DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon or any other brands, companies, chains, etc. that I mention in this story. If I did, you think I'd be writing this? Probably, yeah...
Pokémon: Zeta Advance
Chapter 4:Carry On, Stoneward Son!
"We need to head north."
"No, we need to head west!"
"We could try east... Right, Yanma?"
"Eevee vee Eevee!"
"That's the direction we came from, Eevee!" We'd been arguing for hours. We'd packed up our campsite at 8 am. It was now 11:30.
"Maybe Eevee's right. We should backtrack and start over."
"I wanna get outta the forest before nightfall, though. Plus one of you needs a shower."
"Probably all of us do. Even you, Rain."
"You three need it more, though!"
"Grandpa always taught me 'ladies first!'" She smiled and rolled her eyes.
'Smooth!'
The fuck do I have to do to get rid of you?
'You know damn well!' Zyx started beaming suggestive thoughts at me like a Gatling gun. You probably already know who about. And I'm not going to go into anymore detail then that. Partly because there's probably kids reading this, and partly because she's probably reading this, too.
I felt my face start to turn red, so I started running. I was at the head of the group, so no one saw me blushing. "Hey, Where's the fire?" Carburn asked.
"I'm... Scouting ahead! Wait here, you guys! I'll be back in a while!" I shouted back without turning. Must... Kill... Zyx!
I rounded a corner and kept running till I couldn't breathe. When I stopped, I leaned against a tree and started panting. "Eevee-vee?"
"Yeah. *pant, pant* Him again." Eevee knew about Zyx because of our bond. My bond with Eevee was on a level that went beyond merely trainer and Pokémon. We were best friends, brothers-in-arms, and almost a single being on the battlefield. My aura was linked with Eevee's, so we have a sort of semi-telepathic link.
Once I got my breath back, I started walking. Eevee was beside me, listening for any voices. I put my hood up and a slip of paper fell out. "Huh? What's this?" I wondered, picking it up. Written on it were ten digits in slightly messy handwriting. Scribbled below it, was a single sentence.
"In case you need to get a hold of me for any reason. -Rain.
'Hot DAMN! You weren't even trying! Respect!'
I wonder if Espurr can remove you...
'... Hurtful.' Suddenly, I heard an unfamiliar voice. A human voice. Eevee and I raced towards it. It belonged to a man in a smart, green business suit. He noticed Eevee and I, and he walked over to us.
"Hi!" He said cheerfully. "Have you seen any Shroomish recently? I really like them, but I haven't found a single one!"
"Hey! Not today, no. Are you from Rustboro City?" I replied.
"Yes, actually!" He chirped. "I work at Devon Corp., where-"
"OI, LANDLUBBER! I GOT A BONE TA PICK WI' YOU!" The Devon worker hid behind me, and I got ready to fight. I got into a low stance and grabbed a Pokéball. What I was met with was a man with dark skin wearing a striped blue-and-white t-shirt, blue jeans ripped below the knee, black boots with blue laces, and a black bandana with a strange "Α" shape. And mantyhose that matched his shirt. "I was gunna ambush you a' the exit, but you had to dawdle around like a fucking arsehole! NOW GIVE ME THOSE PLANS!"
"Eep!" The worker cried. "Y-you're a trainer, right? Please help me!" I smiled, more than happy to oblige.
"My pleasure," I said, pulling a Pokéball from my belt. "Sunni, you're up!" The Pokéball opened, and Sunni emerged, sparkles and all. The pirate started laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A Swablu?! Really?! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Let me ask you something. How do you feel about treasure?"
"I love booty! I love it so much, I'll take it from anyone I want!"
"Pretty sure that's called 'rape,' Sailor-boy." It took him a minute to figure it out. When he did, he was steaming!
"Why you little... Poochyena! Teach this bastard not to mess with Team Aqua!" He threw a Pokéball, and, sure enough, a canine-like Pokémon emerged, almost identical to the one Carburn caught on Route 102.
"Sunni, Dazzling Gleam." Bursts of light erupted from Sunni's wings, and hitting the Poochyena, knocking it out. The Team Aqua member growled. "How about some info, Bandana? Archie disbanded Team Aqua years ago. What happened?"
'He's gonna run.'
Not yet.
"Tch! Keep interferin', and you can ask 'im yerself!"
'He's gonna run.'
He's not done yet.
"And YOU!" He said, pointing to the Devon worker. "You wasted my time! But the boss'll still be happy! I got one more job to pull in Rustboro tomorrow that'll make those plans not even worth wiping your arse with!"
'He's gonna run!'
Yep! He ran. Faster than I could.
"Oh, thank you, kind sir! I don't know what I would've done without your help!" The worker said in praise.
"No need to thank me. It was no trouble at all," I said, a little embarrassed.
"I still feel I need to express my gratitude," he replied. "Here, take this Great Ball. I know it's not much, but it's all I've got to give right now." I smiled at the sentiment.
"Thank you."
"If you need anything from me, just ask!"
Well, there are a couple things. Right, Eevee?"
"Vee!"
We walked back to the others. It was about one in the afternoon when we got to them. "Hey! George is back!"
"About damn time, too!"
"Sparce!"
"Huh? Who's the guy in the suit?..." Rain seemed apprehensive.
Understandable, I thought. She doesn't know what Romulan's goons look like. "Everybody, this is Alan. He works at Devon Corp.'s head offices. In Rustboro." That got their attention. They all went from bored to excited in a millisecond.
"George told me you guys need a way out of the forest. I can take you all to Rustboro, if you like." All of them started cheering. Even the Pokémon. I reached up to where Sunni was sitting on my head, and scratched her gently above her right wing. That was her second favorite spot to be scratched. She cooed happily. Within seconds, we were on our way out.
We got to the Poké Center at 1:30. Rain decided to use the public shower before we went to the Gym. Carburn wanted to take one, too, but I had to show him to the men's public showers. Violently.
"Aren't you going to shower, George?" Chase asked.
"I like to take my showers later at night," I answered. "Helps me relax."
"Myah-Myah?" Espurr said. I smiled.
"She'll be out in a minute, Espurr." I could swear Espurr was angry about something I'd just said, because he was staring me down.
"Furr!" Espurr and I looked up to see Rain had come back. Instead of her usual hoodie and shorts, she was wearing a black tank top and a pair of black jeans. However, her headphones were in their usual "standby" position on her shoulders like some sort of necklace. Furret reclaimed its place on her shoulders, and Espurr did the little "up! up!" hopping thing toddlers do. Rain picked him up and held him.
"Sudden change in wardrobe, huh?" I teased lightly. "Trying to impress someone?" I honestly wasn't expecting her to blush. She turned around, and put up her headphones.
"S-Shuddup..." She muttered before heading to the Gym. I left, too, and caught up to her. I'm not a stalker, you guys. The four of us planned to head in groups of two to the Gym if someone (Carburn) took longer to shower than the other.
"Hey, Rain, wait up-!" I tapped her shoulder, and she whirled around and punched me with a left hook. Her face when she saw it was me was one of pure dread. "... I probably deserved that."
She pulled her headphones down and examined the red mark on my cheek. "OMYGODIMSOSORRY!" She kept apologizing over and over. "I thought you were a mugger or Pokémon thief or Carburn trying to scare me!"
"It's fine, Rain," I said, laughing. "You know what I've survived. I think I can take a punch or two!" That seemed to help her calm down. "Listen... I'm sorry for teasing you back at the Poké Center. I wasn't trying to be mean."
She smiled a little, but walked a little ahead of me. "I was just... Taken by surprise... I thought you were serious, considering how serious you were..." I knew exactly what she meant. (If you don't, go back and read chapter three again. Go ahead, I'll wait... ... ... ... ... You get it now? Good!)
"I'm pretty quick to move from one thing to the next. If you keep with the group till the end, you might eventually learn how to understand me."
We got to the gym in no time, because it was so close to the Poké Center. "... Should we knoc-" I walked up to the double doors and opened them wide.
"Dramatic entrance!"
"What are you doing?! My future could be riding on this!" Contrary to her statement, a girl with onyx black hair tied up in a sort of split pony tail with a large red ribbon and wearing a sort of school uniform, red leggings, dress shoes, and a small tie that matched her bow walked towards us. And she wasn't happy. She was ecstatic.
"Look at this shady son of a bitch walking into my gym! It's been so long!" She gave me a friendly hug, and stepped back, still smiling. "How've you been?"
"Oh, you know. Taking down major criminal organizations, befriending legendary Pokémon, saving the world... You know, the family business as usual."
Rain seemed confused about the exchange going on between me and the 5'4" Gym Leader. "What the hell are you two talking about? What family business? Who even is she?!"
"Oh, right," I replied apologetically. "Rain, this is Roxanne, the Rustboro City Gym Leader." That got her attention. "She's an old friend of mine. My grandpa was a legend in law enforcement. They say he could calm even the angriest of Pokémon with nothing more than his kind spirit. He had the ability to understand Pokémon languages. That's where my sister and I get the ability."
"They say he once stopped an entire militant cult from taking over the world riding a black Rayquaza."
"Which is true, by the way." Rain looked like her head might explode. "Oh! Roxanne! I just remembered! Rain here wanted to ask you something!"
"Vee!"
"Okay," she said. "What can I help you with?"
"Uh..." Rain said.
"Furret, Furr Furr!" Furret encouraged.
"Well... I'm a Gym-Leader-In-Training, and... I-I was w-wondering... If you, uh... If you could be my mentor?"
Roxanne sighed, crestfallen. "I'm really sorry," she said. "But the Pokémon Masters' Council revoked my right to host GLITs..." I couldn't help letting a hardly audible growl out.
"Oh... I get it... Rules and regulations, huh?" Rain smiled. But I could tell it was fake. The doors burst open again. "GYM LEADER! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A BATTLE!"
"Oh, Lord..." Well, at least she forgot about Roxanne's rejection!
"Poochyena, Bite!"
"Geodude, watch out!"
"Poochyena, come back! Go! Pumpkaboo!" They'd been battling for half an hour, and neither was about to give up.
"Geodude! Rock Tomb!" Pillars of rock shot diagonally from the ground.
"Dodge it!" Pumpkaboo shot into the air before the pillars slammed together. "Now Razor Leaf!" Pumpkaboo shot a flurry of leaves at Geodude, which finally ended the battle.
"Geodude is unable to battle! Pumpkaboo wins! Victory goes to the challenger!"
"Yes! Haha! We did it, you guys!"
"Sparce!"
"Pumpka!"
"Pooch Pooch!"
"Good job, Burns!"
"Yeah, great battle, dude!"
"That's awesome, Carburn! Great strategy!"
"What strategy? I winged it!" Rain and Chase gave Carburn an unbelieving look.
"What?! You need to have strategies, right? George, aren't you going to say anything?"
"Well," I began, scratching the back of my head and avoiding her gaze. "When I challenged this place... That's what I did, too..." To this day, I still don't know how she kept herself from kicking my ass.
"Carburn Clyden," Roxanne finally said. "As Rustboro City Gym Leader, it is my honor to present you with the Stone Badge."
"Sweet!" Burns said when he received the badge. "C'mon! Let's go celebrate!"
"Yeah!"
"Dunsparce!"
"Yan-Yan!"
"You guys go ahead. Roxanne and I have some catching up to do."
Once the Derpnamic Duo had left, I turned to Rain.
"I need a minute alone with Roxanne to discuss Council issues. Okay?"
"Alright." I smiled, then went with Roxanne to the gym break room. She brewed some tea, and offered me a cup. I took it kindly, but didn't take a sip. I knew Roxanne. I knew I had to be careful in asking this favor, because I knew what she would ask in return. What I didn't know was that Rain was eavesdropping on us.
"So... You need a favor you said?"
"Yeah. You already know what I plan to do. What I want from you is this. When you can host and mentor Glits again, take her as your student."
"Hmmm... An interesting proposition..." She leaned forward with her elbows on the table, intertwining her fingers to look like she was considering it. But in reality, she was hiding a wicked grin. "Let me propose a counter-offer... I've gotten a little... Lonely... Lately. If you can give me a full night of...hehe... Companionship... With the occasional visits for an indeterminate amount of time, I'll take her in." She gave me a flirtatious look. "If you catch my drift..."
"Yes. I get it. You've been trying to trick me into drinking spiked tea this entire time. What's it supposed to do? Numb cognitive functions to make it easier to persuade me?"
"Dear XYZ, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!" Her grin just grew as she spoke. I slammed my hands on the table and stood up.
"Don't call me that. I'm not the XYZ Pokémon Master here." I started towards the door. "... If that's really the only way to get her in... I'll think about it. You're welcome to back out of it any time you want. But I get the feeling you don't." I opened the door, and left, still unaware that Rain had slipped in, and, from what she's told me, had a little "talk" with Roxanne. Roxanne backed out of the deal less than ten minutes after I left.
I walked down the street with Skillet's "Hero" blaring in my ears. Normally, I didn't play my music loud, but sometimes, it was nice to just drown out the world. I saw a small geology shop I hadn't noticed before. Maybe they have a Mega Stone, and don't even realize it. I lowered my music and stepped in. "Keep an eye out for anything interesting, Eevee."
"Ee-veeeeeeeee-vee ," he responded.
"Shut up, Fluffball!" We looked around for a while, and found two definite Mega Stones, and one possible Mega Stone. I grabbed all three, and noticed a small box of marble sized and shaped rainbow stones with a symbol on them. The Mega symbol. "Excuse me," I said to the old, portly man behind the counter. "What are these?"
"Oh! You've got quite an eye for unusual stones, young man!" He said. "Another young man said they might be linked to a phenomenon called 'Mega Evolution.' Since we're not entirely sure, we're sellin' 'em at 75 cents each. That way, if they don't work, at least ya got a nice little souvenir! Wahahahahahaha!"
"I'll take this whole box," I said, putting a card on the counter. I left, only to have one of my earbuds pulled out. I turned to confront whoever did it. When I saw Rain's smile, all of my anger mysteriously vanished.
'Yeah... "Mysteriously."' We walked in silence to the Poké Center. Not at all an uncomfortable silence, but a silence nonetheless. Before we could go in, the time for action arose.
"STOP, THIEF!" We both looked down the street at the main gates to Devon Corp. headquarters, and saw the same member of Team Aqua I had encountered in the woods running out with something under his arm. Alan was running after him, but was nowhere near as fast. "COME BACK WITH THOSE GOODS!"
"Let's go," I said, stuffing my shopping bag into my backpack. She and I both started running at them. "HEY, PIRATE BOY! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of-GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND LET ME FINISH MY ONE-LINER, YOU PRICK!" I screamed when he saw us and turned to his left.
"You know him?" Rain asked.
"Yeah, kinda. Guy's a fucking dick."
Alan gave us a quick run-down of the situation. I texted Chase and Burns, and they caught up. We were on our way toward Rusturf Tunnel, which had recently been blocked on the inside due to an earthquake. "We'll keep any trainers from getting in the way," Burns said, tilting his head toward Chase. "Then, once you guys are in, we'll guard the entrance!"
"Thanks, guys! Let's go!" Chase and Carburn both ran up to some trainers, a young girl and a hiker, and battled them to keep our path clear. When we got to the cave, there was an elderly man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and boating shoes was outside the cave. "Mr. Briney!" Rain and I ran up to him.
"Are you okay, sir?" She asked him.
"George," he said. "They took Peeko again. Please save her, lad!"
"As you've ordered, captain!" Rain and I ran into the cave. We soon found the grunt holding the goods and Peeko the Wingull.
"Don't come any closer!" He said. I pulled out a Pokéball and stepped forward. "Damn! I was hoping you'd buy the bluff..."
"Now where was I? Oh, yeah. Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of you're fucked."
"I'm gettin' real tired of you, kid!"
"And I'm sick of your shit." He sent out Poochyena. I sent out Sceptile. Rain hid behind me. "I guess it's time to go from elementary school..." I pulled my left sleeve up to reveal my Mega Ring. "To College." I tapped the Mega Ring. "Mega... EVOLUTION!"
Sceptile began to Mega Evolve. Rain was so mystefied that she stepped out from behind me and watched as Sceptile finished the process. "Sceptile! Dragon Claw!" She watched closely as the Mega Pokémon's claws and wrist fronds started glowing a deep, draconic blue, and quickly struck the Poochyena, knocking it out cold.
"Incredible, isn't it?" I said, snapping her out of her mini-trance.
"Yeah... I've never seen it in person before..." She jumped back behind me when Sceptile changed back.
"Grrrrrrrr! The boss'll have my head for this! Here! Take the damn ship parts!" Said the grunt. He left the cave at a leisurely pace. I hid my Mega Ring again as Mr. Briney walked in.
"Peeko! Thank goodness you're okay!" He cried. "Thank ye both! You saved Peeko! If you need, I'll ferry you an' yer friends to Dewford or Slateport anytime!" He left the cave with Peeko on his shoulder. Rain and I followed, talking about Mega Evolution.
"You're all here! Good! The president of Devon Corp. wants to meet with you!"
"Thank you for saving our staff and recovering those parts, kids!" The president said. He was an average looking man, aside from his white hair, which made him look older than he really was.
"It was no problem, really," I said. The president was a good man, he really was, but he had a habit of trying people's modesty.
"Mr. Steinkreuz, I've known you for nearly seven years. Granted, our contact has been limited, but I know you've always been an easy man to please."
"Good news for Rain-Ow!"
"Careful, Burns. She hits a lot harder than I do." Suddenly, another person entered the large office.
"Hey, Dad! Sorry I'm late," said Steven. "My father and I gave decided to give the three of you special Mega items, so you can potentially Mega Evolve your Pokémon. In order for Mega Evolution to take place, however, you will also need the Mega Stone for that Pokémon."
"Wait, three? Why three?" I showed Carburn and Chase the Mega item on my wrist.
"Mr. President, if we're delivering this package to fix the ferry, I need some favors."
"Just name it, my boy. I know you'll get it done."
"Ho..."
"Ly..."
"Shit!" Mr. Stone managed to get us the penthouse suite of Rustboro's finest five-star hotel. It had three bathrooms, a kitchenette, four bedrooms with two beds each and locks on the doors (specifically for Rain), a living room, and free laundry.
"And I just asked for a clean place to stay the night!" I said, laughing.
While the others were watching tv later on, I made a phone call. "Hey, it's me. I'm thinking it's finally safe for me to have Charizard on my team again."
"Who are you switching out?" A female voice asked.
"Floatzel's been doing a lot of special training, and I think he needs a break. Then again, I think Torkoal's coming down with something. Maybe I'll switch 'em both out. Sharpedo hasn't been with me in a while."
"Got it. I'll be there tomorrow morning. Rustboro, right?"
"W-w-wait! You're not coming out here, are you?!"
"... Of course, dumbass! The Council's keeping an eye on the transporters, so I have to come to you!"
"B-But-!"
"I can't wait to meet your new friends. Bye, George!" With that, the only thing in existence I truly fear hung up the phone. I could tell my face was frozen into a face of complete horror.
"Who was that, George?" I slowly turned to my friends.
"My sister's coming to visit."
Wow. I made a lot of bad jokes in this one. Seth MacFarlane bad, not Dane Cook bad. If I wrote anything that offends you in this chapter, I'm very sorry. I know you took the time to read this and I really appreciate it, because there's probably thousands of other stories you could be reading, and you chose to read mine. I swear, I will try to fit a flock of Taillow attacking me into the next chapter. Thanks, guys and girls!
... A lot of blatant undertones, too.