Jumping Taylor
When trapped in her personal hell, Taylor wanted nothing more than to get out. What if, instead of bugs, her Shard decided to oblige with a power similar to Doormakers? With the power to travel wherever she wants, just what could Taylor learn to make her a Hero?
So, this idea struck me quite out of the blue while I was at work today. If I did continue this idea, I likely wouldn't use this one, but its funny enough that I can't resist. Enjoy!
Chapter 1 (V2)
Taylor Hebert scowled as she glared across the field at her opponent, a towering man who wore nothing but his colourful tattoos on his torso. The fight had been going on for nearly half an hour, her friends were all down except one and her opponent was still going strong. It didn't look good for her.
"Give it up girl," rumbled her opponent, "Your little friend doesn't stand a chance!"
Taylor swallowed. He wasn't wrong. Her opponent was incredibly powerful, enough that he had managed to wipe out most of her friends and her last remaining backup looked so small compared with the Dragon. For a moment, she considered surrendering, but before she could, her friend glanced back. She didn't say anything, but the determined look in her eye and stance was enough. Taylor took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. She'd come this far, there was no way she was going to back down now and disappoint her friends!
"Not a chance!" she shouted, "I'll keep fighting until the end!"
Her opponent raised an eyebrow and snorted.
"Fine, its your funeral," he said and raised an arm.
Both sides tensed, before the battlefield erupted into fire and lightning, scorching the rocky dirt as the two powerful attacks collided and exploded, hiding the battlefield in a cloud of dust. Taylor watched, her heart in her mouth, as the dust began to clear, only for her heart to sink when she saw that Lung was still standing. That was it, she had nothing left.
Then, the Dragon slowly pitched forwards and faceplanted the dirt.
A loud buzzer rang through the arena as the referee held up his hands.
"Lung is unable to battle, the winner of the 2097th Dockland City Gym battle is the challenger, Taylor Hebert!" he shouted.
It took a moment for that to fully sink in, but when it did, Taylors mouth curled up into a mile wide grin.
"WE DID IT!" she whooped.
"PIKA!"
Taylor laughed as she caught her partner as she jumped into her arms, the little Pikachu battered but gleeful. The sound of heavy footsteps drew the young girl out of her glee and she looked up as the Gym Leader, Kenta, approached.
She was tall for her age, but Kenta towered above her by a good head and was broad enough that you could have fit four Taylors in the jeans that were, along with his shoes, the only things he wore. His bare chest was covered in colourful tattoos of all kinds of Fire and Dragon type Pokemon, with an enormous Charizard taking pride of place on his back.
Taylor quickly composed herself as the huge man held up his hands, silencing the crowd.
"Congratulations Miss Hebert," he rumbled, his voice easily audible to everyone in the room, "Your Pokemon are well trained and your talent is clear. It is with great pride that I bestow upon you the Lung Badge and your first pass to the Bet Regions Pokemon League!"
The crowd once again erupted as Taylor accepted the badge and shook hands with the enormous Gym Leader.
"Best of luck kid," he said, much softer, "I'll be watching with great interest. And tell your Dad that I still owe him a drink."
"I will sir," said Taylor, "And thank you."
Kenta nodded and turned, disappearing through the doors that lead deeper into the Gym while Taylor left through the challengers entrance and headed for the locker where she'd left her stuff. However, before she could get to far, she was intercepted by her friends.
"OMG, that was amazing Tay!" gasped Emma Barnes, Taylors oldest friend and aspiring Pokemon Coordinator.
Taylor grinned as she accepted Emma's hug.
"Thanks Em," she said, "I can't believe I actually managed to win though. I honestly thought I was gonna lose a few times."
"But you won," said Emma, "Now we can really get started! Come on, grab your stuff and we can get Amy before we head off to Cauldron City!"
"OK OK, jeeze, whats the rush?" asked Taylor with a grin.
"Theres a competition set to start there in a week I want to catch and its also where Canary is based," said Emma, "If you can beat her, I can get an autograph!"
Taylor rolled her eyes as she spun the dial on the locker she'd used to stash her bag. As much as she admired all of Gym Leaders, her friend was obsessed with Canary, although considering the woman was both an accomplished Gym leader and a multiple time winner of the Bet Grand Festival, it wasn't entirely unwarranted.
The locker clicked and she opened the door, only to be forced to jump back as a filth covered girl came toppling out, along with a large quantity of stinking rubbish.
In a place far away, yet oh so close, a great beings eyes opened as it sensed something intrude on its world. Arceus lifted its head and glared across space and time, already charging up its power to vaporise the parasite that dared to intrude upon its world. However, before it unleashed its Judgment, it paused and took a closer look as something caught its eye.
Had it had them, Arceus' eyebrows would have shot into the stratosphere as it realised that something was...off about this particular parasite. It had seen others like it of course, but none came close to its world anymore after it and its subordinates had obliterated so many duos.
It prodded at the parasite a few times, then reached out and made contact. For a moment, the two remained linked, before Arceus nodded and something passed between them. The parasite sent a message of gratitude, then retreated, leaving a thoughtful Arceus to consider what it had learnt from the interaction.
Taylor groaned as consciousness slowly returned to her. She felt, well, not good to put it mildly, but that was kinda to be expected after getting shoved into a locker full of the worst filth she'd ever seen and left for a day. To be honest, she was surprised she was waking up at all.
Taylor forced her eyes open, only to immediately snap them shut as she was nearly blinded. She could hear someone moving around and muttering to themselves, but ignored it as she slowly opened her eyes again. This time, she was able to let her vision adjust enough that she could look around. As expected, she was in a hospital room, decorated in a soft, pale blue and surrounded by a number of beeping machines. What was not expected was that the person in the room with her wasn't a person at all. Instead, it was a short, bipedal creature with a pink and cream body, baby blue eyes and ears that almost resembled bell shaped flowers, complete with short feelers sticking out that were twitching in apparent annoyance if the muttering was anything to go by. It was also wearing wearing a nurses hat that looked rather out of place on the bizarre creature.
"Oh good, your finally awake," said the creature as it spotted her staring at it.
Taylor tried to speak, but all she managed was a weak cough.
"Don't try to talk," said the creature as it bustled across the room and jabbed a couple of the buttons attached to her bed.
One made the bed move up so Taylor was in a sitting position, while the other didn't seem do anything. The creature turned away for a moment, then returned with a glass of water. It helped Taylor lift her head and slowly let her sip from the glass, ignoring her weak protests. The protests didn't last long though since, bizarre creature or not, the water tasted heavenly and felt wonderful on Taylors parched throat.
"Thank you," she said once the creature pulled away.
It smiled and nodded.
"Your welcome," it said.
Taylor watched it as it turned away and started doing something with the screens that surrounded the bed, its fluffy tail swishing idly as it did
"Um, sorry if this sounds rude, but what are you?" asked Taylor, "Are you a, um, Case 53 I think their called?"
The creature glanced back at her with a slightly confused expression. Exactly how Taylor could tell the expression was confused on a face that wasn't Human in the slightest she didn't know, but she could still tell.
"I'm not sure what a 'Case 53' is, but I'm not one," it said, "I'm an Audino, although how you don't know that I don't know. Actually, why am I bothering to tell you this?"
Taylor frowned.
"Whats an Audino?" she asked, "And whats wrong with telling me anything?"
Audino twitched slightly, its eyes going wide.
"Wait, can you understand me?" it asked, looking rather startled.
"I...yes?" said Taylor, "Is that a problem?"
Before Audino could respond, the door opened and a woman in a pink and white dress and a nurses cap entered. She was rather pretty, with a motherly air, blue eyes and pink hair tied in a pair of loops.
"Oh good, your awake," said the nurse as she accepted a clipboard from the still shocked looking Audino, "How do you feel Dear?"
"I...fine, I guess," said Taylor, doing her best not to stare at the nurses hair colour, "Um...where am I? I...I don't think I'm in Brockton any more…"
The Nurse glanced up.
"This is the Docktown Pokemon Center," she said, "Your from Brocktown? Hmm, thats not that far away, although quite how you got in that locker I don't know. Did you have a run in with a Psychic Type or something?"
Taylor felt her stomach drop at the apparent gibberish coming out of the nurses mouth.
"I...I have no idea what you just said," she said weakly, "I'm...I'm from Brockton Bay, not Brocktown."
The nurse frowned and pulled a phone out of the pocket of her dress.
"Here, have a look at this," she said after a moment's fiddling, handing it to Taylor, revealing that it was showing a map of a country.
A country Taylor didn't recognise at all.
Actually, that wasn't entirely accurate. A closer look revealed that the area shown on the map was a similar shape to the Boston and Brockton Bay area, albeit distorted. However, it was blatantly clear that it wasn't anything close to Earth. She stared numbly at the screen, her mind barely registering what she was seeing. She was aware of the existence of other worlds of course, it would be hard to find someone who wasn't, but she never once thought that she'd find herself on one, especially not one so different from the one she knew.
"I...I don't recognise any of this," she said in a small voice.
The nurse sighed as she took back the phone.
"I was afraid of that," she said, "I can only assume that you are from another world then."
Taylor looked up at her in surprise.
"H-how did you know that?" she asked.
"The Region professor, Professor Ash, is an expert in dimensional physics," said the nurse, "Shes done a lot of research into various dimensional phenomenon from around the world and basically confirmed the existence of other worlds."
She shrugged.
"Her works interesting so I make it a point to keep up with it," she said.
"I...see," said Taylor, "Do...do you think that she could help me get home?"
"It'd be worth asking if nothing else," said the nurse, "I would suggest finding someone to guide you through. The Professor is based out of Cauldron City and the quickest way to get there is through Birdcage Woods. Its usually safe on the paths, but its still infested with wild Pokemon."
"OK," said Taylor softly.
What else could she really say? It wasn't like she had any choice. The nurse apparently picked up on her melancholy and patted her on the back.
"Don't worry, things'll get better," she said, "So long as theres hope, you can do anything."
Taylor snorted softly. Hope wasn't exactly something that was in plentiful supply back home after all. The nurse ignored her cynicism however as she turned around and retrieve something from the cabinet on the wall.
"Your mostly fully recovered after that nap," she said, "In fact, you can go after I've given you this."
She turned around and Taylor eyes went wide when she saw the size of the needle the nurse was holding.
"U-um, whats that for?" she asked, pushing herself back as the nurse advanced on her with a creepily serine smile.
"Oh, just a shot to make sure that there isn't any nasty infections lingering," she said, "Do hold still, I'd hate to hurt you by accident."
Taylor gulped, but before she could try and escape, a pair of strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back down.
"Sorry about this," said the Audino, a slightly exasperated expression on its face, "Nurse Joy means well, but sometimes she can't help but let out...that side of her. Just hold still and we can get this done quickly."
Taylor looked back at Nurse Joy, just as she raised the needle and nearly passed out again from fear.
In the hall outside, a 13 year old girl in travelling clothes and with the iconic pink hair of the Joy family glanced up as the muffled sound of a scream issued through the closed door across from her and pulled a face.
"Jeez Aunty Saya, keep it in the bedroom," she muttered, then went back to her magazine.
A couple of minutes later, the door opened and Nurse Joy emerged, radiant smile on her face and followed by an annoyed looking Audino and the girl who had been treated in the room, who was rubbing her arm and glowering at her aunt.
"Ah, Amelia, your still here," said Nurse Joy, "Good, I was hoping to catch you and your friends."
"We're still waiting for Tay's team to finish resting and the others wanted to make sure that she was OK," said Amelia, nodding at the girl, "Why, do you need us for something?"
"Well, since your next stop is going to be Cauldron City, I was hoping you could take Taylor here with you," said Nurse Joy, "Shes...a little lost and doesn't have any Pokemon."
Amelia frowned.
"I...guess thats fine," she said, "I don't see any reason why not."
"Great, in that case, lets go grab your friends," said Nurse Joy, "Taylors Pokemon should be fully healed by now anyway."
Taylor nearly tripped over her own feet.
There were many things that Taylor would have expected to see in this strange world she found herself in, but this was not one of them. After being introduced to Amelia Joy (who looked strangely familiar, although Taylor couldn't but her finger on why she recognised her), the two pink haired women had led Taylor out into the lobby of the Pokemon Center where she had been introduced to Amelia's friends and travelling companions, Taylor Hebert and Emma Barnes. The fact that Taylor and Emma had alternate versions of themselves wasn't a surprise of course, but the chances of actually meeting her seemed beyond remote and utterly bizarre for both parties.
The two girls were a little younger than their Bet counterparts, maybe about 13, and were both dressed in comfortable clothes that were clearly meant for travelling. Taylor was wearing combat trousers with plenty of pockets, a pair of hiking boots, a white T-shirt with a Pokeball on the front, a blue jacket with a fur-lined hood and a red and white hat that would look very familiar to any fans of a certain show that was extremely popular on Aleph. Emma was dressed similarly, although her shirt was blue with a yellow symbol shaped like a pair of wings on the front and forewent the hat in favour of just tying her hair back.
"Well, this is decidedly weird," said the other Taylor.
"You can say that again," said Emma, "So what are you, a version of Tay from the future?"
Taylor blinked.
"I...no?" she said, "I'm...from a different dimension."
Emma raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Huh, thats cool," she said.
Taylor stared at her.
"Wait, thats it?" she asked.
"Dimensional travel is pretty well established to be a thing," said Amelia, "Not Humans, but there was an incident over in the Alola region where a bunch of creatures came through and started making trouble."
"I...see," said Taylor, "So, um, where is it we're going?"
"Cauldron City, on the other side of Eden woods," said Tay, pulling out her Town Map and pointing out the route, "Its the fastest route with the main road currently out after a bunch of Dugtrio went on the rampage through it and we need to get there in at least a week. Plus, its the best way to go to get in some training."
"Oh, and we can see about catching some more Pokemon!" said Emma, looking rather eager, "I want to try and find a Joltic if I can!"
Tay pulled a face.
"I think I'll avoid getting any Bug types if its all the same to you," she said.
"Awww come on, their cute!" said Emma with a wide grin, "Sides, my Vivillon really likes you!"
Tay shuddered.
"No, not a chance," she said, crossing her arms in front of her, "Keep that damn bug away from me!"
Amelia cleared her throat.
"Alright you two, thats enough," she said, "Need I remind you, we're on something of a schedule and we're burning daylight!"
"Good point, ONWARD!" said Tay, pointing out the doors of the Pokemon Center in the direction of a large, rather ominous forest that could be seen through the buildings.
This world was weird. That was really the only conclusion Taylor could come to as she watched a caterpillar the size of a small dog crawl its way across the path without a care in the world or any of her companions really batting an eye. She still wasn't entirely convinced that this wasn't an extremely vivid dream brought on by a mix of her dying brain and who knows how much poison and nasty diseases she'd been exposed to in the Locker, but considering that it had hurt when she'd tripped over a root and faceplanted in a muddy puddle and her experiences were much to coherent to be a dream, she was slowly coming around to accepting that this was reality. Exactly how she'd ended up here she didn't know, but hopefully the Professor she was going to see would be able to shed some light on it.
That said, she quickly found herself becoming oddly comfortable. The journey through the woods took, according to Amelia, about a week, and in the few days she'd been travelling with them, Taylor found herself warming to her companions and their Pokemon. Despite her experiences at the hands of her Emma, she quickly found that she just couldn't compare the excitable, bug loving red-head to her treacherous friend, any more than she could compare the determined and driven Tay to herself. The two were simply too different.
Then there were the Pokemon. The strange creatures were...strange to Taylor, even more so than you'd think. Thanks to the likes of Nilbog and Bonesaw, the people of Earth Bet had an understandable fear of obviously intelligent and powerful creatures, but Taylor found that she simply couldn't be afraid of any of the Pokemon any of her companions had. She wasn't entirely sure why she could understand them, but the antics of the creatures never failed to make her laugh, especially Emma's Vivillon and its endless quest to get Tay to pet her. While she still wanted to go home, she was slowly becoming more comfortable with the idea of staying here.
After all, compared with Earth Bet, anything was an improvement.
That said, if she did stay here, that meant leaving her Dad alone, something that she wasn't sure she could do. Hell, she didn't even know how he'd react to her being missing for however long she'd be stuck here. The loss of her Mother had hit him even harder than it had hit her, losing Taylor as well would...well, it would destroy him. That was a thought that plagued Taylor whenever she had a moment to think, the idea of what her Father was likely going through back home and the horrible nagging realisation that she couldn't remember the last time she'd told him how much she loved him. The idea that the last thing she could have said to her Father was a grunt of good morning before she left for school was not one that she liked at all. In many ways, it was worse than leaving in anger since that would at least mean they had an actual interaction to hold onto.
It was this realisation three days into their journey that had prompted Taylor to excuse herself and head into the forest a short distance where she could be alone with her feelings. As much as she trusted and liked her companions, the fact remained that she'd known them for less than a week and years of habitually hiding her emotions weren't going to just disappear. Plus, she didn't feel right burdening her ever happy new friends with her angst.
She stopped once she was a distance from the camp and slowly slipped down into a sitting position, staring up at the huge moon as the emotions she'd been holding back for the past few days began to boil over. All the frustration, fear, anger and desperation that came with going through the hell in the locker and getting trapped in this new world came rushing to the surface, propelled by the realisation that she might well never see her Father again and she began to cry.
She managed to keep from screaming, not wanting to disturb her friends or the many, many Pokemon who were likely sleeping nearby, but it was a near thing and required her biting down on her hand hard enough to break the skin and did nothing to stop the ragged sobs that shook her body.
She didn't know how long she cried, but eventually, she ran out of tears and began to calm down. It was only then that she realised that she wasn't alone and that her companion wasn't Human. She jolted back, scrubbing her eyes clear of tears so she could see her unknown companion.
It a small, blue, canine Pokemon with black legs, torso, a blue tail and a ring of yellow around its neck. It had small bumps on the backs of its forepaws and a black mask of fur around its eyes, making its red eyes stand out remarkably well.
"Wha...where did you come from?" gasped Taylor.
The Pokemon tilted its head on one side.
"Over there," it said in a childish, lilting voice, pointing in a vague direction through the trees, "I could feel you from Masters cabin. Your Aura is...so filled with sadness, I couldn't help but come and give you a hug. That always gets Riley to stop crying. Do you need another hug?"
Taylor blinked, not entirely sure what to make of the unexpectedly childish question, but before she could respond, a nearby bush in the direction the Pokemon had indicated in rustled and a small girl who looked about nine emerged. She looked around, a worried expression her face, before she spotted Taylor and her companion and her expression relaxed.
"There you are Riolu!" she said, jogging over and scooping up the little Fighting type, "What have we told you about running away like that?"
"To not to," said Riolu in that mulish tone all scolded children had, "B-but she was crying and felt so sad! I couldn't just leave her!"
"Then at least tell someone your going," said the girl, "You had Teacher and Lucario really worried!"
The Riolu grumbled under its breath as the girl turned to Taylor. She was small, with bright blonde hair that curled naturally into ringlets, despite the blue and black hat she wore and blue eyes. Her attire consisted of a blue and black blazer over a black shirt, the aforementioned hat, a black skirt, black stockings and shoes. She wore a golden necklace with a pendant shaped like three lines connected to a circle.
For a moment, she stared at Taylor with a gaze much to intense to belong to a normal nine year old, before she smiled and held out a hand to Taylor.
"I'm Riley," she said, "Sorry about Riolu, she has a tendency of sticking her nose in when its not wanted."
"Um, I'm Taylor," said Taylor, "A-and its fine. Um, what are you doing out here? I thought these woods were supposed to be dangerous?"
The girl grinned and shook her head.
"Nah, their not that dangerous, not if you're careful" she said, "Sides, I have Riolu to keep me safe."
The little Pokemon puffed up her chest proudly.
"I...see," said Taylor, "That doesn't explain what your doing out here this late though."
"Oh, I live out here," said the girl, "I'm training with my Teacher!"
"Teacher?" asked Taylor.
The girl nodded, but before she could say anything else, the bushes rustled again and a woman and tall, jackal-like Pokemon emerged. She was about average height, with pale skin, black hair that was somewhere between wavy and curly that fell to just below her shoulders. She was rather attractive and was wearing an outfit similar to Riley's, cut for a grown woman rather than a small girl.
"Teacher!" chirped Riley, hopping to her feet, "I found Riolu!"
"So I see," said the woman, not taking her intense gaze of Taylor, "And someone else as well. Care to introduce us Riley?"
"Oh, right," said the small girl, before drawing herself up, "Teacher, this is Taylor, she was the one Riolu sensed earlier. Taylor, this is my teacher, the Bet Regions Aura Guardian and Champion of the League, Fortuna."
Taylors eyes went wide. While she hadn't been in this world long, she'd heard enough stories over the past few days to know just what a big deal the Elite Four were, to say nothing of the Champion. This was rather like running into Eidolon down at the corner shop back home.
"U-um, i-its nice to meet you!" stuttered Taylor as she got to her feet and accepted the hand offered from the Champion.
"Likewise Miss Hebert," said the woman, tightening her grip on Taylors hand as both hands began to glow faintly, "I think we've got a fair amount to discuss."
And with that, I am done! I wanted to get this done on the 23rd so I could post something on my birthday, but I'm half an hour off. Damn it. Eh, not a problem. Anyway, onto the quips!
I'm not entirely pleased with the middle bit where Taylor has her meltdown, but I couldn't get it right. If I do continue this, I'll probably rewrite that, but it'll be fine for now.
So yeah, Arceus and its subordinates have destroyed a few Entities in the past. Considering that Arceus is a LITERAL GOD and his minions can casually manipulate space, time, grant wishes, manipulate Antimatter and more, its not that unbelievable. That said, Taylors power is different enough to prompt it to provide a little something instead of just wiping it out.
In case your interested, Taylors powers are the body of a Pokemon World resident and the ability to use Aura. Her ability to understand Pokemon comes from the latter and if your wondering why the former is a power, just think about some of the things Ash and his friends have survived. Electrocution, getting fried, frozen and so on. Plus, they can survive being around Magcargo, a Pokemon whos body temperature is HOTTER THAN THE SURFACE OF THE SUN! According to the Pokedex, that things body temperature is 18000 degrees fahrenheit, while the sun is a relatively cool 9940 degrees fahrenheit. Nuff said.
In case you can't tell, Amelia is indeed Panacea's alternate. Her Parents are Brocktown's Gym Leader and Nurse Joy. If your interested, the list of people I plan to have as the Gym Leaders and Elite four, along with their types are listed below. Suggestions for improvements are welcome. All for fun of course:
Docktown Gym, Fire: Kenta(Lung), Lung Badge
Cauldron City Gym, Flying: Paige(Canary), Canary Badge
Meditown, Steel: Max(Kaiser), Kaiser Badge
Bostown, Grass: Rey(Blasto), Blasto Badge
Rigtown, Fighting: Hannah(Miss Militia), Militia Badge
Undercity, Psychic: Lisa(Tattletale), Tattletale Badge
Boardwalk City, Normal: Colin(Armsmaster), Armsmaster Badge
Brocktown, Ghost: Marquis(named Harry), Marquis Badge
The Elite Four are:
Psychic: David(Eidolon)
Water: Legend(named Paul)
Rock: Rebecca(Alexandria)
Electric: Hero(named Clark)
Champion: Fortuna(Contessa)
Next point, what to do with the Endbringer alternates. The obvious choice is to have them as the Bet Regions Legendary Trio, but thats to easy. Instead, I like the idea of having them be the Bet Regions STARTERS. However, I'm not good enough at coming up with cool Pokemon designs for that to work, so suggestions welcome. For reference, my current idea has the Starter option as being Water/Fighting for Leviathan, Fire/Rock for Behemoth and Grass/Flying for the Simurgh. I know the last one is a bit iffy, but the actual Simurgh from mythology is tied to fertility, hence, plants. If I go with the Legendary option, they will be Water, Rock and Psychic respectively. I prefer the Starter idea though, just so Taylor can receive one and use it to beat down an actual Endbringer.
And with that, I am done. Considering its nearly one in the morning, not a moment to early. Eh, I'm on holiday at the moment, so it doesn't matter to much. Don't forget to leave a review!