BZRich64
The Mustachioed Machamp
- 146
- Posts
- 12
- Years
- Gresham, Oregon, U.S.A.
- Seen Jun 8, 2021
After a hiatus of around 6 months, I finally have anew chapter out. Who knows when the next one will be.
Spoiler:
Red, Yellow and Sable walked down one of the many roads that crisscrossed through Saffron City. Tall skyscrapers were packed closer together than the ones they had seen back in Celadon, with houses lining the edges of the city. It seemed like it should have been a much more impressive sight than it was, but there was an overwhelming sense that something was off. It took a while for the group to figure out why.
"What happened?" Yellow pointed to the top of the tallest building, in the middle of the city.
"I have no idea." Red felt a twinge of unease mixed with a bit of fear as he noticed the level of destruction in the area. Not just the massive gaping hole and numerous broken windows on that one building, but all of the damage that the nearby buildings had also taken. It was clear that some kind of destructive battle had taken place here. Red thought back to the battle against the giant Tentacruel, realizing just how badly that could have turned out. His mind suddenly flashed to the S.S. Anne and he stopped in his tracks.
"What's wrong?" Yellow asked him.
"N-nothing." Red shook his head and continued walking. He wasn't sure what just happened. It was almost like he was on the verge of remembering something, but had no idea what. Whatever it was, it was gone as soon as it had popped into his head. "Let's just find the Gym. I don't want to spend any more time here than we need to."
"I think that's it over there." Sable pointed to a building up ahead, at the edge of the city. "Although, I think I may be seeing double."
"No, I see it too." Red commented as the Gym came closer into view. Or rather the Gyms, as there seemed to be two of them side by side.
The trio made their way to the two Gyms. The one to the right seemed relatively normal, though the Gym on the left had clearly seen better days.
"I guess we'll check out that one." Red motioned to the right-hand Gym. "The other one looks abandoned."
"The lights are on." Sable pointed out.
"Yeah, but…" Red tried to think of an excuse. "Let's just try this one first."
Red walked up to the Gym and paused to wait for the automatic doors to slide open before heading inside. Yellow and Sable followed him in. The gym seemed fairly empty save for a large chair on the far end that looked almost like some kind of creepy throne. There was an ominous tension in the air that sent a chill went down Red's spine as he walked across the purple tiled floor and Yellow grabbed his arm, pulling herself close to him. Sable seemed perfectly at ease.
"Welcome, Samuel Redwood of Pallet Town." A dark-haired teenager stood up from the throne. She snapped her fingers and the dark room suddenly lit up. "I am Sabrina, the leader of this Gym."
"How do you know my name?" Red immediately realized that was a stupid question as he already knew that Gym Leaders already had access to the records of all of the trainers in the region. Obviously, she had simply memorized the names of the trainers that she knew would be challenging her.
"I know many things." Sabrina replied. "For I have had psychic powers ever since I was but a child. It started with a spoon twisting in my hand and has only grown since then. But then again, psychic powers should be nothing new to you considering who you travel with."
"What?" Red was utterly confused by this unexpected revelation. "Y-you can't be serious."
"I am always serious." Sabrina closed her eyes. "And I can sense that you know what I am telling you is the truth. You have many questions for me. However, they shall have to wait until after our battle, which will now commence."
Sabrina lifted her hand and a Pokéball resting on the armrest of the chair she had been sitting on suddenly floated into the air, hovering beside the Gym Leader. The Pokéball emitted a beam of red light as an Abra appeared in front of her.
Red was startled to see the Pokéball float like that, but fortunately it didn't distract him too much. He was familiar with Abra thanks to spending so much time with Yellow's, and he knew that it would be difficult to fight one head on because it would just end up using Teleport to avoid the attack. Fortunately, one of his new Pokémon had exactly what he needed to get around this.
"Porygon, use Lock-On!"
The red and blue polygonal bird emerged from its Pokéball and hovered in the air between Red and Sabrina's Abra. The Virtual Pokémon's eyes turned green and its pupils changed into target reticules as it targeted the Abra, which continued to hover in the air, sound asleep.
"Now, use Signal Beam!"
Porygon fired a beam of green energy at Sabrina's Abra. The sleeping Pokémon teleported out of the way of the beam's blast, exactly as Red expected. As Porygon's attack reached the spot where Abra had been it suddenly shifted directions as if ricocheting off of thin air and hit Abra from behind. The Psi Pokémon was knocked forward by the blast. It seemed as if Abra was going to fall to the ground but just as it was about to hit the floor it Teleported directly in front of Porygon with its hands raised to its forehead. There was a blinding Flash of white light, disorienting both Red and his Porygon.
"Lock-On." Red ordered as he rubbed his eyes, unable to see much of anything at the moment.
Porygon's eyes briefly turned white as the digital Pokémon rebooted its optical sensors before it took aim once again. Porygon launched another Signal Beam and Abra used Teleport to get out of the way. As before, the Signal Beam changed directions to strike Abra but the Psi Pokmon was able to Teleport again. This did not actually help Abra, however, as Porygon's attack redirected itself again to hit him. Sabrina's Abra was knocked out by the hit, falling to the ground.
Sabrina waved her arm and Abra was sent back into its Pokéball. Another Pokéball hovered over from Sabrina's chair to send out her second Pokémon, Mr. Mime. The pink and white Barrier Pokémon stood in place, moving its hands as if there was some kind of invisible wall in front of it.
"Signal Beam!"
Porygon fired yet another sickly green blast of energy, which bounced off of the invisible wall that Mr. Mime had formed, fizzling out into nothing.
"Wait, what?" Red thought for a moment that his vision was still being affected by Abra's Flash from earlier.
"Do not think that you will be able to defeat Mr. Mime so easily." Sabrina spoke for the first time since the battle began. "His pantomime isn't just for show, you know. Mr. Mime has the power to solidify the air around himself with his fingertips, allowing him to create barriers and other objects at will through his motions. But of course, I sense that you are already working on finding a way around this."
"Porygon, return." Red gritted his teeth. He really didn't like the idea of his opponent being able to read his thoughts. "Charmeleon, show them your Flame Burst."
Red's starter Pokémon emerged from his Pokéball and landed on the ground before spitting a sizable ball of fire at Mr. Mime. The attack struck another invisible wall created by Mr. Mime. However, rather than simply dissipating, the fireball split apart and spread around the wall. It failed to hit Mr. Mime directly, but the heat of the blast forced him to drop his guard for a moment.
"Now follow it up with a Fire Fang!"
Charmeleon leaped forward, opening his mouth as his teeth became engulfed in flame. Before Mr. Mime was able to create another Barrier to defend himself, Charmeleon was already biting into his shoulder. Mr. Mime knocked the Flame Pokémon away from him with a Double Slap and tried to create a Barrier. He wasn't fast enough, however, and Charmeleon was able to uppercut Mr. Mime in the chin with a Metal Claw. Mr. Mime flipped through the air before falling back face-first onto the tiled floor. He was able to get back up just in time to block another Metal Claw with one of his Barriers.
Mr. Mime went on the offensive now, sending a blast of Psychic at Charmeleon. Charmeleon tried to brace himself against the attack, but it didn't do much. Mr. Mime then jumped forward to hit Charmeleon with another Double Slap. He wasn't fast enough though and ended up getting hit with a Flame Burst at point blank range. Mr. Mime collapsed to the ground and Sabrina used her telekinesis to swap in her last Pokémon.
Kadabra hovered just above the ground in a meditative pose. Charmeleon fired a Flame Bust at Kadabra, but the evolved Psi Pokémon used Teleport to suddenly appear behind Charmeleon. Charmeleon didn't have enough time to react before Kadabra slashed at him with Psycho Cut, striking Charmeleon in the neck with the spoon it held. Charmeleon then quickly turned around to hit Kadabra with a Metal Claw, but Kadabra evaded the attack and fired a blast of Psychic at Charmeleon. Charmeleon stumbled but was able to pick himself back up again, a determined fire in his eye.
"This is the part where it starts to get interesting." Sabrina said. "And I suppose congratulations are in order."
A white light engulfed as the Flame Pokémon began to grow larger. A pair of wings sprouted forth from his back as the light began to fade and the newly evolved Charizard stood there triumphantly.
"Woah!" Yellow couldn't help but look on in awe. Even Sable almost seemed mildly impressed.
"Alright!" Red pumped his fist dramatically. "Now, Charizard! Let's see what you've got!"
Charizard let out a powerful roar. Kadabra took the opportunity to fire another Psychic attack. This proved useless, however, as Charizard sprung forward. Using his new wings to increase the speed and power of his jump, Charizard slashed right through the attack with his claws as they were surrounded in a ghostly purple aura. His momentum allowed Charizard to continue hurtling forward and he was able to strike Kadabra with Shadow Claw. Kadabra recoiled from the blow and used Teleport to relocate to the other end of the Gym.
Heavily weakened, Kadabra attempted to use Recover to restore his health but Charizard didn't let him have the chance. Charizard fired a Flame Burst at Kadabra, hitting him before his Recover could take effect. Kadabra then attempted to counter with Psychic but Charizard simply brushed off the attack and fired another Flame Burst, draining the last of Kadabra's strength. Sabrina recalled Kadabra into his Pokéball before he even hit the ground.
"Victory is yours." Sabrina said as she walked towards Red, the marsh Badge flouting just above her outstretched hand.
"Thank you." Red nodded and took the badge from her.
"Now, as I said before our battle, I will answer some of the questions that you have. First off, I cannot read the girl's mind to access her memories and tell you who she is." Sabrina looked apologetically at Yellow.
"Why not?" Yellow asked.
"Because you are a psychic like me." Sabrina explained. "In fact, your psychic power is even greater than mine was when I was your age, something which I did not think was even possible before now."
"Really?" Yellow and Red were both extremely surprised to hear this, though Sable didn't seem to react to the news.
"Yes, and unfortunately you seem to be subconsciously blocking off access to your memories. Even I can't reach them."
"Oh." Yellow looked down at the floor in disappointment.
"Your Pikachu, on the other hand, is a different story."
"What?" Yellow and Red both turned to Chuchu, who seemed to tense up in Yellow's arms.
"I'm a bit confused myself." Sabrina confessed. "That Pikachu you have there seems to have strong psychic powers as well. In fact, now she's blocking me out of her thoughts completely, which is not something that I ever thought I would say about a Pikachu. I was able to get a bit from her a moment ago, however. It would appear that Pikachu knew you before you lost your memories and knows who you are. Sadly that was all I was able to get from her."
"Chuchu?" Yellow looked down at her Pikachu.
"I guess that might explain why she came to our rescue back in Porta Vista." Red realized. "But now I feel like I'm even more confused."
"I am sorry that I couldn't be more help." Sabrina said.
"That's alright." Red smiled. "I guess we'll just have to find things out on our own. That was kind of the plan anyway."
Red placed a hand on Yellow's shoulder and the two turned to head out. Once they had their backs turned, Sable and Sabrina locked eyes with each other.
-Why didn't you want to tell them more?- Sabrina asked telepathically.
-Because,- Sable gave a smile that made Sabrina a bit uneasy. -They could get into trouble if they find out too much now.-
-But that thing is after her.-
-I know. That's why I don't want them to know. If they found out everything now, then they would end up looking for him. But they aren't ready yet.-
-I still feel like leaving them in the dark is a bad idea.-
-I know it may not seem like the best option to you, but trust me. They have me looking out for them, after all, and there's nothing I want more than to keep my family safe.-
"What happened?" Yellow pointed to the top of the tallest building, in the middle of the city.
"I have no idea." Red felt a twinge of unease mixed with a bit of fear as he noticed the level of destruction in the area. Not just the massive gaping hole and numerous broken windows on that one building, but all of the damage that the nearby buildings had also taken. It was clear that some kind of destructive battle had taken place here. Red thought back to the battle against the giant Tentacruel, realizing just how badly that could have turned out. His mind suddenly flashed to the S.S. Anne and he stopped in his tracks.
"What's wrong?" Yellow asked him.
"N-nothing." Red shook his head and continued walking. He wasn't sure what just happened. It was almost like he was on the verge of remembering something, but had no idea what. Whatever it was, it was gone as soon as it had popped into his head. "Let's just find the Gym. I don't want to spend any more time here than we need to."
"I think that's it over there." Sable pointed to a building up ahead, at the edge of the city. "Although, I think I may be seeing double."
"No, I see it too." Red commented as the Gym came closer into view. Or rather the Gyms, as there seemed to be two of them side by side.
The trio made their way to the two Gyms. The one to the right seemed relatively normal, though the Gym on the left had clearly seen better days.
"I guess we'll check out that one." Red motioned to the right-hand Gym. "The other one looks abandoned."
"The lights are on." Sable pointed out.
"Yeah, but…" Red tried to think of an excuse. "Let's just try this one first."
Red walked up to the Gym and paused to wait for the automatic doors to slide open before heading inside. Yellow and Sable followed him in. The gym seemed fairly empty save for a large chair on the far end that looked almost like some kind of creepy throne. There was an ominous tension in the air that sent a chill went down Red's spine as he walked across the purple tiled floor and Yellow grabbed his arm, pulling herself close to him. Sable seemed perfectly at ease.
"Welcome, Samuel Redwood of Pallet Town." A dark-haired teenager stood up from the throne. She snapped her fingers and the dark room suddenly lit up. "I am Sabrina, the leader of this Gym."
"How do you know my name?" Red immediately realized that was a stupid question as he already knew that Gym Leaders already had access to the records of all of the trainers in the region. Obviously, she had simply memorized the names of the trainers that she knew would be challenging her.
"I know many things." Sabrina replied. "For I have had psychic powers ever since I was but a child. It started with a spoon twisting in my hand and has only grown since then. But then again, psychic powers should be nothing new to you considering who you travel with."
"What?" Red was utterly confused by this unexpected revelation. "Y-you can't be serious."
"I am always serious." Sabrina closed her eyes. "And I can sense that you know what I am telling you is the truth. You have many questions for me. However, they shall have to wait until after our battle, which will now commence."
Sabrina lifted her hand and a Pokéball resting on the armrest of the chair she had been sitting on suddenly floated into the air, hovering beside the Gym Leader. The Pokéball emitted a beam of red light as an Abra appeared in front of her.
Red was startled to see the Pokéball float like that, but fortunately it didn't distract him too much. He was familiar with Abra thanks to spending so much time with Yellow's, and he knew that it would be difficult to fight one head on because it would just end up using Teleport to avoid the attack. Fortunately, one of his new Pokémon had exactly what he needed to get around this.
"Porygon, use Lock-On!"
The red and blue polygonal bird emerged from its Pokéball and hovered in the air between Red and Sabrina's Abra. The Virtual Pokémon's eyes turned green and its pupils changed into target reticules as it targeted the Abra, which continued to hover in the air, sound asleep.
"Now, use Signal Beam!"
Porygon fired a beam of green energy at Sabrina's Abra. The sleeping Pokémon teleported out of the way of the beam's blast, exactly as Red expected. As Porygon's attack reached the spot where Abra had been it suddenly shifted directions as if ricocheting off of thin air and hit Abra from behind. The Psi Pokémon was knocked forward by the blast. It seemed as if Abra was going to fall to the ground but just as it was about to hit the floor it Teleported directly in front of Porygon with its hands raised to its forehead. There was a blinding Flash of white light, disorienting both Red and his Porygon.
"Lock-On." Red ordered as he rubbed his eyes, unable to see much of anything at the moment.
Porygon's eyes briefly turned white as the digital Pokémon rebooted its optical sensors before it took aim once again. Porygon launched another Signal Beam and Abra used Teleport to get out of the way. As before, the Signal Beam changed directions to strike Abra but the Psi Pokmon was able to Teleport again. This did not actually help Abra, however, as Porygon's attack redirected itself again to hit him. Sabrina's Abra was knocked out by the hit, falling to the ground.
Sabrina waved her arm and Abra was sent back into its Pokéball. Another Pokéball hovered over from Sabrina's chair to send out her second Pokémon, Mr. Mime. The pink and white Barrier Pokémon stood in place, moving its hands as if there was some kind of invisible wall in front of it.
"Signal Beam!"
Porygon fired yet another sickly green blast of energy, which bounced off of the invisible wall that Mr. Mime had formed, fizzling out into nothing.
"Wait, what?" Red thought for a moment that his vision was still being affected by Abra's Flash from earlier.
"Do not think that you will be able to defeat Mr. Mime so easily." Sabrina spoke for the first time since the battle began. "His pantomime isn't just for show, you know. Mr. Mime has the power to solidify the air around himself with his fingertips, allowing him to create barriers and other objects at will through his motions. But of course, I sense that you are already working on finding a way around this."
"Porygon, return." Red gritted his teeth. He really didn't like the idea of his opponent being able to read his thoughts. "Charmeleon, show them your Flame Burst."
Red's starter Pokémon emerged from his Pokéball and landed on the ground before spitting a sizable ball of fire at Mr. Mime. The attack struck another invisible wall created by Mr. Mime. However, rather than simply dissipating, the fireball split apart and spread around the wall. It failed to hit Mr. Mime directly, but the heat of the blast forced him to drop his guard for a moment.
"Now follow it up with a Fire Fang!"
Charmeleon leaped forward, opening his mouth as his teeth became engulfed in flame. Before Mr. Mime was able to create another Barrier to defend himself, Charmeleon was already biting into his shoulder. Mr. Mime knocked the Flame Pokémon away from him with a Double Slap and tried to create a Barrier. He wasn't fast enough, however, and Charmeleon was able to uppercut Mr. Mime in the chin with a Metal Claw. Mr. Mime flipped through the air before falling back face-first onto the tiled floor. He was able to get back up just in time to block another Metal Claw with one of his Barriers.
Mr. Mime went on the offensive now, sending a blast of Psychic at Charmeleon. Charmeleon tried to brace himself against the attack, but it didn't do much. Mr. Mime then jumped forward to hit Charmeleon with another Double Slap. He wasn't fast enough though and ended up getting hit with a Flame Burst at point blank range. Mr. Mime collapsed to the ground and Sabrina used her telekinesis to swap in her last Pokémon.
Kadabra hovered just above the ground in a meditative pose. Charmeleon fired a Flame Bust at Kadabra, but the evolved Psi Pokémon used Teleport to suddenly appear behind Charmeleon. Charmeleon didn't have enough time to react before Kadabra slashed at him with Psycho Cut, striking Charmeleon in the neck with the spoon it held. Charmeleon then quickly turned around to hit Kadabra with a Metal Claw, but Kadabra evaded the attack and fired a blast of Psychic at Charmeleon. Charmeleon stumbled but was able to pick himself back up again, a determined fire in his eye.
"This is the part where it starts to get interesting." Sabrina said. "And I suppose congratulations are in order."
A white light engulfed as the Flame Pokémon began to grow larger. A pair of wings sprouted forth from his back as the light began to fade and the newly evolved Charizard stood there triumphantly.
"Woah!" Yellow couldn't help but look on in awe. Even Sable almost seemed mildly impressed.
"Alright!" Red pumped his fist dramatically. "Now, Charizard! Let's see what you've got!"
Charizard let out a powerful roar. Kadabra took the opportunity to fire another Psychic attack. This proved useless, however, as Charizard sprung forward. Using his new wings to increase the speed and power of his jump, Charizard slashed right through the attack with his claws as they were surrounded in a ghostly purple aura. His momentum allowed Charizard to continue hurtling forward and he was able to strike Kadabra with Shadow Claw. Kadabra recoiled from the blow and used Teleport to relocate to the other end of the Gym.
Heavily weakened, Kadabra attempted to use Recover to restore his health but Charizard didn't let him have the chance. Charizard fired a Flame Burst at Kadabra, hitting him before his Recover could take effect. Kadabra then attempted to counter with Psychic but Charizard simply brushed off the attack and fired another Flame Burst, draining the last of Kadabra's strength. Sabrina recalled Kadabra into his Pokéball before he even hit the ground.
"Victory is yours." Sabrina said as she walked towards Red, the marsh Badge flouting just above her outstretched hand.
"Thank you." Red nodded and took the badge from her.
"Now, as I said before our battle, I will answer some of the questions that you have. First off, I cannot read the girl's mind to access her memories and tell you who she is." Sabrina looked apologetically at Yellow.
"Why not?" Yellow asked.
"Because you are a psychic like me." Sabrina explained. "In fact, your psychic power is even greater than mine was when I was your age, something which I did not think was even possible before now."
"Really?" Yellow and Red were both extremely surprised to hear this, though Sable didn't seem to react to the news.
"Yes, and unfortunately you seem to be subconsciously blocking off access to your memories. Even I can't reach them."
"Oh." Yellow looked down at the floor in disappointment.
"Your Pikachu, on the other hand, is a different story."
"What?" Yellow and Red both turned to Chuchu, who seemed to tense up in Yellow's arms.
"I'm a bit confused myself." Sabrina confessed. "That Pikachu you have there seems to have strong psychic powers as well. In fact, now she's blocking me out of her thoughts completely, which is not something that I ever thought I would say about a Pikachu. I was able to get a bit from her a moment ago, however. It would appear that Pikachu knew you before you lost your memories and knows who you are. Sadly that was all I was able to get from her."
"Chuchu?" Yellow looked down at her Pikachu.
"I guess that might explain why she came to our rescue back in Porta Vista." Red realized. "But now I feel like I'm even more confused."
"I am sorry that I couldn't be more help." Sabrina said.
"That's alright." Red smiled. "I guess we'll just have to find things out on our own. That was kind of the plan anyway."
Red placed a hand on Yellow's shoulder and the two turned to head out. Once they had their backs turned, Sable and Sabrina locked eyes with each other.
-Why didn't you want to tell them more?- Sabrina asked telepathically.
-Because,- Sable gave a smile that made Sabrina a bit uneasy. -They could get into trouble if they find out too much now.-
-But that thing is after her.-
-I know. That's why I don't want them to know. If they found out everything now, then they would end up looking for him. But they aren't ready yet.-
-I still feel like leaving them in the dark is a bad idea.-
-I know it may not seem like the best option to you, but trust me. They have me looking out for them, after all, and there's nothing I want more than to keep my family safe.-