Book 1: Orre is a bit fast-paced and to the point I think, but that's because it mainly serves as a base/origin story for Amira. Things will really kick off after she moves on from Orre. I also have a plan for an all original plot at the end of this series that gets pretty intense (whenever that'll be). Depending on how many more Pokemon games they keep making, I might bring it in before the "end." It's like the never-ending story, man. Oof, but I can't wait to start writing the stuff for Johto! Let's consider Book 1 to be an origin/practice/rough-draft. Oh, and the talking to Pokemon thing... I actually came up with Amira and that ability of hers a really long time ago. Long before Black and White came out with N. Whoops. His ability is different though.


In the morning, Benny told Amira to pack more clothes, just as she had told him to remind her to do. She gathered up more undergarments, night clothes, and socks and used the cube to store them away. She found the cube to be a fascinating and fun thing to use. At some point, as she was playing with it too much, a blocky creature suddenly popped out from it. Having been told that living things could not be stored in it, Amira was startled by the creature's appearance until she recognized the pink and blue thing as a Pokémon called Porygon. Porygon, from what she had been told of them, were artificially created by scientists. They were alive but did not need to breathe, eat, or drink. Most remarkable of all about them was their ability to travel through cyberspace.

"Um, hello?"

The Porygon turned its head to look at her. "USER 0742-A," it said in a very computery voice.

"Uh, you can just call me Amira."

"CORRECTION. AMIRA. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM UNNECESSARY USE OF YOUR STORAGE CUBE. HAVING TO TRANSPORT SO MANY ITEMS BACK-TO-BACK IS… TIRING."

"Oh! Uh, I'm sorry! Aidan told me that Porygon were used to make this thing, but I didn't think he meant they were inside of it! I'll stop playing with it, I promise. I just need to store some more traveling stuff, if that's okay?"

"THANK YOU. YES. AFFIRMATIVE. CARRY ON." With a weird blink, the Porygon had zipped back into the cube.

Amira stared at it for a while before looking at Benny. "Well, that was weird."

Upon arriving in Pyrite, a young lady ran past them with a man carrying a large camera running after her. "Marcia! Wait for me!"

Amira exchanged a shrug with Benny and continued into the town. Pyrite was located in a craggy area, resting on a flat space above a deep fissure in the rock. The buildings and structures were made of rusty scrap metal put together in a shabby way, and the people were – in true Orre fashion – real rough customers. Though the people were prone to getting into scraps in the street, whether it was with Pokémon or their fists, things were kept relatively in order by the local law enforcement. Interestingly, the headquarters of ONBS was located here, in a white building that looked very nice and out of place surrounded by the rest of the town.

Upon turning a corner, Amira spotted a police officer stopping two young men. "All right then what have we here? If it isn't Trudly and Folly! What do you think you're up to?"

"Up to?" the one wearing a strange cap and red sunglasses spoke first. "You've got it all wrong. We're here to do some shopping, that's all."

"Don't you lie to me! I know about the likes of you! You're up to no good I bet."

"Cut us some slack Officer Johnson. We've had a change of heart."

"No, no! That doesn't wash with me! I won't have you lot walking around the streets like you own the place!"

"Tch! Pompous oaf! Folly, the man won't listen to reason. Let's get out of here." They ran off.

The officer placed his hands on his hips and shook his head. "Oh, hey there girl. New in town, eh?"

Amira nodded. "I'm here to visit ONBS. My name is Amira, by the way."

"Officer Johnson, at your service."

"Who were those two guys?"

"Those two that just ran off? They're named Trudly and Folly. They once belonged to Cipher but just as mere grunts. Back in those days, they wreaked havoc as if they owned the place. But I put them straight! I cut quite the dashing figure, don't I?"

"Uh, sure! Well, it was nice meeting you. Come on Benny, I see the ONBS building."

Benny stared at Officer Johnson as they passed.

When they entered the building, they were greeted by a young lady at the counter. "Welcome to ONBS! All visitors are free to wander the building and see our network in operation. My name is Megg. Glad to meet you! This Shroomish is my friend. Isn't he cute?" The Shroomish on the counter greeted them happily.

"Hi there," Amira said with a smile. "I'm Amira. This is my friend, Benny." Benny jumped up to meet the Shroomish. "We came from the Pokémon HQ Lab to meet with Nett. Is he around?"

"Oh yes! He's in his office up on the roof. You can go ahead."

"Thanks. Come on, Benny!"

He hopped down from the counter and followed her. They passed a few rooms where they saw cameramen filming news broadcasts and even entertainment shows as they made their way up to the roof. At the top, they found a room where two young men were. The one at the computer glanced over at her as she entered. "Hello. You're Amira, right? I've been expecting you. I'm Nett, and this is Bitt. Let's not waste any time and take a look at that data ROM."

Assuming that Krane had sent word of her arrival, Amira handed him the data ROM.

"I've deciphered something similar once. Brings back memories. It'll take some time, so can you wait while I work on it?"

"Sure."

"Hey, Nett," Bitt said. "Our news team should be out visiting Duking at one of his Pokéspots to file a story about wild Pokémon appearing. Why not have her go check it out?"

"Wild Pokémon?" Amira echoed.

Nett nodded. "Yes. Apparently, Duking has found places where wild Pokémon are beginning to appear in Orre. Here. Let me get your number and I'll contact you as soon as I figure anything out in regards to this ROM."

After giving him her contact information, Amira left. Outside, they spotted Trudly and Folly around the corner. Folly, the one with a yellow and orange mohawk of sorts and sleeveless shirt fixed his blue sunglasses. "Hey, don't you think it's too tough for us to pull anything in this town? Our faces are too well-known here."

"Yeah, I hear you," Trudly replied. "If we don't hurry, the boss will get impatient and come looking for us himself."

Folly chuckled. "Don't worry about that. I went and snuck a transmitter on the boss. We can see where he is by checking this radar."

"Way to go, Folly!"

A buzzing sound went off and Folly pulled out a device. "Looks like we got an email."

Trudly leaned over to look. "Gah! It's from the boss! Damn it all! He must be fuming! He might dock us dinner again."

"Tch! So much for this radar. It's useless if the boss is just going to page us!"

Amira noticed her Banette sneaking over to them. They were facing the other way and had not noticed her and Benny. Benny snuck up close and jumped up, shouting at them. With a startled shout, the two practically fell over each other in their escape. Amira walked over to her snickering Pokémon and picked him up. "You Ghost-types sure love scaring people."

"It's fun! You should try it."

She chuckled.

After mounting her scooter, they left for the area that Bitt had shown her on her map and came to a sandy canyon where they found a cameraman filming a lady with a large burly man with a mustache.

"Hello," the lady said to the camera. "It's time for Pofty's fast-break report! We bring you news while it's breaking! Today we're visiting Duking, the discoverer of Pokéspots where wild Pokémon are said to appear."

"Hello, Duking here! Yeah, that's right! For fifteen long and tortuous years I toiled, snatching sleep only grudgingly to find this spot!"

"Fifteen years!? Is that true?"

"Yeah, uh… One shouldn't let details get in the way of the story, right Betty?"

"It's Pofty!"

"All right, let me explain how one goes about attracting wild Pokémon to these spots. Oh, you there! Come over here, lass!"

Amira blinked and walked over.

"You'll be perfect! What's your name?"

"Amira."

"Great! First and above all else you need these: Duking brand Pokésnacks! Here. Now just lay them out here. Yup, like that. Once you do that, just leave the area and, eventually, a wild Pokémon will come along. This is also important: my specially made spot monitor."

Amira took the card and looked at it. "What is it?"

"I'm glad you asked! It lets you know what's happening at any Pokéspot wherever you are! Just slot it into your PD*A. Simple! I've found three spots in all. One is to the west of here. The other is harder to find since it's inside a cave. That one's my favorite. Go check them out!"

Amira placed the card into the PD*A as she walked away. It accepted the new application and opened to show three blips on her map. "I guess these are the other spots. Which do you want to see, Benny?"

"The cave!"

"I knew you'd say that. Let's go."

The cave's location was not very far, but finding the entrance was a bit tricky. When they got in, they found it to have a small stream of flowing water that was kept cool in the low light. They also found Trudly and Folly, much to their surprise.

"What do you figure the boss is going to do now?" Folly asked. "I'm tired of this life, man. I need to put down roots somewhere."

"Eh, don't whine. You know what the boss always says. He'll get Team Miror B. together one day and we'll own all the Pokémon in the world."

"Sure… Do you really think we could pull that off?"

Benny jumped out of Amira's arms and ran over, spooking them again.

"Boss?!" Trudly nearly fell over. "Oh, it's just some kid and… aren't you that Banette that spooked us in Pyrite?"

Benny snickered. Amira approached them and picked up her Pokémon. "Uh, sorry. He likes doing that."

Folly was about to say something but the radar in his pocket suddenly went off, startling him. "It's the boss! Miror B.!"

Amira was confused by their frightened looks, but she was even more confused when she turned around. A tall thin man was moonwalking into the chamber and began to dance. He wore a purple jacket but no shirt, the jacket open to expose his torso, matching pants, a yellow scarf, one purple glove on his right hand, black and yellow heeled boots, and sunglasses. Of course, the most noticeable feature about him was the massive red and white afro bouncing atop his head.

"Fuhohoho! Hey my posse! Have you rounded up Pokémon like I wanted? Hm? Stop the music!" He looked down at Amira. "Oh? What's this? Maybe you're just a hood, but maybe you're also one fine Trainer with the goods?"

"Huh?"

"How about you get with it and join my posse?"

"What's a posse?" She exchanged a look with Benny, who shrugged.

Miror B. threw and arm around her shoulders. "Think about it! Be one of us and you'll soon be owning all the Pokémon around the world." He stretched his other arm out and stared up at nothing in particular, a smile on his face.

Amira looked where he was looking. "Um, what are we looking at?"

"Ambitions, child!"

"Er, no thanks." She pulled herself free.

"Fuhohoho! I thought you'd say that. You always had this smell to me, you see, that you would be our enemy."

"Um, why are you rhyming?"

"He does that," Folly told her. "A lot."

Miror B. pointed at her. "How I deal with a threat is to nip it while it's a bud yet. I'll be showing you my power now. Try not to be blown away by a sense of wow! Let the music play!" He spun on his heel, struck a pose, then tossed out two Balls containing a Lombre and a Voltorb.

Amira grabbed a Ball from her cube but stopped. "Where is that music coming from?"

"I like it!" Benny said.

The aura reader reacted to the Voltorb, pulling her attention back to the battle that had just begun. "Benny – Jamie – Go!" She tossed the ball to let out the Flaaffy called Jamie.

"Hooray!" Jamie cheered as he jumped up. "A battle! A battle!"

"Rain Dance!" Miror B. called.

The Lombre spun around on its heel, similar to what its master had done, then shot a blast of water up to the ceiling of the chamber. Rain suddenly began to pour inside.

"Excellent! Now you! Thunder!"

"Crap," Amira said. She knew of this combination from the Battle Sim back at the Lab. Thunder's accuracy was low but went up drastically in the rain. "Benny!"

Benny could not move in time, but Jamie had leapt over to him and took the attack, his electric typing making him take far less damage. "My turn!"

"Right! ThunderShock!"

With a spark around his fleece and the orb on his tail, Jamie let loose a blast of electricity upon the Lombre. It looked stunned and was having trouble moving now.

"Paralyzed! Great hit, Jamie! Benny, go for the Voltorb. Use Psychic!"

With a look from Benny, the Voltorb's body began to glow and lifted from the ground before being thrown at the Lombre. Voltorb, being a volatile static bomb, exploded upon making contact with the paralyzed Lombre. Left dizzy and smoking, the Voltorb rolled away involuntarily while Lombre stumbled around, spun, then fell over. As Miror B. recalled the Lombre, Amira snagged the shadow Voltorb.

"What the -?! You messed up my rhythm! Oh you, you, you! I'm so angry I'm seeing red! Don't you dare think this is over! Just you wait and see! One of these days, with my elegant steps, I'll knock you sideways! Let's go! Escape!" He rushed out of the cave, Trudly and Folly running after him.

"Look, look!" Jamie picked something up from the ground and brought it over.

"Hm? It's that radar they were talking about." Amira took it.

At that moment, her PD*A went off with an email from Nett that read, "Amira! I haven't completed analysis on the data ROM, but I did make a stunning discovery about Cipher's plan. Please come right away to discuss in person."

"Guess we should get back to ONBS. Great battle you guys."

Jamie wiggled and smiled delightedly as he was recalled to his Ball.

When they returned to ONBS, they found Megg's Shroomish looking agitated and stressed. "You guys!" He jumped up and ran over to them. "You have to help! A bunch of strange people suddenly barged in and took Megg hostage!"

"What?!" Amira gasped. "It must be Cipher!"

"They must want that data thingy back," Benny suggested.

The Shroomish jumped up again. "You have to help us! Megg is in danger!"

"Don't worry Shroomish," Amira assured him. "We'll help. Show us the way."

As they followed him through the building and up the stairs, they heard a startled shout from one of the rooms then a thud. Taking a detour to check it out, they found a Cipher peon standing over a young man who had been knocked to the floor by a Duskull. In the corner, a Vulpix was growling at a frightened girl.

"All you had to do was answer our questions," the Cipher member said. "Now look at you."

"Hey!" Amira shouted. The aura reader had reacted to both Duskull and Vulpix. "Picking on people who can't fight back? What a cowardly move."

"Tch. Playing hero? Fine." He pointed at her. "Duskull! Vulpix! Teach this brat a lesson!"

As the Duskull and Vulpix launched attacks, Shroomish scurried out of the way and behind Amira. She covered her face with her arm as she got hit.

"Amira!" Benny shouted.

"I'm fine," she said through clenched teeth. She had been accidentally struck by Pokémon moves before, but the shadow moves were far more painful. Pulling out a Ball, she released the Spheal, Oki. "Water Gun!"

At her command, he blasted water from his mouth at the Vulpix, dealing super-effective damage. As the Duskull made to attack again, Benny jumped in to take the hit before launching a Shadow Ball at it and knocking it backwards.

"Oki – Body Slam!"

The Spheal rolled forward then launched himself, slamming into Vulpix. With a shout, the Vulpix crashed into the wall. Amira snagged it before it could recover then turned to the Duskull. The ghost Pokémon launched a strange shadowy beam that split into two and struck both Oki and Benny at the same time. Benny appeared to take more damage from it and was momentarily stunned, so Amira called out to Oki again. "Aurora Beam!"

With a colorful beam of icy light, Oki knocked the Duskull out of the air. The pink orb of an eye rolled in its sockets, dizzy from the hit. Taking the chance, Amira snagged it. As Benny recovered, he angrily opened the zipper of his mouth and used Screech at the Cipher peon. The man held his hands to his ears to try and block out the horrid sound. With a shout, he rushed out of the room and left.

"And stay out!" Megg's Shroomish shouted.

Benny zipped his mouth back shut and calmed down as Oki rolled over to check on him.

"I didn't expect Cipher to pull such a bold stunt," the young man said as Amira helped him to stand. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. But I'm worried about Nett. They took Megg up to the roof to use as ransom against him."

"Don't worry," she told him. "We're on our way up there now! Oki – back in your Ball for now."

"Right!" He let her recall him into the Ball.

"Come on!" Shroomish called from the door. "To the roof!"

In the room on the roof, they found a burly Cipher man holding Megg tightly by the wrists with one large hand. "Hand over the data ROM!"

"All right!" Nett snapped. "Keep your hands off my sister." He tossed the data ROM over.

"Good boy," the man said with a grin as he caught it. "Oh? Are you maybe thinking it doesn't matter because you've already copied the data on this? Well, don't get your hopes up, kid! I just got the confirmation that we've finished completely scrubbing all the data from your servers!"

"What?!"

He laughed. "Heartbreaking, isn't it?" He roughly let go of Megg.

"Megg!" Shroomish ran over to her.

"Hm?" The man turned to see Amira. "Another runt…" He noticed Benny glaring at him. "So, you actually wanna fight, huh? Sure. I've got some time." He tossed a Ball containing a Girafarig and another with a shadow Mawile. "Bring it, kid."

Amira sent out Dante alongside Benny. "Go! Bite! Night Shade!"

While Dante leapt at the Girafarig, Benny made a strange silhouette of himself that struck the Mawile. Mawile appeared hardly fazed and surrounded itself with dark aura before slamming its metal jaw-like horns into him. Benny, having already been worn down from the fight with the Duskull, was instantly out for the count.

"Benny!" Amira ran over to grab him and got out of the way just before the Mawile crashed its horns into the floor where they had been. "Tia! Metal Claw!"

The Teddiursa appeared from her ball and immediately attacked. There was a sound of metal clanging as she slashed at the Mawile, who blocked with its horns.

Amira gritted her teeth. "What is that Pokémon?"

"Amira!" Nett shouted. "Mawile is a Steel-type!"

"Steel?" She looked over at Dante, who was engaged with the Girafarig. As the Girafarig brought down a heavy Stomp, Dante used Bite to grab its leg and pull, causing it to fall to the floor. The Girafarig kicked with its other hooves and swung its head to hit him. "Dante! Faint Attack! Tia! Metal Claw!"

"Strength!" the Cipher man yelled at the Girafarig.

With a furious shout, the Girafarig mustered all of its might and suplexed Dante as his Faint Attack made contact with it. They knocked each other back and fell over. After neither tried to get up, they were both recalled to their respective Pokéballs.

Amira clenched her fist. Dante was the only Fire-type on her current team. She also did not have any Pokémon with moves that were super-effective against the shadow Mawile. The cube was designed to only allow fair play during battles, so it would not allow her to edit her team during a battle, even if that battle was with someone who did not play fair in the first place. As the Mawile took out Tia and Amira recalled the Teddiursa, she thought about what Pokémon were currently registered on her team. Benny, Tia, Dante – all three of which were currently knocked-out. Oki, Jamie, and… She gasped inwardly and pulled out a Ball. Please help me, she thought as she tossed the Ball to let out the shadow Delcatty.

"Delllll!" it cried loudly.

The Cipher peon laughed. "That's what you're going to use to fight my shadow Mawile? Haha!"

"I snagged this Delcatty from your admin, Lovrina."

He nearly choked on his laugh. "W-What?! That's Lovrina's Delcatty?!"

"No. This is Alice. My Delcatty!" The Delcatty's ear twitched and she looked back at Amira with a look of almost surprise. "Alice!" The Delcatty jumped a little at the name. "Shadow Rush!"

Compelled to obey, the Delcatty turned to face Mawile. A shadowy aura surrounded her as she lunged and tackled it harshly. Mawile shouted as it was knocked back for the first time in that fight.

"Tch! Looks like you're serious. Mawile, it's time to go all-out!"

Mawile pushed itself up, flinging its heavy horns back. It clenched its fists and quivered as its aura spiked. Amira was surprised to see the aura reader reacting frantically and displaying several red exclamation points. "Alice!"

Alice braced herself and took the attack head-on, digging her claws into the floor to keep herself from being thrown. Her fur bristled and the aura surrounding her washed red as she snarled and slammed into the Mawile with incredible force.

"Reverse mode!" Amira recognized it from her battle with Lovrina. But Lovrina had indicated that her Delcatty would not enter reverse mode like Dante did. What exactly caused such a bizarre thing to occur? Amira considered it for a moment and determined that it appeared to happen when the Pokémon became worked-up in their emotions. It was caused by severe stress.

Alice and the Mawile exchanged several more blows, each one causing the Delcatty to become increasingly angry and violent. With a frightening growl of a shout, she rammed head-first into the Mawile, lifted it from the ground, and threw it. Mawile crashed into Nett's desk, breaking it and causing Megg to shout in surprise and fear.

"Alice!"

The Delcatty ignored her and charged at the Mawile again. She sunk her teeth into its leg and drug it out of the broken desk then threw it against the wall so hard that it cracked it.

"Get up and do something, you stupid thing!" the Cipher peon shouted at his Mawile.

As Alice charged again, Amira shouted loudly, "ALICE!" With a skid, the Delcatty stopped and whipped her head around to snarl at her. "Stop, Alice! It's over! The battle's over!"

Alice turned to face her, snarling, but after studying her worried expression and recognizing her face, the Delcatty's snarling ceased and her fur began to smooth. The red aura darkened to purple again as it faded from visibility, and Alice suddenly looked very tired.

"It's okay now." Amira recalled her then quickly snagged the unconscious Mawile before the man could recall it.

"I didn't see that coming!" he said. "But I've got what I came for. Adios!" He hurried away as Amira went to check on the others.

"Are you okay?" Nett asked her.

"Those Cipher creeps!" Bitt said. "Not all of the analysis was complete!"

Benny stirred and shook his head a little. "Oof…"

"Benny! I'm sorry I sent you into a battle when you were already hurt."

"Hm? It's okay, Amira." He smiled sleepily.

"We did manage to decrypt some of it," Nett told Amira. "We learned that Cipher was behind the disappearance of that cargo ship, the SS Libra."

"Really?"

He nodded. "There's more. They're planning a major attack on Phenac City."

"Oh no," Megg said. "Marcia's gone off to Phenac! She said something about investigating why the town's communication systems are down."

Nett winced from a pain in his side. "Amira… We couldn't do anything today. Could we ask that you please go to Phenac to inform the mayor about the coming attack? I'm sorry. I know your Pokémon just went through hell, and it's getting late, but this is urgent and you're the only one we have that we can rely on. We do have a healing machine, if it helps."

She nodded. "Don't worry. I'll go as soon as I use that machine and check on them all."

He nodded too. "Thank you. Phenac is east of here. I'll show you on your map."

To be continued…