Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage

by Halloween Witch

It's been three years since the disbandment of Team Rocket and Gwyn Jalen is beginning her pokemon journey as well in the Johto region. Things seem normal until she encounters a red haired boy gazing into Professor Elm's laboratory and a young woman who seems like she could kick everyone's asses. And is it fight or flight when an old enemy of the young woman's come into play?

4. The Fishing Route

Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage

Chapter 4: The Fishing Route

Gwyn's Point of View:

Waking up the next morning (and after having nearly a two hour shower to get all the gunk off my body and clothes and Cynder as well) I noticed that Aaron was not in his bed when I woke up at the early hour of six. He must have gotten up much earlier then I even had from all his sleep yesterday and what he had to make up with so he could travel with me today into the Union Cave for some training together before we would make our way into Azalea Town.

I yawned and smiled down at Cynder who was snuggled into my side. I shook my head in silence as I looked at her before I noticed that there was a note at my side. In the messy handwriting it was in, it had to be Aaron's. I snorted and picked it up to read while I continued to lie in bed.

Gwyn,

I'm heading out to the tower today to train before I tackle the gym, and do some last minute training back on route thirty-one. I'll meet you over at the pokemon center on route thirty-two tonight if that's okay with you. You can train while I try to quickly finish up things here and meet you over there. I hope to be there by six tonight, so I'll see you then!

Aaron, Chikorita, Kakuna and Pidgey

I shook my head at them. Another day by myself, I don't mind that at all. I yawned and sat up in my bed and it caused Cynder to stir. She whined as she rolled into the spot where I just was, taking in all the warmth of the blankets. She refused to wake up, even when I tried to wake her.

"Come on Cynder, we've got places to go and things to do, you can't just stay in bed all day." Like any day, she simply ignored me trying to get her out of bed and curled up in her spot. I rolled my eyes. "Fine, I'll come get you when I'm done, but if you're not up by then, I'm carrying you as you are in front of everyone out of this place." My fire pokemon then finally looked up at me with a set of tired eyes and nodded before turning over to go back to sleep.

While she slept I got a little bit of work done. I'd already washed all my clothes the night before and let them really go through the washer a few times before I went to bed. I threw them into the dryer and hopped into the shower for another wash up, for some strange reason, I still felt dirty after all the scrubbing I did yesterday. My skin still had the sensation of being raw and very clean, so the soap and more scrubbing hurt a bit when I got in another time, but I thought it was better then going without.

Once I was clean, again, I climbed out of the shower and got dried off with some of the towels that the pokemon center provided for us. Once my body was dry, the machine to the dryer went off and I knew my clothes were dry, fluffy and warm. I sighed and wrapped up my hair to keep excess water off my back and body as I got changed. Once my clothes were on and I felt all warm and cozy, I started brushing out my hair and doing other essentials.

I suddenly heard a knock on my door however which halted my work. "Just a minute!" I called out to whoever was there. I finished getting through my hair as quickly as I could before I hurried out into the bedroom I was sharing with Aaron and our pokemon. Cynder was now wide awake as she looked to the door wearily. I quickly opened the door and was surprise to see that it was one of Professor Elm's assistants.

"Good morning Gwyn, I hope you're doing alright on your journey?" the aid questioned me.

"Yeah, I've been fine, just got my first badge yesterday and Cynder evolved." The aid looked past me over on the bed where Cynder sat, growling lightly under her breath. I snapped at her not to and my pokemon simply came off the bed and stood next to my feet, carefully watching the aid.

"It's only natural for her to be cautions of new people or pokemon that she meets. I don't blame her of being weary of me." He nodded to the pokemon and Cynder only snorted at him. He looked back at me. "I'm actually here per request of Professor Elm."

"Professor Elm? What does he want me to do or what does he want from me? Besides what I'm already doing."

The aid took down his large backpack and set it on the ground before he pulled out a glass container that contained the egg that Mr. Pokѐmon had asked me to bring to the professor. "Professor Elm has been studying this egg and has made little progress with it, believing it will hatch under better and more likeable conditions if it is looked after by a trainer, or at least other pokemon. The professor would like you to look after the egg and raise it until it hatches… or keep raising it even after it hatches if you get attached to the pokemon inside."

My jaw dropped. "He wants me to look after this egg?" I looked at the speckled pattern of pale green dots on this off white colored egg that fit into my arms.

"He thought you were the best person to count on." The aid shrugged. "The professor hardly knows any other trainers and he feared that Aaron would damage it by accident with his wild personality. He felt it was in the safest hands with you and would get the most attention and care that it needs."

"Well, I don't mind at all." I grinned. "I hope it turns out to be a cute little pokemon!"

"Then it's settled!" The aid put his backpack back on his shoulders and turned away from me, his bag now looking pretty deflated without the egg and its container inside it. "The professor needs me back for more work over at the lab, so I'll take my leave now Gwyn, have a good journey!" The aid ran off out of my sight, leaving the egg in my arms within its container.

"Well… that was interesting." I closed the door and Cynder followed me over to the bed where I looked intently at the egg in my arms. "So now we have an egg to take with us…"

Cynder climbed into my lap and sniffed at the case that protected the egg and kept it warm. "Quil?"

"Yeah!" I giggled. "You're gonna be a big sister to this pokemon, right Cynder?"

"Quilava!" She grinned up at me and gently placed her paws on the glass.

"And I'll be its momma! I'm so excited!" I grinned from nearly ear to ear as we watched the little life that was before us.

It was only then that Cynder and I were disturbed from our thoughts when we heard ringing coming from my pokegear. I blinked my eyes in surprise and looked over at my pokemon who only shrugged at me. I pulled the device out of my pocket and opened my pokegear and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey ya Hon! Have some explosive battles lately?" I blinked in surprise before I recognized the young woman's voice.

"Violet!"

"The one and only Hon, who were you expected to call you? Santa Claus?"

"Hardy har har." I snorted at her. "So what's up?"

"Well, I just got back to Violet City and I've seen your friend running around the place like crazy, so I figured it was just you and your little fire misfit, so I was wondering if you wanted to spend some of the day with me so the two of us won't be bored or alone."

"Sure, I've got nothing else to do and Aaron probably won't be back at the pokemon center on route thirty-two until tonight when I'm supposed to meet him, so I'm free all day."

"Excellent!" I heard her laugh. "And you need to tell me about those explosions in both the tower and the gym, those looked awesome and I could see them all the way from the Ruins of Alph! Speaking of which," she paused for a moment. "Why don't you meet me there? The unknown and dotted languages here to learn are pretty cool and gives you a bit of a look into the past."

"Sure Violet, I'll meet you over there, but can we also visit route thirty-two? I was thinking about maybe looking at the pokemon that live there and see if I want another pokemon to add to my team. As much as I love Cynder, I can't have her as my only pokemon or else I won't get very far."

"No problem at all Hon, meet me over here and I'll show you a few things before we head down there and eat our lunches or something. Sound good?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you over there in a few minutes, just let me pack up and return my key to the front desk."

"Alright Hon, but don't take too long." I could hear her laughing almost evilly in the background. "Bad things happen when I get bored…"

I flinched back in worry and looked at my pokegear as I pulled it away from my face. You know, she makes me wonder a bit if she's really all that sane…

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

It took me a short half hour to make my way over to the Ruins of Alph and get all the things done I needed to before I left the pokemon center. I carried the egg container in my arms while Cynder was perched up on my shoulder. Her ears kept moving around as she watched the area as the trees thinned out and we suddenly came to an area that was made entirely of mountains and old ruins connected with some caves. It was incredible to say the least once I stepped foot inside, Cynder was even impressed with all of this.

"There you are!" I whipped my head around to see Violet fast approaching us. "I was wondering when you'd get here and- oh! You have a pokemon egg!" She hurried over to me and gave me a soft hug to prevent hurting the egg. She faltered however when she did that and touched the glass over the pokemon egg.

"What's wrong Vi-"

"This is set to hot!" She cried out in worry. "The eggs going to be barbequed!" I gasped and Violet took the egg case from my arms and set it on the ground before she pressed her fingers against the sides of the glass and shattered it under her strength. She allowed me to pull out the quite warm egg and I gasped at the steam that I saw flowing out of it.

"Oh my Lugia… what just happened?" I cradled the egg in my arms as it cooled down. "I didn't think I hit any wrong buttons…"

"I don't think you did Hon, it looks like it had been accidentally set for a fire type pokemon for over a few hours now." Violet said as she looked at the settings. "The poor thing, I think it'll be alright since the container didn't get too warm, but I wouldn't use this again, even if you did get another glass for it."

"Devices like that make me edgy." I sighed. "I think I'll just carry it in my jacket or something, I don't wanna have to rely on those things again." Violet nodded and threw the container in a near by trashcan and picked up all the glass as well.

"Phew, now that the crisis is over, I'm gonna show you the unknown and dotted languages from both my region and yours." She led me over to a table on the side where she pulled out some charts and pictures and set them all around the table for me to look at. I kept the egg with Cynder as she sat next to me; she would keep her baby sibling warm without getting her too warm with her own body head.

"So are these the charts?" I pointed to two pictures that an image and a letter next to them, or a number.

"Yes, these ones are from both our regions, depending on the ruins you find. I'll start with the dotted one, more commonly and correctly known as braille, but I just like to call it dotted since it makes more sense to me." Violet pulled forward the paper that had colored spots on it in sets of six next to each letter, comma or period. "Besides being an old language, it was also a way of teaching blind people how to read and what not since they couldn't see where they were going. In my region, while we have ruins where there are unknown parts too, it seems that braille takes up most of the old language there. Or at least from what I've seen in my time being there."

"So you can translate this stuff?" I questioned her.

"Of course! I've been studying it in my free time for the past three years." She pulled out a couple of the papers and set them down before me so I could see them. There were two different ones, but both of them were written in braille. "Here let me read you the first one:

'Everything has meaning,

Existence has meaning,

Being alive has meaning,

Have dreams,

Use power.'"

I blinked in surprise that the young woman could read such a strange language. I pointed to the slightly longer one. "And what about this one?" She smiled and took hold of the paper before setting it down before me and showing her finger reading the words as she read.

"Let the three glittering stones,

One of red,

One of blue,

One of green,

Connect the past.

Many friends sharing power,

Open a window to a new world that glows,

The next world waits for you."

"It sounds almost like a poem."

"It's somewhat closer to one, or at least, in my opinion I think it is." Violet pushed the papers toward me so I could get a better look at them. "These are the writings that are from my home region on two of the Sevii Islands, just south of the region, but they are governed over by Kanto."

"Okay, now what about this type of language and these pictures?" I pointed to the next alphabet and some other pictures that looked to have been taken in our region.

"Ah, now this is the old language that's from your region. Its call the 'unknown language'. The reason for this is actually because 'unknown' is actually a pokemon, or many of them with different forms."

"How many different forms?"

"Enough to make up the alphabet and a question and exclamation mark. So in total about twenty-eight of them." My jaw dropped.

"Come again?"

"Twenty-eight of them, not joking." She placed a piece of paper before me. "Here's a picture of them all, can you recognize some of the letter shapes?"

"Wow, you weren't kidding." I looked over the sheet that showed all the different types of the twenty-eight unknown and I noticed that all of them seemed to have wide open eyes except for the two symbol ones, the question mark and the exclamation point. "Wait, why are these two looking like they just woke up?"

Violet shrugged. "Who knows? It's just the way they always appear to me; I've never seen another expression. It's the other twenty-six that give me plenty of other expressions."

"Can you translate a couple to me?"

"Of course, I might as well do all four of these at once, there from the temples around here." She pulled over four pages and began to read them.

"Our clan.

Pretend pokemon statues outside.

Our clan.

Energized words in this place.

We humans need to walk with them.

We leave them here.

For the safe of them.

We sense their consciousness.

They hold power.

They reject the outside world."

"That's honestly what it says?"

"I'm not joking Gwyn, use the chart and try to decipher it if you want." Violet handed over all the papers to me and I began to look through them. As soon as some of the words started to match up with what Violet told me, I gave up on it and handed them back.

"Wow, I think my head's spinning from info overload."

"Then let's take a break from this and head to route thirty-two shall we? I'm also intrigued by which pokemon you plan to get there for your team to go with Cynder and possibly this egg when it hatches."

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

True to her word, Violet led me away from the ruins to route thirty-two. It was a very woodsy route with a river that merged to the center of it before it branched off and away from here with a small inlet where fishermen on a bridge over that inlet would try to catch new pokemon, or that day's meals.

"Okay, so now that we're here, is there any type of pokemon in the area that you think you may like?" Violet questioned me once we got to an area that was deep enough into the route.

"I'm not sure, but I'm kinda hopping for a cute pokemon to add to my team, what I'd really like is a mareep, I have a few jackets made from their fluffy wool and its amazing! Plus, they're a really good electric type pokemon to have." I unconsciously felt the jacket I was wearing. It was still soft under my fingers and now it helped me keep the egg and myself warm with my body heat and the heat that my jacket reflected.

"Well, we're in luck then; there are a few mareep nests on this route." Violet tapped her chin as she thought out loud. "And I've passed through here a time or two, if I remember correctly, there was a mareep here a year ago that tended to be pretty strong among electric types and all other pokemon here, but it was a bit stubborn." She grinned back at me. "Of course, it wasn't strong enough to face off against Amber, she fried the poor thing, but it certainly put up a fight until I had to call it quits before the pokemon really hurt itself."

"Hurt itself how?"

"Well, it kept challenging Amber that if we kept battling it for too long, it wouldn't have survived." She sighed and shivered in worry, looking down at her lap while I saw the memories pour in the back of her mind. "It was really a stubborn pokemon, but a strong and loyal one too; it never gave up until we called it quits and said it was the victor just so it would stop trying to battle us and not die of its injuries."

"That is one determined pokemon…"

Violet smiled and looked over at Cynder, who looked back at her in question. "Quil?"

"So is Cynder, she's got a strong will too. And also can be quite the trouble maker when she wants to be." Violet patted the top of my pokemon's head and Cynder willingly leaned into her touch. She squeaked happily as Violet's hand dipped down and under her chin before Cynder was nearly a puddle in her hands.

"So how do we know if this pokemon is still here? Or where to find the mareep?" Violet blinked and her hand faltered while petting Cynder. She whined when she wasn't getting any attention any more and Violet patted her head before she walked toward the grass and called out Amber.

"Like this my dear Gwyn," she turned to her pokemon and nodded to her. Amber produced a multitude of sparks before she cried out and lightning flew up into the air and dark clouds condensed above. I watched them gather in awe, taking over the sky and hiding the sun before I heard movement in the grass. Mareep from all over the area were coming forth, then cowered when they saw Amber, apparently they remembered her from last time.

Violet looked around, none of the mareep caught her eyes until she heard something, and it forced her to look all the way back behind her, she then grinned when she saw a mareep come up and out of the bushes. The one she was looking at seemed to be quite temperamental and sparked on the side of its head and on its tail. The pokemon was a small sheep that had a blue skin color, but light yellow wooly coat, a striped yellow and black tail with a lightly glowing yellow ball on the end of it and strange ears on either side of its head that was also striped yellow and black.

I pulled out my pokedex to learn more about this pokemon I wanted.

Mareep, the wool pokemon. If static electricity builds in its body, its fleece doubles in volume. Touching it will shock you. Its fleece grows continually. In the summer, its fleece is fully shed, but it grows back in a week. Mareep are not commonly seen, but some nests can be found on route thirty-two, forty-two, forty-three and in the Safari Zone in Cianwood City.

"Cool! This pokemon is still here! And it's a male! It'll balance out the genders on my team!" I exclaimed. I looked over at Violet. "Thanks for helping me find it Violet! Can I battle him now to catch him?"

The mareep didn't like hearing that idea. He screeched out and suddenly his fur puffed up and Violet dove toward me and pushed me out of the way in time for a bolt of lighting to barely miss me, but it did hit Violet.

"Uh oh…" I sucked in a breath as I watched the powerful trainer get hit and withstand the attack. I think the mareep realized it too, but a second too late before even he was afraid of Violet. He backed away slightly into the grass; all the other mareep had long since left the area just out of fear of that woman's look.

"Amber, take it down!" The woman's hissing ran shivers up my spine and I made a metal note never to anger this woman. The strong mareep looked worriedly over at the raichu before he was hit with the largest bolt of lighting I'd ever seen in my life. The blast swallowed the pokemon inside and I watched its body and shadow disappear for a moment when the light became too bright.

When I looked back again, I felt sweat drops roll down my face and back in fear as I he lay on the ground, covered in a black coat of shock. Violet huffed at the pokemon before she turned on her heels and sat upon the rock that was conveniently sitting there by the river.

I nervously laughed. "Thanks Violet…"

HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch

It was later in the afternoon and I'd finally washed all the burnt bits and pieces out of my mareep's coat. Yes, during the short time where Violet was huffy at him for electrocuting her, I'd caught him and he easily warmed up to me and Cynder, but still had a rivalry with Violet and Amber. He would spark the electric mouse pokemon on occasion until she'd had enough and fry him again, though not as badly as the first time. I named him Shocker since he loved to shock people and pokemon. I wouldn't have to worry much about him in a fight, and we'd have all the time in the Union Cave to train and great ready for the next gym.

"There! All done Shocker! Now your wooly coat is all clean again! At least until your next battle that is…" Shocker merely shrugged and curled himself up in my lap next to my egg. Cynder happily joined him there and the two of them, and their baby sibling that had yet to hatch, rested while I talked with Violet.

"Sorry about scaring you earlier Gwyn, I guess I got a little mad." The woman rubbed the back of her head nervously, but didn't say much else.

"Don't worry about it Violet, you just got mad, it happens to a lot of people."

Her face suddenly turned a bit darker. "Not all people Gwyn." She sighed and petted her raichu's head. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I think you and the two boys have a right to know."

"Right to know what? Is something going on that connects me, Aaron and Tristan?" Violet sighed again and I watched as her face twisted with emotions. Worry, it was one of the top ones she felt, the next was anger, and all others soon fell into place after those two, all of them being negative.

"…Team Rocket is after the three of you, they're after your pokedex and your pokemon since they're rare and hard to come by." I blinked my eyes at her in surprise and shock. "I found them waiting to ambush Tristan just yesterday while you were having your gym battle and I hit them up for information. Apparently you have some things that may help them, so you're their next targets."

"What? Bu-but why?" I gasped and both my pokemon looked up at me worriedly. They're after me, Tristan and Aaron? But why? Why us? We didn't do anything to them!

Violet saw how worried I looked and shook her head. "You and Aaron may not have made contact with Team Rocket, but Tristan has, they're apart of his past." She looked away from me. "You need to be careful Gwyn, I don't plan on stopping you from doing anything, but this is just a warning to you so you'll be more careful while you travel."

She stood up from her spot and Amber returned herself to her pokeball, leaving only Chalcedony out, who I hadn't noticed until now when he peaked his head out from behind her shoulder. "Be careful Hon, I gotta go and your friend is coming, I can hear him shouting from off in the distance, I'll talk to you later. Though you better decide quick if you want to tell him and Tristan or not about what I told you."

In the next second, she was gone. She literally vanished into the trees; just like Tristan had the night I'd met him. I quickly composed myself and stood up from my spot to see Aaron join me with a large grin on his face.

"I beat the gym leader Gwyn!" Aaron proudly pulled out his case and showed me his first badge. "And Kakuna evolved into a beedrill!"

"That's great to hear," I complimented him and pushed my feelings of worry to the back of my mind. "And I caught a mareep today, his name's Shocker; and Professor Elm entrusted me with the egg we got from Mr. Pokѐmon."

"Nice!" He punched my arm and then took my hand in his and hurried us to the pokemon center that was just a short way up the path. "Come on Gwyn, I can hear the food calling for me!"

"I'm coming! Slow down and stop dragging me!" Regardless, I let him pull me as some of my earlier thoughts came to the front of my mind now while Aaron relentlessly ranted.

Why me? There's so many other people out there, so why Aaron, Tristan and me? What does Team Rocket really want?

Witch's Note:

And another chapter bites the dust! I'm shocked I got so many done in such a short time (though you guys never really noticed since I update weekly) but I got three chapters done over vacation! This one took me only a day! (Which thankfully I had off…)

Okay, so now we have two new pokemon for Gwyn, even if one she can't use or give a name to yet, but we'll get there. And these next chapters will be mostly with Aaron at her side now, so we can see more of how he acts around her! (Better pay attention!) So now my wonderful reviews and readers, if you would be so kind as to Review and send in Questions for me, I'd be greatly appreciative!

Love you all and see you next week with another wonderful chapter!

Halloween Witch