Journey to Destiny: The Story of a Pokemon Trainer

by Joseph Ehlle

An epic Pokemon fanfiction, following the 5 year journey of prodigy Pokemon trainer Joseph Ehlle from novice trainer to gym leader, with his Vulpix, Flamefox. 90 chapters, originally written from June 2001 through December 2002.

82. Chapter 81: Machines of the Gods Part 1

Chapter 81 - The Machines of the Gods

Part One – Legend Fortells…

"One dark day, the sun goddess will be subdued by the machines of darkness, and her only hope lies in the water god, who will come to her rescue with the aid of the machines of the gods. All of this will be transpired by the arrival of a Pokemon trainer who walks with foxes of fire. This chosen one and his Pokemon will join with the water god and the machines of the gods to battle a mechanical army of darkness for the sake of rescuing the sun goddess and restoring her freedom." - an ancient legend from the people of the sun goddess

"Are you sure it's him?" Giovanni asked his operative. "I'm positive. I was there when Ho-oh arrived. Somehow, he summoned her. She arrived, and in turn, summoned Suicune, who led the 4 remaining renegade MechanPokemon to safety, somewhere." Giovanni stroked his Persian. "It's not them that I'm concerned about – I don't expect that we'll ever see them again. Besides, it was a mistake to give them artificial intelligence without further testing. The NIDOs will now be my key to domination. Why waste funding trying to create realistic, artificially intelligent mechanical Pokemon, when I can create an army of unstoppable, obedient mechanical Pokemon who will do my bidding without question?" One of the newly completed NIDOs walked up to him. It resembled a Nidoking in form, but with metallic gray outer casings. It's sharp, silver teeth and claws reflected the ceiling lights, and it's eyes glowed bright red. The floor seemed to shake as each foot stepped forward, and it's tail swung back and forth behind it. "Good. Yes, you will be my key to victory" Giovanni said to the mechanical giant, stroking it's head as it grinned evily. Then he said to his operative, "This trainer has been a nuisance. He and those rogue mechanical Pokemon destroyed my entire first batch of NIDOs, and now, he embarrassingly defeated me in a gym battle. I have half a mind to take him on personally, but it's not worth the exposure. However, the Pokemon that he can summon is. If only there were a way we could trick him into summoning her so we can capture her." The operative replied, "I heard him say that the only way he can summon her is in a desperate, life or death situation." Giovanni grinned and said, "Then we will create a desperate situation. Do we know where he is right now?" The operative said, "He and his female traveling companion were seen heading for Vermillion Harbor. Apparently, they're taking a cruise to Phoenix Island. What do you want us to do?" Giovanni said, "This is perfect. Have our agents keep an eye on them. When the time is right, I'll give them instructions." The operative replied, "Very well. I'll get right on it." As soon as he left, Team Rocket's head scientist entered Giovanni's office and said, "I thought you would like to see this. Meet the leader of the NIDO army – MechanArcanine Advanced Prototype Unit 59-002." At that, the mechanical Arcanine entered the room. The NIDOs all watched intently as it walked from the back of the room up to Giovanni's desk and sat down in front of him. It was a dead-ringer for Marc, except that it had bright red glowing eyes, like the NIDOs. "We had just enough parts left from the artificial intelligence project to construct this one Arcanine. He's not too bad looking, except for the eyes. We ran out of the realistic eyes we used for the AI units, and had to settle for what we have." Giovanni said, "That's the least of my concern! Can we be sure that this one won't turn on us, like the last batch?" The scientist answered, "Yes. We overrode the AI programming with an obedience program. He is loyal only to us." Marc2 then said, "I was created for only one purpose – to serve Team Rocket." Giovanni said, "Excellent! The NIDO army will be sent to our base on Phoenix Island – that will be the ideal, well-concealed base for us to keep them until we need them. I also have a chance to capture a very legendary Pokemon, and I'm taking no chances this time. I don't want to risk anyone helping her escape, like someone did with Suicune when I caught him. I would like to use 2 of the NIDOs for the capture. Are their shields working properly?" The scientist replied, "Beyond our wildest expectations! These NIDOs will not need a sheild generator apparatus like the last batch! They each have their own, self-generated shielding! No Pokemon attack, or any kind of attack, for that matter, can stop them! They are indestructible!" Giovanni grinned, and said, "Then we shall proceed."

May and I boarded the S.S. Anne. Now that I'd won my 8th Kanto badge, I decided it was time we took the cruise Bill had given us tickets for months and months ago, so we had flown back to Vermillion City on Fearow and Pidgeot. The cruise was to Phoenix Island, which was named for the island tribe's legendary sun goddess. The vacation would turn out to be anything but relaxing, but for now, we were having fun. There were all kinds of activities on board for both human and Pokemon. Vaporeon got to swim in the ship's pool. May and I sat in lounge chairs, overlooking the ship's pool. I had a large, tropical beverage, with 3 straws in it – one for me, one for Flamefox, and one for Firestorm. May had one, as well, which she shared with Amber and Redfur. Fiona, Inferno, Jolteon, and Raichu enjoyed a massage. The other Pokemon we brought along for the trip were Scyther, Tauros, Fierymane, and Blastoise. May said, "According to the brochure, we'll be arriving just in time for the ceremony of the sun goddess. The native people of the island have some kind of legend surrounding their sun goddess, who takes the form of a Phoenix." I looked at the brochure and said, "Look at the crest of the sun goddess! Doesn't that look suspiciously like Ho-oh?" May replied, "Yeah. Well, you know, she is a powerful, legendary Pokemon. To a primitive people, she could come across as a goddess of sorts." I replied, "That's true." Then I said, "I'm so excited about this! I've never been on a cruise to a tropical island before! This will be one vacation I'll never forget!" May replied, "Same here! I wonder if we'll see different Pokemon on the island?" I answered, "You never know. Maybe we'll discover a new species!" May said, "Don't get your hopes up."

Overall, the cruise was enjoyable, although a couple times I felt as though we were being watched, and I could have sworn I saw the exact same tourist I saw in Saffron City, who was sitting on a bench with his Golduck, but this time, he was alone. But before I could say anything, May came along, accompanied by none other than our good friend, Simon. "Look who I ran into!" May exclaimed. I said, "Simon, hi! What are you doing here?" He answered, "I was taking a little vacation, too. My uncle Seymour got some tickets from Bill." I asked, "Just how many extra tickets does that guy have?" May said, "Come on. There's going to be live music a few decks below." I said, "Okay, sounds like fun!" I grabbed my backpack and, with Flamefox and Firestorm, followed May and Simon.

The ship arrived at Phoenix Island the next day. So we wouldn't lose track of our Pokemon, we only kept out the fire foxes, fire dogs, and Inferno. As we walked down the stairs, we were greeted by friendly island natives, some in their traditional clothing, and others in wildly printed shirts with shorts, who put leis of tropical flowers around our necks, exclaiming, "Welcome to Phoenix Island!" As we walked ahead, I led the way, with Flamefox to my right and Firestorm to my left. Some of the natives began whispering among themselves, looking at me. I felt a tiny bit conspicuous and asked May and Simon, "What's going on? Did I do something wrong?" A large man, with a headdress made of rainbow colored feathers, and dressed in ceremonial attire, replied, "Not at all, my young friend! Please, forgive us if we seem rude staring. It's just that you come across as the trainer in the legend." I asked, "Legend?" May said, "I read something about the legend of the sun goddess in the brochure on the ship, but it didn't go into details." He said, "Yes, there is a legend about the sun goddess, that she will be subdued by the machines of darkness. Her only hope to be rescued lies in the water god and the machines of the gods. It is said that this will all come about with the arrival of a Pokemon trainer who walks with foxes of fire. This trainer and his Pokemon will aid the water god and the machines of the gods in taking on the mechanical army of darkness, to free the sun goddess." Simon said, "Whoa! No wonder they're all staring at you, Joe! You're, like, the savior of the sun goddess!" I said, "Very funny. I'm sure its all a big coincidence." The man said, "Perhaps. Anyhow, I am the tribal elder, and I welcome you to Phoenix Island! Please, enjoy your stay! And if you need anything, let me know." We replied, "Thank you" as he walked off to greet other guests. "Simon, what are you doing?" May asked. I looked to see Simon, with his laptop open, and he replied, "I'm just making sure my computer works here! I'd be lost without it!" Then he said, "Yep! Everything checks out!" We just kind of rolled our eyes, while the Pokemon let out a sigh.

We checked into our rooms, which were in imitation tiki-style huts. The insides were far from primitive, though, with satellite TV, nice beds, bathrooms with showers – the works! We attended a welcoming ceremony that night. All the tourists, including us, sat down and watched while the island natives, dressed in their ceremonial attire, danced and chanted around a bonfire. The crest of the sun goddess was everywhere you looked. Then the tribal elder began to speak, "Legend tells that on one dark day, the sun goddess will be subdued by the machines of darkness! Her only hope for rescue is the water god, who will come to her aid with the help of the machines of the gods!" Some natives role-played, with costumes of the sun goddess and the water god. The water god costume looked suspiciously similar to Suicune. The really eerie part was when the natives came who were dressed as the machines of the gods – they were an Arcanine, a Tauros, a Golem, and a Charizard. Someone asked, "But if those are machines, why do they look like ordinary Pokemon?" The elder replied, "The machines of the gods are a metaphor – they are Pokemon who were created by forces of evil, to do their bidding, but they rejected the ways of their creators. In so doing, most of them were destroyed by the machines of darkness. It is believed that these same machines of darkness will subdue the sun goddess." He then continued, "These events will be transpired by the arrival of a Pokemon trainer who walks with foxes of fire. He will join the water god and the machines of the gods in a valiant battle against the machines of darkness, to free the sun goddess." Someone else said, "That's very vague. Lots of Pokemon trainers have foxes of fire – Vulpix and Ninetales." Someone sitting near me saw Flamefox and Firestorm and mockingly said to me, "Better watch it, kiddo! It could be you they send into this battle against the 'forces of darkness'!" and then he laughed. May tapped my shoulder and said, "Doesn't it seem really strange that the machines of the gods are represented by the same Pokemon as our MechanPokemon friends?" I answered, "Yeah, a little." The natives who were role-playing the battle continued, and the machines of darkness were represented by people in scary masks. I said, "But what are the machines of darkness then?" May replied, "NIDOs maybe?" I said, "Those masks don't look much like NIDOs to me." She said, "Relax, Joe. It's only a legend. We're reading way too much into this!" Simon asked, "What are you guys talking about?" She answered, "Nothing. Don't worry about it." We watched the rest of the ceremony, as the chosen one, his Pokemon, who were only represented by people dressed as a Vulpix and a Ninetales, as well as the others dressed as the machines of the gods and the water god, mock battled those dressed as the machines of darkness, until only the good guys stood. It was a bit unnerving to me, considering the similarities between myself, the good MechanPokemon, Suicune, and Ho-oh. But as May said, it was only a legend.

The day after the ceremony, May and I decided to take a walk in the woods nearby. I asked her, "So what do you think of that legend - seriously? You think I'm the one who's supposed to save the sun goddess?" May laughed and said, "I'm sure that's just a coincidence. That's some old legend from thousands of years ago." I said, "Yeah. Still, it's ironic that I have 2 'foxes of fire' walking with me" and I looked at Flamefox and Firestorm who were walking with us, along with Inferno, Amber, Redfur, and Fiona. After a while, we reached a more open area in the middle of the woods. Suddenly, we heard rustling in the foliage. "Did you hear that?" I asked May. "Yeah. What was that?" she asked in reply. We looked around – nothing but stillness, and the sounds of the local island insects. The fire foxes looked around and started to growl. "What's the matter?" I asked them. Suddenly, 2 NIDOs leapt out at us from opposite directions. I shouted, "May!" as one grabbed her. I ran over towards her, and the NIDO that was holding her whacked me in the face, knocking me down! The Pokemon ran over to me, and I said, "I'm all right. But we've got to stop those things!" The Pokemon launched fire attacks at the NIDOs from behind, which didn't even slow them down as they ran! "May!" I shouted. She yelled back, "Joe, do something!" There was only one thing I could think to do – I pulled the Rainbow Feather from my backpack and ran it between my finger and thumb 3 times. A rainbow appeared above, and Ho-oh flew down. The 2 NIDOs stopped and looked up at her. Then the one that had May dropped her, and they both ran towards the approaching Ho-oh. The Pokemon and I ran over to May. "Are you all right, May?" I asked, as I helped her up. She answered, "Yeah, I'm fine – but why did they let me go?" We watched as Ho-oh launched a powerful fire attack at them, and it dispersed on contact – the attack didn't even touch them! She flew around for one more attack, and launched a powerful fire blast! Again, nothing happened. "Her attacks aren't even touching them!" May said. I shouted, "Ho-oh, be careful!" All of a sudden, as she flew down, one of the NIDOs held out it's arm and an aperature opened up – it let out a light that engulfed Ho-oh like a pokeball would a Pokemon! "No!" I shouted, as she was sucked into NIDO's arm. It lowered it's arm, and the 2 of them ran off! We started running after them and I shouted, "Let her go!" They both stopped, looked back at us, and each hit us with a thunderwave-like attack, which paralyzed us in our tracks! Then they continued running. "We'll never catch them now!" May struggled to say. Our Pokemon hadn't been hit with the paralyzing attack, and I said, as well as I could, "Flamefox, quick, open Scyther's pokeball!" He replied, "Vulpix!" and ran up to me, jumped up, and pressed the release button on Scyther's pokeball. Scyther materialized and I said, "Scyther, you have to see where they take her. Be careful!" He nodded and said, "Scyther!", then flew off. The paralysis wore off in about ten minutes, and once we were able to move again, May said, "We have to get help." I said, "Right!" and took out my pokegear. First I called Simon. "Simon, meet us in the woods near the hotel, quick!" Simon replied, "Sure. Why, what's going on?" I said, "I'll explain when you get there!" Then I called Martin. I swore I heard a pokegear ringing nearby. "Hello?" Martin answered. I said, "Martin, we need you to come to Phoenix Island, stat!" He said, "I'll be right there!" All of a sudden, Martin fell down from one of the trees. "How did you get here so fast?" I asked him. "I… uh… was on vacation, too" he said, as a sweatdrop appeared on the side of his head. May and I each shot him a skeptical glance, and I said, "Right! Anyway, we need your help!" He replied, "I'll do anything I can do." Soon, we heard Simon yell, "Guys, I'm here! Where are you?" May replied, "Over here, Simon! But keep it down!" I introduced Simon to Martin, then said, "In telling you guys this, you have to promise to keep it between only the 4 of us!" Martin said, "No problem" and Simon said, "Of course!" I told them all about what happened with Ho-oh, how I was able to summon her, and about Team Rocket's NIDOs. I even showed them the Rainbow Feather, and explained what happened. Both of them remembered hearing about Team Rocket's last 2 attempts at robotic Pokemon on the news, and Simon said, "But according to the news reports, both of Team Rocket's attempts were foiled by some anonymous trainer." I replied, "Well, apparently that didn't stop them from constructing more – and that anonymous trainer was me." Simon asked, "You?" I answered, "The first time was on our way to Olivine City. The MechanPokemon were in their earliest stages and were rather easy to defeat. Officer Jenny kept my name anonymous from the media for safety's sake. The second time was after May and I left Cerulean City. That was our first encounter with the NIDOs, but we had some help in defeating them, and we left Officer Jenny an anonymous tip that time." I decided it best not to tell them about our 4 rogue MechanPokemon allies just yet – I felt like I'd told them too much already! However, Martin didn't seem as surprised as Simon for some reason, as if this wasn't really news to him. Just then, Scyther returned. I asked him, "Scyther, did you see where they took her?" He nodded, "Scyther!" I said, "Great! Let's go see what we're up against!" Martin said, "You two have been through enough! Simon and I will go check it out. You two wait here!" Simon said, "We will? Okay." So, the two of them followed Scyther.