In Progress Currently untitled - PG-13

[Zeph]

CHAPTER ONE​

I am warm, but the warmth is not the same as it should be. Where is the steady movement as my mother breaths? Where is the sound of her soft, rumbling voice? And, most importantly, why is my mother lying on top of me? I do not know what is happening, and I am scared. I think I’m going to cry.

~

As the first joyful rays on morning sunlight filled the small attic bedroom, the young boy sleeping in the bed snored on. His chest rose and fell slowly, and a few strands of long, brown hair fluttered from the boy’s breath. In his mind, he was floating, floating through glorious nothingness, entirely alone.

Very suddenly, a loud bleeping noise sliced through the nothingness like a Scyther's claw through paper. The boy moaned in his stupor and tried to block out the noise, but it grew louder and faster.

Beep.

Beep.

Bee-beep.

Bee-beep.

Bi-bi-bi-beep.

Bi-bi-bi-beep.

His heavy eyelids jerked open, and one thin arm reached out of the mass of blankets and clothes and smacked down, hard, on the alarm clock on the table by the bed. The noise stopped, but with a flump, the clock fell and sank into the mess of dirty clothes and screwed-up paper that surrounded the small table. From the blankets emerged the boy, his hair looking like a Sandslash, sticking up all over the place. He stumbled out of the bed and slowly made his way across the mess on the floor to his blue wardrobe. He opened the door and groped inside, finding a white shirt, grey flannel trousers, a red and white striped tie and a navy blue blazer. The hideous school uniform.

After pulling himself into the uniform, the boy, still sleepy, left the room and washed himself in the small bathroom. He then went back into his bedroom and packed a small rucksack with his school things, and trudged down the stairs to the kitchen. After pouring himself a bowl of cereal, the boy sat at the table in the middle of the room, where he found his mother. he sat down on a spindle-legged chair, slowly munching his cereal and looking around the rooms as he slowly gathered the energy to speak. His eyes passed over the terracotta-coloured walls, the dark marble counters and the sparkling-clean oven. He found in unbelievable how neat and tidy she managed to be, especially for a single parent - his Father had disappeared mysteriously a few weeks after his birth.

After a few moments, Cal looked up at the thin, blonde-haired woman in front of him. “Hi, mum,” he yawned

“Morning, Cal,” she replied, smiling over at him. "I hope you haven't left your room untidy again. Honestly, son, last time I looked, I thought a Voltorb had exploded in there!" Cal averted his eyes and didn't speak for a while.

When Cal finished his breakfast, he stood up, picked up his rucksack from the floor and turned to leave. “See you later,” he said to his mum, who answered with a wave and a smile, watching Cal as he opened the front door and left.

Cal walked down the garden path, looking around, bleary-eyed, in the morning sunshine at the freshly-mown lawns and flowerbeds of Cleanslate town. There were only a few houses and a single shop in the town, but it had been Cal’s home for as long as he remembered. The buildings were generally small and square, made of whitewashed bricks and dark wood, which gave them an old-fashioned feel. The plants and trees, which had ample room to grow, and frequent rainfall to feed them, were tall, colourful and rich, making the town quite beautiful in the summer. However, the school that Cal attended was in the next town over, Centurock city.

Walking slowly through the town, Cal approached the small woodland area that seperated Cleanslate from Centurock city, as he had done every week-day for the past eight years. He watched as the tall buildings in Centurock bobbed closer and closer beyond the woods. He walked through the gap in the fence that surrounded the small town, and began to trudge through the tall trees, following the footpath that he always did. He put his hands in his pockets and whistled along with the Pidgeys, Spearows and Tailows that were flitting around the woodland, catching bug Pokémon and taking them to their young.

Suddenly a horrible loud noise - was it a gunshot? - rang out.

It sounded very close by, and without a second thought, Cal broke into a run, crashing through the trees, completely forgetting the path, as the bird Pokémon squawked and squealed in fear. Cal almost tripped over a Sentret that was running on all fours to it’s burrow, just missed running into what appeared to be a small, walking tree that was running too, and finally, thanking God and Arceus and every other holy thing, emerged from the woodland into the city. He didn’t look back.

*

A few minutes later, Cal entered the small school looking flustered. he was still shocked after the commotion in the forest, and it obviously showed. People in the corridor gawked and stared at him. His skin was very pale and his eyes were wide with terror, but he hardly realised. He walked to his classroom and sat down at his table, not noticing the room was otherwise empty.

After about ten minutes, the rest of the class began to file in. One boy, a nasty individual called Ralf, elbowed Cal as he passed. "Whatcha doin' here early, Cal-terpie?" Ralf used this nickname is a feeble attempt to insult Cal most days. "You turnin' into a Teacher's Pokémon?" guffawing, he punched Cal on the shoulder and sat down at the table next to him.

Cal and Ralf had been rivals since their first day at the school, when they were five. Ralf had accidentally-on-purpose tripped Cal over for the fun of it, and Cal had landed in the school pond. Unfortunately, a Goldeen in the pond had disagreed with this. Cal still had the horn-scar on his forehead.

"So, Cal," whispered Ralf, leaning across to Cal, as the rest of the class chattered on about what they did at the weekend and various other topics, "Why you lookin' so shocked? Never noticed me before?" Cal ignored the fool. Pathetic... he thought to himself, And he thinks he's funny...

Cal heard a noise next to him, and turned around. His friend, Rebecca - whom he had always had a slight crush on - had just sat down. She smiled at him, and he gave a faint nod in reply. She looked concerned, but didn't say anything.

The teacher, a short, stout man named Mr. Hill, entered the room a short while later, and the class mostly fell silent. Claressa, however, an extremely chatty girl who loved the sound of her own voice, continued gossiping away to anyone who would listen about how fabulous her collection of miniskirts was and whatever else it was she talked about (Cal hardly ever listened). Mr. Hill stood right behind her, listening to her with a clearly uninterested look on his face.

"And I have this one that's bright pink and with these little white flowers on it, it's so cool, and - "

"Oh really, Claressa?" Mr. Hill asked, raising a bushy brown eyebrow, "Maybe you'd like to tell me some more about it at lunch?" Claressa turned around and smiled falsely at Mr. Hill.

"Uh, no thanks sir. I'm sorry." She didn't sound it.

Although he didn't seem like it, Mr. Hill was actually a kind soul at heart, and as he walked past Cal on his way to his desk, he noticed Cal's look of shock and looked concerned. "Everything alright, Cal? You look... frightened." He asked, his brow furrowed.

"Wuh? Oh, yeah thanks, Mr. Hill," Cal answered, snapping out of his imaginings of gunmen running wild in the woods.
Hunters rarely - if never - came to the Centuro-Slate woods, as they were known, largely becase of the lack of big game Pokémon to hunt. So what hunters - if they were hunters at all - were doing in Centuro-Slate...

He looked up at the teacher with a shaky smile. Mr. Hill offered him a friendly smile, before returning to his desk at the front.

"Now, this morning, class, we're very lucky to have a lecture from Professor Holly of Marble City Pokémon lab. She'll be telling us about the habits of Pokémon. It's in the theatre, but first I have to take the register. Daniel?" As Mr. Hill called the register, Ralf looked at Cal again and sneered, imitating Mr. Hill's deep voice. "Everything alright? You look fwightened!" Cal glared at Ralf, and turned around so he wasn't looking into Ralf's ugly face.

 

[Zeph]

CHAPTER TWO​

I have been wailing out, trying to catch someone or something's attention for hours now. So far, nothing has happened though. I've tried wiggling out of my warm pouch, but my Mother is trapping me. I try waking her, asking her to get off, but she won't listen. What's wrong with her?

~

Cal stepped out of the school doors into the bright afternoon. He slipped his rucksack over his shoulders and began to walk down the quiet road with tall blocks of flats on either side. As he walked, he contemplated the day in his head, as he always did.

So... Ralf's been normal - or as normal as he gets. That lecture... it was... actually quite fun. What came after that... oh yeah, Battle Tactics. It's always fun having a Pokémon lesson, even if it isn't practical. then... Maths and Science. Boring.

He walked through the streets, past shops, houses, more flats and the Pokémon Centre, a red-roofed building with a sliding glass door in the middle of the city. As he walked, he extracted from and inside pocket a pair of small, red headphones, which he put in his ears, and then took out a small music player, which he switched on. He began whistling and humming quietly to the music, until he reached the Centuro-Slate woods. He still hadn't forgotten what had happened that morning, so it was with some fear that he stepped from warm, welcoming concrete to lumpy, bumpy dirt. Walking cautiously through the woods, he constantly peered through the trees and around corners, checking for the shape of a person, or of a gun, or of anything.

After a while, Cal came to the place he had heard the gunshot. He knew this was it by the scuff marks in the dirt where he had switched from a walk to a run. He stood there for a moment, expecting a man gunman to bear down on him at any moment, listening for the sound of a trigger being clicked... but nothing came. Instead, he heard a strange, wailing noise from the trees nearby.

"Kanga.... Kanga..."

It sounded like a Pokémon. He turned in the direction the sound was coming from. Was it a trap? A cruel trick set up by a hunter? Well, the only way to find out was to go and look. He squeezed through the trees, taking care not to scratch himself on some thorn bushes, and came to a wide clearing.

In the middle of the clearing was a horrible sight. The huge, brown form of a Pokémon was lying in the middle, perfectly still. As he approached it, the crying sound got louder, and Cal realised it was coming from under the dead Pokémon. Cal walked round to the Pokémon's other side and saw it was strong and armoured, lying on its front, with its head turned on its side, brown eyes wide open underneath a dark green head-plate. Cal tried pushing it, but it was incredibly heavy. He tried wedging a stick underneath the Pokémon and levering it up, but still to no avail.

The cries got more desperate, and, overcome by concern for the poor thing stuck underneath the Pokémon, Cal gathered up all his strength, took a few steps back, and ran, shoulder-first, at the dead Pokémon.

Shoulder met shoulder as he rammed into it. Human and Pokémon took part in an insane backwards game of Tug-of-War, where one of the contestants was dead. Cal pushed, and pushed, and finally, after a last effort, the Pokémon rolled on to its side and came crashing down onto its back.

Cal fell back in exhaustion, and searched the ground for the crying thing, but nothing was there. But then he looked up and saw that on the corpse's cream chest was a pouch, and inside that pouch was a tiny Pokémon.

Cal pulled himself up and walked over to examine it. The Pokémon in the pouch was its mother in miniature; it was identical to the dead Pokémon whose pouch it was trapped in, except this baby had not yet developed armour plates, and was a sort of purple colour instead of brown. Cal gently pulled the sobbing Pokémon out of the pouch and cradled it in its arm, almost maternally. The Pokémon seemed comforted by this, and almost stopped crying. In fact, it shut its eyes, and, within a few moments, its breathing was deep and slow: it was asleep.

Cal examined the dead Pokémon. It occurred to him that this was probably the target of the gunshot he had heard earlier. But if so, why had the hunters not taken it with them? That was the purpose of hunting, wasn't it - to get the Pokémon dead, either to stuff and display or to eat. So why had the hunters left it here, slowly rotting in the middle of this forest?

Cal thought for a moment, and decided that he needed to bury the dead body before some predator Pokémon got to it. He took off his rucksack, wrapped the tiny Pokémon in his blazer to keep it warm and hidden, and then carefully put the bundle in the rucksack, making sure to leave a gap in the zip so the baby could breath. He raced home as fast as he could.

*

A few minutes later, Cal returned to the clearing with a shovel he had found in the garden shed back at home. Fortunately, his mum was not home yet. Even more fortunately, the dead Pokémon was still untouched. Cal set to work, digging, digging, deeper and deeper, slowly, and carefully. After a while, he had not made very much progress, and, wiping his sweaty brow, he sat down inside the unfinished grave. He felt a wriggling in his rucksack and heard a soft voice calling out. He took the bag off of his back and pulled out the small Pokémon, which had escaped from its makeshift blankets. Without a second glance at anything, the baby Pokémon, to Cal's surprise, started using its small, blunt claws to dig, three times faster than Cal could have managed. Cal joined in, shoveling dirt yet again, but never reaching the speed of the tiny Pokémon.

After about a quarter of an hour, the grave was finally deep enough. Cal was sure the Pokémon still did not fully understand what was going on, for when Cal lifted it out of the grave, it toddled over to its mother, looking insanely cute as it tried to climb back in its pouch, expecting its mother to wake up at any second. Cal slowly climbed out of the grave and approached the Pokémon. He crouched down next to it, and whispered, slowly and carefully, trying to put more meaning into the sounds than the words, "She can't wake up, little one."

The baby Pokémon appeared to understand somewhat, for it turned its small head to look at Cal with large, dark eyes. Cal continued. "She can't wake up, because..." the Pokémon still stared expectantly at Cal. "because she's... dead." The baby continued staring at Cal for a moment, probably processing these words in its tiny head..

~

I'm not sure what's happening. A little while ago, one of those humans pushed my Mother off of me and took me out of my pouch. Now he's sitting next to me, speaking to me in a weird, unfamiliar language that consists of various yelps, blows and hisses. But he sounds... he sounds like he's trying to tell me something important. He's speaking slowly, and I can detect sadness in his strange voice. I look at him for a while and then I try to jump back into Mother's pouch again. The human male makes a strange noise that makes me flinch, it sounds like 'Hah Hah Hah'. He still sounds sad when he makes that noise though. He lifts me up gently, but I don't like it. "Put me down!" I tell him, but he doesn't listen. Does he even understand me? He holds me in both arms, and he is gentle. He reminds me of Mother.

He suddenly starts pushing Mother towards that hole we dug with one of his strange, sticking-out shoulders. "No! Don't push her in there!" I say, "You might wake her up!" But still he doesn't listen. I'm starting to think he doesn't understand Kanga language. But he speaks back to me in his weird tongue, this time he speaks in a soothing tone, but also making a nasty hissing noise, like "Sssssh!", is he planning to bite me? I remember another nasty Pokémon make that noise before when it was about to bite me, but Mother sent it away with a punch. But Mother can't protect me now, I finally realise. She's not going to wake up at all, is she? I think I understand now. That nasty, loud bang noise earlier when Mother was running... was that one of the horrible humans, with their weird metal hands that shoot fire?

Another nasty noise. A crash, as Mother falls and hits the bottom of the hole. I'm crying again now...

~

Cal watched solemnly as the huge Pokémon's corpse crashed to the bottom of the grave. He noticed the baby in his arms was crying again, and began to stroke its soft purple fur and smooth head-plate, softly telling it everything will be alright, that he will look after it.

He turned the baby around in his arms, and they both took one last look down at the body of the Pokémon. Cal then placed the baby safely back in his rucksack and used the shovel to push all the dirt back into the grave, flattening it out when he was done.

Cal picked up the rucksack and walked back through the trees, making his slow, mournful way back home as the baby cried yet again.

 

[Zeph]

CHAPTER THREE​

The strange human has taken me away from where he buried my Mother. He took me to a strange place with giant blocks of wood and stone that look artificial. Do humans live in these odd caves? I think they do, because, from what I can see out of the strange fabric pouch he is carrying me in, he has taken me inside one. The walls are smooth and cream-coloured, and there's a weird, glowing cone hanging from the ceiling.

Suddenly, the walls start to fall away from me steadily and slowly. Is the human flying? No, I don't think so. They don't have wings. I look down and see he is climbing a strange, jagged slope. We stop ascending, and he takes me into another chamber of the cave. This one has blue walls. I've never seen anything like it before. The ground in this chamber is covered in all kinds of things. There are pieces of the strange fabric skin the humans have, white balls of something that smells like wood but doesn't look like it, and many other weird things. He takes me out of the pouch, and places me on a ledge - but this ledge isn't hard and rocky, it's soft and warm, like the inside of Mother's pouch. Suddenly, thoughts of Mother fill my mind, and I begin to cry again.

Cal was getting irritated. He'd managed to sneak the Pokémon into the house, and now it was crying again. "Kiiid.... Kiiid... Kangaskiiid..." it wailed. Cal tried to calm it, worried his mother would hear it. He cradled it in his arms again, and it began to quieten. Soon enough, it was asleep again. Smiling, Cal slowly opened his wardrobe, wrapped the little Pokémon in an old T-Shirt and placed it carefully in the corner of the wardrobe. When he was sure it was hidden, he went downstairs.

When he got to the living room, he found his mother sitting on the red sofa watching television. Cal smiled, and sat down next to her. "I heard you come in," she said, "Why didn't you say hello?" Cal flushed slightly, and focused on the TV.

"My bags were getting too heavy. I needed to take them off." he said quickly.

"Well, if you say so..." she said, her brow furrowed. Cal had the feeling that she didn't believe him, but she didn't explore the topic any further.

~

Later, Cal went back up to his bedroom, and found the Pokémon sitting on his bed. When it saw him, it rushed over and sat at his feet, its little mouth wide open. Cal couldn't help but laugh, charmed by its cuteness. "You're hungry?" he asked it. It probably didn't understand, but Cal continued. "You can't have any food at the moment, I'm sorry." evidently, the Pokémon didn't understand at all, for it followed him around the room with its mouth still open. Cal decided he'd find out what Pokémon this was.

He sat down at his white computer and pressed the ON button. The screen flashed to life, and after a few logos and loading screens, he was on his desktop. Grabbing the mouse, he clicked on the internet, and spoke as he type into the address bar. "Double-you, double-you, double-you, dot, Pokédex, dot, Eff, Are, Oh."

A website appeared. It was mostly coloured in reds, whites and blacks, and there were many pictures of different Pokémon. Cal searched through the long list until he found a little picture of the Pokémon that was sat on the floor next to him. he clicked on it, and another page popped up.

"'Kangaskid.'" he read. "'Ordinarius Kangaskus Primus.' Well, that tells me a lot. 'Kangaskid is a female-only Pokémon.' Oh, so you're a girl?" He looked at the little Pokémon. Until now, he hadn't been sure of the little creature's gender. "'It is the pre-evolved form of Kangashkan. It will spend almost all of its life, until ready to evolve, in its Mother's pouch.' Well, that explains it." He looked back at the Pokémon after closing down the website. "So, you're called a Kangaskid... guess I'll give you a nickname. Uhm...." he looked around for inspiration, but found none. "How does... Kira sound?" he said, and looked at the Kangaskid. "Kira? Do you like that name, Kira?" the Pokémon stared up at him with its large round eyes, and blinked twice.

The human is talking to me again. He was staring at a strange, glowing machine and talking to himself, but now he is talking to me. He keeps repeating one sound. It sounds like 'Keeee-Rah'. I don't know what it means, but I like that sound. It's quite similar to some words in Kanga. Maybe he's trying to give me a name? I've never had a name before. My Mother always called me 'My Darling', but I've heard that some Pokémon give each other names. And this human boy is my new Mother, isn't he? So he can give me a name. I am Kee-Rah the Kangaskid.

~

The days went by, and Cal continued hiding Kira. He tried giving her different kinds of food; her favourite so far was Berries. Cal liked them too, so sometimes they shared bunches of Berries. Kira was beginning to trust Cal more, and sometimes it even seemed like she understood him. She definitely understood that Kira was her name, anyway. Whenever he said it, she would toddle over to him. Cal still had to go to school, but Kira was doing very well. Every day, Cal hid her in the wardrobe, went to school, and came back. When he did, he'd find her still sitting faithfully in there, ready with a smile or a joyful little squeal.

On Friday, Cal and his class had a discussion about Monday's Pokémon lecture.

"Right," Mr. Hill began, "Who can remember what the first thing Professor Holly told us was?" he looked around the classroom expectantly. A few uncertain hands raised, but Cal held his high up. He had had a sudden burst of remembrance. Mr. Hill pointed to him, and he began.

"She said that Pokémon can easily learn our language by just listening!"

"That's right," Mr. Hill laughed. "You seem very keen on the idea. Yes, Pokémon can learn what the words we speak mean very quickly, as long as their trainer constantly talks to them. Why, after a few hours, they should probably know how we say their species, nickname and attacks. It's quite amazing, you don't even need to teach them what the words mean, you just have to use them regularly."

Cal smiled to himself. That was why Kira seemed to understand him: because she did!

Later that day, Mr. Hill told them something.

"Now, class, I'd like you to settle down. I have some very important news coming up." the class all fell silent, even Claressa.

"Next week, we will be taking a trip to Professor Holly's lab in Marble City. I'm proud to have to tell you this - your graduation is coming."

The class all jumped up and cheered. They had all been looking forward to their graduation, not just because they wouldn't' have to attend school any more, but because they'd be able to become full-blown trainers. They'd be able to challenge the Pokémon League!

"Hahaha...." Mr Hill smiled. "I know you're excited, but you need to calm down a little. Professor Holly has a collection of rare Pokémon for you to choose from- or, if you'd rather not choose one of them, you can catch one yourself afterwards - when you've graduated, of course.

"Now, your graduation ceremony will take place next Friday." The teacher continued, "And the trip will be on the Wednesday. Any questions?"

~

When Cal returned home later, he went straight into the living room, instead of upstairs, as he had been for the past week. "Mum!" he shouted, even though she was right in front of him, "We're graduating next week!"

She stood up and smiled. "I know," she said.

"Isn't it grea- what?" Cal asked, confused.

"The school sent me a letter a few weeks ago explaining. It said not to tell you."

"But... why?"

"Well, I think it's so we can prepare for your leaving off on a big adventure and all-"

"No, I mean, why weren't you allowed to tell me?"

"Oh. Well, I'm pretty sure that's so - WHAT IS THAT!?" she screamed, pointing towards the open door behind Cal.

Cal slowly turned around, and saw something that made his blood run cold.

Kira was standing in the doorway.

~

"You've had this Pokémon for five days now, and you didn't tell me?" Cal's mother said, completely outraged. "Why didn't you, Callum? I could have taken care of it! I wouldn't have minded!"

"I... I don't know..." Cal replied apologetically. "I thought you'd be angry at me for bringing her home!"

Still seething, she swooped over to Kira and lifted her up. Kira cried out and held her tiny arms out to Cal, but stopped soon enough. Cal's mother was rocking her, back and forth, in her arms. She still looked angry, but nothing got in the way of her instinct to look after anything young and vulnerable.

"What is it, anyway?" she asked Cal.

"She is a Kangaskid." Cal replied. "She's called Kira. And don't say 'it', Pokémon have genders too, you know."

"I know, I know," she said, and sighed. "I just wasn't ready for this..." There was a long pause, in which Kira's breathing turned deep and slow. She was asleep again. "I suppose you'll be taking Kira to start of your Training?" Cal's mother asked quietly.

"Yeah. Once she's a bit bigger and tougher. And I need to see what attacks she has." At the mention of attacks, Cal's mother shut her eyes and shuddered. She obviously couldn't bear the thought of this tiny little thing battling big, powerful Pokémon.

Cal couldn't either.

 

[Zeph]

CHAPTER FOUR​

Wednesday came with another brilliant, sunny morning. Cal was shaken awake by his mother at seven O'Clock. Groaning, the boy climbed out of bed as she left the room, and grabbed his school uniform which was draped carelessly over the end of the bed.

After going through his normal morning routine, Cal allowed his mother to give him a quick hug and to wish him luck on the trip, then walked across town and into the woods again.

After a few minutes, he felt something moving in his bag. Curious, he took it off and opened it, and found Kira inside.

"Kiiiiid!" she squealed happily, as Cal stared, shocked. She must have climbed into his backpack as he picked it up to go. Well, she'd make the day even more interesting...

*

When Cal got to school (late, as usual), Mr Hill took a quick register, then looked around at the assembled class.

"Right," he said, "We're all here. The bus is outside. Let's go!"

The rest of the class quickly filed out excitedly, but Cal lagged behind, slowed by the weight of Kira hidden in his bag. They got outside, and Cal saw the sleek, silver, modern-looking bus. It appeared to have no wheels and was floating. Slightly puzzled, Cal stepped aboard and chose a seat at the back, next to Rebecca.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," he replied.

When the whole class was on board, Cal felt a sudden lurch as the bus shuddered. Then, with a strange hum, it swiftly began moving, winding through the streets like a fish through water. Confused, he opened the window next to him and stuck his head a short way out. No, the bus definitely had no wheels. It was floating. Then, very suddenly, the ground began to fall away, the roads becoming lines, the people and cars becoming ants. The bus was flying!

Soon, the bus was high into the air, almost as high as the clouds. The young boy looked around, amazed, at the whole region of Farroh. There was Dayrock Mountain towering above everything, with Observatory Hill next to it. If he looked closely, he could see the Observatory on the hill, with its domed roof and smooth walls. Over to the west was Chalkshore Island, and just off the coast behind the Mountain was the small Ultima Island. turning around, he even saw the tiny Cleanslate Town to the far south. His eyes scanned the beautiful region in wonderment. He then looked up, at the sky. The clouds were floating above them, and one had an unusually regular shape. It looked rather like a flower. He jumped as a streak of light blue shot underneath that strange cloud formation, but then it was gone.

After a few minutes, the flying bus began to lose height, and Cal, looking down, saw the sprawling mass of the capital, Marble City, rising up like a friendly pet to meet them. It had the tallest buildings in all of Farroh, such as the Radio Tower and the Pokémon Research Tower. It was the latter building they were heading towards - or more,they were heading to a much smaller building at its base. The bus smoothly came to a halt outside the square white building, and the doors hissed open. Excited, the babbling students climbed out and walked through the double doors of the building, which were open, warm and welcoming.

Mr. Hill followed them in, and beckoned to them to gather around. "This, children," he said, "Is Marble City Pokémon lab." he gestured around the entrance room they were in. The walls were made of metal, and the floor of dark blue wood. At the center of every wall was a giant, painted picture of a Pokéball, each one a different colour and with a door underneath it.

"The research carried out here is sent up to the Research Tower," Mr. Hill continued, pointing to the door to the left of the front doors. "They properly analyse and test the research, and then file it and-"

"Jus' take us to the Pokémon!" Ralf shouted, getting a few sniggers from his friends.

Mr.Hill rolled his eyes. "Okay then," he said, and lead them through the glass doors opposite the ones they had come through, above which was a picture of a ordinary red-and-white Pokéball.

They came out into a long room lined with silver bookshelves which were in turn stuffed with books of every size and colour. At the far end of the room was a large screen, with three complicated consoles in front of it. On the screen was an image of a few different Pokémon. At the side consoles were a couple of black-haired lab assistants, and at the middle one was a woman holding a clipboard. When she heard the teacher and children enter, the woman turned around, and smiled.

"Arthur Hill," he said, grinning broadly and walking towards Mr. Hill, who blushed, and muttered something.

"Please, Holly, don't use my first name in front of the students..."

Professor Holly laughed, and turned her brilliant green eyes towards the gathered students. She had shoulder-length hair of a shockingly red colour, and she was wearing a long, green lab coat that was precisely the same colour as her eyes. She smiled at the assembled children, and spoke to them.

"So, are you guys all ready to choose your first Pokémon?" she asked kindly. Most of the students nodded, and Ralf and his cronies grunted.

Professor Holly lead the class over to the main screen, just as the image changed, showing an image of a very strange Pokémon with a round, red head and a body that looked like two long, twisted tails. the Professor quickly pressed a large green button at the top of her console, and the screen turned off. For some reason, didn't she want the students to see the Lab's research?

She then pressed another button, which was shaped and coloured like a Pokéball. The console slid backwards along the floor, and stopped against the wall. Then the floor where the console had previously been opened up, and another machine came up through the hole. This one was wide and cylindrical, with a large red dome on top. Around the dome were three different coloured buttons: one green, one orange and one blue.

To start with, the Professor put her hand over the green button. "This is your first choice: It's a grass-type." She pressed down on the button, and the dome in the middle became two halves which opened, revealing some sort of projector. Then, a beam of light flickered from the projector's bulb, over which a complicated-looking filter clicked into place, creating a floating, three dimensional image of a Pokémon.

It appeared to be a white bunny rabbit. Instead of ears, however, it had two long, quivering leaves, and in place of a tail was a small, yellow flower.

"Learabit, the Sapling Pokémon," Professor Holly said. All the girls 'aww'ed, and a few of the nicer boys smiled. Ralf however, smirked nastily.

"Pathe'ic thing," he whispered to one of his friends, who snorted. Cal sighed at Ralf's meanness, and felt Kira wriggling inside his bag.

Professor Holly now pressed the orange button, and Learabit disappeared, to be replaced by another Pokémon.

"Colawa, the Cross Pokémon. Fire type." Professor Holly said. The Pokémon looked like a Koala. It had big, angry-looking eyes, and the top of its head, including its large ears, was on fire. Cal saw Ralf nod in obvious appreciation, a sneer across his face. He'd obviously made his mind up.

Finally, Professor Holy pressed the third button, the blue one. The final Pokémon was a very cute little dolphin with big, innocent eyes and tiny, feathery wings instead of fins. A few of the girls actually squealed in delight, but Ralf burst out laughing. The other students turned around to look at him, as did Mr. Hill with a stern look, and Professor Holly with a slightly confused expression.

"It's... it's just... st... stupid!" Ralf guffawed, pointing at the image of the Pokémon.

As Ralf began to calm down a little, Professor Holly spoke again. "This is Findol, the Tiny Pokémon. It's a water type, and my personal favourite. Now, it's time for you to choose. Form a line, please."

The students lined up, and Ralf barged to the front. "Colawa," he said boisterously, and lazily held out a large, red hand. Professor Holly pressed the orange button again, but held it this time, and the image of Colawa didn't come. Instead, four thin, red laser beams shot out from hidden transmitters around the inside of the still-open dome, and gathered in a ball of light above the machine. The noise they made became increasingly high-pitched, and suddenly they stopped altogether, revealing a Pokéball floating in the air above the machine. Ralf snatched it down, and threw it to the ground, letting out his Pokémon in a burst of red light.

The Colawa instantly growled, and looked up at its new trainer, who smirked again, and threw the ball unkindly at the Colawa's face. the Pokémon was sucked back into the ball, which Ralf smugly stuffed into his pocket.

The process continued, with students choosing their Pokémon, briefly letting them out, and then withdrawing them again, until it was Cal's turn. The boy nervously walked forward, and smiled at Professor Holly.

"Take your time," she said kindly. After a few moment's hard thinking, Cal looked at the Professor again.

"I'll take a Learabit, please," he said. The Professor smiled, and held down the green button. Cal watched as his Pokéball materialised above the machine, and smiled gratefully as the Professor handed him the ball. Cal felt its weight, and clicked the button on it, letting out his second Pokémon. He smiled as the little rabbit appeared, curiously sniffing the air and waving its sensitive leaf-ears through the air. Cal grinned happily, and took it back into its ball.

Cal turned around, and saw there were no other students in the queue. He felt Kira squirming in his bag again, and, as Mr Hill announced the students could go into the Lab gardens to play with their Pokémon, Cal spoke to Professor Holly.

"Um, Professor," he said, "Could I talk to you, please?"

The Professor smiled warmly. "Of course," she replied, and walked him over to a table in a corner of the room. They both sat down. "So, what is it?" she asked kindly.

"Well, you see, I... I've got another Pokémon... I found her. In the Centuro-Slate woods, the other day."

The Professor nodded, her brow furrowed, and Cal unzipped his bag. Kira climbed out onto the table, and looked up cutely at Professor Holly, who gasped. "A Kangaskid!" she said in a hushed voice. "The only way to get these is to steal them from their Mother's pouch, which is very hard, as Kangaskhan can be... very protective." She looked up. "I suppose you didn't steal her?"

Cal shook his head. "Her Mother was dead," he said quietly.

"A dead Kangaskhan in Centuro-Slate Woods?" she said, obviously surprised. "I can't think why it'd go there in the fist place... they usually stay in the fields around Mount Dayrock..." she trailed off.

After an while, Cal spoke again. "So," he said awkwardly, "Could you maybe get me a Pokéball for her?" the Professor nodded, and reached into an inside pocket of her green lab coat, from which she took another Pokéball, and gently touched it to the top of Kira's head. Kira turned into red energy, but immediately began to squirm and squeal, knocking the Pokéball away before she was taken inside, and returning to her usual solid form.

"Well, it appears you have a very stubborn Pokémon here," Professor Holly said, obviously amused. "I have heard of a few cases like this before, of Pokémon not wanting to go inside Pokéballs. The most famous is probably that of Ash Ketchum from Kanto. He had a Pikachu who would never go inside a ball... It looks like Your Kangaskid will just have to ride on your shoulder."

*

A few minutes later, Cal walked out into the garden, where he found his classmates all playing with their Pokémon. He walked to a secluded corner, and put Kira, who was in his arms, on the soft, grassy ground, then let Learabit out. Learabit immediately ran over to a patch of grass to eat, and Kira playfully followed. Ralf suddenly came over to Cal, his new Colawa behind him.

"Where'ja get that other Pokémon from, Cal-terpie?" Ralf snarled angrily, looking over at Kira and Learabit.

"I found her, for your information," Cal replied.

"Well then, howzabout we battle?" the bully answered nastily, and, not waiting for an answer, pointed over at Kira. "Colawa, use Scratch attack!"

Colawa ran over to Kira with a raised arm, and Kira turned around in alarm. "Kira!" Cal shouted, "Use... something!"

How he wished he'd looked up the attacks Kangaskid could use...

Kira jumped into a battle stance, and held back both of her little fists. As Colawa reached her, her fists glowed orange, and she repeatedly punched the Fire Pokémon, sending it back and knocking it to the ground.

"Colawa, get up, stupid thing! Use Scratch again!"

"Kira, another of those punch thingies!"

But Colawa got there first, and swiped across Kira's body with its tough, flat hands. Kira cried out loudly, and Learabit, hearing his friend's plea for help, leaped into action, throwing himself at Ralf's Colawa with a powerful Tackle. Kira got up again, and delivered another quick succession of punches, knocking Colawa back again. Finally, Learabit Tackled the Colawa once more, and Ralf withdrew his fainted Pokémon, humiliation all over his usually snide face.

Cal was satisfied. He'd beaten Ralf.

 

[Zeph]

CHAPTER FIVE​

I am sitting on Cal's lap with another Pokémon. It is very different from me. Is it some kind of plant? It's hard to tell.

I just had a strange experience. Another Pokémon attacked me! And a human was ordering it, too! Me and Cal's other Pokémon beat it though. I used the attack Mother taught me once, a few months ago. I think she called it... Comet Punch.

"Hello."

What is that? I turn around, and see the other Pokémon looking at me. that's strange. I can understand other Pokémon language too?

"Hello?" the Pokémon says again.

"Hello," I reply, "I'm Kira, and I'm a Kangaskid."

"Hello, Kira, I'm Learabit the, uh, Learabit."

"That's a nice name. It makes me think of leaves."

"Um... yes. So, is this human nice?"

"Yes, his name is Cal. He's kind."

Cal was back on the flying bus, and they were heading back towards Centurock. Learabit and Kira were apparently talking happily on his lap. He didn't understand a thing they were saying.

"Kid, Kangaskid, Kanga, Kangaskid."

"Bit, Leara. Learabit, Leara."

Soon enough, the bus was coming to a stop oytside the familiar school. The students stepped off of the bus and walked with a mixture of expressions back to the classroom: Some were happy, some looked grumpy, others seemed indifferent. Cal had a Pokémon on each shoulder, and they were still talking to each other around his head. He smiled.

When the class was all assembled back in the classroom, Mr. Hill smiled widely at them all.

"Well... congratulations!" he said merrily. "Your first Pokémon! Just one more day of school, which will be entirely practical, may I add-" most of the class cheered at this news "-and you will be full-blown Trainers. You'll receive your official Farroh League Trainer Cards, and then... well, you can do anything you like. Challenge the Gym Leaders, become a Coordinator, get a job someplace or other... the choice is yours. And guess what? The power behind that choice is on your shoulders and in your pockets!

"Your Pokémon will be companions, as you already know. If you treat them well, they will love you back. If you treat them badly, well..." his eyes lingered darkly over Ralf, who was obviously paying no attention, for a moment "...they will do the same."

He clapped his hands together once.

"Right! Stand up, please. It's almost the end of the day, but to start with, I'd like to give you a little practical lesson. I'd like you and your Pokémon to take turns giving your best shot to my Pokémon. It's doubtful you'll make him faint - he's very experienced - but you can sure try."

With that, he pushed a small button on his desk, and the tables and chairs - apart from the desk itself - all slid into the walls, much like the consoles back at the lab. Then Mr. Hill reached into a drawer of his desk, taking out a single, pure-white Pokéball. He tossed it into the air and as it fell it opened, and, in a flash of bright white light, a Pokémon appeared.

It was apparently a small, orange-haired goat - but this goat had ridiculously huge curved black horns, each one about the size of a small table.

Ralf snorted again, and once more pushed his way to the front of the students. He pulled out his Pokéball, which was again cruelly and mercilessly stuffed at the bottom of his trouser pocket, and let his Colawa out. It looked, if possible, even more angrier than it had been the last time Cal had seen it.

Mr. Hill smiled. "Okay then, Billaze. Please go easy, the students have only just received their Pokémon, so they may be considerably less experienced than you." The giant-horned goat nodded, and lowered its dangerous head so its horns were pointing straight at Colawa. Ralf gave the first order.

"Colawa, Scratch it! Hard!"

Colawa ran over to Billaze and readied his blunt claws to strike the goat Pokémon, but at the last moment Billaze's horns mysteriously moved, and became a tough shield across the Pokémon's face, to which Colawa's Scratch did no damage at all. If fact, it looked like the attack did more harm to Colawa that it did to Billaze.

"Colawa, you idiot! Use your Rage attack!"

Colawa glared angrily at his trainer, but performed the attack anyway. He tensed his muscles, and began growling quietly. The growling grew louder and louder, and Cal could almost see furious red flames burning in the Pokémon's eyes. Then, with a roar, Colawa threw his limbs outwards and flung his head upwards. Strange, angry ripples of air emanated from Colawa, who suddenly shot forwards, hitting the now-exposed face of Billaze and actually bouncing back to where he was beforehand. As Billaze shook himself, Colawa began taking deep breaths, and the ripples stopped.

"Hmm. Ralf, you must treat your Pokémon more kindly. Really." Mr Hill sighed.

The battle continued for a few minutes, and obviously Ralf was making no progress in hurting Billaze, who apparently was only using defensive moves. Soon enough, Mr. Hill told Ralf it was time for another student to try, and the boy grudgingly withdrew his tired, angry Pokémon and walked to the back of the room to watch.

"Right, how about Cal?"

Cal smiled, and walked forward. Kira and Learabit obviously sensed another battle, for they jumped down to the floor, ready to fight. Cal took a small piece of paper from his pocket, upon which he had written the move-sets of his Pokémon, which Professor Holly had shown him at the Lab.

"Hmmm... Okay, Learabit, let's start off with a Razor Leaf, please?"

The little Grass-type nodded, and began to wave his ears through the air, spinning them in circles, increasing the speed until they became two white blurs spinning around his head. And then, from nowhere, another sharp-looking leaf flew out of each ear, spinning through the air like boomerangs towards Billaze, who put his head up and, to everyone's surprise, breathed a small flame at the leaves, immediately incinerating them.

"Oh. So Billaze is a Fire type. Fair enough. Okay, Kira, you try a... Comet Punch!"

Just like she had with Colawa, Kira raised her glowing orange fists and jumped at Billaze, punching at every part of him she could reach. Billaze indifferently shook the Kangaskid off, and Kira landed on the floor next to Learabit.

Cal's battle went on much in the same way, with Kira and Learait delivering initially powerful attacks, but eventually being shaken away by Billaze and his gargantuan horns.

~

At the end of the day, Mr. Hill looked around at them all.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put you all against Billaze. He's very powerful though, so don't fee bad. Soon enough, your Pokémon will be just as good, if not better. I'm sure you'll all make fantastic Trainers. See you tomorrow."

He smiled, and sat down at his desk as the other students left the room in little groups.

As Cal was walking through the small city, he heard a voice behind him.

"Cal! Hey, Cal!"

He looked around, and saw a girl with long, dark-blonde hair running towards him. It was Rebecca.

"Hey, 'Becca." Cal smiled.

"Hi. Um, your Pokémon are really good. And cute." She said, gesturing towards Kira and Learabit on his shoulders.

"Uh... thanks?"

"No problem. Anyway, I was, ah, just wondering if, y'know, when we're trainers, you wanted to, uh... travel... together? I mean, just as friends. You know..."

"Uh... yeah, okay then..." Cal replied, feeling his face go red.

"Cool! So, um, I'll ah, see you tomorrow."

The two stopped, and just stood there awkwardly, looking at each other for a few moments. Then they realised what they were doing, and, embarrassedly, Rebecca ran in the other direction, towards the centre of the city.

Still a little dazed, Cal started walking again, contemplating what had just happened.

~

"Welcome home, Cal. How was the tri - Oh, wow! How cute is that Pokémon?"

Those were his mother's first words as he walked through the door. She swooped over and started stroking the Learabit on his shoulder. Kira made an indignant noise and crossed her little arms, turning away. That was a habit she'd got from Cal.

"Oh, don't worry, Kira. You're adorable too!" the woman laughed, and took a step backwards.

"Hi, Mum..." Cal said.

"Yes. Hello," she replied, clearing her throat. "Dinner's at five. Macaroni and Miltank Cheese. And then we're having Tropius Banana Splits."

"Great. Sounds great, Mum. Could Kira and Learabit have some?"

"Of course they may!"

Cal smiled in appreciation, and went upstairs.

"Well guys," he said, letting himself fall onto his bed, "It's been a long day. Time to rest."

His Pokémon, however, appeared not to want to rest. Learabit began bouncing around the room, exploring under the bed, in the wardrobe and in the underwear drawer, as Kira giggled and chased after the Grass Pokémon.

What interesting Pokémon he had...

 

[Zeph]

CHAPTER SIX​

"Kira! Bite!"

Kira ran over to her opponent with her mouth wide open, and bit down hard on the the small purple rat, who quickly retaliated by swinging its curled tail around like a whip and batting the Kangaskid away.

They were back in the classroom. Mr. Hill had bought in a few weak Pokémon he had captured that morning for the students to practice on. He intended to release the wild Pokémon back to their natural habitats at the end of the day, much to the relief of the more economically aware students.

Cal had been put against a Rattata. Among the other Pokémon fighting were the round Sentret with their long, springy tails, the strange, spiky-furred Zigzagoon and a few different different Bug Pokémon, such as Caterpie, Weedle and Wurmple.

"Learabit, try a Vine Whip!"

From behind the leaf ears of the small rabbit Pokémon came two long, dark green vines, which cracked through the air at the Rattata, leaving angry red marks where they hit.

Cal nodded in encouragement. "Come on, guys! We can do this! Kira, Comet Punch!"

As she had so many times before, Kira began punching the Rattata with glowing orange fists. The Rattata squeaked, but could fight no more.

"Well done, Cal!" Mr. Hill remarked, walking over with an impressed expression. "You'll make a really great Trainer."

Cal gathered his two Pokémon and sat down in one of the chairs around the walls to watch the others. Ralf was, as expected, struggling against a Sentret, who kept dodging out of the way of Colawa's attacks. It would then quickly tackle the angry Koala, much to Ralf's annoyance.

When everyone had beaten - or lost to - their opponent, Mr. Hill nodded his approval to the class. "Next lesson, we'll be practicing against some slightly more powerful Pokémon. Now, go outside and get some fresh air!"

Cal left the room with the other students and walked along the corridors to the courtyard. He crossed the large, stone-paved yard and sat on a wooden bench by the central fountain, which featured a statue of various Water-type Pokémon shooting water from their mouths.

He reached into his bag and took some food out. He had three sandwiches - he gave one to each of his Pokémon, and ate the other himself. As the human and the two Pokémon ate - Kira and Learabit with much enthusiasm - a large, burly shadow loomed over them. Cal looked up, and saw the hideous, spotty face of Ralf.

"What do you want, Ralf?" he asked impatiently.

"I... I want..." Obviously, Ralf hadn't thought of a real reason to intrude on Cal's privacy. "I wancha lunch. Give it 'ere, now, or I'll beacha."

"Huh. Too poor to get your own lunch?" Cal replied sarcastically.

"Oi! Don'choo ever call me poor, right?"

Cal rolled his eyes. "You still haven't answered-" he was cut off, however, as he received a nasty blow to the side of the head. With stars popping before his eyes, he looked at Ralf and saw the boy's face was in an expression of mixed stupidity and rage, and he had his fist back, ready for another punch.

As Cal braced himself, however, instead of feeling the pain again, he heard a squeal, followed by an angry shout, and saw that Kira was hanging off of Ralf's still-curled fist - by her mouth. Despite Ralf's efforts to shake the Kangaskid off, Kira didn't budge, sinking her small, sharp teeth deeper and deeper into Ralf's hand.

Ralf brought his other hand around, and his large, heavy knuckles connected with Kira, who let go - and went flying across the courtyard.

"KIRA!" Cal yelled, and ran after her. He just managed to skid to a halt as she began to fall to the ground, and caught her in both hands. He tenderly looked at her, and saw bruises already forming where each of Ralf's powerful knuckles had hit. Overcome by rage, he held her close to him, and stalked over to Ralf, who just glared nastily at Cal.

With a growl, Cal held back a fist, like Kira did when she used Comet Punch, and punched Ralf. Hard. In the face. The bully staggered backwards, his hands over his face, and looked through his fingers at Cal with bloodshot eyes.

"I'll getcha back for that, Cal," he hissed. "This is war."

Still seething, Cal walked back to the classroom, nursing Kira. He'd go to the Medical Room and get Kira fixed up on the Healing Machine, then stay in the classroom for the rest of break.

Ralf was no longer just an annoyance. He was a rival.

~

Later that day, Cal returned home with Kira and Learabit, and found his mother in the Living Room, watching television. He smiled in greeting, and she did too. he sat down on the sofa next to her.

"Good day?" she asked.

"Yeah. I suppose."

"That's good. Excited about tomorrow?"

Cal nodded, and turned to the TV. It was a documentary.

"This is the beautiful Sunlight Plain," the male narrator was saying along with a view of the tall Dayrock Mountain and the wide, grassy expanse at it's bottom. "Home to many interesting and wonderful Pokémon. We're here to examine the behavior of a certain type of Pokémon. It's a very elusive and rare creature, who generally live in small herds of about ten or so right at the edges of the Plain." The view changed, and Cal could just see the silhouettes of a group of tall, bipedal Pokémon about fifty yards from the camera. "This Pokémon is Kangaskhan."

~

Cal and Mum, as Cal calls the female human he lives with, are sitting on the comfy seats in one of the rooms in the cave, which the humans call a 'house'. They are staring at something that looks like a window - another human object Cal told me about - on a metal box. There is a human voice coming through the box, and I can see something throguh the window.

Suddenly, I realise what it is. It is my old home! The big field by the giant pointy rock. But now the view through the window changes, and I can see some shapes in the distance, shapes that look very familiar. Suddenly, the voice from the box says something in Kanga Language. The word he uses does not mean anything in particular, it is a neutral phrase that can mean various things like "I'm bored" or "Hello".

I jump off of Cal's shoulder and go down onto the floor. I run across the soft ground and go up to the window. The view has changed again, and I can see a Mother-Kanga! She even has a Kangaskid in her pouch! I put my hands against the screen, wanting to go through. Cal comes over and speaks in human language, which I understand some bits of. "Kira," he says, "You can't go through there. It's just the Tee-Vee." I understand all of that except the Tee-Vee part. I love learning new things, but there are more important things right now. Why can't I go in? I can't ask Cal, beacuse he doesn't understand Kanga for some reason.

"Tee-Vee is something that we watch." Cal continues, "It teaches us things about Pokémon, or makes us laugh. Or lots of other things. It's not a real window, it's just a... a picture. A moving picture."

So this window isn't a window at all, but is a moving picture? Oh. I feel sad, and I walk over to Cal and hug his leg. Maybe one day, he will take me to see my home and herd...

~

The next day, Cal, instead of going to school, went to the park at the centre of the city, as the class had been instructed to yesterday. There, he found the rest of his class and Mr. Hill, who was wearing a suit and standing next to a small, thin old man with a cloud of wispy white hair. The boy was very nervous - what if he did something wrong? Messed up his graduation? Would he still be able to become a Trainer?

The rest of the class were all sitting on temporary wooden seats that had been assembled there. Cal found an empty seat next to Rebecca, who had her Pokémon, a Findol she had named Finny, hovering over her shoulder. Cal himself had Kira and Learabit on his shoulders, as ever.

When the whole class had came, the old man spoke in a frail yet resonating voice.

"Welcome, students, do your Graduation Ceremony," he said formally. "We will begin in a few minutes, as we prepare the Trainer Cards."

Cal's heart did a somersault at the mention of Trainer Cards. As the man walked over to a wooden table that had been placed in front of the chairs, Cal heard loud footsteps nearby. Turning, he saw the various families of the graduating students approaching, mostly just parents and siblings, but the occasional cousin, uncle, aunt or grandparent also arrived.

Cal's mother, being the only living family he knew of, had came alone. She beamed at him proudly, and he felt braver.

The man spoke again.

"Now, we shall begin. I would like you to approach the table when I call your name. So, let us start with... Alfred Anderson."

Cal was puzzled. There was no-one in the class called Alfred, but there was someone with the surname Anderson - Ralf. And then it dawned on him. Was Ralf's real name -

"Alfred? If you'd like to step up here, please." the old man said, looking around the group of students. Ralf stood up sulkily, grumbling something as he walked over to the table.

"My name's Ralf, not Alfred..."

Mr. Hill, standing behind the table, handed Ralf a Card, and shook the bully's hand. Raf, however, knocked the teacher's hand away, and returned grumpily to his seat.

"Claressa Bower?" the old man said now, and the vain, chatty Claressa stood up and pranced girlishly over to the table, where Mr. Hill handed her her Trainer card and congratulated her with a hand shake.

So it continued. The man said names, the student in question would receive their Card and a hand shake... after what seemed an age, the man came to the last name.

"Callum Ward, please."

Cal stood up. Where had his insides suddenly gone? His heart was thumping so hard the class could probably see it trying to escape. He walked through the mass of chairs and over to the table, but those few short seconds felt like hours, or days, or maybe years. Mr. Hill handed him the Card, which was actually a slim, rectangular machine with a screen that took up the whole front side. He barely felt Mr. Hill wringing his hand, he was overcome with awe. He had a Trainer Card. He was a Trainer.

 

[Zeph]

CHAPTER SEVEN​

The image on the Trainer Card's screen consisted of a blue background with a white rectangle to the left taking up about a quarter of the Card. Inside the rectangle was a photo of him which had been uploaded to the Card. Next to his photo were six boxes arranged in two rows of three. Along the top was his name.

Cal unfolded the instruction booklet Mr. Hill had given him. "' Hold the Pokéball to the uploader at the back,'" he read out loud. "Great. Kira doesn't have one..."

The class was back in the classroom, sorting out their Cards as Mr. Hill watched and helped. There was thirty minutes left until the end of the day. Technically, they had already graduated, but their last day was not quite over.

As Mr. Hill walked past, Cal spoke. "Sir, could I borrow a Pokéball for a moment?" he asked.

"Certainly, Cal," the teacher replied with a smile, and returned to his desk, opening a drawer in the side. When he returned, he had an ordinary Pokéball in his hand.

"Thanks," Cal said gratefully, and turned to Kira, who was sitting at the edge of the table, cutely eating an Oran Berry with both hands, getting blue juice all around her little mouth. "Kira, I need you to go inside this Pokéball. The Kangaskid stopped eating and began to whine. "No, please Kira. Just for ten seconds." Kira sniffed, and Cal tried to reassure her. "Come on, Kira... It'll be nice in there. Just for a moment." Reluctantly, Kira nodded, and Cal pressed the Pokéball to her gently. She moaned as she was transformed into white energy and sucked inside.

Quickly, Cal held the Pokéball against the small, black cirlce of glass on the back of the Card. There were three 'bleeps', followed by a longer 'bloop', and Cal turned the card over. There was a little image of Kira in the first square, smiling happily. Satisfied, he let the Pokémon out, and she began crying again.

"Didn't you like it in there?" he asked softly. The Kangaskid shook her head, wailing loudly. Cal picked her up and hugged her to comfort her, and she began to calm down a little. When she had stopped, he put her down and she picked up her half-eaten Oran Berry. As she started chewing on it again, Cal held up Learabit's Pokéball. "Learabit, return," he muttered.

When Learabit was inside the ball, Cal uploaded his second Pokémon onto the card, and watched as the image of Learabit faded into view in the second square.

His task done, Cal slid the Card into his pocket and let Learabit out again. He played with them happily until the bell went, and Mr. Hill called out for silence.

"I'd just like to say," he began, and hesitated, obviously lost for words. "I'd like to say... it has bee a great pleasure teaching you these many years. We've had many great experiences and fun times. I look forward to seeing each and every one of you becoming great trainers. Goodbye, class."

He began to clap, applauding them. After a while, the whole class, even Ralf, joined in, applauding Mr. Hill for his great teaching. When the clapping died down, the class began to leave the room, shouting to Mr. Hill.

"See ya, sir!"

"Thanks for everything, Mr. Hill!"

"Bye, Arthur!"

Chuckling, Mr. Hill shook his head and sat down at his desk, beaming at the students proudly.

~

"Well I didn't like it in there." I say, crossing my arms stubbornly.

"Why not? I thought it was fun. There was lots of grass and bushes. And flowers. And no nasty Pokémon attacking me."

"It wasn't like that for me. I was in a field, all on my own. I would have liked it if there were some more Kangaskid and Kanga-Mothers there."

Learabit looks over at me from Cal's other shoulder. "What's a Kanga-Mother?"

"Like an older Kangaskid. I think they have proper names, but I just call them Kanga-Mothers."

"Will you be one one day?"

"Yes. And I'll have my own baby Kangaskid to look after in my pouch."

Learabit laughs. Cal does too. I know he doesn't understand us, but he seems to enjoy listening to our conversations across his shoulder. Humans are strange like that.

~

The next morning brought more glorious sunshine. The perfect start for a Trainer's first day. Cal ran downstairs, skidding to a halt on the smooth kitchen floor and almost falling over.

"Mum! I'm a Trainer!"

He shouted, and began laughing with excitement. He sped back upstairs and into his room, throwing open his wardrobe and taking out some clothes. Cal wasn't exactly a fashion fanatic, and didn't really care what he wore, but a zip-up jacket of some kind was obligatory for a trainer, so he selected his favourite, a red one with two diagonal white stripes on the left-hand side. He also got some jeans and a blue shirt. As he pulled on these clothes, Kira and Learabit began to wake up. Cal swooped over and lifted both Pokémon up in a huge hug. Slightly dazed, the Pokéon jumped onto the floor when Cal let go and began playing.

Cal picked up his Trainer Card from the bedside table. He took the large, flat magnet that had came with it and slid it into the inside pocket of his zip-up. The Trainer Card attached itself nicely to the inside of the jacket now, as would the Gym Badges - when he got them.

He was ready now. He went over to his Pokémon and crouched next to them. "Let's get going, guys," he whispered. "Oh, Learabit, do you want to go inside your Pokéball?"

The Grass Rabbit nodded, so Cal withdrew it into the Pokéball, which he placed into a pouch hanging from his belt. Now he really was ready. Or was he?

He went downstairs, and his mother handed him a backpack. "What's that for?" he asked, puzzled. She rolled her eyes.

"Isn't it obvious? Items, berries, the usual Trainer stuff. I've also packed spare underwear, pyjamas, shower gel and deodorant for you. Oh, and..." she walked over to the kitchen counter, on which there was what appeared to be a large white watch and a navy blue wallet with a picture of a Pokéball on it. She gave both to him. "That Pokégear has a watch, radio and phone built into it. And the wallet has 10,000 Pokédollars in it," she said. "It should start you off nicely..."

Cal took them silently, and put the Pokégear around his wrist. He stared at the wallet for a moment. "Thanks, Mum," he said quietly.

"Not a problem," she whispered with a smile, and they simultaneously hugged each other. Kira joined in, wrapping her little arms around the woman's head lovingly. After a short while they broke apart, and Cal's mother sniffed. "Well, I don't want to hold you back. Come on, get going."

She walked with him to the door and opened it. Cal smiled in thanks and walked outside. He began to walk away slowly, and she waved at him. "Make me proud!" She called. "Call me every so often. Maybe visit some time. And don't forget to wash!"

Cal chuckled and turned back to her. He waved, smiled one last time, and walked into the woods.

~

The trip through the woods was mostly uneventful, until they got halfway through. Cal heard a few branches cracking nearby, and looked around in alarm. Then he saw it. Descending from the tree above them was a Pokémon. It was about four feet tall, rather thin and marsupial-like. Underneath each wide-spread arm was a translucent brown wing. The Poked to the ground, and Cal saw it had a small bunch of berries in one of its hands.

"Shhhhroo." it said in a quick voice, and began to walk over to Cal, looking angry. The boy took a few steps back, and the Pokémon suddenly shrieked, pointing to the ground at Cal's feet. Cal looked down and saw that his foot was inches away from a large hole in the tree's roots. The Pokémon shrieked again and charged at Cal, flapping its wings angrily.

"Kira, quick! Safeguard!"

Kira leaped off of his shoulder and landed agilely on the ground in front of him. The Kangaskid began to glow slightly, and an orb of white light appeared around her and Cal. The angry Pokémon hit the sphere and bounced off, even though it was not solid.

"Now, Kira! Comet Punch!"

The Safeguard disappeared as Kira jumped over to the Pokémon, punching at its belly with her glowing fists as she had with so many other Pokémon.

The winged Pokémon got up, grunting, and picked up the berries it had been carrying. Obviously scared, it ran over to the hole in the roots and disappeared inside. Cal suddenly realised something.

"It was trying to take those berries to its family," he said quietly. "It thought I was attacking its burrow, so it tried to chase me away..."

He felt bad. Glumly, he picked Kira up and put her on his shoulder, and the two continued their journey through the woods.

~

It was half an hour later that they came to the park at the centre of Centurock City. The chairs and desk were no linger there any more, and citizens were busily walking across the park to work and school. Cal looked around and saw Rebecca standing at the corner of the park, just like they had arranged. He walked over to her and smiled.

"Oh, hey Cal! Hi, Kira!" she said brightly, and grinned back. "So, Um, shall we get going?"

"Yeah, I suppose," Cal muttered in reply. "Where's the first Gym then?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's over in Lime Town," the girl replied with an air of uncertainty.

"That's the little port over to the west, right?" Cal asked. Rebecca nodded. "Well, I suppose we'd better get some supplies from here first..."

The two new Trainers began to walk through the small city, searching for the telltale blue roof of a Pokémart. It didn't take long, as it was only a few roads away from the park. They entered and looked around.

The shop was rather small, but it was crammed full of sleek white shelves stuffed with items. They began to browse the aisles, picking up any useful items that they could afford. When they finally came to the counter, they each had three purple and white Potions and two extra Pokéballs for catching wild Pokémon. Cal had wanted to buy a Pokédex, which was an high-tech encyclopedia of Pokémon, but it cost too much - in fact, 10,000 Pokédollars.

They bought their items. Cal was left with 8,800 Pokedollars. They put the items into their backpacks and left the shop.

"So," Cal said, as they began to walk through the city to the west exit, "What sorts of Pokémon do you want to catch?"

"Cute ones, like Finny," Rebecca replied with a grin. "I'm going to enter Pokémon Contests as well as being a Trainer. What about you?"

"I dunno yet. Any that I like the sound of, probably." He shrugged. He really wasn't too sure... in fact, the whole future was uncertain for him...

 

[Zeph]

CHAPTER EIGHT​

It had begun to rain.

Heavy droplets fell, phutta, phutta, phutta, and exploded on the heads of the two trainers. Kira didn't like getting wet. She began to whine again, and Cal held her tight to him, trying to block the rain from getting to her by bending his head over her.

Finny, Rebecca's Findol, however, was having a great time. He loved the rain, and has happily humming as he floated through the air, relishing the feeling of the rain splashing on his smooth, light blue skin.

Rebecca, meanwhile, looked very annoyed. Her hair was hanging wet and lank around her wet face, and her red t-shirt was sticking to her, slightly translucent. She hated having wet clothes.

They trudged on across the muddy Route, occasionally slipping but managing to regain their balance at the last moment. The Route was a valley between two steep hills, dotted with a few trees and patches of long grass. It was not particularly long, but rain always makes walking journeys feel much, much longer.

Soon, they found their way blocked with a large expanse of the tall grass which they had previously been avoiding. "My Mum said that wild Pokémon live in tall grass," Rebecca said.

"Actually, they live everywhere," Cal said bluntly. "But a lot do live in the grass. We'd better be careful. Don't want to step on any more burrows..."

They set off through the patch, waist-deep in tangly, tickly blades and the occasional flowers. Soon enough they were about halfway through the patch, but then an eerie mist fell over the valley, leaving them with a visual radius of a few metres. "Oh, great..." Cal muttered, "As if the rain wasn't enough..."

So they continued walking. They knew the grass would end in a few minutes, but the mist made them feel uncomfortable and blind. Then Kira made a strange hiss, and pointed one of her stubby arms somewhere to Cal's left. He turned, and found himself staring at a Pokémon.

It was a huge insect of sorts. Its body was made up of black segments that clicked sickeningly together when it moved, and each segment had a leg sticking out of either side. It was only using some of its legs, however, the front half was reared up, making it about three feet tall. Its large red eyes were watching him closely, waiting for any sign of movement. Suddenly, Rebecca turned around and saw it. She screamed, and the strange bug Pokémon widened its angry eyes and literally leaped and the girl, revealing a wide mouth full of small, sharp teeth. Cal shouted out nothing in particular and jumped in front of his friend, protecting her from the weird bug. Very strangely, when it saw Cal had got in the way, the horrendous Pokémon returned to the ground and its dangerous-looking mouth curled into what appeared to be a bizzare, ugly smile.

"Miiiililo..." it hissed, clattering its segments as it waved its body back and forth like a strange dancer. Cal noticed that the mist appeared to be being sucked inwards towards the gaps between the segments. "Miiiiiiiiiiii!" It suddenly cried, as it jumped into the air and began to spin very rapidly, quickly moving towards Cal with a twister of wind swirling around it as the grass rippled away from it. Kira squealed a battle cry and jumped off her trainer's shoulder, bracing herself and glowing a strange orange colour.

The Twister of dangerous wind hit Kira, but she didn't appear harmed, in fact, her face was screwed up in an expression of concentration. She was also suspended. Suspended in the air. After a few moments of being battered by the attack, Kira opened her eyes and a huge beam of orange light shot from her, hitting the bug Pokémon at the core of the Twister and sending it flying into the steep hillside. The Twister quickly faded, and the black bug Pokémon did not get back up. It had been knocked out.

Kira stopped glowing and fell to the grassy ground, her breathing growing uneven and sounding exhausted. Cal ran over and lifted her up, keeping her warm under his jacket. He turned to Rebbecca, who still looked terrified. "As soon as we get to Lime Town, we need to go to a Pokémon Center."

She nodded in reply, not taking her vision from the crumpled bug.

"Oh, look, it's fainted, 'Becca," Cal said slightly impatiently, "It can't hurt you any more. Come on..." his voice changed to a soothing tone.

The girl nodded again, and slowly turned away from the Pokémon. "Which was is it again?" She asked, looking around at the bleak walls of mist that surrounded them.

"This way. I think..." Cal replied, and continued walking through the mist. Rebecca followed, glancing one last time at the unconscious bug Pokémon.

After a few more minutes, Cal saw something ahead: A lack of grass. Sighing with relief, he and Rebecca ran the last few metres and emerged thankfully on the glorious, albeit muddy, grass-free ground. Cal pointed ahead, at a white sign stuck into the mud a few yards ahead. He walked over and read it aloud. "Lime Town..." He read, and, as they watched, the mist cleared, revealing the small town.

As they gratefully walked across the last stretch of mud, the rain too began to stop, leaving behind a thin drizzle. The two soaked, tired trainers walked between the houses and shops until they came to the Pokémon Center, identical to the one at Centurock.

As they walked through the sliding doors, Cal looked around. The walls were red, plastered here and there with posters. The tiled floor was a creamy colour, and in the middle of the room there was a circular, fluffy, pink rug. Opposite the doors was a white counter, behind which there was a large machine with a screen, a curtained doorway and a woman dressed in white with pink, curly hair. Cal and Rebbecca approached the counter and the Nurse looked up with a smile.

"Welcome," she said warmly, "How may I help?"

Cal took Kira from under his jacket and placed her on the counter. She moaned weakly and looked slowly up at the Nurse.

"A Kangaskid?" she whispered.

"Uh, yeah," Cal said embarrassedly. "Long story really. Her Mother was dead, and I rescued her."

"Oh..." the Nurse said quietly, and lifted Kira up. "Does she have a Pokéball?"

"No, sorry, she doesn't like them... hates them, in fact."

"Hmm. No matter," the Nurse replied briskly, and picked Kira up. She nudged a large button on the machine with her elbow, and the screen flickered to life as the top opened up. Inside the machine was a tray of sorts with six ball-shaped dents in it.

The Nurse placed Kira on top of the tray and opened a small cupboard under the counter, from which she took a pink Pokéball with a red medical cross on top. "Our specialised Pokéballs are different to ordinary ones," she told Cal, "They don't give the same experience to the Pokémon. Instead, they take a recent good dream from the Pokémon's mind and replay it to the Pokémon, creating a much more pleasant experience. Of course, they are only temporary. As soon as the dream ends, the Pokémon will break out of its own accord."

With that, she touched the ball to Kira, who did not cry out as usual. In fact she apparently wasn't even converted into energy - she just faded out of sight with her eyes closed and a small smile on her face.

The Nurse then put the ball inside one of the niches in the tray. She prodded the large button again, and the top of the machine closed over again. The machine began to hum, and a digital, three-dimensional image of Kira appeared on it. She had a few bruises and scratches on her front from the Twister, but Nurse joy used a special stylus to tap each wound, making it disappear - and presumably it did on the real Kira too.

When all the injuries were gone, there was a musical bleep from the machine, which stopped humming. It opened, and Nurse Joy took the pink ball out, rapping it to the counter to open it. Kira appeared with a dreamy expression still on her face. When she realised she was back in the real world, she smiled widely at Cal and hugged her Trainer. Cal smiled, thanked the Nurse and walked over to Rebecca, who was reading a poster on the wall with Findol.

She glanced at Cal when he reached the poster, then continued reading. Cal looked at the poster. It was light blue with a pink border, and ornate, loopy silver lettering spelled 'Pokémon Contests' across the top. Underneath was a load of information about the contest, and a photo of a brown and beige dog-like Pokémon who was wearing various ribbons and bow ties.

When Rebecca had finally finished reading the poster, the pair left the Center and decided to look for the gym. After a few minutes of exploring, they found not the gym, but the docks. There were a few piers and about ten boats. there was also a small beach nearby. Cal looked out at the beautiful blue ocean, trying to find the lump on the horizon that was Chalkshore Island.

"Nice, isn't it?" came an unfamiliar voice behind him. He turned on the spot and found himself face-to-face with a boy who looked about seventeen. The boy had long, curly hair that was dyed blue and was wearing a white hoody and light blue jeans.

"I'm Wade," the teen continued, and smiled. "I suppose I'm sort of important in this town, being the mayor's son. And, uh, also, I'm the Gym Leader here."

Cal stared in awe. "You're the Gym Leader?" he gaped. Why was the Gym Leader walking around the town talking to strangers?

Wade nodded and blushed a little. "That's what I said..." he muttered sheepishly. He obviously wasn't the vain sort. "Anyway," the young Gym Leader continued, "I haven't seen you around here before. I suppose you're a visitor? Maybe a challenger?"

"Yeah," Cal replied, "We're here to earn the Tide Badge."

Wade looked puzzled. "'We'?" he asked, and looked around. "Who else is with you?"

Cal turned, and saw Rebecca had gone. It took a few moments to find her. She was down on the beach with Findol, who was playing in the sea. jumping with the tide and blending with the water perfectly.

"That's her over there," he pointed.

"Ah..." Wade grinned. "So, what's your name?"

"Me? Oh, I'm Cal. And this is Kira," the younger boy replied, pointing at his Kangaskid, who was asleep on his shoulder.

"Nice," the Gym Leader commented. "Well, Cal, I'll see you around." With one last smile, Wade turned away and walked over to a large building near the quay.

Cal was surprised. He hadn't expected the Gym Leader to be so young... or so friendly and sociable. He wondered whether the other Leaders were like that...

 

[Zeph]

CHAPTER NINE​

The blue double doors opened automatically as Cal and Rebecca approached. Before entering, Cal took one more look at the Gym. It was made of bluish-white bricks and had a flat, dark blue roof. It was right on the edge of the esplanade, and so it looked out at the vast Farroh ocean. Cal nodded, mostly to himself, and walked in.

They were in some form of entrance room. The room was rather simple and bare, with whitewashed walls and a simple blue carpet. Against the left wall was a counter, behind which was a window looking out at the sea and a black-haired woman. The woman looked up when the trainers entered, and beckoned them over.

"Welcome to Lime Town's Water-Type Pokémon Gym," she said in a bored tone. It sounded as if she had said the exact same thing to every trainer who had ever came in. "Are you here to challenge Wade, the Gym Leader?"

"Yeah," Rebecca replied, and Cal nodded.

"Great. Which one of you is going first?" the woman asked, poising her pen over a piece of paper on her desk.

Cal and Rebecca glanced at each other.

"You can," the girl whispered, "you're a much better trainer. I can learn from what I see you doing."

Cal smiled gratefully. "Thanks," he answered quietly, and turned back to the secretary. "I will, please," he told her confidently.

"Names?" she asked.

"I'm Cal Ward, and this is Rebecca Davis."

"C... Ward... R... Davis..." the woman muttered as she wrote. "Alright then, Mr. Ward, if you'd like to go through the doors, Wade will be with you shortly."

"Thanks," Cal smiled, and walked through the double-doors opposite the entrance, with Rebecca following him.

A few seconds after the two trainers had entered the pitch-black room, there was a mechanical clunk, and the spotlights in each of the room's four corners turned on, illuminating the arena.

The walls and floor were lined with white tiles with strange, intricate images of Water Pokémon carved into them. There were no windows, but there was another set of doors opposite from where they were. Above those doors there was a large, digital scoreboard. Across the whole room, stretching between the two side walls, was a large pool - but Cal guessed this pool was not for swimming in. He looked into the water and saw the blue painted outline of a Pokéball. The button in the middle of the ball marked the center of the arena.

With a hiss, the doors across the pool opened, and Wade walked in. He grinned across at Cal. "You came quickly," he commented, "Much quicker than I expected. You must be really confident and determined. Oh, and I see your friend came too," he said, smiling at Rebecca, who was leaning against the wall to watch.

Now the scoreboard came to life. Leader: 0, Challenger: 0 was what it currently read. Through the speakers on either side of the scoreboard came the voice of the commentator.

"Welcome, Challenger Cal to Lime Town Pokémon Gym! Today's battle will be a 1-on-1, with each Trainer using all their Pokémon. You will gain a point for each Pokémon you manage to knockout. The first battler to two points wins!"

Wade lifted the bottom of his hoody, revealing a blue belt with three Pokéballs hanging from it. As the leader selected one of the balls, Cal turned to Kira who was, as ever, on his shoulder. "I'm going to use Learabit first, Kira," Cal told her, "I think Water-types are weak to Grass-type attacks." Kira nodded, and Cal took Learabit's Pokéball out. He threw it to the tiled floor, shouting "Go, Learabit!"

As the Sapling Rabbit materialised, Wade let out his first Pokémon. "Come on, Findol!" he said, and a Pokémon just like Rebecca's Finny appeared, hovering above the water.

"Wade is using his trusty Findol, while Cal is battling with his Learabit! Cal has the advantage this round, but will his strategy be enough to defeat the Leader?"

Wade smirked. "Findol! use Gust!"

Cal smacked his forehead. Flying attacks were super-effective against Grass-types weren't they? "Learabit! Agility!" he blurted as Wade's Findol flapped its tiny wings, propelling a swirling wind at Learabit, who shot out of the way just in time. As if to taunt the Findol, Learabit zoomed about at high speeds a bit more, then stopped to await his next orders.

"Okay, Findol, don't worry! Try another Gust!" Wade shouted.

"Learabit... Razor Leaf!"

As Findol whipped up another blast of air, Learabit began spinning his ears very fast, somehow making more leaves materialise out of thin air and fly at the dolphin Pokémon. The leaves were caught in the Gust, however, and were sent spinning back at Learabit, who was hit by the Gust and sliced by his own Razor Leaf.

"A very nice move there from Findol! Unfortunately for Learabit, Razor Leaf backfired, but it looks like he'll keep fighting!"

Learabit looked determined as Cal delivered the next order. "Quick Attack!" Cal said. The Grass rabbit darted forwards and before Wade had time to do anything, Learabit had rammed into Findol and knocked it into the water. The white rabbit Pokémon bounced off Findol's smooth blue body and landed triumphantly on the wet tiles.

"A powerful Quick Attack from Learabit! Findol looked a bit cross... what will happen next?"

Wade laughed. "You're good at this, Cal," he called over. "Alright, Findol, let's finish this quickly! Wing Attack"

Findol rose up out of the water again and held one of its small, angel-like wings back, then flew at Learabit quickly, bringing its wing around for a powerful strike...

"Learabit, Bite!" Cal shouted the first thing that came to his head.

"Ooooh, that looks nasty!" The commentator laughed.

Findol was fluttering throguh the air difficultly, squeaking with pain. Hanging from its wing - by his teeth - was Learabit.

Cal laughed too. "Excellent, Learabit!" he called. "Now, Vine Whip!"

As they had once before, two long dark vines unfurled from behind Learabit's ears and wrapped twice around Findol. When the Water Pokémon was fully ensnared, the ends of the vines whipped at the dolphin, who moaned with the combined pain of the Bite and the Vine Whip. Soon enough, it gave one last splutter and shut its eyes. The free wing stopped fluttering and Findol, with Learabit attached, began to drop like a stone towards the water.

Learabit quickly unwrapped his vines and cracked them throguh the air to the pool's edge - but the tiles were too slippery for them to stay in place. Cal ran over and grabbed the two vines, and Learabit let go of Findol's wings and began to retract the vines, soaring through the air towards Cal's hands.

Cal lifted Learabit up and cheered as Findol hit the surface with a splash. "You were great!" he said enthusiastically. "Just one more to go, eh?"

"Findol is down!" the commentator chuckled. "One point to Cal! But can Learabit get through the Gym Leader's next Pokémon?"

Wade took out another Pokéball. "Well done Cal," he said, "But I don't think you'll find this so easy. Go, Lapishell!"

After the flash of red light, a strange Pokémon appeared in the water. It had a smooth, dark blue shell and four sea-blue flippers. Its head looked monstrous, but it was actually rather cute, with two spiral-shaped ears at the back.

"Lapi!" it cried in a high voice.

"Learabit, use another Razor Leaf!"

As Learabit fired a barrage of sharp spinning leaves at the Lapishell, Wade gave his order.

"Use Icy Wind!"

The blue Pokémon opened its wide mouth and breathed, sending out a cloud of ice crystals at the oncoming leaves, which were glazed with the ice and frozen in mid-air. With a series of small splashes, the frosted leaves fell into the pool.

"Good, Lapishell! Try Ice Shard!"

The Lapishell splashed one of its flippers, sending an amount of water into the air. Before that water fell, Lapishell breathed more cold air at it, causing it to freeze into a large lump of ice which landed on the surface and floated there, bobbing slightly. Now Lapishell hit the Shard at Learabit, who tried to jump out of the way but was not quick enough. Cal groaned as the ice shattered all over Learabit, slicing at cutting at the skin under his thick white fur and knocking him out. The boy walked over to Learabit. "You tried your best," he said, and took the rabbit back into his Pokéball.

"A fantastic Ice Shard attack bought Learabit down easily! One all!"

Cal turned to Kira, who had been watching from the wall with Rebecca. "It's your turn now," he smiled, whispering. "Jump onto its back! You can't get it from here. When I say so, use Fake Out."

Kira nodded determinedly, and ran up to the edge of the pool, leaping a surprising distance onto Lapishell's head, then jumping down onto the dark shell. Lapishell squealed in protest and tried to shake Kira off, but the little Kangaskid held fast.

"Kira, now!" Cal called across to her. She climbed back onto Lapishell's head and looked as if she was going to jump back over to Cal - but at the last moment, she turned on the spot and struck a powerful blow to the top of Lapishell's head. The blue Pokémon flinched in pain, and Cal quickly issued another order.

"Mega Punch!"

Kira had never used that attack before, but she knew what to do. She held a powerful fist back, and it was hidden in an orb of blinding white light. Shafts of the same light emanated from the fist, and Kira punched downwards with the glowing fist with such force that Lapishell's head was temporarily forced underwater.

"Don't worry, Lapishell, we can do this." Wade said calmly, "Use Confuse Ray!"

Lapishell shut its eyes, and a ripple of strange energy spread from its head, traveling through Kira, who proceeded to fall off and land on the shell.

I feel really dizzy... ouch... the big blue Pokémon did something to me. I think I can hear Cal telling me... telling me to snap out of it and use Comet Punch. Well, I'll try. I make my fists glow orange again and aim at the Pokémon's head... wait, why does it suddenly have two heads? Oh, this is confusing. I punch the left head, but I feel my hands go through thin air. I begin to lose my balance, but my fear of falling in the water takes over. I'm not dizzy anymore...

I turn around and use another Comet Punch on the Pokémon's head. I hear it moaning each time one of my fists hit... and then it stops, and I see its eyes shut! I've beaten it!

"Well done, Kira!" Cal shouted, punching the air in joy.

"Challenger Cal wins!" the Referee announced, as Kira jumped over to Cal and Wade withdrew Lapishell. "Congratulations, Cal!

The last comment was echoed by Wade, who was grinning broadly. A white bridge extended across the pool, and Wade walked over. "You're a fantastic Trainer," the Leader said, still smiling. "That was an excellent battle."

"Thanks," Cal said, blushing. Wade lead Cal and Rebecca across the bridge and through the doors beyond. It was a small room with a couple of chairs and a desk, at which a man with black hair was sitting. The man stood up, and Cal saw the headset he was wearing. He spoke, and Cal recognised his voice as that of the commentator.

"That was a good battle, Cal," the commentator congratulated him.

"Thank you. I liked your commentary," Cal replied politely, and the man laughed.

Wade walked over to the desk, and Cal saw a simple machine on it: There was a screen and four buttons. Cal guessed the buttons were the scoreboard controls, and the screen, when turned on, probably showed the arena.

Wade took something from a drawer in the desk. "This is the Tide Badge," he said, handing it to Cal, who gazed in awe at the metal badge. It was shaped lived a wave and was painted blue and white. "It will allow you to challenge the next Gym, as well as telling others of your status. When someone sees that badge, they know you've defeated me.

Cal took it gratefully, and opened his jacket, placing the badge at the place he knew the magnetic sheet was. He then turned to Rebecca.

"It's your turn now, 'Becca," he said. "I'm going to go to the Pokémon Center to heal Kira and Learabit, but you can start without me if you want.

"Alright. See you in a minute." she replied with a smile.

~

"Hello again," the Nurse said when she saw Cal. he smiled, and took Kira from his shoulder and placed her on the counter. He also put Learabit's ball next to her.

The Nurse put Kira in one of the Dream Balls and placed both balls in the machine. Images of both Pokémon appeared on the screen, and the Nurse touched each of their wounds and injuries in turn until they were in perfect condition.

The machine bleeped as it had the last time, and the Nurse handed Cal both balls. Cal let Kira and Learabit out and gave back the Dream Ball. He picked both Pokémon up in his arms and walked out of the Center.

"You were both great," he told his Pokémon, hugging them. "Thank you."
Suddenly, he heard a shout behind him, and turned to see dark-haired woman running over to him. She was dressed in a police uniform.

"Excuse me, sir," she said fiercely, "But that appears to be a Kangaskid. Am I correct?"

Cal nodded uncertainly. "What's wrong with her?" he asked.

"You know very well what's wrong, sir!" the policewoman shouted angrily, her voice rising almost to a screech. "The only way for a person to obtain a Kangaskid is by stealing from their mothers, which is strictly illegal, sir!"

Cal widened his eyes in shock at her anger. "I - I'm sorry, I didn't steal her," he said, stepping back, "I found her mother. She was dead, and I couldn't leave Kira here on her own to die, could I?"

The officer's expression changed from absolute rage to frustrated curiosity.

"Do you have any proof, sir?"

"Well, no, but-" he stopped and looked down. Kira was looking up at the policewoman crossly, nodding her little head with tears in her eyes. Cal turned back to the officer. "There. That's my proof. Would she be crying about it if it wasn't true?"

"Actually, sir, she could be using Fake tears."

"Oh, come on, that's ridiculous," Cal said, "Anyway, if I'd stolen her, do you really think she'd be sitting here comfortably in my arms and not trying to escape?"

The officer hesitated before speaking. "I... I suppose you're right," she said with a lingering note of suspicion. "I'm sorry to have caused any inconvenience, sir...." she turned around, gave Cal one last searching glance, and walked away.

~

A short while later, Cal skidded into the pool arena to find Rebecca and Wade halfway through their battle. "What took you, Cal?" both battlers asked simultaneously.

"Sorry! I had a little run-in with... Oh, I'll tell you later," he said, and settled down to watch the fight.

It appeared Finny had already beaten one of Wade's Pokémon, for the scoreboard read Leader: 0, Challenger: 1. Finny still looked strong, and was hovering above the pool, looking down at Wade's current Pokémon.

It was neither of those Wade had used against Cal. It was a small, greyish-blue insect that was large and and rounded at the front and gradually grew thinner towards the end. It has six spindly legs and large, blue eyes. It bore some resemblance to the insect that had attacked them on their way to the town.

"Hydilo, use Dive!" Wade shouted, and the insect jumped into the water with a small splash. Cal couldn't see what it did underwater, so he jumped when suddenly it leaped out of the water, spraying a large amount of water at Finny and colliding with the dolphin.

"Finny, use that Wing Attack, please!" Rebecca said, and Finny used the same attack Wade's Findol had earlier, slashing throguh the air with his wing and colliding with the Hydilo, which was knocked onto its back and knocked along the slippery floor with a clatter.

"Hydilo, Defense Curl!"

The insect stayed where it was, on its back, and curled its body into a ball.

"Finny, go behind it and use Gust!" Rebecca called, victory glimmering in her eyes. Finny floated around to hover just above Wade's head. The Leader realised what was happening at the last moment, but it was too late. Finny had pushed a blast of wind at Hydilo, who rolled across the floor and landed with a satisfying plop in the pool. Because it was curled up, Hydilo fell to the bottom of the pool like a stone. A silence fell over the room for a moment as everyone waited - but Hydilo didn't come back up.

"Excellent! Challenger Rebecca has defeated Wade!" the commentator said, and Wade withdrew Hydilo from the bottom of the pool, his smile back. The bridge extended again, and the Gym Leader took Rebecca into the back room. They came back a minute later, and Rebecca was happily examining her Tide Badge.

They were both one step closer to the Pokémon League!

 

[Zeph]

]CHAPTER TEN​

“Hey, Mum,” Cal said into the speaker on his Pokégear, “I’ve just beaten the first Gym Leader, Wade. Thought I’d let you know. See you soon, bye!”

He pressed one of the buttons underneath the screen, and the message was sent. Smiling contentedly, he turned to Rebecca, who was sitting next to him on one of the Pokémon Center sofas. They had come to heal Finny, and Cal had decided it was an opportunity to ring his mother – but only an answering machine had replied.

“Right, we’re all set. Shall we head for the next town?” Cal asked. Rebecca nodded.

“Unless I’m wrong, that’d be Stonemine City. It’s on the other side of Centurock.”

Cal stood up. “Let’s get going, then,” he said, and picked up Kira from the armrest of the sofa. Kira happily jumped onto Cal’s shoulder and buried her arms in his scruffy light-brown hair. They checked they had everything, and left the Center.

Cal took one last look around as they walked through the town towards the valley. He’d like to come back to this peaceful port some time again. But for now, he had his Trainer’s journey to do.

As they entered the huge expanse of tall grass that filled most of the valley, they looked around warily. They didn’t want another attack like that of the black insect earlier. Kira jumped on top of Cal’s head and looked around like a sentry, one hand above her eyes. They began to walk, listening for any sudden rustle of grass or snap of a twig. A small group of pure-white Duvly flew ahead, and Rebecca smiled.

“What?” Cal asked her.

“Duvly!” she replied excitedly, “They’re meant to bring good luck, aren’t they?”

Realisation dawned upon Cal, and he grinned too. They set off again, this time at a slightly quicker pace. Rebecca searched the skies for any more Duvly or, even if they were incredibly lucky, a sleek, crested Duvvle.

After a few minutes of uneventful walking, Cal noticed a patch of grass nearby that was waving and swaying. There was a rustling noise, and suddenly a Pokémon appeared from the tuft.

It was rather small and covered in light blue fur – except its back half, which was coated in long, dark blue hair. It had large, round ears and a cute, almost polite-looking expression on its face. “Shii!” it purred, waving its tail, which was tipped in a yellow star-shape.

“Oh, it’s so cute!” Rebecca squealed, and walked over to it. She reached out to stroke its lighter fur, but suddenly pulled her hand back in recoil. “Ouch!” she complained. “I got a static shock from it!”

“Shinx!” the Pokémon cried playfully, and walked over to Rebecca, as if daring her to stroke it again. She tentatively put a finger to its fur again, only to be shocked once more.

“Stop that!” she said crossly, and opened her bag, taking out a small packet. She opened it and took from it a few small chunks of Pokémon Food, which she put in her hand and held out to the Shinx. It sniffed the food and stepped forward, licking its lips hungrily. It suddenly darted forwards, grabbing the food in its mouth and then settling down on the grassy ground to eat. After a few moments chewing and swallowing, it looked up at Rebecca with its eyes closed happily.

“Shinx?”

Rebecca laughed and offered it a few more pieces of food. The little blue cub contentedly ate, then put its head on its arms. Rebecca put away the food and took something else out of her bag: one of the Pokéballs she had bought earlier.

Cal and Kira watched as she pointed the ball nervously at the Shinx, and then pressed the button on the front. “Shii?” it squeaked as the red energy began to envelop it, then it realised what was happening. It stood up, but too late, it was already being sucked into the ball.

Rebecca cheered happily and took her Trainer Card from inside her sleeveless denim jacket. She held the ball to the scanner at the back, and a picture of the Shinx appeared, along with a little pink icon telling them it was female.

“Oooh, a girl!” Rebecca said happily. “I think I’ll call her Zappy.”

She let the Shinx out again, and it cocked its head to the side, contemplating its new Trainer. Rebecca smiled, and Zappy did too. This Trainer would do.

~

Soon enough, they had arrived back at Centurock. Rebecca wanted to go to her house to see her family, so they walked to the residential district of the city. They approached Rebecca’s small home and let themselves in.

“Mum, Dad, I’m home!” she called. After a few moments, a woman with long black hair walked in from the next room and ran over to Rebecca.

“Welcome back,” the woman said warmly, hugging Rebecca.

Rebecca smiled. “Thanks,” she replied, and broke away. “Look!” she said, showing her mother her Trainer Card and badges. “I caught another Pokémon, and I beat the first Gym!”

Mrs. Davis gasped. “Really?” she whispered, “Already? Well done!”

Just then, there was a ringing sound. Cal looked around, then realised it was coming from his Pokégear. He pressed a button, and the image on the screen changed to a view of his mother.

“Hey, Cal!” she said, “I got your message! Oh, hi Kira!” she waved, and Kira, on Cal’s shoulder, waved a stubby arm back with a cute smile.

“Hi, Mum! How’ve you been?” Cal answered, walking over to a sofa and sitting down.

“Oh, come on Cal, you haven’t even been gone a day yet! That reminds me, congratulations for beating Wade so quickly!”

“Thanks… it was mostly just fluke, you know…” Cal mumbled.

“I’m sure it wasn’t. You’re a brilliant Trainer.”

“Huh, if you say so. Anyway, I’ll ring you some other time. Bye!”

“Goodbye, Cal.”

He pressed another button, and the screen returned to its watch mode.

~

After everything had been said and done at the Davis residence, Cal and Rebecca continued. They left the house and made their way to the east exit of Centurock. They found themselves in a wide, open expanse of grassy fields. The view was brilliant; they could see almost everything, from the Great River that sliced the region in two to the Border Cliffs that surrounded the north, east and south edges of Farroh. And about ten miles ahead of them, against the cliffs, was the small Stonemine City.

“Huh. It might take a while to get over there,” Rebecca commented.

“You think?” Cal sighed. “We might as well just go back to Centurock and stay the night.”

“Cal, listen, we’re Trainers. We can survive one night!”

“Well can we at least get a tent?”

“Fine.” The girl said stubbornly.

So, they returned to the town and went to the Pokémart.

They were lucky – there was a small display of ‘Instant Travel Tents’ on a shelf at the back. They bought out, both putting money towards it, and made their way back to the field, satisfied.

“Right,” Cal said, “If we’re not there by ten, we us the tent, okay?”

“Alright. Let’s go.”

So they set off across the fields.

Grazing in one of the fields was a few large, pink, bovine Pokémon. Also among the cow-like creatures were several bulky, brown Pokémon with horns that appeared to be the male of the species. Here and there, under the watch of a pink Miltank, was a young calf-like Pokémon that had some traits of the Miltank and some of the Tauros. In the middle of the field of Pokécattle were a small farmhouse and a large barn.

As the sky grew darker and the sun sank lower and lower on the horizon, a farmer and a red dog-like Pokémon with a beige mane began to run among the cattle, leading them towards the barn. Cal and Rebecca stopped walking to watch the farmer Growlithe put the cattle away, then continued. Cal checked his watch every ten minutes or so.

“Nine thirty… Nine forty… Nine fifty…”

He turned to Rebecca. “It’s ten. We’d better set up the tent.”

Rebecca nodded. Only a small sliver of the sun was peeking out now, and Stonemine City was still quite a long way away.

Cal took out the tent, which was currently a thick disc of red metal with a white button on top, about a foot wide. He placed in on the ground and tapped the button. The top of the disc split into two and slid open, then with a fwoosh, the folded canvas and poles that had been inside popped out and arranged itself into a sturdy, two man tent. Cal zipped open the door and they climbed into the red dome. They took their sleeping bags from inside their backpacks and rolled them out. Kira, who had been asleep on his shoulder for most of the journey, snuggled up to Cal, who also let Learabit out of his ball. Rebecca copied him and let out Finny and Zappy. The two Trainers and their Pokémon lay down and, within a few moments, all six were fast asleep.

 

[Zeph]

CHAPTER TEN​

Cal groaned and sat up, his head hitting the taut canvas – which was a lighter colour than last night due to the sunlight filtering in - of the tent. He looked around blearily and saw Rebecca fast asleep next to him, cradling Finny and Zappy in her arms. He smiled, and saw Kira and Learabit sleeping either side of where his head had been a few seconds ago. He stroked both of them absent-mindedly for a few moments, and then decided to go outside. He wriggled out of his blue sleeping bag and crawled over to the door, making sure to open the zip as quietly as possible.

The boy stepped out of the tent and looked around. The fields were silent, except for the occasional bird Pokémon flying overhead. There was a slight morning mist covering everything, but he could see the faint outline of Stonemine City over to the east. The boy sighed and stepped back into the tent.

“’Becca, wake up,” he said quietly, prodding her gently, “We need to get going.”

The girl yawned and opened her eyes slowly. “Oh… morning, Cal. Thanks.” She stroked her Pokémon. “Wake up, guys,” she whispered.

“Prrrrrrindol…”

“Shiii…”

Finny and Zappy slowly woke up, Finny lazily rising a few feet above the canvas floor. Cal too gently woke his Pokémon, and Kira greeted him with a big but tired hug and Learabit lightly nibbled his hand. The group gathered up all their belongings and left the tent. Cal reached inside and prodded a button in the middle of the floor, quickly withdrawing his arm, for a few moments later the tent disassembled itself and neatly folded into the container.

The group set off, hungry and weary, but with a new, replenished spring in their step. After a few minutes they found a small cluster of berry trees, which Learabit sniffed at before nodding to tell them the fruit was edible. They continued towards the slowly approaching town munching on the juicy berries, wondering and talking about what Stonemine would be like.

“I heard that sometimes, a Legendary Pokémon appears in the mine,” Cal told Rebecca.

“Well I heard that they have a Junior Contest Hall there,” Rebecca retorted stroking Finny, who was hovering next to her, and Zappy, on her shoulder, “I can show them how cute my Pokémon are already!”

Cal rolled his eyes. “It’s not all about Contests, ‘Becca,” he laughed.

Soon enough, the city was in clear view. Compared to Centurock, Stonemine was rather small, with barely any tall buildings. It looked like it was build at the bottom of a large but shallow crater of some sort, as they could only see the rooves of the smaller buildings. They kept walking and soon came to, as they had expected, came to a sudden, steep slope. They carefully clambered down it and found themselves sin Stonemine City.

They had seen correctly: Stonemine was a rather small city. Most of the buildings were houses, with a few small shops a couple of large blocks of flats and, obviously, a Pokémon Gym. At one side of the town there was a fenced-off area filled with cranes and huge crates filled t the brim with a strange, smooth black stone that appeared the be filled with thousands of tiny pinpricks of yellow light.

“I don’t see any Contest Hall,” Cal said, amused.

“Oh yeah. Maybe it was in Gravel Town…” Rebecca replied, crestfallen.

“Oh well,” Cal said, looking at her with a smile, “There’s still the Gym. But I think we should get a proper meal first…” he pointed to a small café near the Pokémon Center.

They stepped into the small café and walked over to a two-person table by a window. A large, grey-haired waitress bustled over to them for their order. When they had ordered, the waitress went away and Cal turned to Rebecca.

“You do know that the Gym Leader here uses Ground Types?” he asked her.

“Yes…” she replied testily, “Why?”

“Well, they’re immune to electr-” but he was cut off by the waitress who appeared and placed their plates on the table with a warm smile.

“Enjoy, dearies,” she told them, and moved to the next table.

Cal ate his bacon sandwich happily, ripping off chunks of bread for Kira and Learabit. Rebecca seemed too interested into her baked beans on toast to listen to him, so he decided he’d leave it until later.

They left the café a few minutes later into the murky, bland morning light. Cal lead the way over to the gym. When they entered, they found themselves in a reception area not unlike the one back at Lime Town’s Gym. The main difference was that there was no receptionist behind the counter. Cal turned to Rebecca, who shrugged. Cal tentatively opened the door to the arena, and found himself looking at a battle arena. The problem was that there was already a battle going on. Not wanting to interrupt, he snapped the door shut. “Look’s like the leader’s busy,” he said, “Let’s just look at the town for now.”

They left the Gym and walked around the small city, soon coming to the high, mesh fences that surrounded the mining site. In front of them was a high gate, which was wide open, presumably to allow lorries to enter to collect the crates of stone. Zappy made a little barking noise and ran through the gates – towards the large, dark tunnel in the wall of the crater.

“No, Zappy!” Rebecca shouted, and chased after the Shinx. Cal ran behind her, and soon the huge, gaping maw of the mine had swallowed them. They carefully walked through absolute darkness for a few moments, then suddenly small lamps flared to life on the walls, revealing the wide, almost circular tunnel. There were tacks for mine carts on either side, and from somewhere deep within the mine, they could hear the grunts of people and Pokémon and the chink of pickaxes hacking at rocks. About twenty feet ahead of them was zappy, still running.

“No, Zappy, it’s dangerous to explore in here!” Rebecca called, her voice echoing off of the rocky walls.

Zappy stopped and turned around, gazing innocently at his trainer. Rebecca ran over and lifted him up, holding him close to her. “Don’t run off like that again,” she told the Shinx, “You had me really worried!”

Kira looked around in the half light and then let out a high-pitched, fearful moan. She buried her face in Cal’s messy hair and began to hum a single, quavering note. Cal patted her reassuringly and turned to Rebecca. “We may as well look around, now we’re here,” he said dismissively, and she nodded, leading the way deeper into the mine.

Soon they came to a wide chamber with a high ceiling. Sunlight was shining in through a large hole in the rock above, and the cavern was filled with men and humanoid Pokémon busy mining into the walls of the chamber. Every so often a miner would find a chunk of the black, sparkling rock and would throw it into a large mine cart in the middle of the chamber. The two humans gazed around at the miners. The human miners were mostly shirtless and covered in sweat, their large muscles tensing as they swung their axes at the rock. The majority of the Pokémon were about the size of a human child, with thick green skin and brown ridges on their head. They were swinging axes and collecting stone, but they appeared to be much faster and stronger than the humans.

The trainers continued walking through the mines, observing the beautiful, mysterious black stone and the determined, almost machine-like work of the miners. Cal took another step, expecting to feel the rocky floor below, but instead, there was nothing, and his foot fell, shortly followed by his body and Kira. Yelling and screaming, they fell down the dark hole to the shadowy depths below.

After a few moments of falling, Cal hit the ground – but instead of smashing against harsh rock and being broken to pieces, he landed on something soft and squidgy, like an overstuffed cushion. He looked up and saw a shadowy form in front of him. The thing had a horned head, a sleek body and tail which ended in a small blade, and clawed limbs. He glanced around and saw Kira, Rebecca and her Pokémon had also landed – but they appeared to be floating a few inches above the ground. He looked down and saw that he was too. But a second later, the Pokémon in front of them made a strange, echoing noise, and the humans and Pokémon fell the short distance to the ground. Cal scrambled up to more closely observe the Pokémon, but it was gone.

 

[Zeph]

Right. People who crit'ed on the old forums (Mostly dragon_night, I think), Could you crit me again? Because I never actually saved the most recent chapters with the edits made... 'Cause I'm stupid.

 

[Dragon_night]

Hmm. I'm too lazy to re-read anything but the last chapter (I'll get to the other tomorrow if I can) But I don't think there were any mistakes in this chapter. And unless I'm re-reading bad, I still don't see any (although I mentioned something about the legendary being cliche)

I also remember an argument about the color of the Machop >_>

*Coughcough*

Again, I'll get the other other chapters when I can (and by few, do you mean the last two chapters, or the last three/four?)

 

[Zeph]

I think it was the last thee. Anyway, I remember the Machop argument too. It'son google cache. Just search 'working title [Pg-13]'.

Anyway, yes, you did say it was clichéd, but the legendary did not, as I stated previously, specifically appear to Cal. It was visible to all of them, and just happened to be there. it did not decide to appear to them because it thought they were special, like most legendaries to to Ash in the anime.

 

[Evolutionary]

Um, crit. Your story is sort of like
1st event: Start
2nd: Get to 1st Gym and beat 1st Gym
3rd: Get to 2nd gym and beat 2nd gym
etc etc etc. So maybe add some more events in between and more routes but it is still quite good.
I like your battle style through.

From your fic lover EeveeSkitty

 

[Zeph]

Um, they've only been to one gym yet?

 

[CNiall]

Spellcheck dfrhsdjfh

Breathes, not breaths. Accidentally, not 'accidentily'. I haven't read past the first chapter yet, but I'd probably end up forgetting what to say if I commented on it all at once. You're missing a capital after a question mark somewhere, too.

Edit: maths and science shouldn't really be capitalised, if I recall correctly, but I can sort of see where you're coming from. Why are things like 'mother' capitalised when it is, for example, 'my mother' but not capitalised when being used to address his mother? The verb is breathe, not breath.

 

[Zeph]

Exactly. Everybody does forget things sometimes. I actually know perfectly well how to spell most things, but when i type, I type things wrong. For example, whenever I typed 'lifeboat', I used to, for whatever reason, do 'lifeboatd' instead.

 

[CNiall]

I don't care if you know perfectly well how to spell things--you're on a damn computer and have a spellchecker available. They don't add them for kicks. >>

It's irrelevant if you forget things when it would take you at most five minutes to proof-read a chapter once for spelling errors and one minute at a stretch to run something through a spellchecker.

 

[Zeph]

Actually, I don't have to 'run it through' a spellchecker, Firefox has one built in. But I guess I'm just too lazy -_-

And there isn't any particular need to get so annoyed at me, is there?