TO BE A TRUE MASTER - THE JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME (Chapter 6) Part 12 - The Stone Locator and The Cerulean Gym (Continued) "Let's go find a phone," I said. "I'm carrying 7 pokemon, and I need to return one to Professor Oak!" "Okay," Jessie and James said. "There's one, now go along!" "Common, you guys, I want you to meet Professor Oak!" Jessie and James hesitated a moment, then followed me to where I was dialing in Professor Oak's number. "Jack?" the familiar voice said a moment before I received visual. "You have GOT to start talking to me personally and stop leaving messages. Incidentally, your pokedex has informed me that you're carrying seven pokemon, which one are you going to return?" "Doduo, professor," I said, putting Doduo's minimized pokeball on the transferral plate. A moment later it glowed and disappeared. "Oh, Jack, I just got a call from a trainer, he just sent me an eevee and asked me to trade it for either a zubat or whatever else I thought might be useful to him, do you by any chance have a Zubat?" My eyes lit up. I needed a new Eevee, since I had traded pikachu and needed a good electric pokemon to hold me out 'till I could get a magnemite or a voltorb, a true electric pokemon. "You bet I do, Professor, here it comes!" I hurriedly dropped my pokeball into the slot again, and it glowed, then disappeared, and was replaced by a new one. "Yes," I whispered as I clipped the new pokeball to my belt. "Oh, Jack?" Professor Oak asked just before he was about to shut off the video-phone. "Yes, Professor?" I replied. "Should I put you down on my list of trainers who are going to catch as many types of Pokemon as possible?" I thought for a moment. Well, I did seem pretty good at catching pokemon, and it was kind of an incentive to catch a new team of pokemon.... "Okay, professor," I said cheerfully. "Great! Let me count how many you've caught so far! Rattata, Spearow, Zubat, Doduo, Pikachu, Pidgey, Nidoran, Eevee, Vaporeon, Pidgeotto, and some abnormal signal coming from one of your poke'balls...." Oak said with a frown. "Oh yeah, Professor, my Charizard evolved into a Charcloy!" Much like Bill, Professor Oak's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "My GOODNESS! You have been training your pokemon well! You've already fully evolved two of your pokemon! Not counting the pokemon evolving, you've caught ten pokemon, Jack. Good, but it could be better, you've been on the road for two or three weeks. Ash Ketchum and my grandson Gary are almost up to twenty pokemon, you'd better get cracking! Oh, I've also activated the automatic transferral switch on your pokedex, so that if you have more than 7 pokemon at one time, the new one will be transferred to me, and you can just call me up if you want to trade it in." "Yes, sir, I'll try my best Professor, bye! Oh wait, Professor I want you to meet my new friends!" I said, grabbing Jessie and James and hauling them back to the videophone. They both laughed nervously and gave little waves. "Hello there, sir," Jessie said. I could swear that I heard a beeping from Professor Oak's end of the line and a small voice saying "Wanted, wanted!" "Jack? Could you let me talk to these two troubl- err, people alone for a moment?" "Sure thing, Professor, I'm gonna catch some more pokemon in the fields around Cerulean." I jogged cheerfully away, barely taking notice of Jessie and James's discomfort at talking to Professor Oak. "Wait, Jack I'm coming with you," Lark yelled, tearing herself away from the videophone where she had been talking to professor Oak. She caught up with me just as I ran out the side exit of Cerulean City. "The key to catching a pokemon is stealth," I whispered as I crept through the tall grasses that lay just beside a river winding around Cerulean. "You've also gotta be patient, and creep around for hours looking for pokemon," I whispered. "Zzzzip!" I turned around, and there was Lark, smirking and tossing a newly occupied pokeball into the air. "It's an oddish," she said simply, passing by me. "It's pretty wimpy, that's why I was able to catch it so easily. Also, if you hit a pokemon with the pokeball really hard, it'll confuse or knock them out for the few seconds it takes to capture them," she stated, clipping the pokeball beside her other two. "Pika-chu!" Pikachu said on her shoulder, giving me a two- fingered peace sign. I growled and dove into the grasses again. "I'll show you," I yelled. "I'm not going back to town until I catch some pokemon!" "Fine," she yelled back. "I'm going to go get Jessie and James and check out the city!" And with that, and a rustle of grass, she was gone. "Stuck up, scrawny little miss smartie," I muttered, fingering one of my pokeballs proudly. "Oddish odish oddish," a tiny, squeaky voice murmured near me. "Purrrrfect," I said, grinning and hurling Pidgeotto's pokeball into action when I saw the wild grass pokemon. "Pidgeotto, let's get crackin'!" "Dgeotto!" Oddish squeaked and started waddling away as fast as his tiny feet could take him, which was surprisingly pretty fast. "Sand attack, then gust it, Pidgeotto!" I yelled. Sand swirled around in the air, and Oddish disappeared with a squeak. Before the sand had even cleared, Pidgeotto swirled a new draft of air, slamming it down onto the area where Oddish had last been seen. "Zzzeeeeeeoooo!" The air vibrated, and I suddenly got a bad feeling. The gust broke and through it a glowing form pranced. The glowing stopped, leaving a short, black and green pokemon that looked to be honest, kinda dumb. Well, heck, it was drooling and its eyes were closed, that leaves a bad impression on a person. My pokedex flipped open and Pidgeotto and this new pokemon stared each other down. "Gloom: Oddish's evolved form, this powerful plant pokemon secretes a nectar which attracts its prey. Gloom uses various plant and powder attacks. Its most used attack is absorb, which-" "Yeah, I know," I interrupted, closing pokedex and snapping it to my belt. "Gloom gloom," gloom squeaked, then began to glow. Pidgeotto shrieked as it began to glow too, then fell to the ground weakly. "Dangit!" I yelled. "Quick, Pidgeotto, resist it and give it a wing attack!" Pidgeotto leapt up, then gained two feet of air. "DGEEEO!" Pidgeotto dove in at Gloom, smashing his body into him. He swirled up again, smashing Gloom eight more times. The pathetic plant pokemon swayed back and forth as it was beaten mercilessly. As pidgeotto tired down and ended his attack, Gloom, weakened from the fight and his evolution, topppled to the ground, badly battered. I smirked, putting my backpack down and pulling one of my as yet untested Great Balls from it. I tried out a new pokemon capturing move I had been thinking about lately. I pumped my free arm into the air, then sliced it down at Gloom, aiming three fingers dead straight. "Gloom, you're mine!" I yelled, then tossed the pokeball in the air. I swiftly snatched the ball from the air, then hurled it straight and true. "Great ball, go!" The ball made contact and gloom turned to red energy, which poured into the great ball. The ball, as expected, quivered, but it was not very much, and after several seconds, Gloom gave up, stilling the Great Ball and deactivating the red light. "Slammin', I caught Gloom!" I said loudly, reaching forward to pick up the ball. I jumped back in surprise as a red light encased the great ball, then made it disappear. I looked down at the guilty party, my pokedex, and reached angrily for it. "Pokemon allowance full, please contact Professor Oak to trade in your pokemon," Pokedex chirped. "Aww," I whined, hanging my head. "I wanted to evolve Gloom right here!" "That isn't my problem, Buster," Pokedex said. "Dumb computer," I growled. "Wrong. Only STUPID trainers let wild pokemon rummage through their backpacks," Pokedex said machanically. "Huh?" I turned, and grew red with anger and embarassment. A foot tall, green pokemon with two beady eyes was halfway inside my backpack, apparently trying to sneak in. "Metapod: A coccoon pokemon, Caterpie's evolved form. Totally encased in its protective shell, Metapod can do no moves other than harden. This pokemon evolves into the Butterfree within two weeks of evolving to Metapod if exposed to battle." "Metapod, Pod pod, Metapod, pod metapod metapod meta metapod," the pokemon said in a deep voice. "Huh?" I said again, a pool of brilliance in vocabulary. "Pokedex, translate," I said, opening up the red computer. "I Metapod. Need trainer, want to evolve to butterfree, will go with you freely if you help me evolve, then will be your loyal pokemon. Dangerous out here for Metapod." "Okay," I said. "So that's why you were trying to get into my backpack, you were trying to stow away with me, well, get into one of the great balls and I'll train you!" "Metapod," the pokemon said cheerfully, then tapped a pokeball and disappeared. "Thank you," Pokedex said, then shot out the red light again, taking Metapod from me. "Dope!" I yelled, slapping my face with my hand and dragging it down. It was nearing sunset after five hours more of searching for pokemon. All I found were Metapods, Oddishes, and the rare Gloom. "Abra," said a gruff voice from behind me. I whirled, but there was only a glow which faded away. I felt a pressure on my head, and reached up, feeling an armored hide. I quickly pulled the thing down. It was a pokemon, dark brown, covered with armored plates, its eyes closed, in a meditation style sitting position. Suddenly, the thing disappeared, leaving me holding air. He reappeared about ten feet away from me, still with eyes closed. "Abra: A psychic pokemon, this unevolved form of Kadabra knows only teleport. This pokemon has an extremely high IQ, going up to 260 usually." "I've always wanted a psychic pokemon," I said, unclipping Pidgeotto's pokeball again. "Pidgeotto, last battle of the day!" I yelled as my bird swooped into the darkening sky. Abra watched in wonder, like a child, as Pidgeotto dove in on him. Just as Pidgeotto let out a triumphant cry a moment before impacting his target, Abra disappeared, leaving Pidgeotto to eat dirt. "Dgeotto!" Pidgeotto cried irritably, pulling his beak from the ground and hopping around, looking for his target. "There!" I yelled, pointing as Abra appeared behind him. Pidgeotto stood still, then began to glow white, disappearing, then reappering a moment later. He was definitely bigger, twice his former size, and more elegant looking than his tough-looking unevolved form. "Pidgeot," I said, seizing the moment, turn and give him a flying tackle!" Pidgeotto turned and shot in at Abra, knocking the psychic pokemon back quickly. 'Pidgeot's one of the fastest pokemon known, definitely the fastest flying pokemon, he can go up to 360 kilometers per hour,' I thought to myself with a grin. "Give him another one, Pidgeot!" Abra regained his senses and teleported away quickly, but Pidgeot whirled in mid air, slamming into Abra when he reappeared a moment later. Abra fell to the ground with a soft thud, moaning. I did my pokemon catching move again, then hurled my last great ball of the day. "I'm not losing a Geat Ball, I'm gaining a psychic," I yelled when the ball contacted Abra. The moment the indicator light went off, Pokedex transferred the Great Ball again. "Jack!" "Jaaaaaack!" I turned at the sound of my voice, and ran into Lark. "Where were you? We've been looking for you for twenty minutes, common, it's getting dark, let's go!" "Okay," I said quickly, recalling Pidgeot and swinging my backpack over my shoulder. We found Jessie and James a moment later, Jessie proudly holding a pokeball with a new Oddish, her first catch in a very long time. "Let's go into town, I have to call Professor Oak again!" Jessie and James immediately started whining, and all the way into town they tried to make excuses not to call Oak. "Look, guys what's the problem? And why did he want to talk to you? Better yet, why were you guys really wearing those uniforms? And why were you so nervous when we fought a Team Rocket member? I'm not going another inch until you tell me what's going on!" I roared. James grinned. "Okay, we'll go get the camping supplies, we'll camp out here tonight, but it's going to be a bit of a problem catching all the pokemon staying here...." I glared at the two grinning teens. Finally their smiles melted and their shoulders sagged. Meowth hopped off James's shoulder and stood proudly in front of his companions. "We're busted," Meowth said simply. "To protect the world from devastation!" Jessie said, raising her head as if bringing back joyful memories. "To unite all peoples within our nation!" Said James, standing proudly. "To denounce the evils of truth and love!" "To extend our reach to the stars above!" Their voices got higher and higher, then they cried out again. "JESSIE!" "JAMES!" "Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!" Jessie said proudly, crossing her arms. "Surrender now or prepare to fight," James said with a smirk. "Meeeowth, that's right!" cried Meowth, leaping into the air. Lark's jaw dropped open, and I simply stared at the two teenagers with a puzzled expression. "Hey!" Lark yelped. "The guy I met up with said something like that, and he was from Team Rocket, you guys are the pokemon thieves!" James sighed, sitting down on a rock glumly, Jessie following suit and Meowth sitting in true cat fashion. "Yes, it's true," James said quietly. "You guys were thieves?" I asked. "Well, we tried, but we never succeeded. And when we finally finished out job and brought in Pikachu, we realized it wasn't worth it," Jessie said. "I never wanted to be evil, and I certainly never wanted to hurt anyone, ao I tried as much as I could not to when I could," James said sadly. I suddenly felt rage boiling up inside me. "Were you planning on stealing my pokemon?" James opened his mouth as if to protest, then closed it slowly. "Yes, at first. Then I got to liking you, and I decided just to leave you alone, especially after you got that Pikachu and some pokemon for us." "And then, we began to like you," Jessie said. "And our sense of duty overrode that, so we left and went back to Boss...." "But then, even before he passed us over for promotion, we planned to steal away and join up with you," Meowth said in a pleading tone. "And we didn't tell you because we thought you would hate us and either beat us up with your superior pokemon, or abandon us," James finished. "Well..." I said slowly. "You haven't stolen my pokemon yet...." Meowth looked up. "And you've proven to be steadfast friends...." Jessie looked up, a hint of a smile forming. "And you sem to have give up your bad habits...." James looked up. "And you've agreed to follow me, through thick and thin to fight Ultrareon. And you've proved to be friends in the truest sense," I finished with a grin. "So you-" Jessie began. "Won't abandon-" James interrupted. "Us?" Meowth finished, his eyes becoming large as saucers. I pretended to think for a moment, then shook my head solemnly. "Jessie, James and Meowth are here to stay," the trio yelled, standing up proudly. Then they all drew out fans with red R's and threw them away. They all leapt at me, hugging me joyfully, and rather tightly. Meowt hlatched himself around my neck and practically strangled me, while Jessie and James hugged me from either side, whooping and hollering, babbling that they would never do anything bad again, and would stay with me forever. "So what did Professor Oak want to talk with you about?" I asked five minutes later as we entered Cerulean. "Oh, it was just another death threat, we get lots of those. He said he would have us locked up and the key thrown away if we touched you," James said cheerfully. "My goodness, Jack," Professor Oak said when I called him. "You really took me serious when you said you were going to catch lots of pokemon! I've already received 3 since you last called!" "Yessir," I said, and I'm gonna exchange my Eevee and Pidgey for Gloom and Metapod if it's okay with you?" "Of course it is, here they come!" A minute later I clipped the two Great Balls to my belt proudly. I thanked professor Oak and shut off the videophone. "Okay guys, let's get back to the camp, I'm going to evolve my Gloom into Vileplume with one of the leaf stones," I said. "Yeeee haaaaw!" Halfway down the road to our campsite half a mile from the outskirts of Cerulean I heard the yell and looked towards its source, a barn a couple hundred yards off the road in a well-mown field. The barn was brightly lit, and I could faintly hear the sounds of banjos, guitars, drums and various other instruments, as well as cheers and yells. ********************************************************************** **** Part 13. The Southern Barnyard Blowout! "Let's go check it out," Lark said enthusiastically, charging across the field. "Lark, wait!" I yelled as I faithfully followed her. "Wait for Team Rocket!" Jessie, James and Meowth cried, running after me. When I reached Lark, she stood in the open doorway of the barn, looking around with wide eyes. The barn was filled with kids our age, dancing and talking, showing off pokemon, wrestling and laughing. In the center of the brightly lit barn was a laughign group of boys playing guitars, banjos, flutes, drums and other instruments, playing some kind of Irish jig. I immediately recognized most of the boys as the 'Rebs' we had met on the road. I laughed as I saw several shy girls, obviously spectators from Cerulean City, join the enthusiastic Southern Americans in the dance. "Wow," Lark said. "These guys really know how to have a good time, maybe we should join them!" "Oh no, you aren't gettin' me to join those crazy Americans," I yelled over the music. Lark took no notice of my protests as she grabbed my hand, rushing out to the barnyard dance. "Yeeee haaa! It's the Billy Yank!" I hearda familiar voice yell. I tore myself away from Lark as she tried to make me dance and faced the first Reb I had met, James Garner. "How ya doin' Jackie old boy?" he asked in his warm southern accent. James looked behind me, noticing an impatient Lark, then brushing past me as I started to greet him. "Well, heeeelloo there, Pretty lady," he said with a lopsided grin. "Maya ah have the honor of this dance?" I growled, crossing my arms and glaring at him. "No, she won't," I said. "Of course I will," Lark said with a look at me then back at James. "We've got to go," I demanded. "I can stay," Lark said in a soft voice, looking at me. "Fine," I muttered, storming out of the swirling dance area and leaning against a barn wall. Meowth scampered over to me holding two styrofoam cups of punch. "Meeeowth," he said, offering me one and sitting down on my shoulder. "Jessie and James're dacing, they abandoned me, what happened to you?" I growled, watching Lark laughing as she moved skillfully with the other dancing southerners. "That impulsive Reb happened to me," I said. I suddenly felt Meowth's weight leaving my shoulder. "Whaaaat?" I cried as Meowth dropped from my shoulder, walking like a Zombie towarda a female Meowth on the other side of the barn How he managed to walk so slowly across the middle of a busy dance floor and not get stomped flat was a mystery in itself, but he did it somehow, and I was left alone. All the Southern boys had been out dancing in the first place, and little by little the cautious Cerulean girls had joined them, so I was the only one in that barn not having fun as I glared at James and Lark. Suddenly, I lost my temper. What right did that American hve to barge in and make Lark dance with him? 'I'l lshow him,' I thought angrily. As soon as Lark's back was turned in a part of the dance, I grabbed James by his collar iand in a flash of motion had dragged him out the back barn door. "Hey ,what was that for?" he asked, a glare beginning to form on his face. "Stay away from Lark," I said in an iron voice. "Why?" James asked in a puzzled tone. "She your girlfriend?" I turned red and yelled "no she isn't, but she's my friend, so you get gone now!" James's face turned dark. Several of his friends appeared behind him, the same dark expressions on their faces. "Boy, you'll do good to learn NEVER to interrupt a southerner havin' fun, and never ot ruin a good time!" "Pokemon battle, all your pokemon, loser has to leave," James said, unclipping a pokeball from the inside of his vest. "Fine, you're on!" I barked, unclipping Pidgeot's pokeball. "Go, Charmeleon!" James said quietly, tossing his pokeball into the open field. "Fine, let's do it, Vaporeon!" I growled, bringing out the water type. More southern boys began to leave the barn-dance as they realized a fight was taking place. "Charmeleon, Slash attack!" "Vaporeon, Sand attack, then water gun!" Vaporeon may have been Charmeleon's weakness, but fire was faster than water. Vaporeon hissed as it took a bad hit from Charmeleon's vicious claws. Sand lifted from the ground, spraying accurately into Charmeleon's eyes, incapacitating the fire pokemon as it tried to rub the grit from his eyes. "Vapo!" Vaporeon screeched as it released a blast of water. Charmeleon spun to face the blast, trying to protect its tail flame and tacking the water blast dead on. "Finish it Vaporeon, tackle!" Charmeleon looked up, just in time to see Vaporeon running in at him. Thr weakened pokemon gave up, flying back across the field when Vaporeon impacted him. "Dangit," James yelled. "Charmeleon return, go Magnemite, Thunderbolt!" "Mag-ne-mite." Electricity crackled through the air and I suddenly felt very bad. "CRAAAAAAACHK!" A ball of wild electricity slammed into Vaporeon, lighting him up. Tendrils of electricity crawled along Vaporeon's scaly hide as the water type stood up on its hind legs, shrieking as Magnemite pumped more and more electricity into him. "Stop! Vaporeon return, go Gloom!" 'I don't think any powders will affect Magnemite, absorb will be blocked, so...' "Gloom, use Acid as hard as you can!" "Gloom gloom!" Gloom spat out a blob of green fluid which landed on Magnemite. "Mag-ne-mite," Magnemite moaned in pain as the powerful poison began to eat through its metal armor. "Okay, Magnemite, SELF DESTRUCT!" "MAG-NE-MITE!" "Gloom, prepa-" Magnemite disappeared as he was replaced by a yellow ball of energy, which evolved into a fireball. The flames swept across Gloom, burning into him for almost a full minute. When the smoke and fire cleared, Magnemite had already been withdrawn, and Gloom lay twitching. "Gloom, return!" I yelled, preparing a pokeball I hadn't used in a long time. "Go, charcloy!" I yelled proudly, hurling out my only Ultra Ball. It took several seconds for him to appear, but when he did, he was more imposing than ever in the cool, dark sky. "Chaaarcloy!" He roared in a well-defined voice. "You crazy?" Jack yelled, then tossed out another pokeball. "Go Raticate!" Raticate popped out, still as fierce as ever, even though Charcloy was over 40 times his size. "Rrrrraticate!" the vicious ground pokemon spat, preparing for battle. "Raticate, quick attack, then Hyper Fang!" "Charcloy, Tail whip then tackle!" The battle began, and it was impressive. Charcloy's mighty tail swung around at Ratocate, threatening a one-hit KO. Raticate dove up into the air, slamming back down behind Charcloy's tail and watching carefully for a counter-swing. "Rrrrraticate!" the small thing screamed as Charcloy came barreling in at him. Raticate jumped into the air just as Charcloy hit the ground. Raticate suspended himself in the air for a few seconds, just long enough for Charcloy to slide underneath him, then he slammed back down on Charcloy's scaly head, burying his fangs in Charcloy's skull. It was ther ethat Raticate made his mistake. Charcloy was completely resistant to physical attacks in his head, and Raticate's huge fangs shattered. "Raaticaate!" the wounded pokemon shrieked as it fell to the ground, rolling around in its uncontrolable pain. "Raticate, return!" James yelled, throwing his last pokeball into action. "Go, Graveler!" Graveler appeared, and took a long moment to stare up at my Charcloy. Charcloy struck an intimidating pose, standing up to his full 45 feet and lashing his tail in the air, spreading flames through the nighty sky. "CLOOOOOOOY!" Graveler hopped up, then slammed down into the ground, digging a hole and swiftly disappearing. Charcloy smirked, watching the ground carefully, from his great height able to see where Graveler was going. "Charcloy, tail smash then Mega Punch!" "Cloy Charcloy!" Charcloy stepped back, and swung his tail around just as Graveler came up for his attack. "BAM!" Graveler flew into the air as his enemy's tail connected with his rock body. "Clloooooy!" Charcloy's fist lit up, and he used his finishing move. Graveler sailed off into the air, unconscious to the world even as he fell to the ground miles away. "What ARE YOU DOING?" James and I both turned, as did the crowd of southerners who had been watching us. Lark stood at the barn's back door, quite obviously furious. "You should be ashamed of yourselves!" she yelled, marching up to me and James. Our heads hung low as she flew into a rage. Even Charcloy's head hung low, which still towered 40 feet above Lark. "And YOU!" Lark said, standing in front of the monstrous dragon defiantly. "How could you possibly obey your trainer when he does something as stupid as fighting a battle for personal vengeance, RETURN NOW!" Lark recalled a sheepish Charcloy to his Ultra Ball, then threw it at me. I caught the ball, fumbling for a moment before clipping it to my belt. "You just have to ruin a good time, don't you Jack Soniq?" Lark thundered, glaring violently at me. I felt myself melting as she continued yelling at me. I noticed that the crowd had dispersed, James had been the first one to hightail it. 'Southerners may be brave in battle, but they're cowards when it comes to getting yelled at by a girl,' I thought bitterly. "Common, we're going back to camp. NOW," Lark demanded, stomping across the field where our campsite had been set up at the far corner. To Be Continued..... Send all Comments, Flames, and feedback to brenndon_juster@hotmail.com