Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I also do not own the spare time I have to write this story. That's technically property of the projects I have to do. But haven't. So there.
Whatever-ish. Sorry if the last part sorta made it confusing, R'N'Rer… hope the PM's cleared it up. I've never been to Toronto; in fact, I've never been to America (North and South both) at all. Or Africa, for that matter; but either way, I hope you're having a good time. Tyrannosaurus Cerato; received your PM. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the character submission; VampireWizard. If the Smoke Gym is going to be a part of the Elem region, I thank you for your gym submission as well. I'll definitely try to use it; but the thing about Gym Leaders is they don't normally resign. How did Brock do it again? Well I'll try and see what I can do about it, anyhow. I've already planned the next two gyms out though, so Siomo might come in only a bit later on.
Whatever it is, I've spent long enough on my notes already. Thanks for everyone's reviews to date, and hope you'll keep on reading my future chapters of Pokémon Go!
P.S. if you want to give me a break from writing everyday though, just stop reviewing. If no one reviews, I won't be obliged to write. Of course that's the lazy me speaking. Keep those reviews coming; I love this job! Pokémon Go! chapter 21, here!
The Pokémon Centre wasn't as busy now; most of the trainers who came to participate didn't bother going the whole day. Much of the human traffic present in the City were hanging around the shopping districts, anyway.
Dave received his Pokéballs from Nurse Joy gratefully, immediately letting Espeon out of her prison. He walked over to RJ, who sat on the leather couch, drumming a tattoo on his own Pokéball.
"That… was a close fight. Nice work, partner."
RJ looked up at him, smiling slightly.
"You too; the attack you pulled off at the end really was quite extraordinary. You even had me wondering there a second."
Dave sat down beside him, grinning. The grin faded somewhat when he saw the two men who had been their opponents retrieving their Pokéballs from the counter as well.
"Don't look now…" he murmured to RJ.
The boy nodded; he ducked his head, hoping the two of them wouldn't notice his spiky black hair. It wasn't that the two of them were frightened of them… but there was just something about their all-black ensemble, their excessive eye-shadow; which seemed a little too unnatural.
"They look evil…" RJ murmured.
Dave watched them silently. "Yeah, but also really cool."
The two trainers silently walked out of the centre, Dave and RJ heaving twin sighs of relief as the sliding doors hissed closed behind them. Then they looked around the centre, unsure of what next to do.
"What do we do now, then…?" Dave wondered.
RJ shrugged. By late afternoon, the beginners would almost all be gone; only the stronger trainers would still be battling.
"We could always go spectate…"
Dave shook his head.
"That's no fun at all. What else do you know about this city?"
RJ turned to him.
"We've still got a few hours… we could visit Lake Baria if you haven't already gone…"
Dave broke into a grin.
"Now that, I call a plan."
Checking his Pokémon one more time, RJ stood up.
"It's decided, then."
Dave nodded, rising with him… and rising… and rising…
"Holy… Espeon! Put me down!"
The red ruby on her head flashed once as Dave fell to the ground.
"Yep… you're definitely alright again…"
Ash sighed, feeling more than a little miserable. He was stuck with two vegan girls and an overly-protective Manectric, in an unknown city without a meal. It was lucky Ditto wasn't here, he reflected.
Or I'd probably be driven insane already.
The sun beat down mercilessly on their heads as they stepped out from beneath the shelter of the taller buildings. There were far fewer people here; Ash looked around, wondering if he'd made a wrong turn.
Michelle stopped beside him.
"What…?"
Ash looked between the two of them; Erynn and Michelle had been talking about something or other all the while he'd been walking ahead.
"Where are we going, exactly…?"
The two girls exchanged glances. Erynn shrugged.
"We've just been walking randomly all this while, I guess…"
Ash stepped back into the shadow of the building with them. Looking up, he noticed the logo printed across its black-glass exterior.
Immaterion Corporations
"Hey… want to head on inside?"
The two of them looked at him as though he was crazy. Not that he wasn't.
"And why would you want to do that? They'd probably do some human testing on you and have you turned into some sort of mutant PokéMorph."
Michelle, of course. Erynn, on the other hand, looked thoughtful.
"What's a PokéMorph…?"
Michelle shrugged.
"Don't know. Just thought of it. Anyways, we're not going in."
Ash sighed; he hadn't really meant it anyway.
"Let's head back to the Pokémon Centre then… which way is it?"
Erynn and Ash looked around, a tad lost. Michelle tilted her head to a side, smiling amusedly.
"In case you're lost, it's in that direction," she pointed, "and… my house is in that direction."
Ash and Erynn stared; they hadn't thought of it before but…
"You live here?"
Michelle shook her head in wonder at how easily they'd come to the conclusion that…
"You thought I'd come from Mars in a spaceship to stop the apocalypse from happening didn't you?" she deadpanned in a voice that sounded entirely serious.
Erynn stared blankly. Ash nodded. Michelle blanched.
A/N: Hey that sounds like the name of some singer… or something.
"No. This," she said, holding an arm out to the glass-and-marble architecture around them, "is my hometown."
Ash looked slightly disappointed; Erynn slapped him roundly across the head.
"Wha… what happened?" he said, snapping out of it.
"Ash… where's Michelle from again?" Erynn said, a trifle testily.
"She just said she was from Fluoride… didn't you hear her?"
Erynn smiled.
"Fine; lead the way, Michelle."
The redhead looked between the two of them, obviously confused, and then nodded.
"Just don't blame me if we end up lost, starving and dying…"
"Don't worry…"
"We won't."
RJ jumped up the ledge, looking back at Dave.
"You should get out more."
Dave huffed, climbing up the ledge with a tad more difficulty.
"How much further…?"
RJ grinned.
"We're there."
The lake spread as far as the eye could see; looking towards the horizon, Dave could just see the silhouette of Fluoride's skyscrapers in the light of the setting sun. Scanning the water, Dave noticed blue, round orbs floated along the surface of the lake. RJ followed his gaze and nodded across to him.
"Marill and Azurill are pretty common in these waters, it appears…"
Dave readied a Pokéball in his hand.
"Espeon; use Confusion on that one over there!"
Espeon nodded as the red ruby on her head glinted; an Azurill popped out of the water, squealing. In delight.
Espeon sweatdropped as she set the little creature on the ground. RJ looked from the bouncing Azurill to Dave.
"You going to catch that…?"
Dave nodded.
"I'll just get Rattata to weaken it…"
He released the other Pokémon from his Pokéball.
Rattata materialized from the red immateria that issued from the ball.
"Rattata; attack with Quick Attack!"
Rattata rushed toward the Azurill, knocking it down with a glancing blow. Azurill fell over and began to cry. Dave and RJ looked at each other.
"You can catch it now, I guess…"
Dave nodded, hesitantly throwing the Pokéball at the Pokémon; because of that, it stopped a few feet before it. RJ looked from ball to trainer, askance.
Azurill, on the other hand, stopped crying and stepped forward, its curiosity aroused. In another second there was a flash of red, and Azurill was captured.
"That wasn't exactly the most inspiring Pokémon battle I've seen…"
Dave shrugged.
"You should've seen Ash, then… Either way, it's mine now…"
He tossed the Pokéball in the air and caught it. RJ shook his head in wonder.
"At any rate… there're better Pokémon to be caught here… let's look around a bit."
Ash retrieved the Pokémon from his room, checking each one for any sign of injury.
"Contrary to popular belief," he intoned, looking at Michelle, "they're entirely unharmed."
Michelle shrugged.
"What can I say? You were lucky."
Ash shrugged, clipping Hoppip's Pokéball to his belt. Ditto yawned and awoke, surprised to see another new arrival.
"This is happening far too often…"
It shook its head in wonder, getting to its feet. The Manectric was plainly hostile; Ditto waddled backwards, tripping on itself.
Ash sighed.
"Ditto, meet Michelle and her Manectric, Leon. Michelle, this is Ditto."
The girl watched Ditto; clearly amused.
"You mean… you used this single Pokémon to defeat the Rubidium Gym leader…?"
Ash nodded defensively.
"Ditto's a good Pokémon…!"
Michelle smiled and shrugged.
"I don't doubt it. What would you say, though… if I were to challenge you…?"
He looked uncertain, watching Leon growl at Ditto, forcing it into potato-mode.
Michelle stared blankly a moment, then laughed.
"Fine… I won't use Leon… that'll probably reduce the chance of Ditto becoming a cripple and having to be sent back here in tiny blobs. Not that that's bad."
Ash's eyes widened, a tad alarmed.
"I…"
Erynn nudged him in the back. Painfully.
"Fine… I'll play."
Both girls smiled. Ditto sighed and shook its head.
"He's asking for trouble… getting down to this…"
The two trainers stood opposite one another, Erynn watching to a side. The battle was situated on the outskirts of the city, in the outer ring that was the park.
Ditto stood, facing Michelle's Houndour.
"Ditto; we ready to go?"
Ditto turned and nodded, still a tad unsure.
"Becoming a cripple…? I sure hope he knows what he's doing…"
"You ready…? Houndour! Use Smog!"
Caught off-guard, Ditto didn't have any chance. Choking, it stumbled out of the smoke cloud.
"Ditto; Supersonic!"
Ditto nodded, transforming through the fog. Houndour barely had time to dodge as Zubat flew into him. Ash nodded; Zubat wasn't affected by the poison or the smoke.
"Houndour! Fire an Ember attack at Zubat!"
"Ditto; counter it with a Bubblebeam attack!"
The two attacks collided, creating a large amount of steam.
As the smoke cleared, the two Pokémon reappeared; neither showed any sign of being damaged. Azumarill's form faded as Ditto transformed back into its original shape.
"Dittos can do… that?"
Ash grinned and nodded.
"Now… take the attack home with a Triple Kick!"
Ditto jumped into the air, transforming into Hitmontop just inches from Houndour's face. The first kick connected, the second…
"Faint Attack!"
The third kick swung through empty space as Houndour materialized behind Ditto.
"Watch out…!"
Too late, Ditto turned to be slammed into a tree by the attack.
"Ugh…"
Michelle smiled from across the field.
"Nice attack…"
"Likewise…"
A/N: I've got to go off to a meeting for a project, so I'm afraid I'll have to end it here; and yes I realized the correct spelling of Manectric was… that… so I'll be changing them in a while… but for now I've got to go so… hope you enjoyed reading this and please review!