Blue Mountain League: Prologue
Disclaimer: Those who do own pokémon are rich, and do not have to write fanfiction
Chapter 4: The Mountain of Lost Dreams
Well, once again, it's recap time. Last time, John got to Pewter City, and 'disturbed the peace' by poking a Jigglypuff, who promptly started singing, though by that time, John and Charmander were almost out of the city, when a kid popped up out of nowhere. Telling John that he couldn't go east without beating Brock, leader of the Pewter City Gym, John reluctantly entered in his first gym battle. After beating Brock's Onix, John earned the Boulder Badge. It was then that John was told that the trainers to the east were actually relatively weak. When John was leaving, he saw the kid again, and upon questioning, the kid, one of Brock's younger brothers, revealed that a strong trainer beat everyone to the east, and didn't want anyone to follow, or else he would attack the kid again. (breathes in deeply) John quickly realized that the strong trainer was Jack, John's rival. We left John and Charmander as they head east, towards Mt. Moon.
John and Charmander had been walking for what seemed to be hours, maybe even days, which means they were walking (at a very leisurely pace) for two minutes. Anyway, they came upon a guy and his Pidgey sleeping in the grass. However, they looked like they were in very unnatural poses, mostly due to the bump on the guy's face and the fact he was lying face-down, with his Pidgey on top of a wild Rattata, as though it landed unexpectedly. As John looked around, he realized that everyone and everything in the area was rather quite, excepting the occasional snore. As John thought, Charmander realized the reason, and quickly motioned for John to cover his ears.
"What is it, Charmander? Is it a…" started John, before realizing that a Jigglypuff had done this. Now, during the last chapter, John knocked out a whole Pokémon Center by getting a Jigglypuff to sing, and that was a trained one, in an enclosed area. But in the wild, it is much easier to stay awake through the song technique, which, when successful, automatically puts the opponent to sleep. Though they are generally weak, their sing technique is highly annoying to those who fall victim to it. The pair decided to run like the wind towards Mt. Moon, where Jigglypuff don't dare to go, mostly because of how dark it is.
As they approached the entrance to the cave, John saw a Pokémon Center, which had been made there so that people could rest outside of Mt. Moon, which you had to go through to reach Cerulean City from Pewter. John went in to heal Charmander, but noticed the long line first. Asking the person at the end, he was told that a strong trainer with a Squirtle had beaten all of them in a single trip through. John knew he was getting even closer to Jack. John turned to leave, but the person at the front of the line called him up. "Hey, maybe you can beat him. You get healed first, then you go 'n' take him down!" said a trainer with a really beaten-up Rattata.
After Charmander was healed, John went into Mt. Moon to find Jack. Journeying deep into the cave, John wondered why he didn't see any wild pokémon. As he went further inwards, he climbed many ladders, but still didn't see Jack or any wild pokémon. As he followed the main path, he saw a small passageway, and, going through, saw a fossil. "It's a Dome Fossil!" cried John excitedly.
"Hand it over to me," said a voice, one that John hoped he would hear.
"No way, Jack. When I get to Cinnabar Island, they'll revive it, and maybe by then I'll have more pokémon," said John adamantly.
Jack smirked at this. "So, you still only have Charmander, huh?"
"I think my pokéballs are faulty," retaliated John. He said this because, of the five he originally had, he had used two, and he hadn't even seen anything happen, though a Spearow did go in for a while.
Jack turned serious at this. "Really, let me try one." He quickly took one from John. Looking around, he spotted a solitary Zubat, which seemed to be asleep. Without eyes, it was hard to tell if something was asleep. As Jack threw the pokéball, the Zubat tried to flutter away. John watched as the Zubat entered the pokéball. The button glowed red as the pokéball shook three times. When the light turned off, the ball stopped shaking, showing that the Zubat was caught. Jack went over and picked up the ball.
"Thanks," said John, "can I have my Zubat now?"
Jack grinned at this. "Poor, naïve John. This isn't your Zubat; it's mine. I threw the pokéball. I caught it, and it's mine. It'll be a great addition to my team," he taunted.
"Your WHAT?" shouted John, in complete amazement. Never, in his life, had he expected Jack to take a pokémon from someone else. Not only was it illegal, it was stupid. Catching a Zubat was something people did, as easily as eating or drinking. Most trainers wouldn't have given Jack's statement a second thought, but John did. "If you already have a team, why did you steal Zubat?" inquired John.
Jack laughed at John's confusion. "Because, I only have a really small team. Zubat makes three," replied Jack through his laughter.
John wondered what he had. 'I know he has Squirtle, and he said Zubat makes three, so that leaves one unaccounted for,' thought John, 'and the only way to know for sure is to battle.' So John yelled out, "Go, Charmander!" and out came the small lizard. Jack quietly sent out Zubat, and the battle began. One ember later, Zubat was gone. Jack merely smirked as he sent out his next pokémon: Spearow.
"No way! You stole my first catch!" yelled John. At this point, he quickly realized that he hadn't seen or heard Spearow be caught; though Spearow probably would have attacked them if unsuccessful. However, for now, all he could do was beat Spearow, and that took four ember attacks. Jack sent out Squirtle, and John saw, for the first time, just how bad the scars were. Though they were mostly healed over, Squirtle would probably have them for the rest of his life.
"Metal claw, Charmander! Try to hit his head," ordered John, hoping that Charmander's newest and so far very helpful move would do more damage. However, luck was not with him, for Squirtle would have completely ignored every single metal claw, if Charmander hadn't been his only opponent. Squirtle, light as he was, started to enter a series of hard-to-imitate evasive techniques, which quickly shrugged off Charmander. As John remembered that water-types have resistance to steel-type moves, Charmander became too tired to dodge one of Squirtle's tackles. As the battle raged on, John could see that Jack was still after the fossil, so John quickly grabbed it and put it in his bag. Looking up, John realized that the battle had revealed another small cave, one with a hole in the ground. As the two pokémon fought, Jack saw the hole as well.
"Finish it! Water gun!" commanded Jack. Squirtle obliged, and a stream of water hit Charmander. Though he tried to fight it, he was pushed back towards the hole. John only had a second to decide what to do, and he ran as fast as he could towards the hole. As he approached the hole, Charmander finally had to give in and get knocked down the hole. However, John quickly jumped to try and save Charmander. Holding tight to his friend, John plummeted into the deep dark recesses of the earth.
Jack went over to the edge, and watched as the light from Charmander's tail slowly dimmed. Looking around, he realized that no one could ever find John or Charmander if the whole cavern was sealed up. Using Squirtle to start a small rockslide, the entrance to the cavern, which held the hole that John had disappeared into, was sealed tight.
As Jack walked away, he thought, "I killed him. I killed him and no one will ever find out. I can do anything, and as long as they don't catch me, it doesn't matter. Whatever I want, I can just take it. Whatever, wherever, whenever. The world belongs to me!"
Of course, this story isn't about Jack. This story is about John. And right now, he's at the bottom of a pit, in a small pool, wide enough to get out of easily, and deep enough to survive a long fall from. He was holding Charmander, whose tail was glowing dimly, but starting to recover. John was thankful that the two of them had survived, and didn't notice a pair of eyes in the water…
AN: Well, the plot change just happened. The next 42 chapters are going to be in a brand-new place, with a bunch of pokémon.