I can hear screams. Screams and laughter echo through my mind. My hands are soaked in blood.
"Abel. Abel, wake up."
A female voice whispers into my ears as a vision of a dark night flashes before my eyes, illuminated by a car on fire. No, that’s not right. I can see it now there are several melted cars piled up high, a Charizard hovering above the scene. Its red draconic body is covered in black lines and it roars in anger before flying off. I'm left with my back against a tree, bodies scattered around me. The smell of burning flesh, piss, and shit fills the air.
The sound of crunching gravel reaches my ears as a man walks into view before me; A dark silhouette contrasting the flames. I am unable to see his face even with the amount of heat and fire around us.
"A survivor? Interesting and quite peculiar. Ah. He's bleeding out. You still have a soft spot for the young, don't you, Ashmonger?"
The voice is rough and gravelly, like a chainsmoker on the verge of losing his throat. A roar sounds through the clearing as the Charizard lands behind the silhouette. It stood on two massively scaled legs and its powerful and long red wings wrapped themselves around its body only allowing me to see its rectangular lizard-like head as it looked at me with interest in its blue eyes.I try to get up or even move, but intense pain shoots through my entire body. I can feel something has stabbed through my abdomen and pinned me to the tree. I cough out blood and groan, too tired and in too much pain to cry.
"Leave him alone!" a woman's voice sounds through the roaring flames. Her voice sounds familiar. Is that mom? No. Don't! I try to yell out, but my voice fails me. The silhouette of a woman limps into view, standing in front of me. The man’s charizard lets out a mighty roar as its long salamander-like tail wraps protectively around its trainer.
"Mom… Stop." I finally mumble out quietly before coughing up more blood. It was getting harder to breathe now.
I can hear them discussing something, but it was too hushed for me to be able to understand.
"Kill her." the silhouette says coldly. A jet of white-hot flame roars out from his Charizard. Screams. Bloodcurdling screams before being choked off. The smell of burning flesh and popcorn.
The vision fades, and I puke all over the wooden floor of the studio. Gasping, hands trembling. I look at them and see that they're clean. No blood. No pain.
As suddenly as it took over, it fades. The feelings, the memories, the anxiety. Like I've been doused in a cold shower. I get up, go to the bathroom to grab some towels, and start to mop up the puke on the floor.
Where once I felt everything, I can’t feel anything now. My emotions aren't there. Once done with the cleaning, I brush my teeth and sit back down on the bed before pulling out my Rotom phone, connecting it to the TV, and playing the video.
It's a video of Forrest fighting a teenage boy. I think he's introduced himself as Alex. It's a two-v-two, and Alex is using a Squirtle against a Roggenrola on a Rocky terrain format. The battle is being overseen by a referee, and the battlefield is enclosed by a psychic barrier. Currently, Alex is in the lead using type advantage to get him ahead. He's hitting the poor little rock Pokémon with water gun attacks and maneuvering at the same time, utilizing the blowback to propel itself. Forrest is shouting slow commands to Roggenrola, telling it to harden after each water gun hits home. He's also having the occasional rock tomb come out, but they usually miss more than they hit. Roggenrola is making use of the terrain to cover from some of the water guns, but it hasn't done any type of significant damage to Alex’s Squirtle.
Eventually, Alex gets frustrated and shouts at Forrest. "Is this all a gym leader has to offer?! This is pathetic! I expected more of a fight."
Forrest frowns, stroking his beard before letting out an audible sigh. He cracks his neck before straightening out his posture and putting on a more serious gaze.
"Roggenrola, autotomize and sandstorm."
Instantly, it lets out a weird cry that sounds like two rocks grinding against each other. Its body shines bright like steel as parts of its exterior crack off. Simultaneously, sand kicks up and billows upwards in a spiral around Roggenrola before drifting outward to cover the arena in a literal sandstorm.
Alex goes wide-eyed before grinning like a mad man. "Squirtle! Rapid spin and follow it with a whirlpool!"
Squirtle smiles as it spins in place rapidly, forcing the storm to move away before jets of water spray outwardly from the holes in its shell, creating a whirlpool above itself. It then moves with surprising speed and accuracy towards Roggenrola.
"Jump into the whirlpool, Roggenrolla, and use Rock Tomb!" Forrest yells out with a triumphant grin. The rock type immediately jumps into the maelstrom, being pulled upwards into the center of it, as several large boulders coalesce into existence from the sandstorm it's still spewing from its body. Roggenrola releases the boulders, and they plummet down around Squirtle, trapping it in place before Alex can even react, as Roggenrola starts charging up an even bigger boulder beneath it as it continues to spin inside the whirlpool.
"Max out your spin and hit it as hard as you can with a water pulse, Squirtle!"
Squirtle spins in place rapidly, trying to force its way out from between the boulders. The grind of its shell against the rocks becomes almost audible before it diverts some of the water from the whirlpool to form above its shell. The boulder Roggenrola had created finally becomes massive enough, and it sends it falling down towards Squirtle. A large ring of water coalesces above its shell before shooting out in pulses up towards Roggenrola.
The two forces crash against each other. The boulder shatters into a dozen pieces that rain down while the remaining weakened pulses go up and slam into Roggenrola. The whirlpool dissipates, and so does the sandstorm, revealing that both Pokémon have been KO'd, Squirtle having been hit by the remaining pieces of the boulder.
The referee judges them both out of the match as unable to continue. Alex sends out a Butterfree while Forrest sends out a Rockruff. The moment Butterfree hits the field, small boulders automatically fly up from the rubble of the previous match and slam into Butterfree.
Alex blinks a few times, caught off guard. "... How?"
Forrest immediately capitalizes on the surprise attack. "Rockruff, howl and double team!"
Rockruff lets out an intense howl, causing its body to glow with a subtle red hue before its body splits into several different clones.
"Butterfree, use sleep powder and gust!"
Butterfree flies up into the air to get away from Rockruff and begins to flap its wings with powerful intensity. A blue pollen-like substance starts to come off its wings, blowing towards Rockruff, which continues to howl unperturbed by the sleep powder.
"That's not going to work," Forrest says, smiling. "Rockruff double team into rock throw."
Its body splits into more clones as they speed off to spread around the battlefield. The rocks around some of its necks begin to glow white before boulders materialize above its head and are shot towards Butterfree, which dodges as many as it can.
"Confusion! Keep those rocks away from you, Butterfree!"
Butterfree's eyes turn blue as the boulders begin to slow in the air, painted in a blue hue before dropping to the ground. This eventually breaks into a contest of wills as Butterfree continues to deflect the boulders while Rockruff keeps probing for a weak spot. Forrest is content to watch this unfold as he crosses his arms over his chest with a smirk on his face. Alex, on the other hand, is sweating and gaining a look of exhaustion. Every time he goes to open his mouth, Rockruff relentlessly goes in on the attack, putting pressure on an already tiring Butterfree. Butterfree sends gusts of wind to clear out some of the clones, and uses poison powder that afflicts Rockruff, but it seems to be too little too late.
After a minute of back and forth, Forrest strokes his chin and nods. "Mhm… alright. I guess it's time to end this. Rockruff, rock tomb."
With one last howl, a swarm of boulders converge on Butterfree from every direction. It tries valiantly to dodge but quickly succumbs to the onslaught and is brought down to the ground.
The fight stops as the referee runs in to verify that Butterfree has fainted and is unable to get back up.
"Butterfree is unable to battle. Gym Leader Forrest is the winner!"
The clip ends there. I watch a few other matches of Forrest and notice a few things. He has a tendency to go on autopilot for weak matches and can be "caught off guard" rather easily, which I assume is his challenge. When the gloves come off, he does a 180, another one of his challenges to see how the trainer would handle being under pressure… I presume. Overall, he doesn't seem like too much of a problem. He wins as many matches as he loses, only losing to those who seem like they know what they're doing.
I was hoping that the fight would distract me from the vision that I had, but my hands continue to shake. I can feel the nausea still there at the back of my throat and the melancholy I felt is slowly replaced with a building anxiety. I shake my head and dive back into the videos.
When I switch over to Kenneth, though, I'm left speechless. Each of his fights are done in less than three minutes. He methodically looks for the weakness of each trainer he fights and then rips them apart. He uses a Growlithe against a Gible and manages to burn it, run circles around it, and then use it as a chew toy without taking any major damage. Each challenge after that is similar. I had expected him to be lenient on zero-badge trainers, but the more matches I watched, the more I realized that I had been very wrong. He's an Arceus-damned monster. He doesn't care who you are; if you're weak, you won't survive.
With a heavy groan, I turn off the TV and lay back in bed. When it's settled, I'll be heading to Pewter City. I stare at the ceiling, going over the previous plan I had formulated. Go through Route 1, get to Viridian City, and then move on through the Viridian Forest. Hopefully, I'll get myself a Grass-type while I'm there and then head to Pewter City for a match with Forrest.
But then, after that?
What do I do after that? There are other gyms to take care of - Cerulean, Vermilion, and Saffron - but then what gym to tackle after Saffron… What Pokémon should I choose as my next companions to adventure with? Should I focus on type advantage to secure my wins? No, I see with the gym matches that won't work. Should I get those that match Champ's temperament? Nah, that won't work either. I don't think he'd like copies of himself and would prefer to be the unique one.
The ceiling is painted a soft orange with a few floral patterns. I can hear the soft laughter of children outside. My heart tightens in my chest. What am I actually doing? Who am I that is deserving of this opportunity? Parts of my memory wash in like waves kissing the sands of a marred beach. I remember orphanages and foster homes that never worked. Learning how to work the streets, but I can't recall how or what methods I used to survive. Every time I try to focus on those memories, the waves of the beach crash and they disappear.
It's so frustrating. I close my eyes and start to work on my breathing. I learned it from someone, somewhere. Control your breathing, control your emotions then everything else will fall into place.
And so I do. I control my breathing and focus on my first step, which is learning what Champ can do and preparing for the journey ahead. I lie here resting for a little bit longer before eventually taking one last deep breath in and getting up. I've been putting this off for too long. I need to understand what happened. I think back to the hotel lobby when my headache was the worst and…
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It opens like a sieve. My body had gone on autopilot. I had followed Lucas to the lady in charge of the dorms. Her name is Miranda - a real sweetheart - she makes sure to accommodate me by giving me a room on the second floor furthest from the elevators with a garden view. After that, I say my farewells to Lucas and come up to this room. I go in and order some extra pairs of clothing from the local pokemart on campus from my phone. I had apparently gotten a small advance on my trainer allowance. Then, I set up the videos and sit on the bed idle for an hour.
I recall all of this, but it feels like someone else is living it. It's all through a sort of fog. I so badly want to call Lucas and ask him what this could be, but I hesitate. What if he ends up thinking I'm crazy and tries to have me committed? I shudder at the thought. I'm sure I'm ok. It's just a dissociative episode triggered by stress and my current situation. I can manage.
I get up from the bed, do a few stretches, and then walk out of the room to head down to one of the private gardens. Forget it. I don’t need to focus on that right now. It's time to get Champ's training started and I’m sure the rest will fall into place.
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"Again!" I shout at Champ as he does Bulk Up for the fifth time before punching the air with a Mega Punch at a tree thirty feet away from us. A gust of wind shoots out and hits the tree, but doesn't do any substantial damage. We end up moving to the edge of the campus since training isn't permitted in the private gardens. It's fine since there's a nice clearing on the edge of the campus to practice on.
I have the Rotom phone out, documenting the things we're experimenting with. I want to see how much I need Champ to Bulk Up until he can do ranged attacks with his punches. I need him to have more variety when it comes to ranged moves since a Rock Slide wouldn't be enough. He mimes the method to me since it's something I was working on with him before the memory loss.
He's getting frustrated. "Again," I say once more. He takes a deep breath, his body turning red as his muscles ripple and stretch. He shoots out one more punch. The gust from the punch rustles the tree, but not much else comes from it. He gets frustrated, takes another deep breath, and shoots out another punch. More rustling, but no actual damage. His shoulders sag as he looks dejected. I sigh and scratch the back of my head. Maybe this is asking too much. He can't do much damage if he can't infuse it with Flying-type energy, and that won't work if he doesn't know how to harness it.
I point at a new tree, this one sturdier and older. "Let's switch it up. Practice your Rock Slide speed. We'll need to be able to summon them almost instantaneously."
He stands up tall, takes his stance, and boulders materialize all around him as they careen towards the tree. The bark explodes but stands firm as sap oozes out of the wound when Champ sends two more forward. He's hit the tree to the left of the one I indicated, and I sigh. This is getting frustrating. I can't tell if I gave him the wrong direction or if the attack veered. Best way to figure it out...
"Again," I say simply as the same bark explodes in a shower of sap and wood. The tree falls and with it comes an angry shriek as a green caterpillar like pokemon known as Sewaddle falls to the ground. It looks in our direction as the leafy cover flaps on its head to reveal a cute but angry-looking spherical yellow face with black eyes and a downward facing orange snout with two tiny teeth. It starts to shriek something at us as it rears its three segmented body up revealing adorable little orange stubby legs.
Champ laughs as he stands between us, taking a fighting stance and gesturing for the sewaddle to come at him. What the hell is going on… Ah, it must be upset that we took down its home and must want justice. Rotom begins to speak as it flies up next to me.
"Sewaddle, the Leaf Sewing Pokémon. It is a Bug/Grass-type Pokémon. It wraps itself in a cloak of leaves crafted together with its special silk gland."
Rotom goes on to say that the gender is female and the rest of the info is unknown until I catch it. Well, if I catch it. That Grass typing is calling to me even if I originally wanted a Petilil.
Instantly, she disappears from view before reappearing in front of Champ, slamming into his abdomen with enough force that he doubles over. Without waiting, she instantly spews out silk and starts webbing up his feet before jumping backward to put distance between them.
Rotom immediately reveals that she knows Tackle, Agility, and String Shot. I see, so she's a speedster and utility type. The amount of damage she inflicts on Champ is minor. Good for us, but bad for the long run if I choose to catch her.
"Alright, Champ. Use her as target practice for Rock Slide."
He grins as he ignores the webbing around his feet and begins to punch at the air violently in her direction. Three boulders rip up from the ground flying out towards her and none of them connect as she blurs and disappears before appearing behind him and tackling into his back, sticking to it with string shot. Her tiny teeth elongate into glowing white fangs as she begins to chomp on him. Rotom recognizes the move as Bug Bite.
I can tell that Champ is starting to get annoyed as he tries to get his hands behind his back to take her off.
"Use Rock Slide to get her off your back!"
The earth beneath him rumbles before tearing up and flying up to hit Sewaddle from different directions. She disappears again as the boulders smash into each other. She reappears several feet away in front of him, letting out a victorious chortle that sets Champ off. I have to stifle a small laugh at seeing him get so frustrated. He rips off the webbing from his feet and starts to make a dash towards the Sewaddle who continues to rinse and repeat the same hit-and-run tactics. I have Rotom record it for a few minutes so I can show it to Champ later to point out what he did wrong and how it's important to not let his guard down.
Eventually, Sewaddle starts to run out of steam. She's looking exhausted and breathing heavily, Champ on the other hand is covered in bruises and bite marks but nothing serious. He grins down at Sewaddle as he approaches her ready to take his revenge. I pull out a Pokéball, trigger the auto-aim assist, and toss it. My original throw is way off, but it manages to veer back on course and hit Sewaddle on the forehead before Champ can even hit her. The ball starts to shake once, twice, and a third final time before an audible click resounds through the clearing. Rotom beeps as it starts the registration process for Sewaddle to my trainer ID. It prompts me to give her a nickname. Hm… What would be a good name for her?
Rotom surprises me by automatically giving me a few suggestions, one of which catches my eye. Rebecca, which is a pretty old name originating from a culture lost centuries ago. It's supposed to mean 'to snare' and comes from a story of a woman who lost everything she held dear to a man who lusted after her. The story eventually ends with the death of the man as she uses her wiles to seduce him and then kills him with her Bug-type Pokémon.
Hm… Rebecca is too long of a name… Rebecca… How about Beca! I think that works out just fine.
I enter the name Beca and she officially registers on my roster. The ball teleports from the ground to my belt, having the Initial B carved into it.
I look at Champ and grin as he stares back at me with murder in his eyes.
"Come on, Champ! Even you have to admit she was a good fighter. She'll make a great addition to the team. Sure, we'll have to smooth things over with her, but it'll all work out in the end. Besides, you'll now have more opportunities to square off and beat her."
He grumbles before returning to his stance and practicing the ranged punches again. We spend the next two hours practicing until he has a decent grasp on the attack, but it still has no actual damage capabilities. I'll probably have to scrap the idea though until I can figure out a way for him to utilize Flying-type energy. It doesn't have much potential, especially since he already has Rock Slide to make up for it.
I had told Champ to focus on Rock Slide but he… I look up and see him still throwing out those air punches. I can't help a sigh escaping my lips and I'm not sure whether to feel proud or annoyed at his stubbornness.
"That's enough, Champ. Focus on Rock Slide for the next hour. I want you to work on making a large quantity of small boulders instead of large ones."
He looks back at me, grunts some kind of affirmative, and starts to practice on his Rock Slide. I'm not sure where or how he learned to do so, but Rock Slide will be vital for the future. I watch him for a few more minutes as he continues to shoot out smaller Rock Slides before focusing on the next important item on my list, figuring out what I'm going to feed Beca.
Rotom says that she eats plants regularly, but on occasion eats small insects or animals. Probably would need to incorporate that into her meal… But what classifies as small? Perusing the data that Rotom gave me from online breeder sites, it ranges from small dragonflies, to Caterpies, up to Rattata and Pidgeys. It also lists several websites I could order supplements from, but they would charge me an arm and a leg. It isn't necessary for her growth and she would do fine without it… But it would make her more powerful when she fully evolves. I could have her hunt in the Viridian Forest. Yeah, that settles it. I'll have her do that.
Now, what to feed Champ? Rotom gives me the info and I sputter. He needs heavy amounts of food high in protein alongside a variety of veggies, fruits, and nuts to give the rest of the necessary nutrients needed. They also have Pokémon food that would serve as a travel substitute, but it's graded and, of course, the best one makes me want to claw my remaining eye out. How the hell did the old me even afford this crap?
"Hey Champ. What did I feed you before?"
He stops with a pondering look on his face mid-attack as a pile of half-made boulders falls to the ground around him.
"Tye. Tyrogue. Rogue. Rogue." He starts to say before stopping, shaking his head, and then mimicking some actions. It takes me a solid fifteen minutes of back and forth with pictures of food on my phone, but I eventually understand what he means. I would feed him whatever I prepared for myself along with Pokémon food to make up for any nutrients that were lacking.
"Alright, we're cutting training early. I need to prepare some extra supplies if we don't want to starve."
I grab Champ's ball and recall him before he can protest and stretch. I look up at the sky and see the sun starting to dip down. It's probably around sixish at this point. I know Lucas had told me there was a small campus department store here, so I'll head there.
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The department store known as Verdant Haven resembles an enormous barn. It has two levels and an incredibly spacious inside. The outside is decorated with wooden beams, marble, and climbing vines with the store name burned into a massive wooden sign hanging above the entrance decorated in intertwining vines and leaves. It has a nice rustic appeal, but the inside is on an entirely different level.
The inside reminds me of a Paldean bazaar; it's set up in a large marketplace-like venue with empty stalls on either side. The floors are a mix of polished wood and dirt, there are brass fixtures hanging from the ceiling, and the air is filled with the sweet scent of fresh herbs and spices. The dirt path mimics winding forest paths with wooden signposts showing where to go for each department. Leafy green vines climb the walls and pillars, pulling together the whole scene as if I'm in a natural forest.
There are also little rest spots with cushioned wooden benches and hanging plants. They've really gone above and beyond to give this place a nice cozy, earthy feel. The store is pretty empty and I can imagine this place doesn't see a lot of business unless they're hosting conventions. Some areas are roped off as I explore, thankfully the Pokemon general store portion is still open. I walk around and grab grade C Pokémon food, a survival knife, a hatchet, and lighter fluid.
The sounds of a baby crying, while men laugh in the background. Cigarette smoke fills the air with a subtle scent of iron and copper. Quiet moans and whimpers; I can feel the heavy weight of the axe in my hands.
"Do it already, boyo." The sensation of hot breath on the nape of my neck, goosebumps coursing over my skin. More crying, a scream. I feel the axe bury itself in something. Blood. Hot, sticky. So much blood -
I feel a hand on my shoulder, I spin around and the hatchet almost buries itself into the face of one of the market employees. Some type of force keeps my arm from moving any further. I'm breathing heavily, body shaking as the hatchet falls to the ground.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't. I just. I'm so sorry." The words spew out of my mouth like word vomit. The employee has beautiful blue eyes and long brown hair. She raises up her hand and smiles.
"It's ok. You're not the first and you won't be the last. I should be the one apologizing to you for sneaking up on you. It's a bad habit that I have yet to break." She laughs lightly and scratches the back of her head. She's dressed in dark brown overalls with a light green undershirt with a PokéMart emblem on it. Overall, she looks like she's seventeen. I had almost - bile churns in my gut at the sudden realization that I had almost killed her.
She backs up immediately when I turn to the side and throw up.
"Alright. Wasn't expecting that, but… Frank! Come out, buddy! I need you."
I hear a squelch followed by a wet plop as a Grimer drops down next to her. He blinks a few times before sliding over to my vomit and absorbing it into his body. He's a blue color and smells rather pleasant which is shocking to me. How is that possible?
She must see my face because she answers the question.
"Cute little Frankie here is my dad's experiment. He wanted to see what would happen when you feed a Grimer cleaning product when hatched from an egg. It was touch and go, but eventually Grimer started to enjoy the product and it gradually took on a different type. Yes, you heard me correctly. It took on a Water/Poison typing."
I stare at her in disbelief. Is that even possible? Clearly, it must be as I look at this weird blue Grimer that smells like a mix of lavender and the sea.
The Grimer looks at me with a smile as it finishes its job and slides away into a crevice in a nearby wall; it leaves behind a trail of polished wood flooring that shimmers in the dim light.
After that debacle, we have a small conversation as I grab the rest of the items that I need. I learn that her name is Miriam and her father is Professor Langford who works under Lucas as part of a subdivision of his research. Langford focuses more on nurture and environment rather than DNA which is pretty cool. I also learn she's planning on being a trainer soon, but has to wait for next year since she needs to help around campus with odd jobs. She also hands me the clothes I ordered via their app. Once I had given my name she remembered my packages and gave them to me on the way out.
I say my farewells and leave the store. Night has already fallen and I quickly make my way back to the dorm. The streets are empty and quiet, there's also a lack of light pollution so the stars are visible in the clear night sky. A gentle breeze whirls around me bringing with it a pleasant floral scent.
I feel at peace and the trauma I suffered earlier eases. I'm still troubled by the outburst, how could I not be? There's something there dwelling deep down inside trying to bubble up to the surface. I have to deal with it somehow. I'm lucky that I didn't do anything to Miriam, but I can't count on luck next time. I'll have to figure out what's buried before I reach Viridian City.
For now though.
For now, I think I’ll rest.