Chapter 18

Tunnel Vision

(-¤-)

I wasn't sure how to feel about yesterday. On one hand, I got my ass handed to me, and that feels like shit. On the other hand, I got to meet and even impress a pretty girl. But back in that first hand, my whole team got sweeped by an angry dinner plate. And again on the second hand I now have access to fire punch.

I'm honestly not sure if it was a win or not.

She had taught me how to use a TM as well, turns out you don't just press them to a pokemon forehead like the games say. You placed the disk onto the button of the pokeball while the pokemon was inside and it would spin and drain the color right out of it. And then boom, they had the basic knowledge of a new move. He would have to practice with it a bit for it to reach its full effectiveness but he could create fire in his paws now.

So yeah, now I have a fire type move. Cool.

And come to think of it, I never got her name, but then again she never got mine either. Which makes us even on that front. Oh well, she was just some random ass lady, not like she was a gym leader or something.

But win or lose, I still got my entire team shit wrecked, and that means one thing.

Pancakes.

It was an Alice Thorn tradition that every time I got the shit kicked out of me in a fight I would go to Ihop, once I was able to walk again that is, and get pancakes as a way to cheer myself up. It always worked wonders, you can't be bummed out with a mouthful of chocolate syrup, and flapjacks.

So I figured that since I got lots of money and we all have bruises, why not continue that beautiful tradition and let my little bastards hog out on some of the best breakfast food to ever be created.

And so all five of us were jammed in a booth in a local restaurant that was serving breakfast. Jack had claimed a spot next to me and was currently working on a small stack of sitrus and boysenberry covered crepes. Luke got one of the restaurants specialty giant pankcakes that was at least two inches thick, slathered in syrup and stuffed with butter, he was trying to swallow it whole. Mark was frantically shoveling his whipped cream and chocolate topped pancakes into his mouth as if it was about to runaway from him. And Karen had refused the pancakes I had ordered for her entirely, instead opting for chugging the bottle of maple syrup they had given us. She was half way done with it and showed no signs of stopping.

I'll have to pick up a small bottle of the stuff for the road, it might help motivate her to train a bit harder. Plus it was really cute seeing her so excited about something, her big'ol leaf ears were flapping around as she drank, it was adorable.

Overall my idea seemed to be a hit, everyone was pretty stoked about the food and went nuts when they realized it was full of sugar. Except Jack of course, but he was eating it with only a slight frown, thats his version of a smile, so I knew he liked it.

I was enjoying my own triple cocoa'splosion super chocolate surpise pancakes as I browsed through my pokedex's map function. I was trying to decide where to head too next, Celestic town was closer but we would have to pass through a tunnel system that ran under Mt Corenet, and that would be a two day walk underground. Not exactly something that got me stoked.

The other was to Plano town at the end of route 206, which was at least a week of ground surfing away. It was a much safer path, but it was incredibly long. And worse, there was only one pokemon center between here and there. Thats it, no towns, no stores, no nothing.

There used to be a populated town there but it had gotten over run with angry pokemon a few decades ago. Something about illegal mining practices or some environmental fuckery like that. Wild pokemon don't take kindly to having their homes wrecked in the name of human progress, and they usually had the fire power to back it up.

I think that was the route they would eventually build the bike road on. When they did that it would cut travel time down immensely and make it a straight shot instead of the curvy and twisty ass mess I was fucking looking at right now.

If I take the tunnel I might be able to make it to my current destination with at least five more days to spare. Thats almost a week of being able to settle down and do some real training. But again, I've never spent the night in a cave, and it wasn't exactly on my bucket list.

The other way was out in the open, just stupid fucking long. It wouldn't be the longest I've been out in the wilderness but it would hit second place in that regard. And god did roughing it in the woods for two weeks fucking suck. I ate nothing but roots and trainer bars that whole time.

You know what. I can deal with a little unease if it means I can have real food quicker. Those ration bars were so damned nasty, like chewing through compressed cardboard. Filling, nutritious, and literally nothing else.

After our meal I needed to go pawn off one of those dusk stones and fix my board. A wheel was bent and the the other was just plain jammed. It was fixable, I just needed some parts.

A bouncy hollow clatter drew my attention back to my team. In particular to Karen, who had just polished off that syrup and let the empty plastic bottle hit the table. Her eyes were a bit glassy, she was rolled onto her back and was letting out a low groan of discomfort.

"You could have stopped drinking that stuff at any fucking point you little narcissist." I pointed out before taking another bite of my own breakfast.

"Cott... neeeee" she groaned out in a way that undeniably translated to 'worth it.'

Glad I hadn't wanted any maple syrup.

(-¤-)

Alright, its official.

This tunnel sucks.

Why you ask? Well its super simple.

Its boring. Nothing has happened since I entered.

I had made pretty good time yesterday. Sold a dusk stone for 1500, the first guy I went to tried to rip me off with a measly 200, I just walked right out of there. I managed to find a junk yard and fixed up my board. Mostly. It fucking squeaks now, I dumped a whole can of spray oil into the damned axels and it still fucking squeaks. I hate it.

We made it to the pokemon center that sat just before the caves entrance by sundown and spent the night. It had brochures and maps of the tunnels next to the door, super useful. I made sure to call Nurse Joy and give her an update and to make sure she didn't have another major freak out. She knew I was disappearing for a few weeks to train this time so she didn't have a nervous break down while I was at Mt Shady.

I also made sure to not tell her about the stooges incident, no reason to freak her out and all.

She told me that Tuaros had gotten out again, guess Johnson didn't keep his promise. Fortunately he didn't go on his usual rampage, instead they stomped up and down the street where we battled. He got bummed out after awhile and just trudged back to his pasture. The town thinks hes looking for a rematch with me, which is kind of endearing, in a mortal enemy sorta way.

I did not call Rowan. I actually hadn't called him once, instead he wanted me to write out a report of my 'progress' and send him an email of it every two or so weeks. Which makes sense, hes a busy dude and the phones need to be open incase something important comes up. So I tried to word my recent loss in a way that at least sounded good. I had already sent him a report of my heroics in Jubilife. He hadn't emailed me back about that yet, or at all. Mother fucker better be reading these, I swear to god if he marked me as spam I was gonna break all his expensive shit.

What was I talking about? Oh right, the tunnel.

Its boring.

I had a map, food, plenty of light sources and spare batteries. And if that all failed I also had a golbat that could lead me out with echolocation, I also was going on foot due to the tunnels not being lit, so no danger of crashing. Nothing could possibly go wrong. And nothing had, which was weird.

I had expected a swarm of zubats or a cave in or hell maybe onix mating season would come early this year and the whole mountain would be overrun with the giant rock monsters. But no, I was having a quiet walk through a dark tunnel with nothing but my bunny on my shoulder and my thoughts to keep me company. Which I had shamelessly been avoiding for awhile now. Because whenever I have time to think, I always end up on the same subjects.

Home, and The Girl.

This body wasn't new, it had old scars from before my 'mualing'. Little ones, things one would get from a childhood of dumb decisions and the occasional stroke of bad luck. The scars from my surgeries were still white and fresh, the silvery sheen of the knitted flesh on my stomach was a reminder of that bastard in the sports car everytime I took off my shirt.

But there were others, several tiny ones on my hands that had been healed for years now, each with a story that I might never know. The one on my knee looked to be the worst one, and even then it was only about an inch long.

Whoever she was she had been a bit of a klutz, and a tough one at that, but it didn't seem she was a fighter. My knuckles were bare of any deformities or marks, they had never been split against someones jaw or smashed into a wall in anger.

Mine had, my old ones I mean. They had been bloodied over and over again in bars and back alleys. Drunk people liked to fight and I had never been an exception to that rule, hell I had embraced it whole heartedly. When Alice Thorn drank you best be ready for a brawl. The familiar sickly white knuckles I had grown to be proud of were gone now, replaced with those of a dead girl.

Had she died of natural causes, or had she actually gotten attacked by something. Why was she in the forest all alone and was anyone looking for her?

Did she die just to make room for me.

I could guess why my real body didn't get carried over to this place, the laws of physics were different here. I probably would have dropped dead as my old atoms and bodily systems were suddenly forced to obey new laws. Fuck for all I know I would have melted into fleshy goo. That and I was not the same kind of human anymore.

Pokemon had evolved here and become fighting machines, they were hyper durable, incredibly powerful, and had literal fucking superpowers. The humans of this world were not complete exceptions to any of these rules. Powers might not be common but there were people with psychic abilities, and seeing Citrine had told me that even children here can beef up to ridiculous levels without the worry of messing up ones own growth. Those strikes and punches he used on Moe had all the grace and power of an expert from my world, and he was still just a kid.

And during that whole thing I had realized that I was now so incredibly durable, everybody was. I got thrown by an explosion into a metal rack and just walked away from it with some bruising and a sore back. The shock wave by itself would have killed my old body, let alone the spine shattering impact with the shelf. And if that wasn't enough to convince me, my skin had proved too tough to pierce for a mightyenas fangs.

It was why Ash could take thunderbolt after thunderbolt, or Team Rocket could survive nearly daily explosions. People here are literally tough as nails, But they weren't invincible, it just took alot more than I was used to.

Tauros managed to break my arm, Jack used to occasionally draw blood when he would bite me. I beat a man to a bloody pulp with a crow bar and it took far longer than it should have for him to lose consciousness, which was both satisfying and impressive.

A hyper beam would kill me, a scyther could cut me to ribbons, and a machoke could break me like a tooth pick. A pokemon with the intent to kill me could do so with little issue. It would have been even easier to do in my old body

So I needed a new body to survive here, was this just 'available' or was it 'prepped'. Did something kill a little girl just to shove me over here. Did it kill me to?

Ah fuck, am I gonna have to actually kill one of the legends? Because if I find out that they hurt this kid for any fucking reason I will go full Kratos and tear out their divine throats.

I don't care if they're some higher beings or gods or what-the-fuck-ever, killing kids is unforgivable.

And what about home? If they sent her mind over there then she surely would have died, people can make miraculous recoveries sometimes but I remember feeling my own neck snap. (And wasn't that a lovely memory.) My body was probably dead before the car had even fully stopped. No matter how I look at it there was no way she would have survived

My friends have all probably greaved and began to move on by now, completely unaware that I was still kicking, just in an impossible place. No more watching dumb cartoons with Barry, no more playing indie games with Frank or Jeff, no more of my old friends. No more of my old life.

No more Alice.

God, this is why I hate the quiet, I always get fucking all sad and shit! If it's not about home or the dead girl then it was about Mom and my terrible childhood. Stupid fucking cave with its stupid fucking peace.

Actually come to think of it, I didn't know anything about Jacks life before I caught him. He had Sweet Kiss in his arsenal which his line could only get from crossbreeding, so he wasn't a pure bred buneary. But that wasn't uncommon to find in the wild with certain species.

"Hey Jack."

He raised his head up from sleep, how he was able to nap up there with the constant movement was beyond me. With a snort he gave me an annoyed glare for disturbing his nap.

"What was your life like before we met?"

(-¤-)

Before they had met?

It had been missing something, and before he met her he would never have been able to say what. He wasn't respected or liked amongst the other pokemon, his constant anger and frustration had been a deterrent to everyone around him. It wasn't something he could help or stop, it had always been there.

He hated that place, it was all he had ever known and he hated it. No one cared for him, and the only one who acted like they did only did so they could one day use him. So he had left, gone far into the forest and even evaded the liar as he was tracked down. He managed to escape and for a time had attempted to train himself.

He had assumed she was the same, just another human wanting something from him, but she had promised power in return. Something the other had been reluctant to give him. Something that he could take and use without her when he got frustrated with her as well, at least that was the plan.

Then Tauros had attacked.

And his power and anger had failed him yet again, he hadn't been anything to the beast, just something to cast to the side. But then he had woken up in her arm, the other broken and limp.

And he saw how much she cared.

It wasn't empty affection, or a lie just so she could use him. She actually cared.

In that moment he had understood what was missing, what she was to him and what he had found in her. He had pushed himself from her arm ready to fight and to listen, for her. For the only thing to ever care about him, despite his anger, frustration and spitefulness. He had done everything to push her away, and in return he had gotten tears and a smile as he proved to still be with her.

He answered her, knowing that she wouldn't understand him but respecting her enough to say it anyway.

What was life like before Alice?

"Lonely"

(-¤-)

Alice Thorn

May 3


Team

Jack

Buneary

Moves: Pound, Foresight, Frustration, Sweetkiss, Defense Curl, Baby Doll Eyes, Quick Attack, Jumpkick, Shadow Ball, Low Kick, Swagger, Protect, Fire Punch

Ability Limber

Luke

Golbat

Moves: Absorb, Super sonic, Astonish, Bite, Whirlwind, Wing attack, Confuse ray, Air Cutter, Swift, Protect

Ability Inner focus

Karen

Cottonee

Moves: Abosrb, Fairy Wind, Growth, Leech Seed, Stun Spore, Mega Drain, Poison Powder, Protect, Swift, Razor Leaf, Cotton Spore,

Ability Infiltrator

Mark

Scraggy

Moves: Leer, Headbutt, Sand Attack, Feint Attack, Swagger, Low Kick, Dragon Dance, Protect, Endure, Facade, Pay Back,

Ability Moxie


4750¥


In Box

N/A


A quick peek at Jacks backstory. I would love to hear theories about him if you have any.

As always, be sure to leave a review!