Starting in Saffron // A Gray Journey

[Gray]

Gray knew that the match was coming to an end, and he only had one chance left to win the badge. He had been suprised at how much better his sister had become, and he knew know that he shouldn't have underestimated her. She was smiling as she waited for him to pick his last pokemon. Her Hypno was standing dead still, its pendulum drifting from left to right, and Aeroa still lying on the ground in a deep sleep. Gray finally held up his pokeball and returned Aeroa, then replaced the pokeball with another one from his belt. His last chance rested in this pokemons hands now.

"Go, Espii!"

He released the ball, which soared through the air, released his Espeon and then returned to his hand. He held it low as he calmly wiped his brow, brushing some hair from his eyes.

"Hypno, use hypnosis again!"

"Espii, avoid it with agility!"

"Espeon!"

Espii jumped from her posistion in a flash, avoiding the swinging pendulum, and the Hypno turned, confused itself at what had just happened.

"Now, use a quick attack!"

Espii ran with amazing speed, jumping and smashing into Hypno who went crashing down to the floor. He struggled to stand back up, but couldn't manage it and fainted.

"Return Hypno. Go, Klia!"

Kotoko swiftly let her pokeball go. It hit the ground, bounced back up in an arc and released her favourite pokemon as it returned to her outstreched hand. She had a large grin on her face as she proudly caught the ball, looking at her best friend standing proud on the field. Her Kirlia gracefully drifted along the floor, as if on air, and twisted to face Espii.

"Klia, use confuse ray, then go for a tackle."

"Kirlia, Kirlia!"

"Espii, dodge with agility!"

"Esp."

Espii jumped forwards, just managaing to clear the ray of light sent shooting forward from Klia, and landed a few feet in front of her. Both Kotoko and Gray shouted their commands at the same time.

"Psychic!"

Both Klia and Espii began to glow with a strange ring of energy that blasted towards the opposing pokemon and collided in mid-air. The energy shook the stadium and began to crack the floor. Dirt began to fall from the walls and ceiling, and the pokemon lifted upwards, floating around each other. Kotoko watched in silence, her eyes wide in awe as Klia gently drifted around the arena, but Gray saw this as his one and only chance to win the match.

"Now, Espii, use quick attack!"

Espii released her aura, dropped to the ground and darted for Klia, who was still floating. Espii hit directly, and rebounded, knocked back by the aura. Klia flew backwards and landed at Kotoko's feet, completley worn out and trembling.

"Hey, Klia, you okay? I'm sooo sorry. I know you did your best, and that's what counts."

Kotoko bent down and returned Klia to her pokeball, before straightening back up and walking towards Gray who returned Espii. They met in the center of the battle field and Kotoko reached into her pocket and produced a Marsh Badge. She handed it to Gray and smiled.

"I thought you might win. I have been training you know, but i guess i wasn't ready."

"Hey, that doesn't matter. You had me worried for a moment there. You done good, sis. You'll make a great Gym Leader."

Kotoko smiled and hugged her brother one more time before he turned and began to walk to the main door. He was stopped by Josh who vaulted the stands and ran towards the two siblings, his hands in air and screaming.

"That was amazing! You guys are so awesome! Man, that was cool, i wish i could battle like that."

"You will be able to someday, Josh, but it takes time. You thought we were good, but we're nothing compared to some of the better trainers out there. Anyway, i'm gonna go say bye to mum and dad and then i'm off."

"No, you can't go man! I want you to see me fight at the Gym next door, you know, the fighting one? Please come with me! Please?"

"Fine i'll go. But only to watch you. After that i'm gone. Well, see ya Kotoko! Nice match!"

"Come back some time and we'll have a rematch!"

"Will do!"

Gray and Josh left the Gym, but as they walked outside they realized how dark it was. Josh hurried up and started to walk towards the Gym, but stopped when he saw a guy and a girl outside it. He quickly ran back to Gray and his behind him.

"Who are they? Don't let 'em hurt me Gray!"

"Hey, get off!"

Gray pulled Josh out in front of him and shoved him forward towards the two people outside the fighting dojo.

 

[Loki]

Karen looked up and Splice began to spark in aggression before Karen snapped her fingers twice, and the sparks disappeared "No problem. Splice won't do anything by the way, he just doesn't like other males." She said offhandedly to the boy, rolling up the map before Splice could get a better look at it. Jamming the folded map into her pockets.

Splice blinked once, before turning around and beginning to spark again.

"Now what?" Karen asked bitterly, leaning over to see around the electric pokemon. Two other boys were headed this way-towards the fighting dojo and directly from the Saffron City Gym "Betcha they don't know the Dojo isn't a gym anymore by the looks of the stupid one."

Splice scoffed and said <'Which one? The stupid looking one, or the stupid looking one?'>

Karen looked up at Splice who indicated toward her necklace and muttered an "Oh" in her understanding. Alakazam from within his pokeball, had delievered a spoken comment to Splice, but even as she understood, if Splice had more personality, he probably would've said the same thing as he stared scornfully at the two, sparks still flying off of him.

 

[YoshiRiRu]

Julian was uneasy. That magneton looked like trouble. He reached for his belt instinctively, his hand clenched on Slash's pokeball tightly.

"No problem. Splice won't do anything by the way, he just doesn't like other males." The girl said, and Julian relaxed. He got his first chance to get a look at the girl. She was a little bit younger than him, perhaps 14. Her hair and eyes matched, or so it seemed in the darkness. However, he didn't give her appearance much thought - he was sure that Splice.. or whatever the magneton's name was could read minds and kill him instantly if he thought about the girl too much. He tried to put her out of his mind.

"Okay, well, I'll see-" he could not finish his sentence properly, as the killer magneton whisked and sparked again. Julian froze, blushing a tad, but not enough to be seen in the pale twilight. However, he realized that it wasn't him that the magneton was sparking at this time. He sighed a sigh of relief. Looking in the opposite direction, Julian saw two more boys headed towards them. They seemed drunk, by the look of it, stumbling around and pushing each other. But they were a bit too young to be drunk. Julian waved uneasily at the approaching duo, his hand once more creeping towards his belt that contained his valuable friends and partners...

 

[DININI]

....Dinini was bored
"When will this battle end?! Am here 40 minutes!"..."Am...I'm leaving! Let's go Pika"
"Piiikaaa!"
"We are going to the cafeteria.If i'm lucky i will drink a coke and battle someone!"
-20 mins later-
"Here we are!" Dinini sat on a chair."I'm hungry.I will order a triple cheesburger! And for you Pika,a doublle hamburger!"
"PIIIIIIIKAAAAAA"
"I'd like to order please!"
"OK...I am coming! -hahahahahaha,you will regret that...HAHAHHA-

 

[Gray]

Gray pushed Josh forward, who nearly bumped into the sparking Magneton and let out a small gasp. He jumped back and began to run off, leaving Gray standing alone in front of the girl and the boy. He watched as Josh ran around the corner and dissapeared from sight completley. Gray shook his head and frowned beofre turning to the couple standing not far off, and saw the guy waving strangley at him. He held up a hand in welcome but noticed the boy was moving a hand slowly towards his belt, where Gray guessed he kept his pokeballs. Gray then let his own hand fall gently down beside his own pokeballs and began to walk towards the two.

"Umm, am i disturbing you?"

Gray said this uneasily with a quick look towards the girl and then the still sparking Magneton, and he tightened the grip on his pokeball.

 

[Garouga! Bare Your Fangs!]

"Coordinator...I wonder if someone could tell me about it...." Silver walked down each street of Saffron, staring at the buildings high above him. Eevee trotted beside him, looking as bored as ever. Silver rounded a corner and saw the Saffron gym. Eevee froze, then stepped back. Silver rolled his eyes an scooped up his companion, then continued to walk down the street. As he watched the clouds, he heard voices really close to him.

"Blastoise, come on out!" Silver threw a PokeBall, which held his giant turtle. Blastoise appeared and scratched behind it's ears, waiting for it's orders.

"This is a rough part of the city, okay? With the gym and the dojo, who knows what kind of strong Pokemon are around. I need protection." Blastoise waved a claw to silence Silver, then stepped beside him. Silver smiled and began walking again, towards the voices. When he found the source, Blastoise's giant cannons popped out. Silver studied each person, then the Magneton. Then, he stepped forward.

"I'd hate to interrupt whatever you were talking about, but do any of you know about Pokemon coordinators?"

 

[Gray]

Gray heard an unfamiliar voice come from just down the street and looked to see a large Blastioise standing a few feet away, and walking beside a guy, who Gray assumed to be its trainer. He stopped when he had reached the boy, girl and Magneton, and turned towards the newcomer. He had heared of pokemon coordinaters before, but only knew that they worked in pokemon contests, nothing else.

"I think they are involved with pokemon contests, but that's about all i know. Why you ask?"

He stopped and looked at the group of them that had now gathered before sweeping a hand to his head and flung some of his long hair back, showing the rest of his face, mostly his dark brown eyes.

"Oh, sorry, i'm Gray. You guys are...?"

 

[Loki]

Karen folded her arms and snapping her fingers twice as Splice began to spark ever harder, and the electricity soon disappeared. But his scornful expression was not gone from his face as he watched the three boys talk "Coordinators is basically the term for trainers who participate in Pokemon Contests." Karen said casually, considering whether or not to add the fact that a lot of coordinators were little pansy wusses. But since the guy asked, he was probably aspiring to be one, so she left that out.

"I'm Karen, and this is my magneton, Splice. He doesn't like other boys, so don't expect him to be very cheerful around you." Karen said notioning to Splice, who's middle eye was still glaring heatedly at the three, while the others stared with a sort of pitiful look "So don't worry about him attacking you, he won't - unless I tell him too."

Karen glanced at Splice, but he gave no recognition to her stony stare. He was too busy on guard like the baseball boy and Gray.

 

[YoshiRiRu]

Julian tightened the grasp on his belt. More and more people were coming around.. where were they coming from? Julian looked at his watch. Almost 7 o'clock. It was getting pretty late. He glanced at the Magneton once more, and looked away hastily. It was the most evil stare he had ever seen.

"He doesn't like other boys.." she had said.

Pfft. He thought to himself. Doesn't like other humans, by the looks of it. Julian stepped forward, his baseball bag still slung over his shoulder.

"I'm Julian. I... uh.." he motioned with his bag. "I play baseball." he finished lamely. It wasn't the greatest introduction he had ever managed, but it was dark, late, and that magneton was heavily occupying his mind.

"I'm a bit of a trainer, you could say.. but I can't really say I've collected any gym badges." It was a fact that he hated to admit, but he had to take care of Karen. Maybe he could do it one day. It was something any trainer aspired to do, of course, to be the Pokemon Master. Julian saddled his bag more onto his shoulder, and looked on at the new boy with the Blastoise. It looked pretty mean, but it hadn't tried to attack him yet; so it wasn't on his watch list yet. He found it odd to see a boy packing a huge Blastoise to walk out in the middle of the night, asking about Pokemon contests. Julian couldn't wait to hear his story.

 

[Garouga! Bare Your Fangs!]

"I'm sorry...I'm Silver, and this is Eevee." Silver returned Blastoise and gestured to Eevee, who nodded lazily. There was a brief pause, in which Eevee yawned and curled up. Silver let Houndour out, who stared at the other trainers.

<Enemies?> Silver shook his head and sighed.

<No. They seem nice enough. That Magenton only attacks on command, luckily.> Houndour nodded, and sat down at Silver's feet.

"Sorry...This is Houndour. I can speak to his species, which involves a very long story. Don't be alarmed, he is out only to wake up Eevee." Cued by Silver's words, Houndour blew a soft flame at Eevee, who bolted to his feet. Silver laughed and looked at the group.

"Contests, huh? Sounds fun enough...What are you guys planning to do with your Pokemon?"

 

[Loki]

Alarmed. Karen smirked at the thought of it. As though her rigourous training wouldn't let her stand up to a Houndour's flames. Especially not the heat she'd endured at her hometown, Cinnabar. But, better not get cocky. Splice blinked, and stared at Karen's luxury ball. And that explained why Splice didn't take the first order to heart. Splice had gotten over the humans, but Alakazam on the other hand...

"What am I planning on doing with my pokemon?" Karen asked, folding her arms, "For more close to this time period I plan on going to Lavender to catch a Haunter."

Talking to three boys I didn't know. Wonderful. My father always said I needed more friends, other then every fighting pokemon that the military recruits possessed. More human friends anyway. He never specified, but Karen knew he wanted her to have a few more feminine friends. But- He never specified. It's not like he ever encouraged me to talk to strangers, but he was always so sure of the world around him, always so sure that everyone was a good person. In the pokemon world, Karen supposed that was true. In the world of pokemon wars, she wasn't so sure why her father believed what he did.

 

[YoshiRiRu]

Seeing all the other pokemon, Julian decided to introduce one of his own. With a flash of bright light that lit up the night sky, a wicked Sandslash emerged from his capsule. He was rigged with scars and scrapes, and donned a pair of black sunglasses that he obviously took great care of. He wasn't really paying attention to the boy.. Silver, he thought it was. Until this question popped out.

"What are you going to do with your pokemon?"

The question struck him suddenly and before he could catch himself, he blurted.

"Um.." he stammered.

"I think I'm planning on taking the Pokemon Gym challenge!" This was a bald faced lie, and he knew it. He had no intention of taking the challenge anytime soon, but it seemed like the impressive thing to say. Slash looked up at Julian with a puzzled look, but played along, uneasily nodded his head. Slash knew Julian better than anyone, and he knew that taking care of his sister took priority over everything.

"Yeah, um, I've been wanting to, but, um, you know, baseball... season..." He stuttered wildly, trying to lie his way out of this mess he had made. He looked desperatlely for someone else to take up the conversation. He turned beet red, and looked down at the floor.


Edit!! I updated my sig to include Slash's eyes, just so you could get a kind of idea what they look like.

 

[Loki]

Karen looked down at the Sandslash. The boy had been occupied with baseball season, and yet this Sandslash was riddled with scars. Strange, but perhaps it was older then it looked. The shades...were odd.

"Well, since we're all showing off our pokemon, might as well show you my first pokemon." Karen unlatched the luxury ball from her necklace, and enlarged it, tossing it up high so that in the semi-dark, only the faint outline of the black pokeball could be seen, including the neon orange and bright white luminescant lines. Out came an Alakazam, who gave each pokemon, human, and object a long and calculating stare.

He sighed, ruffling his moustache like fur, and Splice grumbled in a voice unlike his own <'I hate humans.'>

"You both do." I patted Alakazam on the head as best I could. He was tall, and that was mainly why it wasn't the easiet thing to pat him on the head, considering his head was just above my shoulder. He made no aggresive movements, like Splice, but his eye's wandered around, rolling to look at Gray, then at Silver, then at Julian, and lastly his eyes narrowed as though in disbelief as he caught sight of the Sandslash, wearing the shades and looking very "cool".

<'So is this some sort of 'who's pokemon is cooler' contest?'> Splice asked, Alakazam still staring at the Sandslash, <'Because I took a judge and I say those shades deduct 15 points on the Sandslash's behalf.'>

 

[JustOneMember]

Name: Benjamin Sowers

Age: 14

Gender: Male

Appearance: Ben stands at a steady four foot six inches. Medium-length, jet-black hair covers his chestnut eyes. Supporting a lanky build, his yellow T-shirt, blue jeans and red jacket look like they're just about ready to fall off of him. A long, brown belt is tied around his waist, and on it is two Poke'balls, nothing more.

Personality: Ben's got a jumpy and rather annoying personality. He's one to jump to conclusions, and has little patience on any matter. Despite all of this, he's a very serious Pokemon trainer.

Pokemon: Kangaskhan (Kang) Level 30. Kang is tough, agressive, and assertive. He's gonna do all he can to help. Tauros (Tauros) Level 32. Tauros is extremely hostile. He makes a lot of enemies, and very few friends, one of which is Ben. These are his only two Pokemon.

History: Little is known about Ben. He was born into a small family consisting of his parents and himself. He quickly adapted to Pokemon, catching the large Kangaskhan when he was only 8. He was walking around in the tall grass, and the lumbering beast towered over him. He tried to scream, but couldn't, and threw the only thing he had at it- His Pokeball. He cought the Kangaskhan and quickly befriended it. Then, at the age of 10, he chanced upon an injured Tauros and cought it. He also quickly became friends with it. Four years later, he is beginning his journey from Saffron City to become one of the greatest Trainers ever.

Other: Nothing much, really.

Intro : *Ben looks around frantically. He tries to scream, but can't make a noise. He tries to run, but his legs buckle underneath him. He hits the grass and stares up at the towering Kangaskhan. It lets out a growl and a snort before raising a large claw. Ben yelps and closes his eyes. 'This is it,' he thought. 'I'm done for,'. He grips and throws the only thing in his hand, if not to buy him just a few more seconds of life... And peeks open. 'Am I dead?' He looks around, and sees the Pokeball he had thrown laying on the ground beeping. He... He cought it! "W...Wow! MY FIRST POKEMON! Wahoooo!" He jumps up and starts sort of dancing around. "Yaha! Wait 'till my brother sees this!" His eyes are wide, he's smiling, and he's running as fast as he can towards home.*

 

[YoshiRiRu]

Julian was still looking nervous, after his outburst of complete lie. Slash however, was locked in deadly stare with the Alakazam.

<I caught your vibe.> he muttered softly.

<Wanna know why I wear these? It's not just a fashion statement, I can assure you..> Julian looked down at Slash. He never acted like this. He always kept his cool.

"Yo, calm down, bro.." Julian tried to coax the pokemon down.

<Shut up, Julian.> Sandslash snapped coldly. Julian stared. What was going on? The sand mouse removed his sunglasses, and Julian gasped.

One eye was dazzling white, with a nearly invisible pupil. The other was scarred shut by another vicious cut. He had barely removed his sunshades ever since that day, really. Julian stared at his friend. What had gotten into Slash?

<Would you walk around with this kind of face?> Sandslash's voice was coated with venom as he shot his words at the Alakazam.

"Hey, dude.. calm down." Slash turned around and put his sunglasses on again. Julian felt terrible. He kneeled down, and patted his friend on the back. Thrashed by a Rhydon.. and it was his fault. Slash didn't speak. Julian recalled his pokemon. He stood again, and stared at the ground. What was up with him? Slash never got angry, never insulted anyone, never removed his shades, that's for sure. Julian looked at the ground, and refused to talk, his friend's anger still reverberating through his mind. If it were say, Lash to get angry, that would be different. But...

 

[Loki]

Alakazam kept a passive face, but Splice was dancing with sparks now, feeling a different pokemon's thoughts.

<'Freakay.'> Came Splice's voice, though it was higher this time-Hitmontop <'I'd say not. In answer to his question though,'> Alakazam/Splice commented to the other pokemon within their pokeballs, <'Yeah, I would walk around with a face like that- Scare off those pesky humans who come lookin' for battle's even if they see merely a flash of your face, clothes, whatever.'>

Karen sighed, and returned Alakazam into his luxury ball, "I apologize, Alakazam doesn't really "feel" anything due to lack of a guilty conscience. And the fact that he's rather high up on his ego."

OOC: Wish I could finish it, but g2g.

 

[YoshiRiRu]

Julian looked away.

"Forget it." The whole scene replayed in his mind over and over again. Slash was nearly killed.. it had all happened so fast.

<Go, Jules!> Slash had said, preparing to battle the immense Rhydon. It was infuriated; Slash had delivered one too many stabs to it's face. Julian had hoped to catch it, but it had all gotten out of hand. The boy turned tail and fled. Before he turned corner, he looked back just in time to see Slash being cast into a deep ravine, bloodied, injured...

Julian snapped out of it.

"Forget it. He'll be okay. I don't know what got into him." but he was lying. Something peculiar was going on with Slash, but he wasn't sure what. Julian brushed the hair out of his face, and looked up at the sky. His breath made fog, and he shivered a bit. He looked at his watch again.

"Eight o' clock, almost. Look, guys. It was a pleasure meeting all of you guys, really it was. And I hope to see you again in the city sometime." He nodded to Silver, Gray, and Karen, and even to the magneton Splice, but it was half-hearted.

"But I've gotta go. My sister is expecting me home, and I've got some summer assignments to finish up..." However, that was another lie. He just wanted to get home and find out what was wrong with Slash. He shouldered his bag, and with a brief wave to the others, headed towards the suburbs of Saffron City. As he walked, the memories continued.

Finding Slash in the cave, nearly being killed himself... What a fool he was. He must have no heart to see his friends readily given up to battle like that. Maybe he didn't deserve to take these pokemon, whom he had taken so much, on the Gym challenge...

 

[DININI]

"I'd like to order"
"A battle!"
"huh"
" We will battle if i win i will get your pokemon if you win....I'll tell you something you want to know...Something about...YOUR PARENTS!"
"****! TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW NOW!"
"Only if you win me!"
"Ok then!Go Pika!"
"I choose you NidoKing!"
And the battle started...

 

[Gray]

Gray stayed silent through this whole event, not saying a word, which was quite unlike him. He watched everything with a deep stare, taking in all the information in complete silence. He was only snapped out of this state when one of the other guys, the one with the Sandslash, declared his departure. Gray looked up and smiled briefly.

"See ya."

He then turned back to the rest of the group and waited for one of them to speak. he wasn't much of a conversation starter, and this time was no different. He stood there with his hand still tightly gripped on one of his pokeballs as though he was getting ready to battle, but slowly realized that the remaining people presented no threat to him. Instead he held up the pokeball and released Chu, who jumped up his arm and sat down on his shoulder, looking around at the other pokemon.

 

[Loki]

"Hm, well I think I should get back to the pokemon center as well." Karen said, heading in the opposite direction, down the long path to the pokemon center, which was pretty much on the other side of town.

She didn't expect to see any of the three boys, as she was headed for Lavender tomorrow, and she wouldn't make any pit stops along the way. Splice was glad to get away, now that Alakazam wasn't sending unfriendly aura's toward him. The light of the pokemon center was far, but still visible, as Karen wondered if all three of those boys had been travelers. All of them had pokemon, but Baseball boy had summer-projects, or whatever, and obviously lived in Saffron.

Karen lived in Cinnabar all her life. Or, that was where her house was anyway. But with her crazy father she saw plenty of places, one of her favorite, was Cianwood, where she'd attuned her fighting skills sharper then anywhere else with a little help from Chuck, and his apprentices.