“Hello and welcome to the wide world of Poke’mon”. Just a little disclaimer here: while Poke’mon, Ruroni Kenshin, and their characters aren’t copyrighted to me, characters such as “Landon” and “Zeru” are. In this story, you’ll join our young hero, Landon, in his epic and unusual journey in the world of Poke’mon. Equipped with a magical bell, he and his friends must stare down the face of evil, win every challenge, make new friends, and claw their way to the top. But can they stop the ultimate evil that threatens their world? There are many twists and surprises, so you have to keep reading if you really want to “Catch ‘em all!” in:
Poke’mon X
The sun barely begun its rise over the horizon in the early morning sky. The light peeped over the tall Mt. Chimney, grazing the tops of the forest that blocked the route from the mountain. A nice cool breeze blew form the west and rushed towards the mountain. Landon was up bright and early that morning. He was beside a few trees that stood off to the side of the trail. The morning dew fell from the leaves onto his face lightly. His hair was down and wet, since he didn’t dry it off after his morning wash up. His Sakaba-tou was drawn and held out in front of him. He made sure he left his friends sleeping back at the spot where they set up camp at. (our story starts out in the morning, while both people and Poke’mon are still asleep. Striving to better understand the secrets of his powers, Landon practices to call the Shikon-subeta, AKA the Fang Sword. Will he be able to do so? Only time will tell.)
Landon let out a sigh as he closed his eyes in concentration. His hair swayed slightly, but not from the west breeze. Instead, the breeze blowing was actually being created by Landon himself. The Crystal Bell was glowing slightly in reaction to his energy output. “….Fang Sword!” He opened his eyes and shouted. Landon’s fang started to vibrate; the entire form of the reverse-blade sword lit up, fading from its metallic state to a wooden one. The Japanese hiragana and component symbols appeared on its side in a spark of crystal blue light. For an entire week, he had been practicing on forming the Fang sword at will. To tell the truth, he rather liked getting up early every morning to practice because it reminded him of home. “Good; I can call it whenever I can. But still…” Landon let his mind wonder back to the night in Dune City, “The power output I created was tremendous then, but now….” He rose the sword over his head, “There’s still so much I don’t understand about all this. Geeeze, I wish Indigo was here—she’d explain things.” “….haaaaah!” Landon’s voice echoed as he brought the bokutou down through the air. A stream-line of light blue energy followed the tip in its crescent-shaped pattern. Once the tip touched the ground, a swirl of wild air rushed around. The tree tops erupted with Pidgey and Tailow that were disturbed in the action. The air clashed with the breeze and put a quick spin in it. “…..that’s not right…..” Landon lifted the bokutou. With a clench of his fist, it changed back into the Sakaba-tou in a flash of light. “How was Tsuname able to use her attack so flawlessly?” That answer was obvious; Tsuname had been born into being an Origin Waker. She had been practicing ever since she could speak. And if that was the case, he was sure that even Syorin had more compensation of his bell as well. Landon tied his hair in back into a tail, which had been dried form the wind it created. “Okay,” He held his sword out in front of him, “Let’s try this again.”
Theme Song: Pocket Monsters X(treme)
Running at
The speed of sound
What adventures can be found?
Traveling the world all around
As fate just spins it upside-down
Little monsters
Everywhere
Find a new one and I’m there
Victory is just for fun
There’s no stoppin’ till I’m number one
Crys-tal,
Clear, and Shadow
Three lights—
That fight the way
Protect those legendary
Is my destiny!
Poke’mon X
(Poke’mon X)
Leading the way
Is my sweet victory
Poke’mon X
(Poke’mon X)
A mystery
Behind each one we see
Poke’—mon X
(Ex—Ex)
This journey I’ll run
Has only begun!!
Episode 30: “Numel Party”
“Hey, Landon!” “Huh?” Landon turned back. May, Zeru, Toya, and Phanpy were running up the trail to him, fully dressed. May hugged the Poke’mon egg close to her body while Zeru held Landon’s backpack. “My yelling….did I wake you guys up?” Landon to sweat, “I’m so sorry—I didn’t mean to be so loud—” “Chill out, Landon; we were already up.” May told him. Toya skipped across the ground and clambered onto her trainer’s head. “…up the whole time?” Landon blinked. “Ever since you left.” “What were you doing?” May and Zeru grinned at him; May reached into her backpack and pulled out the field guidebook. With a few flips of the page, she came to a stop on a page with a Japanese-style restaurant. The roof was a nice dark jade, and the building itself was an apple red. Next to the photo was a briefing of the restaurant, a short menu, and a map of its location. “……the Chimney Shack? That’s osome kind of restaurant?” Landon blinked. “That’s not just any restaurant!” “Dah!” May and Zeru exclaimed so powerfully that he crashed to the ground at their voices. He blinked, sweating anime style. “This is the famous Chimney Shack, one of the five-star restaurants around the Hoenn region.” May stated. “Five star, huh?” Landon blinked, continuing to listen. “Picture this, Lan; a whole table full of the best and vast selection of noodles in the world. Rice, where each and every single grain is prepared to perfection; sizzling-hot fish being cooked right in front of you.” As Zeru carried on, Landon’s face got a spacey, drooling feature; he didn’t realize how hungry he really was until now. He could see each dish being named out. “Kiiip…” Toya’s stomach rumbled. “And there’s all kinds of soups and stews. Long submarine sandwiches are always an option; we’ll be heading up to it real soon, so—” “Zeru, I think that’s enough.” May said, pointing to Landon. Zeru sweated anime style at the giddy look on his friend’s face. “I can’t wait to get some of that—matte,” (“matte” means wait) Landon’s expression turned from hungry to serious, “If this is a famous five-star restaurant, then I just learned one thing.” “Oh, yeah? What’s that?” May asked him. Landon reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Upon turning it over, a puff of dust fell out. “Being hungry and broke can really bum you out.” He let out a sigh. Zeru seemed to have over-looked that factor too; he closed his eyes, sweating anime style. But May, on the other hand, gave another grin to them. “Not to worry; I knew we’d need this.” She reached into her hip pack, rummaging through her stuff. Landon and Zeru watched in silence. “….Aha!” May pulled out a draw-string bag that jungled when she shook it. Landon and Zeru looked at her, to the bag, and back again in disbelief. “B-but….how’d you get all that?” They gawked. May held up her index finger and winked at them. “Let’s just say that Team Darkhorn actually came in handy for once.” “Don’t tell me—” “—you stole that money!?” The two boys exclaimed. CLA-CLACK! “Owwww…” Both Landon and Zeru rubbed their heads gingerly. Toya had the insight to jump off her trainer’s head before he was struck with May’s fan. “Don’t be dense!” May said, her temple beating anime style, “I did some treasure hunting of my own a while back and sold my goods in Dune City. Now, we have enough to go eat at the Chimney Shack.” She explained. Landon got up to his feet and took his backpack from Zeru. With it on his back and Toya on his shoulder, he was the first to start down the dirt trail. “Then let’s get a move on—no questions asked!” He thrust his fist into the air. May, Zeru, and Phanpy dashed after him, shouting, “Hey! You cant’ leave here without us!” “Yeah; I wanna’ be first to that restaurant!” “Phanpy-phan! Phanpy-phan!”
By now, Landon’s energy hype had faded away from him. as a matter of fact, all of them were trudging along the forest trail. Their stomachs growled at them, begging for food. “Oh, man; I need something to eat.” Zeru said. “The only thing I have in are my Poke’mon food and—oh!” Landon pulled off and reached into his backpack. It didn’t take him long to pull out a red case marked with a poke’ball marking on it—the poke’block case! “This thing is full of berry candies! We can use these until we get to the Chimney shack!” He exclaimed. “Oh-cool!” “Mudkip-mudkip!” “Phanpy!” May, Zeru, Toya, and Phanpy jumped happily. Landon opened the case and let his friends dig in first. As May reached towards the case her arm near her stomach gave a quiver. “Huh?” She glanced down at the Poke’mon egg in her arm. The black spots were glimmering a dim purple randomly. “Guys, look!” She said. All eyes turned to her, peering down at the item she held. The egg wobbled and hopped; trembled and jumped in place. The Poke’mon inside beat against the shell prison, trying to fight its way out of it. The top of the shell kicked wildly. May didn’t dare drop it, even though it threatened to jump away. There was a bright flash of light emanating from the egg as it wobbled even more; the top started to crack slowly. The crack line traveled downwards, spreading into tons of other crack lines. The entire egg cracked up and fell all to pieces with the Poke’mon still glowing. “Awww…” Landon gazed in amazement. May was utterly speechless—the Poke’mon egg she had been taking care of for so long was about to hatch! Her eyes trembled with excitement. The light let out a large and quick flash before starting to simmer down.
The Poke’mon was small and cat-like; its fur color was such a high color of tan that it almost was white. It had big black ears, black paw-tips, and black at the edge of its curly tail. Its eyes were almost as radiant a yellow as Latias’s; it had four thick whiskers, whereas two were from its cheeks and the other two from the top of its head. Around its neck was a red collar with a gold bell at the end. The Poke’mon let its eyes wander from May to Landon, and to the sky above. It glanced at Zeru and Phanpy from the corner of its eye, then to Toya. “…Pha-ah! Phea-line!” it chirped. Landon pulled out his Poke’dex and flipped it open. “I wonder what kind of Poke’mon it is.” Cli-ick! “Phealine, the Flea-kitten Poke’mon. While little is known about this Poke’mon, scientists have discovered dormant psycho-kinetic waves deep within its subconscious. When threatened, Phealine will set loose an army of fleas on its attacker.” The machine spoke. May’s eyes lit up at her new Poke’mon. She was so happy that that when she tried to talk, only air escaped. Phealine looked to its new trainer with a look of seriousness. Then, its face went into a blissful smile. “Phealine! Phealine!” It jumped in May’s arms. “…she’s…so….cute!” May finally spoke up, hugging her new Poke’mon. “See if she likes a Poke’block—she’s bound to be hungry.” Zeru suggested. “Right,” Landon reached down and snatched the poke’block case right from under Toya’s nose. “Mudkip!” She barked angrily. As quick as lightning, she grasped the case with her teeth, pulling it back from her trainer. Landon lifted her up and shook her off into his arms. “Toya, could you cut me just a little slack? This is a newborn we’re dealing with.” He stoked her belly to try and subdue her. Toya’s angry expression—as stubborn as she was—slowly melted away. Landon grinned—he knew Toya couldn’t resist the belly rub. It was the ultimate form of submission! Landon walked over to Phealine and held open the Poke’block case. “Line?” Phealine glanced back from her trainer to the soft berry candies. “Aaahh!” Her eyes lit up and she grasped one with her paws; into her mouth, the candy went, its sweetness spreading her cheeks. “Whaaa!” She smiled at Landon and started to shovel another one in her mouth. Toya sat on Landon’s head. Her front paws were folded and her tailfin swished slowly and impatiently.
“Whoaa…” Landon, Zeru, Toya, and Phanpy groaned as their stomachs rumbled with hunger. They couldn’t wait till they got to the Chimney Shack; just the thought of food pulled at their guts. As they trudged though the forest, they sweated anime style from hunger. May, however, was too busy playing with her new Poke’mon to be worried of her hunger pains. She held Phealine in her arms, continually taunting it with a piece of string. “Phea-line! Phea-ah!” Phealine tried to claw at it. “Well, at least some of us are having fun.” Zeru let out a sigh and Landon nodded. He tried to convince himself that the entrance to Mt. Chimney was real close, but he knew how much forest he’d have to cover first. “…line?” Phealine gave a sudden glance in the distance before them. Her ears twitched and her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Phealine, what’s wrong?” May blinked at her Poke’mon. “What’s that up there?” Zeru pointed forward, drawn to whatever it was as well. Landon looked up from the ground; in the distance between trees, a black smoke billowed into the air. It snaked its way around the sky and faded into nothingness. Since it wasn’t that far away, the kids could smell the scent of burning. “Smoke…in the middle of the forest……!” Suddenly, Landon’s and Zeru’s eyes widened. “Fire!” They exclaimed at the same time. Their Poke’mon leapt ont their shoulders and they dashed off down the trail. “Wait!” May tarted, but it was too late; the two boys had dashed off way to fast. Sweating anime style, she started to jog in their direction.
Landon lead the way, pushing through underbrush and wild leaves. The bird and bug Poke’mon fluttered or scampered away when he rushed by. The burning scent became stronger the closer they became to the smoke. “Go, Toya, use Water Gun on the flames!” “Dratini, you do it too!” Landon and Zeru shouted when they burst through the bushes into a clearing. Toya jumped off her trainer’s shoulder and Dratini burst from its Poke’ball; the two Poke’mon opened their mouths and spat out a jet-stream of water. SPWWWSSSSSSSS! There was a steaming sound as the once black smoke was turned into rising steam “Yeah!” Landon held up his fist in victory. “…..huh? What’s this?” Both his and Zeru’s looks of triumph faded into surprised expressions. “What happened?” May caught up to them, pushing through the bushes. Once she saw the middle of the clearing, she sweated anime style. What Zeru and Landon actually attack was a portable grill that had been cooking four fish. Now, both the grill and the food were dampened with water. “…uhn!” Someone’s voice flailed for breath and words. From out of the bushes, a large man stood before the clearing. He was very muscular with spiky brown hair. he wore no shirt and his white gi pants were jagged at the hems. Beside the man was a Machoke. Both of them dropped their nets of fish to the ground with shocked expression on their faces. “Awww…our fish is ruined!” “Machoke,” They hung their heads. “We’re really sorry, sir; we thought there was a fire going.” Landon apologized, sweating anime style. “We didn’t think anyone was out here.” Zeru added hastily. “…hmph!” The man suddenly looked up at them. A sharp look glinted in his eyes. Landon took a startled step backwards. “You, there!” He man pointed to him, “You have invaded my secret training grounds. Furthermore, you have completely ruined my breakfast!” “Machoke-machoke!” “Now, prepare to feel our righteous fury—” Suddenly, both the man’s and Machoke’s stomachs gave a hungry growls and they collapsed to the grass. Landon gave a relieved smile; as longs as they were hungry, they couldn’t attack. “….Hey, I know who you are.” May walked over to the man. Phealine clambered up to her trainer’s shoulder out of boredom. “You’re Bruno—from the Kanto region.” “Yeah, you’re one of the Kanto league’s official.” Zeru added. “Bruno? Kanto region?” Landon blinked; it seemed that everyone knew who the man was except for him. “Owww…I really wish you hadn’t ruin my grill!” “Ma—choke!” Bruno and Machoke exclaimed, “Now, I won’t be able to cook my food.” “Well….that’s not entirely true.” Landon stepped up to him, “let me make up for destroying your first meal by making another one.” “Sure, but how are you gonna’ do it?” Bruno asked. Landon grinned, “I have an idea.”
The smell of cooking fish drifted through the forest. In the middle of the clearing was a bunch of burning twigs like a campfire. Bruno, May, Zeru, and Landon sat around it just like a group of campers. With all of their Poke’mon out of their poke’balls, they held sticks with fish on them over the flames. The only ones who weren’t by the fire were Bayleef and Treecko. Instead, they basked in the sun to gain nourishment. “Thanks a lot for letting us eat some of your fish, Mr. Bruno.” Landon bit into the hot fish, his stomach growling for more. “Well, I did kinda’ make a big deal out of the accident earlier. Besides, I can’t let you go on with empty stomachs.” Bruno told him. Landon’s Poke’mon ate in the same fashion as their trainer; fast and gleefully. Being a cat, Phealine enjoyed the fish just as much. “Bruno, what are you doing in the Hoenn Region, anyway?” Zeru asked. “I always thought Poke’mon League office stayed in their hosting regions.” “Yeah, but I’m here on some special training. Even though I’m a league official, I’m still a trainer like you kids.” Bruno told him, “I’m also here because of all the different Poke’mon I want to catch and bring back to Kanto.” “That’s cool,” May said. When they were done eating, Zeru and Phanpy stomped out the flames of the cooking fire. The food wasn’t as quite as filling, but it kept the hunger pains at by. Phealine groomed her fur with her paw quietly. May, Zeru, and Landon called their Poke’mon back to their poke’balls. “Thanks a lot, Bruno.” Landon stood up, dusting his pants off. “Where are you guys headed to?” Bruno asked. “We’re going to Mt. Chimney—” “—and then, to Lavaridge town to earn my gym badge from the gym leader.” May and Landon stated. “I’m trying to get to the famous Tomodachi springs that are rumored to be near Lavaridge Town.” Bruno told them. Landon looked out into the distance; we could see the rocky red of Mt. Chimney though the tons of trees. Yep, he definitely had a long way to go. However, he could also see a black smoke billowing into the air. His eyebrow rose in question. He started to think about what happened earlier and decided not to jump to conclusions. “Mudkip, mud,” HE felt Toya crawl up to his shoulder, “…..must be another fish being over-cooked.” He said to himself. But the others overheard and glanced out in the distance as well. “…no, that’s not someone cooking! Take a look up there.” Bruno pointed up to the tops of the trees. Through the wild canopy of green, the kids and Poke’mon could see flames sizzling on the tree heads. Black smoke billowed high into the air again. “This time, it really is a fire!” May shouted. The kids burst through the bushes and dashed down the trail. Dust kicked up behind them as they ran. The crackle and singe sound became louder as they entered a clearing that was a lot closer to Mt. Chimney. Parts of the trees fell to the ground in smoldering flames. All around the clearing were a bunch of small, camel-like Poke’mon. Hey had lazy eyes and white snouts; their backs, which had small holes in them, were splashed with grren and their bellies were white. “Hmmm…” Landon pulled out his poke’dex and flipped it on.
Cli-ick! “Numel, the Numb Poke’mon. Numel live in caves or mountains with extremely hot temperatures. If the hole on its back is plugged, the magma in its body will cool and harden.” The machine said. “Landon, shut your poke’dex and help us out!” May yelled so loud that Landon’s hair swayed. “Call your Water Poke’mon to help out.” Bruno told them. They nodded and reached for their Poke’mon. “Go, Toya!” Landon shouted and Toya jumped off his shoulder. “I call Totodile and Slowpoke!” May let the two Poke’balls in her hands burst open and release her two water Poke’mon. “And I choose—” There was the sound of a bursting Poke’ball from Zeru’s belt and Haunter came bursting out. “Haunter-aunter-aunter!” It laughed. “Hey!” Zeru grabbed it by is ghastly tail and pulled it down to his face level. “What’re you doing out here?” Haunter shrugged it arms as if it didn’t know. “Use Water Gun attack!” Landon and May exclaimed together. Totodile, Slowpoke, and Toya spat out a blast of water at the roaring flames. Some of the excess water dripped into the dirt to form mud, giving Zeru an idea. “Phanpy, Haunter, grab that mud and toss it to the flames.” “Phan,” “Haunter,” His two Poke’mon nodded and traveled in front of the water Poke’mon; they scooped up a wad of mud and flung it at the flames.
The sun had shifted towards its afternoon shift. The once black smoke was now replaced with white steam. The trees were pretty burned, but marked only a little spot in the entire forest. The Numel glanced shamefully at the ground, not able to face the kids and one adult. May walked over to one of the Numel with her hands on her hips; her hand swatted its head with a “come-to-sense” slap. “Do you realize the damage you could’ve done? You are lucky innocent Poke’mon weren’t hurt—” “Chill out, May.” Landon put his hand on May’s shoulder. He then stepped forward and knelt down. He was pretty sure there was a good reason behind the Numel attacking and was prepared to find it out by tapping the power of the Crystal Bell. His strive to understand his role as an Origin Waker would take another step up the ladder of his destiny. He gave it a prod with his finger and it started to glow slightly. “Ah…..” His eyes widened slightly, “….I can will it, now….at least, a little bit. That must mean I’m getting stronger.” He thought to himself. With that vote of confidence, Landon cleared his throat, “Er, hi….I’m Lan!” He grinned. All at once, the Numel looked up at him. It was as if they could understand him. Landon smiled and continued to talk. To him, it sounded just like human talk, but it was a whole different story for his friends. They blinked at him skeptically as his words sounded like “Numel” being repeated and broken up. “….What’s he doing?” Bruno asked. “he’s…” “Talking, I guess,” May and Zeru answered him. “He can talk to Poke’mon?” “…. I don’t know.” May told Bruno. Toya crawled into her trainer’s shoulder to get into the conversation. After a little while, Landon stood up and turned towards his friends, “Okay, here’s the deal: These Numel used to live in Mt. Chimney in one of the cave sections. Their leader was their evolved form, Camerupt, and a peach-maker of their land.” Landon held up a finger, “But somehow, he became vicious and started attacking his own people. To make matters worst, something has been causing the mountain to tremble and seal off the homes of some rock Poke’mon. In order to survive, they kicked the Numel out and took over their home with Camerupt still in it. The Numel were setting fire to the forest because they were trying to signal for help. Am I right?” Landon glanced back at the Numel and they nodded. Just by the look on his face, May and Zeru could tell he was going to try to help. So instead of going through the argument, thy decided to agree ahead of time.
Fast Fact Quiz: What is the Power of Tsuname’s Amber Bell? If you can’t guess, find out at the end of this Chapter!
THIS IS THE END OF PART 1.