And so the story continues! Dialogue from flashbacks will be in italics. Big thanks to Generic Person the Fifth for Pandora's backstory! Enjoy :)
The group was walking over a large hill when they reached the top they looked down and finally saw their destination: Cerulean City!
"There it is!" Diego exclaimed he dashed towards the city as fast as he could, the others ran after him.
"Slooooow doooooown!" Jack yelled, trying to calm his friend down, to no avail. Diego finally stopped when he bumped into a familiar face.
"Pandora? Hey! Sorry about bumping into you, are you ok?" Diego asked, Pandora looked up and saw Diego, she blushed a bit ash she saw him, he helped her up. Soon the others quickly arrived, they were pleased to see Pandora as well
"Hey Pandora! How have you been!" Julia asked, hugging her friend, Pandora was fidgeting with her Rubik's cube
"I - I've been ok..." She squeaked
"Well, we're here looking for the Cerulean City gym! I know it's here somewhere!" Diego said excitedly
"I'm actually looking for the Contest Hall!" Yuki admitted, chuckling a bit
"U-Um... The gym is 6 blocks East... and the contest hall is 4 blocks South from here..." Pandora said quietly, the others managed to hear her and they headed South, except for Pandora who still stood at the corner where Diego bumped into her. Diego noticed she wasn't moving, she just stood there fidgeting with her Rubik's cube while blushing a bit.
"Why don't you go with us. It'll be fun!" Diego said, taking Pandora's hand and heading off to the Contest Hall
When they all arrived at the Contest Hall, Yuki entered eagerly, a huge grin on her face. The best part was that there was no line at the counter! Yuki quickly went up to the counter and spoke with the receptionist
"Hello I'd like to sign up for the Pokemon Contest please!" Yuki stated
"Well you're very early! The contest isn't until tomorrow!" The receptionist said "But it's good that you're applying so early!"
Yuki was actually one of the first 5 people to enter, the receptionist handed her a blue card
"This is your Contest Pass, you can use it to sign in at other Pokemon Contests much quicker!" She said
"Thank you so much!" Yuki thanked, she and the others left, Yuki would have one more day to prepare for her Pokemon Contest! So they all headed for the Cerulean Gym to potentially have a gym battle
Diego found the gym and wasted no time in looking for the leader. The I side of the Cerulean Gym was an Olympic sized pool! A woman swam out of the pool.
"Well! Looks like I have some challengers, my name is Misty!" She said, she had long Auburn hair and she wore a light blue swim suit, she had green eyes.
"Yeah! I'm ready to earn my second badge!" Diego announced, Misty had a look of disappointment when Diego mentioned he only had one badge
"I'm sorry, but in order for you to battle me you need 2 badges!" She said, Diego looked defeated
"So if we need 2 badges to face you, then who is the 2nd Gym Leader?" Renée asked
"The Gym Leader lineup has changed over the years, I'm the 3rd gym leader, you should be heading to Celadon City to battle Erika!" Misty explained, Diego's confident look came back
"Celadon City is to the Southwest of here isn't? We should be there in a few days!" Jack said
"And once I have 2 badges then we can battle right?" Diego asked, Misty nodded her head and gave Diego a confident smile, the group left Cerulean Gym, knowing where their next destination was. But since the Contest wasn't until tomorrow and 2 badges were required to battle Misty, the group decided to split up and just explore Cerulean City
"So we're all going to meet up at the Pokemon Center at sundown then?" Renée asked
"Yup! Me and Diego are heading up to Routes 24 and 25 for some extra training, what are you guys gonna do?" Jack stated
"I need to work on a new performance for the Contest!" Yuki said
The twins looked at each other confidently, they reached for their pokeballs, the others knew what was going to happen. Yuki turned to Pandora...
"What about you Pandora?" Yuki asked
"Oh... um... maybe I'll just... look around Cerulean City." Pandora said, and with that, they group went their separate ways for the rest of the day
Jack and Diego were just about to head to Route 24 when they saw a sign, it said
'The Nugget Challenge!
Defeat a gauntlet of trainers and earn 5 Nuggets!
(5 Nuggets are earned for each participating trainer)'
"Woah! 5 Nuggets!? How much money is that worth?" Diego asked excitedly
"Well 1 Nugget is worth ¥5000, so 5 Nuggets would be ¥25000! Plus, if we put our money together we'll have a total of ¥50000! We'll be set for the rest of our journey!" Jack answered, the two boys' eyes lit up with glee
Julia and Renée went over to an empty park that coincidentally had a battlefield ready for trainers, the twins took their positions and sent out their pokemon, Julia sent out Jigglypuff and Renée sent out Mareep
"You can make the first move sis!" Julia said
"You'll regret that!" Renée teased "Mareep, use Charge Beam!" Mareep gathered electricity and shot it at Jigglypuff, the latter quickly dodged it
"Not bad!" Renée commented
"Jigglypuff! Use Double slap!" Julia ordered, Jigglypuff promptly slapped Mareep repeatedly, unknowingly activating Mareep's 'Static' Ability
"This is gonna be over fast! Mareep use Thunder Shock!" Mareep shot a small jolt of electricity at Jigglypuff
"We're not giving up that easily!" Julia remarked, the two battles furiously
Yuki was in a field just outside of Cerulean City with Ember (her Vulpix) practicing techniques and attack combinations for their upcoming contest
"Ok Ember, use Will-o-Wisp!" Yuki commanded, Ember breathed out a blue and white ring of fire towards the sky, the ring retracted or expanded based on the way Ember moved her paws.
"Ok Ember, let's finish it! Use Ember!" Yuki commanded, Ember shout out a small flame that went into the middle of the fire ring which retracted into the Ember, making a beautiful explosion of sparks. (Please don't get confused, the nickname of the Pokemon is the same as the name of the Attack)
"Ok, that was good! But we can do better!" Yuki stated, she and her Vulpix continued practicing
Pandora was walking the streets of Cerulean City alone, her Seedot and her recently caught Elgyem were with her. They were silent until a masked man walked up to her.
"Excuse me, are you Pandora?" The man asked, Pandora silently nodded her head in approval
"Great! I'm a member of Team Dark Star, we've been keeping an eye on you, and we want you to join!" He said, Pandora was understandably reluctant to join
"I understand if you're unsure. But if you join you can show the world what a great, powerful trainer you truly are! Think about it!" The masked man said, Pandora started to think deeply, she had flashbacks of her life before getting her pokemon...
Years ago, Pandora's parents parents had just given Pandora her signature Rubik's cube. They expected her to solve it in a few hours. Hours had passed and Pandora still couldn't solve the puzzle
'I... I can't do it' Pandora said.
'Of course you can't! Why did Sydney ever give you that thing!? Go to your room and DO NOT come out until you have it solved!' Her mom retorted, she spoke with her husband as Pandora went to her room...
'What are we going to do with that freak?'
'I don't even know... why couldn't my brother just keep her!?' Her father said
For the next few hours, Pandora fiddled with the Rubik's cube (which was a gift from her uncle, Sydney). She eventually mastered it and was able to solve it in seconds. Her parents however were still not impressed, years later, Sydney visited Pandora's parents, he had a flyer featuring the Vermilion City Pokemon Academy
'It'll be a good experience for her! I grunted it!' Sydney said to Pandora's parents, they seemed very eager to get Pandora out of their house, the agreed without hesitation. A few days later Sydney eyes dropped Pandora off at the Academy, they were at the Principal's Office, he seemed very eager to have the niece of an Elite Four member at his academy. Sydney was about to say goodbye to Pandora
'I'll visit you often ok. Maybe someday you'll challenge me in Hoenn! Have fun ok!' Sydney says to her, the two hugged and Sydney left. During Pandora's first day she didn't really make any friends with the others, during Lunch she struggled to find a place to sit, while she was searching, she accidentally dropped her lunch on Styles Kaizu! Everyone saw this and grew silent, Styles stood up and gave her a nasty glare, Diego and Jack went up to break up the potential fight
'Woah Styles, calm down!' Diego said, trying to calm Styles down
'Yeah! It was just an accident!' Jack added, Styles grunted and went off to change his clothes, Diego went to help Pandora
'Hey, are you ok?' Diego asked helping Pandora up, she blushed at him
Pandora was having a nervous breakdown, the masked man was confused and unsettled, though it was hard to tell behind his mask
"Um... are you ok?" He asked, this managed to break Pandora out of her daze, she looked up at him, she was still shaken up
"Think about it, you can show everyone how strong you can be!" He added, Pandora thought that if she was strong, she could prove to her parents how powerful she is. She can impress her uncle... and impress Diego too...
She shook the man's hand
"Great! Here's what you'll need." He handed her the same box that Ryan and Simon were given, she looked at it expectantly...
Meanwhile, Jack and Diego were having a great time taking the Nugget Challenge, they were currently engaged in a Double Battle with two boys
"Poochyena, use Play Rough on Geodude!" Jack ordered, his Poochyena attacked one of the boys' Geodude
"Rattata! Use Pursuit on Pichu!" One of the boys said, his Rattata began to glow a dark purple and began to charge at Pichu, knocking it back
"Oh no! C'mon Pichu you can do it! I know you can!" Diego said, Pichu began to glow white, it was evolving into Pikachu!
"Awesome! Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!" Diego ordered, Pichu struck Rattata with a bolt of electricity, knocking it out
"Poochyena, finish it with Bite!" Jack commanded, Poochyena bit the Geodude, knocking it out Poochyena coughed a bit, clearly disgusted with the fact that he bit a Geodude
"Alright, you beat us! That leaves only 4 trainers left!" One of the boys said
"But I doubt you'll make it that far!" The other taunted, he laughed. Jack and Diego went on, they were determined to go for the gold... literally
Meanwhile, Julia and Renée were still battling, their battle attracted a reasonably large crowd, the twins turned their battle into a double battle
"Jigglypuff, use Pound and Shell use Ice Ball!" Julia ordered, Shell charged up an Ice Ball while Jigglypuff charged at Renée's Growling
"Oh no you don't! Growlithe use Ember to melt that Ice Ball! Mareep use Charge Beam on Jigglypuff!" Renée commanded, Growlithe shot out a fireball that melted the Ice Ball, Mareep shot out another Charge Beam but Jigglypuff kept on charging and hit Mareep with its arm, sending Mareep back, everyone's cheering changed to awe when they all saw Mareep begin to evolve into Flaaffy! Renée excitedly scanned it with her pokedex
'Flaaffy: The Wool pokemon; If it's wool gets charged with electricity, its tail lights up. It fire hair that zaps on impact.'
"Super cool! Flaaffy use Shock Wave!" Renée called out, Flaaffy then drew in electricity and sent it back out in a wave that shocked Spheal, knocking it out
"Jigglypuff use Sing quick!" Julia said, Jigglypuff began to sing but was interrupted by...
"Growlithe use Reversal!"
Growlithe charged into Jigglypuff, taking it out as well, Julia sighed, everyone cheered for Renée's victory
"Ok fine you win... for now!" Julia pouted
Hours later, Diego and Jack were on the last trainer of the Nugget Challenge, Jack's Ivysaur and Poochyena had both been taken down as well as Diego's Charmeleon and Pikachu, leaving only Spearow and Zubat respectively. They were facing off against 2 Ace Trainers, one boy and one girl, the boys managed to push them to their last pokemon as well, theirs were a Scythe and a Pinsir.
"You 2 are really impressive to have made it this far!" The boy said
"But you're challenge ends here! Scyther, use Quick Attack on Spearow!" The girl said, Scythe charged towards Spearow
"Pinsir, use Vice grip on Zubat!" The guy ordered
"We're not giving up! Zubat use Wing Attack on Pinsir!" Diego announced, Zubat charged towards Pinsir with its wings outstretched, it left behind a golden trail behind it
"We've come too far to just give up here!" Jack added, he waited for Scyther to get closer to cause maximum damage
"Now Spearow, use Aerial Ace!" Jack finally ordered, Spearow charged at Scyther, almost matching its speed! However Scyther was struck with the attack. It, along with Pinsir, we're knocked out
"Well... I can take a loss!" The boy said, he handed the boys a bag with their prize inside
"There's a path up ahead that'll make it faster for you two to get back to Cerulean City! You guys have natural talent, I think you guys will go far!" The girl commented
The boys were about to head on the path the Ace Trainers pointed out, but they were stopped at a small cottage, a man stepped out of the cottage, he wore a blue shirt and khaki pants, he looked professional yet casual.
"Hey guys! The name's Bill, I saw you guys battle and you have the same spark in your eyes as the 3 trainers I met all those years ago!" He said, the two looked confused but they took the compliment anyway
"Sorry, I have a tendency to babble on about things, I created the PC Storage system!" Bill said, the boys immediately caught on to who he was
"Oh yeah! We learned about you at the Academy!" Jack noted "Sorry but we should be heading back to town, it's getting late."
"No worries! If you ever find yourself in Goldenrod City in the Johto region, come visit!" Bill said, the boys waved goodbye as they headed back to Cerulean City
It was night time and everyone was in the Pokemon Center talking about their day, except for Pandora who was in her room. Diego and Jack were showing the group their prizeprize
"So you guys won all thus!?" Julia asked, her eyes sparkled as she looked at the money
"Yup, we won all ¥50000! You girls should try the Challenge as well!" Jack said, Renée looked gobsmacked at the idea of the money they could have.
"We'll go tomorrow! Straight after Yuki contest!" Renée said
"Yeah!" Julia and Yuki said together
As they were talking Pandora was looking at the box the man gave her earlier, she grew excited at the thought of showing everyone how strong she was, she thought of proving her parents wrong. Pandora wasted no time in opening the box, the first thing she saw... was the Team Dark Star mask...
And that's the end of the chapter, not much I can say really, hope you enjoyed!
