[CW] [FanFic] So Far, So Good

[TheSparringPanther]

My first time writing a pokemon fic I guess. Figured I'd write from the perspective of our trusted and beloved main character. He's a little more sarcastic than we think him to be though. I hope you enjoyed. Thank you for reading!

This is right before the gym battle with Shade - the point in the game where I'm at (bust out of the shrinks lab, escape into the underground, defeat Shade, turn on the power etc).

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"What do you think of your journey so far~?", Cain had asked while running away from the police. "Not your everyday conundrum, eh~?", he had asked with a mischievous smile.

I myself was a League champion. I say was because each time I beat the Elite 4, and the champion after that, my rival would stick around and take on challengers instead of me. Nobody seemed to mind, not even the organisation of the league. Sure, those familiar with the professional scene would acknowledge me as the champion, but since it was my not-so-good friend and rival that was being place-holder champion, in general, the public would recognize him as the champion instead of me. It didn't really bother me though - what counted was that if I wanted the title back, I could claim it just like that. Both my skills and my Pokémon outshone him, that's what mattered. A title means nothing, people will forget you after a while. My rival wouldn't forget me. Nor would my friends and enemies. It's the journey and the people and Pokémon you journey with, that counts.

By that point, I had traveled through a variety of regions - Kanto, Jhoto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. At one point, I was even transformed into a Pokémon, and traveled as Pokémon with others through various places. Oh wait, I'm not supposed to remember that. I think. At any rate, after proving my worth and defeating League after League, I figured I could either travel to another region, or stop journeying altogether. Unlike other trainers, I never had the ambition to complete the Pokedex or so, plenty of others could do that. I just wanted to win. And I did. And I wanted to be remembered. And I am. And I wanted to be challenged. But... In truth, I really wasn't.

It was then that it came to my attention that a far-away place, the Reborn Region, was rotting away. Slowly, but surely. I say 'rotting' because that was the word that was used by my friend to describe it. He himself had been to the Reborn Region, and had returned empty handed. "I'd rather have those Team Rocket pests as neighbors than go to that barren place again", he had said. The strongest League, challengeable only under the worst of circumstances. It had nothing to do with glory or fame, it was simply the place the best of the best - or the worst of the worst, take your pick - would go to challenge their skills. And so I did.

The overcast, dark skies definitely were a change of pace. Various regions I had visited had different climates altogether, but none of them were this polluted. I could actually feel the filth in the air. And it was in this darkness that I could feel something I hadn't felt in a long time - loneliness. I've always had my Sheeplet, my trusty Ampharos, with me. This time, however, I decided to leave it all behind, and start anew. I knew nothing about Reborn, the people or the Pokémon. My first experience, however, seemed to be pretty representative of how things run around here. An incident at the train station. A bomb blast. Today still the police isn't clear on the details, but the aftermath was terrible. People had died. Pokémon had died. Damage had been done. But I had survived, and I didn't know what to do. Before leaving I had bought a new phone with no contacts so I'd be on my own entirely, the way I liked it, but that might have been a mistake - some weird looking Pokémon were looking rather strangely at me, and I figured I had no-one to call if something would go wrong. Just a few minutes later I found myself running away from the horde of trash bag Pokémon.

"Get a Pokémon first, think later", I had said to myself while running away from the Pokémon. Not much later I had a pokeball with a Turtwig in it, the one Sinnoh starter I hadn't raised yet. It was then that this rather strange looking guy walked towards me. "Hey, you're cute", were the first few words he spoke to me. This would mark my first run in with pretty boy Cain, as he liked to call himself.

And now, about a month later, I'm running away from the police, a few whacko shrinks and what I believe to be the aqua gang. "Hey, that's the guy who stole the Pokémon we were going to steal!", one of them yelled from the top of their lungs. "Eh? What are they talking about?" Charlotte asked. "Nothing", I quickly replied. "He stole our Buizel!", the gang member said to the police officer who was also chasing us. "No seriously, what are they talking about?!", Charlotte asked again. "Still nothing!", I responded. "Keep running!"

"Shouldn't we stop to arrest the gang member?", one officer asked the other while chasing us. "No!", yelled a white coat, half panting, half running. "Chase...After... Her...Them...", after which he collapsed.

"Uhm.... Excuse me... I think we ehh... lost one of them...", Shelly said while running. "What?!", Charlotte responded. "Less yelling, more running!", I said almost wheezing for air. "There are the stairs!"

With the last bit of our energy, we climbed up the stairs, descended of another couple of stairs and slowly moved down towards the Opal ward. For the time being, we had lost them.

"No seriously, who were those guys? ", Charlotte asked again. "They look like gang members!"

"Oh my Arceus, I keep telling you, nobody", I replied annoyed, "What do we do about the police?"

"I... Can't go to my gym...", Shelly said softly.

"She's right~", Cain said, "They're looking for us now~"

"Kinda cool to be wanted!", Charlotte said enthusiastically, "If I have enemies, it means I stood up for something! That's what M&M said!"

"You're wanted by the authorities, the people that defend the public from danger. How's that cool?!", I replied, "Also, M&M? You're a kid, you shouldn't be listening to that!"

"I listen to what I want!", Charlotte responded defiantly as she received a pokeball from Heather, out of which a Pokémon appeared. A Salamence, well trained, well groomed.

"Fine, you're a kid with an oversized Swablu, that changes nothing!", I said, "Now what do we do?"

"No fighting between friends...", Shelly said.

"Yeah, relax guys~", Cain intervened, "You're so not cute when you're angry like that", he mumbled right after that.

"What?", I said, still panting from the long run.

"Nothing~", Cain said as he turned to Charlotte, "I assume you were going to fly off with the Salamence?"

"I have a plan", Charlotte said while pointing at the tracks underneath the bridge. "See those? If you follow them, eventually you end up in the Underground. From there I know how to escape the city."

"Oh I see~, you were planning on splitting up to confuse the police~?"

"Yes!"

"Smart girl~!"

"Thank you!", Charlotte said proudly.

"Fine, you guys fly. Stay low to the ground, I'll just use my bike and meet you there." I said.

"You have a bike~?"

"Yeah, I do", I said as I unfolded it, "There we go."

"How did you even afford that~? They're like a 100 million a pop~!"

"Well, yeah, usually they are, but I used a voucher."

"Where did you get that?", Charlotte asked interested.

After a moments hesitation I responded. "Found it on the ground, nothing special. Make sure you stay low, otherwise they’ll spot you!”

Charlotte and Cain looked at each other. "Man, he's such a weirdo sometimes~"

With that, I biked off. I almost forgot how I actually obtained that voucher. An old lady had, correctly, accused me of stealing Pokémon and items from her. Good thing I wasn't wearing those tasteless magma gang suits, otherwise the police officer in charge would have recognized me as a member. Someone close to him had died, and he felt responsible for the old hag’s behavior, so he compensated me with the voucher.

Never had I thought I’d actually join a gang. But between natural disasters, a polluted environment and team meteor shenanigans, being an enemy of society here doesn't seem to bad. It allowed me to gain Pokémon I normally wouldn't be able to. Indirectly, it also got me this bike. If anything, Reborn had thought me the strong survive. And being strong means able to adapt. To the environment. To the gym leaders. To the enemy. Even if that means making crazy white coats, the police and other gangs your enemy. Adapt and survive - that’s what just over 30 days in Reborn had thought me.

By the way, during the next meeting I’m going to motion for a name change – ‘magma gang’ just doesn't cut it.

I guessed it would take me about a day to get there unseen by the authorities. While on my way, I got a call from Charlotte to bring along a Pokémon who could Rock Smash its way through the breakable boulders in the Underground. When I finally arrived, the group of girls and Cain were already looking for a way through break through. After walking around for a few hours we finally found the place Charlotte had in mind – a large door that would lead us to the wastelands. A place we could take shelter. And, equally important, the place we could find a gym leader. The doors, however, wouldn’t open. Charlotte explained that the doors were powered by the power plant, but the recent earthquakes messed up the power supply.

“Why don’t you go and ask Shade to fix the power supply for us~?”, Cain suggested.

“What? Why me?”, I asked.

“You can challenge him for his badge as well~”

“Yeah, but I mean, why me alone?”

“Well, someone has to watch over them, right~? And sing songs, of course~!”

“Shelly can save herself, she’s a gym leader”, I argued back.

“She’s also traumatized!”, Charlotte intervened.

“Heather’ Salamence is there to protect her. There should be no problem here”

“Sally-chan is tired!” Charlotte said.

“Really? You’re saying that ‘Sally-chan’, an engine of destruction that can go toe-to-toe with legendary Pokémon, is tired because he had to fly a few kilometers with a few girls and Cain on his back?”

“I don’t know~… I’ve put on a few pounds lately~”

“Yeah, cut down on the donuts, princess”, I responded, to which Cain pouted a bit. “So you’re saying you’re sending me, ME, to go down there to the dark, abandoned power plant where a body-stealing ghost monster is lurking? You’re sending me alone?”

A few moments later I was headed towards the power plant, alone, for which I had to cross the Beryll Bridge, a long bridge connecting the mourning ward of Beryll with the dark place where, I could only speculate, the body now was. After it had jumped of this very bridge. On my left side was a large and open desert. On my other hand was the polluted city of Reborn. Honestly, I couldn't imagine what Reborn was before all this pollution. Even more frightening was the thought of how the children of this city may never see a ray of sunlight. All they’d see is a permanently cloudy, hazy sky. They’d be alone, in these cloudy, dark times.

Suddenly I felt wave of anxiety overwhelming me. I could feel the darkness from the other side of the bridge. The looming power plant. I felt it. Shade was expecting visitors. When I arrived, I noticed a cave on the other side of the field. On one hand I felt compelled to explore it, on the other hand I didn’t want to let others wait too long – they were in a dangerous position as well, after all.

I stood for about 10 minutes outside the power plant which doubled as a gym. I had fought in multiple leagues, many times over staked my life in dangerous situations, but never had I felt that I couldn’t see the enemy. Never before had I felt this level of anxiety in my underbelly. Being scared of the dark probably factored in there, somewhere. Had I had my Sheeplet with me, he could illuminate the area for me, like he always did…

I entered the building. Pitch dark. Totally black. When all of a sudden a spark of light ran through the building. For just a moment, the place brightened up a bit. It was then that I saw him. Or rather, it. A phantom. Red eyes. A fedora. A block of blackness. Just for a second, the entirety of Shade registered in my mind. It was dark again. It took me almost full minute to even move again. I was paralyzed. With fear.

It didn’t take me too long to figure out that, like most other gyms, this creep must have devised some kind of puzzle to get to the battle room. While fighting of ghost Pokémon, I figured I had to turn on switches of some kind. Then, as if Shade scaring me in the main hall wasn’t enough, there were images projected on the wall (or so I thought). I may have actually cried when I saw a Garchomp beheading the girl. Or when I saw Corey falling down. Again.

After about an hour of struggling, I found my way to Shades chamber. My eyes had adjusted to the dark. I entered the room, and almost immediately felt the presence of Shade. I couldn’t quite see him, but I could sense him. When I saw the red eyes, I guess I saw him as well. His first Pokémon was a Gengar. I reached for my pokedex, which identified the name of the Gengar as ‘Corey’. Gengar was part poison-type. After a few seconds of uncontrollable shaking, somehow my Torterra let himself out of his pokeball. After a bit of a fight, the Gengar, and his Chandelure, knocked out my Torterra. And Camerupt. And Meowstic. And the rest of my party. I couldn’t help my Pokémon. I couldn’t instruct them. I couldn’t fight with them. Shade must have seen me in the crowd when I went to find Corey’s body. He was using this against me. My mind went completely blank, I left the gym.

After about 20 minutes I felt somewhat okay. I tended to the wounds of my Pokémon – they were considerably beat up. My 6 Pokémon around me somewhat calmed my nerves, the prospect of having to go back in there didn’t. Suddenly, I got a call.

“Hey babe, how you doing~?”, Cain said.

“… Yo Cain”, I stuttered a bit, still a bit rattled, “yeah, I’m fine. You have reception in that cave?”

“No, we don’t, but I figured that by now you’d have either failed or succeeded, so I thought I’d check in to see how you’re doing~ They’re all worried about you know~”

“They are?”, I asked somewhat surprised.

“Well… I know Shelly is. Heather is kinda quiet. Charlotte is her usual self I suppose”, Cain said, “So you lost, eh?”

“… I did.”

“I know you’ve been here for about a month… Sorry to get you dragged into this I guess~”

I sighed. Then I felt a headbutt from behind. It was my Mareep, Sheeplet 2. I looked around me and saw my other Pokémon sitting around me. Torterra providing cover against the wind, Camerupt providing warmth, Mareep in my lap, the others sleeping.

“Well… Stay safe,” I said, as I hung up the call. A ray of sunshine broke through. I patted Sheeplet 2 on its head. “So far, so good… I guess.”

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Edited January 29, 2015 by TheSparringPanther

[TheSparringPanther]

Hm bump bc I might write more