[Pokémon] Mentor (PG-14)

[Dagzar]

Anyways, I couldn't find any mistakes for this chapter. Although it's saddening that Leah is leaving Ally and Ed. I'm gonna miss them being together for a while. The trio of mental growth is breaking up.

Yeah, it's sure different without Ed and Ally around, as I'm finding in the next chapter. There's no one for Leah to talk too… Not that it's a bad thing since I hate writing dialogue, and I need a break writing Ed and Ally. It's time to focus on Leah.

Well, we appear to be nearing the end. No complaints on this chapter, though I am certainly eyeing that Fire Stone suspiciously. Well... I don't know if there's going to be a climatic arc or next chapter is the last, but congratulations on writing a great story anyway. :3

Heh, this is only chapter forty-four out ninety-one. We still have looooots of stuff to do before the end. ;) Actually, I have been thinking of separating the second part of the fanfic into a separate story entirely, as the title 'Mentor' won't be that appropriate anymore. It's something I'm going to need to think about.

Thanks for reviewing, you two. Next chapter should be out next Friday, which reminds me that I better go work on it, before procrastination spots me. *zooms off*

 

[Giratina ♀]

Ninety-

Jeezus, woman! You've got 91 chapters planned for this thing?
Yeah, you should probably put it into a sequel... just as long as it doesn't succumb to sequelitis, then it'll be fine.

 

[Delusions of Originality]

Oh, look, more Mentor! Meant to read it earlier than this but I got swamped.

"What took you so long?" Maylin asked. "Having fun up there?"

Sam punched Maylin in the arm. "Ew! That's gross!"

Rubbing her arm, she gave her friend a blank look. "What?"

Seeing the looks she was getting, Sam ducked her head, face red. "Nothing."

"Thanks, Ally," Ed said as his friend handed him a glass of orange juice, complimenting Ally's classmates' half-full ones.

Ah, little kids who don't get the jokes are always cute. Two things, though: I would specify that it's Maylin rubbing her arm and giving the blank look in that third sentence, and the word you mean in the last sentence is "complementing". Spelled "p-l-i" like that it refers to paying a compliment, not going along with anything.

"I- It's a special day." Ally looked away at her mother's disbelieving look.

I think you might be overusing the word "look" in this chapter, both when referring to looking at something and the look on someone's face. Maybe vary it a little with expression, glance, etc.?

A trickle of blood accompanied the movement, but Parasect was forced to back off, legs twitching over the electrical current.

Hm. You know, I've never really thought of voltorb as having blood. Not saying you're wrong, it's just interesting to see someone who doesn't assume it's totally inorganic the way most people do.

the bug-type ran forward on his tiny little legs and outstretched claw.

I don't think you mean that Parasect ran on his claw, so I believe you're missing a "his" or something there.

Her mother sometimes went out in the evening, but that really rare!

Whoops, missing another word.

Keeping her eyes away from the stone, Ally said, "A- Alright…"

Technically, it should be "all right". Two words.

From the bench, Zee yawned, reminding Ally at what Leah said when she first caught the Pokemon.

Either "of", or lose the preposition entirely.

Things are certainly getting interesting now that this arc is winding down, heh. I had a feeling Leah would end up keeping Zee, and I'm glad to see that she's starting to cave in a little bit.

As for splitting it up... well, whatever you feel is best. (Also, I noticed that your chapter count keeps steadily increasing every time you bring it up... first it was ~76, then ~84, now 91! Quite ambitious, but I don't doubt for a second that you can do it.) Since you're roughly halfway now and this is closing the "mentor" chapter and starting a new one, a sequel wouldn't be a terrible idea; it does feel a little odd at the same time, though, starting off reading a fanfic while under the impression that it'd be one story and then suddenly finding out that it might become two! Technically, that means that Mentor is almost done! Maybe if it's wigging you out even more than me and you want to keep it as a cohesive whole you could just change the title, though that'd probably be a little difficult, too. Well, regardless of what you decide, I'm looking forward to the rest (in this story or in a sequel) ;)

 

[Dagzar]

Heh, my chapter count changes a lot, I admit. Though, I had to add like four chapters after I figured out that Ed and Ally would have to battle Misty again later.

Also, I've decided that I won't be splitting Mentor into two parts. While the title may not be that accurate as the story goes on, it would be too much of a bother to make another thread. Though, in celebration for finishing part one of Mentor, I'll be changing my signature banner into something more appropriate for part two (the new banner is shiny, I have to say~).

Also, I apologize for not updating on Friday, but the chapter wasn't done and it still needs fine-tuning. Stupid thing is trying to drag the story in a direction that I don't like. -.-

Thanks for reviewing!

 

[Dagzar]

Mentor

Chapter 45: Bitter​

-



It had only been a couple of days, Leah thought, and it already felt like a lifetime. It was surprising how much the kids' absence left a hole in her life… She wasn't missing them, but she kept catching herself wondering if and when they were going to bug her. Now that they were gone, she only had Sands to concentrate on, and to a lesser extent, Zee. She didn't know anyone else, so all her time was either spent with Sands on his bedside, or with Zee, doing whatever came to mind.

It was strange to realize that if the Scyther Incident hadn't happened, she would be back in Pallet Town. But here she was, still in Cerulean, alone. There was no point in calling her grandmother; Sands was still recovering, but that wouldn't last much longer. Not too long at all. He was getting better quickly and would be released today, though the doctor advised her to keep Sands off his injured foot.

That afternoon, as she was going to go visit Sands, the television caught her attention. Or rather, the people around it. It wasn't abnormal for people to be watching TV, but not that many.

A change in her daily routine wasn't needed but Leah was curious and wandered over. Standing between a long-haired girl and some kid, she saw a news reporter talking, but the chatter of the lobby was too loud for her to really hear.

She turned to the long-haired girl. "What's going on?"

"They found a dead Scyther," the girl said, voice soft and barely louder than the TV.

"What?"

Then, the image on the television changed to show a familiar setting, a path of broken branches leading to a clearing. The body had been cleared up and all that was left was red and strange green stains on the grass.

"After a young trainer found and reported the body yesterday evening, the police have been searching the scene, trying to discover clues on what had caused this strange incident-"

Leah averted her eyes, face turning white.

"This happened near Cerulean?" someone asked. "Seriously?"

One of the other kids said, "T- This happened on a path to Pewter, right? Did a Pokemon do this, 'cause I'm going to Pewter in a few days-"

"What is a Scyther doing here?"

"Better yet, what could kill a Scyther?"

"Maybe something got out from the Unknown Dungeon?"

Mutters and whispers broke out from that response, and Leah turned tail and left, knowing that the theory was false.

It had not once crossed her mind that the police would find the Scyther. She thought the whole incident would disappear. Did this mean the police would be after her now? She guessed not since she killed the Scyther in self-defense, but she didn't want to be involved at all. Maybe she could have killed the Pokemon in a better way, but it's not like she carried a knife with her (something she may need to change). Either way, she tried not to think of killing the Scyther most of the time. It made her very uncomfortable and remembering the blood on her hands didn't help. She had enough bad memories; she wanted to put them to rest, not bring them all back up.

Back to the police, Leah didn't think she could stick around Cerulean for much longer. She didn't do anything wrong, but the police might think differently. She didn't know how, but anything was possible. Didn't the police have CSI-type guys? She'd be caught eventually.

Sands was to be released that day, so there was no more time to be wasted. She'd call her grandmother to pick her up, get Sands, and be on her way out.

Excellent plan.


-


"Pick up," Leah said, tightening her grip on the phone as it rang.

How could she be so stupid? Of course her grandmother never answered when she needed her. It was a fact of life.

When Leah got her grandmother's answering machine for the second time, she hung up, defeated. She had tried her house, got no answer, but that wasn't much of a surprise. Then, she tried her grandmother's cell phone, but that was a wasted attempt as her grandmother never turned it on.

Now what was she supposed to do? She had to get out of Cerulean and her ride wouldn't pick up.

… There was no need to panic. She would try again later, after she picked up Sands.


-


Sands didn't seem to like her plan either.

"How am I supposed to feed these to him?" Leah asked, looking at the pill bottle then at the growling Sandslash.

The doctor said, "You have a Drowzee, correct? Hypnotism would be the best way to go."

"I guess." Leah put the bottle in her jacket pocket and then turned to the Sandslash. "Time to go," she told it.

Leah walked backwards for a few steps, bent over and then patted her leg, trying to bait the ground-type. "Come on."

With another deep throated growl, the Sandslash hobbled forward, its large claws tapping against the solid flooring. Its un-evolved foot made it limp, but didn't stop it from walking.

Once the Sandslash was close enough, Leah took the Poke Ball hidden behind her back and returned the ground-type. Now that she had seen her Pokemon walk, even not very well, put some of her fears to rest.

"… Thanks," she told the doctor and left the recovery ward for the final time.


-


After trying to call her grandmother again (she didn't pick up), Leah went to the park, where she released both her Pokemon.

"Alright," she said, sitting down on a bench. Her Sandslash looked around, ears pressed against its head, and its body crouched down. Zee noticed the ground-type's behavior and reacted appropriately, staying near Leah and having both of her hands free.

"Sands, I have something for you." Leah was disappointed when the Sandslash didn't react to the name, but hid it. She took out the Fire Stone from her pocket and held it between her and the ground-type. "Remember this?"

The Sandslash looked at it and it was only good reflexes that Leah pulled her hand back, just as two large white claws slashed the air. At the threatening movement, Zee raised her hand and shoved the Sandslash back with her mental powers, keeping another hand on Leah's pant leg.

Growling, the ground type shook his head, the spikes on his back being raised up in defense.

Leah frowned, a bit pale. Those claws were sharp; they could have taken off her hand if she wasn't quicker…

"This isn't yours right now," she said to the Sandslash, holding up the Fire Stone. "You're going to have to earn this if you want it back."

Really, she wanted to give the Fire Stone to Sands, but he needed some kind of award for good behavior and she didn't think that Poke-Treats would be enough. She didn't care how long it took, but she was going to re-train Sands. No ifs, ands, or buts.

The trainer turned to her Drowzee. "Zee, you're going to have to help me train Sands. He needs a partner to battle with."

Zee nodded, arm still extended.

"So, Sands?" Leah smirked, wiggling the Fire Stone. "If you want this back, you have to beat Zee, one-on-one." She looked at the two Pokemon. "… What are you waiting for? Get to it."


-


Leah watched them go at it, her breath coming out as a faint mist. Any training that she had once given Sands was no longer apparent. All the Sandslash did was try to hit Zee with its claws, not once trying a Poison Sting or Swift. If a stranger was watching, they'd say that Sands was obviously a wild Pokemon or one that was newly captured. No trained Pokemon would fight so… directly.

On the other hand, Zee was doing pretty well. She deflected the Sandslash's claws without being touched, her body shrouded in a blue aura. The Drowzee's concentration didn't waver, no matter how repetitive the ground-type's attacks got.

"Sands, use Poison Sting," Leah called out for the fifth time.

Like it didn't hear her, the Sandslash continued its assaults. Keeping his disabled paw close to him, he swiped at Zee, only for his claws to be pushed back.

The Pokemon growled, ears flattening.

Leah sighed. "You could do better with Poison Sting. Swift would be nice, too. Come on, you can do it. Think!"

Her words made the ground-type growl louder and it abandoned its attempts at Zee and limped over to her.

Not moving, Leah met his glare head on. She always thought Ally had it bad because of her disobedient Voltorb, but did the girl really have to put up with this everyday?

When the Sandslash took a step too close, it suddenly found itself unable to and was dragged back by an unseen force. His claws scraped across the ground and he hunched over, poised to leap. Leah, not exactly trusting a psychic-type who had been battling for half-an-hour straight, stood up and got out of the way, standing behind Zee.

This was going nowhere. She didn't think that Sands would be cured fast, but it was depressing to see him in such a state. Sands was never the best battler, but at least he was decent, unlike the angry Pokemon she was watching.

Maybe she was going about this the wrong way. Here she was doing what Ally did, trying to bully her Pokemon into listening to her. While that did work for the girl, it took four months to get results and there was no way she was waiting that long.

Actually, why was she using battling to retrain Sands? Why was she so focused on battling and training? She and Ally had different goals. Ally wanted her Voltorb to listen to her for battles. She, on the other hand, wanted the old Sands back. He didn't need to battle. Leah just wanted him to be friendly, cute and maybe Fire Stone-crazy (it was hard not to think of Sands without thinking of the Fire Stone).

Sands was acting like a wild Pokemon, independent and with no foresight to his attacks. He didn't like Leah or anyone. The trick was forcing the Sandslash to rely on her, to trust her, and she had an idea how.

Back before her journey began (both of them), she had a friend who's house she would visit often. That friend had a pet cat that hated everyone. It was big and fluffy and Leah remembered always wanting to hug and pet it, but the cat always hid where she couldn't get it. Later, when she went over to the friend's house, she found the cat waiting for her on a chair, letting her pet it and rub its belly. The friend explained that the cat had been sick and forced to stay in a cage for a couple of weeks, making it rely on the friend's family to survive.

Leah didn't have a cage but she did have a bottle of pills that the Sandslash needed to ward off infection. She wouldn't bother with hypnotism. Maybe a mild Disable to protect against his claws, but Sands was just going to have to deal with her man-handling. Once he was used to her, the road to friendship would be easy.

"Alright Sands," Leah said, smiling, taking no notice of his behavior. "Good effort today."

"Slash!" the Pokemon growled.

"Stop growling," she told it. "You do that too much."

She returned the Sandslash to its Poke Ball and then looked down at her Drowzee.

"This isn't working," she said, "but thanks for helping."

Zee preened.


-


The next day bloomed with a cloudy sky and Leah yawned as she made her way down for breakfast. Zee wasn't with her for once as the psychic-type had problems with stairs, but Leah would make to release her right after she ate.

As she came into the lobby, an odd sight greeted her. Everything looked normal, but you couldn't miss the blue-uniformed cops talking with the nurse at the front desk. They looked serious and Leah saw they had two Poke Balls on their belts.

She passed them without any trouble, but her ears caught part of their conversation.

"We have lots of trainers like that," the nurse was saying. "The trainer probably has left by now."

"We know, madam," said one of the cops with impatience in his voice. "But we need to be sure."

The other one said, "Has any Pokemon come in the last week with slash wounds?"

Leah felt herself pale and she turned her head away from the scene, trying to hide it. She proceeded to the cafeteria and got some food, sitting down at an empty table.

She really wasn't expecting to see the police here and she knew they were asking questions related to the Scyther Incident. Her Sandslash had bloody slashing wounds and so did her and Zee. It wouldn't be long before the police found her. Luckily, Pokemon got injured all the time and she was sure that Sands wasn't the only one that had a bad encounter with a bladed Pokemon.

Her grandmother wasn't answering her cell phone (still!) and she doubted that it would happen anytime soon. It happened sometimes, where her grandmother was really busy with battles or conferences. After all, she was part of the Elite Four, one of the most powerful trainers in Kanto. Not only that, but she had been there the longest, for twenty-one years. That was certainly a record. Her grandmother was probably one of the most experienced trainers in the world, not only on ghost-types, but most Pokemon.

Leah wondered what her grandmother would think if she turned on the TV and found Leah linked to a dead Scyther. That would be… embarrassing. She hadn't yet gotten around to telling her grandmother about the Scyther, Sands evolution, or all that stuff.

Now that she thought about it, what if her grandmother was dragged into the Scyther Incident? Leah was Agatha's granddaughter and it wasn't too hard to figure out that they were related, if you knew where to look. They didn't have the same last name (most gym leaders and high ranking trainers went either by their first names only or got a stage name), but Agatha's Wikipedia page easily gave out her real last name. And being the only Gordon in Pallet Town, Leah could admit it was obvious.

The news seemed to have a hard-on for celebrities and being related to one wouldn't help matters.

Maybe she was being paranoid and making a big deal about nothing, but she didn't want to be involved in this. She would have left yesterday if her grandmother answered the phone, but obviously she would have to come up with some sort of plan. If she didn't want to talk to the police, she had to leave the Pokemon Center. Maybe she could camp out near Cerulean, but…

'What if another Scyther appears?' Leah thought, feeling stupid just by thinking it. It wasn't going to happen; she didn't think Blue had another Scyther since they were rare, but what if?

The only fear she had ever had before was a fear of storms, but this fear wasn't like that. A fear of storms could be taken care of (never go out when it's cloudy, always have a blanket and a loud TV handy for when one happened…), but this fear was more general, a fear of getting attacked and not being able to do anything.

It was silly since she was able to do something back then, and if she was able to beat a Scyther, then nothing could really stop her.

Leah sighed, and then paled when someone coughed behind her. She turned, expecting to see policemen and handcuffs, but saw a girl instead.

She looked familiar and Leah vaguely recalled seeing her yesterday.

"What?" Leah said.

"Can I sit here?" she asked and Leah noticed the plate of food in her hands.

"Sure."

Leah studied the girl who sat across from her. She had long brown hair, brown eyes, and looked utterly average. She didn't seem to have any Pokemon with her, which was odd considering that most trainers carried them around. Leah herself wasn't a trainer and she wouldn't dream of leaving Sands or Zee behind in her room.

They ate together in silence, the girl not making any move to strike up a conversation with Leah, which she also felt was weird. When someone tried to eat with her, they always tried to get some talk going.

"Did you see the police?" Leah asked.

"Yes," the girl said.

"What do you think they're here for?"

The girl sipped her water. "Don't you watch the news? They found a dead Scyther almost a week ago. They need to find out what happened."

"It's dead," Leah said. "Does it matter?"

"Of course. It's a Scyther. Such a rare and powerful Pokemon wouldn't be defeated easily. Whatever killed it could still be out there."

"Does it have to be a more powerful Pokemon that killed it? Why couldn't a few smaller Pokemon gang up on it?"

"Wild Pokemon don't behave like that," the girl said. "A trainer would have to be behind them for something such as that to happen."

"Oh." Leah hoped she sounded casual. "What would happen to the trainer?"

"What do you mean?"

"If someone killed a Scyther, what would happen to them?"

"It depends on what happened. Scyther are very rare, however. The police would treat this case differently if the Pokemon was more mundane."

There was an odd tone to the girl's words and Leah asked, "Do you like Scyther?"

"What gave you that idea?" she asked, staring.

"You sound like you do and Scyther aren't that rare."

The girl looked as if she was digesting the information. "They are rarer than you think," she finally said. "They don't breed well, preying mantises never do, and their evolution is very sought out."

"Do you like them?" Leah repeated.

"I like all rare Pokemon," she said. "I'm a collector of them."

That was news to Leah. "I thought you were a trainer."

"I don't see the point of doing that."

The girl stood, having finished her food, balancing the tray in one hand as she picked up her bag.

"Are you in a rush?" Leah asked.

"No," she said, the though looking like it had never occurred to her. "Though I do need to get going."

Leah turned her head away, looking at her own empty tray. "Alright."

The girl didn't reply and when Leah next looked up, she was gone.


-


Leah sat in the cafeteria for another ten minutes before forcing herself up, wanting to get a move on. The lobby was emptier than last time and the policemen had vanished, taking Leah's stress with them. She ignored the group by the TV and went back to her room.

She had packed her bag yesterday evening and was ready to leave. Unfortunately, she couldn't do that. Not until her grandmother picked up her stupid phone.

Releasing Zee onto the bed, Leah sat down and took out the bottle of pills that the doctor gave her. They were small and white, the label on the bottle telling her nothing of interest.

She uncapped the lid and turned to Zee. "Mild Disable," she told her. "I don't want him to move that much, but no Hypnosis, alright?"

Zee nodded. Taking a deep breath, Leah released her Sandslash in the biggest open space in her room. And even then, the ground-type had little room. Not that he needed it because as soon as he came out, the Drowzee glowed blue, the aura mirroring the one that appeared around the Sandslash.

The ground-type tried to move, but was frozen stuff. Leah could hear it growling, though, deep in the back of its throat.

Leah shook the bottle over her hand and put any extra pills back, keeping only two. She raised the Sandslash's head with her hand and then paused, wondering what she should do next. Hesitantly, she used her fingers and thumb to open the Pokemon's mouth as much as she was able, getting a good look at his sharp teeth. Saliva dripped on her hand, but Leah didn't look at it, bringing her other hand in and forcing a pill into the tiny opening her hand made.

She was about to give him the second pill when the Sandslash made a choking noise, his eyes going wide.

"Drop it!" Leah snapped at Zee and the blue glow faded.

The Sandslash leaned over and coughed the pill onto the carpet, the spikes on his back standing up straight.

Trusting the warning bells going off in her head, Leah brought her legs on to the bed as the Pokemon lashed out with his one good paw, slashing the mattress.

"Hypnosis! Hypnosis!"

The ground-type backed up from the Drowzee, bumping into the wall. A blue glow overtook the Pokemon's eyes as the psychic-type forced the Sandslash into the realm of dreams. With hardly a sound, the Pokemon collapsed.

"… Well, that was a bad idea," Leah said when she finally started to breathe normally, making a mental note to never try something like that in her room again. She leaned over, looking at the long slash mark that the Sandslash made on the mattress, glad that the mark didn't get on her legs instead.

"Keep him sleeping," Leah advised the Drowzee, getting up. "I'll be right back. I need to look up pill-feeding on Google."

Zee didn't need to know why Leah was leaving, but the girl felt it was better off telling her. The Pokemon may not know what Google was, but she was still smart. Maybe if the Drowzee kept up good progress and Leah was bored, she would teach the psychic-type how to use the internet.


-


As she was making her way back to her room after getting stuff from the internet, she spied the television again. People were still watching it and she didn't think any of them had moved an inch since the last time she saw them.

Leah was about to turn away when she spotted the girl from the cafeteria, watching the TV with her arms folded, an odd look of her face. Curiosity reared its head and Leah walked over.

"Is it the Scyther again?" Leah asked the girl.

The girl didn't even glance over. "No."

"Be quiet!" someone shushed.

Leah was going to give the guy a piece of her mind, but looked to the television instead, wondering what had everyone so focused.

A reporter was holding a microphone to a middle-age man. "What do you think of this proposal?" she asked.

"It's been a long time coming," he replied. "Kids are always getting killed and no one's done anything about it. I'm glad that's changing."

"What an idiot," someone muttered, and there were voices of agreements.

On TV, an elderly woman was asked the same question.

"I've had three children go into training," she said, looking sad. "They all left at age ten, but only two came back. Children just aren't suited for the road and I hope no one else has to go through what I had."

Another man appeared on the screen.

"Do you think this proposal should go through?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "It's stupid. These things happen, you know? Are you going to ban cars because kids die in those too?"

"Training isn't just having fun," a woman said with the microphone to her mouth. "It teaches people to survive and make decisions. Trainers are the most mature and smart people I have ever met. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't a trainer myself."

Leah stared at the screen, confused, having no clue what was going on… However, her mind started to put pieces of the facts together.

They had to be joking…

The picture on the TV changed to show a tall blond woman, Jade Rouge, shaking hands with Lance. "Today, Jade Rouge met with the Elite Four to discuss her proposal to raise the age limit on Pokemon training. After the death of her young brother, twelve-year-old Ryan, Rouge has spent much of her time rallying to raise the age limit of Pokemon training. For decades, ten has been the starting age of Pokemon trainers, but if Rouge's proposal goes through, the age could go as high as fifteen. This shocking proposal threatens to turn the world of training upside down and reactions are mixed."

"They're… raising the starting age for Pokemon training?" Leah asked, doing her best to stop gaping. "Since when?"

"It started last week," a trainer told her.

The television moved on to some other newsworthy story as the group around Leah turned away from it.

"Is it just me," an older girl said, "or is this getting a bit serious?"

Another person waved it off. "Nah, this isn't the first time they tried to raise the age limit. It'll die down like it always does."

"What if it doesn't? Jade Rogue is pretty famous. She isn't some middle-aged house wife that doesn't have any sway."

"That doesn't matter! Who other than middle-aged house wives would support her? She's turning her back on everyone. What trainer would back her?"

There were agreements throughout the group and not one person showed any doubt.

Leah was still in shock. She could hardy begin to think what she thought about this. It had never occurred to her at all. If she ever turned on the news, she would never expect something like this was occurring. Never. Pokemon trainers had always started at age ten, always, always, always. Any older trainers starting out were rare and could never find success like trainers who started young.

Jade Rogue should have known that this would never work. She would find no support anywhere. Trainers would turn their backs, as they were already doing and anyone even remotely connected to Pokemon would turn away. The Pokemon League, who Rogue was appealing to, would have a hard time doing anything themselves. The organization was mostly made up of retired trainers and no matter how old they were, trainers like that never actually quit. They would always carry the traditions and beliefs of trainers still walking.

Leah's mishap of a journey when she was ten was unfortunate, but she was sure that most trainers looked at the days when they were just starting out with nostalgia and amusement. Everyone would want new trainers to experience that. Ten-year-olds and fifteen-year-olds experienced their journeys differently.

Ed and Ally saw their journey with wonder and excitement and no matter what happened; they were always ready to continue and see new things.

Leah was too old to see a journey like that; she had outgrown stories of adventure, treasure, and love. She had the future in front of her and unlike kids, she couldn't turn away from that. It would always be there, looming. She couldn't live in the present like they did.

With trainers, the stories of heroes and dragons never died no matter how old or mature they got. They could still see adventure in every corner and while death could still happen, it almost seemed like a non-issue. Once you enriched your life with Pokemon like that, it could never be taken back.

Ed and Ally always seemed so excited to explore new places that Leah sometimes wished she could see life like that. To see her journey with wonder and excitement… What would that be like?

"Are you that shocked?"

Leah looked over at the girl from the cafeteria.

"… It's not that," She said quietly, shaking her head. She looked at the bag by the girl's feet. "Are you leaving now?"

"Yes," the girl said, picking of her satchel. "I have quite a journey ahead of me."

An odd feeling rose in her chest at the word 'journey'. It was a painful sense of longing, one that Leah hoped would go away.

"Where are you going?"

"Lavender Town. I have business there."

Leah wanted a lot of things at that moment, for her grandmother to come and get her, for the police to vanish from her life, for Sands to get better… None of those were stronger than the need to go on a journey. It didn't matter where. She wanted to travel and explore, see things that no one else had. She had nothing back home; no friends or future.

Why didn't she want to journey in the first place? Why did she want to go and stay home? Were Ed and Ally bad company, did she not like the travelling, were the places she went to boring?

No, it wasn't that.

She had made up her mind before she had even gone on her second journey. As soon as her first ended, three days after it started, she hated journeying. She had only one experience to go by and she had taken that, using it as to why she didn't like Pokemon journeys or training.

Could a three day experience taint four months of travelling? It had changed her attitude so drastically, had made her hate trainers, just because she failed when they didn't. She had hated Pokemon, even her own, somehow blaming them for a storm that they couldn't control. She remembered when she got her first Pokemon, a Sandshrew, fat and big-eyed as all young ones were. She had named him Sands because she thought it was the cutest and most original name ever.

Three days later, she had hated him, refused to call him by name or even refer to him with a gender. Just because he was as scared as her during the storm and stayed in his Poke Ball because rain was unpleasant to him.

Leah knew she wasn't the nicest person. She didn't do polite or generous, especially to Ed and Ally. Why should she? If she didn't get any help, why should they?

Was her attitude the reason she didn't like her journey? Was she so set in her ways that no matter what happened, she would never like it? Never let herself like it? Her name, Leah, meant 'bitter' or 'tired' and that's what she was, wasn't she?

Bitter with everything. Tired of everyone.

If she wasn't like that, if she let herself enjoy being on a journey, would she like it? Honestly like it? Would she see life the same way Ed and Ally did, with an adventure around every corner?

She had never tried and it looked like her realization had come too late.

If she quit now, if her grandmother suddenly teleported into the room to pick her up, she would never go on a journey again. No matter how she felt, the same thought would enter her mind: It's too late. 'Too late, too old,' her mind would say. 'She should be getting on with life, not looking to the past.'

Pokemon training was already slowing down, faltering. More kids were quitting before their journey had really begun, or didn't even try, held back by their nervous parents. Training was a fad and it was finally ending. Raising the age limit on training was just the beginning.

An era was at its end.

The question was what she was going to do. Would she quit or try?

Could she have an adventure too?

Leah looked at the girl. "Can I come?" she asked.

"I'm not going to wait for you," the girl said, frowning. "I've wasted enough time."

Leah said, "My bag's packed in my room. I just need to go get it."

The girl stared at her. "… Alright, hurry up and go get it. I won't wait longer than five minutes."

Even before the girl's mouth closed, Leah started to move. She went to her room and grabbed her bag, making sure everything was there. Going back to the lobby, she checked out, and with her two Poke Balls weighing her pocket down, she exited the Pokemon Center with the girl by her side.

"What business do you have in Lavender Town?" the girl asked.

"None," Leah said, and thinking about it for a moment, added, "I'm exploring."

"And what is your name?"

"Leah."

"I am Chandelle."

As Leah looked at the road in front of her, she knew that later, she would regret her decision. She didn't know what she was doing or even where she wanted to go, but she wanted to try once more. Third time was the charm, right?

Maybe it would be worth it, maybe it wouldn't.

She wouldn't know until she tried.


-


A/N: Turning-point chapter is a turning-point. I hope I was able to make Leah actually willing go on a journey realistic. Until this chapter, I had no clue how I was supposed to make her go so I just took any opportunity that presented itself.

Guys, I like to thank you for sticking with me up to this point. This is the end of part one of the story and the second part will be more plot-driven and action-oriented than the first, which I hope you will enjoy.

Thanks again. :)

 

[Venia Silente]

Thanks for the story so far.

HAH! I did it! Managed to be back in time for the end (of Part One). I want to thank you for a wonderful story -- again and again.

I didn't notice any terribly obvious mistakes in the latest chapters but I'm yet to examine the previous ones in depth. Probably an infinitive misused in a specific point of speech, but I'd have to go back and look for it with a microscope.

Oh well it was interesting to see the change in Sandslash's character (if any (character (left), I mean) ). Felt a bit sad but read in a way that I think it was quite natural for, well, a Sandslash. As for Zee, I'd guess we'll have to wait to see the marvels of Zee abusing Google's advanced search capabilities.

I may comment more on Ed and Ally later. Don't have much of a reason to, right now since my focus is on Leah, Sandslash and the Fire Stone. Be seeing you later anyways, and congratulations on keeping such an interesting story this far.

 

[KajiVenator]

I miss Sands. :<

But I'm glad to see the trainer spirit in Leah.

I wonder how Ed and Ally took the news of the possibility.

 

[Dagzar]

Thanks, Solovino!

There's probably a bunch of mistakes in the chapters since I don't find many any more which means I must be getting lazy with my editing. <_< I may have misspelled Jade Rogue's name too; I always type her last name as Rouge for some reason.

Sands won't stay in wild Sandslash state forever, but it'll be quite a few chapters until it's resolved (and until I find a way to resolve it). Goddamn last minute changes.

I miss Sands. :<

But I'm glad to see the trainer spirit in Leah.

I wonder how Ed and Ally took the news of the possibility.

I miss Sands too, Zee can only be so epic by herself. :(

Ed and Ally won't be appearing for a while, but I have to say, the news was not taken well… At all.

Thanks for reviewing, you two! I should be updating on Friday, but no promises. ;)

 

[KajiVenator]

I wish I could update on Fridays like before. :/

I'm trying to build up an excess of chapters before I post so if I need to take a week off due to certain things happening, I can just post an already finished chapter. I'm one chapter ahead and I want at least a couple more done before I post the current chapter.

And no problem, Daggy. I love your sense of storytelling ^_^

 

[nokyo-chan]

Hi, Dagzar! You reviewed my fic a while ago, so I thought I'd review yours! I haven't read the whole thing, and I'm a bit pressed for time, so I could only read the first halves of Chapters 42 and 43.

I've seen this idea a lot, but you seem to be doing well with it. I have a few (constructive!) criticisms, and I hope they'll help you. =)

I noticed some grammar mistakes, and I think some of them are just typos, but I'll put them anyway just to let you know they're there.

"I hope its Horsea, though. "I wonder what Pokemon Misty will choose," Ed asked to Leah, but the older girl didn't reply.

This sentence is a bit weird; it should be something more like:

"I wonder what Pokemon Misty will choose," Ed said to Leah...

Using the word ask is weird unless the person is actually posing a question, and then you don't need the word to.

"This is a two-on-two battle between Cerulean City Gym Leader Misty and Ally Anderson of Cerulean City with no time limit." he said, the battle having been prepared beforehand

I think this is probably a typo, but it should be:

"...with no time limit,"

Like I said, most likely a typo!

in arms reach of her Vulpix

The word "arms" is actually possessive when you use that expression, so you would need an apostrophe after the s.

crash into a green barrier

This might be a typo as well--just making sure you're aware!--but it needs to be crashed to keep the tense consistent.

Its eyes were gazed

This is weird. I think the word you're looking for is dazed.

Also, the character interaction in the beginning of the chapter is a little uneventful. I understand furthering character development, but since you have forty-three chapters, the readers should have a pretty clear idea of your characters by now. I'm not saying that you should cut it out, but it could stand to be shortened, as could the battle between Ally and Misty; it's rather lengthy.

On to Chapter Forty-Three!

Any argument that he had thought up were needed anymore.

Again, this seems like a typo, and you were meaning to put weren't. However, putting weren't is incorrect; it's subject-verb agreement. If you were to pluralize argument, weren't would be appropriate, and the sentence would be:

Any arguments that he had thought up weren't needed anymore.

But if you wanted to keep argument singular, your sentence should read:

Any argument that he had thought up wasn't needed anymore.

His mum sounded interested and was always with questions

The phrase "was always with questions" is a little strange. Using "she always had questions" would be a little less confusing, but I suppose you wouldn't have to change it if no one else really had any objections.

He didn't have to, the only people who saw Coralie's accident was Ally, Leah, Misty, and Ally's classmates

This may be a typo, but it should be:

He didn't have to; the only people who saw...

The sentence you have now is a comma splice.

"Then it's not you fault,"

I'm extremely certain that this is a typo--your, not you. XD

"I guess, but Ally is going to runaway with me."

This is a common mistake; the word runaway is a noun, and therefore used incorrectly here. You need to use the verb run here:

"I guess, but Ally is going to run away with me."

So, I suggest baiting a ghost-type until they attack and then throw a Poke Ball at it."

Once again, this is subject-verb agreement, or parallelism; you need to make sure your sentences match up within themselves. Your sentence should be:

"So, I suggest baiting a ghost-type until they attack and then throwing a Poke Ball at it."

PM me if you need more of an explanation! XD

She didn't want to be bothered or have someone talking to her. Not that she had many friends in the first place.

The second sentence is a fragment and should be melded with the first to create a compound sentence, preferably with a semicolon or dash.

She didn't want any friends, that wouldn't change, but

Once again, this is a comma splice; you need a semicolon after the word friends, or you could set the phrase "that wouldn't change" off with hyphens, like such:

She didn't want any friends—that wouldn't change—but...

By the way, Leah seems extremely sullen. I understand that her Pokemon is extremely hurt, but I've also read the first chapter, and she's very cynical and a bit antagonistic then, too. She seems to be an Angsty Sue. Just keep an eye on her development; she's already crossed a bit over the line into Sue-ness.

I hope I could help! =)

 

[UltimaSilva]

You're doing a really great job with this. I love reading this story. I read a LOT today, mainly because I didn't have anything to do or because it's so addicting. Keep writing. :)

 

[SehCure]

Some narrative mistakes, over use of words (Eg 'she')

Good work though

 

[Dagzar]

Whoa, thanks for reviewing guys! I'll have the next chapter out by Friday for sure.

By the way, Leah seems extremely sullen. I understand that her Pokemon is extremely hurt, but I've also read the first chapter, and she's very cynical and a bit antagonistic then, too. She seems to be an Angsty Sue. Just keep an eye on her development; she's already crossed a bit over the line into Sue-ness.

Heh, I know Leah's pretty cynical most of the time, but her Pokemon were just hurt so I think she had a pretty good excuse. And don't worry about the sue-ness; I keep a close eye on my characters to make sure none of that stuff is happening.

Thanks for the review and pointing out all of those mistakes, nokyo-chan! It seems I've gotten really lazy with editing these days. I'll make sure to get rid of all those pesky mistakes. -.- *gets flamethrower*

You're doing a really great job with this. I love reading this story. I read a LOT today, mainly because I didn't have anything to do or because it's so addicting. Keep writing.

Thanks, Ultima! I'm glad you're enjoying it! ;D

Some narrative mistakes, over use of words (Eg 'she')

Good work though

Thanks for reviewing, Sehcure! I noticed I've been overusing words recently too, so I'll make sure the same problem doesn't crop up in the next chapter.

 

[fire_and_ice]

Hey!
I seriously love this fic! Its the best thing I've read in a long time! Can't wait for more!

 

[Dagzar]

Hey!
I seriously love this fic! Its the best thing I've read in a long time! Can't wait for more!

Thanks! The next chapter is all done, so you'll get your chapter fix tommorow, don't worry. ;)

 

[Dagzar]

Mentor
Chapter 46: Debates andSetup​

​

-



Leaning back into his computer chair, William looked at the monitor with a frown, keeping one hand firmly on the mouse. He scrolled down, eyes glancing over forum posts, all of them having the same topic: debate over raising the Pokemon training age limit.

Strangely, it wasn't as one-sided as William would have thought, which disturbed him more than he liked to admit.

He was a trainer; therefore, he was against the age limit all the way. Trainers always started at age ten and while there were sometimes accidents, it usually worked out for the best. There was no point in raising the age. The world wasn't more dangerous than decades before. It was the people getting more paranoid, more comfortable in their easy and technologically advanced lives.

It was ridiculous and reading forum posts didn't make it any better.

Trainers, the people who the potential new age limit was referring to, didn't weigh in on any internet arguments as they were trainers. They were on their journeys and when William was a trainer, he rarely went on the computer. There were always more important things to do. Thus, the debates on forums and the like were discussed by the normal people of Kanto, whose opinions didn't matter.

William himself didn't participate in the debates, only watching and gathering information. He was in a unique position. While he wasn't an actual trainer, he always considered himself one, journeying or not. Not only that, but he was a 'victim', the type of person the age raise was trying to protect. His leg was injured when he was fourteen due to a training accident and would walk with a limp for the rest of his life.

He didn't like thinking about his injury. In different circumstances he would be fine with it, just thankful that he didn't lose his leg entirely. But when there was a whole world out there just waiting for him to stumble upon it, it made him bitter and depressed.

Which is why he wanted to make sure Ed got his journey. More than four years of it, for sure. If the age raise went through, his brother would be stripped of the life William had loved and he wouldn't be able to own his own Pokemon. Even Carla would be affected and while she was much too young to go on a journey, what would it be like for her? Ever since she could walk, she had been surrounded by stories of trainers and adventures. It was everywhere, all children knew the stories, and many TV shows that Carla watched were centered on them. Her whole life revolved around going on a journey, and for that dream to be taken away before she could even go…

William would hate to be one of those children, the ones that were still waiting with bated breath for their chance.

It was ridiculous. Like any trainer would support something like that.

And even then, with everything against it, William didn't know what the outcome would be.

He prided himself on prediction. He liked playing those little Pokemon battling simulators and running circles around his opponents as he decimated their teams.

This one was a battle he couldn't predict. While it seemed impossible to alter something so set in stone like the age limit, William could see the signs. It had been happening for years now. Pokemon training was winding down; it had stood strong for decades but nothing could last forever. There had been attempts in the past to raise the age limit on Pokemon training and all had failed. But that was when training seemed permanent and powerful; every child's dream.

It wasn't like that anymore. Right now, training was on a crumbling pedestal and this might be the last blow.

William should have seen it coming, but he didn't want to see. The Mentor program was like a big flashing sign telling the world that changes were coming. His own parents decided to put Ed into the program, and even now were secretly hoping the age limit would be raised so it could bring Ed home. Though, to be fair, they were the ones who got the phone call in the middle of night telling them that their oldest son had been seriously injured.

He didn't want it to happen, but there was nothing he could do. He was a crippled trainer who was stuck in Fuchsia; the only thing he could do was stifle through forum posts and blogs.

How useless was that?

Glancing at the clock, William sighed and stretched, deciding to get off the internet before he got angry.

He grabbed his cane but before getting up, he looked at the phone by the monitor. The news of Jade Rouge's proposal had been out for three weeks now and the phone call he had been expecting had yet to come.

While his brother spent most of his time travelling, William was surprised he hadn't heard from him. There was no way Ed couldn't have heard the news by now. Adding to that, his brother promised to phone as soon as he was in Lavender Town and William had walked that path years ago; Ed should have arrived in Lavender by now.

Ed was never punctual about calling his family and really, William kind of expected this. His brother probably didn't want to call until he caught a ghost-type so that he could share the good news.

But still, William was worried. His parents were too, and they would be even more worried if he wasn't acting like it was no big deal that Ed hadn't called. It had gotten to the point where he had even called a couple of friends in Lavender to keep an eye out for his brother.

William wondered if he should have bought his brother a phone. The problem had never come up since Leah was with them and she had a cell phone, but things had changed. He had tried to call Leah once, after he was certain Ed and Ally had left Cerulean, but she didn't pick up, which wasn't surprising. She always had her phone off.

There were so many things going on that William had to pay attention to. School, his brother, the Pokemon training age limit… It was all getting too much. And that didn't even begin to include the Plates, which he was still trying to figure out. He didn't care if Leah was no longer interested. It was a mystery he wanted to solve and he would solve it.

Sighing, William finally got up, leaning on his cane.

So much to do, so little time.


-


The Sandslash would have growled, but he was too busy swallowing pills. A blue glow surrounded his body and Zee sat beside him to stop any inappropriate behavior.

"Done," Leah announced, nodding at the Drowzee. The aura faded and the Sandslash shook its head, crouching down on all fours, showing its spiked back to the world. Zee, knowing the routine, took that as her cue to back up.

Leah sighed at the typical Sandslash response. "Stop that."

The ground-type finally let out a growl.

"Stop that!"

"Are you almost done?" Chandelle asked, a frown on her pale face as she walked up to them. "We have to get going."

It had been five days since they left Cerulean and Leah figured out very quickly that Chandelle had no patience for waiting. Not that Leah had much either, but she could make an exception for Sands. Chandelle couldn't.

It didn't matter much; Chandelle was easy to ignore, especially since she didn't talk often. But when the creator of the universe decided to give Route Nine the most boring trees and environment ever, Leah found herself getting bored quickly. Combined with her walking on the most boring route ever willingly (as in not bribed, blackmailed, held at gunpoint, or generally forced by a goddamn volunteer program that she didn't sign up for), her patience was at an absolute low.

Sands wasn't helping. Neither was Chandelle.

"I'm done, I'm done," Leah snapped, returning the Sandslash to its Poke Ball before things got ugly. After a bit of thinking, Zee was returned as well. Leah had made the habit of making her Drowzee walk with her sometimes, to build up endurance and to make her more useful if another Scyther showed its face. However, the morning was already off to a bad start. She didn't need a slow Pokemon to add to that.

She shouldered her backpack and caught up with Chandelle, who had already started walking.

"I thought you said you weren't in a rush," Leah said for probably the third time in the past two days.

"I'm not," Chandelle said. "I don't want to waste time."

Leah grumbled. "The world won't end if you wait five minutes."

"I have business in Lavender," the girl repeated. "I can't be late."

"Are you meeting someone?"

"Yes," she said, and like every other time, refused to elaborate.

Not that Leah cared. She was just trying to make conversation, but Chandelle seemed fine at not speaking at all. Leah really wished she had chosen someone else to go with her, though it wasn't her choice. The whole police situation had made her rush and the consequences were silently walking beside her.

It was a bit strange, actually. Leah complained about everything, from her travelling partner to Sands still being disobedient, but not once about the journey itself. When she decided to leave Cerulean willingly and on her own two feet no less, she thought she would be regretting it every step of the way.

But she wasn't. Any thoughts of missing school or her house in Pallet were mostly absent, and when they did come up, only a bit of homesickness came with them. She was no longer begging to go home and it left her off-balance, almost lighter, like weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

It felt nice not to worry all the time.

Not that it meant she was worriless. She had tons of things to think about. Sands was still not cooperating, Chandelle was mute three-fourths of the time, the stupid road would not end; Leah wanted to get rid of those problems as soon as possible. Especially the last one; there was only so much boring scenery she could take.

Leah very much wanted to ask when they would get to the Pokemon Center, but she didn't want to be annoying. This wasn't like with Ed and Ally. She and the kids were forced together and they had no choice to put up with each other. Chandelle, despite what Leah thought of her, was nice enough to journey with her and Leah didn't want to get ditched in the middle of nowhere.


-


Luckily, Leah didn't have to hold her tongue for long as the Pokemon Center came into view two hours later. Two hours wasn't long for a trainer, but Leah wasn't one, so she could admit her feet were sore, her legs were tired, and she needed a shower.

"Are you going to Lavender Town?" Chandelle asked as the red roof of the Pokemon Center got bigger with every step.

Leah blinked. "Uh…"

She hadn't really thought about it. Well, she did, but she hadn't yet decided. She was looking for adventure, but even she could admit that Lavender Town didn't rank high on her 'To Visit' list. Not that she had much choice. There were only two routes to take at this particular Pokemon Center. You either went through Rock Tunnel to Lavender or went back to Cerulean. Simple.

In hindsight, she really should have gone to Saffron from Cerulean instead. It was a city, Leah could do cities, and maybe she could find Danny and travel with him. She doubted he would mind.

"I'm only staying here a day," Chandelle continued. "I will be leaving in the morning."

Leah said nothing, trying to think if there was anything interesting near this particular Pokemon Center. Nothing she knew of, at least.

Just before they reached the doors of the Pokemon Center, a cry caught their attention.

"Hey!"

Leah turned, not expecting to see a little blond girl staring at her.

She grinned when Leah met her eyes. "Do you want to battle?" she asked with an expectant expression.

Leah felt mixed emotions, not knowing what to do. She was rarely challenged by strangers, especially by ones so young. Usually, she had Ed and Ally to take the battles, and rejected any that came her way. She could only take losing to ten-year-olds so often.

But if Leah was going to go on a journey properly, she was going to have to battle sometime. The blond girl didn't look tough.

"… All right," Leah said. "One-on-one?"

"I only have one," the girl said. "So, yeah."

"What about our rooms?" Chandelle interrupted. "We just got here."

Leah looked over her shoulder as she followed the girl to an open space. "This won't take long!"

After Chandelle entered the Pokemon Center, the girl introduced herself. "I'm Ashley," she said.

"Leah," Leah replied, releasing Zee. Her Drowzee stood in of her, ready to go, while the girl fumbled with a Poke Ball.

"Go, Zu-Zu!" The Poke Ball was thrown high in the air and Leah wondered what would happen if it landed on the Pokemon Center's roof. Then, her attention was taken away as the Pokemon was let out, its thin leather wings catching the wind as it flapped overhead.

Leah squinted, blinded by the sun. The Pokemon flew closer to the ground, being recognizable with a single glance. It was a Zubat, its big ears and eyeless face being familiar to anyone. However, there was something off about it, most likely revolving around the Pokemon being a totally different color than usual.

"… Why is it green?" Leah asked.

The Zubat was aware of Leah's staring and seemed to smile, its green and off-yellow color making it stand out in the sun, almost sparkling.

"He's shiny," Ashley said proudly. "Isn't he pretty?"

Leah would have usually replied with a 'no', but she had never seen a shiny in real life. It was hard to look away.

"I guess," Leah finally said, shaking her head. "Where'd you find it?"

The girl grinned. "My dad caught him when I was nine," she said. "Ready to battle?"

"Yeah."

"I'll start!" Ashley said. "Zuzu, Astonish!"

"Zee, Con-"

It was a like a gong went off right beside Leah's ears as she flinched, half taking a step back and half ducking, her hands going to her ears. Zee seemed to go through the same thing as the Drowzee glowed bright blue, hands out hesitantly before it.

"I didn't know Astonish did that," Leah complained, shaking.

"Astonish does that to everyone!" Ashley chirped. "Isn't it awesome?"

"No-"

The girl took the time to attack. "Supersonic!"

The thin blue rings that emerged from the Zubat's mouth homed in on Zee, but the Astonish had put the psychic-type on full alert. The aura surrounding her thickened as the Drowzee crouched down, hands above her head. As soon as the rings hit the aura, they vanished, winking out of existence.

"Disable!" Leah said.

"Run, Zuzu!"

A blue aura overtook the Zubat for a second, but the Pokemon dove to the ground, flapping erratically enough to throw off the attack.

Leah frowned. "Confusion! Stop it in mid-air!"

"Fly around, Zuzu!" Ashley exclaimed. "Then Bite!"

The Zubat swooped to ground level, charging at Zee with all the determination a small bat could muster. Having stared down a Scyther, however, the Drowzee wasn't scared in the least. Before the flying-type could even get close, an unseen force clamped around its wings, making it screech as it was held up in mid-air.

"Hey!" Ashley said, frowning. "Let go of Zu-Zu."

"Make me," Leah taunted, deciding to be mean to the bat Pokemon.

Ashley pouted, looking like she was thinking. "Uh…" Her face lit up. "Oh, I know! Zu-Zu, Astonish!'

Leah instantly put her hands over her ears, mentally shouting for Zee to do the same. The trainer didn't know if her Drowzee could read minds without contact now or just recognized the attack from before, but the Pokemon used her psychic abilities to keep the Zubat's mouth shut.

The flying-type struggled, but Zee refused to let go.

"How am I supposed to fight this?" Ashley exclaimed. "I don't know what to do!"

Leah wasn't that sympathetic. "Doesn't it know Confuse Ray? Or Mean Look?"

"No!" The blond sighed. "Zu-Zu's still inexperienced."

"I can tell," Leah said, signaling for Zee to let the Zubat go.

With a screech, the Zubat flew back to Ashley, and landed on her shoulder.

"Aw." Ashley frowned. "Does that mean the battle's over?"

"Yeah."

Leah felt a bit bad at the proud feeling that came with beating a ten-year-old, but she mentally shrugged it off. She was the one who was challenged, after all.

Leaving the blond girl behind, Leah led Zee towards the Pokemon Center, a rush of warm air greeting them as they stepped inside. The lobby was rather bare, but that didn't surprise Leah. The Pokemon Center might be a bridge between Cerulean and Lavender, but she doubted too many people would spend their time in the lobby when there were beds to be slept in and training to be done.

To Leah's dismay, the lobby was empty of Chandelle too.

"Hey," Leah said as she approached the desk. "My… friend just came in. Do you know what room she's in?"

'Chandelle could have at least waited before getting a room,' Leah thought with a scowl.

… Were they even rooming together? Leah usually roomed with Ed and Ally, but she and Chandelle didn't discuss it at all. Damn it. Once Leah was in Lavender, she should think about trading in Chandelle for a better travelling partner. This was getting annoying.

The woman behind the front desk gave her Chandelle's room number with a smile, and Leah thanked her, turning around only to bump into Ashley.

"Whoa," Leah said, eyes brows rising.

Ashley backed up, face red. "Sorry! Accident."

Still giving the blond an odd look, Leah went to the stairwell and made it to Chandelle's room. She knocked, the door opening only a second later.

"Yes?" Chandelle asked, opening the door a little wider when she saw it was Leah.

Leah decided to be blunt. "Are we rooming together?"

"No."

That was quick.

Even if Leah didn't have warm fuzzy feelings for Chandelle, she was still insulted that the girl didn't want to room with her.

"Then don't leave without me tomorrow," Leah warned, scowling, before going back downstairs.

She bumped into Ashley again as soon as she took a step into the lobby. The girl eeped, but Leah just went on, not giving the girl a second glance. She just wanted to get her room, take a shower and watch some TV or something; she could think about the weird blond later.

Apparently, said blond didn't want to be ignored.

"How long are you going to stay?" she asked, leaning on the counter as Leah got her room key.

"Only until tomorrow."

"So short?" Ashley seemed surprised.

"There's nothing to do around here," Leah said without looking at the girl. She didn't know what there was around Rock Tunnel, but she didn't care either way.

Plans were already forming in her mind. She'd go with Chandelle to Lavender tomorrow and then maybe look for Ed and Ally, just to see what they were up to. After, she would go to Saffron and hook up with Danny.

A perfect plan, if she did say so herself.

"You know, there's really cool electric-types around here," Ashley said. "They live in the old power plant."

That got Leah's attention. "Power plant?"

"It's abandoned," she said. "It's down the river from here."

An abandoned power plant, huh? If it was anything like the abandoned mansion on Cinnabar Island then Leah wanted nothing to do with it.

"… Why are you telling me?" Leah asked the blond, suspicious. Strangers didn't give out random information without ulterior motives.

Ashley fidgeted. "Weeeeell, not many people know about it and they should since the place is really cool."

That was one of the weakest lies Leah had heard all month. The blond could at least act like it was the truth instead of being all awkward.

"You've been there?" Leah asked.

"… No, but I'm going to soon," the blond insisted. "Everyone talks about it in Lavender Town."

Leah thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. Her goal wasn't to catch Pokemon or even train them. Besides, she didn't think she could look after another Pokemon; a disobedient Sandslash and a handful of a Drowzee were enough.

"I don't want another Pokemon," Leah told the girl.

Ashley deflated. "Oh. That sucks."

To Leah's confusion, the blond then walked away without saying goodbye, like she wasn't taking to her only a moment ago.

With a frown, Leah put the incident out of her mind and went to her room.

A shower was calling.


-


The next morning dawned with a cloudy sky and soft rain that was barely audible on the Pokemon Center's roof.

Leah was up early that morning, woken up by the thunder and unable to get back to sleep. She hated storms and was just happy it passed quickly, leaving only the rain and dark sky for her to brood on.

She assumed that Chandelle was still sleeping, but didn't check, not wanting to bother the long-haired girl.

As Leah sat in semi-empty lobby, she looked out the window and thought, 'There's no way I'm travelling in this weather.'

"Hi," a voice said by her ear.

Leah jumped and turned her head, looking at Ashley.

"Sorry," the blond said, sitting on the couch beside her. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine," Leah said, calming her pounding heart.

"So, are you leaving today?" Ashley asked. "It's kinda rainy outside."

Leah shook her head. "I'm not." She didn't know Chandelle's plans, but even her newly recharged sense of adventure wouldn't overcome her fear of storms, no matter how mild the rain was.

"Cool," the blond said, smiling.

"How is that cool?" Leah asked, feeling only confusion. "I wanted to go to Lavender Town."

Leaning back into the cushion, Ashley suddenly grimaced. "Why are you going to Lavender Town? It's really boring."

Leah looked at the blond with surprise, hearing the distaste in her voice.

"I'm going through so I can get to Saffron," Leah said honestly. "I'm meeting someone there."

That seemed more in line with Ashley's tastes as she perked up, asking, "Who are you meeting?"

Leah tried to hand wave it. "Just a guy."

"Your boyfriend?"

Face going red, Leah replied, "No."

"Brother?"

"No."

"Potential boyfriend?"

"Just a friend!" Leah said, scowling, face still red.

"That's cool," Ashley said, smiling as she leaned forward. "I've always wanted to go to Saffron! What's it like?"

"I dunno. I've never been."

"Really? Aren't you a trainer?"

Leah frowned. "No."

"But you have a Pokemon, right? You battle with it so that makes you a trainer."

"I don't train them," Leah said. "I'm just a traveler."

"Can't you be both? Why don't you like being called a trainer?"

Leah could feel a headache coming on and felt like she had been pestered enough.

"Why are you here?" Leah asked the blond in return, hoping to drive her away with annoying questions. "You look kind of young to be on your own."

At the remark, Ashley scowled. "I'm not a kid! I'm here to catch an electric-type at the power plant."

Thinking back to the battle from yesterday, Leah said, "With only a Zubat?"

"It'll be really hard," the girl said, looking out the window. "But I need an electric-type."

"What for?"

Ashley turned back to face her. "So I can go on a Pokemon journey!"

"… I thought you were a trainer."

"I am a trainer," Ashley argued, frowning. "But I don't travel. I just battle people in Lavender."

"Why?"

"Mom thinks it's too dangerous." She looked at Leah. "You've travelled, right? Is it dangerous?"

Leah only had to think of the Scyther to say, "Yeah."

Ashley didn't seem to like the answer as she turned away with a pout.

"Stop pouting," Leah scolded before she could stop herself. The blond reminded her too much of Ed.

"I'm not pouting," the girl muttered, picking a magazine off the table. She flipped a page too harshly, a tear appearing near the spine. The blond looked at it in dismay. "Whoops."

"No one will notice," Leah said.

Ashley put the magazine on the table and then leaned back into the chair.

"So, umm... Leia?"

"Leah," the older girl corrected, grimacing. "Lay-ah."

"Sorry!" the blond said, her face turning red. "I was just wondering… Are you busy today?"

With the rain, any plans that Leah had made were put on hold. Unless the rain stopped soon, there would be no point on setting out for Lavender Town; not with the sun setting earlier and earlier every day.

"I don't think so," she finally answered.

Ashley seemed to gather courage and said, "I'm going to the power plant today. With the storm, it'll be easier to find the electric-types. Zu-Zu is a flying-type and I don't have any other Pokemon-"

Leah could see where this was going.

"-so, can you come with me?"

Before Leah could even open her mouth, the blond looked at her with a pleading expression and added, "I've been here for two days now and I can't get anyone to come with me. I'm going today no matter what and I really don't want to go alone."

The first thought in Leah's head was an adamant refusal. The last time she involved herself with something abandoned, she fell through a floor. Maybe she would be more inclined to go if Ashley wasn't a kid with an inexperienced Pokemon. Ed and Ally were alright since their Pokemon were better trained than Leah's, but a Zubat? Seriously? Leah's own Pokemon wouldn't offer the best protection, which was why she was travelling with someone in the first place.

And then a thought occurred to her. The only reason she was travelling at all was to find an adventure, have fun, and do things that the heroes in stories always did.

This was her chance.

Here was an adventure waiting, practically begging for her to come. She didn't want another Pokemon, but maybe she'd find something interesting there. Abandoned places always did. Hell, the mansion on Cinnabar had tons of elemental stones that were sitting getting dusty. What would an abandoned power plant bring?

… Adventure was nice and all, but that still didn't solve the problem of protection. Out of the three Pokemon between them, Zee was the only useful one and the electric-types there would be energized by the storm.

But maybe there was a solution.

"… I'll come," Leah said, seeing Ashley's face light up. She continued, "But only if my travelling partner does."

"Will they want to come?" Ashley asked, a smile taking over her lips despite the chance of Leah not going.

Leah slowly nodded, thinking.

Chandelle was a Pokemon collector and while Leah had never seen any Pokemon that she owned, she was sure that the long-haired girl had strong ones. It was the way she acted, really. No one could act that casual in the wilderness without having something to back it up.

It helped Chandelle liked rare Pokemon and electric-types weren't common in Kanto. Leah doubted that she would say no, especially since their travelling plans seemed to be on hold.

The only problem was Chandelle's mysterious acquaintance in Lavender Town, which was causing her to rush despite what she said.

But even then, Leah didn't think it would be too hard to convince her.

It was an abandoned power plant filled with charged up electric-types.

Why would anyone miss such an opportunity?


-


A/N: Short and uneventful chapter is short and uneventful.

I know this chapter isn't much, but I wanted to give you guys something since I've been bad with my schedule the past couple months. I almost wasn't going to update this week, but guilt forced me to reconsider.

 

[UltimaSilva]

Pretty good chapter, but as you said, its uneventful. Thanks for the chapter anyway though. When do you think the next one will be out?

 

[Delusions of Originality]

Maaan, where have I been? :/ The focus switches back to Leah and I'm all distracted by school and other unimportant things. Bah.

Chapter 45 first, then.

"They found a dead Scyther," the girl said, voice soft and barely louder than the TV.

Ruh-roh. D:

but it's not like she carried a knife with her (something she may need to change)

I think that should be "might".

Back to the police, Leah didn't think she could stick around Cerulean for much longer.

Hm... That comes across as a bit of a non-sequitur. I would either turn that comma into a period, or change the wording to something along the lines of "And now that the police were involved..."

Sands was to be released that day, so there was no more time to be wasted. She'd call her grandmother to pick her up, get Sands, and be on her way out.

Excellent plan.

Nothing could possibly go wrong!

"Time to go," she told it.

Aww. Sands is back to "it" again. :/

Now that she had seen her Pokemon walk, even not very well, put some of her fears to rest.

Perhaps you want to change the first clause to "Seeing her Pokemon walk..." so that it agrees with the end of the sentence.

When the Sandslash took a step too close, it suddenly found itself unable to and was dragged back by an unseen force. His claws scraped across the ground and he hunched over, poised to leap.

In the first sentence, I think you're implying that Sands is trying to take a step and can't; it doesn't line up with "when it took a step too close", however, so I would add "move" or "go further" or something after "unable to". In general, you're switching back and forth between using neuter pronouns and male pronouns. I think you still intend to have Leah use "it" here, correct? If not, I would at least wait until you're in a different paragraph to switch back to "he" so it's less jarring.

Back before her journey began (both of them), she had a friend who's house she would visit often.

Whose.

Her Sandslash had bloody slashing wounds and so did her and Zee.

She and Zee. Additionally, a comma after "wounds" might look a little better.

Her grandmother wasn't answering her cell phone (still!) and she doubted that it would happen anytime soon. It happened sometimes, where her grandmother was really busy with battles or conferences. After all, she was part of the Elite Four, one of the most powerful trainers in Kanto. Not only that, but she had been there the longest, for twenty-one years. That was certainly a record. Her grandmother was probably one of the most experienced trainers in the world, not only on ghost-types, but most Pokemon.

A few things here:

1) Should be "when", not "where".
2) The way it's worded now, it sounds as though you're referring to the entire Elite Four as "one" of the most powerful trainers in Kanto. There are a few ways to fix it: replace the preceding comma with "and"; replace the comma with an em dash; maybe put "and she was" in front of "one of the...". You could also try rewording it entirely, but that's probably not necessary.
3) "In" or "with" would be more acceptable than "on" here (particularly "with" in this case), though I'm actually not sure even that is 100% grammatically correct. I can see both if I do a quick search online, but something still tells me it's wrong. Rgh.

Now that she thought about it, what if her grandmother was dragged into the Scyther Incident? Leah was Agatha's granddaughter and it wasn't too hard to figure out that they were related, if you knew where to look. They didn't have the same last name (most gym leaders and high ranking trainers went either by their first names only or got a stage name), but Agatha's Wikipedia page easily gave out her real last name. And being the only Gordon in Pallet Town, Leah could admit it was obvious.

Stage names, really? That's actually an interesting idea. I don't know that I'd have called it for too many people aside from Crasher Wake (though that does come from another career in the first place) and maybe Brawly (seriously? Brawly?), but that sounds sort of fun. I really like the little twists and tidbits you add to things.

She would have left yesterday if her grandmother answered the phone,

This part is supposed to be in past perfect tense, so it should be "if her grandmother had answered the phone".

always have a blanket and a loud TV handy for when one happened…

Am I the only one who adores the mental image of Leah huddled under a blanket like that? :)

Maybe if the Drowzee kept up good progress and Leah was bored, she would teach the psychic-type how to use the internet.

Also a great image: pokémon using the internet. I was actually considering fiddling with the idea in one of my own fanfics, though I've currently dropped it as I don't know whether I could make it fit. Still, if Zee is anything like Virgil (and if, you know, it actually happens), Leah had better keep her away from Wikipedia. She'll never come back.

The picture on the TV changed to show a tall blond woman, Jade Rouge, shaking hands with Lance.

Looks like you did spell her name "Rouge" a few times, yeah. ;) I think everyone does that occasionally, though (I sure do).

Leah was still in shock. She could hardy begin to think what she thought about this. It had never occurred to her at all. If she ever turned on the news, she would never expect something like this was occurring.

I think you could lose one or two of those sentences; you're just restating the same thing multiple times as it is now.

With trainers, the stories of heroes and dragons never died no matter how old or mature they got. They could still see adventure in every corner and while death could still happen, it almost seemed like a non-issue. Once you enriched your life with Pokemon like that, it could never be taken back.

I like the "heroes and dragons" analogy there.

She had only one experience to go by and she had taken that, using it as to why she didn't like Pokemon journeys or training.

Erm, I'd reword that so that it's something like "using it to justify why...".

Her name, Leah, meant 'bitter' or 'tired' and that's what she was, wasn't she?

That's interesting, but wow that's a random thought for someone to have. Hm.

Bitter with everything.

That should probably be "about".

Ed and Ally are going to hate this announcement, sure, but I'm curious as to what exactly will happen when people really start cracking down on it. I'm guessing that current under-fifteen trainers won't be grandfathered in, but what are the officials going to do? Confiscate licenses? Confiscate pokémon? Both? Something else? How will they find the underage trainers, or are they just expecting most of them to be good little boys and girls and march down to pokémon centers to turn their stuff in? Tricksy, tricksy...

The whole "end of an era" thing in general is a really interesting direction to take. Up until now I guess I've always figured that it was just Leah's cynicism saying that training was only a fad, but this is starting to drive home that, at least in this version of the world, it really doesn't have quite the stranglehold on people's lives that we always tend to assume it does.

Onward to part two and Chapter 46!

Uh, first of all, it looks like you're missing a space between "and" and "Setup" in your chapter title. :I

Ohey, look, it's William again! Yay.

There was no point when there were more important things to do.

I think you mean "weren't", but it would be less awkward to avoid the double-negative altogether and instead say something like, "There were always more important things to do."

the ones that were still waiting with baited breath for their chance.

The word you want there is "bated". No "i".

He was a crippled trainer who was stuck in Fuchsia; the only thing he could do was stifle through form posts and blogs.

I don't know that "stifle" can really be used as a verb that way; you're probably looking for a different word. Additionally, you misspelled "forum".

He had tried to call Leah once, after he was certain Ed and Ally had left Cerulean, but she didn't pick up, which wasn't surprising. She always had her phone off.

And she rags on her grandmother for not answering the phone. Tsk. ;)

He didn't care if Leah was no long interested.

Dropped a few letters there.

You either went through Rock Tunnel to Lavender or go back to Cerulean.

Choose one of the two and use it both times, as otherwise you have a tense change.

"Hey!"

Leah turned, not expecting to see a little blond girl staring at her.

She grinned when Leah met her eyes. "Do you want to battle?" she asked with an expectant expression.

Looks like no one's told her about the age limit! ;) Keep the dream alive, little girl!

"… Alright," Leah said.

You still have a tendency to write "alright" as one word when it really should be two ("all right").

The Pokemon Center may be a bridge between Cerulean and Lavender,

Again, this should be "might", since you're working in the past tense.

Apparently, said blond didn't want to be ignored.

This kid is starting to creep me out a little. :p Stalking Leah, trying to drag her to the Power Plant (and all she has is a weak-to-electricity shiny zubat!)... run away, Leah, run away!

"So, umm... Leia?"

"Leah," the older girl corrected, grimacing. "Lay-ah."

Hm. Did you mean something like "Ley-ah"? When I see "Leah" I think of a long "e" sound, and of "Leia" having a long "a". I guess Leah could possibly be pronounced either way, but Star Wars, at the very least, has conditioned me to believe that "Leia" is only pronounced with a long "a" sound.

Before Leah could even open her mouth, the blond looked at her with a pleading expression and added, "I've been here for two days now and I can't get anyone to come with me. I'm going today no matter what and I really don't want to go alone.".

Wait... so her mother doesn't let her travel, but said mother isn't here to accompany her? But wouldn't she had to have come through Rock Tunnel (or take a ridiculously long detour) to get to this pokémon center? Suspicious...

Maybe she would be more inclined in going if Ashley wasn't a kid with an inexperienced Pokemon

Either "inclined to go" or "interested in going"; doesn't make sense the way it is now.

Chandelle was a Pokemon collector and while Leah never saw any Pokemon that she owned,

"Had never seen". Leaving it in simple past tense makes it sound final, as though she never will see any of Chandelle's pokémon.

...I dunno, maybe I've just read so many mysteries that I'm too suspicious for my own good, but something's not right about this little girl. Even if she herself is innocuous, I'm still getting a whole "this will not end well" vibe. Still, the trip to the Power Plant should make for an entertaining read, and I'm looking forward to it.

 

[KajiVenator]

Ugh, it's so hard to read ever sine my forum style got switched to this awkward dark color from the pichu^2 style. It makes me sad, but even with the reading handicap, I found some mistakes, though they were the ones Delusions listed. Keep on writing, Daggy. I'm waiting for something to happen to Sands!

 

[Dagzar]

Pretty good chapter, but as you said, its uneventful. Thanks for the chapter anyway though. When do you think the next one will be out?

The next chapter will be posted next Friday (not this one, the next one).

I'm glad you liked the chapter. :)

Aww. Sands is back to "it" again. :/

I used to have problems remembering to refer Leah, Ed, and Ally's Pokemon with genders, but now it's hard to stop. So yeah, if Sands is referred to as a male outside of Leah's thoughts, it's a mistake.

Am I the only one who adores the mental image of Leah huddled under a blanket like that? :)

Nope, I'm picturing her like that too. ;)

Ed and Ally are going to hate this announcement, sure, but I'm curious as to what exactly will happen when people really start cracking down on it. I'm guessing that current under-fifteen trainers won't be grandfathered in, but what are the officials going to do? Confiscate licenses? Confiscate pokémon? Both? Something else? How will they find the underage trainers, or are they just expecting most of them to be good little boys and girls and march down to pokémon centers to turn their stuff in? Tricksy, tricksy...

I'm thinking of under-thirteen-year-olds to start off with. If the law does go through, these young trainers won't be able to own their Pokemon (meaning if the police find Pokemon in their possession, they'll get in trouble), won't be able to battle gym leaders, sleep in Pokemon Centers, or travel by themselves, really.

Like you said, it would be hard for the police to really crack down on this, but I'll explain more about that later in the story.

Uh, first of all, it looks like you're missing a space between "and" and "Setup" in your chapter title. :I

Goddamn it, chapter. Yeah, imma go change that. -.-

Ohey, look, it's William again! Yay.

I felt bad that William was going to disappear for a while so he gets a cameo.

Hm. Did you mean something like "Ley-ah"? When I see "Leah" I think of a long "e" sound, and of "Leia" having a long "a". I guess Leah could possibly be pronounced either way, but Star Wars, at the very least, has conditioned me to believe that "Leia" is only pronounced with a long "a" sound.

A classmate of mine named Leah always pronounced her name 'Lay-ah' so that's the way I pronounce it. Though, I can see your confusion since every time I hear the name on TV, they always pronounce it 'Lee-ah'. It really bothers me sometimes since I choose names based on how they sound, not how they look.

Wait... so her mother doesn't let her travel, but said mother isn't here to accompany her? But wouldn't she had to have come through Rock Tunnel (or take a ridiculously long detour) to get to this pokémon center? Suspicious...

Heh, I thought someone might catch that. ;) All will be revealed in time…

Thanks for reviewing and pointing out of those mistakes, DoO! ;D I will correct them immediately!

Ugh, it's so hard to read ever sine my forum style got switched to this awkward dark color from the pichu^2 style. It makes me sad, but even with the reading handicap, I found some mistakes, though they were the ones Delusions listed. Keep on writing, Daggy. I'm waiting for something to happen to Sands!

If you want to change your forum style, go to User CP at the top and there should be a box called Switch Forum Style. So don't worry, you don't have to stick to a dark background style. ;)