[Pokémon] The Sinnoh Story

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Apr 16, 2015

Hey guys, I've actually been writing this fic for awhile (like 2 years now :P), but I kind of wanted to get it up and running on a forum. Even though I've written plenty ahead, feel free to review and criticize as I will definitely take it to account. I'm going to be updating this weekly, every Thursdays until it (eventually) catches up. Sometimes I'll post two in one day. Enjoy :)

Spoiler: Table of Contents

Arc I: Welcome to Sinnoh

The digital clock turned to 8:00 am as it began to make a buzzing noise near Jared's bed. Jared then rose up all tired and grumpy, and then turned his alarm off and went back to sleep because well…it was 8 in the morning. Even though he was about to get his first Pokémon, Jared valued his sleep.

Anyways, Jared then slept until he naturally woke up at about 10:30, as that was a normal time for a 15 year old to wake up. Why did Jared wait until he was 15 to get his first Pokémon? He didn't, 15 is the youngest age to be allowed to own a Pokémon. Eventually, he got dressed and then headed downstairs.

Bye mom, bye dad!" Jared excitedly told his parents. "I'm going to go get my first Pokémon and then travel this giant region by myself. I will probably not see you for years and neither you two nor I seem to care because that's apparently normal in the Pokémon world. See ya!"

"Bye Jared, which is what's probably going to be our only line in this entire story!" replied Jared's parents at the same time because was it really necessary to hear these unimportant characters talk separately?

Jared then exited his house in Twinleaf because Pokémon journey fic rules dictate that every main character has to start in the same town as the main character in the games. He then took an excited deep breath and read the sign that said 'Twinleaf Town, fresh and free!'

Anyways, Jared looked around town for about 20 minutes for the Pokémon Lab, until he realized that there is no lab in Twinleaf since Diamond and Pearl decides to be different by not having you start in the same town as the lab. That matters, right?

"Ugh...I forgot, the lab is in Sandgem," Jared complained to himself. He then exited the town, and no one stopped him from leaving. I mean seriously, do those people in the games that do that have no lives or something?

After getting severely beat up by many vicious wild Pokémon (he even had to have surgery), Jared finally made it and read the nearby sign.

'Sandgem Town, town of sand!'

Chapter 1: Early Instalment Weirdness

"Thanks for the Chimchar, man!" a young boy thanked an old guy inside a Pokémon lab.

"It's a pleasure," the old man replied sounding grumpy, sounding like he recited that line. "Remember to take care and yada yada yada. You can leave now."

"Alright, dude…." The boy responded as he awkwardly walked out. A few minutes later, Jared ran towards the same building and entered it in a hurry.

"I'm here to get my first Pokémon, bitches!" shouted Jared as he entered the Sandgem Pokémon lab.

"Hmph, watch your manner young man" said an old guy walking up to Jared.

"Ah, I take it you're the Sinnoh professor," responded Jared.

"Yes. The name is Rowan," responded Professor Rowan.

"Wait, so if all the professor names are based off trees, what the hell is a rowan!?" complained Jared, "I mean I've heard of oak, elm, and birch, but seriously...rowan? I mean why couldn't they name you Willow or Maple or something. No one has heard of a rowan!"

"What about Juniper or Syncamore?" responded Professor Rowan, "is Syncamore even a tree anyway!?"

"Okay, there I'll agree with you, "agreed (duh) Jared, "Anyways, another question. Trainers are constantly entering Sinnoh, so how is your lab so empty? I mean wouldn't there be a giant lineup to get a new starter?"

"What's with you and questions?" Rowarn sternly remarked, "Just pick your starter already. You're wasting everyone's time."

"Ugh, fine, Turtwig please," Jared asked, "Chimchar sucks so I refuse to use that, but I do like Piplup. Turtwig is just cooler though," remarked Jared.

"I never asked for you reasoning," Rowan stated. "Just take it and please leave,"

"Alright, fine, you don't need to be so grumpy," Jared responded. Rowan then went to his storage device opened it up taking a Pokéball and handed it to Jared.

"Thanks bro," Jared thanked.

"Please leave," Rowan coldly stated.

"Nah," Jared answered. "I'm gonna wait for another trainer to walk in and take a Pokémon so I can battle him/her and test out my new Pokémon,"

"For the love of Arceus, there are trainers literally situated right outside Sandgem who stand in one place all day and all night and battle new trainers. Go there," Rowan yelled.

"But…I like it here," Jared whined.

"I knew I should have become a PokéTherapist instead of this," mumbled Rowan, "anyways I hope you're going to be here for quite awhile. New trainers don't just pop in out of nowhere..."

At that second, someone then walked in. Nah just kidding, that would be way too expected. Jared sat around harassing Rowan for a few hours, until finally a girl walked in.

"Piplup please," merely stated the girl.

"Here you go, young lady" Rowan said as he gave her a Pokéball. As she was about to leave, Jared jumped forth.

"The name's Jared," Jared stated.

"I asked?" the girl responded.

"No, I just felt like saying it!" Jared gleefully responded.

"So what is it that you want, Jared?" she asked.

"Since we just got our starters, I was wondering if we can take em for a spin and battle!" Jared told her.

The girl looked at him strangely. She had never met such an odd person. I mean sure there were plenty who loved battling, but this guy…just seemed like he had to or he'd explode.

The girl then laughed to herself. "Sure, fine. I'd love to crush you!"

***

Outside the lab (since battling inside is stupid), Jared and the girl have sent out their Turtwig and Piplup.

"Alright Turtwig, let's start things off with a Razor Leaf," Jared stated. Turtwig then nodded as it shot a bunch of leaves towards Piplup.

"Wow, you actually did as I instructed normally," shouted Jared with glee, "usually when I watch Pokémon shows on TV, something always goes wrong when a new trainer orders their first Pokémon to attack. How different!"

"Piplup. Fury Attack to stop the leaves!" yelled the girl. As the leaves came near Piplup, it knocked them all away with its paws.
"Now follow up with a Peck!" shouted the girl.

"Turtwig, use a Rock Smash to stop it!" shouted Jared. Piplup then ran up to Turtwig and began to dive down with its beak, but Turtwig's leg then stuck upwards and began pushing away Piplup's beak. However, Turtwig began to wobble.

"Piplup, keep trying to peck!" shouted the girl.

"Turtwig, fire a Bullet Seed directly at it!" Jared shouted.

"Bide, Piplup!" the girl screamed

As Turtwig was holding Piplup off with its leg, it then shot a Bullet Seed from its mouth straight towards Piplup's stomach as it made Piplup glow brighter red with each hit. After two times shooting at Piplup, it began to shoot a third bullet seed at Piplup, but instead fell to the ground upside down.

"Turtwiii----!" shouted Turtwig as it was struggling to flip.

"Now Piplup, release!" the girl stated.

"Piiii---" said Piplup with temper, "luuuuuup!" Piplup then ran up to the flipped Turtwig and stomped it several times.

"THIS. IS. WHAT. YOU. GET. FOR. BULLET SEEDING ME!' said Piplup. No, Piplup was NOT speaking English. It's just when I wish for you guys to understand what the Pokémon was saying I will merely write it in English. Saves the unescessasry translation brackets. Humans can understand Pokémon too….somehow

"Well seeya," the girl said coldly as she returned her Piplup.

"Deadmau5 sucks!" Jared yelled, "anyway why are you off in such a hurry."

"Sorry man, I gotta get outta here already and get on with my journey," the girl replied.

"Alright, seeya!" Jared told her.

"I thought you just said Deadmau5 sucks," Turtwig wondered.

***

"Well buddy that battle really wiped us out. Before we continue our journey, I think we should stay over at Sandgem's Pokémon Center while you get treated, sound good?" Jared said to his Turtwig.

"Whatever, don't really care either way," Turtwig responded walking along with Jared. They then entered the Pokémon Center, where they saw the girl that they had just battled..

"Wow long time, no see!" Jared said.

"Haha I get it," the girl laughed sarcastically. "it's funny because we just saw each other. You're soooooooo funny!"

"I thought you wanted to get on with your journey," Jared said confused.

"Well maybe I needed to rest first?" she replied with a bitter inflection.

"A girl....staying here!? In the same building as me!?" Jared heard. A boy (who was the same boy from before) then rushed over to the girl. Aren't you sick of these general names?

"Eww…CREEP!" she responded.

"Nah just messin with ya," he answered. "just actin as that's my thing."

"So who are you then?" Jared wondered.

"My name is Will," Will (duh) introduced. "I saw you two battling early and I thought you might make some lovely friends. I'm all alone here."

"Oh my name is Madelyn, but I like to be called Mug," Mug (duh) responded.

"So would you be MADelyn if I didn't call you Mug?" Jared chimed in.

"..." didn't say Will.

Suddenly, everything was quiet for about 5 seconds before Mug punched Jared in the gut. Jared then fell down as Turtwig began blankly staring at his pain.

As Will and Mug laughed at Jared's pain, the three of them began to talk. Will shared how he started off with a Chimchar and he wished to become a Pokémon Trainer, taking on 8 gyms in Sinnoh and entering the league. Jared wanted to become a Pokémon Co-ordinator, obtaining 5 ribbons by winning contests and entering the Grand Festival. And Mug wanted to become both!

"So why don't the three of us travel together?" Jared ended up suggesting.

"Afraid I can't," Mug responded, "since I'm doing both it might be complicated the way I work. Don't wanna slow you guys down!"

"Oh that's so phony," Will responded. "You just wanna get ahead of us!"

"Okay….maybe," Mug responded as she laughed, "well I'm going now. Later!" She then walked out as Will stared at her.

"She'll be a fun little rival…for both of us," Will noted.

"Yeah I suppose," Jared responded. "Got a bit of a weird vibe off her."

"Hmm?" Will responded.

"She seemed nice and stuff, but I felt she was a bit…cold at times," Jared diagnosed.

"Maybe she just doesn't like you," Will observed.

"Probably," Jared answered. "I don't really like her myself."

"So I guess it's just the two of us then," Wil said cheerfully.

"Just the two of us!" Jared answered as he shook Will's hand.

And so, that is the beginning of the story in Sinnoh that was about to unfold. Jared and Will were brought together because of Mug, and they both knew that it was not the last they were going to see her. And definitely not each other, as little did they know, the two of them would be getting in to many adventures together. Many.

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Apr 23, 2015

After deciding to travel together despite being complete strangers (gotta love journey fics!), Will and Jared got acquainted. The next day they began to head out on their quest.

"So what starter did you get?" Jared asked Will as they were leaving Sandgem.

"Hey who says I got a starter? There's more to Sandgem than just starters. It's a beautiful lovely town with so much to see," Will with a serious expression. However, he then beamed a huge smile. "Nah just messing with ya, I got a Chimchar."

"Ugh Chimchar is a terrible Pokémon, you have no taste," Jared stated.

"Hey you take that back! Chimchar is awesome!" Will yelled.

"Nah. However, it's funny how I end up getting a Turtwig, Mug gets a Piplup, while you get a Chimchar," Jared said as he pet Turtwig on the head. Turtwig just kept the same blank expression.

"Yeah it's if some external force influenced that on purpose," Will remarked. "So where are you headed anyway?"

"Well I was thinking I should head to Jubilife City," Jared explained, "it's where I can register in the Sinnoh database that I am a co-ordinator. There's also a contest there that I wanna participate in. YAY exposition!"

"Oh cool," Will stated. "I'm down for that too since it's also where I register for the Pokémon League. YAY exposition!"

"Also let's not forget the fact that it's also the city closest to Sandgem," Turtwig observed, "I mean you'd think that would be the main reason you two would decide to go there…"

"Alright. It should take us awhile though," Jared explained. "There's quite some distance between Sandgem and Jubilife and many wild Pokémon and trainers we're going to encounter. I'm sure we'll spend quite some time during this distance getting into many predicaments and learning many new things along the way."

***

"There, all signed up," Jared said to Will in front of a reception desk.

Chapter 2: Second Episode Introduction

"Hey, do you know when the Jubilife Contest is going to be?" Jared asked the secretary.

"Oh. I'm afraid you just missed it," she responded.

"Really? Aww man, and now I have no clue where the next contest will be," Jared sadly said.

"Ma'am, would you happen to know where the closest Pokémon Gym is? Oreburgh City, right?" Jared asked.

"Actually Canalave City is much closer, but there is a giant block in the middle of the road leading to it, and it will only be gotten rid of sometime way later where its previous presence will not be mentioned. So I guess Oreburgh is the closest accessible city," the secretary stated.

"Alright thanks," Will thanked.

"Well at least you know where you're going," depressingly said Jared. "I guess we'll go to Oreburgh first…" Jared then turned his head and something caught his eye.

"What is it?" Will asked.

"Watch!" Jared said as he pointed at a television screen.

"We now return to the Jubilife contest finals, and it is time for our two competing finalists to duke it out for the ribbon," said the announcer, Marian.

The camera then zoomed out to show the two finalists, one being Mug with a Yanma hovering in front of her.

"Hey, it appears our favourite girl is doing contests. That should give you some fun Jared," Will snarked.

"Heh, she's about to get what she deserves!" Jared remarked.

"What do you mean?" asked Will.

"See that other contestant over there?" Jared said as the clock began ticking down past 5:00. A Ponyta stood in front of the other contestant.

"Yeah, so? Is he good or something?" Will asked as Ponyta ran towards Yanma with a wheel of flames.

"He's not just good; he's one of the best. His name is Gryoine," Jared stated. Yanma's wings then began to flap as it put out the flames around Ponyta. The clock then struck '4:38' as Gryoine's circle bar on the TV screen lowered a bit.

"Gryoine? What kind of stupid name is that?" Will asked.

"It's not his real name; no one knows what it is. He keeps it a secret," Jared answered.

"Real mysterious," Will sarcastically remarked, "So what's so special about him?"

"He's actually the winner of the Johto Grand Festival, and now he's come to Sinnoh to participate. Mug's a rookie, she stands no chance," Jared laughed.

"I don't know, Mug is pretty good..." Will said.

"How would you know?" Jared asked.

"…Good point," Will replied shyly.

The clock hit '3:06' (man these guys must be talking really slow), and they saw Yanma trapped in a Fire Spin as Mug's circle bar was slowly depleting while Gryoine's had about three quarters left. Yanma then began to fly towards the top of the fire spin, but Gryoine smirked as Ponyta bounced up and then began to fall towards Yanma. The Ponyta then smashed into Yanma midair and pushed it towards the fire spin where it was sucked in while Mug's circle bar ran out.

"I knew it," Jared remarked, "serves her right." As Jared and Will began exiting, suddenly another guy ran in.

"Hey pretty thing, can I sign up?" the guy asked the secretary.

"Umm...sure. What's your name?" the secretary asked.

"Travis Williams here. Pokémon League participants beware as I am going to beat you all! YAY EXPOSITION" Travis eagerly shouted.

"Woah woah woah," Will went as he walked up to Travis, "ya think you're going to beat me?"

"Ah another Pokémon trainer I see," laughed Travis, "well yeah I do! Who are you anyway?"

"I'm Will!" Will introduced.

"And I'm Jared!" Jared said as he walked up to Will. "I mean you were obviously going to ask who I am right?"

"Will, since you seem nice I'm gonna warn you to save you the trouble; don't take on the gyms. I'm just going to beat you in the Pokémon League anyways," Travis warned.

"Firstly, there's 256 trainers competing so there's a small chance we are even going to battle, secondly, there's no way you're going to beat me," Will responded.

"Please. I may be new but I have talent baby," Travis stated.

"I'm also new, but my Chimchar will cream you!" Will boasted.

"You're not going to beat me with a Chimchar, it's a terrible Pokémon!" Travis responded.

"See? I told you!" Jared chimed.

"Anyway, our arguing is obviously setting up a Pokémon battle, so let's just get to it already," Will annoyingly complained.

***

"This battle will be a 1 v 1 battle between Will and Travis. Let the battle begin!" Jared reffed.

"Chimchar, you're up!" Jared yelled. He then threw his Pokéball and with a flash of white a Chimchar popped out.

"Torchic, leeeeeeeeeeet's go!" Travis stated. He then threw his Pokéball and a Torchic appeared. Jared then took out his Pokédex he got from registering, however due to massive amount of trainers Sinnoh gets and lack of technological resources, all Pokédexes in Sinnoh are glitched and say completely inaccurate, yet hilarious, things.

"Chimchar, the monkey Pokémon. This Pokémon is like the four hundredth monkey Pokémon, like seriously why are there so many? I mean I guess it's a chimp and not a monkey, but aren't they all the same?" the Pokédex analyzed.

"Torchic, the adorable Pokémon. This thing is like one of the most adorable starters ever. I mean see it, it's sooooo cute" the Pokédex also analyzed.

"Wait, why is your starter a Torchic? Aren't the only starters Turtwig, Piplup, and Chimchar?" Jared asked.

"Oh, I got this from the Littleroot Pokémon Lab. I got my starter there," Travis remarked.

"So why aren't you in the Hoenn League if you came from there?" Will asked.

"Wait...you're telling me this isn't Hoenn? I thought the boat was taking me to a new city!" Travis yelled.

"Wait...actually?" Jared asked.

"Nah just messing. I'm not stupid or anything, that's incredibly one dimensional and a lazy source of comedy." Travis remarked.

"Oh, so why aren't you in Hoenn then?" Jared asked.

"That my friends is a story you'll never know," Travis responded, "anyway Torchic, start things off with a Peck!" Torchic then began to rush towards Chimchar with a glowing beak.

"Chimchar, Dig out of the way!" Jared yelled. Torchic then arrived at Chimchar and as it lunged towards it, Chimchar quickly buried in a hole.

"Torchic, shoot an Ember down the hole!" Travis continued. Torchic then shot many fire sparks down the hole towards Chimchar.

"Chimchar, knock them back with a Fury Swipes!" Jared yelled. Chimchar then began scratching all the embers, knocking them back towards Torchic.

"Torchic use a Quick Attack to avoid!" Travis yelled. As the embers popped out of the hole, Torchic darted out of the way.

"Chimchar, resurface!" Will yelled.

"Torchic use a Rock Smash to quickly jump off the ground!" Travis yelled. Torchic's talons then glowed white as Torchic kicked off the ground.

"Now Quick Attack!" Travis instructed. As Chimchar resurfaced under where Torchic was, Torchic began falling quickly and slammed in to Chinchar.

"Chimchar, Low Kick it away!" Jared yelled. Chimchar slid on the ground and kicked the nearby Torchic away.

"Torchic use an Ember!" Travis shouted. While Torchic was flying backwards, it shot an Ember towards Chimchar.

"Chimchar, block with Ember!" Will commanded. As the fire sparks were about to hit Chimchar, Chimchar's mouth erupted in a blaze as it shot fire sparks creating a small explosion knocking Chimchar back. Torchic then crashed to the ground from the earlier Low Kick. The two fire starters stood up.

"CHIIIIIIIII!" Chimchar yelled as its eyes glowed red and its fire erupted in fire.

"Toooooor!" screamed Torchic as its adorable black eyes turned red and its head and beak lit on fire.

"What's going on with those two?" Turtwig asked.

"Oh, that's their ability known as Blaze. When they get weak, their fire attacks become powered up," Jared explained.

"I wish I could do that," Turtwig wished.

"You can. You have the grass ability equivalent known as Overgrow. When you become weak, your grass moves become more powerful," Jared responded.

"Really?" Turtwig asked.

Yeah. Here, let me show you," Jared responded. He then kicked Turtwig and it fell to the ground. It got up and vines grew from its face and its nails turned to tree roots. The leaf on its head became a flower.

"Cool!" Turtwig shouted.

"Travis it's time to demonstrate how awesome Chimchar is! End this with a Flame Wheel!" Will yelled. Chimchar then started running and it turned in to a massive, thick, wheel of fire.

"Torchic show that you're much better than this terrible monkey by holding it back with an Ember!" Travis responded. As the Flame Wheel headed towards Torchic, the chicken then started shooting massive balls of fire at an incredibly rapid pace pushing the Flame Wheel back.

"Keep pushing Chimchar, you can do it!" Will cheered.

"CHIIIM...CHAR!!!!!" Chimchar yelled as the flame wheel got bigger and went faster.

"Torchic, hold it back!" Travis yelled as the fire balls got even bigger and faster. Chimchar then got closer and closer, and eventually got really close to Torchic. Torchic then shot out a fireball towards the wheel right in front of it causing a massive fiery explosion.

Rediamond · Apr 23, 2015

Hi. I like Sinnoh, so I thought I would check this out.

Anyway, comedy is really hard to do right. It very well might be the hardest genera, which is why I'm shocked that so many newcomers choose to start there. Not saying you're new, but just providing this as a preface to the rest of the review...

You could afford to slow down with the jokes. There's a lot of value to situational humor and irony, which requires setting up a situation. And you can also be funny by being subtle. You don't need to point out why every joke is funny, or even necessarily indicate that it was intended to be a joke. For instance, rather than the Rowan's lab scene you could've just had him sit down, describe the lab, ask what random devices are and get vague or nonsensical replies, maybe have the protagonist make some of the musings himself. There were a few parts in here that I did find amusing, like the "Did I ask" and the lines immediately preceding leaving the house in Twinleaf. But others, especially the "YAY exposition" feel flat because they weren't set up very much and the payoff isn't great. For subtlety that could've had at least a sentence or two of dialogue preceding it. A little introduction and occasional, situational jokes can be a lot better than ten cringe-worthy one-liners for one good payoff. Just take a situation and parody it by showing how ridiculous it would be in real life.

Meta-humor can work, but it normally has to be paired with some more serious elements. i.e., someone knows they're in a game or slowly starts noticing that the world is really screwed up and then gets freaked out about it or something. Tacit acceptance of weird stuff, while fitting in a meta sense, just leads to a lot of one-liners that don't really advance anything and mostly aren't great individually.

Written comedy is a fair bit different than stand-up. You can't just throw things at a wall and see what sticks.

But you did have some good jokes. In addition to the ones mentioned above (which were mostly situation themselves), the kicking Turtwig actually really worked, but that was mostly because it had a follow-up joke where Turtwig was entirely cool with it.

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Apr 23, 2015

Rediamond said:
Hi. I like Sinnoh, so I thought I would check this out.

Anyway, comedy is really hard to do right. It very well might be the hardest genera, which is why I'm shocked that so many newcomers choose to start there. Not saying you're new, but just providing this as a preface to the rest of the review...

You could afford to slow down with the jokes. There's a lot of value to situational humor and irony, which requires setting up a situation. And you can also be funny by being subtle. You don't need to point out why every joke is funny, or even necessarily indicate that it was intended to be a joke. For instance, rather than the Rowan's lab scene you could've just had him sit down, describe the lab, ask what random devices are and get vague or nonsensical replies, maybe have the protagonist make some of the musings himself. There were a few parts in here that I did find amusing, like the "Did I ask" and the lines immediately preceding leaving the house in Twinleaf. But others, especially the "YAY exposition" feel flat because they weren't set up very much and the payoff isn't great. For subtlety that could've had at least a sentence or two of dialogue preceding it. A little introduction and occasional, situational jokes can be a lot better than ten cringe-worthy one-liners for one good payoff. Just take a situation and parody it by showing how ridiculous it would be in real life.

Meta-humor can work, but it normally has to be paired with some more serious elements. i.e., someone knows they're in a game or slowly starts noticing that the world is really screwed up and then gets freaked out about it or something. Tacit acceptance of weird stuff, while fitting in a meta sense, just leads to a lot of one-liners that don't really advance anything and mostly aren't great individually.

Written comedy is a fair bit different than stand-up. You can't just throw things at a wall and see what sticks.

But you did have some good jokes. In addition to the ones mentioned above (which were mostly situation themselves), the kicking Turtwig actually really worked, but that was mostly because it had a follow-up joke where Turtwig was entirely cool with it.

Firstly, I would just like to say thanks so much for the review, it's really appreciated. Secondly, these chapters were written way back in 2013, and I wholeheartedly agree with the "too in your face" kinda humour which I do improve on coming up in future chapters. I did do a few rewrites to the first two chapters a couple months ago, but I kept most of it the same in order to not violate continuity and still watch myself grow as a writer (sometimes I like to make callbacks to earlier jokes, even if I didn't find them funny as a way to improve them). But I promise you, if you enjoy the story now just wait to see how much it gets better.

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Apr 30, 2015

"Travis it's time to demonstrate how awesome Chimchar is! End this with a Flame Wheel!" Will yelled. Chimchar then started running and it turned in to a massive, thick, wheel of fire.

"Torchic show that you're much better than this terrible monkey by holding it back with an Ember!" Travis responded. As the Flame Wheel headed towards Torchic, the chicken then started shooting massive balls of fire at an incredibly rapid pace pushing the Flame Wheel back.

"Keep pushing Chimchar, you can do it!" Will cheered.

"CHIIIM...CHAR!!!!!" Chimchar yelled as the flame wheel got bigger and went faster.

"Torchic, hold it back!" Travis yelled as the fire balls got even bigger and faster. Chimchar then got closer and closer, and eventually got really close to Torchic. Torchic then shot out a fireball towards the wheel right in front of it causing a massive fiery explosion. Smoke then spread across the battlefield, causing Will and Travis to be unable to see their Pokémon.

"Oh come on!" yelled Jared from the sidelines.

"What's the matter, Jared?" asked his Turtwig.

"I know how this works," Jared answered. "Whenever two Pokémon collide in an epic fashion and cause smoke, they're both usually still conscious when it clears, bringing it to a drawn out endurance battle. Expect to be here for a good while; we aren't going to move on any time soon. Just more battling."

The smoke then cleared with a bruised yet conscious Chimchar panting over an unconscious Torchic.

"...Oh," said Jared.

Chapter 3: No More Clowning Around

"Heh I guess that proves that Chimchar is more awesome than Torchic," bragged Will at the Pokémon Center where Jared and Travis were waiting for their Pokémon to be healed.

"Well obviously, Chimchar has all those cool fighting-typed attacks, while Torchic really only has Peck. But once both our Pokémon evolve, my Pokémon will get so much more awesome. It's in the long run man!" replied Travis.

Will, Travis, Jared, your Pokémon are now fully healed!" called out Nurse Joy. Will, Travis, and Jared then walked up to the counter where Nurse Joy gave Will and Travis each a Pokéball.

"Excellent, thanks Nurse Joy!" thanked Jared as he took his Pokéball.

"Uhh Jared, you didn't need to heal your Pokémon," commented Travis.

"Yeah but I just want to be a part of things, okay!?!?!??" replied Jared.

The group then turned around and began to walk out, when suddenly the doors opened and Mug entered.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllo. You're an attractive girl that likes Pokémon...attractive girl + Pokémon...ASDFGHJL!" screamed Travis.

"Travis calm your hormones," Jared stated the phrase that applies PERFECTLY here. "This world revolves around Pokémon, of course everyone is going to be into Pokémon. It's really no big deal. And she's just a human being, not like a goddess or anything. You're really overreacting."

"Someone is just mad I beat him," quietly remarked Mug.

"Hah, you think I'm mad about my defeat? What about you, you lost on NATIONAL TELEVISION," screamed Jared.

"Mug, Jared, calm down. You're both really cool people, you gotta settle things," Will dictated while Travis creepily stared at her.

"Just out of my way," bitterly told Mug as she walked away to the counter.

"Sorry it took so long. Your Yanma took a serious beating," remarked Nurse Joy as she handed Mug a Pokéball.

"Did you hear that Mug? SERIOUS BEATING. You lost, you suck! Hahahahahaha!" taunted Jared.

"Jared I know you don't like this girl, but you got to calm down," Will told him.

"Hmph thanks but I can handle myself," Mug yelled.

"No one should have to handle themselves," Will responded.

"Yeah well...I do. And I'm good at it," yelled Mug. With an angry face she then walked away and left the Pokémon Center, but that angry face soon turned in to a sad face like this :(.

"Oh Yanma, I'm so inexperienced. I'll never be able to stand up to people like Gryoine," Mug told her Pokéball.

"Maybe I can be of assistance," said a voice. Mug then turned around to see Gryoine.

Back at the Pokémon Center, Jared and Will were walking over to Travis, who was lying on the floor drooling.

"C'mon man, by doing stuff like this is the reason why she hates you. You have to give her some slack," Will lectured Jared.

"Why should I? She's so cold and unemotional," responded Jared.

"Just give people breaks. There's more to it than meets the eye. Mug is a good girl," reassured Jared.

"Whatever you say. Travis get up," Jared stated.

"Wah? Is Mug still here?" Travis asked.

"No. Now let's go," Will replied.

"Wait, I'm going with you guys?" Travis asked.

"Yeah why not? We're both gym battlers, let's go to Oreburgh together," suggested Will.

"Alright sounds good to me, now let's get outta here," Travis replied. The three then exited the Pokémon Center and began to head towards the center of the city. They then passed a sign that read 'Jubilife City, the city of joy'.

"Yknow for us going on a journey I'm surprised we haven't gotten into any wacky situations yet. All it's been is boring battles and preparations," remarked Jared.

"You do know by saying that it means that we're going to get in to something like that, right?" responded Will. Suddenly a man then came rushing up and crashed into Will, knocking him to the ground.

"Ugh why do I get the feeling that's going to be happening a lot?" cried Will as he got up.

"You call yourself a Pokémon Trainer? And yet you have no Pokétch?" shouted a man as he stared at their wrist.

"Yes," replied Jared.

"That is, Pokémon Watch, or Pokétch for Short!" The man yelled.

"Umm...we didn't ask what it meant," noted Travis.

"Oh my, you are a rare case indeed," the man screamed.

"Not really, I'm sure plenty of people don't have one. Did anyone see one on Mug? Or the Nurse Joy's? Or Professor Rowan?" asked Jared as Will and Travis shook their heads.

"You see, I invented, and now manufacture, Pokétches," stated the man.

"WE DON'T CARE!" screamed Travis.

"Not only that, I'm now conducting the Pokétch promotional campaign!" stated the man.

"You mean by RANDOMLY BUMPING INTO PEOPLE?" irritatingly shouted Will.

"All you have to do is find three clowns in Jubilife City. If you can find them...I will gift you with a Pokétch!" the man offered.

"I thought we made it clear we don't want your stupid watch!" Jared told him. The three of them then walked off.

"C'mon let's leave this crazy city," declared Travis. They then walked to the edge and tried to step out, but suddenly another guy came and crashed into Will once again, knocking him over.

"By the way, have you participated in the Pokétch campaign?" asked the man.

"Oh my Arceus, what's with you people and your crazy Pokétch's, WE DON'T WANT ONE," screamed Will has he got up.

"No? Not yet right?" asked the man.

"Yes, I think Will made that clear enough. Now leave us alone!" yelled Jared.

"You really must try," continued the man.

"We don't want your stupid Pokétch's! Let's go guys!" yelled Travis. They then tried to walk forth but the man got in the way.

"By the way, have you participated in the Pokétch campaign? No? Not yet right? You really must try," repeated the man as he pushed all three of them backwards.

"This is harassment!" yelled Will. He then ran around the guy and tried to run out of the city, but the man ran in front of him.

"By the way, have you participated in the Pokétch campaign? No? Not yet right? You really must try," continued the man as he grabbed Will and shoved him backwards.

"LEAVE US ALONE," screamed Jared as he took a step forth.

"By the-" started the man as Jared took a step back. Jared then took a step forth again.

"By th-" Jared stepped back

"By-" Jared stepped forth.

"By-" Jared stepped back.

"Heh, jokes keep on getting funnier and funnier the longer they're stretched out," giggled Travis to Will.

***

"Hmph, what do you want? Here to tease me on your victory?" angrily asked Mug.

"No my dear I am not like that, I do not believe in making fun of others for pleasure," responded Gryoine.

"Then what do you want?"

"I wish to assist you on your co-ordinating skills. I saw great potential inside you when we battled, I wish to assist you in tapping in to that,"

"Why would you want to help your enemy?"

"I apologize, do you wish to continue to ask me unimportant questions or do you want my help? Please decide."

"Hmph fine, I'll take your help I guess."

"Spectacular. Now let's see your Yanma," Gryoine requested. Mug then threw her Pokéball and Yanma popped out.

"Hmm...our location is not suitable to my method of training. I suggest we depart from Jubilife," suggested Gryoine.

"Whatever you say," passively agreed Mug.

***

"Oh back so soon?" the Pokétch salesman from before stated as Jared, Will, and Travis were walking towards him.

"Yeah fine, we'll grab your dumb watches. What do we have to do?" Jared asked.

"Well, you'll have to go around the city find the clowns who will ask you a question. If you get it right they will give you a coupon. Once you obtain three you may come back to me and I will give you these BRAND NEW POKÉTCHES!" screamed the salesman and he pointed to absolutely nothing on the ground, "...I don't have them on me okay?"

"Clowns? I'm out!" stated Travis as he began to walk away.

"Travis, why?" asked Will.

"Clowns freak me out man. I don't wanna have to deal with them," Travis responded.

"But if we don't get the coupons we won't be able to leave!" replied Will.

"Ugh...fine," agreed Travis as the three of them walked away. They eventually came across a clown as Travis hid behind Jared shivering.

"Hello trainers, do you want to take the quiz?" asked the clown.

"Sure," Jared rudely responded.

"Whatever you say," sighed Will.

"Please don't kill me," pleaded Travis.

"Alright here's your question. Is water super effective against fire?" asked the clown.

"Yes," Jared answered.

"Yup," Will responded.

"I'm scared!!!!!!!!!!!!!" cried Travis.

"Good job, the answer was...." started the clown.

"Right?" asked Jared.

"Correct?" questioned Will.

"We've got to stop doing this, it's getting old," complained Jared.

"...INCORRECT! NOW GET OUT OF HERE, PUNKS!" screamed the clown. He then took out a knife and began chasing away Will, Jared, and Travis.

"I told you these guys are bad news!" screamed Travis as they were running.

"Wait, if it was bad, why the hell did he say 'good job?'" wondered Will.

***

"Alright, according to my Pokétch this is a suitable location to train," Gryoine stated.

"Wait, Pokétch's can do that?" Mug wondered.

"Actually they cannot. I just wished to state that in order to establish the fact that we have them. Anyway send out a Pokémon, would you?" Gryoine asked.

"Alright, Yanma, let's go!" screamed Mug as she tossed a Pokéball and out fluttered her Yanma.

"Okay, you're sending out Yanma I see," observed Gryoine, "we might as well replicate the conditions of our Pokémon battle then." Gryoine then tossed a Pokéball and his Ponyta emerged.

"You may have the first move," granted Gryoine.

"Yanma start things off with a Sonicboom," ordered Mug. Yanma then nodded as it shot out a grey wave.

"Never send out an attack without expecting a plan to counter their counter attack. Prepare for all possibilities, judges like that," lectured Gryoine. "Ponyta, use agility!". Ponyta then glowed blew as it galloped out of the way of the attack while its flames glowed brighter.

"See, not only did you allow me to look clever by avoiding your attack, but you gave me an opportunity to do such in the way to make Ponyta look good too. That will cost you extra points. This is not just an ordinary battle Madelyn," Gryoine explained. "Now allow me to attack."

***

"WHAT THE HELL MAN, WHAT'S UP WITH THESE CRAZY THINGS?" screamed Travis.

"Uhh...what are you talking about?" asked Jared.

"THE CLOWN JUST TOOK OUT A KNIFE AND STARTED CHASING US, THAT'S MESSED UP!" Travis screamed.

"So? That's perfectly normal," shrugged Will.

"WHAT!? WHAT KIND OF NORMAL PERSON DOES THAT TO GET PEOPLE TO LEAVE!?" Travis screamed.

"Travis, calm down. You're acting irritating again," Jared angrily demanded.

"Ugh you're right. I'm sorry about freaking out over this," apologized Travis. "It's no big deal, I'm just afraid of clowns that's all."

"See man? It's not so bad. Clowns aren't scary or dangerous. Now, let's find another one," reassured Will. They then walked up to another clown.

"Hello trainers, do you want to take the quiz?" asked the clown.

"Yuperoo," Will answered.

"Alright. True or false, does Shelder evolve into Cloyster?" asked the Clown.

"True dat hat," responded Jared. Will stared at him blankly wondering what hat he was talking about.

"Sorry, but the answer is incorrect," the clown responded. He then took out a flamethrower and sprayed it at Travis.

***

"Not only should you focus on dodging, but you must attempt to do so in the most creative way possible while making it look pretty. It is a difficult task, but it gets easier as you get used to it," shouted Gryoine, "now Pontya use a Flame Wheel."

"Yanma use a Whirlwind to blow out the flames," retaliated Mug. Yanma then flapped its tiny wings as the flames around Ponyta died and sparks of embers scattered around the field floating in the air, "now go near some of the embers and shoot a shadow ball!"

Yanma then flew towards some of the embers and shot a shadow ball. The ball of shadows went through the embers as the shadow ball then had a bright orange coat surrounding it. It then smashed into Ponyta. Ponyta got slightly injured but its flame grew brighter.

"Good strategy Mug, but just be warned to take note of the Pokémon your enemies are using. By redirecting the embers at me, you have powered up my Ponyta due to its Flash Fire ability. This would have gotten some points off me for the redirection as well as the hit, but you would have lost a bit of points too plus turned the battle in my favour," lectured Gryoine. He then took out his Pokéball and returned Ponyta.

"Wait that's it?" Mug asked.

"Indeed. I have taught you everything you need to know about contest battling that I possibly can. The rest you must figure out by yourself," Gryoine answered.

"Alright well thanks Gry," Mug thanked.

"Not a problem. Always ready to teach a contest novice," responded Gryoine.

***

Beep. Beep went the IV chord connected to Travis' body.

"We have to do something about this," a voice stated sounding like Jared's.

"Yeah I know, we're in serious trouble," responded Will's voice. Travis opened his eyes and saw the two of them standing near his hospital bed.

"I know, we can't leave Jubilife because those damn clowns are telling us we're wrong when we're right!" Jared declared.

"Yeah that is strange. We have to get to the bottom of this," Will responded. The two of them began to walk off.

"Guys...what about me?" Travis weakly asked.

"Just come with," Jared answered.

"But...my burns," Travis stated.

"Stop whining and let's go," Will rudely demanded. Travis then sighed as he weakly got up and disconnected all the wires, leaving the hospital with Jared and Will.

***

"So Mug, which location are you heading to next?" Gryoine inquired.

"Me? Oreburgh City," Mug responded.

"Oreburgh City? That's an odd choice, there is no contest hall there," Gryoine stated.

"Yes but I am a gym battler too and that is where the nearest gym is. Well… actually Canalave City is much closer, but there is a giant block in the middle of the road leading to it, and it will only be gotten rid of sometime way later where its previous presence will not be mentioned. So I guess Oreburgh is the closest accessible city," explained Mug.

"Oh. Well best of luck then. I had no clue you were participating in gym battles too. That's a really unique thing you know. Not many trainers have the energy and time to enrol in both the Pokémon League and Pokémon Contests. As I stated earlier, you have so much potential though. I believe in you," Gryoine stated.

"Uhh…thanks I guess?" Mug responded confused at why Gryoine just reassured her out of nowhere. "Well I'll be heading off now. Later." Mug then began to walk away from Gryoine.

"Oh Mug, one last thing," Gryoine stated.

"Yes?" Mug asked as she turned around to face him again.

"Just…be warned. You cannot always rely on your Yanma. I noticed you were eager to use it in our battle. While it is good to have what the public calls a 'signature Pokémon', much like my Ponyta it is also encouraged to show off a variety of Pokémon. If you continue to rely on Yanma judges will notice that and be less enthusiastic about your performances. In addition, it is hard to think of new and creative appeals with the same Pokémon over and over again. So if I were you I would catch another," Gryoine advised.

"Okay Gry, I got it. Thanks for all your help!"

"It is my pleasure. I will try to attend all your contests to help you out. Eventually we will have our rematch and I assure that you will put up a good fight."

"I might even win!"

"Yes that is a possibility," Gryoine answered but in his mind he knew that is not true. Gryoine then smiled as Mug began to walk off

***

"Mayor Es Cade you have to help us," Will begged.

"As normal as it is for children to barge into a mayor's office and ask for help for their problems I am afraid I cannot do anything," Es Cade responded.

"Why not?" Jared asked.

"Because…wait why is that other one shivering?" the Mayor asked, pointing at Travis.

"Oh, because he left the hospital before he got treated for being torched," Will answered. "Do you see our problem Mr. Mayor, we cannot leave the city and continue with our journey!"

"Sorry children, there is nothing I can do. Now please leave, I have matters to attend to," Es Cade retorted.

Jared and Will then sighed as Travis's face became the expression of pain but was too weak to shout. The three of them then left (Travis hobbled).

"So we can't leave the city without Pokétch's and the clowns aren't giving us our coupons," Will summed up.

"Why are you saying that?" Jared asked.

"Oh, because we've been through a lot that I felt like reminding everyone what we were doing in case they forgot," Will explained.

"Who's everyone?" Jared asked.

"You two. That's all," Will answered.

"But...I'm here," a boring looking person stated who walked right behind them.

"And you are?" Will asked.

"That is not important, but what is…wait why is that other one shivering?" the boring man asked.

"Clowns…clowns THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!" Travis muttered.

"Ooookay then. Anyways something is about to go down here and it is important to get you out before it occurs. Let's go," the man said.

"OKAY!" Will, Travis, and Jared shouted completely trusting him. The three of them followed the boring man to a building with a sign that said 'Jubilife Casino. Yes in The Pokémon World we label ALL our important buildings!'

"A casino? Isn't that in Veilstone?" Jared asked confused.

"That's the main hub for casino, the tourist attractions. There are actually casinos all over Sinnoh. Including one here," stated the man.

"And…how does this help us?" Will inquired.

"Just go in," the man stated.

They then went in and saw a bunch of flashy machines like a typical casino. There isn't much to describe here.

"Go play the tables for a bit. Trust me on this," the man stated as he gave Jared and Will money. But not Travis though because no one likes Travis.

"Alright, let's do this!" Will stated as he began to sit down at blackjack. The dealer then dealt everyone cards as Will glanced at his and noticed that he had two 7's.

"Hit me," Will said when it was his turn. He was dealt another 7, " sweet! Blackjack!"

"Actually you just have 21. Blackjack is when you are dealt 21," explained Jared.

"…Oh," responded Will disappointed.

"Let's go," said the man.

"But…we need to cash out," remarked Jared.

"Don't worry about it. We have a small time frame," the man told them.

"Sweet, we can finally get out of here!" Travis yelled.

"…How did you get better?" Will asked confused.

"Burn Heal," shrugged Travis. The trio then followed the boring looking man to the counter.

"Zoey please do it," the man asked.

"But we've done it to so many people. It's too risky to continue," Zoey responded.

"Zoey we need to get these townspeople out before what I fear is going to happen happens!" the man responded.

"I have no idea why they are talking so ambiguously," Jared remarked.

"Alright fine," Zoey responded as she took out a giant needle.

"WOAH! What is that?" Travis asked.

"It's a sedative," the man responded as Zoey came and poked a needle into Travis. "I'm sorry but we cannot have you three knowing of our methods. The point is when you wake up you will be at the beginning of Route 203."

Will and Jared then looked in horror as Travis fell to the floor as Zoey poked them with a needle. Will felt a slight sting as his vision began to blur. Jared fell to the ground.

"What's next?" Zoey asked.

"We need to figure out a way to take down the mayor before he makes his move," the man responded.

"Mr...we are escaping, but…what about you?" Will asked.

"Don't worry Will, I am exactly where I need to be," the man responded. Will's vision then went black.

***

"We almost have enough people," the mayor said to a television screen. On the other side showed a woman with short red hair.

"Excellent Evice," the woman responded.

"Some keep escaping but no matter. Enough people keep entering the city without Pokétch's in order to have an unsuspicious reason for trapping them in. But…why exactly can we only trap those that lack Pokétch's?" Evice asked.

"The Pokétch is a complex, yet only, device that have many features including a communication system. As long as the people trapped do not have any ways of communicating those outside Jubilife, we do not have to worry about anyone else learning of our plans," responded the woman.

"Okay commander, I gotcha," Evice responded.

"Please…call me Mars."

Endoplasmic Reticulum · May 7, 2015

"Hey Will, are you excited?" Jared asked.

"For what?" Will replied.

"For us to finally let Travis off his leash!" They then turned towards Travis who had a collar around his neck with a leash attached. Will was holding the leash as they were walking forth.

"I'm not sure Jared, he might run away." Will stated.

"For the last time…I AM NOT A DOG YOU PATHETIC IMBECILES. NOW LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW," screamed Travis.

"Aww…he's so cute when he gets mad," Will observed. "Want a treat?"

"Sure!" Travis responded. Will then gave him a little biscuit as Travis grabbed it and began chewing it as a disgusted look was expressed on his face.

"Eww what is this?" Travis asked.

"A doggie biscuit," Jared remarked as Travis spat out the treat. Will and Jared then high fived as they began to laugh. Yes things were going well between them. They had just escaped being trapped in Jubilife and now they were on their way to Will's first gym battle.

"Damnit Riolu get back here!" screamed a voice. A Riolu then sprinted out of a nearby bush as it ran. An Elekid then jumped out following it.

"Are we gonna get involved?" Jared asked.

"Sure, why not." Will responded. The two of them began chasing after the Riolu and Elekid as they dragged Travis along in the ground, who was choking and screaming.

Chapter 4: Best Friends Forever

"GET BACK HERE YOU!" the Elekid screamed as chased Riolu in a field. Following was Will, Jared, and Travis.

"Turtwig use a Razor Leaf!" shouted Jared as he sent out his Turtwig.

"Chimchar. Ember!" shouted Will.

"Uhhh…guys. THE FLAMES WILL BURN THE LEAVES," screamed Travis.

As Turtwig shot out a bunch of leaves, Chimchar popped out of its Pokéball and shot Ember. The Ember burned the leaves causing a huge pile of ash to drop over the Riolu and Elekid, trapping them.

"Dat co-operation doe," Travis remarked as Jared and Will stared at him. "What? I've been browsing Reddit a lot." Jared and Will then took out their respective dexes.

"Elekid, the tempting Pokémon," said Jared's Pokédex, "When you see this thing, don't you just wanna stick it in an outlet? I mean for Arceus's sake it has a plug for its head. I really wanna know what happens!"

"Riolu, the overshadowed Pokémon," said Will's Pokédex, "Riolu is often forgotten about and disregarded for being much more inferior to its evolution. I mean, it's just another pure fighting type! People only use it so they can get a Lucario. No seriously, does anyone care about this thing?"

"Anyway, what's the problem you two?" Will asked as they approached the two stuck Pokemon.

"Get us out of here then we'll explain." Elekid angrily responded.

"Chimchar, Fury Swipe the ashes away," commanded Will as Chimchar swiped them away. However Elekid then grabbed Riolu and began to choke it.

"ENOUGH! JUST TELL US THE PROBLEM!" screamed Jared as Turtwig bit Elekid's arm. Elekid then dropped Riolu.

"This bitch…he slept with my girlfriend!" angrily shouted the Elekid.

"Hey hey hey in my defense she came to me." Riolu replied. "And before that she was the one who seduced me!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!" screamed the Elekid, but Turtwig just Body Slammed it to the ground.

GET OFF ME!" screamed Elekid as it stared at the blank Turtwig.

"These guys can't co-operate together," remarked Jared.

"Let's split them up and figure out the full story," Will responded, "I'll take Riolu and you take Elekid."

"Alright, but you better not be Elekidding." Jared responded.

"Dude…we agreed you'd cut that out," Will told him.

"I know I just couldn't resist." Jared responded sadly. The two of them then walked off with the Pokémon they agreed to talk to while Travis just sat there.

"OKAY FINE JUST LEAVE ME BEHIND!" Travis sarcastically remarked but then noticed no one was grabbing his leash.

"I'm free?" Travis asked. "I'M FREE!". However a Sneasel then came up to him and grabbed his leash.

"You. Come with me," shouted the Sneasel.

"What's a Sneasel doing here anyways!?" yelled Travis as the Sneasel began dragging him away.

***

"C'mon man, sleeping with someone's girlfriend. Uncool," lectured Will to Riolu.

"I swear, she seduced me!" Riolu asked. "it's hard to resist when she comes on so strong. And let me tell you she was not exactly the ugliest Elekid around…"

"Okay I gotcha but still!" Will responded.

"I know he's my best friend and all. I feel really bad about it!" shouted Riolu.

"Wait…best friend?" Will asked.

***

"We grew up together," explained Elekid. "We weren't raised in colonies, just with our parents. They were caught early so we had to fend for ourselves for a good portion of our life!'

"Okay I gotcha," Jared noted. "So explain what happened."

"We were having problems but I thought weho ho could figure them out. But nope, Riolu decides to screw her!"

"What problems?"

***

"They were both really stubborn Pokémon, but in different kinds of way, yknow?" Riolu stated. "She was high strung and always had to get what she want, while Elekid just refused to do anything unless he wanted to. They weren't compatible."

"Yeah but that's no reason to interfere with their relationship!" Will yelled.

"I told you I didn't. She…seduced…me!"

"And as I told you, he is your best friend!"

"I know I feel bad. But at the same time…isn't it kinda justifiable?"

***

"Elekid, you can't just not give in to your girlfriend at all, Jared advised. "You are supposed to be in a relationship, you have to give and take,"

"I don't care. If you don't like the fact that I am stubborn you shouldn't be with me," Elekid declared.

"Dude, you're going to end up alone if you continue with that attitude!"

"But Jared…I don't care."

"You're a horrible boyfriend."

"Yes but you cannot deny the fact that she was worse. I mean the cowardly thing to do would be to break up with me first then she could do what she want. But the fact is cheating makes you the worse person."

Things were going well between Will and Jared, they were best friends forever. But as Elekid and Riolu proved, sometimes one thing, big or small can change the whole dynamic. Sometimes even agreeing with someone.

"Yeah I guess," Will agreed.

"Yeah I guess," Jared agreed.

Man I've been watching too much scrubs.

"HELP ME!!!!!" screamed Travis in a cave as Sneasel's claws headed towards Travis's shirt.

***

Jared and Will then met up.

"So Jared. As long as Elekid apologizes for getting angry I think Riolu and him can be cool," explained Will.

"Uhh….why would Elekid have to apologize to Riolu. He slept with Elekid's girlfriend!" yelled Jared.

"Jared, they were having problems. It was justified."

"But the fact is adultery is wrong!" shouted Jared.

"Oh my Arceus you are looking at this so black and white. Arceus you're insufferable," yelled Will.

"Woah that came out of nowhere. I thought we were best friends!" shouted Jared.

"Yeah well if you can't realize Elekid is being a stubborn jerk I guess that means you are a stubborn jerk."

"Dude, he is a stubborn jerk, but Riolu is a pig."

"Wow wow wow wow you are so closed minded aren't you? I'm outta here," yelled Will as him and Jared stormed off. Someone nearby then watched the two as they stormed off in opposite directions.

***

"Well your Riolu friend is no good. I tried my best. Just make sure not to kill him okay?" Jared asked.

"No promises," responded Elekid

"Ooookay then, just don't associate me with the murder," requested Jared.

"No promises," responded Elekid. Jared then walked away but suddenly Gryoine stepped forth.

"Hello Jared," Gryoine greeted.

***

Hours later, Will and Riolu were sitting around a fire.

"It's a shame that those two couldn't see it in our perspective. What losses," sighed Will.

"Yeah man, great 'best friends' they are if they are unwilling to compromise," Riolu stated.

"Well dude, it was fun chilling with you but I gotta head to Oreburgh now. Later."

"Wait, aren't you forgetting someone you met us with?"

"Oh right," responded Will as he took out his Pokéball."Nope, Chimchar is still there. Thank Arceus."

"Well Ima go now. Later Riolu," nodded Will. However, Gryoine sat down by the fire.

"Would you mind it if I joined in your group?" Gryoine asked.

***

"Wait….Gryoine knows my name. GRYOINE KNOWS MY NAME!" Jared freaked out.

"Dear Arceus man, he's just a person," remarked Elekid.

"IT'S GRYOINE! THE LEGENDARY CONTEST BATTLER! THE ONE WHO DEFEATED…her," said Jared as his face turned to utter hate.

"Yes yes yes it is I. I now am aware you are quite a fan of myself," Gryoine noted.

"A fan!? You were my inspiration man!" Jared screamed.

"Ah," stated Gry.

"So how do you know this idiot anyways?" Elekid asked.

"I first saw him when he was insulting a friend of mine. It was really quite harsh," Gryoine answered.

Wait…you're friends with Mug!?" Jared shockingly responded. "Great now I have to be friends with her, ugh. Anyways, I'm sooo sorry I didn't mean to do that I know it was a jerky thing of me to do. Even Will pointed it out."

"Will was incorrect. She needed to hear that. Mug has a stubborn attitude where facts do not get through to her unless she hears it from someone else. Believe me what you so boldly told her was necessary."

"Yeah Will can be a bit of a jerk."

"That's no way to treat your best friend."

"We were best friends for like five minutes. Now he can rot in the Distortion World for all I care."

"Yeah, I saw your fight. That's why I followed you actually."

"YOU WANT TO TRAVELWITH ME INSTEAD? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"It is not a wise option for people who participate in the same thing to travel together. I am afraid I have to deny that assumption."

"So why are you here?"

"To bring you two together. Traveling with gym battlers is the best way for novice co-ordinators to improve, which is good for my competition,"

"Gry I respect you and all but no way I am travelling with him. He won't recognize that his attitude towards Elekid and Riolu's fight is utter garbage. He's wrong and I will not travel with such person."

"You cannot be so black and white about this, Jared."

"So what should I do then?" Jared asked.

***

"Oh it's Jared's Arceus," remarked Will.

"Yes, it is I," Gryoine answered.

Will then asked Gryoine the same questions that Jared did but also praised Will for his willingness (heh) to defend Mug from Jared but explained to Will what he had told Jared.

"But here's the thing, Gry," Will began. "Jared won't change his stance and he's being completely stubborn. I can't get through to him so I'm not sure what is the point of bothering."

"You have to see his point of view, the fact of the matter is Riolu did do something wrong. You can justify it whatever way you wish but it is wrong,"

"So what should I do then?" Will asked.

***

As the sun began to set, Jared and Will then met up in the same field as before with Gry in tow.

"Jared, I am really sorry for calling you stubborn," Will apologized. "You are right with the fact that Riolu's adultery is wrong."

"And I am sorry for being so stubborn about it. There were other factors," Jared apologized.

"Best friends forever?" Will asked.

"Best friends forever!" Jared responded as the two shook hands. "Wow, we must have no friends if we're willing to be best friends so quick, but whatever."

"But what about Elekid and Riolu? How do we solve their problem?" Will asked, completely ignoring Jared.

"Similarly to how you two resolved your issues. Bring in a third party," stated Gry.

***

"I'LL KILL YOU!" shouted Elekid as it ran towards Riolu with a Thunder Punch.

"Dude, please calm down!" pleaded Riolu.

"Stop you two!" shouted Jared as Elekid and Riolu turned towards Will, Jared, and Gryoine.

"Hmph, you two solved your issues already. That was quick," bitterly remarked Elekid.

"Can you stop being a jerk for once in your life?" stated a feminine voice.

"Wait…YOU BROUGHT HER!?" shouted Elekid as another Elekid with a bow in her plug….

"C'mon! Just take that thing off and stick it in an outlet!" went Jared's dex.

…stepped in front of Jared, Will, and Gry.

"Yes. She is here to help you two communicate better," stated Gryoine.

"Elekid, it was wrong of me to cheat, I am sorry," apologized the Bow-Elekid. "We had huge issues and that was a cowardly way to resolve it,"

"Hmph," Elekid responded.

"You can be mad at me, but please don't take it out on Riolu," pleaded Bow-Elekid. "I practically forced him."

"See Elekid? Please be cool with me," stated Riolu.

"AND...YOU!' Bow-Elekid turned to Riolu, "You were not justified in any means. You could have noticed I was in a vulnerable place but you took advantage of me. You should have prioritized your best friendship over getting some."

"Yeah, you're right," Riolu stated.

"Well you've served your purpose, bye now!" shouted Jared at Bow-Elekid as he kicked her away.

"Elekid, I'm sorry for being such a pig and giving in to my senses. I should have really thought of our friendship more."

"Riolu…I'm very stubborn and I'll try to work on that. Sorry for getting mad at you, you're only human."

"Best friends forever?" Riolu asked.

"Best friends forever!" Elekid responded as the two shook hands.

"Déjá Vu," remarked Jared.

"Hey Elekid, I think it's time," Riolu said.

"You think? Fine I guess we could do worse," Elekid responded.

"For what?" Jared asked.

"Ever since our parents were caught, we've always been in the wild by ourselves," Riolu repeated. "But I think it's time for that to stop."

"You want us to catch you?" Jared asked.

"Sure!" responded Will. The two best friends took out their pokéballs and threw them at the two best friends. Jared caught Riolu and Will caught Elekid.

"Wait a second...." Gry started. "Would it not have made more sense for Jared to catch Elekid and Will to catch Riolu? You did form a bond with each other's Pokémon after all."

"Oh yeah...how stupid were we?" Jared asked.

"Yeah, I mean I like Riolu, and you like Elekid," Will said to Jared. "Why didn't we put two and two together?"

"Yeah, silly us," The three of them then went to a nearby Pokémon Center and traded Pokémon.

"Well that solves that silly screw up," Will remarked.

"So Grym would you like to travel with us? We are going to Oreburgh City," Jared invited.

"Afraid not. As I said previously, it is unwise for two people of the same goal to travel together. Besides I have no interest in going to Oreburgh City. I will return to Jubilife and remain there," Gry stated.

"Okay man, hopefully I'll see you at the next contest!" Jared asked.

"Yes, I will be there," responded Gry.

"Cannot wait!" yelled Jared. Gry then smiled and exited the Pokémon Center. Travis then barged in with his shirt half ripped off and his pants having holes in them.

"Travis…what happened to you?" Jared asked.

"DEAR ARCEUS MAN I WAS ABDUCTED BY THIS CRAZY POKÉMON…"

"Travis, Jared just asked to be courteous. We don't actually care," interrupted Will.

Endoplasmic Reticulum · May 14, 2015

"Elekid, shoot Riolu with a Shock Wave!" cried Jared.

"Riolu, Dig out of the way," Will retorted. Elekid then shot a wave of electricity at Riolu as it dug underneath the ground.

"You're forgetting something Will…" reminded Jared.

"Nope. Chuck Testa," responded Will. "BULLET PUNCH!" Underneath the ground the wave of electricity chased after Riolu, but its fist then turned into metal as it drilled its way through the ground while the wave followed.

"RESURFACE!" Will yelled. Riolu then shot out of the ground, hitting Elekid as the wave chased it and also zapped into Elekid.

"AHAHAHAHAHA, OWNED!" yelled Riolu as it watched its friend being zapped.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" screamed Elekid.

"Dual Chop!" yelled Jared as Elekid's fists glowed blue as it slammed it into Riolu.

"Okay, I think that's enough," Travis stated.

"Yeah, we don't wanna faint our Pokémon on the first battle," agreed Jared.

"Riolu, return," shouted Will for some reason.

"You know I never get why we say that," responded Jared as he clicked a button on his Pokéball. Two red beams shot out of Will and Jared's Pokéballs, but Riolu and Elekid just jumped out of the way.

"Yeah…I don't think so. We don't roll that way," stated Riolu.

"Really? Why not?" Jared asked.

"Pokéballs SUCK! And that's all we'll say on that matter," Elekid stated.

"So wait, does that mean you guys wanna be…" said Jared as he began to trail off.

"What are you doing?" Will asked confused.

"Is there something wrong with him?" Travis responded with his thick welsh accent. Heehee his lines are a lot more entertaining if you read it in his welsh accent like I do. Seriously, try it.

"Just wait for it," responded Jared, "So what you're saying you two is that you wanna be…"

Chapter 5: Pokémon Followers

"So you guys wanna be Pokémon Followers?" Jared asked.

"Sure, we'd love to!" responded Riolu.

"What's are Pokémon Followers?" asked Travis.

"A Pokémon Follower is when Pokémon stay out of their Pokéballs and walk with their trainer," explained Jared.

"Oh cool. Won't that be annoying sometimes to remember they're there?" Travis pointed out. "I mean the narrator has trouble giving me lines as it is."

"Eh, if I forget we'll just pretend they're always there and I'll mention them once or twice," I responded. "But hopefully I won't do that!" Wait, why did I just quote myself? Anyways...on with the plot. Nearby, two poachers were spying on Will, Jared and Travis.

"Laugh laugh laugh, it appears these two have Pokémon Followers," laughed the first Poacher. "That'll make them easier to poach," laughed the first Poacher, Poacher A.

"Wait, remind me again, why are we spying on three kids?" laughed Poacher B, the second one if you were too stupid to realize.

"Not sure, we were just in this spot and we saw these two kids walk by and establish that they now have Pokémon Followers," A answered.

"I've always wondered. Where did our life go A, what happened to us? Where did we meet?" wondered B…

(Flashba-

"No we are not doing this now. Some other time maybe we'll reflect on our past…maybe," Poacher A answered.

"So yeah...let's steal this Elekid and Riolu shall we?" stated B.

***

'Oreburgh City, the city of energy'. Mug read a sign.

"Excuse me miss, would you like a Pokémon battle?" asked a random girl.

"A battle with you? No thanks," responded Mug.

"Wow miss you are quite rude," stated the kid.

"Pshh, is that the best insult you got?" laughed Mug.

"No…but your face is!" yelled the girl.

"What's your name, little girl?" asked Mug in a condescending tone.

"Emily, what's yours?" responded Emily.

"Mug," answered Mug.

"Wow what a stupid name. You're stupid!" insulted the girl.

"Actually it's a nickname for-you know what forget it you aren't worth my time," said Mug as she began to walk off.

"Hah! You can't handle a little girl," taunted the girl.

"Oh…you're gonna get it. LET'S GO!" screamed Mug as she sent out her Yanma.

"Knew it would work," giggled the girl.

"You're a little devil aren't you…" Mug said

***

"So…" started Jared.

"So…." Continued Will.

"So…" stated Travis.

"Okay so there's five of us travelling towards a city. It's a bit crowded but that's not weird at all right?" Riolu asked.

"Oh, just be quiet," shouted Elekid.

"So Will, I figured once we arrived in Oreburgh we'd take it easy for a few days," Jared suggested. "See the museum and stuff then you and Travis can do your gym battles?"

"Don't you have a contest soon, man?" Will asked.

"No word on where the next contest is being located. For now we can just chill out," responded Jared.

"Okay that sounds good. So I'll go first then you Travis?" Will asked.

"Will this might be a problem. I also want to do my battle first so therefore we should have a Pokémon battle to decide who goes first!" Travis suggested.

"Yeah…I don't see the point on that. You can just go first," offered Will.

"But I wanna battle," pouted Travis. You know, Travis whining in a welsh accent is hard to picture.

"I AM BORED!" shouted Elekid.

"Elekid, we're trying to work out some trainer stuff. Just relax and walk with us," Jared told Elekid.

"Yeah man that isn't gonna fly with us," Riolu stated. "We'd like to talk things with you guys too."

"Well you're gonna have to accept it," Will responded. "You're our Pokémon now and since you don't wanna be in your Pokéballs you'll have to comply."

"That doesn't sound very fair," protested Elekid.

"Too bad," Will responded. Suddenly Will looked into the distance and saw something headed towards them. As it headed towards them it began to take shape in Will's vision.

"LOOK OUT!" screamed Will as he jumped in front of Riolu. A metal claw then jammed in Will's stomach as he fell backwards.

"Will, are you okay?" Riolu asked.

"WHO ARE YOU GUYS? SHOW YOURSELVES," screamed Jared. A laugh was heard as Poacher A and B jumped out.

"While I appreciate the answer to my second question, I found it was quite rude of you guys not to answer my first; who are you guys?" Jared shouted.

"Oh we're just simple innocent poachers, here to steal your Pokémon," explained B with an innocent face. "SO GIVE THEM TO US."

"Yeah…I don't think so," Will responded. "Riolu destroy the claw with Force Palm." Riolu then leaped at the claw with its palm and shattered it.

"Torchic, just so I can be useful can we send them away with an Ember?" Travis asked as he sent out his Torchic. It then shot Embers at Poacher A and B.

"OW OW OW OW!" screamed A as the two Poacher's ran away.

"Well, that takes care of that," Will stated. "Let's move on."

"I'm not sure about that," stated Elekid.

"Yeah guys as long as we are Pokémon Followers, they're gonna keep coming back and trying to poach us," Riolu added.

"So, we should probably return you two to your balls," stated Jared.

"Yeah…not gonna happen," said Elekid. "We like it out here."

"You can't just expect us to continuously guard you, they can come at any time!" protested Jared.

"Sucks," responded Elekid.

"I'm bored," randomly stated Travis in his welsh accent. See? That's funny.

***

"Jigglypuff, let's go!" shouted Emily as she sent out her puffball.

"Ahahaha Jigglypuff that's it?" Mug laughed. "Yanma, use a Leech Life."

"Jigglypuff use a Disarming Voice," responded Emily.

"HAH! You're gonna cry to get me to stop Leach Lifing you? Pathetic," remarked Mug.

"Nope. Chuck Testa," replied the girl. Yanma then flapped its way towards Jigglypuff and stuck its mouth on the puffballs body, but Jigglypuff let out a "Jiggly" which caused Yanma to be knocked back.

Mug was confused as Yanma panted. It should have been healthy due to gaining some of Jigglypuff's health.

"Silly Mug, you silly silly girl. Jigglypuff is a fairy Pokémon. Bug's don't do much to them," said Emily with her nice face. However it turned to a sour expression, "NOW ROLLOUT!" Jigglypuff then began to roll towards Yanma.

"Yanma use an Air Cutter to knock it away!" shouted Mug. Yanma then blew a strong gale towards Jigglypuff as it was sent into the sky. Jigglypuff began to land like a deflated balloon, flopping in the air.

"Now Wing Attack it," yelled Mug.

"Dazzling Gleam," responded Emily. As Yanma began to fly towards Jigglypuff, there was a bright light which stopped Yanma in its place as she fell towards the ground. She got up, looking really weak.

"You're losing to a little girl. How sad," taunted Emily

***

"Goodnight Travis," said Will and Jared to Travis.

"Guys they're your Pokémon, why do I have to keep watch?" Travis whined.

"Oh stop being a baby," Jared told Travis as Will and Jared took out their unmentioned purchased tents and went in and slept. Elekid and Riolu joined their respective trainers.

"Stupi Will and Jared, stupid stupid stupid," said Traivs. "Oh well if they trust me I better do my job pro-" Travis then fell immediately asleep.

"Where…where am I?" asked Riolu a couple hours later. He woke up to see he was in a dark room in a cage.

"That idiot Travis," said Elekid. "He must have fallen asleep and the poachers somehow managed to grab us without us noticing. Weird stuff."

Poacher A and B stepped forth in front of the cage.

"Now you're ours forever!" laughed A.

"Wait a second…what are you gonna do with us anyway?" asked Riolu.

"We aren't exactly sure," responded B.

"WE DIDN'T THINK THAT FAR AHEAD, OKAY?" remarked A.

"Point is you're here forever. There's no way your trainers would be able to find you," taunted B.

Suddenly Riolu slammed the bars with a Power-Up Punch as they shattered. Elekid and Riolu began to run.

"COME BACK HERE YOU TWO," shouted Poacher B as they chased Elekid and Riolu.

***

"Yanma, shoot a Sonicboom at Jigglypuff," shouted Mug. Yanma then shot a wave of sound (can you shoot a wave of sound?) at the Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff, use a Rollout to get out of the way," responded Emily. Jigglpuff then began to roll to dodge the wave of sound.

"Now attack Yanma with it," continued Emily. Jigglypuff rolled towards Yanma.

"Yanma, STEEL WING," responded Mug. Yanma's wings then turned into steel as it swiped by Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff then stopped rolling.

"Ugh," screamed Jigglypuff with a blank expression on its face. It then fell to the ground, fainted.

"JIGGLYPUFF!" screamed Emily as she rushed towards Jigglypuff, "noooo." Emily then began to cry. Mug looked confused at how such a strong girl could get so sad easily.

***

"Oh goodness oh goodness," panicked Travis. Suddenly Jared yawned and got up.

"Best. Dream. Ever. Travis….you died!" stated Jared.

"Jared…I lost the Pokémon. I think the poachers nabbed them. I'm so sorry," apologized Travis.

"DAMNIT TRAVIS YOU HAD ONE JOB!" screamed Jared. Suddenly, Elekid and Riolu ran by.

"GET BACK HERE," screamed a poacher. They then ran forward only to face Travis and Jared.

"Uh oh," said Poacher B.

"Torchic, Flame Charge!" yelled Travis. Torchic then ran towards the poachers as it lit up and collided into them sending them flying into the air.

"They'll be back," remarked Jared.

"How? They were sent FLYING IN THE AIR. How could they possibly survive?" wondered Travis.

***

As Mug looked at Emily cry, confused at how a tough girl could break so easily she wasn't sure how to react. In fact, I'm not sure how she should react. There's the funny way, or the touching way. Let's go with the funny way first:

"HAHAHAHAHAAHAHA I FINALLY BEAT YOU. SEE YOU'RE A LITTLE GIRL AND I AM A STRONG WOMAN. TAKE THAT!'" taunted Mug. Emily just cried longer as a crowd began to gather around her.

"I WON YOU LOST I WON YOU LOST!" sang Mug.

"Wow! She's making fun of a sweet innocent girl," said one of the observer.

"SHE'S NOT SWEET AND INNOCENT. SHE'S THE DEVIL!" screamed Mug.

"Wow you're sad lady," said another observer.

"OH COME ON!" screamed Mug.

There's also the touching way. It's up to you to decide which ending you prefer to this plot:

"Emily…I'm sorry for making you cry. I didn't mean to take it that far," apologized Mug.

"It's…okay," responded Emily as she began to sniff her tears. "I just get into things easily and always expect to come out of them clean. I didn't realize someone strong like you could take down my Jigglypuff."

"Your Pokémon went down in one hit while my Yanma endured many. It is incredibly fast though so maybe you should work on its endurance," commented Mug.

"Thank you," thanked Emily as she hugged Mug. Mug looked around awkwardly. She wasn't used to such sincerity but she decided to go with it. It's what Emily needed.

***

"…Damnit Travis I thought we could count on you!" screamed Jared.

"It's not his fault," said Will as he walked towards them. "It's hard to guard your Pokémon all the time if they are Pokémon Followers," said Will as he walked towards them.

"Yeah, maybe they should be inside their ball," sighed Jared. "Pokémon aren't meant to always be out."

"NOT GONNA HAPPEN," screamed Elekid.

"Let's make something clear. You two are OUR Pokémon, what we say goes," yelled Jared.

"Will, Jared, that might not be necessary," stated Travis.

"Why not? How would you know?" Will responded in a condescending manner.

"I'm not sure, but Riolu and Elekid seem to be competent enough to look after themselves," defended Travis. "I mean they managed to escape the poachers without your help at all."

"Yeah we did fine, yo," assured Riolu. "Pokémon Followers are only bad if the Pokémon itself is weak, but Elekid and I have spent years defending ourselves in the wild. If we ever get lost we'll always come back."

"Okay fine. You two can stay out of your balls, but you better behave," said Jared.

"Those poachers, I get the feeling we're gonna see them a lot in our journey," remarked Will.

***

"So, why are we going after a bunch of children continuously anyways?" B wondered. "Isn't there far more valuable Pokémon to poach?"

"B, WOULD YOU JUST STOP BEING SUCH…you know what you aren't even worth it," responded A.

"And how do we get all these gadgets so quick anyways and always fail?" B asked as A's face started to erupt in anger.

"And more importantly, are we just by ourselves or do we work for someone?" asked B.

"WE ARE TWO INDEPENDENT PEOPLE THAT JUST LIKE TERRORIZING THE SAME GROUP OF KIDS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, CAN YOU JUST ACCEPT THAT?" screamed A.

"It's not very interesting," remarked B.

"Yeah well…you're gonna have to deal with it. Not everything is gonna be interesting you know," stated A.

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Jul 11, 2015

Sorry for the inactivity but I will be resuming weekly updates starting Wednesday.

I really can't wait until this catches up with where I am in the present. I may start posting twice a week in order to achieve that. But for now I will post weekly and see from there.

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Jul 16, 2015

"OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!" OMG'd Travis.

"Travis, why are you OMGing?" Jared inquired.

"Yeah, you aren't supposed to feel any sort of positive emotion around us," remarked Will.

"GUYS!!!! We're here!" shouted Travis as he stared at the city below the hill they were standing on. Why are cities always below hills?

"First stop the gym battle, then to the Sinnoh League. Then I Travis will be the Sinnoh Champion!" screamed Travis.

"Ugh Sinnoh Champion, I hate that title for some reason," muttered Will.

"C'mon guys, there's nothing that can stop us!" screamed Travis.

"Everyone, get him!" shouted a voice. Travis then looked around and didn't see anything.

"One two, go!" Travis stared around confuse.

"Who's shouting?" wondered Travis.

"Look above you maggot!"

Suddenly Travis looked up to see a whole flock of Starly circling him.

"Ahahahaha you're just a bunch of puny birds, you can't hurt me!" taunted Travis.

"Orly?" asked a random Noctowl.

"Get out of our flock! You do not belong here," shouted the Starly that was yelling at Travis before.

"Okay," sadly responded the Noctowl.

"Anyway ya think you can just be fearless of us? The Starly squad will show him. GO GO GO. 1 2 3 MOVE!" shouted a Starly. Suddenly the Starly's all rushed at Travis.

"AHHHHHHHH!" screamed Travis.

As Will and Jared were dying of laughter, they stopped being able to spot Travis and instead all they saw was a crowd of Starly's as they closed in on their victim.

Chapter 6: Starly Harassment

"C'mon guys, let's go!" screamed Travis as he was rushing to the Oreburgh Gym all bruised and scratched.

"Travis are you sure you want to battle the gym already?" asked Will.

"Yeah man didn't you just got beat up by a bunch of Starly's?" Jared wondered.

"I'll be fine as long as nothing else happens to me," screamed Travis.

"Oh now he's done it," mentioned Will to Jared.

"ONE TWO THREE GO!" A whole bunch of Starly's then swooped down and attacked Travis.

***

"Okay…maybe after I rest for a bit we can battle," said Travis as Will and Jared were walking to the Pokémon center, and once again, Travis was hobbling. They then entered the center when they saw their female, brown-haired, acquaintance – Mug.

"WE ARE NOT ACQUAINTANCES!" screamed Jared.

"Why is it we keep meeting in Pokémon Centers?" remarked Mug. But before she could continue her thought Travis rushed up to her.

"MUG!!!!!!!! WE MEET AGAIN! Hellooooooooooooooooooo," greeted Travis ever so smoothly.

"Why is he all hurt?" asked Mug looking at Will and Jared.

"Starly's," remarked Will.

"Well that's unfortunate," remarked Mug.

"Oh well it's timeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee for us!" screamed Travis.

"ONE TWO THRE GO!". A whole bunch of Starly's then flew into the Pokémon Center and attacked Travis.

"Maybe…tomorrow," weakly stated Travis.

***

"Okay Torchic we gotta be prepared for the gym. Let's train!" screamed Travis, "Mug would you care to help me?"

"Not a chance," replied Mug.

"Okay ugh, Jared, you help," asked Travis.

"Fiiiiiiiiiine," replied Jared.

"Okay Torchic let's go!" screamed Travis as he threw out his Pokéball and Torchic came out.

"Elekid wanna battle?" asked Jared.

"Nope," replied Elekid.

"Okay Turtwig let's go!" screamed Jared as his Turtwig came out.

"Torchic use a Quick Attack to get to Turtwig," commanded Travis.

"Turtwig, Withdraw!" replied Jared. As Torchic raced towards Turtwig it quickly retreated into its shell and the chicken just bonked its head on it.

"Perfect," smirked Travis, "NOW up close and personal. Slam it with a Flame Charge!"

"Turtwig Synthesize to reduce damage!" screamed Jared. However, before Turtwig could even get out of its shell Torchic slammed it with a fiery dash knocking it in the air.

"Now with your extra speed, use a Peck!" screamed Travis. Torchic then began to run after the Withdrawn Turtwig as it was flying in the air. With flames pushing it forward, it eventually arrived underneath the shell then jumped upwards above the shell and Pecked it into the ground.

"Owwwwwwwww," moaned Turtwig as it got out of its shell.

"Ember," said Travis. Torchic then began to load up an Ember.

"Turtwig don't panic!" screamed Jared.

"Why not?" asked Turtwig.

"Because…" started Jared.

"ONE TWO THREE GO!"

A bunch of Starly's then attacked Travis.

***

"Okay this is getting old," stated Travis.

"ONE TWO THREE GO!"

"AHHHH!" screamed Travis.

"That was me Travis, I just wanted to make you scared," stated Mug.

"ONE TWO THREE GO!"

"MUG THAT IS NOT FUNNY!" screamed Travis. However, a bunch of Starly's attacked Travis.

***

"O-o-okay, this is the perfect place to train," weakly muttered Travis as he pointed to the warehouse they were in front.

'Oreburgh Warehouse, the place which is abandoned for some reason' read a sign.

"ONE TWO THREE GO!" As a bunch of Starly's swooped down towards Jared, Will, Mug, and Travis, Travis quickly ran into the warehouse and closed the door. However, Will and Mug shrugged at each other as Will opened the door. The Starly's flew in and attacked Travis.

"OH COME ON!" screamed Travis, "I-I-can't go on like this!" Travis then ran away crying as the Starly's chased him. He then ran towards the Oreburgh Mines and hid behind a rock.

"He must be near, get 'em troops!" yelled the commander Starly. Travis then began to shudder as he sat behind the rock.

"Bombs away men, BOMBS AWAY!" yelled the commander Starly. They all began to flap their wings and caused a huge whirlwind, screwing up all of the minor's jobs and causing their machinery to kill many and effectively do millions of dollars of damage.

"There he is!" screamed a Starly as they noticed Travis being blown away. The Starly's then dived towards him.

"You can't catch me if I keep running!" screamed Travis. He then began to run into the mines as the Starly's followed him.

Travis kept running and running. Eventually he stopped and panted but the Starly's caught up.

"Gotta…keep…running" said Travis to himself. He then continued to run but began to slow down. He wasn't sure why. However, he looked downwards and saw there was nothing behind him! Behind him, he noticed there was a cliff behind him that he must have ran off of. Panicked, he continued to move his legs, somehow propelling him forward. As he was about to reach the other side of the crevice, his legs slowed down and eventually halted.

"Uh oh," read the sign that Travis stuck up. He then fell towards the ground.

"Meep meep" went a Starly.

"What is wrong with this one? Get him out of here men!" screamed the commander Starly as they all MURDERED it.

***

"I…can't…take this you guys," screamed Travis as once again as he was sitting in yet another hospital bed. He then looked towards the tray of food in his lap.

"WHO CARES!?" replied Will and Jared.

"Hey I care!" objected Mug.

"Really? YOU of all people?" questioned Jared.

"Nope," replied Mug.

"Oh you guys are the best!" replied Travis with glee. He then opened his apple juice but instead a whole bunch of Starly's flew out and began to attack him!

***

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwww," moaned Travis as he left the hospital with Will, Jared and Mug.

"When will this be over with so I can battle my gym, when!!?!?!?" cried Travis.

"NEVER MAGGOT. ONE TWO THREE GO GO GO!". A whole flock of Starly's then flew after Travis.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Travis as he began to run, "wait that didn't work last time." Desperately he began to claw his way underground with his nails bleeding viciously (he was digging really quickly if he had been avoiding the Starly's) and arrived underground.

"Phew," sighed Travis. But if this chapter taught us, any time he is safe there is more danger. Suddenly he noticed a bunch of lava rising his way.

"OH ARCEUS OH ARCEUS OH ARCEUS DID I REALLY DIG THAT FAR!?" screamed Travis. However, as the lava was about to hit him instead a whole bunch of Starly's flew out and attacked him.

"OH ARCEUS DAMNIT!" screamed Travis as he did a Spring Jump from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and jumped out of the hole.

As Travis landed at the top of the hole he began to bawl, "GUYS WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?" he said as tears were running down his cheeks.

"Don't you get it maggot, you're weak. You're pathetic, and all you're good for is a floor mat. Throughout the rest of the journey I will always be there to attack you!" screamed Commander Starly, "ONE TWO THERE GO!"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Travis as he ran into the Oreburgh Museum (showing off landmarks in the games is fun!) and slammed the door shut. It was dark, Travis couldn't see anything.

"Now where's the light switch?" wondered Travis, "OH ARCEUS I'M GOING INSANE I'M TALKING TO MYSELF" He then flicked on the light switch.

"OH ARCEUS OH ARCEUS OH ARCEUS OH ARCEUS OH ARCEUS!" screamed Travis as he looked around and saw the sign that said 'Oreburgh Museum – Clown Section'. He looked around and saw all the pictures of clown, with most being evil looking for some reason.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" yelled who do you think? You know what for now on when someone is screaming it is Travis unless I say so. That goes for the rest of this story. Travis then sprinted out of the museum.

"ONE TWO THREE GO!"

Travis then ran into the forest he was earlier and hid behind the tree. To his distance he saw Sneasel staring at him. The Sneasel then put its claws in front of its eyes pointing at them and then pointed at Travis. Travis then screamed as he ran towards Oreburgh.

"ONE TWO THREE GO!"

Travis then ran behind a building but saw a Starly. He then took off.

"Mommy why did the kid freak out?" asked a little boy holding a Starly balloon.

"Because he's clearly afraid of you," responded the mother, "seriously you're a pretty ugly kid."

"ONE TWO THREE GO"

Travis then ran into a police station.

"Please officer you gotta help me I'm being harassed by group of Starly's," said Travis afraid.

"We know," responded an officer, "ONE TWO THREE GO!" The officer's skin then disappeared as a bunch of Starly's flew out and attacked Travis. Travis ran out of the police station.

"ONE TWO THREE GO"

"ONE TWO THREE GO"

"ONE TWO THREE GO"

Everywhere Travis went the Starly's followed. He even decided to flee towards Hoenn and live at home for the rest of his life, but his parents were Starly's. He then ran towards Oreburgh and arrived by Jared, Will, and Mug.

"Still bothering you eh?" Will asked. Travis was too catatonic to respond.

"Excuse me sir we've gotten several reports of you screaming around the city. You are a public disturbance you're going to have to come with me," said an officer as he approached Travis.

"OH ARCEUS ANOTHER ONE" screamed Travis as he fell to the floor in a fetal position.

"Is he okay?" the officer asked to Mug, Jared, and Will.

"Nope, he's extremely mentally disturbed," responded Jared.

"I recommend you lock him up right now," Will added.

"Crazyyyyyyy," said Mug as she twirled a finger by her ear.

"Nooo they keep attacking me! The Starly's man the Starly's!" screamed Travis.

"Do Starly's keep attacking him?" asked the officer.

"Nope," responded Jared.

"We have no clue what he's talking about," Will added.

"Crazyyyyyyy," said Mug as she continued to twirl a finger by her ear. The officer then grabbed Travis as an ambulance came. Travis was tied to a gurney and shoved into an ambulance.

"HELLLLLLLLLLLLP!" yelled Travis as he was being wheeled in.

***

"At least…they can finally…stop bothering me," said Travis to himself as he began to rock in his straight jacket.

Knock knock knock

Travis then looked around.

Knock knock knock

Travis couldn't hear anything. Was he really going crazy?

Knock knock knock

"I AM THE ONE WHO KNOCKS," screamed Walter White. Yeah you knew this joke was coming. Anyway Walt's attention got Travis to notice the window and saw a Starly pecking its beak at the glass window. It then smirked evily.

"ONE TWO THREE GO!"

The Starly's rushed through the window (with the glass killing a few of them) and started pecking Travis.

"OH ARCEUS OH ARCEUS OH ARCEUS!" Travis then began to squirm as the Starly's attacked him. He could not do anything about it. But slowly he could feel his straightjacket becoming looser. Eventually the jacket broke as Travis sprinted out of the institution and back into the street where he saw, once again, Jared, Will and Mug walking by.

"Wait a second why have I been hanging out with you guys?" wondered Mug. Travis then fell to his knees right in front of them as the Starly's hovered over him.

"I give up. Just kill me already," Travis said depressingly.

"Oh my Arceus you're so pathetic," Travis turned around to see Mug talking, "just stop being a baby and stand up for yourself."

Stand up for yourself

Stand up for yourself

The words got in Travis's head.

"Stand…up…for myself," stated Travis, "stand up for myself!" Travis then stood up…for himself.

"Torchic go!" screamed Travis as Torchic popped out of its Pokéball.

"ONE TWO THREE GO!" screamed the Starly's as they all flew in.

"Torchic, stop em with a Double Team and Ember!" commanded Travis. Torchic then cloned itself as they all shot Embers.

"DON'T BACK DOWN TROOPS, GET 'EM!" screamed Commander Starly. But the Starly's were all busy being hit.

"Now Fire Pledge them all to hell!" continued Travis. Torchic then screamed as columns of fire erupted surrounding the chicken. They all managed to knock the Starly's away.

"AHAHAHA no more bothering me!" screamed Travis.

"ONE TWO THREE GO!"

A lone Starly then crashed into Travis's head – Commander Starly.

"Ya think you can just get rid of us! I told you, I'll be with you forever," stated Commander Starly.

"Torchic Flame Charge!" yelled Travis. Torchic began to ignite as it rushed towards the Starly.

"NEVER BACK DOWN NEVER SURRENDER!" replied Commander Starly as it charged at Torchic with a Wing Attack. The two birds then collided as they both dropped to the ground. Torchic got up as its eyes glowed and it erupted in flames.

"Ya think you can beat me? Hahaha! You aren't nothing but a maggot!" Commander Starly taunted.

"EMBER!"

Torchic then shot massive flames at Commander Starly as it stuck up a sign that said 'Uh oh'. It then got hit. When the flames cleared, Commander Starly was fainted. It soon regained conscious.

"Starly is unable to battle! The winner of this was Travis and his Torchic!" screamed Riolu. Oh so THAT'S the point of refs, to do my job! Okay they can stay.

"Psh I may be unable to battle but I will be soon," stated Starly.

"Yeah for me," responded Travis, "You say you'll be with me forever?"

"Oh no there's no way…"

"Will follow me across my journey always being there?" continued Travis as he took out a Pokéball.

"I will not I REPEAT I will not join you floor mat…" said Starly.

"Well fine then," stated Travis continuing his sentence earlier. He then threw his Pokéball.

"I ! WILL! NOT! BE! YOUR POK-". However, the Starly then got sucked in by Travis's Pokéball. The Pokéball wiggled once.

"C'monnn," said Travis.

The Pokéball wiggled twice.

"Almost there…." Said Travis. I'M GETTING LAZY WITH THESE 'SAID' WORDS OKAY?

The Pokéball wiggled thrice.

"Being dramatic is fun!" said Travis with glee. And then the Pokéball clicked.

"YOU'RE MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" stated Travis. And with that, the harassment was over.

***

Jared, Will, Travis, and Mug were all sitting around a Pokémon Center.

"To my Starly!" said Travis as he raised his unmentioned glass filled with soda.

"To my Elekid!" continued Jared.

"To my Riolu!" remarked Will.

"And to my…oh wait I've had two Pokémon for a while," laughed Mug.

"Anyway gentlemen with my second Pokémon caught and that whole ordeal done with. It's finally time for me to get my first gym badge. First stop, Oreburgh Gym, next the Sinnoh League and finally…the world," Travis said proudly.

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Jul 23, 2015

A little sidenote, I'm actually pretty surprised at the amount of views this fic gets compared to its feedback. I really appreciate each and every one of you for reading this!

Furthermore, the next chapter will come a bit earlier than next week as I think the next two make sense to go together. Probably either Saturday or Monday.
---

"So where would you like to dine, Ponyta?" Gryoine asked his Ponyta.

"You do know I am only out of my Pokéball so you can have someone to talk to, right? I mean screw subtext," remarked Ponyta.

"Ooh this seems promising," stated Gryoine looking at a five star restaurant in Jubilife City. He then entered the restaurant and asked for a table. Gryoine then sat at his table while someone else sat at the table behind him and began to stare. Gry then looked at the clock and read '4:00 PM'.

"Just in time for dinner," Gryoine said to Ponyta.

***

"Ah, Oreburgh gym. Time for my first badge," said Travis to Will and Jared. They then entered the building and saw a large canyon-like battlefield with rock spikes poking up surrounding it.

"Umm…Travis I think this is a rock gym," said Jared.

"I know, your point?" Travis asked.

"YOUR TWO ONLY POKÉMON ARE WEAK TO ROCK IDIOT, you're screwed!" stated Elekid.

"Guys, don't you worry about that. I got this," stated Travis as he smiled.

"Hello challenger I am Roark of Oreburgh City Gym," said a man with glasses on his face and a brown helmet over his thick brown hair.

"Sure, let's do this!" screamed Travis.

"This battle will be a 2 v 2 battle between Travis from Fallarbor Town and Roark from Oreburgh City. Only the challenger may use substitutions. With that said, let the battle begin!" declared a voice.

"Uhhh where did that come from?" Will asked confused as him, Jared, Elekid, and Riolu headed to the bleachers.

"Oh that's my ref," replied Roark.

"Where dude?" Riolu asked as he looked around confused.

"Right there silly!" Roark stated as he pointed at a rock.

"You have a talking rock as a referee?" Travis asked confused.

"Yeah is there anything wrong with that, hmmmmmm? Are you a rockophobe?" Roark asked.

"No no no! I am just confused!" Travis protested.

"No that's not okay! You can't just hate things for what they are, it's wrong!" screamed Roark.

"No it's just unusual!" Travis explained.

"So being a rock is unusual? It's this kind of thinking which caused rocks to be mistreated," cried Roark.

"Roark please I didn't know!" Travis pleaded.

"Whatever dude," replied Roark. Travis and Roark then got out their Pokéballs.

"LET'S DO THIS!" they both shouted.

Chapter 7: Rock Puns Are Easy

"Starly let's go!" declared Travis as he threw his Pokéball and out came the starling

"ONE TWO HUT HUT HUT!" yelled Starly.

"Geoude, let's show this rock hater who's boss!" retaliated Roark as he threw his Pokéball and out came a small rock with arms. Travis then took out his Pok¬édex.

"Travis! You're wasting our time, just do it with their final Pokémon," yelled Jared.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine," Travis replied, "Starly shoot out a Swift!"

"Geodude, use a Rollout to deflect the attack!" replied Roark. Starly then shot out stars as Geodude curved into a ball and rolled towards Starly. The stars then smashed into the ball but just bounced off.

"Starly, Whirlwind it away!" replied Travis. Starly then flapped its wings to cause a gale of wind and Geodude was blown away towards the ceiling.

"Geodude, use a Smack Down on the ceiling then dive in with a Tackle!" Roark shouted. Geodude then shot a tiny rock at the ceiling which caused it to start falling towards Starly.

"Starly return!" shouted Travis. As Geodude was falling Starly got sucked in its Pokéball, "Torchic use a Fire Pledge."

As Geodude was about to hit the ground Torchic came up and shot a pillar of fire directly into Geodude. Geodude then landed on the ground right in front of Torchic.

"Geodude, Rock Blast!" shouted Roark. Geodude then shot out several rocks at Torchic.

"Torchic, Double Team then Rock Smash to defend!" replied Travis. Torchic then cloned itself as they all stuck out their talons to smash the rocks coming at them.

"Geodude, fire off a Magnitude," shouted Roark.

"POP POP!" randomly said a short black kid with glasses and long dreadlocks.

"Torchic come back!" shouted Travis as he sucked Torchic back into its Pokèball, "Starly Steel Wing!"

Starly then came out and began to swoop at Geodude with its steel covered wings while it was shaking the ground. It then smashed into Geodude.

"Oh I see what Travis is doing," Riolu said to Elekid, "he's constantly switching out to prevent his Pokémon from being hit and using the other one to deal damage. Smart."
"Oh great now our role has been delegated to stating stuff that's going on in the battle that is pretty obvious anyways," complained Elekid.

"Geodude, Gyro Ball!" shouted Roark as Geodude began to spin and head towards Starly.

"Starly, Mirror Move!" replied Travis. Starly then also turned into a ball and headed towards Geodude. The two attacks collided and nothing happened.

"The two attacks cancelled each other out, leaving Starly safe for now," commented Riolu.

"SHUT UP!" screamed Will.

Suddenly, Mug walked into the gym and sat on the bleachers.

"MUUUUUUUUUUUG! You came here to watch me! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG," freaked out Travis.

"Yeah I was excited to see your battle," replied Mug.

"Really!?" Travis asked gladly.

"Yup, couldn't wait to see you get demolished," responded Mug.

"He seems to be doing pretty well so far," Will stated.

"Oh just you wait," replied Mug.

***

"Would you like some desert sir?" a waitress asked Gryoine.

"No thanks I am famished. I would enjoy a nice cup of tea though," Gry answered.

"Okay one tea coming your way," responded the waitress. Gry's eyes then briefly glanced to the one next to him and noticed two men looking at him. They had thick clothing with hats on their head, but a blue strand of hair was peeking out.

***

"Okay Geodude, use a Rock Throw!" shouted Roark. Geodude then picked up a rock and threw it towards Starly.

"Starly, use an Agility to dodge the attack and then throw a Sand Attack at it!" replied Travis. As the rock flew towards Starly it swiftly flew underneath it then landed its talons on the ground and sprayed sand towards Geodude.

"Geodude, now! Bulldoze!" cried Roark.

"Bulldoze? That won't affect my flying type!" remarked Travis.

"I never said I wanted to do damage. NOW YOU'RE BEING A BULLDOZEPHOBE!" screamed Roark.

"AND YOU AREN'T MAKING ANY SENSE," responded Travis. As the sand sprayed in Geodude's eyes its arms punched the ground making a crack that headed towards Starly. The crack then opened underneath its talons and a nearby rock fell on top of Starly, trapping it.

"MAYDAY MAYDAY!" screamed Starly.

"It appears Roark lured Travis towards the ground to take advantage of its ground immunity but didn't anticipate Roark taking advantage of the terrain," noted Riolu.

"I SWEAR TO ARCEUS I WILL KILL YOU," screamed Elekid.

"Starly, return!" shouted Travis as a red beam sucked in Starly.

"Travis has returned his Starly once again. It proves his switching is effective," commentated Jared.

"Not quite," Mug respond.

"Huh?" asked Will confused.

"Torchic let's go!" shouted Travis as he threw his Pokéball in the air.

"Stealth Rock," said Roark. Geodude then emitted several rock spikes in the air. Torchic then popped up but suddenly the stones flew into Torchic. It then landed on the ground looking weak and tired.

"What…just happened?" Travis asked.

To be continued…

Nah just kidding, dragging out EACH battle into two parts would be tedious. We'd rather just have a really long battle-heavy chapter.

"Travis, have you not noticed. Roark's style is to lure you into a false sense of security. He anticipates trainers switching out often to go against his defensive style and puts a stop to that. Stealth Rock will do damage to anyone who gets sent out," explained Mug.

"Mug…how do you have so much knowledge about Roark?" Will asked.

"I….I ALREADY HAVE THE GYM BADGE!" dramatically revealed Mug.

"Oh okay cool," responded Will.

"Torchic uhhhhhhhhhh………shoot this ruins my plans! Ahhhh!" panicked Travis.

"Geodude, finish off this antisemite's monkey off with a Rollout!" yelled Roark. Geoude then began to roll towards Torchic.

"Torchic Retu-oh wait we can't do that," said Travis. As Geodude was rolling towards Torchic, it just stared at the rolling rock with fear. However, Travis then looked at Geodude's eyes and noticed it constantly blinking.

"THAT'S IT! Torchic Rock Smash it!" yelled Travis.

"MY EYES, THEY HURT SO BAD!" screamed Geodude as Geodude continued to roll past Torchic. It eventually collided into a wall. As it got up, Torchic smashed right into it with its talon. Geodude then fell to the ground.

"GEODUDE IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" declared a rock.

"You silly silly boy. You may have defeated my pesky Geodude but my Stealth Rock's are still in the air, and there's nothing you can do about it. Now you will have to deal with my ace in the hole!" yelled Roark. He then threw his Pokéball out and a small blue dinosaur popped out. Travis then took out its Pokédex.

"Cranidos, the not-really dinosaur Pokémion. I mean it's supposed to represent a dinosaur, but it doesn't really look like it. There's no teeth, no face structure, etc. Like I really don't get how it's a dinosaur. Tyrunt is more of the dinosaur fossil than Cranidos," explained Travis's dex.
"
It looks like Roark's final Pokémon is out now," Riolu observed.

"I WANT TO SHOVE YOUR HEAD INTO A ROCK," remarked Elekid.

"See? He accepts rocks!" remarked Roark.

***

"Much appreciation my dear," Gryoine said as he was sipping is tea. The waitress then walked away as Gryoine's face turned serious.

"Ponyta, do you see that?" asked Gryoine whispering.

"What?" Ponyta replied.

"Look at the table next to us but be discreet," Gryoine answered. Ponyta then made a quick glance. The fire horse then saw six people crowded around a small table. A waitress came up to them but just walked off without writing anything in her notepad.

"We have to go," whispered Gryoine. He then took out his wallet and left cash on the table and began to walk out of the restaurant quickly. As he left the room the men at the table got up and followed.

***

"Cranidos, start things off with an Iron Tail!" yelled Roark. Cranidos then began to charge towards Torchic with its tail turning into Iron.

"Torchic, use a Quick Attack to get behind him!" shouted Travis. As Cranidos was about to smack into Torchic, it quickly ran around the Pokémon.

"Ember!" yelled Travis.

"Cranidos, smack the ground!" replied Roark. Torchic then shot Embers towards Cranidos's tail, but it quickly smacked the ground to send it launching into the air.

"Now use a Zen Headbutt!" instructed Roark. The blue on Cranidos's head began to glow as it fell towards Torchic.

"Torchic, Flame Charge outta there!" shouted Travis.

Torchic then ignited in flames as it dashed out of the way while Cranidos's head hit the ground.

"Now Torchic while it is dazed use a Rock Smash on it!" shouted Travis.

"Cranidos, knock it away with a Head Smash!" replied Roark. As Cranidos felt woozy Torchic rushed up to it and smacked it with its talons. But Cranidos smashed its head right into Torchic which sent it flying back.

"Torchic, use Ember on the ground!" shouted Travis. Torchic shot Embers on the ground which sent it flying upwards.

"Now Rock Smash!" shouted Travis.

"Oh please, do you honestly think your Torchic is going to be able to Rock Smash MY Cranidos?" taunted Roark.

"Nope. Chuck Testa," replied Travis. As Torchic hit the ceiling its talons glowed white as it smashed right into the nearby floating Stealth Rock.

"It seems Travis managed to manipulate the situation to get rid of the Stealth Rock," commented Riolu.

"Hey Riolu…can I see you outside for a second?" Elekid asked as he began to load up his shotgun.

"Whatever. Cranidos Thunderbolt it down now," said Roark. As Torchic began to fall to the ground a bolt of thunder struck it. Torchic then landed on the ground, unable to move.

"Torchic is unable to battle!" declared the rock.

"You did great Torchic," said Travis as he was returning it, "STARLY LET'S FINISH THIS!"

With a white or blue (depending if you follow the BW animé) flash, Starly re-appeared.

"READY TO SERVE!" said Starly as he put its wings on his forehead.

"Welp Roark, it appears we are each down to one Pokémon left," stated Travis.

"Indeed but it doesn't matter. I will not let your predjudism go without punishment," declared Roark.

"Starly Steel Wing!" yelled Travis.

"Cranidos, Head Smash!" shouted Roark. Starly's wings then turned into steel as it began to glide towards Cranidos while Cranidos glowed white as began to charge towards Starly. The two Pokémon began to collide towards each other.

"Starly Whirlwind off the ground now!" yelled Travis. Starly's steel wings began to flap towards the ground as the gale of air sent it flying upwards.

"Cranidos Iron Tail on the ground," replied Roark as Cranidos's tail smacked on the ground and sent it flying towards Starly.

"Agiltiy!" shouted Travis. As Cranidos was being propelled upwards towards Starly, it quickly swooped around which caused Cranidos to hit the ceiling.

"NOW RAM IT!" yelled Travis as Starly smacked into it with the Steel Wing which sent it flying backwards. Cranidos then hit the wall and fell to the ground…not fainted.

"Ancientpower!" yelled Roark.

"Mirror Move!" responded Travis. The two Pokémon shot out rocks which collided into each other and caused smoke because why not?

"Aerial Ace," said Travis.

When the smoke cleared Cranidos was looking around while Starly smashed into it.

"Oh that was smart since Aerial Ace can never miss and Travis was taking advantage of the fact that neither Pokémon can see," noted Jared.

"Hey that was actually useful!" said Will.

"Well Mug, I guess you were wrong. Travis is better than you think," Jared said to her.

"It's still flying versus rock. Travis may have a few hits but Starly is weak from the previous fight against Geodude," stated Mug.

"Okay Cranidos. Headbutt it!" yelled Roark. It then rammed its head into the nearby Starly.

"Starly, Steel Wing!" replied Travis. Starly then retorted by smashing its wings into Cranidos.

"No more games! Whirlwind it away!" yelled Travis. Starly then flapped its wings towards Cranidos.

"CRANIDOS! FIGHT THE OPPRESSION! Head Smash!" yelled Roark. As Cranidos was being blown back it struggled to run towards Starly. Eventually as Starly tired out it got closer and closer.

"Once again Whirlwind off the ground!" yelled Travis as Starly turned its Whirlwind towards the ground and sent Starly flying up.

"Once again Iron Tail off the ground!" yelled Roark as its tail smacked the ground and sent it flying towards Starly.

"Starly, Whirlwind off the ceiling!" yelled Travis as Starly's wings flapped towards the ceiling. Cranidos then came close towards Starly but it quickly flapped towards the ceiling and sent it flying downwards. Cranidos began to fall as Starly landed on the ground.

"Steel Wing" said Travis. Cranidos then crashed onto the ground as Starly smacked it with its wings and sent it flying.

"Whirlwind," yelled Travis as Starly's wind force sent Cranidos flying. Cranidos then crashed into a nearby rock and fell to the ground.

"Cranidos is unable to battle! The winner of this battle goes to Travis!" declared the rock.

"Fine rock hater, whatcha gonna do?" asked Roark.

"Roark…you got it all wrong. I don't hate rocks...I love them," said Travis as he hugged a nearby rock. However, Roark didn't notice the disgust on Travis's face.

***

As Gry and Ponyta began running, the men followed. Gry then ran into an alleyway as the men followed.

"Excellent," said Gry to Ponyta as he backed into a corner while the men crowded around him.

"Ponyta, Fire Spin!" ordered Gry as Ponyta shot out a swirl of fire towards the men as it trapped them in.

"Humid isn't it? You might want to take off your outer layer of clothing and reveal why you are stalking me," advised Gry.

The men then began to chuckle as they took off their ordinary clothing and their hats to reveal themselves to have white uniforms with 'G''s on them and bowl-cut blue hair.

"You people. Just like I suspected," said Gry.

***

Travis and Roark stood outside the Oreburgh Gym.

"Well Travis, you certainly earned this…enjoy," said Roark as he handed Travis the Coal Badge.

"….Cool," said Travis as he shrugged. Roark and him then began to walk in the same direction.

"You know I have no idea why we went outside for that," noted Roark.

"Yeah I mean I'm gonna watch the next gym battle anyways," responded Travis.

"It seems Travis and Roark are getting along now," Riolu told Elekid.

"Okay you know what, this isn't even funny anymore. We've repeated this 'kinda funny but not THAAAT funny' gag to the point that it's gotten old," complained Mug.

"Who wants pizza?" asked Ellen DeGeneres.

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Jul 27, 2015

"Run Ponyta!" shouted Gry as the two ran around the fire spin and made a break for it. The fire spin then dissolved as the grunts chased after Gry. Gry then ran into the Pokémon Center.

"Nurse Joy could you please lock the doors…immediately," requested Gry.

"I will soon, honey," replied Joy.

That's odd. Do Nurse Joy's communicate normally in Sinnoh? thought Gry.

"No, it needs to be now. It is urgent," stated Gry. Suddenly, the grunts ran into the Pokémon Center.

"Alright sir," replied Joy as she pressed a button as the doors locked.

"No!!!! I needed to escape!" shouted Gry.

***

"Alright Roark, it's time to battle!" stated Will.

"Wait…how did you just pop out of thin air?" asked Roark.

"Dude I was watching your battle against Travis!" protested Willl.

"Oh. Weird. You were almost non-existent," replied Roark.

"Ugh whatever. Just let's do this!" screamed Will.

"Yeah…how about no. I kinda need to heal up after my battle? That's not how things work. Come again tomorrow," answered Roark.

"Damn you realism," said Will.

Chapter 8: …So There Isn't Going To Be One

The next day, Will completely forgot about his gym battle so he came the day after.

"This battle will be a 2 v 2 battle between Will from…wait Will, where are you from again?" the rock asked.

Will then shrugged, "not sure."

"…and Roark from Oreburgh City. Only the challenger may use substitutions. With that said, let the battle begin!" declared the rock.

"C'mon out Chimchar!" said Will as he threw his Pokéball in the air and out popped the monkey.

"Onix let's go!" shouted Roark as out came out the rock snake.

"Wait Travis, didn't he use a Geodude against you?" Jared asked.

"Jared, THIS WAS TWO DAYS AGO how do you not remember this?" Travis asked.

"I do, it just might be a longer time for…some other people so I felt like being clear to remind them," Jared responded.

"That doesn't make any sense," responded Travis.

"Night night Travis," said Jared as he put his hand on Travis's shoulder.

"What? Are you supposed to put me to sleep by doing that!?" Travis asked, "that's not how it works yknow." At that second, Travis fell asleep (well actually unconscious it is just portrayed as asleep in television series to make it seem less violent).

Anyway, moving on to the battle…things are gonna work differently from now on. Instead of showing the trainers commanding their Pokémon, I'm just gonna do the battle description. It makes it more fast paced and cuts out the unnecessary dialogue. Just pay attention okay? These things have a lot of work put into them. But first…gry plot!

***

Suddenly a sledgehammer fell onto Gryoine's face.

"Oof," said Gry.

***

…That's it? Okay moving on.

Onix begins things firstly by emitting a Stealth Rock, but then Chimchar rushes towards with a Flame Wheel. As the wheel of flames gets closer, Onix uses a Rock Throw at it. However, Chimchar does a flip while running and kicks the Rock Throw away. It then rushes towards Onix and hits it but barely does any damage.

"Now Bind!" commanded Roark as Will look surprised. Onix then tightened itself around Chimchar.

"Ughggggh" yelled Chimchar in pain.

"Now Fury Swipes!" shouted Will. As the monkey was being squeezed around its head it managed to continuously scratch Onix, loosening its grip gradually. After making enough room it burrowed underground. Onix then looked over the hole and shot a Dragon Breath at it but underground, Chimchar stops it with an Ember. It then pops up towards Onix but Onix smacks it away with an Iron Tail. Chimchar flies towards the wall but as it is about to be hit, Chimchar DIGS INSIDE THE ARCEUS DAMN WALL I MEAN HOW COOL IS THAT and begins to tunnel around the walls.

"Dear Arceus this is going to cost a ton of money for the repairs," worried Roark. Chimchar then popped up behind Onix and managed to strike it. However, once again Onix manages to Bind around Chimchar and this time drops a Rock Slide on it while being binded. Onix then lets it go.

"Sand Tomb!" shouted Roark as Onix shot out a spiral of sand towards Chimchar.

"Blaze up, then Ember it back!" shouted Will as Chimchar shot out a ton of flames around it then shot thick pieces of fire at the whirl of sand pushing it towards Onix.

"Earthquake," said Roark as Onix smacked its tail on the ground which caused the earth to shake. As the Sand Tomb hit Onix and trapped it inside, Chimchar fell to the ground, fainted.

"Chimchar is unable to battle!" declared the rock.

***

"Pontya, Fire Spin immediately," instructed Gry.

"Zubat, Astonish," replied a grunt as he sent out his Zubat. The Zubat then astonished Ponyta, making it too scared to attack.

"Nurse Joy, I urgently require my Pokémon to be healed," requested Gry.

"Can't do that son," replied Nurse Joy.

"No?" responded Gry.

"For your wide vocabulary you sure don't get it do you?" responded a Nurse Joy.

"One second please," said Gry as he threw away a ball that said 'idiot', "you're…you're all Team Galactic aren't you?" Nurse Joy then smiled as she threw away her costume to reveal a female galactic grunt. All the people in the center then did a weird whirly thingy like they do in the games to reveal they were all grunts.

"Ponyta, you might need backup," stated Gry.

***

"Well what do we have here? Your friend managed to take down one of my Pokémon before one of his went down, while you lost immediately!" Roark noted.

"He's right," said Mug, "and BOTH of Travis's Pokémon have weaknesses too. I'm not sure how he can get out of this."

"…Have you not noticed the Riolu he's been walking with this entire time? It's a fighting Pokémon!" yelled Jared.

"Oh…no. I don't really care," responded Mug.

"C'mon Riolu, let's go!" said Will.

"Gotcha!" responded Riolu as he jumped into the battlefield.

"Damn! Because your Pokémon wasn't in his Pokéball he won't be targeted by Stealth Rock!" complained Roark.

"Really?" asked Will.

"Yeah…no," Roark responded as a bunch of rocks flew towards Riolu. However, Riolu's fist then turned into metal as he smashes through them towards Onix. Onix's tail then turned into a tail looking like a dragon (Dragon Tail if you're REALLY stupid) as it whipped it at Riolu sending it flying towards the wall. Onix then shot out a flash cannon towards the flying Riolu, but Riolu used Agility to smoothly plant its feet on the wall as it fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding the Flash Cannon. It then used Quick Attack to zip behind Onix's head as the snake began to turn. However, Riolu's Force Palm smashed into its tail. Onix then began to bind around Riolu, but Riolu dug into a hole before Onix could wrap itself around Riolu.

"Flash Cannon," instructed Roark as Onix shot a beam in the hole. However Riolu popped up behind Onix's tail as it began to run up the snake. Onix's head then turned into Iron as it popped Riolu up towards the ceiling but Riolu used a Low Sweep to fall back towards Onix's head and smacked right into it.

"AHHHHH! THE HEADACHES, THEY'RE HORRIBLE!" cried Onix as it collapsed, fainted.

"ONIX IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" declared the rock.

***

"Wait…are you going to send her out? Finally?" Ponyta asked.

"Perhaps. I have no other available options," Gry responded. He then took out a Pokéball, but suddenly a Glameow jumped into Gry's hands and knocked away his Pokéball.

"Oh we know all about her," a grunt stated, "GET 'EM BOYS!"

***

"Cranidos, rock 'em sock 'em robots!" shouted Roark as he threw out his Pokéball.

"Really Roark? REALLY?" Will asked.

"I NEED A CATCHPHRASE, OKAY!?!?!?" Roark stated, "it's not fair! All the other gym leaders have such fun personalities to them and all I care about is appreciation for rocks! I really need to work on that and stand out more!"

A white light then flashed and Cranidos appeared.

"…Bring it on," said Riolu. Cranidos then charged at Riolu with a Take Down, but Riolu smashed into the ground with a Power-Up Punch causing it to be sent towards the air. As Cranidos charged underneath where Riolu was, Riolu fell downwards and smacked into Cranidos's back with a Power-Up Punch. Cranidos's tail then smacked it away filled with Iron. Riolu then skid towards the ground and dug underneath, tunnelling towards the Cranidos.

"EARTHQUAKE!" shouted Roark as Cranidos.

"Agility!" Will responded. As Cranidos began to shake the earth, Riolu popped up before it could be hit thanks to its agile moves. Riolu then began to dart towards Cranidos with a Bullet Punch, while Cranidos charged at it with a Head Smash. Riolu then discontinued the Bullet Punch and instead Low Swept. This managed to kick Cranidos in the face before they could collide since Riolu's leg was sticking out. Cranidos then Roared which caused Riolu to run away and then it shot an Ancientpower at the running Riolu. However, Riolu once again dug underground and once again Cranidos used Earthquake. Once again, Riolu used Agility but this time did not pop up. It then resurfaced right underneath Cranidos which sent it flying into the air. Cranidos then dove towards the ground with Head Smash right at Riolu. However, Riolu used a Quick Attack to get out of the way in time. As Cranidos was about to hit the ground though, Riolu ran back and then SMACKED Cranidos with a Force Palm. Cranidos then landed on the ground, fainted.

"Cranidos is unable to battle! The winner of this battle goes to Will!" declared the rock.

"Daaaaaaaaaaamn Riolu, you're awesome man!" Will stated.

"Yeah bro. I'm the best!" Riolu responded as the two ran towards each other and high fived.

"Wow those two are really in sync," observed Travis as he arose.

"TRAVIS! I SAID NIGHT NIGHT!" Jared responded as he grabbed Travis's shoulder and put him back to sleep. Mug laughed.

"But yeah Mug. You may be good, but you don't have that bond Will and his Pokémon have," Jared lectured to Mug.

"Jared, how would you know that? You saw her battle TWICE! And one was over a TV!" Will responded.

"Thank you Will, I can defend myself," responded Mug angrily. Will then turned to Roark which saw him pointing outside.

"Okay…." Will responded sadly as he left the gym and went to Roark.

"Well Will, blah blah blah reflective blah blah blah here's your gym badge blah blah blah," said Roark as he handed Will the Coal Badge. Mug, Jared, and Elekid came outside too, carrying the unconscious Travis.

"C'mon guys, dinners on me!" Will said as they all ran off in excitement. Will and Travis had their first badge. They gone through many obstacles to get it, but finally they got what they wanted.

"Wait, isn't it 11 AM?" wondered Elekid.

***

Gry looked around in fear. Galactic grunts were surrounding him in the Pokémon Center like a mob.

"Ponyta, Flame Wheel!" instructed Gry. But nothing happened.

"Ponyta?" Gry asked. Nothing.

"PONYTA!?" Gry then looked at the ground and saw the unconscious Ponyta lying on the floor, with his other Pokéball in the clutches of a grunt.

"Well this is a dilemma" responded Gry as the mob of grunts closed into him, completely overwhelming Gryoine.

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Sep 22, 2015

Chapters resume Thursday!!

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Sep 24, 2015

Hi guys I'm the italicized narrator! My job is to recap the story to help refresh your memory from the previous chapters since you all probably have memories of a goldfish. Enjoy!

So here's what you probably forgot on The Sinnoh Story. Travis, Jared, and Will have been traveling together but Jared and Will's rival, Mug, often pops up who Jared doesn't like. Whenever Travis and Mug meet, Travis drools all over her but she isn't interested. Also, Jared and Will treat Travis like a punching bag and often do stuff to him like drag him by a leash. And that's what you probably forgot on…

TSS!

"So where to next guys?" Travis asked.

"Umm…I'm not sure," Jared responded.

"Yeah what the hell, how do most people learn how to get around here!?" protested Will, "any idea Mug?"

"Iunno," Mug shrugged uncaringly, "I just do whatever."

"Well it's not like something is gonna come out of nowhere and tell us where to go," Travis stated. The group then began to awkwardly stand there and wait.

"See?" Travis stated.

Chapter 9: Triangle

"Wow a title screen and not even any plot development? Man we're getting lazy!" Will remarked.

"Well looking at my Pokétch, the closest town is Eterna City, but I don't think there's a contest hall there…" Mug stated.

"So where is it?" Will asked.

"Let me…check," Mug said as she began to look through her system.

"C'mon Mug, let's look!" Travis yelled.

"Hey man, let her have some space," Will stated. However, Jared then turned his head.

"Hah, since when were you her bodyguard Will?" Travis asked.

"Dude, I'm just giving the lady some room to breathe," Will said.

"Guys, the TV screen right here sa-"

"You think she likes you better that you can be the boss of me on how to treat her!?" Travis snarled.

"Well this escalated quickly," Mug commented.

"Why yes I do!" Will responded to Travis.

"Alright then, prove it!" Travis yelled.

"Hey Mug, who do you like better?" Will responded.

"You're both idiots," Mug answered.

"You know what, forget it. I'll be in the Pokémon Center when you two are done your stupid fighting," Jared yelled as he stormed off.

"Wait…you seriously are putting TRAVIS on the same level as me!?" Will yelled.

"No. I just don't care," responded Mug.

"WILL, GIVE HER SPACE!" sarcastically mocked Travis.

"Okay…fine!" shouted Will as he pushed Travis away, "space from you!"

"Wow I did not realize we were back in kindergarten," Mug noted.

"Girls tend to do that to guys," Riolu told Mug.

***

Away from the stupid Travis and Will fighting, Jared prepared to have a day to himself. He never really quite understood what all the big deal about Mug was. First his hero took an interest in her, then he met Travis who IMMEDIATELY drooled over her, and finally even Will was taking a shine to her. Jared didn't quite get it. She was just a bitter girl who had anger issues.

Jared then thought that perhaps he and Mug would get along if they hadn't gotten off on the wrong foot, or maybe they just naturally clash. Who knows? But what Jared mainly didn't get was not that why people didn't hate her, but why they like her SO much. It was all a mystery to him.

But Jared did not want to think about that. All he wanted to do was relax and have a day to himself.

"OH MY ARCEUS WILL YOU JUST PICK A DAMN BED ALREADY!?" screamed Elekid.

"I want the right one!" shouted Jared as they were walking around the Pokéa store (take that Ikea, if you had paid me I would have put your proper name in this story! Wait, I just did that now….nooooooo).

"I don't get it man. We're going to be in Oreburgh for ONE more day before we head out, why are we buying a damn bed? We aren't going to be able to bring it with!" shouted Elekid.

"It's comfy okay?" Jared protested.

"But MONEY bro! I expect to be properly fed every day!" shouted Elekid.

"It's fine, I have plenty of it. Before I left for Sandgem town I robbed my parents' entire life savings. It was pretty foolish of them to give me their banking information, but I guess you have no choice when you're being tortured for a year and a half," responded Jared.

Who is this creep? Thought Elekid in fear. Jared then found a bed and began to lie on it.

"Excuse me sir, but you can't be lying on our beds," said an employee who walked up to them minutes later.

"Oh I can't?" wondered Jared as he looked at him with a blank expression.

***

"So you honestly think you know Mug better than me? I've known her for like…a day longer than you!" Will shouted.

"Oh big comeback bro. A day, whoopdeedoo," Travis mocked.

"Yeah well at least I'm not creepy as hell around her. Self-control bro," Will advised.

"Uhhh…I seem to recall you being INCREDIBLY creepy when we first met," Mug remarked at Will.

"Yeah well...that was just an act to get you away from Jared," Will shouted at Mug.

"Now you're shouting at Mug? I guess I'm better for her than you," Travis yelled.

"I'm not going with anyone. I'm by myself," sighed Mug.

"You know what?" sighed Will, "Yelling isn't going to solve anything. We need some sort of competition that has a lot to do with the conflict we are in so therefore even if one of us loses by doing the competition itself it shows the loser why they are not fit for Madelyn's attention."

"But what?" Travis asked, "What's a fair way to determine compatibility with two people?"

The two of them then began to think for a couple of minutes but then they both got it at the same time.

"A POKÉMON BATTLE!" they both shouted.

"Why am I still hanging out with these guys?" Mug wondered.

"Be honest, you're loving the attention," Riolu snorted.

"Yeah…I guess watching these two buffoons fighting over a banana is amusing," Mug answered.

"Wait, did you just call yourself a banana?" Riolu asked.

"No…look," said Mug as she pointed at two wild Vigoroth's fighting over a banana.

"WILL YOU GUYS JUST LEAVE ME ALONE? THAT'S MY NECKBEARD!" cried the Tropius.

***

After washing the blood off his hands Jared, Elekid, and Turtwig then set up his free bed in his Pokémon Center room.

"Hmm…I kinda feel like some sunlight now," Jared stated.

"Okay let's go. I could use a break," panted Elekid.

"Okay, let's just move the bed to the roof and we'll be good," Jared said.

"But…I'm tired," complained Elekid. Turtwig just stared with a blank expression.

"I AM YOUR TRAINER YOU DO WHAT I SAY MAGGOTS!" shouted Jared at Elekid and Turtwig.

"Yeah you tell 'em commander!" said Starly as he flew by. Starly then flew away from the Pokémon Center and landed right in front of Travis, with Chimchar standing in front of Will.

"This battle will be a 1 v 1 battle between Will and Travis. Let the battle begin." yelled Riolu.

"You know what this is stupid. I mean besides the fact this does not solve our issue at all, we have already battled quite recently! I don't want to do this again," complained Travis.

"You mean because you lost, right?" Will asked.

"Oh my Arceus that was one battle, I'll beat you again. I just don't feel like battling you so recent. The fun of being rivals is battling once in a blue moon!" protested Travis.

"Bawk bawk bawk bawk," taunted Will.

"Oh now you're just making noises of things that don't exist in our universe," said Travis.

"Maybe you shouldn't exist in our universe," replied Will.

"You are just the most immature…" started Travis. The two then began to bicker, and bicker, and bicker. Mug, Torchic, and Riolu then sat down and played some cards.

"Blackjack," said Riolu as Mug flipped a third seven.

"Has Will been teaching you how to play?" asked Torchic. Mug then looked to the left and saw Travis and Will STILL bickering.

"Okay that's enough you two," said as she separated them both with her arms.

"How are you…so strong?" Travis wondered.
"Okay so you two don't want to battle each other right but you need some way to solve your stupid issues. Well fine. I like trainers that are equal strength to me, how about we both battle and whoever wins gets…wait what are you guys fighting over me about?" wondered Mug. Travis and Will shrugged.

"Whatever, anyway whoever beats me gets…something. And if you both beat me you both get...something. But if I win both none of you gets…something," remarked Mug.

"Fair trade," said Travis and Will at the same time. How do they both keep saying the same thing at the exact time? This is getting silly.

***

"It's no use…we can't do it," gave up Elekid.

"Sigh…I guess you're right. Turtwig jump up and open the roof with a Rock Smash!" shouted Jared. Turtwig shrugged as he got on the bed and jumped up high, smashing his body into the ceiling. A chunk of the ceiling fell downward as sunlight beamed in.

"Perfect," said Jared as he began to lie on his bed. As he relaxed, he thought about what Travis, Will, and Mug were up to. They were probably still fighting over the silly woman. He still had no idea why, but he needed to forget about it and relax.

***

"This battle will be a 1 v 1 battle between Travis and Mug. Let the battle begin." yelled Riolu. Travis and Mug stared at each other, with Starly flying over Travis, and Yanma hovering over Mug.

Starly charged at Yanma with a Wing Attack, but Yanma blew it away with a Whirlwind. As Starly was being blown away, it veered to the left getting out of the gale's direction. It then charged towards Yanma, but as Starly was about to hit the bug, Yanma bit Starly on the wing (Leech Life), sucking the life out of Starly. However, Yanma then cried as Starly turned its wings to steel (Steel Wing) and then flew off.

Starly then shot a Swift at the dragonfly, which Yanma counted with an Air Cutter. The wave of air flew towards the line of stars scattering them away and then Yanma flew towards Starly with a Wing Attack. Starly decided to counter with its own Wing Attack as the two collided. However, at that second the scattered stars turned directions and flew towards Yanma and they smacked into it and Starly at the same time. As they were getting damaged, Yanma quickly screamed a Sonic Boom damaging Starly at the same time as the Swift was. When the stars were done colliding into the Pokémon, Starly used a Mirror Move and created yet another Sonic Boom which Yanma heard. As Yanma was plugging its ears, Starly flew towards it with an Aerial Ace, but Yanma used a Whirlwind blowing it away.

"Silly Mug, I learned from my mistakes. Aerial Ace will NEVER fail," reminded Travis as Starly turned around and flew towards Yanma.

"Yes, but it locks you in," smirked Mug, "FLY HIGH AND DOUBLE TEAM!"

Yanma then soared higher and scattered many clones across the sky as Starly flew upwards. It then flew towards the correct Yanma, but then the clones all shot an Air Slash at the starling.

"GOING DOWN!" shouted Starly as the Air Slashes flew into it. Starly then lost its ability to flap its wings and began to fall.

"FINISH HIM!" cried Mug as Yanma looked down at the falling Starly from above. Yanma began to flap its wings as it blew Starly towards the ground.

"Agility!" yelled Travis. Starly tried to resist and grab its footing, but the force was too heavy and Starly crashed right into the ground and fainted.

"Starly is unable to battle! The winner goes to Mug!" shouted Riolu.

***

"Time for some shade," said Jared, "Elekid, Turtwig. Superglue the roof back together!" shouted Jared.

"ARE YOU KDIDING ME, THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!" protested Elekid.

"You gonna disobey?" asked Jared as he took out a whip.

***

"You know what, a battle doesn't even make sense anyway. Mug, you belong to meeeeeeeeeeeee!" said Travis as he ran towards Mug.

"NO get away we had a deal," yelled Mug as she pushed Travis away.

"YOU KNOW WHAT FINE! I'LL PROVE MY WORTH TO YOU!" cried Travis as he stormed off.

***

"There, I have superglued the roof back together for you," bitterly grunted Elekid. Jared was happy. He then lay down on his bed and began to trail off to sleep….

"JARED! LET'S DITCH THESE LOSERS AND LEAVE!" Jared then opened his eyes and saw Travis staring over him.

"What? Eww…no. I'm not traveling with you!" yelled Jared.

"Please please please please?" said Travis as he got teary.

"Aww Travis…are you hurt because Mug likes Will more than you?" asked Jared with pity in his eyes. Travis nodded sadly.

"Well OF COURSE NOT then!" laughed Jared.

"I HATE YOU!" yelled Travis as he crawled onto Jared's bed and started kicking and screaming. Will and Mug then walked in.

"Travis we had a deal. If you're going to be a baby about it then…" started Mug. However, at that second Travis kicked the roof (IT MUST BE A REALLY TALL BED IF TURTWIG COULD JUMP UP THERE FROM IT) and suddenly the whole ceiling began to shake. Will then looked upwards

"MUG LOOK OUT!" yelled Will as he tackled her out of the room. A piece of the ceiling then fell to where Mug was standing.

"Will," said Mug.

"Yes?" Will responded.

"GET OFF ME!" she screamed as Will stood up after lying on top of her. He reached his hand out towards her as she grabbed it and they stood up.

"Damnit Travis this is the last straw. We've put up with your shenanigans but after trying to rape her you NEARLY KILLED HER!" screamed Will.

"WHAT!? I DIDN'T DO ANY OF THAT!" responded Travis.

"Is everyone unlikable in this chapter?" remarked Elekid.

"I mean Jared was the one that destroyed the whole ceiling! He was there the whole time. Look at this debris, there's SUPERGLUE AROUND IT!" protested Travis as he pointed to the fallen chunk of ceiling. Travis then looked at Jared with an angry stare.

"He nearly killed Mug! He's out to get her, not me!" Travis yelled. At that second Jared realized something. He didn't always bag on Mug because she was unlikeable. He had always started it. People like her because she's a likeable person. Sure she's a bit grumpy but she's good at heart; she's intriguing and a good challenge. Jared just liked having someone to get mad at. Perhaps he had just chosen the wrong person BECAUSE of the wrong foot he got off on with his original target.

"You know what Travis. That's it. We're done with you. We've put up with your stupidity and your shenanigans for long enough, BUT THAT'S ENOUGH!" yelled Jared as he knocked Travis off the bed.

"You are an ungrateful baby who is just there for us to beat up and bully; your only purpose is for our amusement. And you are not amusing anymore, you're pathetic!" Will continued as he towered over Travis, who was lying on the floor.

"Get away and never see us again. We're done," Jared stated as he got out of the bed and walked towards Travis. Travis began to crawl away backwards and bumped into Mug.

"Mug please. Please tell them they're overreacting. I took it too far but I can change!" protested Travis as he got up and looked at her. But Mug turned away. Travis looked around and saw Jared, Will, Elekid, and Riolu coldly turn away as well. Turtwig had been turned the entire time.

"Oh wait, I was supposed to do this as well. My bad," apologized Turtwig as he turned around, looked at Travis angrily, and then turned away coldly.

"You guys. We're a team. We're friends," Travis said. But they continued to look away.

AwesomeOnix · Oct 7, 2015

I like the dialogue! Tight written, friend

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Oct 8, 2015

Apologies for the lack of consistent updates. Admittedly I have a lot of these already written from years ago (I'm in the middle of writing chapter 35!), but I honestly keep forgetting to post here. I'm gonna try to be more consistent.

---

So here's what you probably forgot on The Sinnoh Story. Will has just finished his gym battle but has no idea where to go next, and Mug needs to find a new Pokémon after Gryoine told her she can't just rely on two for the upcoming contest. Oh and also Will and Jared are being followed by two poachers for the sake of having a recurring antagonist. And that's what you probably forgot on…

TSS!

"So, we still haven't figured out where we need to go. I mean we had this dilemma at the beginning of the last chapter and we haven't solved it. Man that's poor storytelling," complained Mug as her, Will, and Jared were walking away from the Oreburgh Pokémon Centre.

"Well actually I know where to go. I mean I was going to tell you guys last chapter but after we all got mad at Travis and kicked him out of the group (which apparently Mug is in now. Weird I don't remember that happening), I never really had a good chance to. By the way how can I talk in brackets?" asked Jared.

"Okay, so where are we going?" asked Will.

"Oh wow don't even ask how I found out; you guys are uncaring," Jared responded angrily.

"Sorry, but that stuff doesn't really matter to us you know? We just like to move on and continue to joke around; the small stuff doesn't really bother us because it doesn't really matter," lampshaded Will.

WILL YOU PEOPLE MAKE UP YOUR MIND!? EITHER BREAK THE FOURTH WALL OR LEAN ON IT! STOP DOING BOTH!

"Nah," Will and Jared responded as they shrugged.

"So yeah how did you find out?" Mug asked.

"While you guys were arguing over Mug, I saw it on TV!" Jared answer.

"Okay, SO CAN YOU TELL US WHERE WE ARE GONNA GO?" Will asked.

"Floaroma Town, that's where the nearest Contest Hall is. We just need to return to Jubilife City and then head straight there!" Jared enthusiastically responded. The three of them then walked out of the city and climbed over a hill. Once they got above they stared downwards to see a wide canyon.

"My Pokétch tells me this is Oreburgh Gate. Though I have no idea why it is called that since I don't see a gate," Mug wondered.

"And more importantly, HOW DID WE MISS THIS THING ON THE WAY HERE!?" Jared shouted.

"Hmm…so from it looks like we should stick to the higher ground instead of going in the trench. It might be a bit longer of a walk, but we can avoid all the dangerous Pokémon lurking below, which saves us time anyway," Will noted.

"Come on!!! Floaroma is kind of far I just want to get there already. We're pretty tough we can survive a few wild Pokémon," complained Jared.

"You guys are both wrong. If we just go through the caves we can cut a bit of the walking distance and get there," Mug observed.

"It's so dark though and I'm sure there are many obstacles we'll need to navigate across," retorted Will.

"Oh come on don't be such a baby, Will" taunted Jared, "I'm still heading to the lower ground. It's the fastest way."

"The caves are much quicker. Are you kidding!?" Mug responded.

"No, you're kidding. Mine is just a straight path there, who knows how lost we'll get if we go through the caves" Jared answered.

"Guys let's just go my way. It's safer and simpler. Jared's is dangerous, and with Mug's who knows how long it will take to figure out how to get around," Will observed.

"Fine," Jared bitterly agreed.

"Whatever," Mug sighed.

"Good. That settles it," Will stated. However, the three of them just stood in an awkward silence until they all took off in different directions.

Chapter 10: Race Through Oreburgh Gate

As Mug began to head through the dark cave, she thought about the upcoming Floaroma Contest and what Gryoine had told her about it. It was coming a lot sooner than she expected, and she only had two Pokémon. She needed a third because the judges were already familiar with the two she had. Perhaps she should have gone with Jared, that way there would be many wild Pokémon. Though Will was probably exaggerating….

***

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" shouted Jared to Elekid as they were being chased by a group of Zubats.

***

Okay, just keep following the light so I don't get lost, Mug thought. However she began to hear footsteps and Mug got excited. There was not going to be many wild Pokémon in the caves, so she had to catch what she could. She looked to her left and saw a green blurb, not being able to make out what it was due to the darkness. She then began to follow it.

"Piplup use Water Gun!" Mug whispered as she took out her Pokéball. With a flash came out the blue penguin we really haven't seen in a while. As the Pokémon turned backwards, it saw the penguin preparing to shoot water.

"Ahhh!!" it screamed as it ran away.

"GET BACK HERE!" shouted Mug as she began to chase the Pokémon. However, it soon vanished into the darkness. Mug then looked around noting she was covered in darkness.

"Uh oh," said Mug.

***

"Haha suckers, it's been really peaceful so far," Jared said to Elekid.

"Don't hold your breath," Elekid bitterly replied as he pointed upwards. Jared then looked upward to see a group of Zubat hanging from above.

"They're asleep," whispered Elekid.

"Thanks genius," responded Jared as Jared got out his Pokédex.

"What are you doing!? Don't do that, the noise will get their attention!" Elekid whispered.

"Relax; it's the middle of the day. They won't get up!" Jared observed.

"Zubat, the irritating Pokémon. Anytime you explore some sort of area with wild Pokémon there will ALWAYS be this thing. So you have to be careful to avoid them or else you will constantly be swarmed. So for lolz, I'm going to emit a high-pitch noise that will anger them," the Pokédex observed. It then made a high pitch shriek.

"Bat?" went a Zubat as it flew off the ceiling.

"Zu?" went another.

"Good job you two; those are syllables of our name. Now children, nap time is over, GET THE JERK THAT WOKE US UP!" screamed a Zubat as they all flew down and began to charge after Jared and Elekid.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" shouted Jared. As he ran, he then gazed upwards to see a giant, floating, silver object in the sky having no idea what it was.

***

"Lalalalalalalalalalala," went Will as he skipped along the peaceful path.

"Uhhh…why are you lalalaing and skipping, bro?" Riolu inquired.

"I dunno, isn't that what people do to show they are relaxed and traveling at the same time?" Will responded.

"Yeah….if you're an 8 year old girl. But don't get too relaxed, we're still in Oreburgh Gate. Anything can attack us," Riolu warned.

"Relax, I specifically chose this path because of the lack of danger. The only way we could be attacked is if it was just completely out of the blue for the sake of giving me something to do," Will stated.

"Did someone say getting attacked for absolutely no reason to give you something to do?" a voice shouted. Suddenly Will noticed a giant shadow cast above him. He then looked up to see a giant flying claw with Poacher A and Poacher B standing above it.

"Prepare for terror," recited A

"And make that without an error," B continued.

"Oh great, they're parodying the Team Rocket motto. Haven't seen that before," sighed Will.

"To do random crap to continue a chapter's duration," went A.

"To make our readers have even worse expectations," continued B.

"To denounce the evils of filler and bore," A stated.

"To extend our presence to make reading less of a chore," B went.

"Poacher A," said B.

"Poacher B," said A.

"The Poachers showing up for the sake of filler," A stated.

"Surrender now if you want to prevent a thriller," B continued.

The poachers then just stood there in awkward silence, waiting for something.

"Wait a second, we did ALL THIS WORK to create a completely original motto without realizing we had no one to end it off?" A ranted.

"I told you we should have gotten a Poacher C," A replied.

"Oh so it always comes back to that. Am I not enough of a good poacher for you?" B complained.

"Not really, no!" A bickered

"How dare you," B bitterly replied as he nudged A. A then began to wobble off the claw. Poacher A then got angry as he ran towards B and shoved him off the claw.

"Laugh laugh laugh, rekt," went A as he stared downwards over the edge. However, a bunch of stars then crashed into the claw causing the claw to shake. Poacher A then fell off.

"Wait a sec, where did the kid go!?" A shouted as he noted Will and Riolu were gone.

***

"Now class, I'm going to teach you how to use a Leech Life. First you need to get near someone," went the Zubat as it landed on Jared's head,

"THEN YOU BITE!" The Zubat then bit straight into Jared's cheek.

"AHH GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!" cried Jared. Elekid then shot out a Thunder Shock at the Zubat causing her to fly away.

"See kids, that is a bully. And as your teacher I am going to tell you a life lesson about bullies. RUN AWAY AND AVOID THEM!" screamed the teacher as the Zubat's took off.

Jared and Elekid then caught their breath. "Okay I think it's about time we find Will or Mug," Elekid suggested.

"No way we can't. It's time to train for the Floaroma Contest!" Jared declared.

"Here!? Are you crazy? We're going to be attacked again!" Elekid complained.

"No we can't. We need to go this way we need to beat Mug and Will!" Jared responded, "NOW LET'S TRAIN!"

"What the hell is a Pokémon Contest anyway?" Elekid wondered.

"Oh right I probably should have explained this earlier, my bad." Jared apologized. He then turned to face a non-existent camera.

"Obligatory 'who are you looking at' joke," responded Elekid.

"Alright guys it's simple what a Pokémon Contest is. In various cities scattered around Sinnoh, with them all being in a city that lacks a gym for some reason, there are these things known as 'contest halls'. Every month, a contest is held and the first 30 trainers to sign up on the day gets to participate. There are two rounds, the appeals and the battles. You may sign up with two Pokémon for these contests, with one being used for the appeals and one for the battles, but you can use one if you feel confident enough," started Jared.

"Why did you stop?" questioned Elekid.

"I needed to make a new paragraph," Jared answered. "Anyway the appeals are all about dazzling the judges with your moves, and you have a couple of minutes to be able to use a combination of attacks to make something look pretty. Afterwards, the 3 judges will score you based on what they thought, and the 8 people with the highest scores may move on to the battles. In the battles, it is a 5 minute match but the goal is not simply to knock out your opponent. Instead, both Pokémon have a circle bar and it will deplete depending on the battle. Usually if your opponent does something stylish while battling which you have no way of responding. If you get KOd, you lose. However, after 5 minutes if both Pokémon are still conscious it comes down to the circle bar. Whoever has more wins!" Jared then started gasping for air.

"Okay so if you already knew this you should have skipped it. Got it," said Elekid, "mehhh….sounds girly."

"IT IS NOT GIRLY! PLENTY OF GUYS DO IT!" responded Jared.

"Sure they do buddy, sure they do," responded Elekid.

"Okay Elekid, start off by shooting a Swift!" commanded Jared. Elekid then shot out a line of stars going forward.

"Now use a Quick Attack to get in front of them and Dual Chop them all away," continued Jared. Elekid then ran to the other side of the stars. As they came straight at Elekid, his fists glowed a dark blue as he knocked them all away causing the stars to shoot into the air.

"Now Electro Ball!" went Jared. Elekid then shot out a ball of electricity into the sky which collided into the stars and exploded into pretty fireworks.

"Man one thing I love about the Pokémon Universe is how whenever attacks collide it always causes fireworks," observed Jared. He then looked to his left and saw an Electrike staring into the sky.

"So prettyyyyyyyyyyyyy," went the Electrike.

"GET BACK HERE YOU!" a voice emitted.

***

Mug was lost. Completely stuck in the darkness she had no idea what to do. It was a good thing no one else was around her or else they'd see her scared. She can't show weakness, it's not what her dad taught her. Seriously daddy issues? That's so clichéd, ugh. Anyway she couldn't lose the race; she couldn't lose to Jared and Will. She needed to be right, she needed to.

Embarrassing herself in Jubilife was bad enough, but losing a random race that is just between them for absolutely no reason? Now that's brutal stuff. But she didn't know what was going on, she was in the dark. She couldn't even catch a stupid Pokémon properly. She was lost and hopeless.

She felt a drop of water hit her shoe. Weird, there was no water here. She then felt a salty taste in her mouth. Was she crying? Over a stupid race!? How pathetic was she? Again, she was thankful that Jared and Will were not here. She had no idea why she was still traveling with them; it is reasons like this is why she preferred to be alone. Now readers, count how many times I said 'she' in the past three paragraphs!

"What's wrong ma'am?" she heard a voice go. However, she could not see anything due to the darkness.

"Here let me light it up for ya," the voice said. Mug then heard a howling noise as suddenly a beam of light came from a green blur.

"It's you," went Mug as she took out her Pokédex.

"Electrike, the-I seriously don't know what this is. Is it a dog, or is it a cat? I think it's based on a lion but it has a lot of dog-like features and it looks more like a canine than a feline. I'm not sure," the Pokédex analyzed.

"Oh Arceus not you again!" screamed the Electrike as it ran off. Mug then followed it. As she chased the Pokémon she-you know what she's not always reflecting on her life, she just chased it okay? She then saw an enormous light.

"Finally, I can maybe win this race and catch a Pokémon in the process!" said Mug to herself, "GET BACK HERE YOU!"

She then ran outside the cave as she saw the Electrike look back at her in fear. It then ran into another cave as she followed. Once again, it disappeared into the darkness.

"Not again," softly sighed Mug. However, she heard a shaking noise from the top of the cave as a beam of light shot downwards. She then saw the Electrike staring at her.

"You're mine," smiled Mug as she sent out her Piplup.

***

"You honestly think he dug underground?" B asked A as Poacher A had a jackhammer drilling the ground.

"Where else could he have gone?" A responded.

"I dunno, we could have walked away!?" Will responded as he walked up to them.

"Yo why did we come back? These guys are trying to take me again!" shouted Riolu.

"Relax, these guys can barely hurt a Nincada," Will responded as Poacher A and B were trying to chase a Nincada that had just crawled out of the ground. B then went in for a tackle as the Nincada burrowed back under.

"Yeah well we may not be the smartest people BUT WE INEXPECIABLY GET MECHS OUT OF NOWHERE!" shouted A as a bazooka popped into his hands. He then shot out a series of darts which hit Riolu. Riolu fell to the ground as electricity shocked it. Poacher B then ran towards Riolu as well threw his Pokéball out and Chimchar came out.

"Alright Chimchar, blast 'em away with a Flame Wheel," Will commanded. Chimchar then started running at them and turned into a wheel of fire. He then collided into the Poacher's as they were sent flying off into the sky. As they were being launched, they passed a flock of Zubat flying.

"Laugh laugh laugh rekt," stated Will.

"Alright class, we may have ran away but now we will now stand up to that bully," said the teacher Zubat. They then flew downwards as they landed in front of Jared and Elekid.

"Pshhht I scared you off once, I'll do it again. Elekid Shock Wave!" shouted Jared. Elekid then shot out a wave of electricity which hit all the Zubat's. They all fainted except for the teacher.

"My students, noooooooooooo!" cried the teacher.

"Wow it's amazing how the one with the personality is the one that survived," observed Elekid

"Okay you're in trouble young man. I'm taking you to the principal! Or in this case…the principal to you!" shouted Zubat.

"Let me guess, a Golbat is going to come down and attack me," Jared responded. However, a Tyranitar landed in front of the Zubat.

"Well can't say we were expecting that," Elekid observed, "RUN!"

"HOW DARE YOU PICK ON MY STUDENTS AND GIVE POOR MS. ZUBAT A HARD TIME! YOU'RE EXPELLED…FROM LIVING!" shouted the Tyranitar.

"We get it, you guys like to make witty school one liners," sighed Jared. Tyranitar then shot out a Hyper Beam at it.

"OH ARCEUS!" yelled Jared. However, Elekid then jumped in the way and emitted a green barrier. The Hyper Beam then crashed into the barrier.

"Elekid…you learned Protect!" shouted Jared.

"Thanks genius," sarcasticized Elekid (that's a word that I made up that means 'sarcastically replied'. Yup I just did that).
f
"Graahhhh!" shouted the Tyranitar as it ran in front of a nearby cave.

"It's recharging! Now use an Electroweb on it!" shouted Jared. From its antennas, Elekid shot out a beam of electricity at the Tyranitar. It then shaped like a web as it tangled around the giant green beast.

"Perfect, it's stuck. Now to concentrate on the Zubat," smiled Jared. "Electro Ball it!"

"Why don't we just catch the Tyranitar?" wondered Elekid as it shot out a ball of electricity at the Zubat.

***

"Piplup, Bubblebeam!" shouted Mug as Piplup shot out a beam of bubbles at Electrike.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" shrilled the Electrike as it ran away towards an exit. However, a giant Tyranitar blocked its path as the bubbles hit Electrike.

"Fine if I can't run away from you, I'll beat you!" stated Electrike as its eyes turned from fear to determination, "but please don't hurt me."

"Sorry kiddo, no can do. Piplup Water Gun!" shouted Mug. Piplup then opened its beak, but Electrike quickly shone a light (Flash) at Piplup causing it to shoot in another direction. Electrike then ran at Piplup, shining like a Spark.

"Piplup, Bide!" shouted Mug. Piplup then stood its ground as Electrike smashed into it, with electrons transferring onto Piplup. However the penguin just stood there.

"ARCEUS I HATE LIFE SO MUCH. I MEAN FIRST ALL MY FRIENDS REVEALED THEY SECRETELY HATE ME, THEN MY BOSS DECIDES TO FIRE ME OUT OF NOWHERE AND NOW I GET ATTACKED BY A RANDOM GIRL, LIFE SUCKS!" Snarled Electrike.

"Ahhh she's so annoying!" squealed Piplup as it began to smash its head against the wall. Piplup was all weak and tired.

"Unleash!"

***

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the academic area," shouted Zubat as it flew out of the way of the Electro Ball, "but first a little pop quiz. What happens if I shoot this Air Cutter at you?" The Zubat then shot out several blades of air at the Elekid.

"Elekid, Swift!" responded Jared. As the blades of air went towards Elekid, Elekid shot out several stars at it. The blades then went into the stars and sent them flying away, but weakened their blast.

"Sounds like you might need to retake the class on how to battle," snidely said Zubat as the Air Cutter smashed into Elekid, barely phasing it.

"Sounds like you need to get your teachers license renewed," responded Jared. The stars then came crashing down into Zubat.

"Swift never misses, bitch," Jared taunted.

"Foul language is not tolerated in the classroom." Responded Zubat as it flew towards Elekid with a Wing Attack.

"Yeah well this isn't a classroom," responded Jared, "this is Oreburgh Gate. THUNDER SHOCK!" Jared then snapped his fingers as Zubat charged towards Elekid. Elekid then shot out electricity which zapped the bat.

***

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR DAY, GET BACK HERE!" screamed Piplup as it chased after Electrike. Electrike then used Quick Attack to run away from Piplup.

"YOU DON'T GET OFF THAT EASY!" screamed Piplup as it jumped forward and landed on top of Electrike. It then began to punch it repeatedly in the face.

"This is for the bright light," went Piplup as it punched it across the face, "and this is for the Spark. IT REALLY HURT YOU KNOW. Electricity isn't very good for my skin!"

"I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry. I'm so---" but before it could finish it fell unconscious from Piplup's beating.

***

Jared then watched the Zubat being zapped until the electricity stopped.

"Class…dismissed," said Zubat as it fell to the ground, fainted.

***

"Oh my gosh!!!!!!!! I beat it to death. I'm a murderer," cried Piplup.

"Will you relax?! It's just fainted," responded Mug as she threw a Pokéball at the Electrike.

***

Jared then threw a Pokéball at the Zubat. The Pokéball landed on the ground and with a red beam it sucked the bat in.

***

"One…" went Mug as the Pokéball wiggled.

***

"Two…" went Jared.

"Three…" they both went at the same time (yes this was happening simultaneously, SHUT UP). Both Pokéballs then clicked.

"ZUBAT IS MINE!" shouted Jared as he lifted up his Pokéball.

"ELECTRIKE IS MINE!" Mug said as she smiled. She finally caught her third Pokémon. She had nothing to worry about anymore.

"Nooooooooo! My ace teacher got caught. I am a horrible principal," wallowed the Tyranitar. He then took out a shotgun and shot himself. As the Tyranitar fell to the ground Jared saw Mug standing behind it.

"I WILL WIN!" screamed Jared as he ran off

"NOT IF I GET THERE FIRST!" cried Mug as she ran into another cave.

***

"Riolu, man are you okay?" asked Will as he shook Riolu. However he was still seizing.

"RIOLU, I HAVE TO GET YOU HELP!" shouted Will. He then lifted up Riolu and began to carry him as he ran off.

"Great there's no way to get there fast enough," sighed Will. However he then saw a purple streak in the sky as he began to chase after it.

***

"Mug has the lead on me, there's no way we'll win!" cried Jared to Elekid, "who knows how unsafe things will get."

"What's…that?" asked Elekid as he saw a purple Pokémon with pink rings floating in the sky. They began to chase after it.

***

"Cave to cave, cave to cave!" screamed Mug as she kept running in and out of tunnels. However, she looked above to see a weird Pokémon flying in the sky.

"Ooh, I'll catch that thing too!" Mug declared as she went after it.

The three of them continued to chase after the Pokémon, unknowingly realize they were getting close and closer to one another. They then ran out of the Oreburgh Gate as the Pokémon flew into the clouds and disappeared. Jared, Mug, and Will then looked at one another.

"Tie!" they all declared.

"Actually, none of you guys stuck to the path you'd agreed on. You all lost to be fair," Elekid.

"Enough dawdling let's hurry to the Pokémon Center, Riolu is in danger!" panicked Will. They then ran towards a nearby Pokémon Center.

"Man good thing these things are like EVERYWHERE," Jared said with relief. The three of them then handed their Pokémon to Nurse Joy to be healed for a couple of hours.

"Here's all your Pokémon back," Nurse Joy said as she handed their Pokémon back once they were doing being healed. However, Will noted Jared and Mug had three Pokéballs.

"Oh what did you guys catch?" Will asked.

"I got a Zubat," responded Jared.

"I got an Electrike," answered Mug.

"I got a rock," Will stated as he took out a rock.

"It sucks that no one is gonna get that reference," Riolu noted as he walked out from the Pokémon Center emergency room.

"Riolu, YOU'RE OKAY!" Will shouted as he ran towards his Pokémon and hugged it.

"Well Mug I guess we should both stop being so competitive with one another. Truce?" asked Jared after he saw how happy Will was.

"Nah," responded Mug as she shrugged.

***

In the middle of the Oreburgh Gate, 3 little aliens stumbled across the fallen contraption the poachers had used earlier.

"THE CLAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" they both all shouted in unison.

Rediamond · Oct 10, 2015

In the nature of fairness, I'll link this. I run a fan fiction review blog on Bulbagarden. You got featured this week in a less-than-glowing review. Keep in mind that is directed at audiences who might want to read fan fiction more than the writer themselves. So the advice below is more applicable to you. Let's start with the following lines from recent chapters:

"Okay you know what, this isn't even funny anymore. We've repeated this 'kinda funny but not THAAAT funny' gag to the point that it's gotten old," complained Mug.

"Is everyone unlikable in this chapter?" remarked Elekid.

WILL YOU PEOPLE MAKE UP YOUR MIND!? EITHER BREAK THE FOURTH WALL OR LEAN ON IT! STOP DOING BOTH!

"Obligatory 'who are you looking at' joke," responded Elekid.

As of late, the story feels like an outline of a comedy story. You add some half-hearted dialogue, a joke, or (more often than not) a note that there should be a joke here or a note that something should make sense but doesn't, or a note to you as an author as to how to improve the story. If given a chance to guess what I'm reading, I would assume that I was looking at an initial draft with some joke ideas, notes on what to fix in future drafts, and places to insert a joke in future revisions.

I could be very generous and call it a defacing of a more typical journey fic. i.e. "Here is a typical journey fic. Now watch me mock literally every sentence of it." But the problem is that doesn't really keep me engaged unless your jokes are really good. And the lack of set-up and payoff I explained later, combined with the really low level of humor involved in most of it, means that you really need to fall back on characters to make me care about the story. That doesn't work here.

Outside of everyone being sociopathic, which just makes me want to stop reading more, I can't tell you anything about anyone in the story outside of their names. I can't keep the protagonists straight. At one point it's even off-handedly referenced that someone doesn't even know their own hometown and no one cares. So I can't get engaged with anything so if I wasn't inclined to read everything to the end and review it, I would have stopped twenty times over now.

By this point, it's probably impossible to "fix" things without serious rewrites to add in characterization and plots and create humor through occasionally good one-liners but more awkward/humorous/ironic character interactions and plots. So, yeah, maybe just try to actually flesh things out in to a full story, and then deal with the humor?

Endoplasmic Reticulum · Oct 10, 2015

Rediamond said:
In the nature of fairness, I'll link this. I run a fan fiction review blog on Bulbagarden. You got featured this week in a less-than-glowing review. Keep in mind that is directed at audiences who might want to read fan fiction more than the writer themselves. So the advice below is more applicable to you. Let's start with the following lines from recent chapters:

"Okay you know what, this isn't even funny anymore. We've repeated this 'kinda funny but not THAAAT funny' gag to the point that it's gotten old," complained Mug.

"Is everyone unlikable in this chapter?" remarked Elekid.

WILL YOU PEOPLE MAKE UP YOUR MIND!? EITHER BREAK THE FOURTH WALL OR LEAN ON IT! STOP DOING BOTH!

"Obligatory 'who are you looking at' joke," responded Elekid.

As of late, the story feels like an outline of a comedy story. You add some half-hearted dialogue, a joke, or (more often than not) a note that there should be a joke here or a note that something should make sense but doesn't, or a note to you as an author as to how to improve the story. If given a chance to guess what I'm reading, I would assume that I was looking at an initial draft with some joke ideas, notes on what to fix in future drafts, and places to insert a joke in future revisions.

I could be very generous and call it a defacing of a more typical journey fic. i.e. "Here is a typical journey fic. Now watch me mock literally every sentence of it." But the problem is that doesn't really keep me engaged unless your jokes are really good. And the lack of set-up and payoff I explained later, combined with the really low level of humor involved in most of it, means that you really need to fall back on characters to make me care about the story. That doesn't work here.

Outside of everyone being sociopathic, which just makes me want to stop reading more, I can't tell you anything about anyone in the story outside of their names. I can't keep the protagonists straight. At one point it's even off-handedly referenced that someone doesn't even know their own hometown and no one cares. So I can't get engaged with anything so if I wasn't inclined to read everything to the end and review it, I would have stopped twenty times over now.

By this point, it's probably impossible to "fix" things without serious rewrites to add in characterization and plots and create humor through occasionally good one-liners but more awkward/humorous/ironic character interactions and plots. So, yeah, maybe just try to actually flesh things out in to a full story, and then deal with the humor?

Yeah....

Quite honestly these earlier chapters were written over a year and a half ago, and even I find them subpar in hindsight. I am honestly trying to post these to keep people up to speed to read my newer ones. I understand this method is unlikely to work, but I also honestly lack the time, commitment, or motivation to properly rewrite all the earlier chapters to improve them. I also find it more fun to build on something I have already established and transform it when my ever changing vision well..changes. But it really does improve to be honest, but it's totally up to you if you want to continue.

I do appreciate the feedback. Criticism always makes me want to improve even more and release my full potential!

[Pokémon] The Sinnoh Story

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