Author's Note: Even though life has its plans for me, I'm still continuing my story till the end. Thank you to all who are still sticking around to read my stories :D
Ch.2 The Amazing Spider-mon
Welp, after my nighty visit to dreamland, I'm finally awake. I look around my sleeping bag, feeling sweaty, only to notice the sun nearly above me. "Is it noon already...?" I silently murmur.
"Yes, it's freaking noon you sleepyhead!"A voice shouts into my ears, which I nearly jump right out of my sleeping bag...
I quickly check around only to see an annoyed fox to my right. "Damn, Blaze… No need to yell…" I reply defensively.
"Well, I'm not the only one losing patience from your lazy ass," Blaze retorts, "Besides, Vine would have woken you up more painfully compared to what I have thought of, so I expect some sort of gratitude."
As annoyed as I'm getting from Blaze almost making my ears bleed, I would rather choose Blaze blasting my ears over Vine whipping my body until I bruise. "I suppose you have a point…" I begrudgingly agree, "...thanks…"
Blaze immediately perks up, licks my face affectionately, and smugly whispers, "You can easily thank me by grooming my fabulous, fine fur~ Don't you agree?"
Blaze's POV:
"Alright then, let me find the brush," Jamie replies while barely holding back his annoyance.
Despite what many would say, I actually do like having Jamie as a trainer. We may not see eye to eye on everything, but he still knows what he's doing… most of the time. Also, what's wrong with a little sass to push some of his buttons? My favorite is how Jamie is terrified of my ability to curse people should anyone dares to touch my precious tails, and I do everything in my power to freak him out. "Whatcha afraid of Jamie~? A little 1000 year curse or something~?" I tease while Jamie is shivering like a little baby while brushing my tails.
"Seriously Blaze, brushing your furs is as terrifying as diffusing a bomb. You know that…?" Jamie softly squeaks in fear.
"But that's the fun part… hehehehehe," I snicker from his dismay.
Nine minutes later:
"Thanks, Jamie~," I thank Jamie teasingly, "I'm going to see where the girls are now."
"Alright then, I'll come over once we're ready to go," Jamie calls back as I run up route 1.
Jamie's POV:
I heave a deep sigh of relief as I'll continue living my life curse-free from my sinister fox pokemon. Now I must brush my teeth, change into my street clothes, and make my way to Vineguard before he gets more annoyed than Blaze. After said activities, I head off to the now put-out campfire to see Sparkbomb and Chomper chatting while Vine is using my laptop to get a closer map of Castelia City and any important buildings to visit. "Heya Vine, sorry I overslept…" I awkwardly greet him.
"Normally, your late wake-up time would delay our operations, but I manage to use the time to search up some sites to gather intel." Vine replies dryly, "However, do refrain from oversleeping before daytime operations."
"Alright then," I respond, "So, what did you find?"
"There's a major police station in Castelia City where we could investigate Team Plasma's history and current whereabouts," Vine reports, "Also, that's where we must obtain a warrant to search for any info we can get in the Unova News Network headquarter."
"Got it. I presume we could head out once we pack up," I suggest.
"That's right," Vine replies, "I'll initiate the pack up while you gather everyone else here."
"Hey Boss, I saw the rest head off north of our campsite," Sparky points out while lunging slightly to point in a direction.
"Sounds good Sparky," I reply as I run. Alongside route 1 a minute later, I see groups of fainted wild pokemon. I can only assume that my newest team member is trying to gain some fast levels. After a minute of running, I found Blaze and Sky watching my newest member of the team: Ivy battle some wild pokemon. I watch how a patrat attempts to tackle Ivy, but her vine whip attack grabs the rat pokemon, throws it back, and she finishes it with her own tackle.
"Nice work guys, especially you, Ivy," I congratulate, "So, how are things going."
"While you were busy snoozing like a snorlax, we were helping Ivy level up. Like what a trainer is supposed to do…" Blaze sasses.
"I get it, Blaze… No need to rub it in my face…" I retort, "Anyways Ivy, how's the level up going?" Ivy then replies in her language, which I just realize. How inconvenient…
"She's at level ten right now." Sky translates. I make a mental note to look up Ivy's level-up moves later, it seems she learned the move 'vine whip' already. Sky then asks "Are we ready to go now?" I then nod to signal a "yes" to her question.
Ivy then hops onto Sky as she slithers back to camp while Blaze fixes her crimson eyes on the snake duo and back on me. "Hey Jamie, can you also carry me?" She asks with a smirk on her face.
I roll my eyes while responding, "Maybe when you were a little vulpix, but you're a grown-up ninetales…"
"Please…" Blaze urges after leaping into my arms and nuzzling my face.
"Fine…" I relent, "If you behave in the city of course."
"You got it!" Blaze exclaims cheerfully while I run back to camp with a fox in my arms who's fully capable of running, yet prefers to be pampered like some house pet. Goddamnit Blaze...
After another minute of running later, I reach camp with everyone else packing up the remaining things. I check to see that my sleeping bag is away along with my laptop. Then I check the cooler and notice extra berries inside. "Uh, Jamie… You don't mind if I bring along some berries, do you?" Chomper asks, "I even check with Vineguard to make sure they're not poisonous."
"Oh, don't worry. If Vine is cool with them, so am I," I nonchalantly reply. It's a good thing I have a berry expert on hand or we all would have starved. I then look around to find various berry bushes along with a patch of flowers. I giggle to myself at a hilarious moment I had that involved a flower patch.
"Hey Jamie, what's so funny?" Chomper asks with a confused look.
I then turn to face him with a huge grin, "What, you don't remember?" I ask back while holding back laughter, "The time when Sky bumped her flo- AHHHHH!" A light blue appendage rapidly wraps around my waist, yanks me away from Chomper, and slams my back into the dirt. That's when I realize my captor is a pissed-off dragonair staring into my soul with extreme annoyance.
"Say another word and I'll make you eat dirt for breakfast you perverted prick!" Sky glowers.
"H- hey Sky… Uhh… I think I get you... So please don't hurt me…" I calm Sky down with a nervous grin on my face.
"Hmph, that's what I thought…" Sky retorts, still annoyed, as Ivy runs up to Sky and me and appears to be asking what's going on in her language. "Oh, don't worry about him," Sky casually turns around and replies while keeping a firm grip on me, "For as good of a trainer Jamie is… He sometimes acts like a total prick so if he's being annoying to you, just let me know and I'll straighten him out, alright?" Ivy also glowers at me and nods in agreement. If Sky's sudden attitude change didn't freak me out, Ivy's alliance with Sky certainly does.
"If you two are done messing around, I figure that we should get going now to begin our investigation," Vine tiredly informs.
I quickly pry open Sky's coils while she's distracted and I'm back on my feet, ready to go. "Yup, all set Vine," I reply with my thumb up. Then, I grab all my things and recall everyone except Vine and Chomper and we're off to Castelia City.
Once we all make it to the city everyone splits off into multiple groups. Blaze and Sky wish to continue training Ivy in the areas outside the city. Chomper is getting a well-deserved rest in his pokeball. Lastly, Vine and Sparky are accompanying me on visiting key locations. Before we split off, I made sure everyone had their radios to communicate with each group. Today, we will visit the police station near the center of the city to see what they can offer in our investigation, and tomorrow's Tuesday is when we will visit the news channel headquarter.
At the Castelia City police station, I head in with Vine and Sparky. Inside, I see various officers all busy with paperwork and I see a large desk in the center of the room, which I assume is the front desk. However, the work environment feels stale and lacks a single friendly face. I nervously walk up to that desk along with Sparkbomb looking around curiously and Vine's sharp attention fixed on the front desk. "Umm… Hello there…" I anxiously say to the officer managing the desk.
The officer, who appears to be in his 70s, peers up from the desk into my eyes emotionless and dryly asks, "Yes? How can I help you?"
"We came to get a warrant to search the news headquarters," I reply, still feeling tense.
"Name?" the officer asks back without missing a beat.
"It's Jamie…" I reply.
"I'm Sparkbomb or Sparky for short…" Sparky jumps in.
"Name's Vineguard," Vine finishes.
After a few keyboard taps and mouse clicks, the officer responds," So you must be the kid with the talking pokemon from Johto..."
"Um, yes?" I mutter.
"Alright, listen up kid. I don't trust inexperienced youngsters like you so I'm having you stay in the waiting area until Officer Brooks returns, then he'll supervise the Unova News building search. I also don't want to hear any 'if's, 'and's, or 'but's." the officer relentlessly declares coldly with what could swear was a superiority complex.
One minute later:
"Damn, that guy must be fun at parties," Sparky jokes as we take a seat in the waiting area.
"Yeah, what's that guy's problem?" I add.
"Just forget about him," Vine brushes off, but the pitcher plant pokemon's bothered facial expression tells a different story.
"You sure Vine? Are you good?" Sparky asks.
With a sigh, Vine urges, " Yes, I'm fine… Just thinking right now…" I wonder if it has to do with that officer considering how Vineguard's seriousness is sometimes similar to that officer's unfriendly attitude.
After about half an hour, I see an officer about ten years older than me enter the station looking around frantically and when he makes eye contact with my two pokemon and me, he calls out, "You! Are you the kid with the talking pokemon?"
Before I could say a word, Sparkbomb rapidly rolls in front and energetically replies, "Yessir! How can we help you officer?!"
"Thank goodness, I ran into some talking pokemon and I could use your assistance," the unnamed officer exclaims in relief, "Come! There's not much time!"
While I ran out with the officer, I radioed the girls to come over to the police station. "Say, I didn't get a name yet," I attempt to barge in a question.
"It's Brooks, Officer Brooks. And yours?" Brooks hastily answers while locking his attention at the exit door.
"I'm Jamie, and I've got Vineguard and Sparkbomb with me now," I reply. "So what's the job?"
"Team Plasma activity... Near Chargestone Cave..." Brooks responds in between his breath, "Experimenting with… Radio waves…" I worry internally from the Goldenrod Incident and Team Rocket's experimental radio waves buffing up pokemon and how Team Plasma now has access to similar tech.
Once outside, I see Sky fly over with Blaze and Ivy on her back. "What's going on?" Sky asks worriedly.
I then send out Chomper and call out, "Alrighty Officer Brooks, bring us to the location."
"Got it. Come out Braviary!" Brooks commands while calling out his pokemon, "Fly me back to Chargestone Cave."
"Yes, master!" the bird pokemon shouts in human language, which surprises me and confirms my worries. Other than that, Braviary is off carrying Officer Brooks to the location with Chomper and Sky following in the air.
Ten minutes later:
We all land on what Officer Brooks indicates: Route 6, the pathway to Chargestone Cave. As we walk towards the cave, I look around to see a huge, autumn orange forest with what looks like deerlings and sawsbucks if I recall their species' names correctly. I also see a river filled with fish splitting off in two with numerous bridges to continue through the route. We landed close to a building with a blue roof on the route that Officer Brooks explains is the Season Research Lab. Strangely, I see no one today. I wonder if Team Plasma scared off everyone before our arrival. Before I could find anything else, I hear a vaguely familiar ear-piercing screech tearing through my ears and everyone around. "Goddammit! Not again!" I scream against the faint purple radio waves.
After about half a minute, the radio waves are gone and my ears can hear in peace and not in pieces. I look around once more to see everyone barely hanging on until a bold, mid-range feminine voice declares, "What the absolute hell! What on Earth is going on!?"
I and everyone around me turn to face the owner of the voice, who turns out to be Ivy. "Was that you?" I ask uncertainly.
"Well, it's about time you can understand me!" Ivy states impatiently.
"Welp, welcome to the talking pokemon club. Enjoy yourself~," Sparkbomb nonchalantly replies.
"Whatever… Can we continue already...?" Ivy urges.
"Alrighty then. Sparky and Vine, I'll have you scout and report any Plasma activity to us," I suggest, "I recommend making the most out of the surrounding foliage for maximum stealth."
"Hmm, smart," Ivy comments under her breath.
"That's our trainer! Coming up with genius plans," Sky quietly cheers to Ivy.
Sparkbomb's POV:
"Got it, Boss! We're rolling out!" I call out as I swiftly roll into the bushes with Vineguard following behind. As Jamie said, I found various bushes to quickly hide behind. "Easy enough… I don't see a thing so far," I whisper.
"I wouldn't be too sure if I were you," Vine retorts, "Stay sharp."
"How can a ball like me be sharp in the first place…" I smugly joke, which earns me the usual party pooper response from Vine: eye rolls. But before I could say another word, I hear a somewhat loud electrical cackle in the direction of the cave.
Vineguard and I rapidly make our way toward the source and look towards the cave entrance only to find three Team Plasma Grunts in black jumpsuits wrapped up in an electrical net. Next to them is what I presume is the owner of the sound: a galvantula. "Hey Vine, I think that fellow electric type over there strung up those baddies over there," I whisper to Vineguard.
"Makes sense," Vine notes, "These spiders are notorious for their electrically charged webs to ensnare and paralyze their prey." As I continue observing the galvantula doing its thing, I notice a giant hyper beam smashing straight into the electric spider, knocking it several feet away and into a rocky hillside.
I glance over to a glowing ball of energy in the trees and anticipating another hyper beam, I call to Vineguard, "Vine, get the others, fast!" as I roll in between the twitching spider and its attacker at the speed of lightning. Then, before the second hyper beam lands, I put up my mirror coat shield, reflecting the special attack on the attacker.
Once I made sure no one else is attacking, I turn around and nudge the almost fainted galvantula awake. "Hey man… You awake yet?" I ask, unsure of its condition. Soon, I notice an electric spark from the spider as it opens its six eyes one at a time and finally sees me. "Hey, wuddup…" I try speaking to it again "You good? 'Cause, it looks like you took quite a beating…"
"Wha… O- of course… I'm… Alright…" the electric spider replies out of breath in a mid to high male voice which hints towards youth. He then continues, "For the first time… I've finally caught some bad guys… I'll finally show them I'm strong enough…"
I'm confused by what this Galvantula is talking about. This kiddo got some guts if he's willing to challenge Team Plasma, I'll give him that. At the same time, what's he trying to prove, and who exactly. Suddenly, something leaps from the bushes and slaps their arms into my face. I flinch from the fake-out attack before realizing my attacker, or should I say: attackers, are a large purple cat and a maroon meerkat glaring at me with their respective Plasma grunt behind them.
"Liepard! Attack with slash!" one grunt commands.
"And you, Watchhog! Use hyper fang!" the other follows suit.
Before I could start thinking, the two lunge into their attacks while I'm forced to rapidly roll from place to place erratically to dodge this two vs one fight. Even though my kind is known for its incredible speed, it's still exhausting to zigzag past enemy attacks. Whenever I did gain some breathing room, I charge up my electricity to unleash a discharge attack, shocking everything around me. However, that didn't slow them down one bit and I'm back to dodging as if my life depends on it for the next five minutes.
It was only a matter of time until the two corner me against a rocky wall. Each opponent appearing bloodthirsty despite me lacking blood. "Aw shucks… I guess I'll have to bring you guys down with me then," I mention while preparing my explosion attack, but before I could make a move, a giant blast of water comes crashing into the watchog, and a light purple energy beam strikes the liepard. I quickly look around to see the two Plasma grunts wrapped up in Vineguard's vines.
Jamie's POV:
"Nice work Sparkbomb! You've outdone yourself taking on two opponents and rolling circles around them," I praise Sparky, but am also relieved that it came back in one piece.
"We were so worried when Vine said you were fighting all by yourself! You could've gotten hurt badly or worse!" Sky worriedly exclaims.
"C'mon guys, don't be too shocked~ You know should how I roll~," Sparky casually jokes as if he wasn't in danger a few minutes ago. Then, it adds, "More importantly, how's the galvantula?"
"Oh, this guy?" I ask while pointing towards the approaching spider, "I healed him up a minute ago. You ought to thank him for that signal beam attack saving you."
"Nah! It should have been me who should be thanking you Sparky for saving me from that hyper beam." the galvantula asserts.
Tanker, who I switch in for Blaze, barges in, "What's more, this little dude here even said he trapped those no good grunts in that net there." I then point towards the electrical net where Officer Brooks and his braviary examine the captured grunts and call in reinforcements. "I like this guy, this kid's got big dreams to become a champ!" Tanker continues.
"Well, I heard him say something about wanting to prove something," Sparkbomb adds.
"Yeah! I'm tired of living in that cave for the rest of my life doing absolutely nothing," the electric spider complains, "My parents and the elders in my colony keep telling me 'the cave is for our protection' even though I'm capable of protecting myself… somewhat… B- but I'll show them what I can do!" Once the galvantula finishes his rant I see him scurry towards two larger galvantulas who I assume are his parents.
While that's going down, I turn towards Officer Brooks. "So, what's next officer?" I ask.
"Well, it's going to take a specialized team to cut the electric net without risking electrocution," Brooks replies concerned, "Until they arrive, my order is to watch the grunts."
"I'm also on guard," Vine adds while firmly gripping the two grunts in his vines.
Feeling kinda bored, I decided to look back at my team. Sparky is with the galvantula and his parents and I watch the trio of Chomper, Tanker, and Sky converse among themselves… Wait a minute! Five out of six are present! Where's Ivy!? I quickly bring up the question to the trio who then frantically search around. We all have no traces of Ivy's whereabouts until a green whirlwind appears in the distance.
We quickly run past several fainted wild pokemon and shaken trees to a fierce grass snake unleashing several grass twisters at several deerlings. Once she settles down, she turns around and glares at me in annoyance, "Are you finally done with your damn business?! Or are you going to continue ignoring me?!" I recoil in shock, but without batting an eye, she continues ranting, "The only reason I didn't ditch you like the others is that you let everyone do their own thing and here I am, training on my own while you sit on your ass calling yourself a 'trainer'!"
I try to say something, but I was stuck agreeing on how little attention I gave her lately. All I could muster was an apologetic look until Sky slithers past me and calms Ivy down. "H- hey Ivy… I understand if you're mad at Jamie, but I assure you that he does care for you and all of us…" Sky comforts, "Jamie just needs to finish saving all of Unova first and then he'll spend all his time with you."
"Ugh! And just how long will that take!" Ivy growls while grabbing a nearby deerling with her vines and slamming it into the ground in frustration. Suddenly, Ivy starts glowing a bright light. Everyone starts covering their eyes as the light glows brighter until the light fades away, revealing Ivy's new evolution form.
"Nice Ivy! Congrats on the evolution!" Tanker compliments.
"Thanks… I suppose…" She replies dejected, "Look, Jamie… Can you start treating me as a team member from now on?"
I want to say "yes" but before I open my mouth, Sparky rolls up and says," Hey Boss, I've got some big news!" It then leads me over to the entrance of Chargestone Cave where all the grunts are arrested, but most importantly, the galvantula from earlier seems to be finishing up his conversation with his parents.
The father says, "Alright then… Take care, my son,"
The mother says, "Bye sweetie~! Be safe out there,"
"Bye Mom and Dad! I'll visit someday!" the spider pokemon says while waving his pedipalp like a human arm before crawling towards me, "Heya Jamie, I know I should have asked before but… I really wanna join your team! The way you train Sparky fight is so cool and I wanna learn how to fight as good as Sparky here!"
I stand there frozen from flattery. Normally I would receive compliments on how tough Tanker is or how beautiful Blaze is, but for once, I finally hear someone praise Sparky of all my pokemon. I happily place a pokeball in front of the galvantula. "How can I say no to an enthusiastic being like you? I'll gladly bring you along our travels," I warmly welcome the electric spider to the team. Without hesitating, he scurries straight into the pokeball where the capture process occurs. After three shakes, the ball settles and I tuck the ball into my backpack. "Welcome to the team… err…!" I thought to myself until realizing I didn't give him a nickname yet.
While I quickly think of one, Officer Brooks walks up to me and thanks me for my efforts, "Good work Jamie, I see now what made you so famous back in Johto. Anyways, we should head back to Castelia City now. The other officers will handle everything here."
I notice the evening sky and quickly nod in response and recall everyone back to their pokeballs except for Chomper.
"Alright, Braviary! Let's fly!" Brooks commands.
"Ready to fly Master!" Braviary shouts as it proudly flaps its wings once more.
"I'm also ready Jamie," Chomper adds.
"Cool, let's head out," I reply.
Three hours later:
At long last, we finally obtain some information regarding Team Plasma's superweapon: the Plasma Frigate. After obtaining the intel, I visit the local supermarket with Vineguard to refill on food and review all the intel I manage to obtain. There was footage of a hundred grunts raiding the city with a guy named "Zingolin" in charge of the ground invasion to obtain an object known as the DNA splicer. Then, the footage shows a giant freeze ray opening up in the bottom of the flying ship, blasting Opelucid City into its icy tomb. On the sides of the ship, I see solar panels which wonder if they're enough to supply the whole ship with power, let alone that giant freeze ray. I can only presume that the sails alone aren't enough to propel the ship and the actual engines are located in the rear. The news network employees mention a professor being the "captain" of the ship. There were also rumors of a former leader of Team Plasma I could get info from, therefore, there are technically three leaders I must go after, but two out of the three are active threats. Once Vine and I finish our grocery shopping, we head off to the pokemon center.
While waiting in the Castelia Pokemon Center, I look at the clock which shows a little after 9:00 pm and I hear a tune play from the front desk which indicates my pokemon are all healed up… or rather, just Sparky and Galvantula from our earlier skirmish with Team Plasma. I take the two pokeballs, thank Nurse Joy, and send them out to meet with the other four: Tanker, Vineguard, Ivy, and Sky. It's then that Sparky proposes, "Hey guys, wanna rent a room? I'm honestly too tired to set up a campsite." Everyone agrees and I check to see if a room is open, which happens to be the case. Maybe I ought to thank Team Plasma for scaring off any potential tourists.
Once everyone is in our newly rented room, I open up my cooler and present the newly acquired berries for tonight's dinner. I also call Ivy and Galvantula over as I pull out my pokedex. First, I scan Ivy with my pokedex which shows the three evolution stages she will follow. She's currently in her servine stage at level 17 and will need to level up to level 36 to fully evolve into a serperior. Her current moves are leaf tornado, growth, wrap, and vine whip. As for Galvantula, the pokedex indicates his level at 36, nature as "hasty", moves are electro web, slash, electro ball, and signal beam.
"Hey Boss, I think I know a great name for our new spider friend," Sparkbomb says as it rolls up to us, "How about: 'Galvin'?"
"I presume that name is a pun since you're a fan of them…" I reply, not surprised. However, just combining the word "galvanism" and the name "Alvin" is honestly not as creative as I wanted, but I'll still go with it. "Welp, I can't think of anything better so… How about it, Galvin?" I propose.
"Love it! I'll take any name you guys come up with!" Galvin enthusiastically nods in agreement.
"Are you seriously that excited over a name?" Ivy asks confused and slightly annoyed.
"Anything to feel closer to the team," Galvin responds, oblivious to Ivy's expression and full of high spirits.
"That's right Galvin! Just stick with us and you'll be an amazing spider-mon in no time!" Sparky cheers.
When Ivy and Galvin head back to continue raiding my cooler, Sparky lingers, appearing worried about something. "Something the matter Sparky?" I ask, concerned.
Sparkbomb tries with all his might to force his signature smug smile, but I could still see distress within his beady eyes. "Umm… Well… You've got yourself another electric type… So... What's going to happen to me now… Who even wants pokemon like me..." it sputters.
I heave a sigh, then place my hand on Sparky's "forehead" with a hopeful smile and state, "No matter how lowly the outside world views you, I will always save a spot on this team for you to reach your full potential. New teammates just mean more friends to support you."
Sparkbomb's smile slowly turns from forced to also hopeful. "...Thanks, Boss…" Sparky thanks.
"Anytime," I reply without missing a beat.