Pocket||MONSTERS: Destiny Rises [R∙15]

[Charizard_Man]

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pocket||M O N S T E R S
D E S T I N Y ∙ R I S E S
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"the world pushes us without mercy
and when some push back
the world points and cries . . . EVIL"

.Episode//ONE

Area: Pallet Town, South-West Kanto
>>..The Few, the Proud..<<

Story| You open your eyes to the world before you, actually its just your room. September 2nd, a summer's morning just like any other. No wait, this was different. There was something about the world around you that felt happier, yup that's right, today your League Challenge begins. You look out the window at your town, your humble beginnings. You know the next time you come back here, you'll be something big, you'll have a name for yourself. Well, everything comes with a downside. You have to part from your loved ones, family and friends before you do set off.

Inside Prof. Oak's Lab.....

A rather elderly man was examining something under a telescope as he sat in his wheelchair, obviously lost in thought, not minding a few of the Pokémon that were running around his lab. One was a small lizard like Pokémon, another a small blue turtle, the third a green-blue plant Pokémon, a yellow mouse Pokémon ran around playing with a brown and tan furred Pokémon. On a nearby table, a large bird Pokémon was keeping an eye on two, as the owner clearly had no time to watch them himself. The large bird had a long mane of red and gold feathers that spanned the entire length of its back. Its feathers were a nice brown, while its belly, under its wings and lower face where a lighter tan. A Pidgeot. The professor picked up the tiny Pokémon, while the ones that didn't fit in his arms followed after their play mates. This man, Doctor Oak, did not seem to mind the small creatures. Beneath his brown blazer was a light goldenrod buttoned shirt tucked into his black slacks, giving off the appearance that he is very orderly. The professor rolled back to the table with five Pokéballs, "Back in there you go, it's time for a rest." The Pokémon knew what to do, so Oak didn't have to, they touched the grey button on their subsequent Pokéballs. Oak then placed the Pokéballs into a machine with five indents lined next to each other, pressing a button to shut the case afterwards.

Right outside Prof. Oak's window were a group of individuals. They wore grey clothing, with heavy looking black boots and gloves. Even more strange were their black vests, pockets full of strange pellets and mechanic tools. Their faces covered by black masks of some sort, only leaving their eyes exposed. They all shared the same outfit, a uniform it seemed, complete with a black military beret with a strange >>emblem<<. One reached for their hip, retrieving a Pokéball. When they opened it, a short yellow Pokémon appeared. Its eyes seemed to be closed shut. Despite this, it had no trouble seeing. It moved its Tail and looked up at its master, "Abra." It said.

"It's time." The person's gravely voice spoke out.

Mission| Get to Doctor Oak's Laboratory and receive your starter Pokémon!

YOU MUST get to Professor Oak's lab.
YOU CAN'T receive your starter yet, just wait patiently
YOU CAN'T ​notice the suspicious group.
YOU CAN'T interact with other players yet.
YOU CAN however think any thoughts you want about them. ANY thoughts ;D

Part B
>>Save the Old Man!<<

Story| The strange group stared with distain into the lab, all the while making sure they were in a position where no one could spot them. The man clutching a Pokéball nodded his head at his comrades, "Abra, Teleport us into this building, its time." Every member of the group unclipped a Pokéball and prepared themselves, looking one more time to make sure Pidgeot was asleep. That would give them ample time to subdue it. Abra also looked in to see where he was going to teleport. Abra nodded, and the group grabbed on to one another. In a white light, they disappeared, only to arrive in the middle of the lab. Papers scattered everywhere as they appeared out of thin air, for a moment there was complete silence until they released several Flash attacks to blind the scientists, like a flash bang grenade. While Doctor Oak was busy talking with the group of new trainers about their year long journey, he paused when he noticed there was an eerie silence from the laboratory.

"Pidgeot!" It exclaimed in pain. Doctor Oak immediately rolled out of his office out into the main floor with the starter Pokéballs in his lap, the rookie trainers followed right behind him. Smoke covered the laboratory now, as heavy footsteps could be heard somewhere in this large laboratory. The echo in this place made it almost impossible to pin point where the steps were coming from. Despite being strangers, the rookie trainers stuck close by each other to make sure everyone was safe. Doctor Oak was close to them, but that could not stop the green vines from reaching through the smoke and wrapping around the professor. Despite the efforts of the trainers to hold the Doctor down, he was pulled into the smoky abyss leaving his wheelchair abandoned and the five starter Pokéballs scattered on the floor..

"Target acquired!" A feminine voice yelled. There were like a synchronized military unit, just then several more vines rocketed through the smog and wrapped around Riku, then Justine and finally Fred. But before they were dragged off into who knows where, the smog was blown away in an instant. The cause was the weakened Pidgeot writhing on the floor with pain from paralysis, managing to cast a Defog. The five soldiers of terror were standing in the center of the facility, every one of the Doctor's aides were tied up and shot with some kind of black gunk in their eyes to prevent them from seeing what was going on. They had Doctor Oak blinded as well and wrapped up in their arms with some kind of web. There was no time for thinking, this situation demanded action. Without making a decision, without thinking about anything, you grab one of the five Pokéballs from the floor. It was time to battle, the vines let go of the three trainers and it seemed like the brawl of a lifetime was about to begin.

"You kids are lucky, our missions are usually pulled of flawlessly and we're never seen. It's a shame, he wanted you five unharmed. But unfortunately I'm calling the shots here. Fire at will." The gravely voice spoke out, and just like that the soldier group tossed their pokeballs into the air and it semed you had to do the same.

Spoiler:

Blitz Gang Grunt #1 @ Fred Sone


Gulpin #316
Level 5

Ability: Liquid Ooze
Attacks:
lvl 1: Pound
lvl 5: Yawn
lvl5: Poison Gas

Blitz Gang Grunt #2 @ Justine Granger


Klink #599
Level 5

Ability: Plus
Attacks:
lvl1: Vice Grip
lvl5: Charge

Blitz Gang Grunt #3 @ Cody Willingham


Houndour #228
Level 5
/
Ability: Flash Fire
Attacks:
lvl1: Leer
lvl1: Ember
lvl4: Howl

Blitz Gang Grunt #4 @ Angie Baines


Bellsprout #069
Level 5
/
Ability: Chlorophyll
Attacks:
lvl1: Vine Whip
lvl5: Growth

Blitz Gang Grunt #5 @ Riku Kimura


Grimer #088
Level 5

Ability: Stench
Attacks:
lvl1: Poison Gas
lvl1: Pound
lvl4: Harden

Mission| Kick their butts with you're new friend!

YOU MUST defeat one of the Blitz Gang Grunts
YOU MUST end your post once you defeat the Grunt
YOU CAN'T rescue the Doctor when your done
YOU CAN have dialogue with the Grunt

Epilogue

"They've won.." The doctor said to himself, more out of amazement than anything else. His chest filled with pride, those were his students. But the Blitz Gang was less enthusiastic about this situation as they called back their "useless" Pokémon, according to them. "They've won! Now release me!" Doctor Oak yelled out, the group turned to him with their cold eyes as if telling him to quiet down or die. The doctor avoided eye contact by lowering his head to stare at the marble floor.

"They've won this battle, yes, but you think we will abandon the mission? Who do you think we are? Team Rocket?" The group laughed at this, obviously a long running joke of some sort among the Gang members. The taller man with the gravely voice that has been speaking for the entire group this whole time unclipped a second Pokéball, with a click of the center button and a flurry of white lights, a large yellow bipedal Pokémon with a white fur collar of some sort and a pendulum swinging from his hand appeared. A Hypno. "Please, if we wanted to. We could kill everyone in this room," As the man's gravely voice echoed through the facility, Hypno's eyes glowed a dark pink as the subdued scientists around them floated into the air. Their muffled screams could faintly be heard as the ropes constricting them grew tighter thanks to Hypno's psychic powers. "But of course, we don't want to make a scene or leave any trace that we were here. So once Hypno here hypnotizes the remaining scientists here, they won't remember a thing."

"What about the trainers?" Doctor Oak's voice full of concern for his rookie trainers.

"Oh yes, the trainers from Pallet. We have need of them." The gravely voice sent chills down every one of the new trainers. Hypno immediately sent every scientist aide in the building into a state of temporary sleep, and a now released Abra clung onto the shoulder of the man with the gravely voice. "Come now, we wouldn't want to hurt the precious cargo." The man's eyes narrowed as he clutched a pokeball. The rookie trainers stepped back, they couldn't very well take down all of their pokemon with the five starters they just picked up. Just as it seemed the rookie trainers were going to courageously put up a fight, the glass ceiling shattered and rained down upon the research lab. The trainers took shelter underneath the door way to Oak's office. They peeked out to see a large orange dragon float down on to the floor, as if out of thin air a man walked from behind the dragon into the line of sigh to the rookies. The man had red hair, and a flowing black cape.

"Please. I do not wish to bring ruin to this historic establishment." The man spoke out in a cold, intimidating voice. The group said nothing, only managing to flare their nostrils and furrow their brows. In an instant, they teleported out of the room and the man turned to look at the trainers with his kind brown eyes. Eyes that they wouldn't expect to come from such an intimidating trainer. He looked around to see the mess they left of the research aides around the lab and sighed as he walked into Dr. Oak's office, passing the speechless trainers.

"Here, you will need these." He motioned to the desk where he layed out five different devices, all different colors and very familiar. They were Pokedexs, and they were essential for special Pokemon trainers. "I'll take care of the situation here, please go. For your safety, do not speak a word of what happened here today. Not one word."

So the trainers set off on their journeys after they walked out those sliding glass doors into the world, it all seemed so different now. To the north, Route One, their journeys would begin. The man inside the lab stared out at the trainers, his cape still as the Dragonite behind looked coldly out at them. The man sighed. "Oh how I pray they make it..."

[Charizard_Man]

Riku Kimura//September 2; 8:00 A.M.
Riku's Room, Pallet Town

"The prime suspects in this bank robbery are of course the notorious 'Blitz Gang', dubbed by their victims for their warfare-esque tactics to crimes. Reminiscent of the Blitzkrieg tactics of the Kanto War decades ago-"

The television played in the otherwise quiet room, black socks covered feet that were mercilessly tapping at the ground. Feet that belonged to a young boy with his nose buried in a pile of books, usually very strange for an average sixteen year old - but not for him. The thing the boy loved about the white headphones around his ears is that they can block out any outside noise that would distract him from his studies, turning on the television set to keep his grandfather's pet Growlithe some company while he studied. Next to him was his desk top, idly sitting by as the boy payed no attention to it. It displayed the Indigo League's official web page where one month ago today it displayed the greatest news this boy had ever heard. He had been chosen for the League Challenge to represent Pallet Academy, it had been an entire month since the announcement and he had been studying and exercising ever since. The exercise came easy, he loved sports anyhow, but the studying was taking its toll on the boy's mind. For the past week he had spent his time debating on which starter to choose, not only were the three mascots available, but so were the rare Pikachu and Eevee. So many choices, each with their own list of pros and cons. He sighed.

"-and yet, no one has ever seen the elusive Blitz Gang." The channel button on the remote was mashed with vigorous, angry force channelled through a still sleepy thumb, cutting off the news reporter's annoyingly chipper voice. . The boy yawned loudly, still in his pajamas: a pair of black basketball shorts, and white reading : PALLET BASKETBALL in capital cardinal colored letters. The boy was annoyed by how much publicity these criminals were getting, and would have no part in contributing to the ratings the news would be getting. He hauled himself off of the chair he had been sitting at for about an hour since he woke up, trying to make up his mind about which starter to pick. He slowly made his way across his room until he found himself in front of his bathroom mirror. The gaping cabinet mirror revealed a stately row of orange pill containers, cologne bottles, and deodorant. Reaching out for the half-full tube of tooth paste somewhere in the cabinet, eyes tired from waking up and reading, and finally found it before carefully spreading it across his toothbrush. After bushing and then cupping water form the sink to wash his mouth, the open mirror was closed with a bang. He looked at his own reflection now, the sixteen year old face of Riku Kimura. Dark brown hair, jagged at end in his signature fo-hawk. Haunting golden amber eyes, eyes that were just waking up, still. A placid, olive-toned face that wasn't fully fonscious. His room was air conditioned, but Riku couldn't feel the coolness until he exited the shower twenty minutes later. He had already layed out his clothes for the day, and packed extra clothes in his backpack.

After changing into his outfit for the day, complete with his signature denim vest and official League cap, he grabbed his camouflage backpack and headed out the door. His grandfather had said his goodbyes to night before, he knew from experience goodbyes the morning of the journey could be difficult. They even took a picture together to commemorate their last dinner together for quite some time. The front door was closed with a bang, a post-it note left beside the snapshot on the fridge.

"Thank you for everything, I'll be back soon. It'll be like I never left, love you. -Riku"

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Enter.

One simple word, it was printed next to the door on a white sign. Five letters, elementary level. It was the laboratory wing of the Academy, no students were ever to enter this wing. He, along with the other four students, were given special pass keys. He just had to swipe it, simple. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to, suddenly he had doubts about himself. About his background, what if these other trainers looked down on him. Well he would just have to hit them. No, that' wouldn't solve anything. He would just have to pretend like he didn't care, like always. The glass doors slid apart as he slowly slid the pass key on the reader next to the doors, and he entered. The marble floor was quite nice, though there were some notable scuff marks here and there. Most likely from the constant running back and forth all of the scientists did in here. Bookshelves were lined against the walls, and papers were neatly stacked on desks along with countless computers and other technology. But no sign of any other students from his school, he would have recognized them by now. He checked the expensive looking watch on his wrist, it was already nine A.M. There were supposed to meet at the laboratory by now, but then again he was always one to be there before anyone else.

"Hmmm...." Riku heard the elderly voice of a man peering up at the boy beside him. The man had his hand placed under his chin, examining the boy. "Tall fellow aren't you!" The man smiled. "Riku my boy, I'm glad to meet you!" He was Dr. Oak, the snow white hair and bright brown eyes confirmed it. Not to mention the awesome Pokéball themed, tricked out wheelchair he was rolling on. "Please, follow me." The man was very energetic given his age, but Riku said nothing. This was his idle after all, he didn't want to make a fool of himself. He had to play it cool. "You are the first to arrive, my office is back here. " The man said to Riku, who was too busy marveling at the lab to even listen to the old researcher.

"I've got to say Doctor, you have an amazing research facility here."

"Ah yes," Oak began, looking around and losing himself in thought. The old professor did that quite often now. "My grand daughter is away in Unova for a conference, so I'm sorry she could not be here today."

"Professor Oak is really busy isn't she?" Referring to Professor Daisy Oak, who took over the facility in Oak's retirement. The man nodded and soon after the professor's eyes trailed off to a monitor on his desk, the monitor showed another young person at the door. It was the next trainer, he recognized them from school.

"Excuse me Riku, it seems the first of your friends have arrived."

"Of course." Riku said respectfully as Oak rolled off to the front of the lab. Riku immediately glared at the case on his desk, it was a cylinder case with a button on the side which he guessed was to open and reveal its content. The transparent glass on the case was all fogged up, so he was unable to see the Pokéballs inside. But he knew they were in there, and soon he would have one. To begin his journey, and to prove to his father that the son he left behind was actually worth something...

[Kiklion]

Justine Granger

Day 1: Episode 1
"Stay back, Cameron, this is my new day!"

Justine's eyes opened and a yawn escaped her. It was morning and her bedside alarm clock beeped. She sat up, putting her hands on her face, hair cascading on either side of her. Her dog, Roscoe, sat up from his favorite, red rug and made an uneasy noise. He didn't like the alarm clock at all. She rubbed her eyes and yawned again, reaching over to the clock without looking and clicking it off. Roscoe stood onto his feet and walked off of his rug, claws clicking against the wood floor. He stopped by the door and looked at Justine expectantly like he did every morning. He wanted her to open the door so they could both go outside so he could pee. She turned her head to that familiar look.

"You know what time it is, Roscoe?" She asked him. He made a slight wag of his tail from the mention of his name. His ears went back, expression unchanging and not moving save for a shift on his feet. "No, not just pee time." Roscoes tail wagged again at the mention peeing. "It's time to wake up and get ready for our new day." She smiled, still tired, and reached over to pet his head. Roscoe made another noise and went to the bed, resting his head on it like a rock and looking up at her wantingly. "Yeah, yeah, I know." Justine got out of bed, which made him extremely happy, and went onward to take him outside. She wore powder blue pajama pants with light purple clouds on them and a powder blue tank top. He hair rested on her shoulders untamed for the morning. Once outside, she took a deep breath of the morning air and stared out at the world behind their house. It was hardly anything, just a short dip before it expanded far, far, back into a landscape of short, green grass that faded away in the morning mist. Her home was one of the ones in the very back of Pallet Town. It took a little longer to get placed, but you didn't have another person's house blocking your sight.

As she did every time she had stepped out here for the past month, she mused over her coming events. Today, she would be on the road to becoming the league champion. Again, she tried to imagine the journey, the work, the people, and above all, the victory. She was excited for it, but she dreaded it at the same time. With all good things came bad things. She didn't want the bad things to come. She hoped none of that would come with who she'd be training with as well. She knew the names of the four trainers and what they looked like. What they couldn't get off Facedex she got from a quick internet search, from nosey newscasters who had an almost disturbing amount of information, and whatever else she could find. Being this suddenly famous was overwhelming and the publicity was scary sometimes. You had people asking for interviews and even creepier people asking for everything else. You'd be surprised how many Justine Granger's or Fred Sone's or Angie Bane's popped up. What was even worse was the results you could get from an image search. She felt like she'd seen every picture of Riku Kimura in existence. Seeing her own past pageant and school pictures made her shudder. Justine quickly shut these thoughts out. They would only make her thoughts worse. She couldn't help but have a little flutter of it leak in. How many people would already know them when they walked into a store? Or another town? Or anywhere? How often would they find pictures taken by hidden people of them exploring or battling? They did it to normal celebrities all the time so why would they be any different? Justine looked around her backyard, feeling a lens on her back. They very well could be doing it right now.

"Roscoe!" Justine called to her dog who by now had been sniffing at the ground where he and probably various other animals had also peed. When he heard his name he lefted his head and ran to her, going into the house as soon as the glass door opened. Justine took a nervous glance over her shoulder, imagining a lurking figure with a camera, now frowning about her leaving before he could take the next picture. She shook her head and rushed back to her room and out of sight of the glass door, making an effort to push these thoughts down. She wouldn't let this ruin her. Photographers, stay back, this was her new day.

Showering, changing, and freshening, Justine was ready in a few hours time for her new day. Today she wore a powder-blue shirt and opted on Capri pants instead of shorts. Her brown sandals, as always, looked fantastic. Her father had brought her a large back pack (her mother argued for a suitcase, but decided to stubbornly agree when her father put forth how inconvenient a heavy suitcase would be on a Pokemon journey) where he stored water, food, and any thing that she could possibly need and want that could fit. As you can imagine, it was full to the brim and he even got her a black fanny pack for emergency supplies. Of course she absolutely had to wear it. Her father would have had a heart attack if she went without it. So with a heavy backpack and an unappealing fanny pack, Justine, her family, and their dog packed into the car and headed towards the famous Doctor Oak's laboratory, which was really just the academy. The ride was not in solemn silence, it was filled with worries and a check list. Got your clothes? Check. Water? Check. Band-aids? Yes. Camera? Uh-huh. Cell phone? You're kidding, right? Flashlight? Yes. Rubbing alcohol?

"Dad! We did this three times before we left, I'm sure I have everything."

"You know your father's just worried, Justine," her mother said to her. Justine sighed and smiled.

"I know." The ride to the academy was shorter than it had ever been. It felt like they had gotten there in seconds. School had started an hour and a half ago, but because of their journey, the five students were allowed later attendance. Getting out of the car and into the school wasn't as easy as it seemed. Everyone had to have two hugs and a kisses, even Roscoe, and they had to fight her father to keep him in the car and not in the school.

"She can do this part by herself, can't she, Jim?" Her father sighed and agreed half-heartedly.

"If anything happens, call us. We'll be down there in a second," he told her seriously, as if wild Pokemon would burst into the building and attack them before the journey even started.

"Yeah, Dad. Of course." With one last round of hugs and kisses and goodbyes and item checks, Justine was allowed into the school. She knew where the lab was, but apart of her wished she didn't. Navigating easier and faster than she may have liked, she made it to the lab in no time. She always wondered what could be in here and now she'd finally find out. After a deep breath for preparation to took out her card and swiped it through, unlocking the door. When she stepped inside the lab she saw the marble floor and computers and scuff marks and signs of activity. It was much less dynamic than her mind and the mind's of the other kids in the school had made it. It was still interesting, however. One wheelchair, two greetings, and a few steps later she was brought into the doctor's office. There already was Riku Kimura. She knew because she'd seen enough pictures to know by now. Unlike with Justine, this school wasn't the only one Riku had seen. He'd moved here from another, but she didn't know why. She didn't want to pry as deeply as the people who took the time to find his school records. Out of the four people here, she was the most nervous to be around him. For one reason or another she'd gotten the impression that he'd be a serious student that took little nonsense and would, frankly, not like her. She was hoping that would be the opposite but... Like she had told herself earlier. Every good comes with bad and Riku just may be bad number one.

[PsychoJigglypuff]

-BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP-

Angie groaned. She hated early mornings. Sticking out her arm from underneath the covers, she smacked the air until she found the snooze button on her alarm clock. She was tempted to go back to sleep, but knowing too well the alarm would just go off once more, she dragged herself out of bed.

After rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she picked up her phone and checked what date it was. September 2nd, the day she finally got to leave home and train Pokemon. Summer seemed to last forever, and now the day she had been anticipating the whole time had arrived. She should have felt excited, but it was too early in the morning for her tastes. "Why couldn't that old man ask us to come at a more reasonable time, like noon or something?"

It wasn't long before she was dressed, packed and ready to go. She picked up her backpack and walked to the kitchen, where her mother was cooking some pancakes. "Oh hello sweetie, glad to see you up so early." Her mother smiled cheerfully. "Breakfast will be done in just a minute."

"What are you talking about? The last time you made pancakes the house nearly burned down." Angie remarked caustically.

"It was just a little smoke, that's all!" Her mother pouted. "Besides, I can't just let your father cook all the time."

Despite Angie's complaint, the pancakes turned out fine, though they were a bit burnt. Her father joined in for breakfast as well, since he just finished walking the Poochyena. "Angie, don't you think you wear something a bit nicer?" He asked. "You want to make a good impression, don't you?"

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with what I'm wearing!" She was wearing a Red Hot Cherri Berries T-shirt and some comfy blue jeans. "It's not like the Professor's going to turn me down for not being fancy. Besides, this is my journey, so I can wear whatever I want." Angie reasoned.

Her father sighed. "I suppose you're right. It's hard to believe you're really going. You're practically an adult now."

After finishing up breakfast and making sure everything was packed, she said goodbye to her family. It wasn't a tearful parting, she was glad to leave, but it was sad to leave Poochyena behind. He wasn't her Pokemon though, he was her father's, so there wasn't anything she could really do about it. She was about to get her very on Pokemon anyways.

The walk from Viridian City to Pallet Town was pretty short, so it didn't take long before she arrived. She walked the familiar path to the academy, only this time she wasn't here for classes. Inside, she made her way to the laboratory wing. She swiped the key card she was given, and the glass doors slid open. She had never seen the inside of the laboratory before, but it didn't seem too different than she pictured it.

She was eagerly greeted by Dr. Oak, who wheeled his way over to the front of the lab. As she followed the elderly professor to his office, she noticed a couple of the other students had arrived. She tried to remember who they were. The boy's name was Riku. He was on some sort of team at the academy, but Angie never payed attention to sports. She found them unbelievably dull. No doubt this guy was a major tool. The girl was Justine. From what Angie could tell, she was some sort of peppy girly-girl, who probably liked boys and fashion and other boring things that Angie couldn't care less about. She was ditching these two as soon as she could.

[Raikiri]

Cody Willingham- Pallet Town

SMASH!

In a unconscious rage, Cody picked up his demonic alarm clock and chucked it at the nearest wall. Having trained his body to work while half awake it wasn't too hard. Cody lived with family friends, but left him alone to do his own thing. The loud crunch of electronics being plastered against a wall did not startle nor stir them. In fact, it was the fourth time he has done that in the past month. They stopped buying him new ones six months ago, forcing Cody to demand money from his father for "unforeseen complications in alarm clock design." Cody crawled out of bed, despite the soft silk covers yearning for him to return to its sweet embrace. He knew he had to wake up. It was "the day" for his journey to begin and to meet his new "friends" as his host family called them. What were their names again?

Fred Scone? Yeah, he seemed like a decent guy. Cody thought the kid looked like a bit of pushover though. Sadly, though, he was probably the only guy worth hanging out with.

There were the two girls though: Angie Baines and Justine Granger. One was a tall, tomboy like figure. So she was probably bad news already. The other one was the typical dress really fancy and prissy type of girl. In other words, unapproachable for Cody's kind. He was already considered a freak by those types. So the girls were definitely out.

Then there was Riku Kimura. The jock of the group. And probably a self important jerk. Those kind of guys were always like that. Cody was probably going to avoid him. It was the only sane thing to do. So once again, Cody was limited to the people he could stand.

So Fred, hope you don't mind Cody being your new best friend, since there was no way he was walking around Kanto alone. That sounded like a drag. As much as Cody avoided people, he always liked having at least one person to talk to. One person to keep him grounded. One person to remind him that sleeping, a fun as it was, wasn't very productive.

Willing himself to the shower was hard work, but he eventually made it. Cody took a power nap as a the shampoo and soap lathered his body and made the past week's dirty drip into the drainage system. It was refreshing and needed. He probably wouldn't shower for weeks now that he had to travel around the country.

Cody rolled out of the shower and into his typical outfit. Stonewashed, faded, gray jeans, black t-shirt, gray zipped hooded sweatshirt and his favorite new pair of black sneakers. It was best to wear something that would give no remarkable first impression. This was to be an in and out operation. Get Pokemon and get out. If anyone bothered to talk to him, it would because they were genuinely interested in learning about Cody. Not because he was attractive or anything. This was to guarantee they were worthwhile. That is how he made friends before and it worked out pretty well so far.

Putting on his accessories was not too hard and it reminded him to make a bag of supplies. Grabbing his backpack, Cody stuffed some clothes, a first aid pack, matches, sleeping bag, survival pack with a multipurpose tool and flashlight. He stuffed some food and water in there too. Cody packed his pockets with his wallet, phone, another multipurpose tool and a lighter. Eventually a fire type Pokemon would remedy the need for fire starting tools.

Cody walked down the stairs at a snail's place with his host family waiting at the bottom.

"All set?" his host father said.

"Got any breakfast?" Cody said with his eyes lacking any spark of interest in answering the question.

"Uh…yeah."

Cody dropped his bag with a thud at the door, and followed them to the kitchen. On the table was their typical breakfast buffet filled with every decent breakfast dish you could find. The host mother was churning out eggs for her large family that wasn't quite up yet, so Cody took the opportunity to fill up on eggs, toast, bacon, and some fruit. He ate more than he usually did, mostly because he knew the rest of his meals would be lackluster. Living alone did that kind of thing.

"Thanks for the meal. I'll get out of your hair now," Cody said as he slipped out of his seat.

"Now, now," his host mother said running over to him. "Don't act like you were total bother. Your family here."

Cody gawked at the comment and shook his head. "Heh, thanks."

His host mother hugged him tight before letting go. He glared at Cody's unsettled brown hair and played with it before giving it some sense of style. "Don't look like a slob. At least not on your first day."

"Keep it touch," his host father said. "The girls will miss you."

"Yeah. I'll send a postcard or something," Cody said with a weak smile. He made his way to door, picking up his tightly packed bag, made a half wave and walked out of the door. He passed the point of no return.

****************

The Academy was a fair length of a walk, but nothing Cody couldn't manage. He could make the trek in his sleep. In fact, he probably did once or twice. The heavy bag made drifting into slumber impossible though. He wasn't used to carrying anything of substantial weight. Cody rarely read the books for class anyway and frequently came to the Academy unprepared.

Cody knew where the laboratory wing was, having wandered the school several times when he cut classes but he never actually entered it. Students were not allowed to, and it was the first time just an arbitrary rule stopped him. Those damn key coded doors were a real pain, and Cody was not exactly an expert level hacker. But the pass key he was given certainly made that little problem disappear. Without as much as a second though, Cody swiped the key card and entered through the glass doors. Simple. He wondered if anyone had trouble with such an easy task. Some kid was bound to have second thoughts. If Cody had to take a guess it would of been Riku or Justine. Justine seemed like such a girly girly that the idea of being alone in the world probably scared her. And Riku was likely some kid with deeper issues that would attack his own sense of self worth.

Cody was greeted by Prof. Oak in some Pokemon wheelchair (how cliche) and was guided to the office. He was not the first to arrive, but at least he wasn't last. Riku, Justine, and Angie were all there. Of course, the three people that Cody did not want to be locked in a room with right now.

Hopefully this wouldn't last long.

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

Episode One
Fred Sone - Pallet Town

The sun was shining outside, a light breeze whirled the leaves on the ground and in short it was a perfect day to leave home and start an incredible journey on. Fred hesitated, though. One hand on the doorknob and his bag in the other, he took a deep breath before he finally was about to step outside his house and go to the Academy's lab wing...

"FRED!"

His father startled him and almost made him fall over. Mr Sone came up to Fred in the hallway and cleared his throat importantly, which made Fred raise an eyebrow.

"I have decided to give you a gift for your journey."

"Oh? What is it?"

The father smiled a real dentist smile and took forth what he was holding behind his back. A camera. Fred's lips curved into a genuinely happy smile too now. It wasn't one of those bulky, huge things that his father normally carried around and used for work. It was a compact camera, but knowing his father it was probably pretty good anyways.

"Photo's are memo-"

"And memories are you. Yeah, yeah. So you want me to take pictures when I'm traveling and sent them as postcards home?"

"No! I want you to take pictures for yourself and watch them from time to time. I included a huge memory card in this, and here's a case with another memory card tucked inside. You'll have enough space to photograph anything interesting you see." As he handed Fred the gifts, he leaned in closer with a serious look that unnerved the son. "CHERISH YOUR MEMORIES."

Then he leaned back with his wide smile again, just as Mrs Sone appeared in the hallway.

"Fred, I can't believe that you're really going! There are so many more things you could do in life-"

"If I never wanted to be a pokémon trainer, I wouldn't have enrolled at the Academy in the first place. But you let me. So..."

Mrs Sone sighed and smiled softly at him. "I know. I will sing for you when you go! So that when you hear this song, you will think of home and-"

"CHERISH YOUR MEMORIES!" Mr Sone interjected with a raised fists and face of furious seriousness.

"I WILL, I WILL. But mama, please don't sing... I'll be fine, really!" He took some steps backwards towards the door again and put his hand back on the doorknob, after having put the camera down in a pocket and the case into his larger bag.

He took a look at both of them. His little family. No wait, there were some people missing... "Where are the pokémon?" he asked them.

"Oh, we didn't want to worry them..." Mrs Sone said, avoiding Fred's eyes.

"Hank and Puff are fine, but if Beauto and Whiss saw you leave, they wouldn't take it well. They probably wouldn't let you leave. So we've made sure that Hank and Puff are playing with them in the garden now!" Mr Sone said proudly.

Fred giggled at the thought of the Mankey and the Jigglypuff being forced to play with the more childish pokémon. But even if he did want to say farewell to his childhood playmates, he guessed that he saw the logic in not having them around right now.

So with that, he was finally off. The road to the Academy seemed longer today than on any day before. As if every step was tougher to take. Fred didn't have second thoughts, of course. He was just nervous. And at the same time immensely excited. He thought about the other four trainers. The serious Riku, the lazy Cody, the annoying Angie and the girly Justine. Would they be traveling together in a group? Or would he be alone on his journey? He would have his pokémon, of course. He just hoped they would become as good friends as he was with his father's Beautifly and his mother's Loudred.

The Academy came into view. A rather impressive installation, really. He never thought of that before. He just went to school there, and it's not common for teenagers to think their school looks impressive. But this day, nothing was as it usually was. He was going to the part of the Academy where students weren't normally allowed. Sliding the passcard through the terminal and seeing the doors slide open felt strangely surreal. It felt like life would begin when he stepped through them.

The professor - the elder professor Oak - and the other trainers were already there. Great, he was last on the first day. At least he wasn't late, the others were just early... or at least he hoped so.

He had seen the others in school before, but he wasn't friends with any of them. Angie was taller than he was. Whoa! And Justine wasn't exactly tiny either. Cody looked just as he had imagined, and Riku looked even grumpier. Fred gave them all a weak smile that was supposed to be greeting but probably just showed how nervous he was.

"I'm here!" he said to the professor and then remembered something. He should make a memory out of this. He quickly pulled up his camera from the pocket and snapped a photo of the unsuspecting, waiting trainer quartet. Only afterwards did he realize that it might have been rude to snap a photo of them without asking beforehand.

"SORRY!" he said with a reddish face, but then figured that he'd better shut up already and get in line. Since when was he this nervous a person?

[Charizard_Man]

Riku Kimura//September 2; 9:30 A.M.
Oak Research Facility, Pallet Town

Flash.

His golden eyes dilated at the flash of Fred Sone's camera, Riku rubbed his eyes quickly to rid himself of the burning that stupid boy caused. Who takes pictures without permission? Weirdos, that's who. "Thanks for the burning eyes bro, needed that." He said sarcastically, still trying to regain proper vision.

"SORRY!" The boy's usual bright skin warmed up with red from embarrassment, usually Riku would've continued insulting the boy but since he himself had a photography hobby he decided it best just to leave the blonde boy be.

"Just don't do it again without saying something, please." He said as politely as possible, at least for him. The professor wheeled past the group in his automatic wheelchair towards a large brown round table next to a giant Kanto region map on the wall. He couldn't believe he didn't see that earlier, weird. Riku sat down in an empty chair along with the other trainers and marveled at the lone container on the table. It was a cylinder, glass fogged up and undoubtedly holding the Pokéballs of their starter Pokémon. Doctor Oak smiled at all of them and grabbed the container.

"Well now, this is exciting. THIS," Oak turned to show off the Kanto map, "Is the Kanto Region. You will be traveling for about a year, collecting the special badges from the certified League gyms. Now, since the Association changed up the league a few years back - there are some changes. Every official gym now comes with a puzzle, or a trial of sorts for incoming trainers. These will be done in groups, as will the gym battles themselves. Every gym leader will have the number of Pokémon needed to battle each of you. So for example," Oak used a laser pointer and directed it on Pewter City. "Pewter Gym, leader Brock here will use five Pokémon to accommodation a one on one battle with each of you. That is, given you past the trial."

"What will these trails be exactly?" Riku questioned, this all sounded really interesting. He never knew of these rule changes.

"They vary from gym to gym, but most will require team work with both your fellow trainers and your Pokémon. But I'll tell you this now, they are dangerous." Oak said grimly, Riku's eyes narrowed and he nodded a bit. This would be VERY interesting. "These five Pokéballs here, each hold one of your Starter Pokémon. Now, you'll get to choose according to the order in which you-"

FLASH.

"Dammit, Fred! I thought I told you no more spontaneous pictures!!" Riku slammed his hands on the table.

"Pidgeot!" The bird pokemon's cries of pain echoed into Oak's office. It seemed like Riku owed Fred an apology....meh, maybe later. Riku followed the worried Doctor Oak out onto the main floor of the research facility. Thick purple smog covered the entire place, they were blind as bats here. He grabbed on to Oak's wheelchair and who ever was near him, to make sure no one was separated. "Is everyone here?" Riku asked, he could hear some voices speak to him. He couldn't tell them apart in this blinding smog though. It was getting harder to breathe, Riku tried to shield his mouth and nose from this mess with his arm but it didn't help. He coughed heavier and heavier, what were they to do? Where could they go? He felt helpless.

"Trainers, here! Take a Poké-" Oak's voice suddenly cut off after what sounded like a grappling, whipping noise. The wheelchair Oak was sitting on suddenly careened forward and crashed on the floor, the sound of Pokéballs bouncing on the floor could be heard. Was he just taken?

"DAMN THIS FOG!" Riku shouted out.

"Target acquired!" Riku's ears perked up at the sound of a feminine voice, it wasn't any of theirs. No, it was someone else's. Just then, the thick smog that blinded the trainers vanished in an instant. Heavy wind vanquished the poison gas attack, thank goodness it was a low level attack or they would all be dead by now. Those flashes earlier must have been a Flash attack, and the ropes that grabbed Oak? Vine Whip. All Pokémon attacks, from them.

They stood there, caught. They were menacing, and tall. Grown people, wearing masks with piercing golden eyes staring the teenagers down. Around them were scattered scientists, all with some kind of sludge on their face. Oak was no exception, being dangled over the shoulder of the taller gentleman. It was them, the Blitz Gang. The man set the Doctor down on the ground, as he tried to crawl away the gang member stomped on the old man's back. Riku clenched his fists, and as soon as he saw one of the members unclip a Pokéball - he knew what he had to do. He reached for a Pokéball and grabbed it quickly, he didn't care which one it was, or if it was the one he wanted, he just knew something had to be done.

"You kids are lucky, our missions are usually pulled of flawlessly and we're never seen. It's a shame, he wanted you five unharmed. But unfortunately I'm calling the shots here. Fire at will." The Blitz members fanned out into an orderly line, each one lining across from one of them. It was a regular school yard brawl it seemed. Riku smirked, and stood across from the taller gentleman as the others walked over to prepared to battle.

“I don’t suppose you’re the welcoming committee, are you?” Riku asked dryly. He could see a smirk appear on the member's mask. “Nope. I sure as hell am not. But I know who you are.”

“Oh?”

The smirk widened. “Yeah. You’re the kid who’s about to get his ass kicked.”

“I’m guessing you’d enjoy a battle then?” he asked, though he had a feeling he already knew the correct answer. The man chuckled now, woah - they had emotion. Riku clicked the center of the Pokéball to release a small orange lizard in a flurry of white light. Charmander, not his first choice but he'll take it. As for the other guy, he released a little sludge thing. It was actually a rather smelly Pokémon, reminding Riku of the garbage duty he had to do for ditching too much football practice one year. The Pokémon enticed him, and Riku found himself covering his mouth and nose to try and block out that horrible stench. Charmander looked perfectly confident, though Riku wasn’t exactly sure why. Maybe this little guy knew that business had to be taken care of, and Oak had to be saved. Well, as long as the Pokémon was willing.

“Charmander use ember now!” Riku called.

Riku had to admit, he was a bit surprised he started the battle off. He had figured that he would allow the opponent to strike first. Grimer slithered away, so it gave him time to assume that Houndour knew no super effective attacks against Charmander. Riku, though he was pretty sure that his assumptions were correct, wasn’t going to let it bring his guard down. He didn’t want any close calls; he wanted this battle finished.

“Grimer, Pound!” The Blitz member ordered.

“Tch! Don’t let it complete the attack! Charmander, get in close and use ember.” Riku smirked. Grimer’s fist grew into giant proportions and was about to hammer down upon the lizard. Riku, though he knew he should be focused on the main battle, couldn’t help but stare for a few seconds at the Pokémon's structure. Luckily for him, Charmander wasn’t about to go drifting off in the middle of the battle. Instead, Charmander jumped over the poison type, effectively dodging the pound and appearing behind Grimer before launching his Ember attack. Riku snapped out of it and was pleased to note this. He smirked slightly when Charmander’s ember flares slapped against the Grimer, making the poison Pokémon cry out and skid back a few paces. Grimer was whimpering and twitching, but Riku could see that it could take at least another hit or two. Grimer was really defensive he noted.

“You pathetic little...” the guy snarled at Charmander. “YOU PIECE OF CRAP!” he snapped. “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!” Charmander flinched at the name calling, but unleashed a ember that Riku swore looked more powerful than the first. It hit Grimer dead on, but it used Poison Gas to stall Charmander enough before something horrendous could be done. Riku cursed when the gas reached Charmander. The fire type was coughing and stumbling about, but Riku couldn't tell if it was a major affecting poison or not.

“Charmander, are you alright?” he questioned, just to see if the poison was going to impact too much. Charmander glanced back at him, and Riku nodded. Charmander wasn't poisoned badly. Roli ordered Charmander to finish the job with another ember. Riku thought himself lucky that Charmander seemed to somehow be able to know what Riku was thinking, but he supposed that was just a coincidence. Riku watched in silence as Grimer charged head on towards Charmander who was waiting for the right time to use Ember, preparing one of his somehow super charged pounds (upon the Blitz member’s command, of course) and hoped that Charmander would be able to pull it off.

"NOW!" Riku yelled. Charmander pulled his little stunt again, and Riku smirked at how Grimer was so easily fooled. He knew he shouldn’t feel this cocky, but he just couldn’t help it! Charmander was doing so well, it was like he was a natural born battler or something. Riku liked it. He enjoyed watching Charmander beat down the Grimer, even though he had felt sympathy for it now and then. Riku sighed, sort of wishing he could offer the Grimer a different life, but scratched that from his brain. It was a stupid thought.

“YOU STUPID PIECE OF SLUDGE! WATCH YOUR FREAKING BACK!” the man shouted, his voice was loud and commanding - like a drill sergeant. Grimer frowned, retracting its pound attack. The Pokemon’s head drifted lower, making it look beaten and broken. Riku felt a jolt of sympathy rush through him, but then Charmander’s attack struck. This time, Grimer was slammed back to the Blitz member's feet. The man didn’t bother to recall the little Pokemon, he only picked it up by its slimy head, and it make Riku wonder what would happen to it. He didn’t like what had just happened, and it filled him with something akin to rage. He glowered at the man in the uniform and clenched his fists, but said nothing.

“HA! Well, I hope this thing knows its a loser. That would be excellent. Maybe it died,” he snarled under his breath as he grabbed its Pokéball and called it back.

“Why don’t you just shut the f*ck up?” Riku snarled back. His blood was beginning to boil. This was no harmless banter with his debate class; this was something that just downright pissed him off - this was the screaming and arguing with the bullies when he was younger. You could be powerful and still care about your Pokemon. Hell, you could be evil and still care about your Pokemon! So what the hell was this guy’s problem?! Out of the corner of his eye, Riku saw Charmander giving the man a rather angry look as well.

“Oh, you. You're lucky I like you kid, I can't just kill you - that wouldn't be fun." The man chuckled, "Besides, you've still got your part to play little one." The man laughed.

[Raikiri]

Cody Willingham- Pallet Town

"I'm here!"

Flash.

Ow.

"SORRY!"

As Cody's eyes watered from the sudden bright light, Cody was able to piece together two things: 1. Whoever took his picture was Fred, since he was only expecting one other person to show up and Fred was the last of the trainsers. 2. Fred got a crappy picture because Cody was in it. He wasn't exactly photogenic.

Oak wheeled himself towards the large brown round table that sat next to a giant map of the Kanto region that hung on the wall. The whole set up reminded Cody of a classroom, which made him groan audibly. More work. I thought this was going to be quick. I don't need another orientation, Cody complained to himself. Really? More lectures? Come on. This was supposed to be easy. Get Pokemon. Get Pokedex. Get out. Humoring Oak would be easy though, Cody plopped into a chair and stared at the container, placing music in his head until he heard anything that was important.

Well now, this is exciting. THIS," Oak turned to show off the Kanto map, "Is the Kanto Region. You will be traveling for about a year, collecting the special badges from the certified League gyms. Now, since the Association changed up the league a few years back - there are some changes. Every official gym now comes with a puzzle, or a trial of sorts for incoming trainers. These will be done in groups, as will the gym battles themselves. Every gym leader will have the number of Pokémon needed to battle each of you. So for example," Oak used a laser pointer and directed it on Pewter City. "Pewter Gym, leader Brock here will use five Pokémon to accommodation a one on one battle with each of you. That is, given you past the trial."

Cody sighed. Everything sounded like a lot of work, even though he only really picked up: travel, year, gym, puzzle (yay fun), trial (boo work), battle. This sounded like the adventure he found himself in. Nothing out of the ordinary yet.

"What will these trials be exactly?" Riku questioned.

Noob.

"They vary from gym to gym, but most will require team work with both your fellow trainers and your Pokémon. But I'll tell you this now, they are dangerous."

Duh.

Oak said grimly, Riku's eyes narrowed and he nodded a bit. This would be VERY interesting. "These five Pokéballs here, each hold one of your Starter Pokémon. Now, you'll get to choose according to the order in which you-"

Another flash. Just when Cody was about ready to select his Pokemon. He was pretty sure he was first. Then again, maybe he was third. He definitely wasn't last. At least, he didn't remember being last.

Riku was off yelling at Fred for something till the sound of a Pidgeot broke the sound barrier and Cody was distracted. It didn't sound like cries of joy…more like pain. What the hell was going on? Thick smog filled the air, but Cody was able to follow the sound of voices until he was reunited with the group, covering his mouth with his hoodie in order to breath. Oak, seeming to understand the situation, urged them to take some Pokeballs to fight back but his voice was replaced with the sound of Pokeballs crashing to the floor. Cody had a theory of what was happening, but he didn't like the idea of it.

"We are going to have to-"

"Target acquired!"

"Do something." The room was suddenly clear of smoke and group of adults wearing masks with golden eyes eyed down the teenagers. The scientists were routed with ooze on their face and Oak was perched on a man's shoulder. So Oak was being kidnapped. What would a group want with a handicapped old man? Wouldn't stealing Pokemon be more profitable?

"You kids are lucky, our missions are usually pulled of flawlessly and we're never seen. It's a shame, he wanted you five unharmed. But unfortunately I'm calling the shots here. Fire at will." The Blitz members fanned out into an orderly line, each one lining across from one of them. Cody crouched down and picked up a Pokeball. There was no way he could take on an adult in a fist fight. Well actually, maybe he could. But a Pokemon, any Pokemon really, would be less work on his delicate frame.

Without as much as word, the member threw his Pokeball and through the flashing lights (luckily not as piercing as the earlier flash attack) was a Houndour. Cody, aware of the traditions of battle, dropped his to the ground. Out from his ball was a Pikachu. A pleasant surprise. Pikachu was his second choice. Eevee being his first.

"Houndour. Fire and Dark type. Principal weaknesses are water, ground, and fighting types. I don't have a type advantage unfortunately, but I give a 0% of beating me anyway."

"Big words coming from some kid," the grunt barked, almost insulted. "What makes you so confident? Have you even battled before, punk?"

"I have run enough simulations to know what I am doing. Also, I am assuming you are an idiot."

"WHAT?! YOU LITTLE SH*T! HOUNDOUR, USE EMBER!" The grunt roared in anger and his Pokemon channeled his master's rage into a fiery blitz of an attack, the sparks of fire flying towards Cody and Pikachu. Cody leaned out of the way, avoiding the bad aim. Pikachu, seemingly already in sync with Cody, nimbly dodged the attack as well, leaping to the side and gearing up for his own attack.

"Pikachu. Use Thundershock," Cody said with half wave of interest. He ran through enough battles in his head that the whole allure of the thing was already gone. Pikachu charged up a jolt of electricity and launched the bolt of energy directly at his opponent, frying the Houndour and nearly tuckering the Pokemon out. Must of been a critical hit.

The grunt spat. "Looks like the kid can back up this talk," he said under his breath. "Fine then. Houndour, use leer." With a strong glare, the Houndour tried to stir some fear in Pikachu, who was preparing another Thundershock to follow up the last one, as if knowing Cody was to order that anyway. Pikachu halted the attack, frightening by the sharp eyes of Houndour. "Now scorch the little mouse with ember!" The grunt ordered. Pikachu, still intimidated failed to dodge the move, and was surrounded and seared by the flames. Pikachu crawled out of the attack, wincing and crying in pain.

"Roll on the ground!" Cody said, remembering his basic lessons on putting out fires. Pikachu internally shrugged his shoulders and rolled on the ground, suffocating the flames. The Houndour tried to launch another batch of ember, loading up the flames in his mouth. "Pikachu, fire a quick Thundershock." Charged up, Pikachu fired the Thundershock directly into the mouth of his opponent, hitting home launching the Houndour back to its owner. More cooked than a well done piece of meat, the Houndour laid on the ground twitching in defeat.

The grunt shallowed his pride and recalled the Pokemon. "Looks like I need to find myself some less useless Pokemon."

"Looks like you need to find a better line of work. Maybe something with a less ridiculous uniform."

[PsychoJigglypuff]

Shortly after arriving, two more teens followed. First there was Cody, who had absolutely nothing interesting about him. He was just plain boring. Afterwards, there was Fred, who looked like a spineless ninny. He was holding a camera, and took a picture without warning. The unexpected flash hurt Angie's eyes. Who even has flash on indoors? The boy apologized immediately, looking flustered, and moved over to where the others were.

With everyone present and accounted for, Oak wheeled over to a large map of Kanto and began briefing everyone of what they were to do. They had to travel around the region and collecting badges from Gyms, which was a no brainier. However, the gyms had to be done in groups, which made Angie grimace. She couldn't just ditch these losers and do what she wanted. What a pain.

After explaining the gym trials, Oak wheeled over to the container holding five Poke Balls. Now this was the good part. She really wanted the Eevee, but she was probably last in line. She just had to hope something would happen, and no one else picked it.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, something did happen. There was another flash, this time not from Fred's camera, and Oak's Pidgeot cried out in pain. Quickly, a thick purple smog filled the room. Angie coughed and wheezed from the smoke, and she pulled her T-shirt up to cover her nose and mouth. She tried looking around, but she couldn't see anything. She could hear a lot of commotion though. Oak's wheelchair and the Poke Ball container crashed to the floor.

"Target acquired!" Angie heard the voice clearly. It sounded like a woman, and not one she had met before. A gust of wind blew away the fog, and standing in front of them were several soldiers. The professor, along with his aides, were all tied up. One of the men was carrying Oak over his shoulder. These people were probably the new criminal gang she had heard about. All she knew for sure is that they meant business.

With the smog cleared, Angie spotted the Poke Balls scattered on the floor. She instinctively grabbed the one closest to her. One of the man started to speak. He had a deep and gravely voice. "You kids are lucky, our missions are usually pulled of flawlessly and we're never seen. It's a shame, he wanted you five unharmed. But unfortunately I'm calling the shots here. Fire at will." The soldiers lined up into formation. There were five grunts, one for each of the trainers. How convenient.

Angie tossed her Poke Ball, and out came an Eevee. She grinned. Just the Pokemon she wanted. The grunt across from her did the same, and a Bellsprout emerged from his Poke Ball. Neither of them had a type advantage, but she was perfectly fine with that. It would just be a good old-fashioned brawl.

Taking the initiative, Angie made the first move. "Eevee, use Tackle!" the Eevee charged at the Bellsprout, barreling into it with full force.

The grunt retaliated. "Vine Whip!" The Bellsprout used one of it's Vines to grab hold of the Eevee, so it couldn't escape. Then, it used the other vine to smack at him.

"Quick, use Tail Whip!" Eevee wagged his tail back and forth, attempting to free himself from the vine. His tail ended up tickling the Bellsprout, which loosened it's grip and allowed him to escape.

The grunt looked annoyed. "Use Growth!" The Bellsprout began focusing it's energy, and it's vines began to grow in size. They appeared even more powerful.

"Sand Attack, Eevee!" Even though they were inside a building, Eevee somehow managed to kick up dirt into the Bellsprout's face. The soldiers must have brought in dirt from their shoes, because the floor was pretty clean before. It was probably best not to question it and just move on.

In a rage, the Bellsprout used another Vine Whip, but ended up missing Eevee with it's impaired vision. "Didn't anyone tell you that it's not the size that matters, it's how you use it?" She taunted the grunt.

"F*ck you, b*tch!" He shouted angrily.

"Ooh, swearing, how original." Angie smirked. "Now let's finish this guy off with another Tackle!" Eevee ran at the Bellsprout once more and tackled it into the ground. It passed out from exhaustion.

The grunt spat in disgust and recalled the Pokemon. "What a sh*tty Pokemon. Why did I have to get stuck with it?"

"There's nothing ****** about that Pokemon." She protested. "You're just a sh*tty trainer!"

"Well you're damn lucky that we're not supposed to kill you. If it wasn't for that, you'd be dead on the spot."

"I'd like to see you try."

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

FRED SONE
→ Episode One, Oak Lab

Hell broke loose. Before Fred really knew what happened, there were people inside the lab who probably shouldn't be there... and the professor was wrapped up in some kind of web. Bandits! Fred's heart started pounding faster as he noticed his colleagues jumping forward to grab one of professor Oak's pokéballs. Fog lay in the air, fire flew here and there and the thumps of bodies tackling each other were heard. Fred backed away in confusion, but stumbled over something and fell. Something rolled over to him in all the mess, hitting his shoe. A pokéball.

"Freaking out so soon?" a voice came. Through the fog in front of him, a shadowy figure emerged. She was rather short, but looked intimidating in her gray clothing and big boots, accompanied by a wide and rather pointy smile. And some kind of minty green pokémon sliding over the floor alongside her. It looked like a ball. An ugly ball.

"What..." Fred gulped, but then heard Riku scream near him and decided to man up. "Why would I?"

"Because you're about to get sprayed with poison gas. Isn't that unnerving for you?"

"You look young," Fred quickly said as he stood up, discreetly grabbing the pokéball from the floor.

"I, uh, what?" the grunt said, a bit surprised. Then she laughed. "Of course! But as opposed from you, I won't die young. Gulpin, Poison Gas!"

The minty green ball, which apparently was a Gulpin, inhaled. Fred panicked and somehow instinctively stretched out his right hand. A sudden, white light blinded him as he felt the pokéball open up in his hand. A green thing came out and jumped at Gulpin, tackling it and making it exhale in the wrong direction. The Poison Gas got sent back towards its own trainer, who ran aside to avoid it.

Fred blinked and looked at the pokémon that came from his pokéball, as the smoke lightened up. It was green and had a darker bulb on its back, and it was peeking up at Fred with calm, red eyes.

"Saaauw," it said.

"Oh my god," was all Fred could say to the Bulbasaur at first. Then he swallowed and continued. "You are the most adorable thing I have ever seen."

"You are the silliest guy I've ever met!" the grunt girl said, running back towards him, enraged. "Gulpin, Pound!" she ordered, at the same time as she threw herself at a screaming Fred.

She never reached him though; the Bulbasaur had first Growled at Gulpin, startling it and making it slow down. Then it had thrown itself towards the grunt, Tackling her hard and showing her away from its trainer. Fred could only stutter and watch as he was loyally protected by a pokémon he had just met. Gulpin still hadn't stopped though, and as soon as Bulbasaur landed from it's assault on the human, a nasty Pound hit its face and knocked it over.

"Bulbasaur!" Fred shouted out. If it protected him, he should darn well protect it! "You ugly, fat... ball!" he grunted and jumped forward to kick the Gulpin away. But the minty pokémon turned towards him and inhaled, just like before. Fred hesitated and instead dove away just like the grunt had done earlier. It was probably a wise decision, as the purple smoke that was then shot at the spot where he had been a second before didn't really look healthy.

"Is this really how real life pokémon battles are supposed to take place?" Fred shouted out to anyone who would hear him.

"Saauuuw!" the cry from Bulbasaur came again, and the little green bulb pokémon came to stand at his side, back protectively towards him and a serious face turned towards their enemies, who had regained their composure and were walking towards them now.

Glancing to his sides, Fred saw that the other trainers seemed to have defeated grunts that had attacked them. Typically! He was the least manly of them and couldn't win. It was just his place in life, he guessed, depressed.

"Give up," the girl with the pointy smile said, walking closer.

"Never," Fred said, but he really didn't mean it. His Bulbasaur apparently did, though. It suddenly shot something out from its bulb. A batch of seeds that landed on Gulpin and attached themselves there. Immediately, small vines grew out from the seeds and seemed to be causing pain for the poison type.

"You think that's gonna be enough to stop a poison type?" the grunt said, almost laughing. "Gulpin, Yawn!"

Gulpin withstood the pain from the draining seeds and let out a huge yawn that caused Fred to yawn too, involuntarily. Bulbasaur unwillingly yawned as well.

"What kind of tactics is that? You're gonna yawn us asleep?"

"If you only knew how effective a pokémon's yawn can be..." the grunt said, smiling manically now.

Fred then remembered that it was actually a battle technique. Yawn... It would mean that Bulbasaur could fall asleep at any time now. He had to act quickly to win. No time to fret anymore; he had to make use of what he had learned in this year at the academy. He wasn't just some street kid. He was one of the top trainers at the Pallet Academy, for crying out loud! Think, think...

"Bulbasaur, Tackle!"

The grass type ran up to Gulpin and easily Tackled it; it was a lot slower than Bulbasaur was.

"Again!" Fred immediately shouted, before Bulbasaur's body could even think of slumbering.

Before the second attack came, Gulpin, uh, gulped in pain as the draining seeds took their toll on it. Then it was tackled again and tumbled into its trainer, making her fall over while swearing.

"Get up, you ugly ball!" she shouted right at it. To no avail. It had been knocked out. The trainer only gave Fred a murderous stare before she recalled the pokémon into a pokéball and disappeared behind those who were still fighting.

"Looks like... we won..." Fred said and patted Bulbasaur approvingly.

"Saauw," the pokémon said with another yawn, before both of them fell asleep in a pile on the floor. Not a good timing for sleeping, but it couldn't really be helped.

[Kiklion]

Justine Granger

Day 1: Episode 1
"Fun with Chemicals."

Justine jumped when a click and flash started out of nowhere. She looked behind her and saw the curly-blonde hair and lean face of Fred Sone. He had a camera and his hands and blush soon came to his face. He apologized, but Justine only half noticed. Her mind had just gotten a serious jolt. Sh*t! She forgot to do the one thing her parents had been reminding her to do for the past months. Take pictures on her camera and send them when she could. How could she already forget!? She could have gotten a picture with the doctor and maybe one or two of the lab. Luckily, her opportunity wasn't missed, she could take pictures after, and with her Pokemon next to her.

"Oh, you're fine," she responded to Fred in contrast to Riku's more sarcastic one. She smiled and turned her attention from him to the doctor, making a quick note in her mind to remember about her camera. It was somewhere in her over-stuffed backpack. Dr. Oak wheeled himself to a map of Kanto and began to explain their journey enthusiastically. They'd be gone for a year, training to become champions. It turned out that not all of this would be individual. Team challenges would come up every now and again. Justine took a quick look at everyone from her seat, wondering how easy or hard that would be. Fred and Cody seemed like they would be manageable and Riku still made her wary of his personality. Angie, she didn't know that much about her. She was iffy. Not to mention giant. Teamwork would be key since the trials to even get to the gyms were dangerous. She wondered why. Wouldn't it just be easier to battle? Possibly harming yourself and your Pokemon just to get to an already difficult battle with the gym leader seemed a little... Unfair? Yes, that may be the word she was looking for. She wasn't sure if being badly injured or dead or something was worth one gym battle. She supposed she'd have to see.

Justine grinned as the part she was waiting for came. The choosing of the Pokemon. As Dr. Oak explained, another flash from behind came out from nowhere. Riku immediately got angry, which Justine didn't get unless he really didn't like pictures. Anyways, it didn't make sense to her, the chair in the office were all seated next to each other. How could it be--? Before she could finish her thoughts or possibly put them forth, the pained call of a Pidgeot sounded from the laboratory. Justine's head snapped back in that direction, startled by the terrible cry. Dr. Oak, forgetting his speech, wheeled out into the laboratory with as much speed as his wheelchair could muster with Riku following behind. Justine stood out of her chair, took a glance at the other students, and followed after at a hurried pace with question marks over her head. She wished she'd walked because she headed straight into purple miasma. Instantly blinded, Justine ran into Dr. Oak's wheelchair, hitting one of the handles with her upper thigh.

"Ow!" She gasped, grasping the thigh with her hand and gritting her teeth. D*mn why did that have to hurt so bad? And... Ugh. Justine shuddered as nausea instantly hit her. Whatever this gas was, she was realizing it wasn't exactly safe. Inhaling a mouthful wasn't exactly going to help her. Not only that, but she got a mouthful of this unknown, nauseating stench. She austomatically grimaced, plugging her nose in an attempt to rid the smell. What was that? Other than the doctor, Riku was near her and he heard his voice clearly in the fog. Unfortunately she couldn't bring herself to do much other than groan. She felt like she was going to barf all over the floor. She hoped not, that wouldn't exactly help the situation. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her nose, just like she learned from every TV show and from a few informational meetings, to filter the air in hopes of something she could breathe. As Cody began to speak a feminine voice interrupted him, making clear the capture of their apparent target. Target? What tar--... Oh. The target became clear when Justine felt that Oak was no longer with them. She braced herself to run forward, maybe she could find him if she went up there? She didn't get much of a chance to act before something shot out into the darkness and wrapped around her wrist. She shrieked, startled by what grabbed her. Her imagination immediately created the image of her being dragged into the fog and stolen away like the Doctor and an icy vein of fear grabbed onto her heart. She was lucky though, she guessed. It was that same injured Pidgeot that saved her.

The smoke cleared as it weakly blew away the poisonous fog, revealing five masked people and two Pokemon, a Bellsprout and a Grimer. The Bellsprout had three vines coming from its body. Two from behind its leaf arms and one straight from its mouth. Justine pulled against the vine from its mouth, now both afraid of capture and disgusted by the origin of this appendage. Dr. Oak and the other scientists around were immobilized and gunk that resembled the body of the Grimer was stuck over their eyes. It had to have been responsible for the gas and... And the smell. It was practically a Grimer's trademark. A smell that could knock out and elephant and kill dogs. It wasn't exactly one you could get used to very quickly either. The five masked intruders stood in a row, the tallest with Oak thrown over his shoulder, the others ready for battle, all somehow unaffected by the smell. At the end, one of the intruders were short and wearing what seemed like combat boots. She, being the only girl, must have been the one who called out earlier.

Some of the fog still lingered but enough was gone for a clear view. Justine looked at the ground, five balls fallen onto the ground in an almost hazardous fashion. She grabbed the one behind her, eyes stuck on the five people and the Bellsprout. When she grabbed her ball and the others as well, it was clear that this moment would not go by without a battle. The Bellsprout retracted its vines and nimbly went back to its trainers side. Dropping the Dr. Oak, the tallest of the five went through his own little pre-battle spiel.

"You kids are lucky, our missions are usually pulled of flawlessly and we're never seen. It's a shame, he wanted you five unharmed. But unfortunately I'm calling the shots here. Fire at will." Just as he finished, the other three tossed their Pokeballs into the air, releasing what they had hidden until now. The man directly in front of Justine released a Klink. The gear Pokemon rotated left and right, eyes narrowed, before it came to a stop.

Justine pressed the middle button of the Pokeball, enlarging it, and tossed it forward. Just as she released the grunt called an attack.

"Klink, Vice Grip!" The Pokemon reacted immediately, gears rotating as it zoomed forward, straight at the Pokeball Justine just threw. The ball opened, releasing in a white light the Pokemon it held inside. Before it had a chance to close, the Klink reached it, catching it by the top between two gears. The Klink made a noise that sounded like metal hitting metal and its gears suddenly began to move at an incredible speed, pulling the Pokeball between both gear-bodies and crushing it. The ball exploded into bits of plastic, glass, and metal, becoming nothing in seconds. Justine's jaw dropped. It was like watching someone run over your brand new, 64-gig iPod. Only this was much more expensive and much cooler than an iPod. Small pieces of the Pokeball sat stuck between the Klink's gears and it rotated again at the same speed, this time backwards, sending the pieces flying into random directions. "D*mn," the grunt said behind the Pokemon, a grin coming to his face, "just a little too late."

If it weren't for his statement, Justine may never have broken out of her daze. She closed her mouth, immediately frowning. Oh, this guy was an a*shole. But he wouldn't be grinning for very long. Not after she got through with him using her.... Squirtle? She looked down at the water-pokemon. Its hands were up to its nose, sheilding the stench, but his eyes were locked on the Klink, wide and red and fearful. He must have seen what had happened to that Pokeball. His body trembled visibly.

"Squir-squiirrr...!" He managed to say shakily. Justine took her eyes away from the Pokemon when laughter began to start. She narrowed her eyes at the grunt. Yeah, this a*shole was going to get it.

"Come on, Squirtle. You got to help me out on this one!" Squirtle didn't respond, he probably didn't hear her. The Klink made a malevolent grin at the young Pokemon and loudly, it suddenly let forth a yell of its name, its voice harsh, robotic, and deep. What sounded like a scream came out of Squirtle's lungs and he ran over to Justine, being the only safe looking person in range of him. He grabbed the leg of her pants, burying his face into her in an attempt to hide. She bent down quickly, grabbing him into her arms and holding him against her. This wasn't good. Not at all. She didn't know how to handle this. There weren't a lot of classes in this academy that went over comforting a Pokemon in the middle of a crucial battle. Squirtle's actions only made the grunt laugh harder, having to hold his stomach to contain it all. That was really pissing her off.

"Klink!" He had to force out, "Vice Grip a-again!" The Klink rotated itself again and went towards Justine and Squirtle. Not wanting to end up like the Pokeball she ran out of the way. As fast as the Klink could move, it turned slowly, having to reduce its speed before it could make an accurate turn. It came after them again, Justine once again dodging out of the way. Justine didn't think she could keep this running around up and the Klink didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon. It was about two tries after that it made contact. As Justine moved to get out of the way again, she tripped, stumbling backwards. By the time she gained her footing the Klink was too close to evade and in a second it caught Squritle's tail between two gears.

"Squirt-Squirtle!" Immediately her little Pokemon began to panic, kicking and flailing in Justine's arms. He moved so furiously that she couldn't keep hold of him and half let go, half dropped him on the ground. Squirtle ran about on the ground, trying to escape from the Klink. He ran into lab tables, knocking his tail against them to try and force the Klink loose, but it held tight and was mostly unaffected. The grunt had calmed down, but Squirtle's new attempt excited a new round within him. Justine couldn't find the hilarity in it herself. When the Klink finally removed itself, Squirtle immediately retracted his body into his shell as tightly as he possibly could, trembling within it. The Klink began to roar with what seemed like uncontrolled laughter. Its voice was ugly and near grating and its noise caused its trainer to accompany it with his own. Justine ran to Squirtle and picked him up, holding him close to her chest and looking angry and their two opponents. She didn't recall when this had turned into a Funny Fest and this was starting to get extremely annoying. She didn't want anything more than just to... To... She looked down at Squirtle, cowering in his shell and then back at the grunt. Yeah...

"Sorry about this, Squirtle," she whispered to him. She grabbed his shell in both hands and yelled at the grunt. "Hey, Jackass!" She lifted her hand and tossed her Squirtle directly at him. "Laugh at this!" The shell flew sideways through the air, hitting the grunt straight in the face just as he looked.

"F*ck!" The grunt put his hands over his nose and continuing his curses out loud. The Klink made an angry sound and rotated at her threateningly, approaching slowly. Squirtle, peeked outside of his shell, still shaking. Across the room he could see Dr. Oak on the ground. He exited his shell and got to his feet, but before he could run to the fallen man, he was snatched up by the back of his shell by an angry hand. He kicked and flailed in a futile attempt to escape the clutches of his bleeding captor. "Quit that, you little sh*t," the grunt growled, but it did very little to stop Squirtle. The grunt only became more irritated when Squirtle began to shoot bubbles in his face. The grunt shook him again and began to handle him roughly, holding him in a restraining way. Justine regretting using her own Pokemon as a weapon. "Alright, Klink," the grunt said, holding Squirtle's chin up to expose his neck. "Just like with the Pokeball."

The Klink made a deep and malevolent laugh, rotating itself to charge for the attack. Justine hoped that what was going to happen was just some stupid thought she made up on her own, but she didn't have the time to wait and see. She had to act quickly before something terrible happened. She looked left and right. All that was around her were the other battles and lab tables with test tubes and whatever else. She grabbed the first thing she could see, an entire test tube wrack of assorted chemicals. She threw the entire wrack, test tubes and all, at the readying Klink. It hit the Pokemon straight on and it seemed like two and a half second pause before it reacted. Screaming a terrible Pokemon scream, the Klink went erratic, throwing itself this way and that in an attempt to get the liquids off of its body. It rotated its gears and shook itself, but that only succeeded in getting more spread on its body. The sound made a chill go through Justine and the grunt himself gaped. Justine though he may have even looked a little pale. Hands to her face, Justine couldn't believe what she'd done. She didn't mean to, she didn't want to! Not like that anyways. All she was trying to do was protect her Squirtle, no harm in that, right? Apparently harm had been caused, definitely.

As the Klink hollared and ran the edges of its steel body seemed to change color, but Justine could hardly get a good look before the pain crazed Pokemon shot out the window, forcing itself through the glass pane into somewhere else it could find relief. The grunt dropped Squirtle and ran to the window, eyes wide and in as much disbelief as Justine was. He stared out the window for a few moments before turning his eyes to Justine, a frown coming to his face.

"You..." The grunt went from the window and approached her slowly, shaking with anger. "You little b*tch!" Justine took a step back, realizing now she may have had more than a Pokemon problem.

[Charizard_Man]

.Episode//TWO

Area: Route One, South-West Kanto
>>..The Beginning, of the End..<<

Story| The dark room was lined with shifting shadows, a symphony of synchronized malice. In the middle of the room stood a swiveling chair, facing a giant TV screen. A man sat in the chair, grey suit and slicked back hair only visible, while the shadows hid the rest of his face. A lazy, well fed Liepard lay at his feet, purring contentedly….sinister in its limber movement and glowing eyes. The man's suit had an >insignia< on the chest of his suit , the insignia of the Blitz Gang, a money hungry, power hungry organization that used pokemon to achieve their goals. Evil wasn’t what they called themselves. Adamant and eccentric might have been more adequate adjectives for their public profile. But that was beside the point.

The man looked up at the screen slowly, and it fizzed with static. A few seconds later, the image of his top Executives, Jane and Luther, appeared. The backdrop of vast farm fields dotted with Miltank and Tuaros, dictated they were somewhere near Pallet. “Hello you two. Report?” The boss’s voice was low.

“Yes Sir.” Jane saluted. “Company A113, under our direction, failed to intercept the children. Lance Blackthorn of the Elite Four tangled our plans and we had to retreat.”

”Highly disappointing. This might even tarnish your impeccable records…”

”Indeed sir.” Luther’s silky voice was respectful. “However, during our operations in Route One we observed something quite interesting…”

“It seems Experiment 107 is after the kids as well.” Jane smirked a little, then crushed it as she saw her boss sit up in his chair, clearly surprised by this information.

“………………..” The boss was silent. He sunk back in his chair and the Liepard stood up, laying its head in its master’s lap, meowing dully. The man stroked its purple head slowly, and then nodded. “Alright you two, it is decided. While I have mourned the loss of 107, we must recapture him. Doubting the things he could do on his own is folly,” Luther and Jane both nodded, knowing fully well what the experiment was capable of… “If it has taken interest in the children, then what Scientist Bostovich wrote is confirmed. Watch them. I am positive Hypno is more than capable of tracking them psychically….Make sure you're presence isn’t known to them, or it.”

”Yes.” The two team rocket executives nodded again.

“Our next operation will be in Viridian Forest. Tsuka has informed me the children will be heading to Pewter first…Meet her there, she’ll give you more information on my next orders. Make sure to track the children through Route One. You are dismissed.” He pushed a button on his chair. The screen went blank. He began to chuckle chillingly, then looked down at Liepard and grinned. “Perhaps he is after the same thing I am….”

“Lieeeeeeee…pard….”

Wild Pokémon|

Spoiler:

Rattata #019
[COMMON]
Level 2-5

Ability: Run Away/Guts
Attacks:
lvl 1: Tackle
lvl 1: Tail Whip
lvl4: Quick Attack


Pidgey #016
[COMMON]
Level 4-6
/
Ability: Keen Eye/ Tangled Feet
Attacks:
lvl 1: Tackle
lvl 5: Sand Attack


Mareep #179
[COMMON]
Level 3-6

Ability: Static
Attacks:
lvl 1: Tackle
lvl 1: Growl
lvl 4: Thunder Wave


Sentret #161
[COMMON]
Level 2-5

Ability: Run Away/Keen Eye
Attacks:
lvl 1: Scratch
lvl 1: Foresight
lvl 4: Defense Curl


Poochyena #261
[UNCOMMON]
Level 3-6

Ability: Run Away/Quick Feet
Attacks:
lvl 1: Tackle
lvl 5: Howl


Hoppip #187
[UNCOMMON]
Level 3-5
/
Ability: Chlorophyll/Leaf Guard
Attacks:
lvl 1: Splash
lvl 4: Synthesis


Lillipup #506
[RARE]
Level 5

Ability: Vital Spirit/Pick Up
Attacks:
lvl 1: Leer
lvl 1: Tackle
lvl 5: Odor Sleuth

Mission| Capture, or battle, your first Pokemon on Route One.

YOU MUST encounter one Pokemon.
YOU MUST encounter a strange shadowy figure.
YOU CAN'T reach Viridian City
YOU CAN interact with other players
YOU CAN write multiple posts

[Charizard_Man]

Riku Kimura//September 2; 12:30 A.M.
Farmer's Cornfields, Route One

Morning had faded and the sun had burned away the last of the lingering mist. Riku had a general idea of the direction in which he was headed, having traveled through the place before, but that was three years ago. Things change, as evident by a field of corn in which he found himself a tad lost. The younger stalks poked at his bare legs and the taller ones that slipped from his hand whipped back at into place, striking random areas on his face in the process. His eye received a minor blow from time to time, making it sting and water, but no real damage was done. Carefully, he picked his way through, knowing the expansive field belonged to some one and did not want to trample any stalks to death. Then again, who would notice a few crushed stalks in the midst of hundreds or thousands? Could be just as well a wild Pokémon had gotten to it. However, he wasn’t going to press his luck. No farmer wanted to see their hard earned crop wasted in such a manner. He trudged on. In spite of the uncomfortable prodding by the vegetation, the crops at least provided decent shade though the tightly knitted cluster did make him slightly claustrophobic. Perhaps it was because the narrow passage between the neatly aligned crops reminded him of the back alleys in Viridian. Skyscrapers leaned in, towering mightily over the lesser. The slum’s inhabitants were about as many as the number of corn in the field. Maybe not that much, but it sure felt like it. It was like another world, separated, discarded, prematurely torn away…

“We’re nothing more than a byproduct composed of nature’s remnants during its creation of grandiosity.” Riku began staring absentmindedly at the soil beneath his feet. He smirked, he never thought he would repeat that statement. That statement…he hadn't thought about it for so long. He had read it in a philosophy book somewhere, and he used it as his sort of motto from then on. Not really a happy one, but it worked for him. He shook his head at the nonsense, he had let that go a long time ago. It did have a ring of truth to it though. Even he believed it—believes it. No one cared. They were nothing more than living disposables that happened to appear and act human; objects of blame, targets of unrelated outrage, and lab rats. That’s what they were seen as. For those who hadn’t fallen into bitterness and retained a shred of hope that they could escape poverty’s grasp, they were biddable. They were willing to do anything for a legitimate earning so they wouldn’t have to look over their shoulder for the police or a commanded Pokémon that would scare them—if not beat them—within an inch of their lives. It was typical naïve action of newbies.

He stopped and lifted his gaze. “Like a crushed stalk of corn that’d never be noticed. It won’t be noticed amongst the masses of the living and neither would it be noticed amongst others that were crushed. It would just be one of many that were left to wither away until death." Coming back to his senses, Riku grew slightly surprised at the sight before him. Crushed stalks were definitely the topic of the day. From where he stood probably twenty-four feet or more of that section of crops had been broken off and stripped. The area was devastated and the golden brown indicated how long it must’ve been like that. Most were broken at the base and from the way the stumps protruded at various heights he guessed they weren’t professionally harvested. Nevertheless, he had a break from the starchy jungle and decided to capitalize on it - trying to shake those thoughts from his head. Stepping toward the middle of the clearing, Riku shrugged off his bag before swinging it around onto his chest. He unzipped it and glanced in. Now, Riku usually didn't have feelings. Normally he didn't have premonitions, or any kind of spiritual enlightenment. He never predicted anything, he stuck to facts. But something, this one time, in the gut of his stomach, squirmed inside him. As if guided by someone, his head moved up from the bag to look at the middle of the clearing.

There stood a tall, imposing figure. It was bulky, covered in shadows for some inexplicable reason….only its piercing blue eyes could be seen, staring into the boy's very soul. As if everything suddenly shifted to slow motion, Riku reached into his bag for his camera to take a quick snapshot. He looked through the eye piece to take the picture, and was successful. He looked up from the camera, and it was gone. What had it been? Riku looked back at the snapshot he had just taken, and was surprised. The entire picture seemed fuzzy, almost like the white noise old television sets had. But you could faintly make out a tall dark figure in the center, with its blue eyes. Riku glared at the thing, transfixed by how much power it seemed to have….and it seemed, somehow….like it knew more than he did, like it knew what the future was…It seemed….lonely. It felt horrible, when it looked at Riku, the boy felt so heavy, like the creature was wishing….

"For….for me to die.” Riku said to himself, muffled. He turned off the camera and shoved it back into his bag, he didn't have much more time to think as the small capsule on his belt burst open in a flurry of white light. Before long a pair of large blue eyes stared curiously up at him. Stocky, stubby, or stumpy? He wasn’t sure how to describe the orange Pokémon. He had a creamy colored underbelly, it was soft and squishy. The flame on his tail revealed his healthiness, having a bright yellow sheen to it. His short, stubby arms twitched vaguely as he moved those blue irises around their circular shaped confinements, taking in his surroundings before returning his sights to Riku. The human watched him unflinchingly, making him a bit uncertain. Riku's glittering eyes scanned him over, calculating. He wasn't really given a chance to meet his starter back at the lab, what with those thugs and all.

He lifted the white piece of technology the man with the red hair gave him back at the lab. Tapping open the front face upward, he saw the monitor come alive and almost instantly bring up a profile on Charmander. It displayed its current statistics, the small fire type was at level 9. He had a long way to go. After swinging on his bag, he munched on one bag of oreos and gave one to Charmander. He hoped chocolate wouldn’t upset his stomach, then again he wasn't a dog. The two ate quietly. Riku didn’t have anything to say to the Pokémon and he seemed perfectly content about it. Instead, the boy examined the clearing and wondered what could’ve caused such damage. At that moment, Charmander’s tail twitched and he looked towards the left. Riku looked too and was surprised to see a Pokémon with a coat of grey. Black fur covered her feet and face. Her triangular ears were rounded-like, erect and forward. The shorter snout typical of the female version of the species had a bright red nose. Her eyes were yellow, with red irises.

“That’s a female Poochyena” Riku said. Poochyena made sporadic appearances in Pallet Town, but much less than Rattata and Pidgey. Much like the Rattata, however, the farmers claimed it a pest if not worse. Did they really expect wild Pokémon to not invade their fields for easy food? Any creature in their right mind would see that as an opportunity. Riku definitely would, which was why he held out one of the ears of corn he randomly picked up from the many littering the floor. Giving a smile, he asked, “Hey, you hungry? We have some over here if you wanna join us, although you’ve probably had your fill of corn by now.” The creature didn’t move except for the occasional twitch of the nose and shifting of ears. Riku wagged the corn a little bit and smiled broadly. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything. Its easy to understand wanting to get free meals, especially when its this wide open.” Cautiously, she began to ease closer. She stretched out her head and sniffed a few times until she was close enough to the food. Riku placed it on the ground and told the Pokémon to eat up. The creature stared at him with those big red eyes of innocence before becoming alighted after Riku nodded.

The Poochyena chewed on the kernels like a typewriter, expertly rotating and gnawing. Riku could only watch, finding it partly funny. Stripping the last kernel from the cob, the dark type Pokémon squealed for joy. Before Riku could offer another, the creature scampered off to one of the nearest standing stalks and began chewing on the base. Like a miniature tree, the stalk fell over with barely a soft crack and smack. She then dragged it over to Riku before sprinting off for another and another, all of which she returned to the dumbfounded boy who sat and watched. “Why in the world is it doing that?” After probably the sixth or seventh stalk, the boy managed to speak up, stretching out his hand in the process. “Wait hold on, that’s enough. Don’t get any more.” The Pokémon stopped and looked over her shoulder, having to angle her head in the process. “It’s bad enough all these were destroyed so we really shouldn’t make it any worse. This is enough you’ve given-huh?” The Poochyena was fully facing him now, head slightly bowed and big red eyes looking up at him—glassy, disappointed, and hurt. Guilt wasted no time making its presence known and Riku sighed. “Okay, just one more and that’s it.”

With an excited squeal it bounded off to another and began chewing away. Riku felt something amiss, but didn’t know what or exactly why. It was a familiar and almost daily sensation that he experienced back in the slums. What did it mean? He didn’t feel comfortable not knowing what the feeling was and racked his brain until he felt a weight in his lap. The presence of the Poochyena startled him and he dared not move, fully aware of the razor teeth and claws, but she appeared to have no intention of harm. Instead, she nuzzled up to Riku’s face with a twitching nose. The action tickled and Riku couldn’t help smiling. It was pretty much the only thing that could make him genuinely smile, Pokémon

“You’re a really kind one aren’t you?” Riku complimented, still smiling. Figuring it was time to intervene, Charmander came closer and uttered a few syllables of his name. The boy recognized the voice of caution, the uncertainty. He couldn’t understand his Pokémon, not yet anyways, but understood when he turned his back and took a few steps away before glancing behind that he wanted them to leave. For confirmation, Riku asked, “You’re ready to go?” A nod of affirmation was given. Riku removed the Poochyena from his lap before standing. After a thought, he knelt back down. “Hey, what about traveling with us? We could use all the help…we…can…get?” It may have been a trick of the eye, but Riku swore she narrowed those red eyes and…smirked? Did that thing actually smirk? “That’s just weird.” The Pokémon wasn’t staring at him entirely, but past him. Feeling another presence, Riku slowly turned to what held the Pokémon’s attention. That smirk turned into a full-blown sneer. Riku finally identified the feeling from earlier. He’d been had.

“Oh shi-”

“So yer da one responsable eh?”

In a flash, Riku was on his feet and sprinting away with Charmander in tow before the man had the chance to say something more. The Poochyena had bolted too, her little form capable of easily disappearing, but not before she stuck out her tongue at the farmer. The old man called after one of them, but Riku had already immersed himself into the field as well. He was in trouble, serious trouble if the man had caught him. He’d probably call the police. Cornstalks whizzed by as he kept moving with a series of hopping sprints. Thankfully those few weeks he had tolerated football practice finally came in handy as he ran like the wind. Before long, he cleared the field and made it into the open where he could see the route. His heart thudded and his chest heaved. Sweat had sprouted on his forehead, probably more from adrenaline than the actual run. Afraid the man might come bursting from behind, Riku set off at a brisk walk, hoping to put as much distance between him and the old farmer.

“Why did I run? I shouldn’t have ran. Explaining what happened would’ve been a better option. After all, I didn’t destroy that patch of crops.” A sickly feeling began to fall over him as he scaled a small hill then stopped dead in his tracks. "Charmander, we're going to clear our names.”

[PsychoJigglypuff]

"Now that was an ordeal." Angie thought to herself as she left the academy. "First we get attacked by some weirdos, they take the old man, then this Dragonite guy busts in. Come to think of it, he did look familiar. Was he famous or something?" She pushed aside these thoughts. Right now, it was time to focus on her journey.

Even though the gyms had to be done in groups, that didn't mean she had to travel with the others. She planned to just deal with them during the gym trials, and travel alone the rest of the way. There was no way she was going to spend all of her time hanging around those losers. Besides, she had to do things at her own pace. They would just hold her back.

Once getting to Route One, she let her newly acquired Eevee out of his Poke Ball. Even after that hectic situation, he looked cheerful. She picked him up to get a better look at him. "Now what am I going to call you?" She thought of a couple names in her head, and eventually settled on one. "How about Dante?" He seemed pleased by the choice. "Good. Dante it is." She grinned and put him back down on the ground. "Alright, let's get some training done so you can be tough for the first gym."

As they were walking the route, searching for Pokemon, a familiar bark stopped Angie in her tracks. She turned in the direction of the sound, and saw her beloved pet Poochyena. “Yena, what are you doing here?” She asked. “Did you want to see me?” There was a note attached to his collar. “Yena was really upset after you left. He’s more attached to you than he is to me, so I decided to release him into the wild so you could catch him yourself. I’m sure he would love joining you on your journey. –Dad” She beamed. "Great! Now you can come with me, too!" Yena yapped in happiness.

Seeing the excitement, Dante bounded towards them. He greeted Yena cheerfully. Yena, being faced with an unfamiliar Pokemon, took up a defensive stance and growled at the Eevee. "Oh relax, Yena. This is Dante, my starter Pokemon that I got from the lab. He's perfectly friendly." Yena wasn't convinced, and he eyed Dante suspiciously.

The Eevee, completely oblivious to Yena's cold attitude, tried having a conversation with him. <Hi! I'm Dante, It's super nice to meet you, buddy!> Yena continued to glare at him. <I don't trust you. Get away from Angie.> He responded. Dante looked confused. <Why? She's my trainer, so I have to stay with her.> Yena growled at him angrily. <I was her Pokemon before you! Don't try to replace me!> He lunged at the Eevee and tackled him to the ground.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Angie looked confused. "Why are you attacking him?" She threw a Poke Ball at Yena,, trying to stop him, but he smacked it aside with his tail. She sighed. "I guess I gotta make Dante fight back. I really hate to do this, but Yena is as stubborn as they come." The Eevee got back up from the attack. He was still a bit tired from the first battle, but still had some fight in him.

"Dante, use Tackle!" He ran at the Poochyena and tackled him with great force. Yena cringed. He could tell that Dante's Tackles were stronger than his. Trying to increase his power, he let out a loud Howl. Knowing that Dante probably last long, as she forgot to heal him after the previous battle, decided to just focus on offense. "Tackle again!" Once more, he dashed towards Yena and used Tackle. However, he managed to avoid the attack, and quickly countered with another Tackle of his own. Dante took the full brunt of the attack, and fell over in pain.

"Dante!" She ran over to him, concerned with his health. "Are you alright?" Slowly, Dante pushed himself up from the ground. He hadn't given up yet. "Thank goodness. Are you sure you still want to fight?" He nodded his head. Yena watched all of this, and started to have conflicting feelings. Maybe he shouldn't have started fighting. Angie genuinely cared about the other Pokemon, yet he wanted her attention all to himself.

"Alright, try one more Tackle!" Gathering up his strength, Dante sprinted at Yena. This time, he didn't try to dodge. He willingly took the attack. The force of the Tackle was strong, so he was knocked onto his back. He didn't try to get up though. He wanted to be captured now. Besides, even if he didn't, he didn't have much strength left, as the attack winded him. Seeing this as an opportunity, Angie once again threw a Poke Ball at him. It absorbed the Poocheyena, and began to rock back and forth.

[Kiklion]

Justine Granger & Cody Willingham

The air here was cool and the path luckily straight. Justine walked with her Squirtle held in her arms, having no others means since the destruction of his Pokeball. The previous time had been both frightening and ominous, but in some way they managed to survive them. News of the events was spreading, and fast. It didn't take long for her best friend, Mia, to find out. She just hoped the news would be slow reaching her parents. She traveled now with Cody, having asked him to travel with her. Everyone else had decided to go the journey alone. She had a number of reasons for wanting to travel in a group, for one, there was safety in numbers. Two, walking alone, to her, just seemed boring.

Cody led the way, with Pikachu perched on his shoulder. It was bonding exercise as Pokemon supposedly were more effective the more they trusted their trainer. At least that is what he read on the internet. He didn't mind really. Pikachu, so far, was a decent companion, if a bit too energetic for Cody's taste. Maybe his next Pokemon would be more relaxed. At least he hoped so. Cody picked up the pace, hoping to lose Justine slowly. He shrugged his shoulders in apathy when they established their little "friendship" but she didn't get the "Cody doesn't care" message which usually deters people until they prove to be interesting.

"How long do you planning on following me?" He turned and asked.

"Until north becomes south and the sun sets in the east." Justine picked up her pace, going into a short little trot until she walked next to Cody instead of behind him. "Why? I'm not killing you, am I?" She asked with an amused smile.

"I suppose not. Whatever then. I won't make any promises to be that exciting though. I don't have that youthful energy of the others. So if you expecting parties every day, don't. Figured I should warn you now," Cody said with a little sigh, with Pikachu staring at the Squirtle that she carried around with her.

"Yeah, I kind of figured there was no hidden dragon last year, sport." A moderate laugh came out of Justine. There were a lot of people who were well acquainted with the idea of "the kid who didn't do anything". "I think I can handle you, Cody." The Squirtle in her arms busied himself with staring at the grass on the ground or the flowers near by, still shaken, but recovering, from the lab's ordeal. His countenance was not sad, but neither was it happy or all together neutral. He simply tried to preoccupy his mind with things he'd never seen before.

"I am surprised you noticed anything about me. I tried to avoid developing any sort of reputation. Shame," Cody said with disappointment. "Well, since we are here we may as well catch or train some Pokemon. What do you say about splitting up for a bit and encounter some Pokemon on our own and meet up near the end of Route 1?"

"Split up? So you can collapse on the ground and fall asleep when you don't find anything? Staying together is better," and tons more fun at that. "And I might leave you behind, too."

"Damn. I really wanted a nap too..." Cody moaned. "Fine, I'll guess we'll stick together. Let's go look for some Pokemon then." Cody needed to build his team up. No way he could beat Pokemon trainers regularly with just a Pikachu, as much as he rather would. Less work to train one Pokemon than 6 or more. "Ready to go hunting? Or do you need to pretty yourself up a bit more?"

"Please, Cody," Justine grinned. "You can't get prettier than this."

[Raikiri]

Cody Willingham- Route One

Mental note: Justine has something resembling either comparable wit to my own, ignorant bliss, or a developing ego. Requires more research to confirm. Could led to a desertion operation. Leaning towards to desertion operation #37A. Though #17C is a viable contingency plan should all else fail. Or effort will made to weather the storm and deal with humanoid presence in lieu of limited social interaction with speakers of same language. Language barriers are boundless and annoying.


Cody lost himself in his thoughts, jotting mental notes in his head as he walked along on the path of Route One, paying little attention to Justine behind him, the Pikachu cuddling in his hair or the world around him. Route One was far from interesting, with notable details worth mentioning. At least from Cody's perspective. But to be fair, he would say that about a lot of things. He would need something truly note worthing to grab his attention for more than a few moments. Reaching into his back pocket, Cody decided to play with his Pokedex acquired from the lab. Maybe it would be more useful than anticipated, Cody hoped. When it came to textbook knowledge on Pokemon and their growth, Cody was a borderline genius. He knew about most of what he could classify as a "good" Pokemon, paying little attention to what he deemed weak. Why? Easy answer: they don't interest him. The Pokemon challenge was something Cody wanted to win and you were going to do that with a poorly constructed team of near-useless Pokemon, unless of course they had potential. This inhibited Cody from catching Pokemon left and right, however. This would prove troublesome, especially in the beginning.

Cody pointed the Pokedex at Pikachu and got a basic profile on his Pokemon. Pikachu was level 9. Good. Early progress. Basic moves were learned and Pikachu seemed to have solid stats. Pikachu would be a good leader on his team…which needed to grow. Now.

Cody stopped abruptly on the path and looked around. He wasn't going to find a Pokemon sticking to the paths. Few Pokemon veered away from the natural fields, grass and wildlife of Route One. Sadly, Cody had to adventure out of his comfort zone of tranquility. With a sigh, Cody slid off the road into the grass, not caring if Justine was following or not. Cody perched himself on a low tree branch, possibly shocking Justine with his climbing ability, as given Cody's build any athletic ability was no doubt surprising. "I really wish I had binoculars," he mumbled to himself as he surveyed the area from his vantage point. Grass types would be impossible to see from here, but any other types would be easier…unless they adapted to the environment. "Nothing can be seen from there," Cody said with a grunt, as he seemingly fell to the ground. "I guess will have to move-" An angry bird descend from the brush of the tree, wailing on Cody's head like an intruder at a birthday party. While he did not scream, he did he moan and curse as the bird wailed on the hapless trainer.

With a growl, Pikachu scared the attacker away for a moment allowing Cody to catch his breath and Pikachu to prepare for another engagement. Cooler heads prevailing, Cody analyzed the situation not taking much time to figure out that the bird that attacked him was none other than a Pidgey and Cody may have disturbed a nest or a resting place of a very angry little Pidgey. Probably a younger one based on its aggressiveness. Didn't matter really. Cody found a solid addition to his team.

"Pikachu, use Thundershock," Cody ordered and without much hesitation, Pikachu charged up and fired a bolt of electricity at the bird Pokemon, that barely managed to fly out of the way in time to avoid the attack. The Pidgey replied with a sand attack, indefinitely prolonging the engagement. Tactical enough to realize Pikachu would miss his next attack because of the blinding dust storm, Cody advised his strategy a bit. "Pikachu, use Tail Whip to soften him up a bit." Pikachu leapt out of the sand attack and into the air, slapping the Pidgey with his tail bringing the flying type crashing to the ground.

Now as angry as ever, the Pidgey flew forth with a tackle, striking Pikachu squarely in the torso sending the Pikachu to the ground. "Heh, perfect. Static will kick in now." Pidgey was paralyzed and unable to move, making it easy pickings now. "Pikachu, use Thundershock again." Pikachu smiled as well, in sync with Cody's confidence. Firing another electric attack with glee, the Pidgey was fired to a crisp, severely weakened and paralyzed from the attack. Removing an empty ball from his bag, Cody tossed the Pokeball at the bird Pokemon, watching the ball shake on the ground, confident than he succeeded in his capture.