Chapter 11
Fuchsia City Pokémon Center
29 Ananeosis, 20 Zenoheld / March 30, 20—
"Rhyhorn, use Rock Tomb to seal the exit!" Volt commanded.
Nurse Joy was forced to stop when she saw the ring of rocks emerge in front of the stairs.
"What are you doing?" Tracey said in shock.
"I can't have you sending me to some institution!" Volt exclaimed.
"No one is saying that you're crazy, Mr. Luster. Just that perhaps you may have suffered amnesia from the plane crash," Tracey said placatingly.
"I'm perfectly fine, Tracey," Volt said, arms raised. "I told you before that Pokémon battling was never my strong suit."
"OK, then. If indeed your memory is intact, then can you tell me where in Johto your plane was headed?"
Drat, he thought. Well, all the cities here seem to be named after colors, so …
"Violet City," Volt guessed.
"There aren't any airports in Violet City," Tracey replied. He quickly pulled something out of a pocket and threw it towards the nurse. "Nurse Joy, catch!"
"Rhyhorn, use Rock Tomb on Nurse Joy!" Volt commanded.
At once, a Rock Tomb trapped Nurse Joy. The device clattered helplessly against the rock and fell to the ground. Tracey bent down to pick up the device, but pulled his arm back as a yellow energy sword sliced down to rest in front of the device.
Tracey looked up the sword and saw that it had emerged from some type of bracelet that was around Volt's left arm. Volt was now standing to Tracey's right, slightly crouched so that the energy sword stayed between Tracey and the device. Volt's face had an expression of pure panic.
"What's going on?" Tracey demanded.
"I told you before, it's imperative that I not be taken to some hospital!" Volt said. "Now tell me, is that some kind of communications device?"
"Yes. It's a Pokégear," Tracey said hesitantly.
Volt moved around slowly, re-positioning himself to stand behind Tracey. The sword was now dangerously close to Tracey's neck. "Is it intact?"
Tracey picked up the device, which was roughly rectangular and on had one side of it what Volt assumed to be a cylindrical hinge of some sort. An orange button stuck out from one end of the cylinder. Volt didn't see any cracks in the blue finish or the white Poke Ball-like design on the sides.
"Well, the outside's fine, but I need to see if the hinge mechanism and the screen are OK," Tracey said.
"Fine. But if you activate it…" Volt said, inching the sword closer to Tracey's neck.
Tracey quickly pushed the orange button, which made the Pokégear open lengthwise; the cylinder was not a hinge as Volt had thought. Similarly to the Pokédex, the device had two screens. Both were black, but neither showed any trace of damage.
"It's not broken," Tracey said.
"Good. Rhyhorn, let Nurse Joy go," Volt commanded.
The rocks surrounding Nurse Joy sank slowly into the ground. Nurse Joy was relieved to get out of the Rock Tomb, but her eyes widened in shock as she saw the scene before her: Volt with a sword next to Tracey's neck.
"Don't make any sudden moves," Volt warned. "I don't want to hurt Tracey."
"What do you want?" said Nurse Joy.
"Tracey, I'll deactivate this sword, but promise me that you'll use your … Pokégear to call Kaiser."
"Why Kaiser?" Tracey asked.
"Don't you want an explanation? Everyone is high-strung right now, and you think that I have some type of brain damage. So we need someone other than me to explain. Call Kaiser," Volt replied.
"But I don't know how to call Kaiser," Tracey said.
"Do you, Nurse Joy?" Volt said.
"Yes," the nurse replied hesitantly.
"If I let Tracey give you the Pokégear, will you call Kaiser?" Volt said.
"If that's what it takes," said Nurse Joy.
Volt entered the sword's deactivation code into his Gauntlet. "Deal," he said.
Tracey gingerly rubbed his neck near where the where the sword had been and handed the Pokégear to Nurse Joy.
"I'm sure you mean well, but remember; you're only calling Kaiser." Volt moved to stand behind Nurse Joy.
Nurse Joy gulped, then activated the Pokégear. Volt noticed that the bottom screen had a set of buttons with Earthling numerals on them. Nurse Joy inputted a sequence of numbers into the bottom screen, and before long, the top screen showed the Kaiser's face.
At first, the old man seemed perplexed, but as he noticed Nurse Joy, and Volt standing behind her, his expression brightened considerably.
"Howdy, Nurse Joy!" Kaiser said. "An' it looks like Volt managed ta find his way to ya OK. But whaddya doin' callin' me from someone else's Pokégear?"
"Hi, Kaiser," Nurse Joy replied in a shaky voice. "Funny that you'd bring Volt up; he's actually the reason why I'm calling you from a Pokégear. I was planning on calling a hospital, but he … strongly insisted I call no one else but you."
Kaiser slapped his forehead. "What did ya do now, ya musclehead?"
"I didn't do anything!" Volt insisted. "I simply had a Pokémon brawl—uh, battle—with Prof. Oak's assistant, and afterwards I asked him about this move "Foresight". For whatever reason, he decided that that was reason enough to think that I had brain damage!"
"That's not the problem at all!" Tracey called out, rushing towards the Pokégear. He then explained the sequence of events leading up to the call.
After Tracey's explanation, Kaiser laughed. "Well, if there were any holes in the cover story, it's good that they came out now!" After another hearty laugh, Kaiser continued, "Alright, here's the truth. That man over there, he ain't human."
"Hey, that's not a nice thing to say, even if he threatened to kill me," Tracey objected.
"I ain't tryin' ta insult him; that's the truth!" Kaiser replied. "He's some kinda alien. He said that he was from planet Besta or somethin'."
"'Vestal'," Volt replied.
"Either way, I know that yer medical doohickeys're meant fer Pokémon, Nurse Joy, but Imma guess that ya got somethin' in there that'll show ya that he ain't lyin'," Kaiser said.
"Well, that depends. Would you please have your Rhyhorn take down that Rock Tomb blocking the stairs?" Nurse Joy asked.
In a back room of the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy was examining Volt with an ultrasound machine.
"There's no other word for it but 'fascinating'!" Nurse Joy exclaimed, "Sure, there are some structures that are analogous to those in humans—heart, lungs, stomach—but there are others here that aren't human or Pokémon in nature!"
"I see why you were hesitant to get help," Tracey said, Pokégear in hand. "If you tried to tell someone that you were an alien…."
"Exactly why I didn't want to be hospitalized!" Volt said.
"But couldn't you have done something a bit less … drastic?" Nurse Joy explained.
"Enough dwellin' on that; at least everythin's squared away now, right?" Kaiser said. "Now then, do y'all need anythin' more from me? Lunch hour's almost over, an' I need ta get back ta my post before the rush begins!"
"We've got it from here," Nurse Joy said.
"Good. Help him out an' get him on his way home if'n ya can. Arceus willin', I shouldn't be hearin' another word about him again unless it's him callin' ta say that he found a way back ta Vestal," Kaiser said.
"Will do. Bye, Kaiser," Nurse Joy said.
"See ya, Nurse Joy," Kaiser said, terminating the call.
"Now that we got that out of the way, could you please answer my question about 'Foresight', Tracey?" asked Volt.
"Oh, right! Sorry about that, Mr. Luster," Tracey said while Nurse Joy cleaned Volt up. "Foresight is a move that allows a Pokémon to see through illusions and obstacles. Its main use in battle is to allow Normal- and Fighting-type moves to hit Ghost-type Pokémon."
That must be why Cassidy tried to use Foresight on Boriates that day, Volt reasoned. She thought that it was some kind of illusion. Makes sense if she was unacquainted with Bakugan. Volt sighed. What does that mean for my chances of getting home?
"Am I going to attract this much attention by asking about Pokémon moves?" Volt asked.
"Not usually, no. The combination of things you didn't know about battling made me ask about your memory," Tracey explained.
"I apologize for what I did there," Volt said.
Tracey rubbed the back of his neck. "Apology accepted. You scared the daylights out of me, though."
"At least everything worked out in the end," Nurse Joy added.
"Oh, and one more thing," Tracey commented. "Weren't you also about to nickname your Charmander?"
That human must have a memory like a steel trap! Volt thought. "That's right! I almost forgot. I might as well run the names past you, to be safe," Volt said. After having the equipment and bed moved to a wall, Volt tossed both of his Poké Balls. "Rhyhorn, Charmander: rise!"
Turning to Charmander, he said, "Charmander, the way you brawled—uh, I mean 'battled'—back there, you remind me of a hero of old. He had a fiery spirit and was steadfast in battle. Tell me: how would you like to be called 'Apollonir'?"
"'Apollonir,'" Nurse Joy pondered. "That's not a very common name, but it doesn't say 'extraterrestrial' to me."
"Sounds like some Norse demigod to me," said Tracey.
"OK then. Charmander?" Volt asked.
"Char-man-der-char," Charmander said pensively, as if saying the name to itself. It then brought a claw to its chin.
After a second, Charmander nodded, a wide smile on its face. "Char!"
"OK then," said Volt. "And you, Rhyhorn, what do you think of the name 'Clayf'?"
Both Nurse Joy and Tracey nodded their affirmation, then looked towards Rhyhorn. The Pokémon did not take long to think before grunting its acceptance of the new name.
"That settles it. From now on, you, Charmander, shall be known as Pyrus Apollonir. And you, Rhyhorn, are Subterra Clayf.
"Apollonir, Clayf: return!"
A/N:Yes, I did just have Volt name his Pokémon after two of the Six Legendary Soldiers of Vestroia. I picture Volt as someone who admires strong battlers, even if they are his enemies. And given that Charmander's final evolution looks like a dragon anyway, I think that the name Apollonir fits especially well.