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.

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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.


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"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.

Chapter 2 - Cartridge

“Did your package come in the mail, sweetie?” Derrick heard his mother call from the kitchen as he and Scott entered through the front door. He weighed the small envelope in his hand as it was mentioned, and joined his mother in the kitchen.

“Yeah, it did.” Placing himself next to his friend in one of the in-kitchen dining room chairs, he gingerly tore the tape and wrappings from the package, slipping a hand inside and pulling out its contents: a thank you post-it note from the seller, and the game itself. He turned it over in his hands, examining it, listening to the sound of Scott munching away at the remnants of his sandwich all the while. Something felt off.

“Scott, do you see anything different about this cartridge?” he asked, handing the little red square over to him. Scott took the cartridge and looked it over with little care, giving a shrug afterward.

“Looks like a regular Pokemon game to me.”

“No, seriously. Hang on.” Derrick stood from the table, leaving the cartridge with Scott, and headed upstairs to his room. On his bedside table was an Game Boy Color, with a similar red cartridge poking from its depths. Pulling the game from the slot and making his way back downstairs, he picked the second red cartridge up and placed the two side-by-side in his palm - two Pokemon games, Red Version, in decent condition. But one of the cartridges was different. It looked altered. The two Charizards on the cartridge stickers stared at him. One was shifted, with a see-through plastic design. He could almost see the microchips through the sticker of the one he had just gotten in the mail.

“Hey, Derrick, I’mma head home,” Scott interrupted his reverie, crumpling his sandwich wrapper in his hands and disposing of it in the trash. “Thanks for joining me for lunch. I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, see you…” he replied almost absently, waving to his friend as he exited through the front door. After examining the two cartridges moments longer, he trod back upstairs to his room, suddenly eager to start playing his new Pokemon Fire game. He entered his room, flipped is lights on, and let his eyes swivel to where he last left his GBC.

It wasn’t there.
Furrowing his eyebrows, he looked behind his bedside table. Not there. He checked beneath it, under his bed, on top of his bed. Not there, either.

Weird, he thought to himself, but he was still eager to begin playing. A thought came to him. Turning to the foot of his bed, he found his backpack, to which he unzipped the middlemost zipper and pulled from it a Game Boy SP.

“Hah,” he chuckled, hopping onto his bed, sliding the new cartridge inside and flipping the handheld into life. The Game Boy jingle rang from the contraption’s speakers, the green light of battery shone on the side of it, but the backlight he was used to in the handheld didn’t flip on. “Must be a flawed copy…”

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A soft buzz met Derrick’s ears moments before the passed in front of a surprise trainer in the game, watching the little character walk up to him and demand a Pokemon battle. He let the 8-bit battle music engage and turned his eyes to the surface of his bed, where his phone’s backlight was on. He had a message. Balancing his SP in his right hand and picking up the cell with his left, he read over his new text message.

SCOTT

HEY WANNA HANG OUT?

He input a command for his Charmeleon to attack and turned to his phone to answer.

SURE YOUR CAR OR MINE?

Balancing the phone on his knee to await another reply from Scott, he finished the battle, and smiled. His journey thus far had gained him his first badge from Pewter City by defeating Brock, and he was now mere footsteps from the end of Mt. Moon. Plowing his way through wild Pokemon (or rather, running from them), he finally saw the small hole of light in the cave that was the exit. He found himself on Route 4, when he suddenly felt his phone vibrate again. He picked it up.

SCOTT

MINE. GIMME 15 MIN AND ILL BE AT UR HOUSE.

Instead of answering, he stuffed the phone in his pocket shifted his attention back to his SP as he was beginning to cross the threshold of Route 4 to Cerulean City. He pulled his menu screen up again to save his game, leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes as he waited.

These clothes should be fine. I should let mom know where I’m going, though…ugh…why am I suddenly so sleepy? He rubbed his eyes, trying to blink the desire to doze off from his eyes. Did I really stay up that late last night? He let his arms drop to the bed, resting his eyes for just a moment before he got ready to go. Before he knew it, though, he had dropped beneath the line of consciousness, and was asleep.

Suddenly he jerked awake, nearly falling over as he realized he was standing. He patted his face, feeling the sleep begin to subside, and looked around him. His eyes met a vast landscape of grey, a few simple-looking houses dotting the place to make that landscape a civilization. He had the absolute oddest feeling that he recognized it. He rubbed his eyes again and walked toward the buildings, in a daze of where he was. He saw a ravine to his left with a little island a nice swim across its wake, a little man standing in front of the opening of a cave. It was also familiar. Still, he walked on, until he came across a man standing alone in the streets.

“Um, excuse me, sir?” he called to him, walking up to him gingerly. “Could you please tell me where this is?” He didn’t respond. In fact, Derrick felt as though the man didn’t even realize he was there. He stood perfectly still for a few more moments, before turning on his heels and walking two or three paces forward, before resuming his previous stillness. Derrick’s jaw dropped.

“No…” he muttered in bewilderment, rushing past the still man, deeper into the small buildings. He suddenly knew where he was. He continued beyond other people who maintained the same position as the man, and finally came to a stop at a bigger building, one that read ‘Gym.’

“I’m in Cerulean City…!”