Fanfic - Pokemon: Irving (Beginning)
I saw a Zidane Tribal figure for fifteen dollars while I was out today. God I want that so bad it's unhealthy. My little dork-shrine on my desk will be growing nicely if I add that; at the moment, all I have is six little Pokemon figurines and a Super Mushroom plushie. There's nothing quite like videogame merch to give a desk some flavour.
But anyway, content. Following in Zarla's footsteps with the 'Together Forever' format over at the NPLU (and with her blessing, of course), I've been writing some Pokefic on my own Sinnoh team. I've got four parts kinda-written at the moment, two of those in re-write status, but this is the first part (hopefully of many) that will be completed and posted up.
Did that sentence make any sense? Doesn't matter. POKEFIC AWAAAAAY
--
Irving
~ Beginning
Jack hummed to himself as he strolled along Route 204, Jubilife City slowly fading over the southern horizon. This whole ‘Pokemon journey’ thing wasn’t quite as hideously horrible as he’d thought it would be. The quest had only been thrust upon him two days ago, and he had already received a Ralts from his brother, saved a professor’s life from a group of irate Solrock, and gotten a Chimchar into the bargain! If someone had told him that Pokemon journeys held opportunities to help people, rather than constantly battling and chasing after fame, he might have thought about taking it up sooner.
Jack’s smile faded as his hand brushed the Pokeballs set into his belt. One aspect of Pokemon you could never escape was the violence. He’d only known Emma for two days - Angry D for even less - but he already felt a kinship with them, hoped they wouldn’t come to any harm. It still eluded him how people could make such intelligent creatures battle to exhaustion when they owned them, when their welfare was solely in the hands of the Trainer. A sort of obligation niggled at the back of Jack’s mind, reminding him that these Pokemon were his responsibility, that he had to keep them safe from harm. Not just Emma and Angry D, either; if he caught more Pokemon, they would be his responsibility too.
Jack stopped in his tracks and blinked. He hadn’t caught any Pokemon yet, had he? That was odd. The kids who started their journeys back home in Cerulean usually had about ten Pokemon in their team by the end of the second day. Perhaps he should catch a Pokemon too, have a Pokemon that wasn’t a gift or a thank-you, have something that was his and his alone. Jack released Emma and Angry D, deciding he needed a sounding board for this.
“Hey, guys.” Jack said, sitting down. “I’ve been thinking some stuff over, and I realised I haven’t actually caught any Pokemon yet. I mean, Emma, you were a starter from my brother…” Jack motioned over to Emma, who smiled and nodded, “and D, you were a gift from Professor Forest for saving him from those...Angry D?”
Jack waved his hand in front of the Chimchar, who was watching a battle two Bug Catchers were having further down the way. Jack snapped his fingers and Angry D spun around towards Jack again, striking a karate pose.
“Chim?” said Angry D. Jack looked at the monkey, one eyebrow raised. “Chim, chimchar. Chim chim char!” Angry D hopped up and down, gesturing over towards the battle.
“D, I’m talking about getting a new member of the team. Pay attention.” Jack sighed. “How would you two feel about getting someone new?”
“Chim chim, char.” Angry D replied, glancing over at the battle and fidgeting impatiently. “Chimchar char.”
“Ralts, ralts.” Emma smiled, patting Jack on the knee.
Jack smiled. “It’s my decision, then.”
Emma nodded. Jack brushed some hair out of his eyes and gazed out at the long grass; somewhere out there was the first Pokemon he would catch. Lifting Emma up onto his shoulder and recalling Angry D into his ball, Jack walked into the grass and began to search.
“After all, if I’m gonna do this Pokemon journey, I may as well do it right.”
~ ~ ~
Half an hour later, Jack slumped down against a tree in frustration. Nothing. Not a single Pokemon had appeared this entire time. How did those little kids do it?
“Where the hell are these things?” Jack muttered, thumping his fist against the tree. “Am I giving off some kind of Repel vibe?”
“Raaaalts, Ralts.” Emma soothed. “Ralts.”
“I know, I know: be patient. It’s just...argh!”
Jack thumped his fist against the tree again for emphasis, causing the leaves to rustle. Before Jack could look up, a brown-grey blur flew down from amongst the branches and smacked jack squarely on the back of the head. Swearing in pain, Jack fell forward and quickly scrambled to his feet. The blur flew back up into the tree and settled on a branch, cawing at Jack angrily. It was a small Starly. Jack froze in his position, letting out a small squeak of surprise.
“Ralts?” said Emma, tugging on his jeans and pointing towards the Starly. “Ralts ralts, ralts! Raaalts ral!”
“I know it’s a Pokemon, Emma.” Jack whispered. “It’s just...it's a bird.”
“Ralts?” Emma prompted.
“I’m...not good with birds.” Jack said.
“Ralts?” Emma echoed. Jack nodded wordlessly, prompting the Starly to swoop at Jack’s head again. Jack let out a cry of fright and ducked to the side, landing on his side next to Emma.
“Birds don’t like me.” Jack explained. “I...don’t like birds.”
Emma noticed Jack was shivering and moved over to pat his shoulder affectionately. Jack went into a careful crouch, keeping his eyes fixed on the Starly, and patted Emma on the head in return. Now that he was closer to her, Emma could see the stark, undisguised fear in his eyes. He must be afraid of birds, she thought.
Emma thought carefully as Jack and the Starly continued their stare-off, then spoke up, keeping her voice soft and calm.
“Ralts ralts raaalts.”
Jack blinked. “Catch it?”
Emma nodded, going into a long explanation. Jack kept watching the bird as Emma talked, but the fear in his eyes subsided slightly, Emma’s words rolling around in his head.
“It’ll stop attacking you if you catch it, for one thing.” she had said. “The only way to get over your fear of birds is to confront it. Catch the Starly, Jack.”
“Hmm.” Jack said. Emma felt his emotions, formerly riding a high crest of fear, almost painful in its intensity, gradually subside until he was back at something resembling normalcy. Slowly, carefully, Jack stood up until he was back at his full height, tapping his fingers on Emma’s Pokeball nervously. Emma moved forward until she was standing in front of Jack, ready to battle.
Jack took a deep breath, calming himself, then flung out his hand, flourishing dramatically.
“Emma, use Confusion!”
~ ~ ~
Emma gave a cry of “Raaalts!” and dove forward, a purple glow of psychic energy pouring out of the horn on her head. The Starly went into a nosedive towards Emma, but was struck by the attack and shakily flew upwards again.
Regaining its equilibrium, the Starly dove towards Emma again, striking her in the chest, causing Emma to cry out in pain and stumble backwards. Jack flinched as Emma was struck again, and flinched again even harder as the Starly let out a caw of triumph.
“Emma, don’t let him step all over you like that! Use Growl!” Jack called, momentarily confused where all this battle knowledge was coming from; he’d only casually looked over the Ralts move set this morning, but here he was, commanding his Pokemon like a professional. Was all battling conducted like this, completely on the fly?
Emma steeled herself and growled in as menacing a manner as she could muster. “Raaaaaaalts!” The Starly gave an obnoxious chuckle, sounding slightly less confident than before. A small smile crept onto Jack’s face.
“Quick, Emma, while it’s guard is down! Confusion again!”
The purple energy issued forth from Emma again; since the Starly was much closer this time, the collision was much more severe. The bird gave a loud squawk and toppled out of the air, landing awkwardly on the ground nearby.
Jack blinked in surprise. “Is that it?”
Emma moved over to where the Starly had landed amongst the tall gross, searching for where it had fallen. However, before she had gone very far, the bird launched itself out of the grass and struck Emma very hard on the head. Emma tottered unsteadily, falling backwards as the Starly cackled to itself. Jack rushed over to Emma and scooped her up in his arms.
“Emma? Are you alright?” Jack asked.
“Raa...alts.” Emma replied weakly. “Ralts ralts...ralts. Raal ralts.”
“You’re sure you can finish this?” Jack echoed.
Emma nodded. Jack looked down at his clearly injured Ralts, torn by indecision. A flash of anger passed through him the Starly cawed in triumph from its perch, mocking them. Reluctantly, Jack placed Emma down on the ground again, where she stood unsteadily, leaning against a tree trunk for support.
“Emma!” Jack said. “One last Confusion!”
Emma raised her arms just as the Starly went into a steep nosedive. The purple glowe flew forward, catching the bird in full flight, but not before Emma had taken another strike to the head. Both Pokemon were thrown backwards by the force of their attacks, landing heavily a few metres away from each other.
Without thinking, Jack grabbed a spare Pokeball and threw it at the Starly. The bright red energy enveloped the bird, surrounding it with the same red glow and pulling it into the capsule. The Pokeball fell onto the grass, wiggling frantically back and forth.
A ding came from the Pokeball. Jack watched the small sphere intently, staring at it like nothing else in the world existed.
Another ding...Emma slowly got to her feet, leaning against Jack’s leg for support.
A third ding...
Jack didn’t dare to move, didn’t dare to take his eyes off the Pokeball, although every fibre of his being was screaming at him to hurry to a Pokemon Centre, to make sure Emma wasn’t too seriously hurt, to do something, for God's sake.
Ding! A mechanism clicked inside the Pokeball, rendering it immobile. Scooping up Emma in his arms, Jack walked over to the Starly’s Pokeball and picked it up.
“Nickname your Starly?” Jack’s Poketch said.
Jack stared at the ball, pondering. This Starly was brash, cocky, violent and underhanded. A flash of ‘the famous Gary Oak’ back in Kanto flashed into his mind. Who was it Gary had said was his hero? Irvine something?
Jack smiled as he recalled Emma, clipping her Pokeball onto his belt, alongside his new Starly. He held the Poketch close to his mouth to make sure the device got his nickname right. Another ‘Angry D’ incident would be very embarrassing.
“Irving.” Jack said. The Poketch flashed the message ‘CONFIRMED’. Jack nodded in satisfaction. Securing the Pokeballs on his belt, Jack began to run as fash as he could towards Floarama, intending to make a beeline straight for the Pokemon Centre that would be held somewhere within.
--
Hope you liked that, as there is more to come. Next Illusion of Gaia update in a bit, I swear.
~ Aaron
But anyway, content. Following in Zarla's footsteps with the 'Together Forever' format over at the NPLU (and with her blessing, of course), I've been writing some Pokefic on my own Sinnoh team. I've got four parts kinda-written at the moment, two of those in re-write status, but this is the first part (hopefully of many) that will be completed and posted up.
Did that sentence make any sense? Doesn't matter. POKEFIC AWAAAAAY
--
Irving
~ Beginning
Jack hummed to himself as he strolled along Route 204, Jubilife City slowly fading over the southern horizon. This whole ‘Pokemon journey’ thing wasn’t quite as hideously horrible as he’d thought it would be. The quest had only been thrust upon him two days ago, and he had already received a Ralts from his brother, saved a professor’s life from a group of irate Solrock, and gotten a Chimchar into the bargain! If someone had told him that Pokemon journeys held opportunities to help people, rather than constantly battling and chasing after fame, he might have thought about taking it up sooner.
Jack’s smile faded as his hand brushed the Pokeballs set into his belt. One aspect of Pokemon you could never escape was the violence. He’d only known Emma for two days - Angry D for even less - but he already felt a kinship with them, hoped they wouldn’t come to any harm. It still eluded him how people could make such intelligent creatures battle to exhaustion when they owned them, when their welfare was solely in the hands of the Trainer. A sort of obligation niggled at the back of Jack’s mind, reminding him that these Pokemon were his responsibility, that he had to keep them safe from harm. Not just Emma and Angry D, either; if he caught more Pokemon, they would be his responsibility too.
Jack stopped in his tracks and blinked. He hadn’t caught any Pokemon yet, had he? That was odd. The kids who started their journeys back home in Cerulean usually had about ten Pokemon in their team by the end of the second day. Perhaps he should catch a Pokemon too, have a Pokemon that wasn’t a gift or a thank-you, have something that was his and his alone. Jack released Emma and Angry D, deciding he needed a sounding board for this.
“Hey, guys.” Jack said, sitting down. “I’ve been thinking some stuff over, and I realised I haven’t actually caught any Pokemon yet. I mean, Emma, you were a starter from my brother…” Jack motioned over to Emma, who smiled and nodded, “and D, you were a gift from Professor Forest for saving him from those...Angry D?”
Jack waved his hand in front of the Chimchar, who was watching a battle two Bug Catchers were having further down the way. Jack snapped his fingers and Angry D spun around towards Jack again, striking a karate pose.
“Chim?” said Angry D. Jack looked at the monkey, one eyebrow raised. “Chim, chimchar. Chim chim char!” Angry D hopped up and down, gesturing over towards the battle.
“D, I’m talking about getting a new member of the team. Pay attention.” Jack sighed. “How would you two feel about getting someone new?”
“Chim chim, char.” Angry D replied, glancing over at the battle and fidgeting impatiently. “Chimchar char.”
“Ralts, ralts.” Emma smiled, patting Jack on the knee.
Jack smiled. “It’s my decision, then.”
Emma nodded. Jack brushed some hair out of his eyes and gazed out at the long grass; somewhere out there was the first Pokemon he would catch. Lifting Emma up onto his shoulder and recalling Angry D into his ball, Jack walked into the grass and began to search.
“After all, if I’m gonna do this Pokemon journey, I may as well do it right.”
~ ~ ~
Half an hour later, Jack slumped down against a tree in frustration. Nothing. Not a single Pokemon had appeared this entire time. How did those little kids do it?
“Where the hell are these things?” Jack muttered, thumping his fist against the tree. “Am I giving off some kind of Repel vibe?”
“Raaaalts, Ralts.” Emma soothed. “Ralts.”
“I know, I know: be patient. It’s just...argh!”
Jack thumped his fist against the tree again for emphasis, causing the leaves to rustle. Before Jack could look up, a brown-grey blur flew down from amongst the branches and smacked jack squarely on the back of the head. Swearing in pain, Jack fell forward and quickly scrambled to his feet. The blur flew back up into the tree and settled on a branch, cawing at Jack angrily. It was a small Starly. Jack froze in his position, letting out a small squeak of surprise.
“Ralts?” said Emma, tugging on his jeans and pointing towards the Starly. “Ralts ralts, ralts! Raaalts ral!”
“I know it’s a Pokemon, Emma.” Jack whispered. “It’s just...it's a bird.”
“Ralts?” Emma prompted.
“I’m...not good with birds.” Jack said.
“Ralts?” Emma echoed. Jack nodded wordlessly, prompting the Starly to swoop at Jack’s head again. Jack let out a cry of fright and ducked to the side, landing on his side next to Emma.
“Birds don’t like me.” Jack explained. “I...don’t like birds.”
Emma noticed Jack was shivering and moved over to pat his shoulder affectionately. Jack went into a careful crouch, keeping his eyes fixed on the Starly, and patted Emma on the head in return. Now that he was closer to her, Emma could see the stark, undisguised fear in his eyes. He must be afraid of birds, she thought.
Emma thought carefully as Jack and the Starly continued their stare-off, then spoke up, keeping her voice soft and calm.
“Ralts ralts raaalts.”
Jack blinked. “Catch it?”
Emma nodded, going into a long explanation. Jack kept watching the bird as Emma talked, but the fear in his eyes subsided slightly, Emma’s words rolling around in his head.
“It’ll stop attacking you if you catch it, for one thing.” she had said. “The only way to get over your fear of birds is to confront it. Catch the Starly, Jack.”
“Hmm.” Jack said. Emma felt his emotions, formerly riding a high crest of fear, almost painful in its intensity, gradually subside until he was back at something resembling normalcy. Slowly, carefully, Jack stood up until he was back at his full height, tapping his fingers on Emma’s Pokeball nervously. Emma moved forward until she was standing in front of Jack, ready to battle.
Jack took a deep breath, calming himself, then flung out his hand, flourishing dramatically.
“Emma, use Confusion!”
~ ~ ~
Emma gave a cry of “Raaalts!” and dove forward, a purple glow of psychic energy pouring out of the horn on her head. The Starly went into a nosedive towards Emma, but was struck by the attack and shakily flew upwards again.
Regaining its equilibrium, the Starly dove towards Emma again, striking her in the chest, causing Emma to cry out in pain and stumble backwards. Jack flinched as Emma was struck again, and flinched again even harder as the Starly let out a caw of triumph.
“Emma, don’t let him step all over you like that! Use Growl!” Jack called, momentarily confused where all this battle knowledge was coming from; he’d only casually looked over the Ralts move set this morning, but here he was, commanding his Pokemon like a professional. Was all battling conducted like this, completely on the fly?
Emma steeled herself and growled in as menacing a manner as she could muster. “Raaaaaaalts!” The Starly gave an obnoxious chuckle, sounding slightly less confident than before. A small smile crept onto Jack’s face.
“Quick, Emma, while it’s guard is down! Confusion again!”
The purple energy issued forth from Emma again; since the Starly was much closer this time, the collision was much more severe. The bird gave a loud squawk and toppled out of the air, landing awkwardly on the ground nearby.
Jack blinked in surprise. “Is that it?”
Emma moved over to where the Starly had landed amongst the tall gross, searching for where it had fallen. However, before she had gone very far, the bird launched itself out of the grass and struck Emma very hard on the head. Emma tottered unsteadily, falling backwards as the Starly cackled to itself. Jack rushed over to Emma and scooped her up in his arms.
“Emma? Are you alright?” Jack asked.
“Raa...alts.” Emma replied weakly. “Ralts ralts...ralts. Raal ralts.”
“You’re sure you can finish this?” Jack echoed.
Emma nodded. Jack looked down at his clearly injured Ralts, torn by indecision. A flash of anger passed through him the Starly cawed in triumph from its perch, mocking them. Reluctantly, Jack placed Emma down on the ground again, where she stood unsteadily, leaning against a tree trunk for support.
“Emma!” Jack said. “One last Confusion!”
Emma raised her arms just as the Starly went into a steep nosedive. The purple glowe flew forward, catching the bird in full flight, but not before Emma had taken another strike to the head. Both Pokemon were thrown backwards by the force of their attacks, landing heavily a few metres away from each other.
Without thinking, Jack grabbed a spare Pokeball and threw it at the Starly. The bright red energy enveloped the bird, surrounding it with the same red glow and pulling it into the capsule. The Pokeball fell onto the grass, wiggling frantically back and forth.
A ding came from the Pokeball. Jack watched the small sphere intently, staring at it like nothing else in the world existed.
Another ding...Emma slowly got to her feet, leaning against Jack’s leg for support.
A third ding...
Jack didn’t dare to move, didn’t dare to take his eyes off the Pokeball, although every fibre of his being was screaming at him to hurry to a Pokemon Centre, to make sure Emma wasn’t too seriously hurt, to do something, for God's sake.
Ding! A mechanism clicked inside the Pokeball, rendering it immobile. Scooping up Emma in his arms, Jack walked over to the Starly’s Pokeball and picked it up.
“Nickname your Starly?” Jack’s Poketch said.
Jack stared at the ball, pondering. This Starly was brash, cocky, violent and underhanded. A flash of ‘the famous Gary Oak’ back in Kanto flashed into his mind. Who was it Gary had said was his hero? Irvine something?
Jack smiled as he recalled Emma, clipping her Pokeball onto his belt, alongside his new Starly. He held the Poketch close to his mouth to make sure the device got his nickname right. Another ‘Angry D’ incident would be very embarrassing.
“Irving.” Jack said. The Poketch flashed the message ‘CONFIRMED’. Jack nodded in satisfaction. Securing the Pokeballs on his belt, Jack began to run as fash as he could towards Floarama, intending to make a beeline straight for the Pokemon Centre that would be held somewhere within.
--
Hope you liked that, as there is more to come. Next Illusion of Gaia update in a bit, I swear.
~ Aaron