyebrow, wondering just what she was preparing for, when the tiny room they were in was suddenly filled with a pink gas. Nikki coughed slightly. The gas settled, disappearing into nothing and another door in front of them slid open. Blade led Nikki in.
The room was very hi-tech, like something straight out of a sci-fi show, and everything was a dazzlingly chrome. There were numerous odd machines lining the walls, and across the room were three huge screen and at its bottom a large control panel. One monitor was split into four displaying a different section of the base, another appeared to be on a website's homepage and the last had a game of Minesweeper on it, halfway through.
"Great, Pixel must be in cyberspace, lets come back later," Blade said tugging at Nikki's hand.
Ping!
A Porygon2 suddenly appeared in a chair in front of the huge monitor. The chair swiveled round so it was facing the pair. The Porygon2 was wearing a headset and had two thick lenses over its eyes.
"Ah, Blade. What brings you here?" she asked.
"I'm here to show our newest recruit Nikki, round. Nikki, this is Pixel, she's the technological expert and she created all the hardware and software in the base," he said
"Pleasure to meet you, welcome to my room," Pixel said, swiveling round on her chair.
"What was that nasty pink gas for?" Nikki asked, coughing softly.
"Don't worry about it, it was a sanitizer," Pixel replied.
"Sanitizer?" she asked cocking her head slightly.
"Yeah, Pixel has Verminophobia, you know, fear of germs, so she built an airlock to her room that sprays disinfectant on anyone who steps through it. She never leaves her room," Blade informed.
"Then how do you go to the bathroom, shower, eat or sleep? I don't see anything like that in here…."
"Simple, as a man-made Pokemon I don't eat, therefore, I don't excrete. I don't need to sleep either. I never leave the sanitation of my room, so I don't need to cleanse myself. I've got everything I need here, in my room," she replied spinning once more on her chair on the last sentence.
"What about social interaction?"
"Again, simple. The Internet, I talk to humans from around the world on my computer. Not one of them knows I'm really a Pokemon. I can also access the news using the Internet, so I always know what's going on in the world," she answered cheerfully.
"It doesn't seem like a very practical way to live," Nikki said softly.
"It suits me; I'm fine with how things are,"
"Well…I guess we'll move on to the rest of the base now, see ya' later Pixel!" Blade said half dragging Nikki to the door.
"Farewell!" Pixel replied disappearing with a ping, presumably into Cyberspace.
On their way out, the pair was blasted once more with the pink gas. After Nikki had finished coughing she asked Blade why Pixel would want to clean them when they were leaving her room.
"I guess Pixel thinks she's doing us a favor," Blade told her.
The Farfetch'd led her back to the tunnel that they had first entered the base in. Still guarding, was the Geodude that Nikki had seen earlier.
"The Geodude with the hand wrapping and bracers is Stoner. He's supposedly the muscle round here, he knows a lot of physical attacks like Strength, Rock Smash and Brick Break," Blade said as if he would not much like to.
"I got enough power in my arms to take down a charging Ryhorn! Everyone knows that, you're the only one that won't accept it duck-boy!" Stoner replied gruffly.
Blade snorted tossing his beak into the air. There was a knocking sound on the door.
"Password?" asked Stoner staring up at the door.
"Slowpoketail," came the voice and immediately Blade twitched.
The Geodude pressed a button hidden behind him and the rock, which was the door slid to the side. A Meowth with an Amulet Coin around his neck and a Poochyena hopped down into the tunnel. The door slid closed again.
"Nikki, the Meowth here is Bling, he's our resident thief," Blade said obviously much happier to introduce these two.
"I just got a great haul of loot!" he replied grinning happily.
"Grr, hey! What about me?" The Poochyena asked hopping up and down.
"Heh, sorry. This is Tracker, he's got the best nose in the area, but he's still really young,"
"Hey! I may be small, but I still pack a wallop!" Tracker replied, growling softly and getting into that typical puppy play position.
"Yeah, yeah, that's enough Tracker," Blade told him, flapping his wing to shoo him off teasingly.
"Needs to grow up," Blade mouthed to Nikki.
"Bye," he grunted to Stoner.
"See you later duck-boy!"
"Crap gatekeeper," Blade muttered.
Nikki, Blade, Tracker, and Bling went back to the room connected to the entrance tunnel. It seemed to be the center of the base, as it had many tunnels leading from it. The Chinchou Nikki saw Milkshakes talking to from earlier was there. Blade led Nikki up to her.
"Nikki, this little Chinchou right here is Watt. She's the youngest Pokemon here, along with Tracker," Blade told her.
"What's her job here?" Nikki asked curiously.
"Oh? We send her on dark cave missions, knows Flash, so she can light-up dark areas," Blade replied.
"Pleazed too meet you," Watt greeted, her voice carrying a French accent.
"Pleased to meet you too," Nikki answered.
"Now, Zigzag should be around here somewhere…" Blade said, looking around.
Nikki looked around her trying to spot a Zigzagoon. Eyeing a peculiar red stripe she tapped Blade on his back and pointed to it.
"Hey Blade, is it normal for random red zigzags to be moving around on your ceiling?" Nikki asked him.
"What?" Blade questioned, he followed Nikki's gaze up to the ceiling.
"Hey Zigzag, get down from there!" He shouted.
The red zigzag fell to the ground and a Kecleon appeared.
"Nikki, this is Zigzag, infiltration specialist," Blade said roughly poking the Kecleon with his stick.
"Pleased ta' meetcha'," Zigzag greeted in a dazed voice, she seemed to have an Australian accent.
"Well, that's everyone!" Blade announced happily after Zigzag had finally went off to chat to somebody else.
"You forgot me," A voice with a light British accent called.
A Cubone with a Red Scarf stepped out from the shadows.
"Eet's Skull!" Watt gasped pointing at the Cubone.
Blade blushed and seemed to space out, Nikki waved her paw in front of his face but he didn't respond.
Zigzag left her conversation and confronted the Cubone.
"What ah' ya' doin' here?" Zigzag asked eyes narrowing slightly.
"Just here to deliver some information, and when Blade snaps out of that trance, please tell him it's impolite to drool, and to ignore a lady," she replied coolly walking off.
"Um... yeah, that was skull. Technically isn't part of the team. She's a free-lance mercenary that brings our team information for a price. She and Milkshakes are the only ones who've seen the Pokemon that created this organization," Blade said snapping out of his trance.
"Blade here also has the biggest crush on 'er." Zigzag said giggling.
Blade whacked her on the head with his stick.
"Not a word, Zigzag, not a word," Blade said.
Zigzag fell to the ground, dazed again.
"Um... So what should I do now?" Nikki timidly asked Blade.
"Eh? Guess you can sit around here in the foyer until Milkshakes comes in to give you the word on joining," Blade replied.
"Okay."
They waited around the foyer for a while; eventually Milkshakes came in with a few papers in his hand.
"Hey, new recruit. You just gotta' sign these papers and you'll be a member. Unfortunately, it'll take about a day for Picky to dig you your room, so you'll have to bunk with someone for tonight. Blade, is that okay with you?" Milkshakes asked.
"Oh, sure, stick her in my room for the night just 'cause I brought her in!" Blade said angrily.
"Um... So you'll do it?" Milkshakes ventured.
"Yeah. Sure. What gave you the idea I wouldn't do it?" Blade asked innocently.
"Uhh... Rrrright..." Milkshakes walked off and down a hall.
Later that night...
"Are you sure you don't mind me sleeping in your bed?" Nikki asked, sitting up in a bed with the covers over her legs.
The room itself was set up in a Japanese fashion. There were various wall scrolls on the walls (apparently to ward off evil spirits), some antique swords on the walls, a matted floor, sitting cushions by a low-to-the-ground table with a teapot and tiny teacups sitting on it, a bonsai tree in the corner, a dresser, a bedside table with an alarm clock and paper light sitting on it, a desk with papers stacked on it, and a couch. Lain against the wall by the bed appeared to be a straw hat and some sort of sheath that was in the shape of Blade's stick. He walked over to the sheath resting against the wall and slid his stick into it.
"Nah, no problemo'! I'll just sleep on the couch." Blade said cheerfully.
Grabbing a spare blanket and pillow from the dresser he made a bed on the couch.
"G'night, Nikki." Blade whispered softly.
Blade went under the covers and rested his head on the pillow, immediately falling asleep.
"... Good night, Blade." Nikki replied.
She rested her head on the pillow and pulled the covers over herself, but it took her some time before she fell asleep.
End Chapter 1
Cy89: There ya have it! How was it?
Blade: You made me in love with a stupid Cubone!
Cy89: Well... Yeah.
Blade: Pff... Whatevah... Say, what's my job at PRO, again?
Cy89: You're the swordsman and weapons expert!
Blade: Well... That's cool, I guess...