Fiery Sapphire
      Ellen surveyed Mt. Moon as Charles finished off the last of many trainers 
on Route 6. He jogged over to Ellen and told her about the fighting. “Well, most 
of them were Bug Pokémon, so they didn’t present much of a challenge.” Charles 
also explained that many Pokémon wanted to go with him, but he told them they 
should stay with their Trainers, mostly for protection. Ellen acknowledged his 
comment and pointed out a Pokémon center by Mt. Moon.
      “It would be better if we heal, because frankly Charles, you look a little 
beat up. I know it doesn’t sound that bad, but you could get an infection from a 
cut, or something like that.” Charles raised an eyebrow at her speech. “Don’t 
blame me. My mom always said things like that.” Ellen explained quickly. 
Finally, it was decided that Ellen would get a soda while Charles was in so 
called ‘critical treatment.’ When the two walked in, Charles was instantly taken 
by ten beautiful young Nurse Joys who cooed about how cute he was, and gave hm 
pet names. Finally, a lipstick covered Charles was taken to the healing center.
      Ellen sipped her soda pop and looked around the center. Normal peoples 
mostly, a few old dudes, and a toddler in a stroller. Ellen noticed the only one 
who wasn’t normal was the shady looking man who crept up to her. The man 
whispered in her ear, “Excuse me, miss, but would you like to buy a Magicarp?” 
Ellen glanced over at the man.
      “How much?” She asked slyly, hoping to get a good deal.
      “For you? Fifty dollars.”
      “No thank you!” Ellen said quickly, pushing him away. 
      “Well, if you don’t want it, fine.” He walked away and glared at her until 
Charles came out and was ready to go.
      “Well Ellen, I feel great after that…’therapy session’. Ready to go to Mt. 
Moon?” Ellen agreed with him, and they walked the short distance to Mt. Moon.
      ”GRUNT AS LOW AS DIRT! COME HERE!” Giovanni screeched, as the figure 
entered the darkened room and kneeled at his feet.
      “Yes Master?” the Slave humbly replied.
      “Do we have our volunteers placed at all the correct spots?”
      “Yes Master. May I go Master?”
      “Now, now Slave, don’t be so hasty. Do we have the Albino Poochenna?”
      The Slave maliciously grinned. “Yes Master, we do Master!”
      Giovanni returned it with an even more malicious smirk. “Perfect.”
	Ellen and Charles both turned around the corner, eyes darting. They were 
tired of running from Zubats and blindly crashing into walls. They were going to 
get out. Fast. Ellen needed something, anything. Something like… “Wow! Free Ice 
cream!” cried Ellen, her dream coming true. Ellen pointed to a cardboard ice 
cream stand with a sign saying “ice creem”, and a Rocketeer standing next to it. 
Ellen ran over and Charles followed reluctantly. “Hello there! Can I buy an ice 
cream?”
The Rocket put on a smile and said, “Sure! All I need is your Charmander, and 
all Pokémon you have!”
“Oh really?” Ellen said slowly, stepping away from the cart. “I don’t need ice 
cream that badly. We’ll be going now.” She lied, walking quickly away from the 
Rocket.
 “This was such a waste of time!” Ellen heard the Rocket exclaim from behind 
her. “Ellen, we might want to be careful, my sense is that there are more 
Rockets around.” Charles warned, as they walked on. It was easy the rest of the 
way, until they climbed down a latter and was confronted with a Team Rocket 
member.
“Your not going anywhere!” the Rocket blocked her path. “I gonna kill you and 
your Pokémon, and then I’m gonna get the biggest raise!” 
Ellen narrowed her eyes and got ready to fight, after Charles growled at the 
Rocket. “Don’t worry Ellen, I’ll take care of this.” Growled Charles, flexing 
his tiny claws. Ellen yelled her Pokémon was going to battle, and the Rocket 
returned the battle cry. 
“That’s great! A good ole’ Pokémon battle! I got the best Pokémon of all time! 
Go, George!” the Rocket threw out a Great Ball, and an Albino Poochenna 
materialized.
 “Who is that?” Charles whispered to Ellen, glancing at a wide-eyed ‘George.’
“Oh my god!” Ellen yelled, as several Zubats looked up at Ellen. “What are you 
doing here?”
“What are you doing here? What are you doing here?” Feolan snarled mockingly. 
“What am I doing here? I was captured by this Rocket right here, and he took to 
Mt. Moon! What do you thing I’m here? To have tea and cookies with this person 
right here?”
      “What? The Rockets again?” cried Ellen “This is getting out of control!” 
Charles nodded profusely and sent fire to his boots. The Rocket screamed and 
stomped his feet on the ground. Then, he shot one more hateful look at Ellen 
before running away.
	“Wow. You did it. I’m…” Feolan hesitated before choosing his words. 
“Impressed. Can we go now?” Feolan asked, walking up to Ellen.
Charles snickered. “Right. Let’s go GEORGE!” and Charles laughed like it was the 
funniest thing in the world.
Feolan narrowed his beaming red eyes and hissed in a somewhat demonic voice, 
“Never call me George.” Charles nodded and hid behind Ellen’s leg.
	So, the three travelers walked on, hid from the Rockets, and battled some. 
They were also continuously bombarded by Zubats. Ellen rounded a corner and saw 
a figure. “Watch out for that guy.” Warned Charles. “He might be another 
Rocket.” Ellen approached him carefully. He was a small man, probably in his 
early 20’s, with blond hair, and outrageously large reading glasses. He looked 
older though, because he face was ridden with worry. He was crouching 
protectively over two fossils.
	Ellen stepped up to him and spoke. “Hi. May we pass? We’ll step over your 
fossils.” The man looked up at her and then Ellen’s Pokémon.
“Why are your Pokémon walking around with you?” he asked in a nasally voice.
“Excuse me?”
“Why are your Pokémon walking around with you?”
“Because they don’t like Pokéballs, and I don’t either.”
Some thing strange happened. The man got a small smile on his face, but it 
quickly vanished. He asked another question. “Do you like Pokémon trainers?”
Ellen considered this. “I have a friend who’s a trainer, but you know, I really 
just leave Pokémon in the wild.”
	The man was now grinning, and Ellen was now confused. The man stood up and 
collected the two fossils. “Meet me at the Pokémon fan club in Cerulean City 
A.S.A.P. Please come. You won’t regret it!” he ran off.
      Feolan sighed. “That was one weird dude.” He paused to look ahead and 
exclaimed “The exit!” the three exchanged smiles as they ran out, into the 
light.
      -Later-
      The three trudged along in Cerulean City. Ellen got quite a few strange 
looks from people, as she was speaking to her Pokémon. So all the townspeople 
deemed Ellen worthy of ‘social outcast.’ So the three walked. And walked. And 
walked. And they finally came to Vermillion City!
      Ellen wiped her forehead. “Wow! I feel like I just ran a marathon! Don’t 
they make cars?”
      “Actually Ellen,” Charles explained, “They make bikes. Except there 
terribly expensive.” A boy rode past them on his bike. 
      Ellen muttered something like “Crappy inflation…” and told them to 
continue walking to the fan club. They stopped in front of a large brick 
building, covered with ivy. It had a large brass nameplate that said “POKÉMON 
FAN CLUB- If someone brags, brag right back!” they entered. 
      They were greeted by fabulous décor. Elegant wall paper donned the walls, 
while plush carpet was the floor. Arrogant looking-people sat at couches and 
discussed whose Pokémon was better. Ellen squinted and looked around for the 
fossil guy, and saw him sitting in a corner. He waved her over. He looked 
different from all the other superior people, he wearing an oversized shirt and 
raggedy jeans. He greeted Ellen with a firm handshake.
      “Hello. You can call me Miguel…for now. You can follow me.” He stood up, 
and Ellen followed reluctantly. She glanced at Feolan and he shrugged, and 
Charles did so also. She tagged along him all the way back to Cerulean, and they 
went into the town. He walked quickly until they came to a long bridge 
connecting an island to the city. Ellen bumped into Miguel when he abruptly 
stopped, and she poked her head from the back of him to see the commotion. And 
man, it was a commotion! Six people were harassing citizens who tried to cross 
the bridge! The six all looked mean and blood-thirsty, read to pin anyone down 
and beat the crud out of them. Miguel turned around. “Oh, fudge! There are 
Rockets here! We can’t get to the business center! Fudge, fudge, fudge!” Miguel 
stomped his foot on the ground for every time he said fudge.
      “If we need to cross the bridge, can’t we just push through the Rockets?” 
Ellen began to walk towards the bridge. Miguel caught her arm.
      “Do you know how dangerous the Rockets are? They’ll steal your Pokémon and 
leave you bleeding on the street!”
      Ellen pulled free and walked straight to the bridge, and Miguel followed 
after her, persuading her not to go. She walked up to the first Rocket on the 
bridge, and was greeted by a toothy grin. “Hello, trainer! If you cross this 
bridge and defeat all of us, you get a special secret prize! Care to battle?”
      Feolan stepped up. “I’m gonna beat the crap outa you for your friend 
naming me George and making me battle!” Ellen jumped next to Feolan and said she 
was going to battle to.
      The Rocket stared at the barking Poochenna. “I guess you and your 
Poochenna will battle. Go, Ratitata!” The small mouse Pokémon jumped out, and 
then was mercilessly… ’dismissed’ by Feolan and Ellen. The wide-eyed Rocket 
looked at her bleeding Ratitata. “Um… you won? Hooray!?” Then she looked at the 
other Rockets and called, “HELP! SHE BEAT MY POKÉMON! HELP!” All the other 
Rockets turned around simultaneously, with fire in their eyes, while Ellen 
starred back, but she had a guilty look on her face, as did Feolan. The Rockets 
walked menacingly towards Ellen her Pokémon, and Miguel tried to help Ellen.
      “I told you this was a bad idea!” Miguel was back to back with Ellen, as 
the Rockets closed in on them, circle form.
      “Well, I’m sorry! I thought they weren’t that menacing!” the Rockets now 
formed a circle around the four. They stared at Miguel and Ellen. One finally 
spoke.
      “Ah…look what we have here…two troublemakers…I see.” The Rocket paused. 
With incredible strength, she called “DONOVAN!” a young man suddenly appeared 
next to her. He was wearing black suit with heeled boots. He looked at her with 
piercing green eyes, and tapped his foot impatiently. His black hair was decked 
with thin spikes, and he smoothed it back.
      “You called?”
      “We appear to have two troublemakers. Would you like to deal with them?”
      He stroked the Rocket’s black hair. “Anything for you, babe.” The girl 
giggled uncontrollably, and left with her friends. Donovan circled them a few 
times, looking them over. He looked intently at a sweating Miguel. He finally 
smiled evilly and spoke. “Gold, so nice to see you. The youngest one in your 
little ‘group.’ How quaint. Whose the new recruit?” he nodded and glanced at 
Ellen.
      Miguel gave an icy stare back. “She’s not a new recruit, she’s my… 
cousin’s-father’s-mother’s-roommate’s-Poochenna walker’s-son’s-girlfriend.”
      “In other words, your new recruit?”
      Miguel sunk his head. “Yes.”
      “You know what I have to do, Gold.” He took a Pokéball out. “I have to 
kill her.” Donovan dropped the Pokéball. There was a flash of electric light, 
and hello! A Pikachu materialized. It eyes glowed an unhealthy red.
      “Pika..Pika…Pikachu!” it walked towards the two Pokémon, arm outstretched. 
What Ellen heard was “brains…brains…must eat brains!” Charles backed up with 
Feolan as the Pikachu stumbled forward.
      “Gah! No, no you stupid Pikachu, kill the girl! Not the Pokémon! The girl! 
Eat her brains, for all I care!” Donovan stamped his heeled black boots. The 
Pikachu stared at Donovan, and continued walking towards the two Pokémon, still 
chanting. Finally, the Pikachu cornered Charles, and bared it’s bloody fangs.
      “Good lord!” cried the Charmander, spraying flames over the Pikachu. The 
electric mouse gave a cry and jumped at Charles. He waited for the perfect 
moment, and clawed the Pikachu in the face. Charles examined his claws with 
pride.
      “Ah!!” Donovan kicked the Pikachu’s body. “Damnit!” he calmed down and 
returned the Pikachu to it’s Pokéball. “Mark my words, I’ll be back! No one 
defeats Donovan Kyler, Team Rocket’s third-in command!  I would of gotten away 
with it, too, if it wasn’t for you Charma-“ Donovan stopped and looked at 
Charles. Ellen looked at Charles. Miguel looked at Charles. Feolan looked at 
Charles. Charles looked at himself, and saw his body was glowing. His skin was 
turning a crimson red, he felt he was growing. He felt the back of his head and 
he found, to his surprise, a bone was now protruding from it. He now had a pair 
of good quality fangs, and his claws were now longer and more lethal. The 
transformation was complete, and he was now a fine Charmeleon. Charles grinned 
at Miguel and Ellen. Ellen grinned back, and prepared to brag to Donovan, but he 
had disappeared.
      After celebrating the evolution, the four walked in a grassy patch and 
stopped at a body of water next to the Cerulean Cave. Ellen peered at the cave. 
“I thought the cave was off-limits to anyone who’s not strong enough.” She 
proceeded to quote the guard in a dopey manner. “No, I am sorry, you are not 
strong enough. Go away. I smell like poo.” Miguel smirked at Ellen.
      “That’s what you think. Come on. Do you know how to swim?”
      “Your telling me we’re gonna swim to the cave!?”
      “Yes.”
      “Oh.” So, after many towels later, the three (Charles had to stand on 
Ellen’s back, which weighed her down quite a lot.) walked up to the guard.
      Miguel gave a half hearted wave. “Hay Mac.”
      Mac waved back. “Hey Gold. Whose the new one?”
      “My name’s Ellen.” Mac nodded and let them in. What Ellen saw was not what 
she expected. A man stood up and gave a slow wave. Ellen saw his hand was 
replaced by a somewhat robotic looking hand, but still fully functional.
      “Welcome. You’re going to defeat the Rockets and save one of our members.” 
He said. Ellen just stared and stared.