The journey continues... 02.03.02 - 23:51
Whyso? Mostly OTJ related; WARNING
WARNIN': If ya ain't got a good grip on Kiri-san's use of language, particularly profanities of three to five letters (typically four) in length, or ya don' tolerate such talk in fics ya read, STOP READIN' NOW.
Randomness, J'YEAH.
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sekai no itaru tokoro ni...
GOOGLE HITTERS! Yup, tonight's google check comes courtesy of the Danish, country code dk.
Let's see how many countries I've been accosted by now.
Canada (ca)
US
Brazil (br)
France (fr)
Igirisu (uk)
Denmark (dk)
Doitsu (de)
Nihon (jp)
Italy (it)
Australia (au)
And that's just the SHORT FORM of the list, those I can remember o.o;
Would that make tasogare WORLD-FAMOUS? Perhaps. Or perhaps randomness, bein' my steadfast companion, refuses to leave. Ever.
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giruti-giazekusu
Yup, yup. Not only did I see about half the charas from Guilty Gear X (if you want more info about it than I often give, just go to GGX Official Website) at K-con (that list was
Ky, Chipp, Baiken, Chipp, May, Faust, Anji, Axel, Millia, and Testament :P ) but well before this I drew this piccu:
of me as Ky Kiske. The colour scheme is non-standard and reflects my preferences so THERE :P
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hitori
A story I wrote years ago, about Pokemon. The only thing is, I went to reread it, and realised that I wanted to do more, especially when more stories came, and more charas with them, and it was like, whoa, these might fit right here, or this chara or that needs to be defined better or just different. So once again, the reliable "notepad" app rolls out and voila.
It begins.
NOTA BENE: To the tiny number of people who have actually read the original "One Trainer's Journey," this rewrite is bound to have more, and less censored, language. Just because I don' tend to say such things in conversation doesn't mean that story charas wouldn't. SO be warned. That, and more than a few names of objects and towns are referred to exclusively in the Japanese terminology rather than the English. Those said, enjoy! ^.^.^
---hitori no trainer no ryokou---
1: greybadge.
Nivi city.
For many Pokemon trainers, this mining town in the western foothills of Mount Moon is the first stop along the path to Sekiei's biannual Pokemon League competition. For others, it is a mining town where moonstones are extracted from the mountain; this is a dangerous enterprise due to the numbers of Clefairies which attack miners in order to protect what the fairies view as sacred. For some, it is home...
One Saturday morning, a stiff wind carried swirling clouds of dust across the mostly abandoned road. So early was the time when one explorer became that lonely main street's only occupant, that the sun had only begun to ponder its ascent when she set foot in the quiet city.
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"So, which Pokemon did you get? Charmander? Bulbasaur?"
It had been six years since the day Becky Gannon had left home, intent on gaining her Pokemon trainer's licence and her first Pokemon. A quiet young girl, she had fully intended to obey her father's wishes and claim one of those fairly standard creatures; but the difficult decision of which Pokemon she would raise first was made for her even before she reached Masara town. "No, papa... I got a Sandshrew," came her whispered response.
Where he should perhaps have been proud of this fact, he was filled with rage instead, rage at being disobeyed. "Your brother took a Squirtle, as I instructed him to. Why is it that you could not obey me as he did?"
"She was helpless..." Becky explained. "I was walkin' to Masara, and there was a Sandshrew sittin' by the side of the road. From the rustlin' in the grass, I knew she'd been abandoned by 'er family... so I started talkin' to 'er, and she wanted me to pick 'er up. So I did, an' I took 'er to Doctor Oak..."
"ENOUGH! The point is, you disobeyed me. And I can't have anyone in my family, or in my business, who disobeys me. Rebecca, get out... and never come back! The next time we meet, we are as strangers to each other; do you understand?"
"But papa... mom..."
"Your mother isn't here, IS SHE? And I can't help that... but since she isn't, she doesn't matter! Now I'll give you one chance. Go back to Oak and get a proper starting Pokemon as I instructed you to, or get out!"
Becky's voice raised slightly as her eyes welled up with tears, "Mom does matter... even if she ain't here..." One rolled down her cheek. "And I won't abandon Kassi..." she added, clenching her Sandshrew's pokeball, "...I won't." With that, she thrust open the door to the house that was no longer hers...
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She never wanted to be like her brother... she never wanted to be the kind of trainer her father envisioned. To Becky, the world of Pokemon became a sort of freedom from people. After all, in her young experience, everyone she had loved had left her, either through turning on her or dying or leaving on trainer's journeys... even friends she had grown up with, like Kato and Tony, had left the city of stone. The more she thought about the average trainers, the more she realised that there had to be more to Pokemon than battling, capturing, and training them for even more battles and captures... something beyond the cycle romanticised by the Pokemon League... something more precious than prestige, golden trophies, wealth, and SilphCo's incredible Masterball.
Becky had resolved on that day, and more firmly on the days after, that she and Kassi and any other friends they would happen to meet would seek out that something... an understanding of Pokemon, wild and tamed... a respect for their ways of life... wherever, and whatever varieties of the creatures they would find.
Neither did Becky shirk her studies; her laptop, a beta version of late-model Kankei series personal computers powered mysteriously by an interaction between rare crystalline structures called fyltorines and tiny pieces of thunderstones, was used mainly in her writings, but also in downloading course materials from nearby schools so that she could continue to learn without being tied down to any one location. Everything was perfect... everything... but there was one problem.
"No."
"No, you can't pass through this cave" and "no, you can't come through here" and "no, you can't board this ship." No... no... no. Six years of research... very fruitful research on various species... the happy inclusion of a young Eevee who eventually chose to become a Flareon... and Kassi's maturing into her "evolved" Sandslash form, among other things... and they were ready, willing, but unable to grow beyond the boundaries of Kantou. In every case, the reason was given that Becky had not earned enough badges, or she hadn't entered the Pokemon League. Battle this... gym that... Sekiei here...
...and now Becky, Kassi and Nitro stood there, in the city that was once known best as "home..."
...Nivi city...
...to do the one thing that none of them thought they would ever be required to do...
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The morning light crept behind Becky's back, setting random shimmers throughout the length of her crimson hairs, and pulling her shadow through the open stone doors leading into Nivi city's Pokemon gym. She knew exactly what to expect; Brock, one of her closest childhood friends, had once worn the mantle of Gym Leader here, and appropriately to the city's nature and location, discharged his duties with the help of rock-types Geodude and Onix. At the same time, Becky also knew one fact about which she had mixed feelings; during one of her visits back to Doctor Oak, she learned that Brock had accompanied a small group of trainers to Jouto, to accomplish some task involving a rare pokeball. This meant, obviously, that Brock was no longer the Gym Leader... but it was also true, according to Brock, that Gym Leaders were required to use their gym's favoured type in official matches. Naturally, there were some exceptions to this rule, such as the ongoing tenure of hotshot Gary Oak as the keeper of Tokiwa's Greenbadge, but these were few and far between.
Becky's father used to bring her to watch battles in the gym; memories of those days flowed into her as easily as the damp, cavernous air. Perhaps, in another time, they may have been pleasant memories; but necessity and circumstance transformed them into bitter recollections which she wanted to purge quickly.
"Sa sanasa..." Kassi whimpered; slightly more accepting of the necessary actions she would soon be carrying out, she nonetheless picked up on Becky's reluctance. "Saslaa-? Sh... ad?"
"It's ok, Kassi... I was just thinkin'... let's... let's just get this done." She really didn't want to get into detail concerning those feelings rushing through her, at least not at the moment.
From deep within the cavern, a voice boomed, "WHO COMES TO CHALLENGE THE LEADER OF THIS GYM?"
"Fl-fow! Ayoun!!!" Nitro barked in defiant reply.
"HA HA HA! A Flareon? Everyone knows fire types are WEAK to rock types!" the voice bellowed again.
Breathing in deeply, and kneeling down beside her companions, Becky answered him, her tone even and very deliberate, "My name's Becky Gannon, and I and my friends challenge ya."
One more time, the voice shouted as the lights came up, "FINE! You must be prepared to lose, then! I am Grant, master of all rock-types, and I accept your challenge. If you should succeed in a two on two match, unlikely as that is, you shall win a Greybadge. Now, which will you send out first?"
Grant was certainly built like a brick... and Nitro's chuckle suggested that the term brickhead might apply equally well. Nodding, Becky held out her right hand. "Nitro here, the Flareon in case ya haven't figgered it out yet, will battle with ya first."
"The Flareon... you ignorant bitch. ONIX!" Nitro crouched, his tail poised like a scorpion's, his entire body otherwise as tense as a tiger ready to pounce, as the chamber was nearly filled by the huge length of the stone snake! "Rock toss... NOW!"
The firefox sprang forward to draw this attack, then to the left and avoided it completely! His last quick hop was a fierce body check against Onix's armoured hide; though the loud crack which resulted from this was that of Onix's stone body, the damage was not much more than cosmetic. Then, his large ears picked up Becky's call, "Nitro, catch Onix's head with..."
"Yeah, DO IT! Onix, BIND attack!"
"...ya know!" As Onix's granite tail began to close on Nitro, the Flareon unleahed a gout of flame which licked uselessly against the snake's head... and caught the sprinkler system, which then drenched Onix with a water-like fire extinguishing solution and knocked it to the ground while Nitro leaped away!
"DAMN IT! Onix return... damn you! I'll TAKE YOU! Fire and ground are both weak to WATER... so... CORSOLA! Finish them!"
"Nitro, that was great! Now, Kassi, yer turn!"
"AHA! A Sandslash can't do ANYTHING against rock-types!"
Becky was entirely unaware of what the pink, stony Pokemon was capable of, so she fished out what looked like a laptop but was not quite; it was a very old Pokedex, the Handybook 400. It reported, its voice sweet and low: "Corsola, coral Pokemon. Jouto designation Saniigo. Normally found in Jouto's waterways, this rare water and rock type Pokemon possesses strong attacking capabilities in both types, as well as excellent defencive powers including 'recover.' Best handled by grass types."
"Corsola... BUBBLE... beam?" Grant paused when he realised that the Sandslash was nowhere in sight...
Snickering, Becky uselessly ordered, "Kassi, division bell." Useless, because Corsola was already upended by the precise earthquake attack which knocked its rear support upward...
"SLAA-!!" The ground exploded from behind Corsola as Kassi leaped atop it and, ignoring the light drizzle which continued from the sprinklers, began to flail away with her claws! The pink coral groaned as thrust after thrust slammed into his back...
...until Becky held up her hand. "Kassi, that's enough," she stated. "It's over."
Grant bellowed in triumph, "YOU IDIOT! It's never over... CORSOLA RECOVER!!!"
Trembling, the coral Pokemon pushed itself back into an upright position and stared at his trainer. "Kuuuu... coso..." he panted; he knew, he just knew, that if he did recover, he might suffer the very same fate, and that he was too slow to avoid this.
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT! RECOVER!!!"
A clump of earth nailed Corsola in the back of the head, just hard enough that the half-water type staggered forward, then fell! In the centre of the onyx pokeball shape stood Kassi, her eyes fixated on the Gym Leader, and she hissed, "Sassaia... sa dasla slaan!"
Grant howled in outrage. "I don't KNOW what you're saying, but I HATE YOU! GRAVELLER!!!"
"Hey!" Becky shouted. "This was two on two..."
"I'M THE GYM LEADER, and I'LL CHANGE THE RULES... whenever the hell I feel like it!" The craggy stone ball with arms and legs appeared in the ruby light, and Grant continued, "GRAVELLER, USE...!"
The referee on duty pressed one button and ordered, "That is enough! Grant, you have been disqualified for not honouring the terms of your battle. As the winner of the original two on two, the challenger, Becky, is the winner, and as such shall receive a Greybadge."
"DAMN YOU! SELF DESTRUCTION!" On reaction, Kassi was underground, Nitro was in his pokeball, and Becky was very near to the door when Graveller completed the self-destruction technique! When the smoke cleared, Becky stood exactly where she was, covered in a light layer of dust; and Grant was cowering in a corner of the gym, with Kassi standing over him, trying to spot one of the tiny pewter icons.
"Sl..." the oversized hedgehog insisted.
Grant's forehead caked with dirty sweat as his shivering hand held out the desired item. "Here... t... take it! Only... wha... what did you say?"
After Kassi took the Greybadge between her claws and carried it quickly to Becky, the young trainer responded to that question. "Only that ya shouldn't push yer Pokemon too hard like that. Corsola did wanna give up, no matter what ya wanted, and ya shoulda let 'im." Not hearing any further rants from Grant, Becky strode out of the gym, releasing Nitro from the protection offered by his pokeball, and after reaching the eastern edge of town again, sat down on a grassy hill beside them. "I jus' hope the rest of 'em ain't gonna be like him... but I'm really proud of both of ya." Her tone was one of uncertainty, though not directed toward her friends.
"Ree fla-?" Nitro inquired.
"Ya... soon as it's over... and we can go to Jouto and Eitou and anywhere. That's when I'll really be ok. I know you don' mind it... but I hate battlin'. All the League really is's Pokemon hurtin' each other so their trainers can be champions... and here we are, headed for the same thing, jus' so we can get outta Kantou. Somethin' doesn't feel right about that, ya know?"
Kassi and Nitro, almost at the same time, leaned on their step-human so that she fell over with them atop her! "Slaa-n! Sasand sasha..."
The playful tickles and licks easily drew laughs from Becky, and the three enjoyed the progression of the cool morning. Their eventual purpose could wait... ***
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piccu
In case ya wanted to know exactly what Becky looks like... here:
Yes, paintshop ROCKS YER WORLD when it comes to backgrounds. It can do some things better than pooboo, but not everything. Yes, I do spend time experimentin' with backgrounds. ^.^
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