The Road to the Master Sunlight filtered through ten-year-old Nikki’s window. She lay on her bed, half sleeping and basking in the sunlight. She rolled over slightly and mumbled something unintelligible. Suddenly she shot up and jumped out of her bed. “I’ll be a trainer today!” she shouted, running around the room, frantically getting dressed and packing a worn-out brown leather backpack. “Okay… Shoes, socks, extra clothes…” she paused and scanned the room. “What else do I need?” She sat down on her bed. She had a pokedex and a pokenav her brother had sent her while ago… What else would she need? Nikki shrugged and walked out of her room. Who cares if she did it all correctly? She was going to be a trainer! She walked down the sunny walkways of the small town she had lived in almost all of her life. She had wanted to be a trainer ever since her older brother had become one a few years ago. Yet she still had very little knowledge of pokemon… maybe too little. She had a few pokemon dolls… like Pidgey or a Pikachu or something. A couple story books. Jeez, she thought, That’s my whole knowledge of Pokemon? That is just sad. Nikki walked past the town’s outskirts, edging into the dark forests and endless meadows of ‘the wild’. She walked slowly along the dirt road, staring in awe around her at the scenery. It was beautiful. She walked into the woods. It really wasn’t as scary as it had seemed before. It was actually quite lush. The towering trees, the few patches of grass and flowers and the dark, shaking bushes. Nikki froze. The bush was definitely shaking. A dark figure emerged, growling at her. Nikki tried to scream, but no sound would come out… Title: The Road to a Master Part 2 Author: animalluv_r E-mail: Rhett32090@aol.com Category: Other Trainers Summary: A girl who knows nothing about pokemon becomes a trainer. This is her story. The Road to a Master Yellow eyes glared at Nikki. The dark figure made a guttural growl. Nikki looked around for any way to defend herself. Nothing. So she ran. And ran. And ran, screaming all the way. She vaguly remembered a scene from Snow White as she ran. Finally she stumbled upon a clearing, with a few bright bushes and numerous flowers. It looked so nice. She sat down quietly and caught her breath. It occurred to her that she could have looked at her pokedex to see what that pokemon had been. But it was a bit late. She giggled nervously, a part of her laughing at her behavior. Nikki scanned the clearing, then gasped. A small furry brown pokemon with dark stripes was curled up, sleeping, in a ‘nest’ of pokeballs, berries, potions and many other various items. Nikki reached for her pokedex. She pushed a blue button, and the pokedex cover snapped open. Zigzagoon, it said in it’s strange robotic voice, the collector pokemon. It has a strange tendency to gather many items and keep them in a private place- it’s own ‘dragon hoard’. “Wow,” breathed Nikki. Suddenly the Zigzagoon stirred. It poked up it’s head and looked straight at Nikki. “Not again,” Nikki moaned, preparing to run. But instead of growling, the Zigzagoon began to bark happily. It bounced up and jumped over to Nikki and immediately began to nuzzle her. “You’re friendly,” she said, laughing. The Zigzagoon gave her a friendly lick, and walked over to it’s hoard. It picked up a few berries in it’s mouth and brought them to Nikki. It continued bringing all of it’s items to Nikki, until the whole pile was at Nikki’s feet. “Thanks!” said Nikki, putting the many items into her backpack. She stood up. “I’d better go now,” she said, smiling. “See ya!” She began to walk away, but she felt a presence behind her. She turned to see the Zigzagoon was following her. “I guess you want to travel with me, huh?” The Zigzagoon nodded. “I’ve got my first pokemon!” she said excitedly. Title: The Road to a Master Part 3 Author: animalluv_r E-mail: Rhett32090@aol.com Category: Other Trainers Summary: A girl who knows nothing about pokemon becomes a trainer. This is her story. The Road to a Master Nikki and Zigzagoon sat beneath a tree, eating a stash of berries. Nikki was trying to carry a conversation with her new pokemon, even though he couldn’t really understand her. “So, what is living in the forest like? Did you live underground? Or maybe in a tree?” Zigzagoon looked at her quizzically and munched on his Oran berry. “Really?” said Nikki, pretending she had gotten an answer. “Yes, I used to live in a small town in a little house with my mom. She’s usually at work. We used to live with my brother, too, but now he’s a pokemon trainer.” Zigzagoon looked at her as if he were listening. “I had my own room,” she continued, ”It was painted yellow. Yellow is such a nice color, don’t you think?” Zigzagoon barked happily. “Yes. Well…” said Nikki, trailing off and looking around. “So what should we do?” Zigzagoon sat down. He started to lie down, but suddenly jumped up, fur stiffened. “What? What is it?” asked Nikki frantically. Zigzagoon barked. Nikki looked behind her. There was a sudden flash of blue, but then it was gone. “Is it another pokemon?” asked Nikki, getting up to follow it. “C’mon Zig.” Nikki walked quietly behind the blue creature. At least, as quietly as she could through the bushes and tree branches. “Zigzagoon.” She whispered, ”Can you track it’s scent?” Zigzagoon sniffed the strange footprints and scurried off. Nikki ran after him. Soon they approached a clearing surround by bushes. They crawled underneath them and peered out into the clearing. It was a strange, tall blue pokemon. It looked almost human. But something seemed strange to Nikki. While she couldn’t see it’s face, she did notice a navy blue bandana on it’s head. Since when do wild pokemon wear bandanas? She wondered. Then the pokemon turned and faced her. It wasn’t a pokemon at all! It was a teenage girl with a stern expression, dressed in navy pants and a blue and white striped shirt. A blue trench coat covered most of it, and a navy blue bandana held up her hair, only showing a few wisps of auburn hair. Title: The Road to a Master Part 4 Author: animalluv_r E-mail: Rhett32090@aol.com Category: Other Trainers Summary: A girl who knows nothing about pokemon becomes a trainer. This is her story. The Road to a Master “Who- who is that?” Nikki asked her pokemon. Zigzagoon growled quietly. The girl in blue pulled out a small walkie-talkie. “Team Aqua Grunt Nicole, 45120, reporting. I am in position… awaiting orders…” her voice trailed off, getting too quiet for Nikki to hear. “Yes,” she said, her voice louder. “I am prepared to ‘rob’ the pokemon center. No. No one knows of my presence. Yes. Yes. Alright.” She turned off the walkie-talkie and started to walk away. “Now Zigzagoon!” whispered Nikki. Zigzagoon jumped out of the bushes, barking at the girl. Nikki emerged from the bushes behind Zigzagoon. “You’re not going anywhere.” Nicole stopped. “Who are you?” “It doesn’t matter. You’re not going to any pokemon center.” Nicole smiled. “Wanna bet?” She threw out a pokeball. There was a flash of light, and then a strange pokemon appeared. It was a pinkish color, and it looked like it had branches sticking out of it’s body. Nikki pulled out her pokedex again, even though the timing was rather inconvenient. Corsela; the coral pokemon, it said, Cannot die. Every time one of its branches break off, a new Corsela grows from it. It has almost the same mind; practically a clone. “Whoa,” said Nikki. “You see,” said Nicole, smirking. “My pokemon is unbeatable. Give up now.” “No! Zigzagoon! Use tackle!” yelled Nikki. Zigzagoon rushed at the Corsela and jumped at it, knocking it over. “Corsela! Bubble!” Corsela stood up and shot a jet of bubbles at Zigzagoon. Zigzagoon was shocked by the cold water. “Quick, Corsela! Use Pin Missile!” Before Zigzagoon could react, Corsela shot tons of needle-like pins at Zigzagoon. “No!” yelled Nikki despairingly. “Now, Corsela, use Rollout!” Nikki reached into her bag, afraid to watch as her Zigzagoon was beaten by the stronger pokemon. She pulled out a pokeball and held it up. Nicole laughed. “Ha. You can’t catch my pokemon.” Nikki smiled. “I don’t need to.” She suddenly threw the pokeball right at Nicole’s head, hitting her on the forehead. “Ow!” said Nicole, falling over. Nikki ran at Zigzagoon and scooped him up in her arms and ran. Title: The Road to a Master Part 5 Author: animalluv_r E-mail: Rhett32090@aol.com Category: Other Trainers Summary: A girl who knows nothing about pokemon becomes a trainer. This is her story. The Road to a Master Nikki ran out of the woods, into a town she had never seen before. It was bigger than her town, but not by much. Zigzagoon moaned weakly. She ran up to a boy holding a red, bug pokemon. “Where can I heal my pokemon?” she asked frantically. He laughed. “Over there, at the pokemon center,” he said, pointing. Nikki said thank you and ran to the pokemon center. As she walked in, she saw a red-haired nurse sitting behind a counter. “May I help you?” she asked. “Yes,” said Nikki, “My Zigzagoon needs to be healed.” “Okay, hand it over to me,” she said. She took the Zigzagoon and placed it on a glowing pad. “He’ll be fine in a minute. What happened?” “Well,” said Nikki, afraid she wouldn’t believe her, “I ran into someone who said she was going to rob the pokemon center. I think she said she was a Team Aqua, whatever that is. Anyways, I tried to stop her, but she beat my pokemon with her Corsela.” The Nurse gasped. “Not Team Aqua again. I’ll call the police.” She rushed off to find a phone. Minutes later, a small squad of policemen and women showed up on mopeds. The Team Aqua girl never showed up, so they all left, relieved. Most of them thanked her for stopping the girl. Officer Jenny, apparently the chief, explained that Team Aqua was a group of vigilantes who stole pokemon and other things with grandiose plans of expanding the oceans. “That’s silly,” said Nikki, “Not to mention pointless. Everything’s fine the way it is, and more water would only mess things up.” Jenny smiled. “But they don’t seem to see that. So we have to keep a careful eye on them.” The nurse interrupted them. “Here’s your pokemon. He’s perfectly healthy.” Zigzagoon leaped from the nurse’s arms and ran to Nikki. “Thank you for all of your help,” she said, “I’ll be going now.” The nurse and Officer Jenny waved goodbye. Nikki walked outside and looked around. There were trainers everywhere. Lots of people with all sorts of pokemon, red pokemon, blue pokemon, even some with other Zigzagoons. Some were playing with their pokemon, some were talking with their pokemon, and some were battling with their pokemon. The boy she had seen earlier walked up to her. “So, your pokemon’s okay. Do you want to battle?” Zigzagoon barked challengingly. “Okay,” said Nikki. “I choose you, Wurmple!” said the boy, throwing a pokeball. The red bug pokemon appeared. Nikki looked at her pokedex. Wurmple, the caterpillar pokemon. Wurmple can shoot a sticky web line that can lift up to ten times it’s own weight. Two or three Wurmple can lift an entire boulder into a tree. “Okay, Zigzagoon, go!” Zigzagoon walked up to the Wurmple and sniffed it. “Let the battle begin!” said the boy. “Wurmple! Use String Shot!” Wurple shot out a sticky string from its tail. “Zigzagoon! Run around the web line and tackle Wurmple from behind!” With amazing agility, Zigzagoon dodged the string shot attack and tackled Wurmple. “Wurmple! Poison Sting!” Wurmple’s tail glowed a purple color and jabbed Zigzagoon with it. Zigzagoon growled and tackled Wurmple head-on. The Wurmple cried out. “Zigzagoon! Scratch it!” yelled Nikki. Zigzagoon paws glowed, and he scratched at the Wurmple. Wurmple shot one last string shot before falling over, exhausted. The boy picked up the Wurmple and walked over to Nikki and shook her hand. “Wow! You’ve got a strong Zigzagoon! I’ve never seen one that knows Scratch attack!” Nikki smiled. “Thank you. Yours was really strong, too. You should take him to a pokemon center.” “Yeah,” said the boy. “Thanks for the battle! See ya!” He walked away to the pokemon center. “Congratulations, Zigzagoon! You just won your first battle!” ******************************************************************************** *** Okay, that's all I've written so far, but there's more to come. Hope you liked it!