Insert
[Name]
- SAUANMTEMD –
Supplemental and Unplanned Author’s Note meant to
Express my Disappointment
Greetings,
readers. This note is not supposed to be here, but it is here anyway. Why? To express
my disappointment. In what? In the outcome of the latest BIC awards. Yeah,
that’s right. Why? I’ll tell you. It’s because apparently only 9 people thought
my story was better than its only competitor, Lati Riders by Latios
Dragonrider, which is a script fic, by the way. That means it’s written like…
well, just go and read it for yourselves, it’s a very good laugh … once you’ve
overcome the massive shock. Now, I know I got 9 votes, but I’m unhappy anyway…
because that thing got 15 and beat me! How, I do not know. Nor do I
particularly care. What I do care about is that apparently a lot of people out
there are either unable to make an impartial judgement on which fic is better,
or too lazy to read all the entries – even if there are only two of those – …
or maybe most of them are just retarded. Now I also know I shouldn’t insult
‘the readers’, but please hear me out first. I was shocked when I saw the
results. I was pretty damned close to just giving up this story even, as you
might’ve noticed from the long pause in updates. Why? Because I felt utterly
defeated by ‘the readers’, who apparently think a ten line script fic is better
than this 20 page prose. If that is how ‘the readers’ really feel then I’m
deeply offended, and I feel that I am allowed to speak up. Hence this angry
note. I feel as if I’ve poured hour upon hour of my time into this thing for
nothing. I haven’t even had a single line of feedback on this thing either,
other than one person – you know who you are – who I just kept bugging until I
got an answer. So yeah, I’m disappointed and pissed, feeling utterly
unappreciated and I’m wondering what I’m doing it all for. Yes, it’s just a BIC
on some fan site, but votes ought to be fair, not a matter of who knows the
most people, because right now it would suggest that my fiction is worse than
that thing. And not just mine, but tons of others out there that deserved that
award a lot more. Now can you still blame me for being slightly ticked off?
Overreacting, maybe, but on purpose. Anyway, now that that’s off my chest, you
may read.
**********
- I -
Chapter VI
**********
“Not bad, eh?” Maxim boasted while petting his new
Gyarados. He had just finished telling of his battle with the Rocket grunt. It
was boring until Magikarp evolved, bluntly put. After that it was hardly a
contest, and the Rocket had to run for his life. Maxim seemingly picked up on
my slight sigh and raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t think I would win, did you?
Well?”
“If I’m brutally honest…” I started, pausing a bit for
the dramatic effect. “If your Magikarp hadn’t evolved, you wouldn’t have stood
a chance.”
“I’ll take
you up on that challenge! … Just as soon as I actually find my other Magikarp.”
Maxim raised a valid point. Team Rocket hadn’t exactly
been careful with the Pokéballs. Of course, they never expected to have to
return them, so it kind of made sense that they hadn’t cared about which ball
belonged to who. The ancient truck was loaded with crates, and in each crate
were several dozens of Pokéballs. Just how long had they been out here? I
snorted at my thought. Probably as long as it would take us to figure out which
were Maxim’s.
“No thanks, my own Pokémon are pretty battered. I’d
like a visit to Fuchsia’s Pokémon Centre first.” I said, before an idea hit me
while looking at the piece of scrap before us. It would certainly save us a lot
of time. “Hey, if we can get that thing started I can drive us there.”
“What?” Rose asked as if I were nuts. I couldn’t
exactly blame her. I mean, the thing did look pretty beat down, I concluded as
I circled it once more. True, I had never driven a truck before, or any car for
that matter. Let alone one without power-steering and an engine that looked
just about ready to blow up in someone’s face, if they ever got it started in
the first place. The thing’s red painted plating was rusted completely through
at some places, and as I tugged on the door I felt something give way inside,
after which I carefully withdrew my hand before it fell off completely. It
swung open with a loud creak, so I guessed I had broken the lock. Now remained
the challenge of starting the thing…
**********
“You two are so incredibly incompetent it makes me
puke!” The Rocket yelled at his subordinates after finally reaching the safety
of their safe house in Fuchsia. “All you had to do,” He started again, pointing
at ‘Jason’. “Was beat a single Magikarp, and you couldn’t even do that!” Jason
looked at his feet in shame while his boss continued after turning to ‘Billy’.
“And you, you couldn’t even start that stupid truck!”
“But
boss,” Billy objected. “You couldn’t either… And you sort of l-”
“Don’t even go there!” The boss roared after being
reminded that he didn’t really do all that well himself. “Who were those kids
anyway?”
“Well, they’ll probably be headed to the Gym, right?”
Jason said, catching the boss’s attention. “So stake out there. They have to
state their names and origins for the challenge, right?” The boss replayed that
thought in his head once before his frown turned into a dark grin…
**********
We only just drove into the city’s outskirts when the
engine died again, but this was close enough. I jumped off holding Dugtrio’s
Pokéball and started running. His condition had worsened on the way back, now
that the poison slowly started doing its job.
“You guys go find a police station and show them the
truck. I’m taking Minimum to a Centre!” I yelled back as I ran further into the
town. It wasn’t long though before I realized how stupid I was being. I had no
idea where I was going and at this rate I’d run out of time and breath by the
time I finally did. I cursed myself under my breath. Why didn’t we get
antidotes when we were in Lavender? I looked left and right looking for any
street sign that could give me a clue, and I didn’t notice the man until I
nearly hit him.
“Careful boy, where is the fire?” He asked after
stopping me. I briefly looked up and saw a hard face lined by greying spiky
hair. He grunted after I explained why I was in such a rush, and as I made to take
off again he stopped me. “Show me your Dugtrio.”
Hesitantly I reached for Dugtrio’s Pokéball, not even
knowing why I was listening to this man. Wouldn’t letting him out speed up the
poison’s work? I shook off the thought as I pressed the release, causing the
ball to split open and reveal a very sick looking mole. Dugtrio looked
seriously ill; I had no idea it would go this fast. Kneeling down I placed my
hand on one of the heads as I stumbled for words. I was definitely worried now,
with the heat radiating off Dugtrio’s body, and only just kept myself from
cursing out loud about wasting time here. Surprisingly the man knelt down
beside me and placed his own hand on another head only a second later and
presented Dugtrio with some sort of herb-like plant.
“Chew on this. It’s a natural cure.” He spoke softly,
and Dugtrio weakly took the plant. The effect didn’t take very long to show, as
barely half a minute later I could tell his temperature had gone down some. I
breathed a sigh of relief and turned to thank the man, but he had already
gotten up and was about to start walking. “The Pokémon Centre is up on that
hill overseeing the town, right next to the Gym. Until we meet again.”
I stood up, watching him turn a corner and disappear.
I recalled Dugtrio with a faint smile on my face and started running for the
hill the man had pointed to. Houses shooting past me in a blur, I reached the
Centre quickly now that I knew where to look. As I walked through the door I
was greeted by… “Rose? How did you… You beat me here?” She smirked and called
me a Slowpoke…
**********
“Dugtrio is going to be just fine, but he’s going to
need some rest. You should keep him out of battle for a day or two. And next
time, be more careful.” Nurse Joy told me after taking care of Dugtrio. I said
my thanks, promised to be more careful, and walked out the door. As the man had
said, the Centre was located on a small hill, and the view of the city was
pretty nice from up here. I caught a glimpse of what looked like a zoo in the
distance and made a mental note to go see that before we left again. Rose, who
had been waiting outside, abandoned her spot against the wall and looked at a
fairly large building a few meters away. It was oriental, with some writing on
it I assumed was Japanese. The man had said the Gym was right next to the
Centre, so I walked towards it.
“I think this is the Gym, Rose.” I said, fairly
impressed with the looks of the thing. It was a carbon copy of those houses
you’d see in one of those ninja movies on TV. Thinking back to my game, I
remembered Koga’s Gym had some surprises for the challenger. You didn’t just
walk up to him, but you had to go through some sort of maze of invisible walls
and trainers. And as I thought of that I wondered what it would be like now.
“Are you coming in?” Rose asked from the doorstep
after sliding the door open, throwing me off my thought train. I took one last
nervous look at the Gym before stepping through the door. If only I hadn’t
missed that episode where Ash went to fight Koga, maybe then I’d have an idea
of what I was getting into.
“Careful,”
I whispered. “there could be traps in here.”
“Oh please, that would be lame. And why are you
whispering?” Rose said as she laughed my comment away. “Nobody would trap a Gy-AH!”
Rose sudden cry of surprise made me spin around, and I had trouble to keep
myself from laughing at the sight. The place was trapped alright, and she’d
fallen for one. “Quit laughing and get me down from here!”
I decided it was best to do so, and I quickly lowered
the net back to the ground. As I looked at the floor I noticed shallow carvings
in the wood, in the pattern of the net. That was why we didn’t see it… Rose was
not happy at getting netted. Either that, or she wasn’t happy at me being right.
In any case, she turned around with a dark cloud over her head and kept walking
down the corridor while muttering something about smart-ass Gym leaders. I
shook my head as I followed her with a chuckle. However, when I reached the
corner, the lights went off. And after a few more minutes of walking I got the
distinct feeling we were walking in circles. I looked down at the floor again,
but couldn’t see anything because it was dark. As Rose walked on, I reached
down and ran my hand across the surface. I felt carvings. Suddenly Rose stopped
and motioned me over.
“Look over there… Is that light coming through the
wall?” I looked at the wall she pointed at and- there was light coming from the wall. If our corridor hadn’t been so dark
I wouldn’t have seen it. There was some coming from underneath it, and some
shining through a small slit, barely visible, as if there was a door. This Gym
didn’t have invisible walls, but invisible doors. Slightly less original, but
no less annoying. I knocked on the ‘wall’ just to make sure, and it did sound
as if it wasn’t very thick and had a big open space behind it.
“I was wondering when you’d figure it out!” A voice
suddenly shouted from behind the wall. I heard a clicking sound and the wall
slid away, revealing a big room. The walls of this one looked like they were
made of concrete instead of wood, and… there was no ceiling? This was some sort
of courtyard! I continued my quick scan and noticed a battlefield painted on
the floor, and standing at the far end of it was the man who helped me earlier
with Dugtrio.
“That’s what he meant by ‘until we meet again’.” I
muttered as I looked at Koga. He just smirked back at me, until he noticed
Rose, who was still pretty pissed. His smile faltered slightly as Rose stomped
forward.
“You’re the Gym leader? Good! I challenge you for your
badge!” She yelled. I wisely stepped back a few paces and took up position next
to the door. Just in case she brought the Gym down.
“So be it. The rules are simple. Each will use three
Pokémon, and the first to knock out all three of the opponent’s Pokémon wins.
You may switch yours out, but I may not. Do you understand?” Koga said,
carefully.
“I understand,” Rose started, after which Koga
attempted to speak again but Rose cut into him. “But I only have Haunter, so my
choice is obvious.” Haunter floated onto the battlefield at the remark, and
gave a slight nod of respect to the gym leader.
“I see. Well, I would hate to be unfair, so let’s make
it a one on one.” I smirked at Koga’s response; he was such a sucker when it
came to doing the honourable thing. It would probably cost him this match as he
ran a Poison type Gym, last I checked, and Haunter had a severe type advantage
in that case, even to the point of rendering Koga’s special attack move Toxic useless.
Rose had it in the bag. Koga kept a calm demeanour though, unfazed by his
opponent. “Now, Venomoth!” Well, at least he wouldn’t be holding back, I
thought as the giant purple moth Pokémon took form in a bright flash. I
seriously needed to get some sunglasses; I would not get used to that. “There
will be no time limit. We fight until one caves or forfeits. Begin!”
“Haunter, start off with Nightshade!” Rose called, and
Haunter complied by charging its disembodied hands with black energy and
releasing it at the Venomoth. Koga ordered a Psybeam immediately and the two
attacks collided in the centre of the Gym, causing a small explosion. And that
started off their battle. “Again!” Rose ordered.
“Disable!” Venomoth’s counter froze Haunter in its
tracks, and it was having visible trouble breaking the psychic hold. Until Rose
called for Hypnosis and Venomoth had to let go to avoid direct eye contact. The
moth fluttered up beyond the roof of the Gym, waiting for an order, and Haunter
exploited this by blending into the shadows. “Use Foresight to track it,
Venomoth!”
“Haunter quick, Confuse Ray!” Venomoth had just
started scanning the room with its Foresight when an ominous ball of light was
launched at its back from the farthest corner. Koga quickly had it dive down
causing it to miss the first pass, but the Ray made a second attempt as
Haunter, eyes aglow, steered it back to its target with a flick of its
non-existent wrist.
“Psybeam!” Koga called just as the Ray was about to
hit. Venomoth’s Psybeam obliterated the attack, but after it finished Haunter
was nowhere to be found. I looked around the room trying to spot the Ghost, but
it was well hidden. Rose would no doubt exploit this.
“Use Shadow Punch, and make it count!” She said moments
later. Suddenly multiple ghostly fists shot from the ground below and pummelled
the poor moth into submission. “Now Lick!” Rose quickly added. Haunter slowly
rose from the ground directly in front of the tired bug and promptly slammed
the flat top of its tongue into it. As several sweat drops rolled down both
Koga and Venomoth’s heads Haunter moved its tongue upwards, licking the moth’s
entire front. It didn’t take long for the paralysis to kick in this time
either, and the moth dropped to the floor an instant later, shaking like a leaf
as it tried to overcome its complete neural shutdown.
“A well fought battle. I must commend you, young lady,
you have earned your Soul badge.” Koga withdrew his fallen bug and crossed the
field, extending his right hand to Rose, who shook it and gratefully took the
badge from the palm of his left. He then looked at me, sizing me up with his
cold stare. “I suppose you are next?”
“I am. And I have more than enough Pokémon, even
without Dugtrio.” I said, taking my spot on the field.
“Ah yes, I watched you bring him in. Give it a few
days and he’ll be fine.” He smiled, before his face tightened up again. “But
now, we will do battle. As said before, three Pokémon each in single battles.
You may switch, I may not. As I am the defending party I shall pick first.”
Koga took
out a Pokéball and brought out a purple fur ball; Venonat, a half Bug, half
Poison type. My fingers searched out Blaze’s Pokéball and unclipped it from my
belt. Even if Rose had just knocked out one of his strongest, if not the
strongest of his Pokémon, I wasn’t about to underestimate him. “Let’s go
Blaze.” I said before tossing the ball into the field. The red lizard appeared
moments after, looking ready.
“There is
no time limit. We fight until one caves or forfeits, begin!”
“Blaze,
Flamethrower!” I yelled, hoping for a quick ending. Blaze complied immediately
and shot an intense tongue of flames at the small fur ball, but its reaction
speed proved to be faster than I thought. Venonat dodged to the side and the
attack missed. I was stunned.
“Venonat,
use Sleep Powder!” Koga ordered, shaking me from my shock. Venonat started
shaking wildly, sending blue powder flying into the air. I quickly ordered
Blaze to use another Flamethrower and torch the stuff before it got to him. He
got a good deal of it, but some of it still lingered and he was slightly dazed.
“Now, Tackle him!”
“Snap out
of it Blaze, shake it off!” Blaze shook his head a few times, but by the time
he cleared it Venonat slammed its tiny body into him. Grunting at the impact,
Blaze responded quickly by grabbing the little thing with his claws and smirked
at his captive. My own expression quickly mimicked his as I was about to give
him the order to torch it, but I changed my mind as I watched the thing wiggle
desperately in Blaze’s grip. “Koga, I suggest you withdraw Venonat. I want to
win, but I don’t want to injure it badly.”
“As I
said, we fight until either Pokémon faints, or one of us gives up. I have no
intention of giving up. Venonat, Psybeam!” Koga replied gruffly. Well in that
case, who was I to disappoint?.
“Slam it
Blaze!” Venonat’s eyes were starting to glow as it prepared to fire, but Blaze
responded by throwing it slightly upwards and slamming his tail into it – not
before pumping up his tail flame a bit, of course. The small Bug let out a cry
on every impact with the floor while it bounced across the battlefield. “Now
another Flamethrower!” Blaze once again breathed fire at the fur ball, which
was lying face down on the Gym floor. He didn’t miss, and Venonat was out.
**********
- II -
Author’s Note
I’m not
sure if I’m going to bother updating this anymore. It just seems so pointless.
I don’t even know if this is even getting read. Would it really be so much trouble
to go back to my author page and hit me up with a review? It sure as hell would
be appreciated. Right now I know of only one person who seems to read this
religiously. And that’s because I force her to. Anyway, this is probably going
to be put up on my FF.net page in a few days. It’ll be updated on there no
matter what, unless I die. I like this story maybe even more than FFF. It’s
just all so much work… The link to my FF.net page is here for those interested. I’m sorry, but I must to this. And to the 9 that did vote
for me, I thank you.
Chapter
seven: The battle with Koga intensifies and comes to an anticlimactic end.
While Rick is waiting for his Pokémon to recover, he and Rose decide to visit
the Safari zone, intent on seeing some rare Pokémon. The visit turns out to be
slightly more exciting than expected…
**********
- III -
Legal Gibberish
I do not
in any way own Pokémon or any of its copyrights and rights of other merchandise
related to it. All characters and places in this story are entirely fictional
and taken from or based on various aspects of the Pokémon universe. Any form of
copying and/or misuse of this story by others will be reported. Please respect
the imagination and effort made by others. Stealing is bad, don’t do it.
WeirdDutchGuy