TO BE A TRUE MASTER - THE JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME








	Part 11. 		The Hard Road to Cerulean (Continued)





	"Haaaaugh..."
	"zzzzzz...."
	"Pheeeeeee...."
	I tossed and turned in my sleeping bag later on, trying to get
	sleep through the snoring of Jessie, James and Meowth.  Lark
	was perfectly quiet on the other side of the crackling fire,
	and I suspected she was not asleep.  Finally I decided to stay
	up until not even Jessie, James and Meowth could keep me
	awake.
	That took a long time.  I sat on a log beside the fire for
	thirty minutes, glaring at the three criminals, fuming
	silently.  My eyes occasionally drifted to Lark, who slept
	facing the log I sat on.  I sighed, looking at her pretty
	face.  She seemed strange.... Always quiet, and surprised
	whenever I was nice to her, like when I gave her that eevee,
	and saved her pokemon from that Rocket.  Other than that, like
	any girl, she thought Pikachu was the cutest thing she's ever
	seen.  I chuckled as I thought about Pikachu.  If I ever
	wanted to be a girl magnet, all I had to do was carry the
	little mouse out in open view.
	As I looked over Lark, I noticed Pikachu curled up in her
	arms, sleeping peacefully, both of them smiling.  The little
	traitor.  If they were trying to prove a point they were
	failing miserabl.... Okay, so they had my sympathy, and my
	consent to the question Lark had been hinting at all day.  I
	sighed, resting my chin on my hand and watching the two.
	As always must happen when you stare at someone too long, Lark
	realized it and woke up.  "Hi," she said with a cheerful
	smile.  "You're up awfully late." She stood up gently so as
	not to wake up Pikachu and sat down beside me on the log.
	"Yeah, well with the beautiful sounds of nature tonight, who
	could sleep?" I asked.  As if to prove my point, James
	suddenly let out a long burp, then rolled over and started
	snoring louder than ever.
	"So what're you planning on doing with your pokemon life?" I
	asked, staring into the small fire.
	Lark lazily stirred the flames with a long stick.  "Well, I
	started out just cause I liked pokemon, and I was going to
	look for some friends.  After I got my starting pokemon from
	the professor in my town, I set out just to join up with
	someone, help them out or observe them," she looked over at me
	with a mock sad expression.  "And it was my misfortune to meet
	up with you and your unbearably cute Pikachu."
	I laughed and pushed her off the log gently.  "I'll tell ya
	what," I saidm helping her back on the log.  "If you stay and
	help me stay out of trouble, I'll let you have Pikachu."
	Lark's jaw dropped open, but I could see she was just acting.
	She had obviously been trying for and expecting it.
	"ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou!"
	Lark babbled joyfully, tears welling up in her eyes.
	"Well, shucks, it ain't the-" I began, but Lark didn't let me
	finish.  Still babbling thanks, she hugged me tightly, crying
	happily into my shoulder.
	"It just needs a good trainer who'll take care of it," I said
	quietly, yet still allowing her to hold onto me.
	"Unfortunately, there's a catch," I said nervously, then went
	into the story about Ultrareon.
	A thoughtful expression crossed Lark's face, then she smiled.
	"I'll stay with you," she said.
	I opened my mouth to speak again, but was rudely interrupted
	by a squeal from the other side of the fire.  Lark and I
	turned and froze.  A small jigglypuff, holding a black marker
	stood beside Pikachu, smiling.  "What the heck is he doing
	this far-"
	"Jiiiglllyypuuuff.... jigglllyypufff.... jigggllllyy....."
	That was the last thing I heard.
	It was not the coming of noise but the absence of it that woke
	me up the next morning, or should I say, afternoon, as I woke
	up near 2 o clock.  When Jessie and James's snoring stopped,
	my head shot up from a deep sleep.  I immediately noticed that
	I was in a rather compromising place.  Lark had obviously
	fallen asleep with me when that Jiiglypuff sang, the evidence
	being that she was sleeping with her head on my shoulder, each
	of us supporting the other.
	"Aaaahem!" I looked up, and Lark woke up too, but her head
	remained on my shoulder as she tried to recognize her
	surroundings.
	Jessie stood with hands on hips across the smoldering fire,
	glaring.  "Allright, time to wake up lovebirds," she said
	irritably.
	Lark and I both turned dark red, quickly standing up and
	jumping to pack up our supplies.  Needless to say, both of us
	finished breakfast rather quickly.
	Within an hour, our whole party was up and ready to go.
	Pikachu was overjoyed that Lark was his new Pokemon trainer,
	and he adopted her backpack as his new home.
	"Hey kid, halt!"
	About eight minutes into our pleasant walk to Cerulean city
	came the obnoxious cry.
	A boy about 12 years old came up behind us, obviously just
	having gone through Mount Moon.  "You gahs got pokemon?" he
	asked with a heavy southern-american accent.
	"Yeah," I said, stopping and turning to face the three.
	"Great," said the boy.  "Mah name's James Garner, and yer in
	fer a tough Pokemon battle, let's go!"
	I started to protest, then realized my pokemon could use some
	experience, as I did not have a pokemon that was strong
	against the Cerulean Gym's water pokemon.
	"Allraht! Geodude, go!"
	Donning a solemn expression, I kissed my pokeball, then hurled
	it.  "Okay, then I choose you, Vaporeon!"
	"Geodude!"
	"Vape!"
	"Geodude, Tackle!"
	"Vaporeon, sand attack."
	A blinding swirl of sand blasted into geodude's vision and I
	felt rather sorry for the rock type as it smashed back and
	forth, felling trees and disentegrating rocks, but never
	hitting Vaporeon.  "Okay, finish it off, super water gun!" I
	yelled.
	Through the sand wave, a wave of water came, blasting geodude
	back to his trainer's pokeball.  The boy smirked, but not
	arrogantly.  "Allraht, raticate, ah choose you!"
	"Raaaaticate!" the tenacious little pokemon spat out.  Before
	I could even yell out an attack to Vaporeon, Raticate leapt
	forward, as if knowing  a routine.  My Vaporeon screamed,
	thrashing as Raticate came down on it with a violent Hyper
	Fang.  'Only got one more attack before Vaporeon's down,
	better weaken Raticate, don't try for a KO, just prep him for
	the next pokemon.'
	"Okay, Vaporeon, Tail Whip!"
	Vaporeon's scaley tail lashed around, knocking Raticate back
	and shaking him up.  A hard tackle from Raticate and I was
	forced to recall my tired Vaporeon.  'Don't wanna do overkill
	by using Charcloy, and my other pokemon need experience, so-'
	"Go Pidgeotto!"
	"Dgeotto!" Pidgeotto knew what to do and immediately shot into
	the air, barely dodging Raticate's fierce tackle.  "Pidgeotto,
	whirlwind!"
	Pidgeotto flapped his wings mightily, and the gust attack
	times two began.  Raticate hedld its ground for several
	seconds, clenching its eyes closed.  Then, when it seemed that
	Pidgeotto could not hold the whirlwind any longer, Raticate
	was swept up into the air, falling dangerously.
	"You'd better recall your Raticate, he could get hurt in that
	fall," I said, watching the little pokemon soar higher into
	the air.
	"Jest watch," James said.
	Pidgeotto looked up, then shrieked, but it was too late.
	Raticate fell onto Pidgeotto, pulling it down with him.  Both
	fell to the ground, thudding violently as they hit.  It was an
	instant double knockout.  I recalled Pidgeotto, James did the
	same with his Raticate.
	"Your Raticate's brave, you must have trained him well," I
	said with a short laugh.
	"Yeah, well southern boys always fight, and train better than
	Yanks," James said with a cheerful smile.  "Guess ah'll be
	seein' you, Billy Yank," he said, saluting me then melting
	away into the forest.
	I walked on down the road beside Lark, chuckling quietly.
	"What's so funny?" Lark asked.
	"I always heard about those Southern Americans being tough
	fighters, I guess it was true, he knocked out two of my
	pokemon with rather weak types," I said.
	"Halt!" I heard a voice yell.
	"Oh great," I groaned, then turned.  A boy dressed almost
	completely in blue walked out from behind a boulder, rather
	arrogant looking actually.
	"I challenge you to a two-pokemon battle.  And I, Ulysses
	Simpson Winfield Scot hereby declare that I will defeat any
	Rebels that dare come across this path-"
	"Allright!" I yelled.  "What is it with Rebels and Yankees
	here," I yelled, frustrated at the boy's bragging.
	He sniffed, dusting off his shoulder.  "This is the road to
	Bill's lighthouse, and there're lots of trainers on their way
	there or back, and most of them are either from the North or
	South United States," he said, then lifted his head proudly.
	"And we're all Civil War fanatics, we're having a pokemon
	war!"
	"Oh...." I said.
	"And you, boy," Ulysses said with a growl.  "Are in the middle
	of our battleground, so prepare to turn and run!"
	"I liked the Rebel more," I said, drawing out a pokeball.  "He
	was a lot more polite, and I accept your challenge!"
	"I choose the sophisticated and classic Abra," Ulysses said,
	hurling the pokemon into action.
	'His "sophistication" is going to be his downfall,' I thought.
	"Okay, go Nidoking!"
	"Nidoking, Mega Punch!"
	"Abra, teleport," Ulysses said smugly.
	Nidoking leapt forward and swung his paw, missing as Abra
	disappeared.  Nidoking chuckled, then turned and hurled a
	heavy punch at thin air.  Just hen, Abra appeared in that
	spot.  Abra's eyes widened, and a moment later he slid down
	the dirt road twenty feet, twitching, then slumping to a
	little ball.
	"Abra return, go Staryu, spinning tackle!"
	Staryu screamed in at Nidoking, and just as he was about to
	him, Nidoking lashed his tail around, deflecting the blow and
	knocking Staryu to the ground, little or no harm done to
	either pokemon.  Both pokemon pulled themselves together
	quickly.
	"Staryu, swift!"
	"Nidoking, Focus Energy!"
	Nidoking curled in on himself and began to glow.  Stars shot
	from Staryu, bouncing off of Nidoking's armorred hide and
	causing very little damage.
	"Now, finish it off with a Horn Drill!"
	"Nidooookinng!"
	Nidoking jumped forward, bashing his horn into Staryu, the
	attack power increased by his focus energy.
	Staryu jumped up down the road, and began to waddle forward.
	Then, as Nidoking stared him down, the water pokemon wavered
	on one fin, then collapsed.
	"Nidoking, return," I said, then walked calmly down the road.
	Ulysses literally pitched a fit, jumping up and down
	furiously, yelling at his fainted Staryu.  The next three
	hours went that way.  What was usually a forty minute walk to
	Bill's lighthouse took us three hours, as the road was strewn
	with trainers who I soon began to adress as 'Rebs' and
	'Yanks.'
	I found that the Rebel kids were a lot nicer, and fought
	better, in fact by the end of the hour, the Rebs were
	responsible for the fainting of my Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Vaporeon
	and Zubat.  Only one Yank had fared well enough to knock out
	my weak doduo.  Nidoking survived the battles, but was
	battered.  I also noticed that the 'Rebs' semed to use a lot
	of fire and electric pokemon, while the 'Yanks' used water and
	grass.  It appeared the Yanks were arrogant idiots, while the
	Rebs were tough scrappers.
	"Finally," I gasped as I beat the last Reb, who saluted
	politely and walked off down the road, hands stuck deep in his
	pockets.  Five minutes later I was standing at the door to
	Bill's lighthouse, ringing the doorbell.
	"Who's there?" asked a normal, un-accented voice from the
	other side of the door.
	"I'm Jack Soniq, and I have to talk with you.  Believe me when
	I say it is VERY important," I said in a dead serious voice.
	I heard a sigh from the other side of the door, then it opened
	just enough to let me in.  An intelligent-looking man in a
	white lab coat, looking to be in his mid or late thirties
	stood there, then turned and walked into a room, obviously
	meaning for us to follow.
	I immediately ran to catch up with him, and after a little
	hesitation, Lark, James, Jessie and Meowth followed me.
	Bill sat down in a chair in front of a computer and glared.
	"This had better be good, all I've had all day are kids
	pestering me about pokemon, so I'm pretty tired."
	"Well, sir," I said nervously, wondering if he would get angry
	about my having done what I did.  "I, umm, kinda well, I kinda
	maybe possibly through an accident.... brought Ultrareon back
	to life...."
	Bill frowned at me for a moment, then his glare and thoughtful
	frown disappeared and he turned white.  "Oh.... Dang....." he
	said, melting into his chair.
	"What I need help with is finding the three original stones,"
	I said, sitting down in a chair across from Bill.  "They all
	shot off when I evolved him, and it'd be impossible to find
	three small stones in all of Pokemon Island."
	"Yes," Bill said, still looking scared.
	"Why're YOU looking so scared, we're the ones that have to
	follow this thing!" James whined.
	Bill stood up, then walked over to a wall in his lab that he
	had made sure no lights hit.  The shadows covered a door,
	which had no knob.  Bill pressed a section of the wall, and it
	slid open, revealing a dusty staircase that wound down into
	the ground.  Motioning for us to follow, Bill rapidly trotted
	down, the stairs ringing and banging with all of our
	footfalls.
	After three of four minutes or spiraling, my head was doing
	the same thing, but luckily we reached the end.  Jessie, James
	and Lark were so dizzy that they all crashed down on top of
	me, and we fell into a pile on the stone floor.  A small
	lightbulb dangling from the ceiling flipped on, and a simple
	pedestal stood in the center of the small room we stood in.
	On the pedestal, a golden ball sat, apparently unaffected by
	dust or time.  Bill gulped and picked up the ball, his hand
	shaking noticeably.  "Ladies and gentleman," he said,
	regaining his composure.   He thrust the ball forward proudly,
	and I jumped back at the sudden movement.  "Meet....
	ULTRAREON!"
**********************************************************************
*********************



	Part 12.			The Stone Locator and the
	Cerulean Gym




	I gasped, staggering back in surprise.  "Holy smokes Bill, ya
	wanna get us all killed, lock that thing up and throw it into
	space!" I shouted.
	Bill held the pokeball tighter to himself.  "This was the
	first Ultrareon.  And believe it or not, I was the one who
	brought him to this world."
	I stared in shock at him.  "But.... How?"
	Bill sat down on the pedestal and held the golden ball as if
	it were a prized possession.  "25 years ago, when I was 13
	years old, I dreamed of becoming the world's greatest
	scientist, and creating an all new pokemon.  So, when I caught
	an eevee one day, I spent almost two years finding all three
	stones to use on it.  Evolution stones were horribly rare back
	then.  Then I used the stones on Eevee, and he evolved into
	Ultrareon.  In the resulting battle, he killed my friends, and
	nearly killed me.
	"Then, he flew off and hid in some mountains, occasionally
	leaving the haven to make raids on villages,  and once he
	tried to start a Pokemon uprising.  But I was there to stop
	him every time, using a pokemon which I cannot reveal, as it
	is top secret information.  It took me two years, but using
	that pokemon, I found all three stones, and in a violent
	battle that destroyed an entire town, I de evolved him with
	the stones.
	"When the Eevee was released from the spirit, it was just the
	same as before.  Except it lost all of its attacks, and can
	never learn anymore.  And he also gained the ability to locate
	evolution stones that have been used on an Ultrareon.  And he
	can also locate stones that have been used on the same
	Ultrareon, which is why I have saved him, in case some stupid
	trainer decides he wants to test out all three stones on an
	eevee," Bill glared at me.
	"Nice going, stupid," Meowth said bitterly behind me.
	Bill activated the pokeball, and all of us but Bill shrank
	back, somehow expecting the towering Ultrareon creature to
	appear.  Instead, a cute little eevee came out, identical to a
	normal eevee except the fact that it had a red, yellow and
	blue gym on his forehead.  "This is the original eevee," Bill
	said, then recalled eevee.  "I'm lending him to you, but be
	careful, for he's the only one who can locate those evolution
	stones."
	"Right," I said, tucking the gold pokeball into my backpack.
	"And.... Thanks, Bill," I said, then turned to follow my
	friends up the stairs.

	When I stepped outside Bill's lighthouse's door, it was almost
	pitch black.  "Dangit," I snapped angrily, then turned back
	in.
	"You'll be wanting to stay here tonight," Bill said.  "The
	guest room is ready, but you'll have to leave early in the
	morning, don't give Utrareon a second more than you have to."
	I nodded tiredly and thanked him, entering the room without
	conversation.
	"Oh, yes Bill, I almost forgot!" I said as I popped out of the
	room.  "I have a pokemon you might like to study!"
	Bill frowned.  "What is it?"
	"My Charcloy," I said with a proud grin.
	Bill choked, and stood there gasping and trying to talk but
	failing and only looking like a dying Magikarp.  I tossed him
	Charcloy's pokeball.  "Take good care of him," I said.
	Bill nodded vigorously and clutched the pokeball tightly to
	himself, his eyes bugging out.  He then rushed off down a hall
	like a kid at a party.
	Jessie, James, Lark, Meowth and me slept fitfully that night,
	packed into the small room.  Or at least  Jessie and Lark did,
	since they got the only two beds, leaving the boys of our
	group to the cold metal floor, tamed only by thick blankets.

	I woke up at dawn the next morning, and not of my own free
	will either.  It was by Bill's insistent poking and prodding
	that I was brought back from the comforting warmth and
	darkness of sleep.  "Common, common boy, no time to lose,
	let's get a move on it, you don't have all century to get rid
	of Ultrareon!"
	I growled and sat up, throwing the blankets off of my body and
	instantly regretting it as waves of cold morning air washed
	over me.  "Here," Bill said, thrusting a green and white
	pokeball into my hands.  "I thought Charcloy might like
	sommore room, so I transferred him to an Ultra Ball."
	"Thanks," I said, clipping the Ultra Ball to my belt and
	walking around the room to wake everyone.  When I got to
	Jessie, I shook her gently.  A hand shot out from under the
	covers, grabbing me by the shirtcollar and yanking me down to
	face its owner, a flaming mad Jessie.  "If you EVER try to
	wake me up before ten o-clock in the morning, I'll murder
	you," she snarled, then tossed me back.
	James laughed as he folded up his sleeping bag.  "Jessie's not
	a morning person," he said with a grin.
	I straightened my shirt collar, still a bit shaken by the
	incident.  "I could tell."
	Twenty minutes later, after Bill had given us a quick
	breakfast, our party started out again, trekking cheerfully
	down the road.  Halfway to Cerulean, in fact I could see the
	Gym in the distance, who should we encounter, but the Rebs and
	Yanks,  on either side of the road, yelling insults at each
	other.  Occasionally one of them would throw a pokemon, then a
	short scuffle would ensue, before both pokemon were called
	back.
	I had had enough of this.  "CHARCLOY, I CHOOSE YOU!"
	Towering fully 45 feet high, the impressive black fire pokemon
	struck fear into the hearts of its enemies, heck, even into
	the hearts of the two fighting groups.  The Yanks yelped and
	cowered back, while the Rebs just stepped back in awe and
	momentary shock.
	Charcloy roared, sounding like a dinosaur, and breathed flames
	into the sky.  I stepped out in front of Charcloy, glaring
	around me.  "Okay, now you guys were fighting all day
	yesterday and who knows how long before that, you wasted my
	entire day yesterday, and your constant fighting is only
	disrespectful to you pokemon, now if I don't see some
	cooperation RIGHT NOW then Charcloy's gonna have some NEW CHEW
	TOYS," I holloered, quivering in anger.
	"Psst!" I turned furiously to Lark, who walked over to me
	quickly.  "Jack," she whispered fiercely.  "You're never going
	to make them cooperate by scaring them to death, just look at
	them!"
	I looked over at the Yanks, and saw that several lay on the
	ground in a comical spread-eagled faint.  The Rebs were
	crouching behind boulders, fingering pokeballs, and several
	were defiantly trying to go face Charcloy, being held back
	only by their comrades.
	Lark pushed me away gently and stepped out between the two
	groups.  "Okay guys, now why are you fighting?" she asked
	calmly.
	Immediately a chorus of chatterings and accusations exploded
	forth.  "ONE AT A TIME," I belted out, then pointed to a Yank
	who appeared to be the leader of their group.  The boy sniffed
	and stepped forward.  "That one," he said, pointing at the
	apparent leader of the Rebs as if accusing of murder.  "He
	attempted to mortally cripple me!"
	The accused boy jumped forward furiously.  "Ah stepped on yer
	foot by accident in a pokemart!"
	"And then you punched me!" the Yank wailed.
	"Cuz you called me a dumb Rebel, then you insulted the south!
	And ah have yet to see the day when a southerner takes an
	insult from a Billy Yank!"
	The Yank sniffed and held his head imperiously in the air.  I
	shook my head, then walked slowly over to the Yank.  "Okay,
	the North is a hive of scum and villainy, and Grant and
	Sherman wore women's clothes," I said simply, then turned away
	from the shocked boy and ran over to the Rebs.
	I stepped on the leader's foot, hardly hurting him, and he
	stared at me like I was crazy.  "WHAM!" I slammed my fist into
	his gut, and he fell back, in more shock than pain.  "Why ah
	oughta!" he yelled, jumping at me.
	"Now you guys are even," I said, skippin out of the Reb's
	reach.  "I suggest you not continue this war, because when I
	get into Cerulean City, I'm going to ask the police to check
	out this area! And if they find out you've been using your
	Pokemon for personal vengeance, you'll have your trainer's
	licenses taken away!"
	With that last parting yell, I recalled Charcloy, then jogged
	down the road to Cerulean City, Jessie, James, Meowth and Lark
	giving last parting comments to the two stunned groups of
	Americans before catching up with me.
	Twenty minutes later, we thankfully made it to Cerulean City,
	and I was ready to get my next badge from the famous Cerulean
	Sisters.


		To Be Continued.....


	Send all feedback to brenndon_juster@hotmail.com and please do
	send feedback, I'd like to know if anybody likes my story,
	it's only a two minute message to me! Brenndon Juster II