Chapter 1 Shakey Ruins?
Wonderful! A new world! Well, I've done it again.
Done what again you ask? Well, it seems that I've found myself in another
rather odd set of circumstances. Per usual. I suppose it was just because I
was much too altruistic. Yes, I was being nice. Me. Stop looking at me funny
I mean it! I only wanted to help Zelgadiss find his cure. Okay? I wanted to
help him out in the ruins since you never know what you might find in ruins.
Okay. Maybe I had a tiny little bit of an ulterior motive. Just a little
one. It's tiny, really, just a little trifle. Okay. Okay you got me. I came
because I was hoping that we might find a treasure, or maybe some kind of
new and really neat magical spell book. You know I can't resist that kind of
thing, there's no reason for you to think that that's the only reason I
came.
I came to help out a friend. Yes, I know Zelgadiss is cool and great and all
with his stone skin, even I've admitted that he is kind of handsome. But he
wanted to find a cure, yet again, and me, well, I just had to help out. It's
a friend's obligation, right?
Anyways. It started when Zel found me and Gourry camping out by the river
near Saillune. We were hoping to get a bit of a break from all of the normal
adventuring we'd been doing, so we were actually taking it easy when Zel
showed up. He explained that some new, mysterious ruins had been rumored to
have appeared. Well, okay, he didn't really show up. We sort of saw him
wandering by, and after working out a few minor details between him and a
group of bandits, he told us what was happening.
Zel was going to go and explore these ruins of course, and he told Gourry
and I. "Look, I don't want to cause any trouble, I'm just going to check it
out by myself and it'll be over soon. I doubt I'll find anything interesting
anyways." And of course, being my usual charming and irresistible self, I
managed to talk Zel into letting us tag along. After all, what are friends
for, right? I should have known better than to stick my head into all of
this, but you know how my patented Lina curiosity can be.
One thing just leads to another. We got to the ruins in a matter of days, and they were
really just the complete and utter showcase of boring. I wanted to leave
almost a whole two minutes into our exploration. Something about the place
was creepy, the long dark passages, the writing on the wall. The runes that
were scribbled onto it all seemed to have eyes, and they were shaped like
nothing I'd ever seen before in my entire life. Just when I thought things
couldn't get any more boring though, things took a turn for the weird.
Okay now, I am a Sorceress, and I am used to all kinds of weird things
happening in a wizardry lab, or even when someone casts a spell, but in the
dark passages of those ruins, I was a bit surprised, when I decided to take
a second glance around and just... well. I don't even know what happened.
Gourry and Zel were gone. Split city. And I hadn't even heard anything from
them. They had disappeared without any trace at all. "Come on out guys! This
isn't funny!" I called out to the darkness. As though to mock me, my echo
replied. "Come on out guys! This isn't funny!" wonderful. I had no idea what
happened to them. Till it happened to me.
In a sudden rush, several of the ruins on the wall seemed to leap to life.
They were shaped really strangely. All of them had large eyes, and they were
jet black, twisted looking kinds of critters. Wait. The ruins were critters?
What the hell kind of monsters were these? I instinctively drew a hand back,
getting ready to power up one of my spells, when I realized, my body was
paralyzed, from head to foot. There was a strange energy coming from the
creatures all around, something powerful was in their stare. I could feel
it, it was strange.
Suddenly, I realized I was no longer at all in the ruins
where I had been, but in some strange kind of astral plane. Could I move? I
tried, but still no luck. There was a strange chittering sound filling the
air around me as the creatures whirled around, and as I tried my best to
follow them with my eyes, I felt like I was going to get sick watching them.
At least I could close my eyes, even if I couldn't move any of the rest of
myself.
I called out, frustrated. "Who are you? Why are you doing this to me? What
is the meaning of this? Let me go dammit! Where did you take Zelgadiss and
Gourry?" I didn't get any immediate answer. Actually, what I got was a whole
lot of darkness, as I faded from consciousness.
I found myself lying in a patch of grass. It was pretty comfortable really.
I sat up, slowly, rubbing my head with a heaving sigh. "Wow. That was one
heck of a nightmare..." I said to nobody at all in particular. As though on
cue, a very large purple rat with a strange looking tail popped out of a
bush, and chittered at me very annoyedly.
Okay, this was just weird, yet again. It looked like it was angry. And for
another thing, as far as rats went, it looked really huge. It didn't look
particularly dangerous, but I certainly hadn't run into anything like it
before, and trusting a new species of monster is not a high priority in the
Lina's Adventurer's Handbook, which you can order today if you act quickly
enough!
"Alright, Rat, you just back off now, and nobody gets hurt!" I said
warningly. Oddly enough, it seemed to actually understand me. It looked at
me with eyes that just seemed to say. "You are the dumbest thing I've ever
seen, and now I'm going to bite you." Naturally, it lunged at me, and tried
to do just that.
I didn't even get up, but I pointed a finger at my would-be assailant, and
without much effort, sent a flare arrow shooting right for its face with a
nonchalant announcement of... Da da da da... "Flare arrow." It didn't have
much heart in it, really. I had just woken up in a strange place, and
seriously, I didn't think the thing could take too much. Bam! The strange
looking rat thing fell over, a bit on the charred side, still alive, and
quite swirly eyed.
I sighed, and rubbed the side of my forehead with one finger. "Ya know, I
warned you that you would get hurt." I said chidingly. Suddenly, a voice
from behind me spoke up. "Hey! Lady! That pokemon looks pretty weak, aren't
you gonna catch it?" It was a kid. She was probably only 12 or so, young
girl with light pink hair, wearing a white T-shirt, a hat that looked like
something from a big city, and short shorts. I could never wear clothes like
that myself.
"Um... catch it? Why would I do that?"
"Whattaya mean why would you do that, you're a trainer, aren't you?"
"Trainer?" "Don't you have any Pokéballs?"
"No... what's a pokéball?"
"One of these! Look, just try it out!" The girl handed me what looked to me
to be some kind of small magical bauble. It was pretty strange, made of
metal, but as she handed it to me, it grew, just the perfect size to fit in
my palm.
"Uh... what do I do with this?" I asked a bit sheepishly.
"Throw it at the pokèmon!" she said impatiently, pointing at the strange
little rat thing. I did as she asked. Why not, right?
The strange red and white ball bounced off of the still swirly eyed rat, and
in a flash of red light, seemed to swallow it up.
"What in the world?" I asked cautiously as the little ball rocked back and
forth a few times, before something on it seemed to blink. Strange. A light
on a ball? This was just weirder and weirder. I still had no idea how I had
even gotten here. I walked over to the ball and picked it up. "So... what
just happened?" I asked confusedly. For all I knew, the little rat thing was
some sort of demon, and the device I had used was just some kind of ward to
seal it away in another dimension.
"You caught it!" The girl said in a bubbly tone. Geez, if she wasn't an
innocent kid, I'd be tempted to fireball her just to get her out of my
misery. "You caught a pokemon! It's a Rattata! Oh, I'm guessing you're
wondering who I am..."
"Well, yes, that might be a good thing to know... though, more importantly,
I'd really like to know where I could get a good bite to eat..."
"I'm Marleen, I'm one of Professor Oak's voluntary assistants! We're really
close to Pallet town, and if you want to eat, maybe you could ask Delia for
a meal? She's really hospitable!"
"Eh, sure, just lead the way to the food Marleen, and I'll be good to go!"
It wasn't a very long walk at all to Pallet town. I made a mental note of
the name, because personally, I'd never at all been anywhere near or around
a place called Pallet. It couldn't be anywhere even close to Atlas City,
Saillune, or any of the other cities I was familiar with. The place was very
different from most towns I'd been to. There were lots of things I wasn't
used to. The houses seemed to be made of very different materials, the glass
windows looked very perfect, almost too perfect considering that I was used
to seeing handmade frames, and there were occasional strange looking
vehicles of some kind. They were like carriages, I guess, but they didn't
have horses, and they were strangely shaped.
Maybe there was even more magic in this strange place than I was used to,
but I couldn't sense any magic at all coming from the vehicles. Maybe it was
something even more powerful that I just couldn't see? I wasn't really sure
about all the details, but I did have a bit of nice sightseeing as Marleen
led me to the city itself. We stopped at a small modest looking house where
a rather kind, middle aged woman was hanging up some laundry. "Hey Delia! We
have a newcomer!"
"A newcomer? That's nice! Is she a trainer?"
"I don't think so, but she managed to weaken a Rattata with some kind of
strange bomb."
"Hey, hold on a moment..." I interrupted.
"Yes?" asked Marleen.
"I didn't use a bomb... I used a flare arrow."
"Flare arrow?" she asked incredulously. Okay, maybe I was wrong about these
people being magically advanced. I just shrugged.
"Never mind... Um... I take it you're Delia though?" I asked the middle aged
woman. She was pretty good looking, though, a bit tall I guess, and maybe a
little too busty... What? You think I'm just saying that because I'm
shorter and not as well endowed? Oh come on! I'm more mature than that!
"Yes I am. Who might you be?"
"She's... oh... wait... she never told me either, though, I found her at the
edge of town."
"I'm Lina, Lina Inverse." I said with a bit of a grin. I almost expected the
usual reaction for a decently famous sorceress, you know, the staring, or
questioning of my reputation. Well. Nothing. Not a dang thing at all came
from either of them about my name. Well. nothing like what I expected.
"Oh, that's very nice. It's a pleasure to meet you Lina Inverse. I'm Delia
Ketchum. If you're new in town, and a trainer, I supposed I wouldn't mind
putting you up for a night or so."
"Em... that's really nice of you and all but... just what is a trainer?"
"Oh my, where are you from?" Marleen asked incredulously. Obviously it took
her a while to figure out that I was not at all from around these parts.
Even though I was wearing clothes that, well, compared to either her, or
Delia, kind of made me stand out like a sore thumb. I mean come on; a huge
mantle and cape like mine, all these fashionable baubles... come on. Did I
even need to spell out to these people that I was a sorceress?
"I'm from Zefilia..." I said with a bit of a grin. Okay, at least I was
telling the truth. Why were they looking at me so funny? I guess they'd
never heard of the place.
"That doesn't sound like any place around here. Are you from the united
states or the UK?" Marleen asked.
"Em... no." I replied, completely unfamiliar with either of the places she'd
mentioned.
"Wow. That sounds really weird. Hey, I know, let's go visit Professor Oak,
I'm sure he'll be able to figure out where you're from. He's really smart!"
"Oh that's a wonderful idea, while you're going there, why don't you take
him this fresh pie I baked?" said Delia.
"Okay!" Replied Marleen.
"Just a little taste..."
"No, it's for Professor Oak"
"Oh come on, I'm starving!"
"Maybe after we ask him!" We waited at the door of Professor Oak's
laboratory. I was impressed with how plain the place seemed from the
outside, but when the door finally did open and I got a look inside, I was
even more impressed with how the place looked. It was a clean Lab,
something definitely not common for wizards; there were sterile white
tables, several large machines, what looked to be some kind of control
panels with display screens.
I wondered how they worked, since, like with
the vehicles outside, they didn't seem to emit any kind of magical aura.
There were lots of men and women in white coats, tending to the machines,
and behind a glass door, I saw what seemed to be a small mini environment of
sorts, filled with some of the strangest animals I'd ever seen before in my
life. Okay, I was just guessing they were animals at least. Maybe they were
monsters? No, they had to be animals. There were some like the one I had
gotten with the strange ball like device, but there were lots of others too.
Some were like birds, some were like plants, and others were like fish, even
crabs, and other strange things. They were all colors too, yellow, red,
green blue, purple... just about anything I wouldn't normally expect to see
in nature.
Finally, we were approached by a somewhat handsome, but elderly
man. I would guess he was in his early 50's or so, light grey hair, soft,
kind emerald eyes, and a long lab coat, much like several of the others
wandering around that I guessed were assistants.
Regrettably, Marleen surrendered the Pie to one of the other assistants as
we made our way in Ah well.
"Hello there, Professor Oak." I said as casually as possible. He gave me a
kind smile, and he offered a hand to shake with a nod. "Greetings, I don't
believe I've seen anyone quite like you before, but welcome to my
laboratory. As you may already know, I am Professor Oak, and it's a pleasure
to meet you. Where are you from?"
"Zefilia." "Really? I've never heard of such a place?" Marleen wandered off
while I talked with the Professor. She was interested in playing with one of
the odd creatures.
"Yeah, well I'm not really from around here... I was suddenly brought here
when I met a bunch of really odd looking rune things... they were alive, and
they had just one eye... are you familiar with anything like that,
Professor?" I asked, really hoping I'd finally get a lead on how I had ended
up here.
The Professor seemed to brighten up as though Ceipheed's Dawn had come
early.
"You encountered... no no, wait, by how you described them... hmmm... come
here young lady."
"I"m Lina..."
"Alright, Lina, come here."
For better or worse, I followed him as he moved to one of the strange
control panels in front of a display. He tapped his fingers along several
strange looking runes on the control panel. Funny. Though they were much
neater in appearance, the runes that he was tapping were very similar to the
living ones I had seen. Maybe it was a coincidence? In a few moments, the
display screen flashed to life with pictures of ruins that I recognized as
being similar to the ones I had seen before this whole mess started. There
were also a few pictures of the creatures that I had encountered.
"Do any of these look familiar?" Oak asked me with a bit of eagerness. I
could tell he really wanted to know, and I decided to indulge him, since the
old man seemed harmless enough.
"Yeah... I met a bunch of those things before I suddenly ended up here...
it was really weird, they took me into what felt like another astral
plane..."
"You mean that you come from some place completely different from this one?"
Oak interjected.
"Well, yes... a few friends and I were exploring a place just like that." I
pointed to the display. "And then they disappeared... and then I was
surrounded by those..." I pointed to the creatures. "And then I blacked
out... and woke up near here. I was also attacked by some strange creature,
and then Marleen gave me some strange device to throw at it, and I guess it
got captured inside."
"This is very unusual indeed." Oak replied. "But it would seem to me that
the Unown have transported you from another dimension to where we are now...
I'm really sorry that you've been caught here, but, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, though, a little on the confused side. What was with the
strange creature I met? What was with the strange ball Marleen gave me?"
"Allow me to explain a few things to you, Miss Lina. I'm sure you've had a
very strange journey after all." And then of course... he explained
everything about the new world I found myself in.
So that's how I'm here. I talked with Professor Oak quite a bit. We cut a
deal. He knows a lot of people all over this world, and he offered to have
his friends look out for not only my friends, but possibly for a way to get
back to my world. In exchange... He gave me a device that he called a
Pokédex. He told me that I could help him do research by capturing pokemon,
and by traveling from town to town. I'd need to challenge gym leaders here
and there, if I wanted to progress. Well, in exchange for helping me try to
get back home, it was the least I could do.
He explained to me that I had already caught my first pokemon. He also
taught me how to call it out. Well, may as well get to know the little
furball.
"Alright, Rattata, I choose you." I droned with the enthusiasm of an eighty
year old. I mean, seriously, catching little animals and keeping them in
small balls? Kind of a cool idea, I guessed, but it just seemed so damned
cheesy. In a flash of light, the Rattata I had caught earlier, and Oak had
stuck through a healing machine, emerged. It looked up at me. Alright,
according to Oak, it should be willing to obey orders. The look it was
giving me was one of fear and respect.
I had spoken with Oak, only, about my magic. He said that it was unusual for
humans to be able to use anything like that at all. He also advised me to
try and use my magic sparingly if at all, so as not to attract attention.
Eh, no biggie. He'd also explained to me how training pokemon worked, and a
slew of other things. He also told me that the best of the best trainers
competed in huge stadiums.
Well, normally I'm not for just competing for the heck of it, but there were
supposed to be prizes. huge cash prizes. I was almost broke, even though,
from what Oak told me, quite a few people would accept my gold and silver
pieces; I didn't have that much money, and if I wanted to make plenty of
money for food, the best way to do it was... da da da da! Defeating other
people in Pokèbattles. Apparently there was some kind of reward system.
Alright, not a bad deal, I guess. It'll help me make some cash, right?
"Okay, Rat thingy, You're going to help Mommy Lina make lots, and lots of
money so that we can eat lots, and lots of food. Does that sound like a good
idea to you?" The Rattata nodded in understanding. Alright, good, it did
know what I was saying, so that would help out a lot.
"Great. Hmm. I think I should give you a name, since just calling you
Rattata would be kind of silly. Well, ya kinda remind me of him... sooo your
name is Zolf. Got it? You're Zolf!" Zolf nodded in understanding. What a
good rat! I gestured up to my lap, and he scrambled up into it. I stroked
through his mostly soft fur a few times, from the back of his head down his
back. It was kind of relaxing, considering that it was a cat-sized rat.
I spent the night getting to know the little guy, and more than anything,
while I didn't train him to fight any better or anything like that at all, I
did teach him to follow my commands very precisely. I used a spell to make a
small bauble of light, and I showed him to follow the light as I pointed out
a path along the ground, so that I would be able to show him how I wanted
him to follow silent commands, such as just pointing.
At first, he always had to chase the ball of light to keep up with where I
pointed, but each time we performed the exercise, I let the ball of light
get dimmer and dimmer, till it was completely gone. Eventually, he knew to
follow the path of my finger perfectly, so that by guiding him with my
direction, I'd be able to control him very precisely. I had mentally figured
out that this was a great tactic; after all, if the only time I had to speak
was in order to attack, it would give me a great tactical advantage in
battles. We practiced like this for several hours, till it was really early
in the morning. Exhausted, I didn't even think to tell Zolf to go back to
his pokèball. I was staying the night at Delias. Well The morning now. We
went to sleep on what she said was her son's bed, though, from what she'd
told us, her son had been gone for some time. Lucky! It was nice and clean.
Zolf curled up near my feet, and we slept.
"Hahaha! I just farted again Terrance!" "Oh my god! You did Phillip
you did!" I sat up to the rather horrible sound of more flatulence. What the
heck? I sat up in bed, and groggily stared at the screen that had been
turned on. There were a pair of small mouse-like critters on the screen, one
yellow with red highlights, and a little + for a tail, and one yellow with
blue highlights, and a - for a tail. Zolf was intently watching the screen.
"Did you turn that thing on?" I asked in an annoyed tone. Zolf just nodded,
and watched the screen, as the pair on it continued to make nothing but the
most annoying of fart jokes, and laughed at each others in the complete and
utter moronic way that, well, complete and utter morons can.
I smelled something nice coming from the kitchen down below though, so I decided to
investigate. As I headed downstairs, I was a mess, I know. I hadn't even bothered to
undress before I went to bed, so my mantle had dug into my shoulders. I had
a hell of a crick in my neck as well. Bad habits can be hard to break
sometimes, I guess. But something good was in the air. "Ohhh, that smells really good Delia...
what's cookin' in the kitchen?" I asked as I came down the stairs.
"Oh, it's lunch time already, sorry you missed breakfast."
"Eh, I just slept right through it, it's no big deal."
"Well, go ahead and have a seat."
It was an incredibly great meal, hot bread, some fresh pasta, chicken,
salad... I really dug in good, perhaps, even a little bit too good. Poor
Delia was looking at me with some bewilderment as I finished my third
serving. Well, I wasn't in a restaurant. I decided, even if I was still a
teensy bit hungry, that I'd better stop. "Aheh... sorry Delia... but thanks
for the awesome grub... so... if I'm going to go on one of these pokemon
Journey things... where do you think I should go?"
"Well... here's a map You can head to Viridian city, up north, and , after
that, you can head to pewter. That's where the first gym badge can be won."
"Ohhh... right, that'll be a blast... I guess I'm going to have to train a
lot to be able to handle something like that, right?" I asked.
"Well, you can't go unprepared. You should also, from what I hear, try to
catch more pokemon, that way you'll be able to take care of whatever you
meet."
I knew this already. Oak hadn't explained it to me personally, but I had
noticed by observing some of the pokemon in his lab. Being a Sorceress
allows one to know certain things that everyday individuals might not
notice, and what I did notice, was that almost every creature had a little
tiny bit of a magical alignment to them.
I wouldn't consider all of the magic to be elemental for sure, but I could
guess, just by feeling their auras that each aura would make them stronger,
or weaker against each other depending on the type.
That, and by poking at the Pokédex thingy that Oak had given me, I'd learned
a lot about types already. I've always been a big fan of reading, especially
since you can get a lot of knowledge on spells and the like from books
through reading. There was just a problem. I didn't understand the writing
on the Pokédex. At first. It only took me a few minutes to figure it out
once Oak explained to me what all the letters sounds and the like made
though. It was common language, but it was written in a different format
than I was used to. With a quick little on the fly memory spell, and some
quick repetitions, I picked it up frighteningly fast. Oak thought it would
have taken me a year or so, not some minutes, but hey, a talented sorceress
can handle anything given the proper motivation. Learning more would make
fighting easier, and easier fights meant easier money. Easier money meant
more food, and more food means Lina happy!
Anyways, I read a lot of really boring, but somewhat interesting facts on
all of the pokèmon types that I was likely to encounter, I even memorized a
few of the elemental weaknesses and strengths, as well as the types of moves
associated with them. Not like I'd need to know all of that right away. The
only things that Zolf knew were tail whip, and tackle.
We finally left on our Journey. Leaving Delia behind was kind of a strange
emotional experience for me. I mean, yeah, I know that the only thing she
really did was keep me at her house for a night, but I was a total stranger,
and she was a killer cook. She was so friendly to me for the short time that
I had spent there too that it almost felt like she was my mother in a way
too.
"Take care Lina! And good look on your Journey!"
"Yeah! I'll make sure that it's a good one! Thank you for everything Delia!"
I called out, before I started to head into the deep grass and path towards
Viridian city. Man, what a total pain in the butt too! There were ledges
that could easily be jumped over on the way back towards Pallet town itself,
but the path towards Viridian, was mostly full of bushes and grass. Lots of
tall grass, the kind where... yep, I figured it. More pokemon were likely to
appear.
Another Rattata showed up. My first instinct was to just flare arrow it out
of the way, but then I remembered that the only way for Zolf to get
stronger, would be if I trained him against it. I released him from his
pokèball, which I kept on my belt next to several magic potions and the
like, and as the other wild Rattata tried to attack him, I smoothly guided
him with simple gestures. He circled the other Rattata, easily slipped from
its path of attempts to attack, and with my guidance...
"Alright Zolf, Tackle!" He slammed into the other Rattata from the side,
completely throwing it off balance, it tried to retaliate by tackling in
return, but I'd already guided Zolf out of harm's way.
"Alright, once more with feeling!" Zolf slammed into the other Rattata
again. Wash, Rinse repeat. We won pretty easily.
All the way towards Viridian, we fought wild pokemon, here and there. I was
a bit surprised that we didn't run into any other trainers, but then I
guessed that Pallet town was a bit out of the way for most people to visit.
I was impressed with how quickly Zolf seemed to get stronger and stronger
after every few battles. By the time we got to Viridian though, he was
pretty wiped out and exhausted, so I decided to try and find a pokemon
center.
I didn't know what one looked like from firsthand experience, but
thanks to my Pokèdex, it didn't take too long for me to locate one. We went
on in and after talking with the Nurse, whose name was Joy, she helped Zolf
get back up to speed in only a few moments after putting him, in his
pokèball, into a healing machine. They were interesting devices, and it
astonished me to no end that they weren't using any magic. I'd talked about
this with Oak when I told him about my magic.
Oak had explained to me that it was actually technology. I wondered to
myself what people in my world would do if they had the kind of technology
in this world. It was pretty interesting I guess. After a bit, Nurse Joy
brought up an interesting point.
"You're new to this all, aren't you?"
"What was your first clue?"
"Oh, just that you only have one pokemon."
"Well, I don't have any other pokèballs yet..."
"Why don't you try the pokèmart down the street?" I just nodded and after
leaving the pokemon Center, headed in the direction she indicated.
I decided that I should go ahead and get some supplies aside from just the
pokèballs, as I looked around the store; I realized how foreign I seemed as
I heard a few kids talking to themselves as quietly as they could. Thanks to
my heightened sense of hearing, I suppose it wasn't really something they
meant for me to hear, but I heard it anyways.
"Hey, who is she?"
"I don't know. She looks like she's dressed for
Halloween."
"She looks so strange!" I sighed. I guess this is that Zelgadiss felt like
most of the time. What a total drag! I decided then, that I would try and
get some clothes to fit in a little better as soon as I could.
When I finally got to the front of the line, I asked for 20 pokèballs, 10
Potions, and 5 antidotes, just in case. The register man nodded a bit, and I
pulled one of my sacks of gold free of my belt, and dropped a small handful
of coins on the counter.
"Hey, will these be enough?" He blinked. And looked them over. There was
greed in his eyes, and the way he looked over the gold pieces, my guess was,
he hadn't seen real gold in a long time. Or ever for that matter.
After a bit he just nodded, and accepted the payment. Hee hee. That was only
enough to buy a cheap meal in Saillune. I guess that my money was a bit
better than what they were used to in these parts. That meant it'd be easy
to get some seriously good food once I got to a good big city. Excellent!
After leaving the shop, I took a look at the map on my Pokèdex, and decided
that the best next place to head to would be Pewter City. I was thinking
about checking out the Gym here in Viridian after all, but the place seemed
to be closed down, so I didn't really see any point.
On the trail up to Pewter, we ran into two different types of bird pokemon.
The Dex called them Spearow, and Pidgey. I caught both of them with out too
much trouble at all. I named the Spearow after Prince Phil, and I named the
Pidgey after Rumin, a young girl who helped me out once when I was lacking
my powers. Then we headed into Viridian Forest. I took a bit of time to
train my newly captured pokemon with Zolf. Oddly enough, it seemed like he
could communicate with the different species, just as well as I could
communicate with him. We forged a sense of teamwork that was incredible, it
only took a few minutes for the birds to catch on to what Zolf explained to
them in several chitters and squeaks.
They soon learned to follow my gestures and verbal commands as smoothly
as though I were casting spells through them. Maybe being a Sorceress
translated well into being a trainer. I wasn't sure. After a few hours of training,
we decided to head into Viridian forest.
"Hey! No fair! How come your pokemon dodges without you saying anything?"
"Special training! I won fair and square! So pay up!" Okay. In a way I
almost felt kind of bad, the kid couldn't have been older than 10 or so, and
the only things he was using were little wormy things. I'd caught a pair of
them myself, but I didn't really think they were that great. I was still
training them too, but they weren't that great. I collected my prize money
from the bug catcher kid. He was the fourth or fifth one I'd met in the
forest. I went back to wandering through underbrush and the like when... I
met a new species.
According to my Pokèdex, it was a Pikachu. It was cute I guess; if you like
yellow. More than anything, it looked lost in this forest, which was mostly
inhabited by nothing but bugs. I called out Phil, my Spearow, and directed
him towards the little electric rat. Oops. Bad idea. ZAP! In one hit of what
was probably the same strength as a digu volt, the little sparky rat downed
Phil so hard that I actually felt sorry for him. He could barely move.
Sighing, I recalled him, and thought about what I'd read on the Pokèdex.
"Awh, crap, it's an electric type... I guess that means Rumin will be
useless too... Gahh, Come on out Zolf.
Zolf chittered happily, glad to be in action again, and I Zipped him along
the underbrush with careful gestures. I locked eyes with the Pikachu now and
then, and it seemed more than ready to tangle. I grinned a bit.
"Alright Zolf, time for your new maneuver... Quick attack!" Zolf sped up
faster than most normal human eyes could follow, and he rammed into the
Pikachu, knocking it to the side.
"Alright, once more!" Bam! The Pikachu was reeling, though, taking a look at
Zolf... Crap. he was paralyzed, I could see it. I should have bought some
paralyze heals while I was at the shop too, but hadn't thought about it.
"Gahhh... Pokèball go!" I yelled, chucking one of my Pokèballs at the
Pikachu. The ball rocked, from side to side... stopped a moment... and then
exploded apart. He wasn't caught yet!
He ran towards Zolf, and aimed both of his small paws at my helpless
Rattata, unleashing a surge of electric energy. Zolf stood his ground
though, he wasn't beat yet. In a panic, I threw another Pokèball at the
Pikachu. "Dammit! Stay inside!" I yelled with annoyance. The Pokèball sucked
up the Pikachu. Something different happened this time though. Zolf
scampered over to the Pokèball, and threw his body over it, clamping at the
metal ball to try and hold it shut. The ball rocked, shook, and I could tell
that it looked ready to burst again, but, not through its own integrity, but
because Zolf was holding it shut... it held! Finally the red signal beeped
one last time, and I had caught my first Pikachu. Awesome, I finally have an
electric type!
I spent a while training in the forest. Partially because I wasn't sure what
awaited me in Pewter city and partially because there were lots of trainers
who put up a valiant effort before surrendering prize money. Hey, it's
perfectly fair for me to do that, after all, a girl's got to eat. Each time
I returned to Viridian city, I spent some time at this really great
restaurant that had an all you can eat special for just 250 Yen. Considering
that I made that up every two fights or so, I think it was the best time
I've spent in a strange place. There was great stew, and did I mention that
it was all you can eat?
Sadly, after three days or so, they had to raise the price to a ludicrous
2500 Yen for the "All Lina can eat" buffet. Complete discrimination! Oh
well. I decided, once that happened, that it was finally time for me to move
on. I finally made my way all the way through Viridian forest. There were
plenty of trainers along the way, but nobody particularly stood out.
I'd named the Pikachu I had caught "Digu" since he was my first electric
type, and, the first electric shamanistic spell is Digu Volt. I'm so clever that I just love
myself sometimes! And he's so cute too! Digu was a little bit of a brat when
I had first started to train him, but he quickly learned who was boss. Every
time he didn't listen, I blew him into the air with a Dill Brand.
I don't know why, but watching him fly up into the air never ceased to amuse
me. Regardless, he learned to obey properly in a matter of two days.
Actually, we've sort of gotten along, though competitively. I would let my
Pokemon eat with me, you see, and I swear, Digu is almost as bad as Gourry.
He just digs into his food. We got into some friendly competition a few
times, and yeah, he even reminded me of Gourry. Little yellow rat.
Anyways.
On to the important part of the story, since I'm probably boring you.
We finally made it to Pewter city. Before I headed any place else, of
course, I looked for a restaurant. The prices were decent, though, I did
have to order half of the Menu. I couldn't decide what I wanted, and it did
all look pretty good. After enjoying a meal of chicken, Rice, Gravy, Salad,
Ham, Beans, Pot Roast, Beef Stew, Chicken Soup, Onion Bread, French Fries,
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, and topping it off with some ice cream and cake,
I decided to check out a Local Museum.
Well I didn't really decide to check it out. I saw a kid in a baseball cap
standing on the side of the road, and waved to him in a friendly way.
"Hey, have you seen Pewter City's Museum?" He asked. I shook my head, and he
suddenly grabbed me by the hand. "You have to see it!" "But I was going to
the Gy-" "Come on!" He rushed me towards a rather large building. It was
pretty new and flashy too. "Go on in! Have a look!" he encouraged me.
I wondered how much he had been paid to bring me there, but, I decided that
since he was so insistent, I should at least have a little bit of a look
around. I made my way inside, and a young woman at the end of the counter
did a bit of a double take as she looked at me. I'm guessing that it was the
costume. Lots of people seemed to react to it that way. "Ah... 50 yen entry
fee to take a look please." I sighed. Well. Why not? I shelled over the
cash, and decided to look around.
I wasn't really disappointed at all. There were some interesting rocks on
display on the first floor. I asked one of the museum staff about them, and
he explained to me that they were Fossils. I still didn't really understand.
He further explained that Fossils were the remains of ancient pokemon. That
really sparked my interest... then something more than that caught my
attention. As I got close to the glass display case... I realized that there
was energy coming from the fossils. Living energy. It was like it was locked
away inside of the bones. Wow! I didn't know that magical artifacts like
this had really existed in a place like this. They were kind of interesting,
and, being as discreet as possible, I magically scanned, and investigated
the fossils very thoroughly, remembering everything about them that I could.
Something told me they might be important later.
I also made my way up to the second floor of the building as well. Why not?
I paid for it after all so I should be able to check out the entire place
without any trouble. I was greeted with a few foreign things, and a few
familiar things. The familiar things were star charts, and the like. There
were lots of them, showing planets and the like. I'd seen lots of stuff like
that in Saillune's Astronomy labs. Always neat stuff. What confused me
though was the strange looking object. I guess it looked like a pointy box.
After I talked with another of the Museum staff members, I got a pretty good
explanation, and I wondered again, how these people did so much without
magic. It was a Rocket, apparently a device that could carry people all the
way up to the moon, and back to the earth. It was really something
impressive.
They explained to me, a bit to my disappointment, that it was only a model.
I wish I could see the real thing; that would be really interesting to
study! I'm really curious after all, and I like learning. How else do you
think I've added so many different spells to my ever increasing deadly
arsenal? Anyways, after I finished touring the Museum, I took a quick trip
to the Pokemon center to heal everything up. Now, since I had arrived in
this world, it had been at least a month and a half. I'd actually raised up
Zolf, Digu, Phil, and Rumin rather well. On the side, I had also raised up a
funny little worm thing, which grew, evolved twice, and turned into a kind
of Butterfly. I'd originally named it Drew, after one of the ugliest people
I knew in my youth. Too late to change the name now, but I guess Irony is
just that. Ironic.
Anyways, I finally arrived at Pewter City Gym. The place was, honestly, not
what I had expected for my first Gym, Made mostly of wood. There was a large
Arena. I walked out confidently, and hollered out. "Alright, I'm ready to
make my first Gym challenge, I don't care who you are but I'm gonna smash
you so that I can get my prize money, and more food!"
Heavy steps came down a darkened staircase. And I blinked, seeing a familiar
face for the first time in a month and a half. It was Zelgadiss. And at his
waist, he had four Pokèballs.
"Zelgadiss! What are you doing here?" I asked in shock. Was he here to
challenge the Gym leader before me? Zelgadiss sighed, and looked over at me
while he rubbed his forehead with his fingertips.
"Well... it seems I found a very odd situation..." He began to explain.
"When I arrived here, I was dropped into a large ravine apparently. A girl
named Cara found me, badly wounded... even for me. She brought me back here,
with some great difficulty with the aid of her brothers, and sisters. Cara
told me how her older brother, Brock, once led this Gym, but he found
someone that would lead him on to a greater destiny. She taught me a lot
about this world... and apparently, I'm quite the natural with the creatures
here."
"Why is that Zel?" I asked.
"I'm getting there. As you well know, the third demon in me allowed me to
speak with monsters and the like where we come from. Apparently, I can speak
to these creatures just as easily. I developed a great skill in training,
and I caught a few interesting Pokemon myself..."
"So why are you here? And don't you want to still look for your cure?"
"Lina, I'm getting to that already! Will you stop interrupting me?" Zel
looked hurt.
"Alright alright. Get it out."
"Anyways. I agreed, after Cara witnessed my skill, to become the Gym leader
here temporarily. At least, till I met you. She told me that after meeting
with my friends, I should go and see a man called Bill. She also said that
she would put a search through the pokemon center network, to try and locate
you, and Gourry."
"Great, so does that mean that We're already going to be leaving?" I asked
with a big, ever so friendly Lina grin.
"Well we could... but before we do... If you want to earn a boulderbadge...
A magical Talisman that will slightly increase the defense of all your
pokemon... You'll have to defeat me. Anyways... another condition that Cara
insisted on... was that I'd have to battle you to test your skill, before
we're allowed to leave."
"Wow Zel, you're taking this rather seriously, aren't you?" "I'm always
serious!" "Yeah, Yeah, whatever, If it's a fight you want, it's a fight
you've got!"
Zel and I stood at opposite ends of the Arena. He looked over at me rather
dangerously, and reached for his belt. Tapping a finger on one of the
pokeballs, letting it expand to his palm perfectly. "Alright, Three to Three
Lina. I'll let you choose second if you like. Are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be Zel! Prepare to be smashed!"
"Alright, Rando, I choose you!" He threw his first Pokèball towards the
Arena and in an instant; I saw the first thing He'd chosen. It was a strange
little rock with arms, and a face. I Dexed the thing to see what it was.
"Hmmm... Geodude? That's a pretty interesting creature Zel... It suits you."
I said teasingly.
"Shut up and fight Lina!" he replied with a bit of irritation in his tone.
Touchy!
"Okay, Gooooooo Rumin!" I yelled, tossing out the Pokeball with my pidgey
inside. She sqawked, and came bursting free in an instant. Quickly, I guided
her with my gestures, to start circling her opponent. Zelgadiss started to
murmur something that sounded like wind creaking through caverns, and Rando
seemed to understand whatever it was Zel was telling him. Not good, this was
going to be way harder than the kids who just yelled orders aloud; I
wouldn't know what to expect. Before I had time to give Rumin an order,
Rando started to hurl rocks at her!
I used my gestures to maneuver her out of the attack easily, and my mind
raced. I thought quickly and came to a quick solution. "Alright Rumin, Sand
attack! Now!" She kicked up dust, and hazed Rando in clouds of sand and down
by flapping her wings. Rando tried to roll out of the way, something I was
unaccustomed to seeing most pokemon do in response to attacks, but it seemed
Zel was still guiding him. Damn! Why does he have to make this so hard?
Some of the sand had still buffeted Rando though. "Again!" I shouted to
Rumin. She continued to use her sand attack, and Rando continued to try and
hit her, but it wasn't any good.
"Alright, use your gust attack!" Rumin Did as I commanded immediately, the
bursts of wind from her wings flying towards Rando quickly. I blinked
though, as the attack seemed to just be shrugged off.
"That's useless Lina, a Flying type's attack does almost nothing against
Rando, And it's only a matter of time before Rumin is hit!"
"That's true... Too true... but Zelly boy... you're forgetting something!"
"And what's that?"
"Alright Rumin! Do just like I personally trained you! Use your special
tackle!" I drew my hand back, so that Rumin would follow the gesture, and
she flew back, suddenly, away from Rando. As she did, I raised a hand up,
and without needing even the incantation (Hey, I'm experienced!) I summoned
up a freeze arrow pointing right at Rando. Rumin swept in a tackle, right
along with the freeze arrow, letting the tail end of it get fixed to her
beak, so that as she tackled Rando, she crashed it directly into him!
"Direct hit!" I declared As Zel watched. He twitched a brow, and sighed,
returning Rando to his Pokeball. He'd been knocked out by the elemental
attack, since I'd only made the freeze arrow barely cold enough to hold
form... it'd turned into a water attack the moment it hit.
"Don't you think that that's cheating, Lina?" Zel asked in a rather annoyed
tone.
"Of course not, Pokemon are allowed to use their environment..."
"But you altered the environment..."
"There's nothing against it in the rules! I have them right here on my
Pokèdex!"
"... But those rules weren't made with Sorceress' in mind."
"They still don't say anything about it."
"Fine, Lina, if you want to play rough, so be it."
I returned Rumin, and Confidently tossed out my next Pokeball. "Go for it
Digu! I know you won't fail me!" Digu popped free of his Pokèball, and in
moments, made quite an impressive show of his power, letting sparks fly, and
dropping into a battle pose. Hey, I taught it to him only because I was
bored. Don't look at me that way. At least I didn't teach him to fall flat
on his face, or to trip while trying to stand on high places. I'm not
Amelia!
Zel nodded, and threw out his second Pokèball. "Go Darien!" He announced in
his usual cool manner. From his Pokèball, emerged what looked a lot like
some kind of purple rabbit, with spikes all over. I Dexed it, to get some
better info. "Nidorino... Hmmm. It's a Poison type. First stage evolution?
Crap... I haven't evolved anything big yet!" "Well then, perhaps Darien's power
will overwhelm you!" Zel said calmly, before emitting a series of high
pitched squeaks and whistles. As he did so, Darien leapt into the air to try
and kick Digu. I tried to lead Digu out of the way, but the first kick was
too hard, and it was immediately followed by another. Digu sprawled across
the Arena, and I sighed. Looked like Zel had this one. "Alright co-"
"PIKAAA!"
Digu Held up a paw towards me, and stood up. He looked really
determined. "Okay, fine, if you want to keep fighting I won't stop you...
But just... gah... I can't keep up with Zel's silent commands, Digu, do what
you need to!" Digu sprang into action on his own at that point, the moment
that Darien began another attack, trying to slam the horn on his pointy face
into Digu, Digu jumped out of the way and then ZAP! I recognized the attack.
It was a thunder wave. Seems he wanted to paralyze Darien first. I was
surprised that Digu was still able to fight. He then rushed in, and tackled
Darien with a quick attack, but as he did so... one of the horns covering
Darien's body scraped along Digu's side, leaving a sizeable gash. The wound
only looked external... but Digu slowed down a bit after it happened.
"Hey! You seemed so determined! Don't give up now Digu!" I called out, to
give him encouragement. Zel was calm, still giving Darien orders. Digu hit
Darien with a decently powerful thundershock, and I thought it was about to
be over. Well... it was... but not how I planned. Suddenly, even though
Darien didn't even launch an attack, Digu collapsed. Seems he ran out of
steam.
"That was careless Lina..." Zel called out. "You allowed your pokemon to be
poisoned, and he fainted from exhaustion because you did nothing about it."
Crap! I should have thought more about that scratch! I forgot that Zel had
been using a poison type. Well, looks like the third fight was imminent. I
reached for a third Pokeball, and hurled it towards the Arena after calling
Digu Back. Zel had called back Darien at the same time. Zel and I spoke at
the same time. "Xithan/Drew, I choose you!" From Zel's Pokeball, came a
Beedrill. Dexed it. I had sent out my Butterfree. Oh, this would be fun.
They were both bugs. "Alright, hit it with Confusion!" I called out to
Drew before Zel could begin. I couldn't
even hear him but I was sure he was speaking orders to the Beedrill. Xithan
swerved out of the way of the psychic rays, and went into a flurry of
attacks. My butterfree couldn't avoid several of them, but he held tight. He
was pretty good at taking quite a bit of punishment. "Gah! Defend yourself!
Harden!" I called out. Drew held his ground, and concentrated on forcing his
exoskeleton to get harder, the exoskeleton covering his body shimmering with
the effort.
In concerted effort to match him Xithan hardened as well.
"Confusion!" "Tackle!" "Harden!" "String shot!" The battle raged on for
nearly an hour before I finally got the upper hand. Drew had pinned Xithan
down, and I could finally guarantee a hit. "Alright! Confusion! Right into
him!" Drew let loose, and Xithan couldn't take it. After all, a poison type
is weak to Psychic.
"Alright Zel, I've finally won! I demand my prize!" Zel sighed a bit.
"You cheated... I don't care what the rules say, you know you did, in the
first round."
"Oh come on, it was just a little bit of... moral support!"
"Well, if you want me to accept my defeat... You'll have to complete it..."
"What's that supposed to mean, Zel?" "It means you have to beat me too!
Flare Arrow!" Zel sent some flare arrows shooting my way. I wasn't worried
though.
"Freeze arrow." I replied in an almost bored tone, letting my freeze arrows
counter the flare arrows on contact.
Zel charged at me. He was fast mind you, the third of him that was demon,
more than made up for the normal slowness that Golems might have. He drew
his sword, and I drew mine, parrying a strike he made as he got in near.
"Whoa, Zel, aren't you taking this just a little bit too seriously?" I
asked.
"Maybe." he replied. "But I haven't had any real challenges the entire time
I'm here... Just indulge me for once, alright?"
"Indulge you?"
It was a miserable battle, but in the end, I beat Zel. True, I had to
fireball him twice, but he can take it. A bit charred clothing wise, but
otherwise fine, Zel finally conceded to give me the boulderbadge.
"Here Lina... you've finally earned it... anyways, now that you're here and
our battle is over, we can finally get going."
"You didn't seem in any rush to leave, as I recall."
"I just don't give up easily, Lina. You know that."
"Right, you've got to show your incredible manliness. Eh, its okay Zel, you
know I still love ya!" I gave him a pat on the back. I took it easy, knowing
better than to smack him hard, last time I did that, I really hurt my hand!
Zel blushed a bit. Oops.
"Hey! Not that way Zel, I'm just talking about as a friend and all!"
"I know that Lina, but you're making a scene!"
"Who's watching?" Zel pointed over to an open door. There were a bunch of
kids. "Cara's family." He said in an annoyed tone.
"Ah... Oops... oh well. Come on Zel, let's get on with our journey! We've
still got to find Gourry!"
"And Bill." he reminded me.
"Yeah yeah... let's go!"