Chapter 9 - Reality Check

"Derrick, can you help me wash dishes down here? I could use a hand."

The boy swallowed absently, pressing START on his Gameboy SP and finding the Pidgeot in his team, commanding it to Fly to Fuchsia City. His glazed eyes followed the pixelated bird as it flew back and forth across the screen, carrying Red to his desired destination. The upbeat theme for the City struck up as Red landed, but Derrick instead pressed the volume on the side of his handheld down to mute it, bringing it from his eyes so he could wipe his hand down his face and think. Maybe a run through the Safari Zone would help change the pace.

"Derrick!"

"What is it, mom!?" he called back, trying to coat the annoyance in his voice.

"Come down here and help me with these dishes!" came the equally annoyed response. Derrick snapped his SP shut, placing it on his bed as he slid from atop of it and exited his room, making his way down the stairs as his mother continued to reprimand him: "I had to call you four times before you even answered. If you were that busy why didn't you just tell me? It's probably that game - you've been playing it entirely too much lately!"

"You're exaggerating, mom," Derrick retorted half-heartedly, stepping into the kitchen and finding a clean cloth to help her dry dishes with. "I haven't played it that often."

"I beg to differ," his mother pressed, pausing her washing to place wet fingers at his chin and turn his face toward her, earning her an embarrassed groan from her son. "Look at you. Look at your eyes! You've hardly been sleeping because you've played that game so often."

Derrick softly pulled from his mother's grip on his chin, rubbing the bags beneath his eyes a bit. He will admit, he hadn't gotten as much sleep as he wished. "It's not the game, mom," he murmured, wiping along his face once more. "My system's back light won't work with this game, so I can't play it into the early morning or anything. It's been those nightmares." His mother's expression softened a bit at that.

"The one from those other times...you're still having those?" she asked. As her son nodded, she crossed her arms and pursed her lip, eyes concerned. "That's strange. Usually recurring dreams like that mean something special." Derrick gave a light shrug, resuming his drying duty. When he was reluctant to meet her eyes, she raised an eyebrow. "Derrick, you can't hide forever. If you're having the same dream over and over, then you probably should begin digging up a few skeletons you may have forgotten to confront."

"Maybe..." he responded, biting his lip.
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Derrick maneuvered Red through the Safari Zone, pacing the character back and forth in the tall grass, even making him stand still and simply facing him different directions to save steps, hoping for a good Pokemon.

"Dude, you're hopeless," remarked Scott, peeking over at him from his phone and smirking. "I'll never know what you see in those sorts of games."

"It'd be awesome if I could find a Chancey," she whispered to himself, having not heard his friend, running or throwing bait at various wild Pokemon as he went. As he gradually became more bold in his steps, making Red walk more and more instead of reserving steps in the Zone, the bells sounded for his time to quit. "Bah," he blurted in defeat, watching his character return to the Safari Zone's lobby.

"No luck?" his friend muttered with a roll of the eyes.

"Hmm?" came the absent reply. Scott's mouth curled into a frown.

"Okay, screw that game!" she blared, bring his phone to his lap. "Turn that thing off and let's actually do something! We haven't been hanging out that much this summer. Let's go find you and me a ladyfriend so maybe this summer won't be so dull, because all you've been doing when we hang out is play on that stupid SP and hardly pay attention to the world. I don't know what your deal is lately, but we need to get you...Derrick...wait, are you okay?"

Derrick lifted his face toward his friend, exposing how clammily white it had become so suddenly. The boy doubled over a bit, nausea filling his mind and stomach. He saw his friend come to his aid, fanning his head, shaking him, shouting into his ear, but the more nauseous he got, the less he could hear or feel Scott with him. In fact, he couldn't feel or hear anything, it seemed. With painful gradualness, his nausea subsided, and he found himself in Pallet Town.  He also saw Red standing, staring at his small house.

"I thought we were supposed to be in the Fuchsia City," she muttered, hoping almost that Red couldn't hear him.

...I did, too. But we're here again.

Derrick looked around. He knew Pallet Town's tiny structure like the back of his hand, but it seemed surprisingly quiet now. There was no heartfelt background music like he was used to, and everything looked excessively static.

It's a bit strange, Red muttered, still staring at his house. Derrick joined him after a bit of wandering, looking  over to his his eyes pasted to the building.

"What's strange?" he asked, hoping that would draw his eyes from the building. It was beginning to unnerve him.

Well...many things, actually. It's strange that we somehow are back to the beginning place after a run in the Safari Zone, but...it's more strange how little I know about this place. God...was I born here?

"Well, yeah," came the boy's reply, as he leaned back against one of the rows of fence erected near his house. "You were born here and lived here until you decided to become a Pokemon master."

But that can't be...I don't know anything about this place. I don't even remember being raised here. Derrick swallowed as Red's eyes finally broke from the house to meet his own. The first thing I remember from this place is waking up in a room and going downstairs from this house and finding my way into tall grass, where I met Professor Oak. I had never met him before then. I had never met my rival, either. Even my 'mother'...

"That's your mother, Red," Derrick tried to reassure him. Red's eyes blazed for a moment at the remark. He beckoned Derrick follow him into the house where his mother sat at the table staring at the wall opposite from her.

This is my mother? Does she know anything about me? Does she ever mention me to other people?

Derrick couldn't respond. He only bit his lip and stared at Red's less-than-neutral expression.

She says the exact same thing whenever I talk to her now. Before I met Professor Oak, she would tell me that kids my age normally leave home, but after I started training Pokemon, she simply heals my team and wishes me off. She doesn't ask me to sit down and talk about my travels, or compliments me on how well I've been raising my Pokemon. She's...she's hardly even human!

Derrick watched the sprite of his character's mother as it remained perfectly still, most likely waiting on her son to talk to her so she could heal his Pokemon. She couldn't believe how right Red sounded.

I couldn't have been born here, from a static mother who talks about only two things, and with people I hardly know...God, where was I really born?

Intermission

So, I know I haven't posted a blog in over a month now, and for that I am extremely sorry! Then again, it is Christmas time. And with that being said, also mentioning that I just finished exams and am now being thrown into the situation of helping relatives prepare for Christmas, I still don't have a ready blog to post yet.
I'll be posting on Christmas Day, however, I promise! I have a new chapter almost ready by then, and soon after that, probably that Friday, I'll be posting another Pokemon White 2 blog, so keep an eye out for those two posts soon!
I'd also like to mention that my boyfriend is visiting me on the 29th, so I'll have one more period of no posts during the week that he's here, then I'll be back on schedule like usual. I promise. ; w ;

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season so far!
- Churl

Pokemon W2 - Grumblings

Laziness cupcake

Warning: This blog post may or may not contain spoilers. Just to be on the safe side...

So why did I draw a cupcake instead of my team? Well...let me be honest...I had one, but I'm finding that I really don't enjoy drawing Lucario. Besides, the cupcake is of Litwick, my newest team member, so be happy! It's cute!

Luz (Litwick) ♀ - 35
Cesar (Serperior) ♂ - 37
Eris (Krokorok) ♀ - 37
Luke (Lucario) ♂ - 37
Corro (Crobat) ♂ - 37

Alright...I decided, since honestly, the game's been running pretty much exactly how B/W ran, I'm going to spend today talking about a few things I dislike about this game...and this generation as a whole.

1. Difficulty

Now this, kids, is MATH.

A friend of mine gave me Pokemon Red the other week, and though I have played multiple times through Blue and Yellow, I decided to give it a play-through, mainly to see what was different about the variety types. Every time I go back to these older games, I remember how freaking DIFFICULT they could be at times. I mean, yeah, you had the simple formula of catching good Pokemon, leveling them up until they could stand a chance against trainers and the gym leader, but in those days, you didn't have fancy movesets, abilities, natures, characteristics - all that nonsense. You learned...maybe 12 or so moves in the ENTIRETY of your Pokemon's existence, unless you wanted to use a TM on it. When you finally got  Pokemon who used Hyper Beam, Thunder, or Earthquake, you were God.

Now everything's all fancy. Now, don't get me wrong - the characteristics and natures and whatnot are cool additional aspects to the game. It gives more complexity to your Pokemon. Not every Pikachu has the same exact stats anymore. Zigzagoon use pickup to get you cool items, Sandile and their evolutions get an attack boost every time they knock out an opponent; it's awesome! But there are other aspects that kind of annoy me now.
For instance. Remember how when you got a Pokemon on your team poisoned, you hightailed it back to the Pokemon Center and healed it up before it fainted? I do, too. Remember how in Pokemon HeartGold, your Pokemon would somehow magically heal from its poison a point away from fainting? Yeah, that was kind of annoying. Well, I got a team member poisoned for the first time in this game, my Flaaffy, actually (I was leveling it up). Well, I start heading back toward the Pokemon Center, when I noticed something. There was no flash on the screen, no bleeping sound telling me that an HP had just left my poisoned Pokemon. That just makes me sad. I want it back! I want my challenge back!

2. Technical Machines

Speaking of TMs, this frustrated me a little when I started playing Black. Normally, when you would pick up a TM on the side of the road, you would often either sell it if you knew you weren't ever going to use it, or you'd keep it for a special occasion, for when you got the right Pokemon to use it on. You'd then carefully chose which Pokemon you'd give it to, and the TM was gone. Well, as you probably have guessed, you get to keep all the TMs you pick up. Now, I know this has its good side as well, but I'm going to go back to the difficulty aspect on this. I think that letting you reuse TMs over and over takes away from the special feeling you got when you picked up one you really wanted to use on your team. For example, Thunderbolt (TM24), Flamethrower (TM35), and Ice Beam (TM13) were three of the most sought after moves, for me. They were raw, and powerful, and usually difficult to obtain. And after I would get them I would usually keep them until I found the right Pokemon to use them on. Now, whenever I get them, I can just throw them all out on anyone that's compatible and not give it a second thought. It takes away from the special feeling you get when you find a TM.

3. Freaking...Hugh

I just don't like this guy. He's melodramatic; he's excessively Sasuke-esque; he's easy as nonsense to beat in battle...I mean, at least Cheren and Bianca provided a challenge, in that they popped up to battle in the absolute LEAST opportune places, particularly in ones where I hadn't healed up my team. I'm sorry, guy. I wanna like you. Maybe you'll grow on me later.

Sorry for the ranty blog post. Hopefully I'll have more productive things to say next post.

- Churl

Pokemon W2 - I luff this game~

Dis my pic. Click to make big n' stuff. 

WARNING: This blog post will, *most likely*, contain spoilers. 

Before I go any farther, please lemme remind you about how dissatisfied I am about the variety of wild Pokemon you experience in this game, at least toward the beginning. I need a water-tyyyyyyype! ; A ; Alright, done. 

Midnight (Zorua) ♂ - 25 
Luke (Lucario) ♂ - 30 
Eris (Krokorok) ♀ - 30 
Cesar (Servine) ♂ - 31 
Corro (Golbat) ♂ - 31 

Okay, real talk. I'm not personally a fan of Pidove and his evolutions because...well, just meh. He's a little boring. But I kinda want a flying-type, and I know that they had Zubat in the sewers of Castelia City, so broke down and got a Zubat, because frankly, Crobat is one of my favorites. Also...I have a Zorua now. I'm in Driftveil City at this point, and you get a Zorua droppe off on you when you get there. He's cute, and he has pretty decent stats, but I'm not sure...I already have a dark-type Pokemon on my team, so I'll just have to see what happens with him. I'll train him for a while, at least. But anyway...

Alright...this pleases me. As I'm slowly plowing my way through the game and finding out new things, I'm finally beginning to realize that the gym themes are more various now. I mentioned in my last blog post about the ambient bug-like music in Castelia's gym, and I experienced the same thing when I got to Nimbasa. I PROMISE I won't post about every gym's music, but this really excites me, considering I had grown almost more-than-used to the generic gym theme whenever you enter a gym. But anyway, back to Nimbasa. If you played B/W, you remember that Elesa, Nimbasa'a gym leader, is a fashion model. In B/W, you challenged her in an amusement park. In this sequel, they changed things up a bit. You can still access the theme park, but now you get to challenge Elesa on a freaking RUNWAY. Like, a catwalk runway. This music here is what you hear when you've beaten all the trainers and have only her to defeat. It is SO cool. No lie.

But yeah. I'm in Driftveil City, now, and it is the hosting spot of your Pokemon Tournaments. Now, I realize that this aspect of the sequel was well-advertised before it even came out in Japan, but I never thought that you'd get to experience it so early on in the game. I thought it would be an extra for after you beat the main storyline. but nope, it's PART of the storyline. It's enjoyable, albeit a bit stressful at times. Mainly because the first match you have is against your rival, and he has a Tranquill that knows Roost. I'm sorry, but that is BITCH MOVE. Otherwise, you get Battle Points to redeem, and it's a cute idea to help plan battle strategies.

M'sorry for the abrupt edit. I'm a silly person who doesn't do her research enough.
- Churl

Pokemon W2 - Creepy Crawlies

Picture es small. Click to make big.
WARNING - This blog post WILL contain spoilers.

So, I've done a bit of changing around with my team. Here's who we have now.

Cesar (Servine) ♂ - 20

Maverick (Darumaka) ♂ - 20
Luke (Lucario) ♂ - 21

Eris (Sandile) ♀ - 22

Maverick is a bit of a...guest team member for now. Mainly because I'm not the fondest of his stats and would prefer a different fire-type, but I'm not in the best shape, currently being in the Castelia City gym, filled with bug-types. I also released Ross. He won't hold up well in the next few gyms, if my predictions of where I'll be headed next are true. But yeah, I'm in Castelia City now, and am looking for Team Plasma with Hugh.
Oh, by the way, this is Hugh:

Instead of Cheren and Bianca being your companions in this one, since it's two years from the prequel, you get this little twirp. He means well, but JESUS CHRIST, he's like a Sasuke for Pokemon. Don't get me wrong, he does mean well, cares about his Pokemon and whatnot, but he's a little churlish! (Neheh...churl-ish.) Regardless...back to Castelia City.

M'kay...this is more of a personal issue than anything else, but people who know me - my boyfriend, my parents, my close friends - will all tell you that I'm not at all fond of bugs. By bugs, I mean insects, spiders, crayfish, (except Corphish...Corphish is adorable) and everything related to creepy creatures. Over the years of playing Pokemon, I've become okay with them being around. You have the occasional gym and whatnot that'll be host to Bug-Type Pokemon and I've been just fine. Well...y'know how Burgh's Bug-Type gym was all art and honey? Oh no...it's not pretty and gooey anymore. It's THIS:

Pardon the quality...

You stand in front of these cocoon sort of things and they SUCK YOU UP and DRAG YOUR BODY down a thin tube to another part of the gym so you can eventually get to burgh, hiding up top in a creepy sort of rainbow art room. Go look it up. Not only does this new gym design resemble an actual hive, but listen to this background music! ; n ;

No me gusta. That is all.
Sorry this post was a bit longer than usual. I'm thoroughly enjoying the game thus far, though. <3

- Churl

Pokemon W2 - Pretty Graaaaphiiics~

Das my picture. Please don't steal it. I like it. ; n ;

WARNING - The following blog post may contain spoilers.

I'm not gonna lie, guys, I was relatively surprised at this game. I mean, I've never played an actually sequel to a Pokemon game. Yes, Pokemon Coliseum had a sequel, but it didn't necessarily have a 2 beside it. But I digress. Say hello to my new team. <3

Cesar (Snivy) ♂ - LV 16

Luke (Riolu) ♂ - LV 18
Ross (Flaaffy) ♂ - LV 18

Lemme get this out of the way, first. I love the variety the game gives you this early in the game. I have a freaking FLAAFFY and RIOLU. I really can't complain too much. I look forward to some more variety later on in the game, but for right now, I'm stoked with the team I was able to scrounge together. I had a Purrloin named Coya at the very beginning, but I can't deny, after I started seeing Mareep and Riolu, I knew I would end up having to make some difficult decisions with making my team.

Anyway, I'm pretty satisfied so far with the gameplay. Not only have they shifted the story line for the game, but they've improved a bit on the graphics of the game. They're mainly small little things, but they've added some touching animation to the game. For one, your battlefield is more animated! What I mean by that is, well, blades of grass move when you're in battle on a grassy field. Plus, all of your opponents have animations as well. I had noticed that a little bit in some of the previews, but I never imagined that they'd let your Youngsters and Lasses have their own animation at the beginning of battle, too. Like I said, small stuff, but they make a difference, to me. If you have a copy, see how many little details you can pick up on. 

Another difference I noticed is that you have a bigger map of Unova to explore. Your character starts out the journey not from Nuvema Town, which you see at the very bottom right of the map, but in Aspertia Town, at the very bottom left of the map. I find this to be rather interesting, because you still have only 8 gym badges to collect, to my knowledge. Three of your gyms are new, and this makes me wonder if you get to interact with the other gym leaders in the game.

I'm not exactly far in the game, but I've beaten past the first gym, which happens to be your good pal Cheren, who is now a Normal-type gym leader. And yes, Team Plasma makes a comeback; I'll make mention of them later on in this little tutorial. So that's that, a little summary of how things are running thus far.

By the way, I PROMISE that I'll have a new chapter up for Glitchy Red Retold. I just recently got a small break and I'm working on it as we speak. 

OMG YES PLEASE

Do you see this? Here, look - I'll show you:

This is a box. For the new freaking Pokemon game. I bought Black for the previous one, so I figured, why not get the opposite for the sequel? So yes, I now have in my possession the game of Pokemon White 2.

I'm gonna do something fun with this. Remember back in the day when I used to do semi-walkthroughs of different games? I think I'll do one for this game, too, only this time, I'll be a first-timer.

...And this is where I grow sad inside. You see, it is midterm week, and I have much to finish and turn in before Wednesday, when I'll finally be in my fall break. I may play a few minutes here or there between now and Wednesday, but I won't have anything to post most likely until this weekend, so be patient, and I'll whip up a nice blog sequence for White 2. <3

Also, I know I've been neglecting my story remake of Glitchy Red. Have no fear, though. I promise you - no, I pinkie promise you, I'll have a new chapter up by this weekend as well. Hope you'll like it. :D

-Churl

9 Reasons Why Johto is my Favorite Gen.

Everyone who's ever immersed themselves in a few Pokemon games will tell you that they have a preference for a specific generation, usually with reasons to back them up...usually. Most of the time, the winning candidate will be the original Pokemon Red, Blue and (in Japan) Green, with Yellow on the side. Though I will definitely agree that the simplicity of these GameBoy games are unmatched in some aspects, I truly cannot deny that I enjoyed playing Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal far more, and here's why...in no particular order.

9 - Timing

(Behold, my childhood in a closet.) Anyway, Pokemon Gold and Silver came out mid-to-late 2000. I, at the time, had recently turned 7-years-old, just about the time for my vocabulary to sprout its wings and allow me to actually play video games without my mother reading everything to me. Silver, which I had chosen, was not my first Pokemon game - Blue was. The only problem is that when the very first Pokemon came out in 1998, I wasn't familiar with how to read. My mother taught me how to read through video games, to a certain point; she would sit me on her lap and let me hold the GameBoy, but would read to me whatever people said to Red in the older generations, so now that I was old enough to comprehend what people were saying for myself, that made the experience twice as memorable. I'm sure you've all experienced something like this, you gamers since childhood.

8 - Graphics

I've lightly mentioned this in a previous blog post about Pokemon graphics, but when I played the very first Pokemon games, the sprites tended to freak me out, until Pokemon Yellow sort of fixed that. Still, the grave images of...Golbat (shudder) and some others were branded into my memory. Pokemon Silver helped me believe in cute little pocket monsters again. I won't go into too much detail, but I thought they looked far nicer, and polished, particularly the newer additions, with these sorts of graphics. Not only that, but when I picked up Crystal the next year, I was amazed in a childish sort of way at the little animations they had added to all the Pokemon. It truly gave you the desire to "Catch 'em All."

7 - Rival Silver

Alright, I have a confession to make...I thought Rival Blue was awesome. He was a good rival in the first game, and though he didn't often provide too much of a challenge, he always popped up in places where you never expected him too, especially when you hadn't healed your team...

...What? This is about Silver, not Blue? Ah, really? That's interesting...what? Noooo, I never had a crush on Silver when I was younger, why would you say that? He's a redhead? Yeah, I know, but what difference does that  make? He was an abusive and self-centered trainer, and though he had a beautiful change of heart later on and spoke to you like an angel whenever you'd run into him...NO. I NEVER HAD A CRUSH ON HIM. NEVER. I DENY THAT STATEMENT.

6 - Exploring Two Worlds

It honestly took me a while to plow through all the gym leaders so I could take on the Elite 4 and eventually beat the game. But after that, I figured that I would simply pass on to the next Pokemon game like it was nothing, just like what happened in Pokemon Blue. When I did defeat Lance and get the Pokemon Champion title, however, something interesting happened. I got a call from Prof. Elm and he shipped me off to Kanto. And at first I was like "Psh, yeah right." They were serious. It hadn't been that long after the first game that I did beat Silver, but it was almost like nostalgia to me, and it most certainly is now that I've played through HeartGold to pass on to Kanto. Though everyone somehow knows you're from the foreign region, you still get to take these more advanced trainers on and beat through the Kanto gym leaders, which I thought was an excellent layer of icing on the Silver cake.

5 - Shinies 

I'm not gonna lie - I played through Silver and Crystal quite a few times, and throughout those times, I did indeed hear people say things about some Pokemon being different. When you encountered the Red Gyarados in the Lake of Rage, it never occurred to me too much that it was a shiny. At the time I didn't have internet access to tell me what a shiny was, so I just thought it was a weird Gyarados, whatever. Then one day as I was playing Crystal I was breeding Eevee with my Ditto, and had like, 10 eggs. (I like Eevee, okay?) Then one hatched, and I noticed something different about it. It was a lot grayer than usual. Little did my small mind know that I had hatched one of the rarest shinies to grace Pokemon. I raised it to be an Espeon and nicknamed it Essence, and soon afterward...I erased my game. After I realized what I had done, I was almost heartbroken. These two shinies (Stantler and Tentacruel) are the only remaining ones I've caught on record, both on HeartGold. Thus, I will never again erase my HeartGold data...I'll just go pick up SoulSilver one day. ; w ;

4 - Berries

I honestly don't have too much to say about the Berries in G/S/C, because they weren't as advanced a system as they were in the next generation. Berries came in like...well, Berries, and status cure Berries. Very simple, eh? Well, when I was younger, this provided me with some sort of Animal Crossing effect - Berries grew once a day, since time had now been installed in the games, so I HAD to check the trees every single day so I would have all the berries. I dunno what was wrong with me at the time, but I spent a lot of time whilst playing through the games making sure I had all the berries I could ever need.

3 - Team Rocket

I initially didn't think much of Team Rocket in Pokemon Blue. I knew they were there, and I knew they were always causing trouble, but I really didn't display any emotion over whether or not they existed. Sure, they provided something to level-grind with, but that was just about it. Then they returned...3 years later, in G/S/C. I guess the return effect was what got me when you came across them in this generation. They had relatively the same Pokemon, but there was something different about them. Maybe it was the debut of your enemy's theme music? Yup, you got an epic battle theme when you ran into these guys. It pretty epic, too. Go look it up. Regardless, with their abrupt return and new look, they gave me another reason to be excite about playing this game.

2 - Breeding

Ah, what fond memories I had when I was younger, putting together two helpless Pokemon and pacing baaack and forth and baaack and forth on my bike between Goldenrod City and Route 34 in an effort that I would get an egg. It was usually just my Eevee and a Ditto, though, because my parents were too cheap to get me a strategy guide for a silly GameBoy Color game, so that's all I knew about. It was also an interesting epiphany that I had when I finally realized how the eggs randomly kept popping up at the Daycare center...Skitty/Wailord much?

1 - Overall Feel

I really dunno what it is about Pokemon Silver and Gold. Is it the concept of day and night that you experience when you decide to stay up past your bedtime under the blankets? Is it music style? Is it the plot difference? Or maybe the concept of Pokemon happiness? I really dunno. But it has my favorite starter of all time (Cyndaquil) along with your first debut for a female protagonist. Though I will never forgive GameFreak for replacing Kris with that bish Lyra in HeartGold/SoulSilver as your female character, I have very fond memories of playing this game, memories that I will share with my children when they learn to read. Video games are timeless, particularly Pokemon games, and I know that I will never forget this generation.

Sorry for the extremely long post, but I hoped you like my insight. <3

Chapter 8 - Nightmares

[DISCLAIMER - This chapter may not be for the faint of heart. You have been warned.]

Derrick allowed his eyes to glance at his counterpart occasionally as they made their way down Route 8 toward Celadon City. Red easily cut through the various trainers that challenged him on the way, but there was a different air about him that made Derrick uneasy. He knew that, somehow, Red was angry at him for letting the Raticate die. He felt bad about it, too, not being used to Pokemon ceasing to exist instead of simply lying immobile in his team's list, awaiting recovery at the Pokemon Center. But how was he to know?

"Red?"

The trainer made a silent acknowledgement toward the boy.

"I think I know what might cheer you up. A bit later on, we'll be able to try and find MissingNo."

...What's MissingNo.?

"It's a glitch that--"

Glitch?

Derrick cursed under his breath at making another game reference. He bit his lip and rapidly scrambled around in his mind for a cover up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean glitch. It's this extremely rare Pokemon that no-one's ever seen or caught, and it's really difficult and dangerous to find. It lives in the ocean. Think you're up to finding and catching it?"

Hmm...that'd be interesting. But how do you know about it if no-one's ever seen or caught it?

"Because I'm God, remember?" he blurted, wishing he could kick himself for saying so.

Suddenly, Derrick's vision went completely white. He covered his eyes and groaned, but the white remained strong in his sight. His head pounded softly as he heard his name being called. His stomach gave an all-too familiar heave as, after what seemed like hours of staring into a white void, he regained his vision just in time for a prepared hand to slap him across the face. He rubbed his cheek and looked around in bewilderment.

"Dude, are you okay!?" came the voice of Scott. He was back in his friend's room with a sore cheek and a queasy stomach.

"What happened..?" was the first thing he could muster. Scott knelt before a dimmed GameBoy SP that had clattered to the floor when he smacked Derrick.

"Turn this thing off and let's find a place to burn it. You've been playing that Pokemon stuff for waaaaay too long." Derrick knit his brows together.

"What was I doing?"

"You had your head leaned against my bed as you were playing on that thing, and you had the creepiest face, too. It's like you were possessed or something!"

"I was out of the zone, that's all..." Scott set the SP on his bed and grabbed Derrick by the shoulders.

"Dude...you weren't even looking at the screen and you had played for like, 10 minutes before I finally decided to try and shake you out of it. You just had this blank expression on your face. That thing's taking over your head!"
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Derrick sighed as he paced the coast of Cinnabar Island, trying to perform the Old Man Glitch. I flew to Viridian City to talk to the old man, but why isn't MissingNo. popping up now? I'm not even getting any other Pokemon... He clacked his tongue in frustration and allowed Red to cross onto the shore again; he needed to continue on into the Pokemon Mansion anyway so he could take on the gym leader.

"Derrick, it's 1am! Lights out!"

"'Kay, mom," Derrick responded, pulling the switch on his bedside lamp and leaning against his pillow as he maneuvered Red into the mansion. As Red took his first steps into the mansion, he stopped, and a text box appeared beneath him on the screen. It read:

RED: Nice try.

Derrick's eyes widened as he stared dumbly at the screen, rereading the text. Had Red just spoken to him through the game? Pulling his bed covers to his chin, he flicked the SP's power off and laid the device on the floor, rolling over and nestling into his covers. He needed some sleep.

That evening, Derrick dreamed vividly. A pale body loomed behind him as he walked in the void of his dream. As he caught a glimpse of it, he began to jog in an attempt to shrug the entity from his presence, but it only got closer. He dared not look back at it as his jog soon turned into a run, then a sprint. Still the body stayed close to him, arms reaching out. Suddenly, Derrick was jerked into the creature's grasp. The entity faced him about and ferociously began clawing at his chest cavity. Derrick could only watch in horror, looking dead into the face of his captor. It was a little boy with bright, red eyes, dark hair, and a Pokemon cap.

Red is DEAD!

Nooonono, this has nothing at all to do with my little story chapters. This is an entirely different manner of exclamation.
Last night I accomplished something that I had only dreamed of accomplishing, something that I never thought I'd have the patience and courage to do. Last night, I climbed Mt. Silver in my cartridge of Pokemon Heart Gold with this team:

Zippity (Jolteon) ♂ - Lv. 68
Essence (Espeon) ♀ - Lv. 70
Venom (Umbreon) ♂ - Lv. 66
Dipper (Vaporeon) ♂ - Lv. 68
Calor (Flareon) ♂ - Lv. 68
Dominic (Rhyhorn) ♂ - Lv. 35 (As an...HM whore.)

I had plenty...PLENTY of medicine with me, because honestly, I'm not the aggressive sort of gamer - not unless I absolutely must be. That being said, sometimes I cut corners because I have so much medicine.
Regardless, I took my team, climbed Mt. Silver, and promptly kicked Pokemon Trainer Red where the babies float.
No...actually, it was more interesting than that. See here for yourself.

As a disclaimer, this was a 25-minute-long battle, so I had to speed it up. Also, I've no idea why the camera kept refocusing. Hopefully you can still see well. I took the most ghetto of means to record this: my cell phone, taped to a plastic sweets box my boyfriend's mother got me for Christmas last year...yup.

I know those of you who've already beaten Red are probably ready to give some nice, critical comments about my form. Well MURRH. I'm proud of this accomplishment. He should have had more heals, being up there on that mountain all alone.
It was, I cannot deny, THE CLOSEST battle I have ever encountered. Once false move at the end and I would be throwing my DS against the wall on sheer rage and impulse. (Thank you, Zippity~)
Thankfully, though, that wasn't the case.

Don't worry - my next post will almost definitely be a new chapter.
My heart is simply still jittery from that battle. Thank you for reading this little ditty! Now I can truly call myself a Pokemon nerd.

- Churl

Chapter 7 - Disaster

"It wouldn't really do any good for us to go in there yet, Red," Derrick remarked after he saw Red's static figure heading toward the looming Pokemon Tower. He looked up at its disturbing beauty - what a notorious city this place was to begin with, but what a chill Derrick got from looking up at the many storeys this building could cast upon him in ways he couldn't experience while looking down at his GameBoy screen.

What's wrong with going in now?

"This is Pokemon Tower, and it's filled with ghost Pokemon."

I don't fear ghosts...besides, I have you with me, God.

Derrick flinched at this name. He hated being referred to as someone he clearly wasn't. Attempting to shrug it off, he came to Red and gently grasped his shoulders.

"It won't do any good right now to barge in. The ghosts are shrouded as mist that scares your Pokemon motionless. Let's take the western Route to Celadon city, and we'll find a device that'll uncover the ghosts' true identities. Until then, it's useless to go inside." He gently tugged on Red's shoulder to guide him away from the towering building, but the character wouldn't budge.

"What's wrong?"

...I want to go inside anyway.

"But there's no use in--"

I believe what you said, God...I just feel like I should go inside anyway. And it feels odd...I've never felt obligated like this. Just let me do this, God...please?

Derrick felt strange about Red being so adamant to go in a direction he had specifically stated was useless...almost as though he were pressing to the left on the D-Pad of his handheld, but his character was going to the right. He wasn't used to it.

"Alright," he muttered, releasing Red's shoulder, "if you feel so sure about it."

As the two crossed the threshold into the Pokemon Tower, Derrick could almost feel the essence of being in a cemetery. Frozen trainers stood among erect tombstones, staring. Female mediums mingled between others, their squared movements reminding him of spirit possession and sending a chill down his spine. He just wanted to get this over with so they could head toward Celadon City.

"Blue is upstairs waiting to battle you, Red," Derrick called over his shoulder as he headed toward the staircase that led to the second floor. As Red followed behind him, sure enough, Blue was in plain sight. He stood facing one of the many tombstones that filled up space in the tower. Finally he turned toward the two, and statically moved his body between them without any sort of acknowledgement, going down to the first  floor. Derrick raised an eyebrow.

"...He was supposed to fight you," he exclaimed softly. "You were supposed to face him and his Pokemon so that you could advance to the next floors." Red seemed too distracted with everything around him to notice him talking.

Are there any wild Pokemon on this floor, God...?

"No...this is a special floor. You're supposed to face off against Blue on this floor...why did he just leave?"

...He left a Pokeball behind.

"What are you talking about?" Derrick turned to Red, who was pointing toward the tombstone he once saw Blue standing in front of. At the foot of the tombstone lie a Pokeball. Derrick swallowed, and muttered, "Pick it up." As Red obeyed, the ball suddenly flashed, and released a captive Pokemon inside. It was a Raticate. Blue's Raticate. Red knelt by it, a soft pang of sadness flashing for a moment in his blank eyes.

God, it's hurt. It's been poisoned in battle or something...what do we do?


"What!?" Derrick blurted, remembering that Blue was without a Raticate after the battle with him on the S.S. Anne. Did he just leave it here to faint...?

"We have to take it to a Pokemon Center, of course. Come on!"

No, God. It's too weak. It won't make it to the Pokemon Center. We have to give it some potions, or an antidote first. I have some, let me--

"Don't worry about those. The Pokemon Center is free, and those aren't. Let's just take it with us. It'll be easier."

But...it won't make it if we take it with us. The poison will spread too quickly.

"Then we'll worry about it after we get there. Come on, Red!"

Can I please just give it one--

"It's not that big of a deal, Red. We can heal it at the Pokemon Center. Now, come on."

Red remained at the Raticate's side motionless for a while, his hat obscuring his face more than Derrick had seen before. Finally, the trainer scooped the Pokemon in his arms and carried it with him as he and Derrick made their way back downstairs. Suddenly, Derrick heard the Raticate's crying sound, only it was more low-pitched, and slower. As though it had fainted. Crap...

I told you it wouldn't make it...


"Hey, at least we can take it to the Pokemon Center and heal it up, now." Suddenly, Red stopped.

...What?


"That's what I've been saying this whole time, Red. We'll take it to the Pokemon Center, whether or not it's fainted, and have it all better in a matter of seconds."

What are you talking about...!?

Derrick swiveled to face the trainer, startled. Red had always been very monotonous in his character; he had never heard him raise his voice before.

You think this Raticate fainted?

"Well, yeah...isn't that what happened?"

When Pokemon lose the will to keep going, they don't faint. They die. In a Trainer battle, Pokemon are knocked out, but in the wild, they're killed. This Raticate was poisoned, and was going to die. That's why I kept suggesting we give it an antidote so that it would stop suffering. THEN we could take it to the Pokemon Center.

Derrick stood there, bewildered. The Pokemon had died...? He was so used to Pokemon being as good as new upon a simple trip to the Pokemon Center. It had never occurred to him that one could lose a Pokemon by circumstances like this. Red carried the Raticate toward an empty tombstone, and gently set its corpse inside, pausing silently for a moment, and standing to join Derrick stiffly.

Your ignorance made an innocent Pokemon die...but whatever, I guess...let's go to the next town....God...

5 Good Things Pokemon D/P Gave Us

I doubt I'm the only one in the fandom world that thinks that Pokemon's 4th generation, concerning Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum versions, was a little less than satisfactory to its general audience.
I bought Pokemon Diamond, excited for the adventure, but found it very hard at places to actually continue. It didn't really seem worth it to me. While I have actually completed the Elite 4 challenge in Diamond, I'm still left with a slightly sour taste in my mouth. Others will agree; the release led to Pokemon gaining a little less-than-great reputation, one that would last until the release of Heart Gold and Soul Silver, where they made a nice apology in the form of cute little Pokemon following you about and making the 2nd generation remake my favorite thus far.
Still, there are certain things that the 4th generation provided us with that I can safely smile at. I wrote out the statistics at about 1am, so please bear with me. Let's begin.

#5 - Dawn/Hikari

Pedophiles, be quiet for a moment.
Alright, so you have 6 female trainers to choose from in your Pokemon playage. I've got them all lined up above in order (sorry for the lopsidedness): You've got Kris (Gen. 2), May (Gen. 3), Leaf/Green (remake of Gen. 1), Dawn (Gen. 4), Lyra (remake of Gen. 2), and Hilda/White (Gen. 5). I will forever be a Kris fangirl, and don't understand why Lyra had to take her place, but if I had to chose a second place, it would definitely be Dawn. Her attire is no more or less skimpy than the others, so I will say nothing about her physical appearance, but what what I will say is that she looks the most normal of the female trainers. Yes, yes, Leaf doesn't have the extremely bent hairstyles that the others do, but Dawn's simply works.
She's the sweetest female companion of Ash's, in my opinion. I never watched much of the anime when it was running on television, but when I did see it, she was usually a cute, bubbly klutz learning about the world of Pokemon, and that just made me smile. She also, in my opinion, looks to be the only of the 6 who looks relatively 10-years-old. This is an assumption based on what you experience in the first game, but I always thought your playable trainer was supposed to be a 10-year-old Pokemon prodigy. That's not what I see when I pull up my trainer card. I see ladies, not girls.
But enough controversy on that.

#4 - The Poketch 

Alright, wait a sec before you start throwing stuff at me. This concept took a while for me to get used to. This generation was of the first sort for GameFreak to release on the Nintendo DS, so they were experimenting with what to do with an extra screen, and for what they tried, I'll give them some brownie points. I still call this thing a PokeWatch, simply because the name is...corny. When I first acquired this little device in the game, I was instantly reminded of the PokeGear from the 2nd generation, but way more in-your-face.

It had apps that you could download from people or events throughout the game, and made it interesting to see what you could attach next to the little thing. A lot of the apps were useless, in my opinion, varying from a calculator to a drawing pad to a counter to a little coin flippy thing. I never used the Poketch for much to begin with, but some of the apps had their beneficial quirks. It was useful to use the step counter to help me know when the hell my eggs would ever hatch instead of just riding my bike up and down...and up and down different routes until the egg surprised me. The dowsing machine app also came in handy. Though I rarely knew when to use it, the items I would uncover were usually pretty useful, like potions and healers. I think the real reason I like this device is because I constantly knew what time it was. I like to play Pokemon when I'm supposed to be asleep, and sometimes it escapes me to remember to look at my cell phone to remind me what time it was. Yes, you got to set your clock a lot in the games, but with the PokeGear, you had to actually open that up, and I never remembered to do it, so this device was annoying in the long run, but useful all the same.

#2 - This Tune

Hey, easy. I know that Pokemon's soundtrack doesn't get a whole lot of credit in the later generations, but this tune pleasantly surprised me. You experience one of the lakes very early in the game, so early that you encounter your first Pokemon and acquire your starter on the shore of the lakes. When I first played through this portion, I was like found it really serene and quaint, but your journey didn't lead you to the lakes again until much later on in the game.
I'm no musical expert, but this track is surprisingly good, compared to some of the other town music you encounter in the game, so I give it a hearty thumbs up.

#3 - New Evolutionary Stones

The majority of your evolutionary stones were already set out from the very beginning. You had water, fire, thunder, leaf, and moon stones that were easily purchased at the Celadon Dept. Store for vastly expanding your Pokedex. Then generation 2 brought about the Sun Stone and the Everstone, two that I didn't find a lot of use in, since, during the 2nd generation, you could only evolve 2 Pokemon with the Sun Stone, and the Everstone was simply used if you were on an epic nuzlocke adventure.

Then generation 4 came about and was like, "HAI, come evolve some more of your Pokemans!"
Now you've got the ones already listed, plus the dusk, shiny, and dawn stones. These made me smile a lot, I must say. One great thing I loved about these new stones is that they added evolutions to previous generation Pokemon who weren't meant to evolve in the first place, such as Murkrow and Misdreavus (Dusk), while others altered the evolution of previous generation Pokemon, such as a male Kirlia evolving into a Gallade instead of a prissy Gardevoir. This was a nice step forward in Pokemon, and since they even used these stones in the 5th generation, you get badass Pokemon such as Chandelure. ; w ;
Phew...anyway.

#1 - GAR-FREAKING-CHOMP

If you had the patience enough to brave Wayward Cave and find/catch a Gible, you were pretty much set for the rest of the game. Its base stats could easily compete with the other demi-legendaries, and its two types made it an interesting team player. Plus it's a freaking LAND SHARK...dragon...that can learn SURF.
It took quite a bit of grinding levels to get Gible to evolve into this creature, but it's definitely worth the pacing in an awkward cave.
I could go on for a good deal longer about Garchomp, but I don't want to make this blog post too long, so I'll let you go out and seek him out yourself.

My apologies for the random blog post instead of another chapter, but this started burning in my heart to tell, so I'm going to tell. Hopefully it was worth the read. :'D

Chapter 6 - Where were you?

"Dude...you look like you got hit by a train."

Derrick collapsed into the passenger seat of Scott's Cavalier, exhaling audibly through his nostrils. He wiped a hand down the front of his face, stretching his cheek muscles and yawning. He hadn't heard what had been said to him.

"What happened to you?" Scott pressed, backing the vehicle out of the driveway and beginning his way down the road.

"You seriously won't believe this..." Derrick muttered. "I was playing that bootleg cartridge while I was waiting for you, when I randomly fell asleep." Derrick's eyes drew to the window as he watched the neighborhood pass him by at about 25mph. "I had the most vivid dream I've ever experienced. I dreamed I was in the Pokemon world, and that I joined forces with Red to become a Pokemon master. It was incredible! I was having such an amazing time, when suddenly I woke up vomiting. And all this happened before you got here...it was all so weird." Derrick, let his eyes glaze over to mull on his dream, until he realized Scott hadn't said anything about it. He turned to face his driver, whose face was distorted with intensely suppressed giggling. He glared at the boy as he finally burst into a roaring laugh.

"Whoa-ho! Derrick, did you smoke something earlier today?" he exclaimed, unable to control his laughter. "I mean, I've heard some crazy reefer stories before, but Pokemon? Dude, that's just you tripping!"

"Hey, I wasn't on any drugs! It was a dream!" Derrick bitterly swallowed his chagrin, slumping more into the passenger seat. "I'm being serious, Scott. It was weird, yeah, but it was a really vivid dream."

"Maybe somebody should take a break from playing so many video games, then."

"What do you mean?"

"Face it. You play that Pokemon game like it's the only thing you know how to do."

Derrick gestured to make a retort, but reluctantly said nothing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it was a dream...then how did the game suddenly get from Cerulean City to the S.S. Anne? Derrick examined the SP's screen thoughtfully, moving his little Red character around in the dark. Scott had previously left him at his own house while he went to drop his sister at someone else's home. Makes me glad I'm an only child, he half-chuckled to himself. He would have been dragged along, he knew, if it weren't for his annoying nausea returning to haunt him on the way to Scott's house. It still came in small waves as he attempted to maneuver Red through the pitch-black Rock Tunnel.

He experimentally closed his eyes as he weaved through the tunnel, quickly growing irritated with the thumping sound of hitting walls and running into more Zubats. Am I capable of playing this game in my sleep..? It didn't quite seem so, but how else was he able to play nearly a 2-hour's worth session in the seven minutes he was asleep? He closed his eyes again, trying to concentrate on the little memory he had in navigating this frustrating cave. Not much seemed to be happening but his character running into walls and repetitive fanfare of incoming wild Pokemon startling him. Still, he concentrated harder. Everything was so obscure just like it was supposed to be in the Rock Tunnel. He was simply too stubborn to make on of his team learn the Flash HM so he could see. He dodged wall after wall, Zubat after Geodude, trying to make his way around the cave.

"Stupid, stupid cave..."

...Derrick?

Derrick nearly jumped. He opened his eyes to find himself still surrounded by darkness. Was he dreaming again...?

"Red? Is that you?"

I thought that was your voice.


"Ugh, I can't see anything. Where are you?"

Just keep moving forward. I think we're almost out.

Derrick willed himself on, blinking every few seconds to make sure that nothing was wrong with his eyes, that he was legitimately in the Rock Tunnel. He flinched violently as he felt an almost cold hand on his shoulder.

It's me. Derrick...where did you go, back then? You got sick, then you just left.


Derrick squinted as he thought he saw a light in the distance. He pointed, as though Red could make out his gesture.

"Look, do you think that's the end of the cave?"

...It might be.

"Alright, get on your bike so we can finally be out of this creepy place."

Derrick grinned in spite of himself as he clumsily hoisted himself onto the back of Red's bike, the bicycle theme suddenly taking over his mind. He whistled it to himself softly to calm his mood as he and Red dodged more wild Pokemon to finally reach the end of the cave. As his eyesight finally returned to him, he dismounted the bike and began off, knowing that Lavender Town was ahead.

Wait, Derrick.

"Mm? What's wrong?" he asked, turning to face his stone-still companion.

How did you know I had gotten a bike...?


"The Chairman of the Pokemon Fan Club gave you a voucher for one in Vermillion City, didn't he?" Red didn't move a muscle.

I did, yes, and I went back to Cerulean City to get it...but that was after you left me alone on the ship...


Derrick froze, scavenging around in his mind for anything to cover up his folly with. How was he going to explain? Red approached him, and looked him in the eye. His normally static eyes...they were glimmering. With confusion.

You never answered my question. Where were you? Where did you go when you left me on the ship? You knew what happened afterward...but still you left me. Where were you?


He knew he was being pushed into a corner now. There was no hostility in Red's questions, but he didn't know how to answer him. He muttered a few useless comments, trying to find anything to cover himself. Finally, he went out on a limb.

"B-Back on the ship before I left...you called me God, didn't you? You told me that I knew everything and everyone...didn't you?" Red gave him a thoughtful stare before nodding in his usual fashion. Derrick swallowed. "...I-It's true..."

What..?

"I left you on the ship, yes...I got sick. But I never really left you. I was still showing you what to do. I helped you defeat Lt. Surge and get your third badge...I showed you the way to the Rock Tunnel, and began to stumble around in it with you." Derrick felt awful acting this way, but as he spoke, he noticed Red's demeanor soften a bit. "How...how else did you think you had maneuvered your way around so easily? I was...guiding you." Red averted his gaze.

I guess you're right...I never knew why or how I developed the urges to go where I went...they just happened. So you really are God after all.

Derrick suddenly wanted to take back every word he had said, but it was too late now. At least Red was no longer utterly confused by his poor word choice. He reluctantly nodded. "Can we move on to Lavender Town, now?" So I can pretend I never said anything. The inside of Derrick's heart almost ached. He would possibly regret this.

Whatever you say...God.

Chapter 5 - Sickness

Red called his Pidgeotto back into its Pokeball as he won yet another Pokemon battle - against his rival at that. It remained a bit of a marvel for Derrick to watch the trainer's powerful team take on others with such vivid reality. He had been wishing over and over for this environment to be a reality in his world; that way he would be able to have a less restricted sense of communication. Thus far he had not seen one mouth move from the numerous people he had encountered, aside from Red, the extent of his emotions ranging from a thin smile to the softest of furrowing in his brows. No-one spoke, either, which made everything deafeningly silent. It was almost as though the existence in the world, aside from Pokemon, was shared entirely by Red and himself. He didn't particularly mind it, though.

So the captain of the ship is sick...?


"Unfortunately. But, hey! This gives you the chance to get the Cut HM. It comes nicely in handy...ugh.." Derrick suddenly felt a wave of nausea reverberate through his body. He wrapped his arms across his stomach and leaned against one of the corridor walls of the S.S. Anne, letting his head swim for a bit.

Are you okay?


"M'fine...just a random stomach pain. It must be from this ship, but I can't feel any rocking." Another wave of sickness, more powerful than the last one. Derrick's gag reflexes jumped in his throat. What was happening? He closed his eyes, trying to calm anything in his body long enough for him to think straight again, but to no avail. Something was going to fight its way from his body, whether he liked it or not. When he opened his eyes again, all he could see was darkness. Panicking, he tried to cry out, but his heaving insides stopped him. Before he knew it, he was falling off of his bed, catching his ankle on the wood of the foundation and finding the floor. As it dawned on him that he kept a wastebasket near his bed, his eyesight returned just in time for him to find it, draw it to his chest and allow his throat to disperse sickness into the wastebasket's depths.

"Derrick?"

Derrick flinched at the sudden sound of a human voice, recognizing it as his mother's and leaning against the side of his bed to take in what had just happened.

"Yep?"

"Are you okay, sweetie? It sounds like you just got sick." Derrick spat remnants into the wastebasket, mumbling.

"I did. I'm all good, though."

"You sure? Maybe you should come down and let me check you out."

"It's fine, mom. I'm going to Scott's today and he'll be irritated if I tell him I can't come. It was just erratic sickness." Derrick let his own words sink in for a moment before pouncing from the floor to his bed, searching his messy sheets for his cell until he found it. What time is it? How long did I sleep? He unlocked the phone's screen, pulling his text message inbox into view and finding his most recent text to Scott. "Seven minutes ago...huh, I must have been dreaming, then. That was one vivid dream."

"Looks like I see him pulling up now, Derrick. Are you sure you're feeling fine now?" Derrick pocketed his cell phone, when he saw his SP open and the green light shining on the side. He glanced at the screen, and saw Red, standing in the corridors of S.S. Anne. He shoved down yet another wave of nausea, tapping the START button and quickly saving his game before closing and pocketing that as well.

"Yeah...I'll be fine."

Chapter 4 - Divine Intervention

Derrick hurried after Red as the trainer began to once again make his way across the bridge.

"Wait a minute!" he shouted, slowing as Red stopped abruptly in place, similar to how he remembered the pixel version of the trainer would stop. "How did you know my name? I never told it to you." Red made the gentlest of gestures in shrugging his shoulders, his eyes dead in front of him. As Derrick followed his gaze, he saw people lined up on the edges of the bridge, waiting for passersby to battle.

Should we begin crossing the bridge?


"What do you mean, should we? Isn't...that where you're going?"

I don't know...is it?


"Well, I mean, yeah!" he exclaimed, pointing beyond the bridge toward a patch of trees obscuring a house in the distance. "That's Bill's house. You'll eventually need to visit him to get S.S. Anne tickets and get the Cut HM, but you'll want to heal your Pokemon before crossing this bridge, because after the 5 trainers and a Team Rocket member to defeat, you have another variety of trainers waiting." At that, Red's eyes suddenly widened. He hesitated, before turning another static 90 degrees to face the boy.

...You're God.


Derrick stared at him blankly. "Wait, what?"

Are you certain that what you said about this bridge and the route that follows it are true?


"Well...yeah. I mean, I know this place. You have to get the ship tickets from Bill so you can get on the S.S. Anne in Vermillion City and get the Cut HM to be able to take on Lt. Surge for your third gym badge." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck as Red's eyes dropped to the wood of the bridge beneath them for a moment. "W-What'd I say?"

If what you say is actually true, Derrick...then let's go.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Your Pokemon are really powerful, Red," piped Derrick, partially fishing for a topic as he saw the trainer emerge from the house beyond Nugget Bridge. He had hastily left Bill's laboratory when he saw the Pokemon creation he had made of himself. Red flashed a small ticket in his hands before dismounting his bag from his back and nestling the item inside of it.

Are you going to be okay?


"Yeah...the less realistic version's not as unnerving..." he muttered beneath his breath.

Well...I got the tickets from the man named Bill, like you said.



"Alright, good. Now we can take the long way to Vermillion City and work on your third gym badge, unless of course you haven't defeated Misty yet."

...No, I have the Cascade Badge...why must we take the long way?


"Because guards won't let you through the threshold between cities right now. You need to make them not thirsty anymore." Derrick began off toward the bridge, looking behind him to see Red standing still, looking at him. "Don't worry, I'll show you the way!" Still, Red didn't move. Derrick stopped, turning back to him."What's wrong?"

You're God.


"What!? What are you talking about?"

You act as though you just dropped into this city, yet you know where everything seems to be, who everyone seems to be, and everything that I need to be doing to become a Pokemon Master...you know everything. You even know who I am. You're God.

Derrick furrowed his eyebrows, processing what had just been said to him. He wasn't sure what to say. In a way, he supposed he could consider himself Red's controller, but the name of God? "I don't know how he'll react if I tell him what happened...maybe I shouldn't." He found Red suddenly joining his side, looking at him intently.

You were showing me the way to the next city...?


"...Y-Yeah, I was. Let's go."

Chapter 3 - Trainer Red

A wave of panic coursed through Derrick's body as he wildly looked around him. This was definitely Cerulean City. But how in the world could he have gotten here? He pinched the exposed skin of his arm, hoping he was just asleep, and that this was just a dream. His skin responded with a sharp pang in his nerves. He held his head in his hands, sidling up against the Pokemon Gym and sliding down its wall till he was sitting, trying to stifle rising nausea and to make any sense of what was happening right now.

Suddenly sound pierced the deadly silence that he had been currently experiencing - a careening of chip sounds. He recognized that awful cluster of noises.

Pidgeotto used Gust! filled his mind abruptly. Derrick felt his nausea lurch up his throat for a moment, so he focused on the gritty sounds that continued to calm himself once more. Taking a deep breath and standing, he gingerly made his way to the outskirts of the city, trying to follow the sound.

Pidgeotto fainted! Go, Charmeleon!


These thoughts kept appearing in his head, almost as though he were saying them - but the thoughts were heavy, pounding into his mind without warning, as though someone were speaking them into his subconscious. He massaged his temples gently, inching north of town to where the Nugget Bridge was supposed to be located.

Charmeleon used Ember! Critical hit!


The closer he got to the bridge, the louder the sounds became, and the heavier these battle-related thoughts pressed into his mind.

Enemy Rattata fainted! Charmeleon gained 183 EXP. points!
Blue sent out Squirtle!


"Wait, Blue...!?" he said aloud in bewilderment. "My mind must be intent on the battle with Blue here..."

As Derrick began to see the bridge jutting from the edge of town, he saw something else. There were two more townsfolk, standing perfectly still. What caught his eye, though, was the two forms taking up the space between the townsfolk. A Charmeleon and a Squirtle. Derrick's jaw nearly dropped as he ignored his still-sensitive nausea and raced toward the battle taking place. He was finally able to make out rival Blue as he watched from a close distance, commanding his Squirtle to attack...Red's Charmeleon!

No way...!! he thought, gradually allowing his lips to stretch into a fanboy's smile as he watched the battle between Blue and Red. As still as the trainers remained, the battle was like a dance; he stood there, admiring how each of the Pokemon pounced at each other or hopped out of the way from an attack. He had always dreamed of watching a real Pokemon battle aside from what he saw on television as a kid, and now his dreams had come true! Before he knew it, Red had triumphed over his rival, and soon Blue was statically making his way toward the heart of Cerulean City. For a while, Red didn't move, but unlike the other people he had thus far come across in the city, Red seemed to pulse with life, still or moving. Sheepishly, Derrick crept his way up to Red and cleared his throat.

"Um...excuse me, but can you hear me? Nobody else here can..." Red shifted a perfect 90 degrees and faced him, a sort of mellow look on his face. It took every ounce of control for Derrick to keep a straight face and not tackle Red to the ground out of excitement. "I...I know who you are, but you don't know me...my name's--"

Derrick.

Derrick nearly jumped as the thought pounded into his head out of nowhere. He rubbed his skull and looked up apologetically at the trainer, until he saw a thin smile etched across his face. His eyes widened, and he prepared himself to speak.

Yes, I did that...


Derrick formed an huge, uncontrollable grin as he wordlessly pointed to the 3 Pokeballs connected to Red's belt.

"S-So...that wasn't me thinking that battle...it was you?" Red nodded silently, suddenly turning on his heels and heading to the bridge. Derrick froze, watching the trainer make distance between them, wondering why he had broken their conversation off so quickly. Did I act weirdly or something? Did I freak him out? Oh man...I didn't mean to. I just--" Suddenly, Red stopped, and faced Derrick once again.

Come with me. I'm on a journey to become a Pokemon master.