Chapter 4: A Maiden's Voyage and a New Stalker Phenomenon (Part 2)
PDA Information: Freedom and Duty Alliance of the Zone
Since 2011, tensions between Freedom and Duty have been intense in the Zone and by 2012, tensions between the two sides have been resolved since the deactivation of the Brain Scorcher and the battle of Pripyat. Both sides suffered major losses and were dealing with the rise of bandits and mutants as the center of the Zone was opened. After some intense negotiations, they settled a peace agreement and began coordinating their forces and resources to fight against the bandits and mutants. Since then the alliance has been solidified and has become a major force in the Zone besides the Ukrainian Military.
Sinnoh Region
Twinleaf Town
Jacob POV
Light shone in Jacob's face as he groaned, waking up from the spare bedroom Johanna lent to him. Rubbing his face to feel himself more awake, he then removes the sheets and blankets off of him and turns to the edge of the bed in a sitting position.
"Today is the day…" Jacob yawned as he got up and started getting changed into his Stalker suit.
"Episode one begins."
Looking at a mirror that is in the guest room. Jacob at himself, his scar on his right cheek is there, slightly faded. "That fucking Snork…"
He remembers about entering a basement in Pripyat and encountering a swarm of mutant Snorks. And a lucky one managed to scratch his face but he responded with a blast from his SPAS-12.
He shook his head removing those thoughts. Heading down stairs, he sees Johanna and Dawn at the table with him seeing Dawn having daydreams about which starter Pokémon she is going to pick.
Knowing Dawn, as she is going to pick Piplup, Jacob kept quiet about it. Though he thought of getting his own Pokémon, he thought of just buying a few Pokéballs and catching some around here. But he didn't expect it when Johanna turned to him and spoke about the topic.
"Jacob, I have a chance to talk to Professor Rowan about getting a spot for you to get your starter." Johanna said as she was petting her Glameow.
His eyes widened a bit as he didn't expect that Johanna would do this for him. "Johanna… you don't have to do that… I could just get some Pokéballs and catch some of my own."
She just shook her head and smiled. "Consider this as thanks for teaching Dawn about enduring the outdoors."
"Mom…" Dawn muttered in embarrassment.
"Thought you should have this. Consider this as thanks for letting me stay." Jacob then brought out his wallet and grabbed a good stack of Pokédollars and placed it on the table in front of Johanna.
"J-Jacob!?" Her eyes widened a bit. "You don't have to do that."
"I insist and besides, this is also for the hospital bill you paid for me when I entered here and got shot."
"Well… alright then." Johanna agreed to his reason, remembering seeing him with the wounds he had suffered. She didn't know what caused it to happen but with the documentary she watched about firearms when the Stalkers of the Zone arrived.
She figured out why, and it scared her a bit about the world and how dangerous it was where Jacob is from.
Some time later, Jacob is out on the porch waiting for Dawn, remembering that she will bring a suitcase with her until her mother gives her the backpack with what she needs for her journey.
He was checking his PDA when lo and behold Dawn had a large suitcase.
"Dawn… come on, we talked about this." Jacob deadpanned.
"I mean… it's not much." she nervously laughed.
"Girl, you have mostly clothes and jewelry. Your mom might agree with me on this one." After he said that Johanna arrived at the porch with the bag for Dawn.
"He's right, I've already prepared the essentials for you for your journey." Johanna spoke as she handed her daughter the bag.
"Before that, do you still have it?" Jacob asked Dawn, who was confused for a moment before she realized what he meant. She lifted her skirt a bit to see her holster with her Makarov pistol in on her right thigh. She then rummaged through her suitcase and pulled out three magazines and placed them in her bag.
"I placed them there." Dawn said. "Before mom gave me the bag."
"… just be careful Dawn." Johanna spoke softly as she handed her her first contest ribbon.
Some time later Jacob and Dawn arrived at Professor Rowan's lab. After Dawn made a few mistakes of direction with Jacob correcting her as they walked to Sandgem Town, since Dawn decided to leave her bike so she could build stamina thanks to Jacob's survival training. Secretly Jacob was surprised as he knows that Ash's Pikachu will fry her bike after she gets her Piplup. Though they did meet Rowan, and he was surprised to see Jacob as he is a Stalker and also the first person to enter Sinnoh from the anomaly thanks to the other Stalkers who previously asked about his whereabouts as they set up shop and Johanna messaged him about another Trainer wanting a starter.
And like in the anime, when they reached the lab, the assistants lost two of the starter Pokémon, Piplup and Chimchar, and some Starly and Staraptor. Beside Rowan's assistants, there's also a few Ecologists from the Zone.
And one of them was pissed.
"Ty idiot!" The red radiation suited Ecologist spoke angrily in Ukrainian. "The hell is wrong with you?! Why didn't you watch the starters when they were eating?"
"What's going on here?" Rowan spoke out as some of his assistants turned to him with surprise while the Ecologists were doing their work. As the assistants explained what happened, Jacob was staring at the Turtwig as it continued eating.
You know what, he is getting a Turtwig.
"Professor Rowan, I would like to have Turtwig as my starter." Jacob spoke out as Dawn looked surprised as well as the Turtwig as it stopped eating.
"Twig?"
"I also want to help search for the escaped Pokémon." Dawn added.
"I see, maybe Turtwig can help you, now then, I'll give you Turtwig's Pokéball and you two can start your search."
"This is becoming a weird day." A yellow radiation suited Ecologist spoke out.
"From what you told us about the Zone, it's just a small occurrence here in Sinnoh." Rowan commented.
Moments later both Jacob, now with Turtwig with him, and Dawn went out to search for Piplup, Chimchar, and Starly and Staraptor. As they enter the forest, Dawn is curious more about the Zone.
"So Jacob, any interesting stories you have since well.. You might become famous as both here and the Zone considered you as the first person to enter another world, well mine." Dawn asked as Jacob's Turtwig tilted its head. "Twig?"
Jacob looked up in the sky to contemplate what story he's going to tell. "Well there's one time I ended up almost shooting myself by a Controller, a mutant that has psychological control to Stalkers." He shivered a bit at that memory.
"A Controller?" Dawn whispered a bit, Jacob then showed his PDA to her with the image of a Controller. She slightly jumped in shock at the image of a mutated humanoid in rags with a large head. "Man the Zone is terrifying…"
"Piplup!"
Jacob and Dawn knew that it's the cry of Piplup and they soon saw Piplup attacking Chimchar with a bubble beam and then turned its attack on Dawn but luckily she dodged it. Both Jacob and Dawn saw the two starters entered deep into the forest.
And soon they saw Piplup along with some other Pokémon trapped in a web created by Ariados as several spider Pokémon appeared.
"Dawn distract them, I'll cut the web!"
"Right!"
"Turtwig cover Dawn!"
"Twig!"
The Zone
Zaton
Brayden POV
"Since you four are new to the Zone. Well Charon here got used to the wasteland he's from but this one is different." Beard says as he stares at Brayden, Aela, Tali, and Charon.
"Now I'm lending you the equipment that stalkers use until you pay off the debts. Just complete some tasks or sell some artifacts you find in the Zone." Beard pointed to four crates that were guarded by a stalker. "Equipment is yours right there make sure you pay off your debts before leaving Zaton. Good hunting stalkers. Man can't believe I said goodbye to actual game characters." Beard mutters quietly at the end.
Brayden heard the last part Beard whispered but didn't respond to it as he and the others were opening the crates. He already had his AK-47, but it couldn't hurt to have another weapon.
Inside he sees a leather suit, like the one Strelok started with in Shadow of Chornobyl, a Makarov pistol, a double barrel shotgun, few AI-2 med kits, some anti-rad drugs, few rations, and ammunition for the pistol and shotgun. Also there's a PDA, Stalkers most useful phone in the Zone, a flashlight, binoculars, and an Echo detector, used for detecting anomalies. "Hmmm, this should do." Brayden pulls out the suit, eying the details he noted about it and how the material felt, idly the thought of being shot went through his mind.
'Life or death now. Stay alive and get home.' His thoughts shifted to home, worry cripping on his mind of his friends, his family, and his girlfriends. Gabrielle plagued his worries of what she'd be reacting by now, already calling his family to check where he is and checking if anyone had seen him. "What's on your mind Brayden?" Brayden snapped out of his mind and looked up to see Aela looking at him with a curious expression.
"Thinking of home." An understanding formed on Aela's face as she slowly nodded, watching him as he stood up. "I understand, Skyrim is deep in my own thoughts. Do you have family back where you are from?"
"I do, yes. 5 sisters, and 3 brothers, I'm technically the second eldest." Aela's eyes widened and her surprise was shared by Tali overhearing him. "8 siblings?! Keelah, how do you deal with so many?"
"You develop lots of patience Tali. Spent a lot of nights taking care of my little sisters, almost went deaf hearing them cry all night." It also developed Brayden's strong protectiveness as he by all means helped raise each of his sisters with his brothers, a brief memory teaching his second youngest sister boxing appeared in his mind and Aela sensed the feeling that crept in him.
After some minutes of preparation, Brayden, Aela, Tali, and Charon exited out of the Skadovsk and into the open area of Zaton. The swamp area of the Zone is familiar to Brayden, luckily he knows some spots of anomalies to find artifacts. "So… what do we do next to pay back the debt?" Tali asked the group.
"Could kill some bandits, Beard did say there were some groups here. Could loot them off of their money and sell their weapons." Charon spoke as he checked his new AS-VAL rifle.
Brayden feels the grip of his leather gloves before looking ahead, sensing Aela stepping next to him. "A good start for now, but we need to watch ourselves. Something tells me we're going to need to expect even more surprises." If they had all arrived through the portals, then what else did?
Elsewhere
Red Forest
Windhelm
"My lord we found these two near the hold." A guard spoke to Ulfric Stormcloak as the other guard and a Great Khan member held Tin and Broth, the two Stalkers, on their knees. "We confiscated their weapons and they have strange items in their packs."
Ulfric Stormcloak sat on his throne along with Galmar-Stone Fist and the new member Papa Khan, leader of the Khans. "Let them speak, maybe the two can give us intel on where we are."
"Um… Jarl Ulfric…" Tin nervously spoke as he was still wrapping his head around the fact that there are video game characters that are real. "We discovered your hold here as we were leaving the Red Forest which is where you reside. We have no reports of an outpost being set up."
"But you have not answered the Jarl's question, what land are we on." Stone-Fist spoke out.
"You are in Chornobyl, Ukraine." Broth answered.
Papa Khan widened his eyes at the answer, he remembered reading some books about the European states and Chornobyl is located in, he remembered reading a part about some nuclear accident there but it was fixed and continued operating, somewhat, before the Great War. "So you are saying that we are in Ukraine?"
"Yes that is correct." Broth nodded.
"What is this Chornobyl?" Ulfric questioned.
"It was a place once used by what had been the Soviet Union, it became abandoned by them after a mishap with radiation. We're within a dangerous place." Papa Khan had been no expert on the subject, his knowledge limited, but he knew enough to explain as Ulfric placed his hand to his chin in thought.
"Then we must act with further caution." Ulfric then looked at the two Stalkers with new light in his eyes. "And you two, will assist in this." He then nodded to the two guards to cut the bindings off the two Stalkers.
"Um… thank you Jarl Ulfric…" Tin spoke softly, still reeling from seeing video game characters as he rubbed his wrists. "I can radio Barkeep and some Duty to explain your situation."
"Barkeep? Duty?" Papa Kahn spoke with confusion.
"Barkeep is a bar owner and one who gives jobs to us. Duty is a faction of Stalkers whose goal is to contain the Zone and protect the outside world." Broth explains. "I should also add that Stalkers such as the two of us are what you two consider as adventurers and scavengers in Ukraine."
"That means we can hire more of these Stalkers." Ulfric muttered to himself. "Message them, we need more information on the area and other factions."
Sinnoh
"Dawn, you good?" Jacob questioned her as he slid down the slope after her. Like in the episode, Dawn distracted the swarm of Ariados but also Jacob's Turtwig helped. He cut the webbing with his knife freeing Piplup and the other Pokémon, Dawn caught the water type Pokémon as they fled but she slipped and slid down on the slope.
"Yeah… me and my big mouth…" Dawn groans a bit but then Piplup pecks her. "Ow!"
"It's probably hungry."
"Twig!"
Suddenly more Ariados appeared from the trees agitated from Jacob cutting down the webs.
"Shit…"
"Language!" Dawn scolded, but Jacob was thinking something else. " Forget that we got to move!" But soon webs shot around them by the Ariados trapping them.
"Turtwig, get ready to fight again!" Jacob shouted to his grass.
"Turtwig!"
But soon the Ariados used String Shot creating a web caged around them and also Jacob's Turtwig got hit by Poison Sting and Turtwig is hurt from the first encounter with the Ariados. "Turtwig come here!" Jacob shouted but then the Ariados attacked again but this time Piplup defended Turtwig from the attack.
This is where Piplup used Bide and knocked the Ariados away.
"Guess that's the end of that…" Jacob neutrally said.
"Yeah…" Dawn added.
Some time later the two arrive at Lake Verity, Jacob feeling that he can imagine hearing the soundtrack of the theme from Diamond and Pearl. He then brought out his iPhone 5, though a bit banged up from his time at the Zone, it still works fine. He put one earphone in and played the theme.
'Oh yeah this feels accurate…' Jacob thought quietly. And from memory of the series this is where they are going to meet Mesprit.
And like clockwork, the water ripple and appear over the water the translucent Mesprit appeared and soon vanished.
"Wow… did you see that?" Dawn looked in awe about what happened.
"Yep."
Some Time Later…
After some time, Jacob and Dawn returned back to Professor Rowan's lab. There, like the canon, Dawn decided to pick Piplup and Rowan gave her Piplup's Pokéball and a PokéDex and Jacob has a PokéDex as well. But unlike the Sinnoh PokéDex this one is different.
"Professor, what is this?" Dawn asked as she inspected the tablet-like device.
"That is the new Dex PDA." Rowan answered. "Thanks to the Ecologists and Stalkers showing their PDA, I created several of these devices that work with the information gathering of the PokéDex with mapping and communications of a PDA."
"Wow…" Dawn is impressed by it and Jacob is curious about it. "You can connect your old PDA to the Dex PDA." One of the Ecologists said to Jacob. Jacob followed the instructions and seeing the Dex PDA has an adaptive slot so he connected his PDA with a cable and connected it to the Dex PDA, soon his info was connected to the Dex PDA.
"Got it." Jacob put the Dex PDA away and turned to Dawn. "Guess we're set."
"Then good luck to you two." Rowan nodded.
"Good hunting Stalker." The Ecologist scientist spoke to Jacob.
With that the two leave the lab and walk out, but Jacob knows that they will be back soon as he knows that they are going to meet Ash's Pikachu and Ash. But also going to meet Jessie, James, and Meowth. But Jacob knew that while it will be interesting, sooner than later it's going to be annoying.
And being a Stalker, Jacob won't take that bullshit, nostalgic or not.