Endless

Endless

Short stories from the Don't Give Me Diamonds series.

This takes place in the Mystery Dungeon before Giovanni and Delia visit that world in Don't Give Me Diamonds. It is the story of a rescue team composed of a Butterfree, her adoptive sister Pikachu who likes a Charmander with dreams to fly as a Charizard, and a young Eevee they take care of.

Team Chiray

Pikachu sighed in frustration, Eevee had run off again. "Eevee!" No reply came. "Eevee!" Pikachu was beginning to get desperate. 'Calm down,' she told herself. 'I'm sure Eevee is near by.' She was trying to keep herself from panicking over the younger pokemon's safety when she heard a cry for help. She rushed in that direction, running deeper into the forest. The forest was dark and the weather unstable. It began to rain without warning and soon after the water started to fall from the skies, upset howls were heard.

Eevee called for help again, less frightened now, as if he had seen a ray of hope in whatever harsh situation he was in. Pikachu found the child surrounded by an unfriendly group of Arcanine. She jumped towards the group, releasing her powerful thunderbolt attack that knocked out the three Arcanine. The special band she wore gave her extra power in her electric attacks. "Eevee, are you okay?"

"Yes, that was scary. The rain was lucky," Eevee replied.

"You can't always rely on luck. Let's head back." Pikachu and Eevee continued their trip out of the forest. 'Next time I'll stick to taking him to train at the dojo,' Pikachu thought. At least Eevee would be safe there.

The irregular weather took a turn for the worse when the rain turned to hail. Eevee was protected by his weather band, but Pikachu still felt the effects of the hail falling on her head.

xoxox xox xoxox

A lot of walking and one oran berry later, they finally made it out of the forest and back to their team base.

"How did it go?" Charmander, smiled amused at Pikachu's expression. Pikachu decided not to answer.

"It was fun!" Eevee cheered with delight. "Some Arcanine surrounded me, but it started raining and that's good, because they wanted to breathe fire on me, but the rain made them weaker. Then Pikachu came and used the thunder um... thunder thing."

"Bolt," Charmander finished for him.

"Yes, thunderbolt and knocked them all out, all three of them it was cool!" Eevee finished his narration.

"He ran off on his own," Pikachu shook the rain off her light yellow fur and curled into a ball in the corner.

"You know you shouldn't do that," Charmander petted Eevee's head.

"I know, but it's okay because Pikachu saved me." Eevee had that cute look of admiration like he always did.

xoxox xox xoxox

Outside the light rain stopped. The hail did not reach outside of the forest. "I want to go play at the pond!" Without waiting for a reply, Eevee ran off.

"Remind me of when and why we became his babysitters?" Pikachu was displeased.

Charmander laughed in good humor. "He's an orphan and you thought he was cute and that we should let him join our team, that's how we ended up adopting him. Remember when he called you Pika-mama and he would call me Char-papa? He would call Butterfree aunty Butter."

"I'm not the kid's mother. I was thinking something along the lines of mascot when I said he could join. He's harder to protect than that Bulbasaur we had to escort to the top of Mt. Blaze. At least he paid a good price for it." Pikachu was clearly not in the best of moods.

Charmander shook his head. "Somebody had a rough day. You used to think all that was cute."

"I'm tired," Pikachu growled.

"Yeah, you should get some rest," Charmander wisely backed off.

The light yellow Pikachu gave him a curious look. "What is it?"

"You can always tell when there's something on my mind," Charmander admitted. They were close friends and noticed even the smallest differences in the other's behavior. "I've been thinking about evolution."

Pikachu immediately sat up. "You mean philosophical thoughts about evolution in general or that you've been thinking about evolving?" She hoped it wasn't the second.

Charmander knew Pikachu wouldn't like the idea. She herself had decided that she had evolved enough and would stay as Pikachu. "I want to be a Charizard. I've been thinking about it a lot."

"First you have to be Charmeleon," Pikachu knew her argument was going nowhere; it was just to fill the silence while she thought of a way to talk him out of it. Charmander was the one who got her to start a rescue team with him and she knew how powerful he could be. He was probably ready to evolve into Charmeleon and then into Charizard soon after. He was just holding back, and even if she felt guilty about it, she didn't want him to stop holding back; she wanted him to realize he was contempt with what he had and stop thinking about evolving.

"Evolution could be a good thing," Charmander wasn't sure what to say to convince Pikachu to be okay with it.

"So I shouldn't stay as Pikachu? Too bad because I'm not changing." Her electric temper started to surface as sparks formed on her pink cheeks.

Charmander instinctively took another step back. "I'm not saying you should change, I'm saying I need to change."

"Need to? I needed to change when I was Pichu because I shocked myself whenever I used electricity. Do you burn yourself now? Are you not happy? Does our team not have a good enough rank?" Pikachu argued.

Charmander shook his head. She could be so impossible some times. "Charizard can fly." That was his main reason for wanting to evolve, to soar up in the skies. He had always admired how Charizard looked when they flew and wished he could do it too.

"Fine," Pikachu curled into a ball again, this time facing the wall. She knew she couldn't keep talking him out of this.

"Is that a yes?" Charmander asked. "We'll still be best friends. I'll even give you a ride up in the clouds."

"Hopefully you'll still fit in the door," Pikachu replied coldly.

Charmander sighed. That was Pikachu, stubborn to the end. He thoughtfully looked towards the doorframe. He would have to remember to duck when entering when he became Charizard. He headed off to Luminous Cave.

xoxox xox xoxox

Upon his arrival Charmander found Eevee splashing around and annoying the other pokemon. "Eevee!"

Eevee could tell by Charmander's tone of voice and the flames that threatened to escape from his mouth, that he did not approve of this behavior. The little pokemon looked sad, "I'm sorry." He was too cute to stay mad at and he knew it.

"Don't do that again," Charmander tried to sound serious, but he couldn't help it but to pet the smaller pokemon's head and smile. Eevee also smiled and continued playing as energetic as ever. Charmander breathed deeply and entered the cave. He would come out as a new pokemon.

xoxox xox xoxox

Pikachu sat near the cliffs looking into the distance when Butterfree landed near by, "Pikachu."

The light yellow pokemon snapped out of her daze. "Butterfree, I didn't hear you coming."

"You appeared to be lost in thought. What's up?" Butterfree asked.

"Charmander wants to evolve and I couldn't talk him out of it this time," Pikachu frowned.

"Is it that bad?" Butterfree had received Pikachu's full support and encouragement during her evolution.

"He won't stop at Charmeleon. He wants to become Charizard. We'll be even more different then. It's not that I'm against evolution. When I was Pichu, I could think of nothing more. I just can't imagine going on missions with a big Charizard instead of Charmander or even Charmeleon," Pikachu explained.

"Wouldn't you just love a big strong handsome Charizard? He could even fly you around. You can ride him and come to the skies with me." Butterfree tried to be optimistic.

"So you can say you're just flying around with friends and stalk that Venomoth you like?" Pikachu mischievously inquired.

"Maybe," Butterfree looked away. Pikachu could have sworn she saw her blush. Although she was a Butterfree she had grown up with a family of Pikachu. Later, she and Pikachu traveled far away, catching a ride from a friendly Lapras. They met a Charmander who wanted to start a rescue team and the three of them became the first official members.

"I don't know what will happen, but it doesn't matter. I'm here for the rescue team and regardless of what Charmander, or Charmeleon, does, I'll keep going on missions." Pikachu assured.

Butterfree wasn't sure what to say to that. "You'll get used to the change, it won't be so bad." Pikachu remained quiet.

"Pikachu, Butterfree!" A familiar voice called. Both girls turned to look and saw an unfamiliar pokemon. "What do you think? Awesome, right? I just came back from Luminous Cave!" Charmeleon had evolved from Charmander.

"We're going to play," Eevee reminded him impatiently.

"Yes, I told Eevee I would take him to the plains to play. Why don't we all go?" Charmeleon kept looking at Pikachu, wondering if she was angry at him. He always tried to think of a possible reason for her not wanting him to evolve, but always came up empty.

"Sounds fun, right Pikachu?" Butterfree encouraged.

"Alright, let's go," Pikachu didn't sound too eager.

xoxox xox xoxox

Eevee was the first to arrive at the plains south of their base, not that it was too far anyway. There he spotted a Rattata. "You're a Rattata, right?"

"Yup, and you're kind of small for a Flareon," Rattata looked at him curiously.

"I'm still an Eevee, but one day, I'll be... I don't know; I'm not sure what I want to evolve into."

"You still have time to think," Rattata replied.

"Eevee you should wait up, it's not nice to run ahead like that," Butterfree was the next to arrive. Eevee was certainly energetic. She had to make sure he never got his paws on her stamina band or that may make him even more hyper.

Changing the subject with the most adorable expression, Eevee announced, "I made a new friend!"

Butterfree looked towards the young Rattata, who appeared to be quite happy that Eevee had called her his friend. "It's very nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Rattata smiled.

"Hey Rattata let's play tag, I'll even volunteer to be it first," Eevee offered.

Rattata's face lit up with joy. "Really? Okay then, you're it!" The two younger pokemon ran off to play.

xoxox xox xoxox

Charmeleon and Pikachu were still making their way to the plains and Pikachu was walking quite slowly. "C'mon Pikachu, I'm sure Eevee and Butterfree are already there," Charmeleon called. Pikachu ignored him and continued at her uncharacteristically slow pace. "Are you mad at me?" He slowed down to walk beside her and she simply looked away.

'Get used to not liking him,' Pikachu told herself. 'He'll be so different, there's no way it'll work out, so get used to it.'

"Why won't you even look at me? Am I that hideous as a Charmeleon? Pikachu!" He stood in front of her, blocking her path until she looked up.

He was still handsome in her eyes, maybe even more so as a Charmeleon. She had always been a bit taller, more so if you count the ears. Now she had to get used to looking up at his face, since he had grown a few inches taller than her. His eyes appeared to be a deeper shade of blue, but they still held the same glow. It was like Pikachu had gone away on vacation and returned to find her childhood crush had grown up, but he was still the same on the inside, still charming. If her cheeks were not already pink, they would have turned pink.

He smiled seeing that at least she stopped refusing to look at him. "C'mon, let's not leave them waiting," Pikachu nodded and followed Charmeleon to the plains where they watched the younger Pokemon play and enjoyed the peace of the afternoon.

"Charmeleon, why is it that you want to fly?" Pikachu asked.

"I thought it would be cool, don't you think so? When I'm a Charizard I can give you a ride," Charmeleon replied.

"I don't want one," Pikachu pouted, crossed her arms and looked away.

"But I thought you liked flying. When ever a flying pokemon big enough to carry others comes to the village and offers us rides, you're always the first in line," Charmeleon reminded her.

"Raichu aren't that big, even if I evolved, we'd be so different," Pikachu revealed her true worries.

"We're already different; you're a super powerful Pikachu and I'm just an average Charmeleon. You can even keep up with highly evolved pokemon. You're always the strongest on the team and you've won at all the trainings in the dojo. I always fail at the water dojo because I'm a fire type, but you were even able to beat a Rhyhorn the other day without using electricity. I couldn't have won against him, even with fire. I just wanted to give you something to be happy about... Forget it, I'm rambling," Charmeleon looked sad.

Pikachu got up and walked away. "I'm going for a walk, see you later."

After Pikachu left, Butterfree landed near Charmeleon. "Not that I was eavesdropping or anything, I just overheard. Why don't you simply tell her how you feel instead of settling for having an excuse to be near her? Isn't that what you were trying to do?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Charmeleon denied.

"I think you do, just because you're already too red to blush doesn't mean you can hide it," Butterfree insisted.

"Fine, I admit it. I know that one day she'll find someone she likes. They all like her because she's powerful, but I'm not convinced they appreciate her enough. It's okay as long as she's happy, I guess; I just want to be there too. That's why if I can fly, I'll have an excuse to keep her to myself, even if it's just for a little while, up in the sky. That's my only reason to evolve," Charmeleon revealed.

"Who are you talking about?" A familiar voice asked.

Charmeleon slowly turned around to find Pikachu right behind him. "You're back!" Charmeleon had confessed by accident.

"I was only going for a short walk, so who is it? Who do you like? Anyone I know?" Pikachu insisted on her question. She couldn't believe what she heard until she heard it directly and beyond a doubt.

Unsure, Charmeleon looked to Butterfree who nodded reassuring, then he looked at Pikachu, "you."

To be Continued

Pokemon belongs to Nintendo.

Special thanks to Nafatali and Rocketlord who inspired me with their stories and motivated me to finish mine, and to Destinie, who also helped keep my interest in Pokemon alive with her websites.

Here are some notes about the stories...

When I wrote most of these stories, Unova was the latest region revealed (Black and White) and there were no mega evolutions yet. The only exception is Awakening, which was written around the time X and Y came out.

xoxox xox xoxox

Comet and Pixel are sent on an undercover mission to a super market.

Crazy Market

Rocket spies have discovered that an anti-Rocket group is planning to bomb the 24 Market, as the chain's owner is a Rocket supporter. Rocket agents would be stationed at the store at all times, working undercover as employees.

xoxox xox xoxox

Team Rocket Viridian HQ: Disguise Supply Room

"I feel kind of silly," Comet admitted as he placed the 24 Market logo hat on his head. He was wearing a red shirt with a matching logo, jeans and a small white apron.

"I feel worse," Pixel grumbled. Skirts were not her thing, very much less dresses, such as the red logo marked dress she was currently wearing.

"You need more camouflage!" Laiki began tossing things aside all over the supply room. "How about this!" She hopped over to Pixel with a bright green wig. The blue haired girl took it and started working on concealing her own hair under it. Laiki looked around the room some more and returned with a pair of large black glasses, which she handed to Comet.

"They're a bit big," Comet put them on. They only had regular glass, so everything looked the same.

"That's the point," Laiki would have elaborated, but she was silenced by a green thing being thrown at her. She pouted and glared over at Pixel.

"I couldn't get my hair to stay under it without looking like my head had a big bump," Pixel explained, amused at Laiki's expression.

"You two shouldn't be so pouty about this." Laiki began to wrap Pixel's hair around her head. "Hand me that box of clips over there," she pointed. Comet gave her the box and she continued. "At least you get to go in missions, instead of spending the whole day in the emergency room tending to sick and injured pokemon. I rarely get to go on field missions."

"And you get really trigger happy when you do," Comet teased.

Laiki stuck out her tongue at him and finished putting the clips on Pixel's hair. She brushed the wig and put it on Pixel, making sure it was clipped on securely, then put the logo cap on top. "There!"

"We could add you to the mission..." Pixel offered, "say we need some extra backup..."

Laiki took one last look at the pair as they put on their name tags, which read 'Lulu' and 'Eugene.' "On second thought, being in the emergency room doesn't sound so bad. Get out there and teach them Team Rocket is the only one allowed to blow stuff up!"

xoxox xox xoxox

Viridian City: 24 Market

The 24 Market franchise was also known as Crazy Market, due to its sleepless and energetic atmosphere. The place was crowded at all hours of the day and night. Brock cradled a small baby in his arms while Misty shook her head. "She's using you," she warned, knowing that it was useless.

The woman in question had recently gone through a divorce and was taking to the dating scene like a Goldeen to water. There was only one problem with that, her infant son. Fortunately, for her and unfortunately for Brock, she had found a love struck babysitter for her child. With his head in some absurd romantic fantasy, Brock continued cooing at the baby, while filling up the shopping cart Ash was stuck pushing with diapers, milk and other baby supplies.

"Is that everything?" Ash asked hopefully. He couldn't see past the mountain of things piled in the shopping cart, and it was getting heavy to push.

"I think so," Brock paused in thought. "I should get my darling something too. Maybe a box of chocolates." Brock placed the child into the baby seat on the cart hidden among some plush toys. "You guys go ahead and stand in line, I'll catch up."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, near the exit of the store... "Don't forget to smile and say thank you for your purchase!" The manager of the Viridian 24 Market made a heart shape with his index fingers and thumbs to demonstrate the silly gesture the employees were expected to mimic. He was a short balding man with beady eyes and a pair of tufts of brown hair, one behind each ear. He was wearing an apron with the shop's logo and walked around supervising the operations while muttering to himself under his breath.

Comet and Pixel looked at each other, feeling trapped. They didn't have much time to sulk, as the customers flocked to their cash registers before they were even fully settled in. They turned, back to back, as two lines formed on either side of them in front of their respective registers. Between them there was a compartment on the floor which led to the basement, where a Snorelax sat with his mouth open, ready to eat any confiscated items they needed to quickly dispose of, bombs and the like included.

A multitude of things dashed by on the conveyor belt. They couldn't stop the thing, the manager was watching and he didn't even know they were there for reasons other than working as cashiers. They hurried to scan all the items as they passed by faster and faster. Something like a baby's cries were heard and Pixel picked one off the conveyor and automatically scanned it though the machine rejected it. "Where's the barcode on this thing?"

"Oh no, miss Lulu," the little manager popped up next to her out of seemingly nowhere. "Sometimes customers put personal items on the conveyor belt and they're carried away. Just give them back."

Pixel twisted her nose and lifted the wailing child by the back of the shirt, while scanning the passing items with her other hand. "Did anyone lose a baby?" Though Ash and Misty were in front of her, they couldn't see past the tall mountain of supplies on the conveyor belt, plus they thought Brock still had the baby. No one reclaimed the child, so Pixel gave it to Comet. "Here, take this to the lost and found, I don't have time with this line to tend to."

"What?" Comet barely had time to protest before the child was shoved into his arms. "I have a long line of customers too!" The kid was loud and smelled bad, no doubt having recently dirtied his diaper. Comet held the baby as far away as possible, though at least he kept the boy upright, rather than holding him like a shopping bag.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu hopped over the grocery mountain to Pixel's shoulder, then jumped to Comet's head and to the conveyor belt in front of him. He ran, trying to remain in front of Comet, in an attempt to explain who the baby was with.

"What's up with people losing babies and pokemon in their groceries?" Comet was too busy scanning items and didn't have time, or an extra hand, to grab the pokemon, since he was also still holding the baby at arm's length.

Pikachu dodged groceries as he continuously sprouted explanations that humans who were not familiar with him would be unable to figure out. A ticking sound caught his attention and he gasped as he saw what appeared to be a bomb.

"It's starting!" Comet tossed the bombs at Snorelax and scanned the items top speed. I'm falling behind, I can't do this with one hand, hold the baby."

"I don't want to," Pixel pouted and recoiled. She tossed some more time bombs at Snorlax, who gladly ate them.

"Pika!" Pikachu extended his arms. Comet shrugged and gave him the child. Struggling along, Pikachu got off the conveyor and dragged the crying boy away.

Brock arrived with the last item, a box of chocolates, and was given the expensive grand total, which he paid with a heavy heart and a light wallet. "Where's the baby?" He inquired as the three left the store.

"Pika!" Pikachu called out.

"Oh, there it is," Ash picked up the child from the floor. "Phew, he smells bad."

"Sheesh, don't hold the poor kid like that," Misty took the child from him and handed him to Brock. There was no need to change the diaper herself, babysitting the boy was Brock's idea after all. In front of the store, the child's mother passed by, clinging to a man's arm and Brock's jaw dropped. His eyes began to water as he remained frozen in place. Misty decided to take action and snatched the smelly baby, then returned him to her mother. "Here's your kid back."

"Huh?" The woman blinked in surprise. She looked at Brock with sad puppy eyes. "Brocky, won't you babysit for me a little longer?"

Before Brock could cave in, Misty and Ash dragged him away with a unanimous, "no!" They they went off to Pallet Town for a break, not knowing that they would get caught up in Delia's spring cleaning, which would lead to finding a box full of diamonds... and memories.

To be Continued

Pokemon belongs to Nintendo.

Special thanks to Nafatali and Rocketlord who inspired me with their stories and motivated me to finish mine, and to Destinie, who also helped keep my interest in Pokemon alive with her websites.

Here are some notes about the stories...

When I wrote most of these stories, Unova was the latest region revealed (Black and White) and there were no mega evolutions yet. The only exception is Awakening, which was written around the time X and Y came out.

I didn't see it until the end when he takes off his glasses, but Eugene from Crazy Market kind of looks like Comet. I thought it was suspicious that there were so many bombs in a super market.

xoxox xox xoxox

Shedding a little light on the workings of Laiki's mind, or maybe just pointing out more complexities...

Necessity vs. Desire

He didn't like her and that was all there was to it. She asked him why and he questioned her criminal life style, not that he operated entirely within the law anyway. But his case was different, he insisted. He paid his taxes to Team Rocket out of necessity, to prevent his facility from being taken from him, but he still conducted his research by his own terms, even if Team Rocket was the first to hear the results. As for her, she had a choice, he assumed, and she never contradicted his assumption.

As she continued to persist he wondered if she was lonely. She was incapable of making friends because she was not dependable or loyal and she was incapable of staying in a relationship for the same reasons. That was the assumption he made and he was sure no one could prove him wrong. A side of him even wondered if she was addicted to the more primitive pleasures of life, what with her constant observation of the members of the opposite gender.

He didn't like her and was all there was to it, but his dislike was not without reasons. She was incapable of understanding his rejection, unable to comprehend that he would never be interested in her; she was an idiot. He told her as much and she only teased him in return. She was a criminal, she was unreliable, she was easy and she was stupid. Those were plenty of reasons to dislike her and dislike her he did.

Then one day he met a genius scientist who earned his respect despite working for Team Rocket. He learned the story of his life and his sister, the little girl who was taken in by Team Rocket, working for them from a young age and somehow becoming a pokemon nurse and later a full pokemon doctor in the process. She climbed the ranks of the organization as a medic and as a spy. She really didn't have a choice at first, she had her older brother to consider when he had become ill for a time, and then a little boy who had become as an adoptive little brother to her. Now she was simply a part of the organization, it was forever integrated into her life, as it was in his; she made the best use of it she could and she was happy.

He had met her friends, as they were mutual friends of a friend of his. They trusted her, they relied on her, they talked, they laughed, they kept each other company, and she was happy. Her unwanted presence in his life became such a constant that he wondered how she had time to take care of her Rocket duties and give men more than a passing glance. But even if she had long since broken her personal record for time spent without a boyfriend, she was still happy, content to simply observe men and share inappropriate comments with her friends. He was sure that referring to the powerful boss of Team Rocket as a 'buffet of manliness' was not something she should be caught saying.

Then there was the last straw. He had stopped at a pokemon center in a city he didn't remember. The local Joy was distraught over a pokemon she couldn't save. The only choice left was to put the poor dear to rest. While Joy was in hysterics and Gary tried to calm her, she stole the pokemon. He didn't witness it, no one did, quick and quiet as she was, but it was late in the evening and there was no one else there, it had to be her.

He found her in the back seat of his car, not knowing how she let herself in. She had nothing but the tools in her bag to work with and was making use of them. The image of the Clefable would forever be burned into his mind. Spilling blood into the backseat of his car, the creature was bound, not that it was in any condition to escape. A peculiar collar inhibited any special abilities he could possibly use, but in his state it was overkill. "That idiot Joy," Laiki muttered to herself. "Putting down such a rare creature. Look at those ears, the tips are green instead of brown, can't she tell it's rare? And it's a male, Clefable are mostly female and that makes him even rarer."

"Stop it!" He pleaded, yet he was paralyzed, unable to even blink away from the sheer shock.

"Shut up, the Rocket breeding center could use a rare one like this," she didn't take her eyes off her work. The creature was cut open and the back of his car was no operation room. She sprayed something on the Clefable that caused him great pain.

"What are you doing?" He reproached in alarm.

"This liquid gets adrenaline and other such things pumping. It's excruciating, but it gives a jolt of life. No anesthesia, if he goes under he's not waking up," she explained. "I overheard a Jenny dropped him off. His trainer must have fled the robbery to safety."

"Coward..." He grumbled.

"Aha!" She exclaimed, "I found the problem," her tone was akin to that of a mechanic diagnosing a car, rather than a doctor treating a living creature. "A bullet to the lung, another to the stomach," she sprayed the painful mist on the creature again and could feel the man behind her cringe. "Relax, this stuff is only painful on inner contact, you won't feel it on skin unless you have a cut or something."

He wasn't worried about the mist floating towards him, he was worried about Clefable. "What about bacteria?"

"I can take care of that," she focused on her work, retrieving a mask from her bag and putting it on the pokemon's face. A long tube was attached to it and she blew into the other end, a crude way to provide oxygen, but it was all she had to work with.

He wanted to suggest going back to the pokemon center for better tools, but he didn't. Joy would hinder the process and moving the patient would be risky anyway.

"It's a good thing they come in pairs," her voice was muffled by the tube in her mouth, but he could still make out the words. She was talking about lungs. Another spray of the agonizing life sustaining substance followed. Even if it was effective, it was cruel, the pokemon medical regulations would never approve it. With what appeared to be a laser pen she sealed the inner wounds in painful, yet effective burns. He knew the Clefable was going through incredible pain, forced to withstand it on full alert. Next she worked on the stomach, removing a bullet and setting it beside the discarded lung. She cut off a portion and sealed the rest. Then she sprayed more of the liquid and stitched up the wound rather than sealing it with a burn, in case she needed quick access later. She put the odd oxygen mask away and retrieved a syringe from her bag. "Now to get rid of bacteria..." The pokemon got the shot and started making choked out sounds. The collar should absorb all sounds, but the pain was so much it wasn't enough. "There, that should give him a high internal temperature while keeping the vital functions resistant to it. It feels like being burned alive, but it kills bacteria." It was effective but cruel, the regulations would never approve of that either.

She picked up the pokemon as a helicopter landed near by, when did she have time to call that? Joy ventured out at the noise, continuously muttering something along the lines of "I couldn't find him." She had been looking for the Clefable inside the whole time. Then she saw the helicopter and the woman getting in with the pokemon in her arms. While Joy was distracted by the helicopter's escape, he made his own escape in his car.

Later, he ripped off the backseats of his car and had them replaced. When asked about it he said he spilled something and couldn't get them properly cleaned. He sprayed a lot of air-freshener in the car until he was sick from the scent of pine.

Time passed and her stalker antics and seduction attempts continued. Then one day she gave him a pokemon egg. "That Clefable's no good for battle, what with only one working lung and an unnecessary stomach reduction, he can't exert himself and needs to be constantly fed in tiny portions. But he can still make new friends," she winked. "He doesn't remember a thing, they get a little crazy when you let them remember stuff like that, so he was brainwashed. I was given this one as part of my reward, the eggscope says its a rare, I thought I'd sell it but I guess I don't really need to. You can have it as an anniversary gift."

The Clefable survived... The poor creature suffered so much, it was best that he didn't remember, though brainwashing wasn't something that the pokemon authorities would approve of either. "Anniversary?" He finally found his voice.

"I've been your stalker for five years now." He wasn't sure for how long he stared in shock. She still looked just like when he met her, still as stunningly beautiful as always.

There was his stubborn refusal, the sabotage of any possible relationships he might have had and his childhood friend's assurance that all he had to do to make her lose interest was to give her what she wanted, but maybe he was just waiting for his final reason to crumble. She was a criminal, but not really evil. She was carefree, but dependable, to those she cared for at least. She wasn't easy, oh no, she was very difficult. And she wasn't stupid, she was a genius. She didn't care much for pokemon, but respected the fact that her friends did and treated their pokemon differently. Maybe her disregard for them was what made her an efficient doctor, she knew no pity, only effective methods of repair. "That's a long time... Why me?"

"Because you don't need me." Her reply perplexed him and it was easy to see in his questioning look. She continued, "you're not looking for your other half, you're whole by yourself, as I am. Two halves make a whole, but one and a half becomes a burden. I think that's why I could never take them seriously, because they got too attached."

He laughed in irony, "so if you ever catch me, you'll let me go?"

"It's a bit late for that... I hate attachments. My older brother is one, but I was a kid and didn't know any better than to hold on. My adoptive brother is another, again, I was young. My best friend, the first girl I've cared for since my mother's passing, I lowered my guard and thought I only had to guard myself from romantic attachment, so sisterly love snuck up on me. Then you, sneaky... You kept me at arm's length so I didn't notice I was getting used to you. I guess now I'm stuck with one more attachment in my life."

"I guess that means I don't have to keep running to keep you chasing me..." He gave up, this incoherent game had been going on for too long.

"I guess not..." She grinned and he expected her to jump on him as she had tried to do in previous occasions, but she didn't. "Too bad I have stuff to do at HQ." She left through the window from where she had let herself in and he felt ripped off. Then she peeked in again and grinned mischievously, "I'll be seeing you later, Mr. Gary Oak."

xoxox xox xoxox

"Have you ever thought about having a child?" The feel of the bed, the pillow, the sheets and her body were gone, replaced by the cold impact of the floor. He blinked and saw she had dressed in record breaking time, and before he could call her name, she was gone. She didn't come back and he couldn't get a hold of her. And that wasn't okay, because he didn't need her. If he had simply needed her, he could deal with not having her, but he didn't need her... he wanted her.

To be Continued

Pokemon belongs to Nintendo.

Special thanks to Nafatali and Rocketlord who inspired me with their stories and motivated me to finish mine, and to Destinie, who also helped keep my interest in Pokemon alive with her websites.

Here are some notes about the stories...

When I wrote most of these stories, Unova was the latest region revealed (Black and White) and there were no mega evolutions yet. The only exception is Awakening, which was written around the time X and Y came out.

xoxox xox xoxox

The ghosts of Lavander Town are not the only ones with disturbing stories.

Creepy Pasta: The Maiden and the Frog

A dark tale about Bulbasaur...

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful maiden. Every summer she would visit her grandmother in her little house next to a lovely pond. One such sunny afternoon, the maiden was tending to the garden in front of the house while a frog watched from the pond. His friends thought he was silly to pay so much attention to a human, but the frog had fallen in love with the maiden.

Tired of only watching from afar, the frog summoned all his courage and approached the maiden. When the maiden noticed the animal hopping ever closer, she squeaked in fright and reflexively threw the little garden shovel she was holding. The shovel crashed into the frog's back, wounding him. The frog was in such pain and shock that he passed out and the maiden thought he was dead.

Even if she was disgusted by the creature at first, the maiden suddenly felt a rush of guilt. She only wanted the frog to go away, she didn't want to kill it. Her grandmother came running out at the noise. "What's wrong, dear?"

"Oh granny, I killed that frog, but I didn't mean to, it was an accident!" The maiden cried.

"Poor thing..." The old lady sighed. "Don't cry, there's nothing to be done but to bury the creature."

Soon a hole was dug near the pond and the frog was put in. The maiden dropped in a seed of her favorite pink flower, so that it would grow and mark the tomb. The seed landed on the wound on the frog's back along with the maiden's tears and the creature was buried.

That night, the frog awoke, feeling suffocated. He crawled out of the ground and the other frogs from the pond were shocked to see him. He was depressed that the maiden had hurt him and buried him alive. The others decided that it was best if he forgot her, thus they didn't tell him about her regret.

The summer ended and the maiden returned to her parents. The seasons passed and a new year rolled around. The next summer the maiden went back to her grandmother's house. She was in the garden one evening and the sun set lightning up the pond in shades of orange.

The frog watched her silently, though he put up a front for his friends, he had not stopped thinking about her the whole year. Distracted, he got too close and she noticed him. She gasped in surprise and the frog ran away, dove into the pond and emerged on the other side, thinking she was horrified.

Was she wishing he was dead? If that was so, he would grant her wish, it was all he could do for her. The frog climbed a tree while the maiden stared from the other side of the pond. The flower-bud on his back had flourished into a beautiful pink flower. Before anyone knew his plan or could try to stop him, he tied some vines together and jumped from the tree and hung on a noose from the branch.

"No!" The maiden cried out in agony. "Why? Why would such a beautiful creature want to die?"

The other frogs felt guilty for hiding the maiden's earlier remorse. In honor of their dead friend they planted seeds on their backs and carried the flowers of his grave...

xoxox xox xoxox

Creepy Pasta: Ghost Tree

A dark tale about Phantump...

Once upon a time, there was a little village at a forest's edge. The villagers were very superstitious and believed the trees came to life at night and devoured anyone who dared to venture into the forest.

One night, a little boy went to play outside and saw a fox. Curious and playful, he followed the fox into the forest and lost his way. His father went to look for him, armed with a big sharp axe. "Don't go," his wife had begged. "I've already lost our child and now I must lose you too."

"I have to go," the man had insisted, and off he went into the woods. His heart pounded as his hopes sank. It felt as if every shadow was out to get him. A wolf's howl echoed in the distance, sounding to him like a ghostly wail. He ran, desperately calling his son's name, until a loud hoot made him freeze in place and realize he was lost.

There was a rustling in the trees as the owls went over their high domain, safe from the wolves that preyed upon the land dwellers. The man did not move, he could not move, for he was frozen in terror. "My son is dead," he realized, "and I caused my own death by coming here at night because I couldn't accept that it was too late for him!"

The man let out an agonized wail and ran deep into the forest, certain that it was the spirits' doing that he was hopelessly lost. He stumbled and fell out of breath, and struggled to stand, consumed by fear. He began to swing his axe wildly, then suddenly he heard a faint crying. In his panic he thought it was the wail of a possessed tree and cut the rotten hollow trunk in half.

Unknown to him, his own son had been hiding in the hollow tree trunk, hoping to escape the horrors of the forest. The man saw his son's decapitated body and was unable to comprehend the terrible reality. He dropped his weapon and ran endlessly, screaming like the mad man he had become, until he ran right off a cliff and in the valley below, his broken body was devoured by the wolves.

To be Continued

Pokemon belongs to Nintendo.

Special thanks to Nafatali and Rocketlord who inspired me with their stories and motivated me to finish mine, and to Destinie, who also helped keep my interest in Pokemon alive with her websites.

Here are some notes about the stories...

When I wrote most of these stories, Unova was the latest region revealed (Black and White) and there were no mega evolutions yet. The only exception is Awakening, which was written around the time X and Y came out.

xoxox xox xoxox

Comet and Pixel get ready for a special mission in Unova.

Preparations

"Unova!" The loud voice disturbed all of the Viridian Rocket base infirmary's patients.

"With how excited you are, anyone would guess you're the one who's going." Comet voiced, watching as Laiki started to hand out the plastic plates and spoons, ready to cut the cakes. Peachy had a whole cake to herself, since she was such an adorable little glutton.

"I do wish I could go, I heard Unova men are quite handsome." Laiki grinned mischievously, possibly imagining a hot fling she would have if she were there. "You two better bring me a souvenir!"

"It would be a bit troublesome if we kidnapped someone." Pixel teased, knowing full well that by souvenir, Laiki was wishing for the delivery of a gift wrapped handsome man.

"Oh fine, something expensive and not living will have to do," Laiki conceded. "After all, I'm taking care of dropping off your pokemon at that resort you booked for them."

xoxox xox xoxox

After Comet and Pixel left for Unova, Laiki set off to deliver their pokemon to the Valhalla Pokemon Resort, where they would vacation while their trainers blended in on a secret mission in the distant region. It was because of that secrecy that pokemon not native to the region could not be present along with the Rockets. "Here we are," Laiki got off the car that she didn't remember which past boyfriend she had stolen it from. It didn't matter, she dumped him anyway. The smaller pokemon such as Purry, Peachy and Meteor were riding in the bright yellow car with her, while the larger ones were transported in their pokeballs.

The pokemon resort was quite large and expensive looking. It was a place that stroke Laiki as being odd in the sense that humans served pokemon instead of the other way around. She entered the large gates behind the tall brick fence that encompassed a considerably large terrain. The glimpses at the amusement park style attractions she saw beyond the elegant reception building fashioned as a medieval castle, looked quite amusing indeed, but they were open only to pokemon. The roller coasters and variety of rides were available in various sizes to accommodate all types of pokemon comfortably.

"This place looks pricey," Laiki whistled.

"I'm sure it is not that way for Lord and Lady Ragnarok," Laiki was caught by surprise and turned quickly, retrieving her gun from its holster strapped to her leg under her showy maid outfit.

Realizing what she had done, the undercover Rocket laughed sweetly as the employee who had greeted her, wearing a tuxedo with the resort's insignia, turned pale in shock, his golden eyes wide. "My deepest apologies for that; I'm not only a maid for the honorable Lord and Lady Ragnarok, but also part of their security personnel." She put away her gun as if she was never an inch away from shooting someone a second ago.

"Ah yes, I understand," the employee, straightened his stance and brushed the non-existent dirt off his uniform in an automatic motion.

Laiki observed the insignia on the left side of his tuxedo, it was a Mew encased in a circle formed by its tail, its fur a shade of light blue. It was the symbol of the resort as if to say the place was good enough for a Mew, should anyone ever decide to bring one over, not that they expected something like that to actually happen. "You work here," she stated, "so this means I can leave the Ragnarok pokemon with you? How did you know it was us, anyway?"

"Of course it had to be the Ragnarok pokemon, their fine pedigree precedes them," the employee complimented hypocritically as he had been trained to do. "Plus, what else could the red R in the collars around their necks signify, if not the fact that they are members of the proud Ragnarok family."

Laiki grinned, "of course." She would have loved to be there when Comet and Pixel came to make the reservation playing the part of a snobbish young couple of millionaires, who had supposedly just inherited the Ragnarok fortune; a fortune which was in fact only a product of their imagination along with their fictional family history.

The collars with the red Rs were a parting gift from Comet and Pixel to their pokemon. A way to let them know they were still a team that would one day be reunited when the business in Unova had been properly taken care of. All of Comet and Pixel's pokemon had those collars symbolizing Team Rocket, but to the Valhalla Pokemon Resort staff, it was a symbol to identify them as being better than other pokemon because they belonged to the rich Ragnarok family.

Laiki followed the employee, musing about how a single strand of platinum hair standing out of place on his otherwise perfectly brushed head reminded her of someone. She couldn't precise who, possibly a past boyfriend. After the pokemon were checked in as per the previous arrangement with Lord and Lady Ragnarok, Laiki took care of her own agenda. "So..." she looked at the name tag on the right side of his tuxedo opposite to the blue Mew insignia, "Odin, when do you get off work?" She winked.

xoxox xox xoxox

Sometime later, after the Unova mission's conclusion... "Excuse me Sir and Madame, a bill has arrived which requires a signature." The family's long time butler approached the couple with a piece of paper and a golden pen, both items placed upon a silver platter. The bill represented quite a steep charge with a multitude of digits, thanks to all the chaos destruction the feisty Ragnarok pokemon caused at the Valhalla Pokemon Resort. "Curiously, the bill is-"

"A bill is a bill, just something to sign and forget about. It does not matter, do not fret over it." The husband took the pen and signed the bill without a second thought, not realizing that though it requested permission to draw the payment from his bank account number, it was for the purpose of paying the expenses inquired by a Mr. and Mrs. Ragnarok that he had never heard of. Once again, he joined his wife in the quaint little table with the luxurious tea set, drinking fancy tea that tasted terrible, but gave them an air of grandeur due to its expense. "As I was saying, my dear, I do wonder where that delinquent son of ours might be."

"I cannot imagine," the wife replied after taking a sip of her tea with her pinky finger properly raised as she delicately held her cup. "Our mischievous little James could be anywhere, perhaps even in a distant city across the ocean..."

xoxox xox xoxox

Back in the present, far away from Kanto, in a region known by the name of Unova... "They sure do love bridges in this place." Comet observed, "Not that I'm complaining, bridges provide a nice shaded place to hide out." Comet and Pixel were currently taking a lunch break after a long day of traveling, before it was time to move on to their special mission.

"The pizza here is really good too," Pixel happily took another bite of her pizza slice. "Tepig and Pinap, yum!"

"And the cheeseburgers are good too, even if I can't taste much of a difference between Taurus and Bouffalant," Comet observed.

"I'm going to have a look around, since I won't have time to do much running around once the mission gets to its next stage, and I still don't have a pokemon." Pixel started up the hill towards the top of the bridge. "I'll have dessert later, don't you dare open my box of mint filling gourmet chocolates in my absence."

"A thief who steals from a thief..." Comet grinned mischievously, but stopped, seeing Pixel's rare sadistic expression. "I think Peachy rubbed off on you. Anyway, I need to go pokemon hunting too, it'll be interesting to catch a pokemon without having one of my own," Comet mused. There was a moment of silence as their eyes met in the form of a challenge, then Pixel took off in a run. "You sure you want to fight off a ferocious Unova Pokemon alone?"

"You sure you want to try to interfere?" Pixel called back from several feet away above the hill.

"I would rather not get in the way of your sadistic moments." Comet admitted as he watched Pixel disappear from his line of sight, her footsteps passing over the bridge above.

xoxox xox xoxox

A relatively short distance away from the Skyarrow Bridge, which was the unspoken rendezvous point for Comet and Pixel, the blue haired girl approached a group of Pokemon just off the road near Route Three. She had taken a brief look at some Unova pokemon information and identified the black and white Ponyta style creatures as being Blitzle. "An electric type, just what I need."

Pixel considered her options, though she took some basic training as part of being a Rocket, her primary function was that of a hacker, thus she wasn't as well trained for the front lines as Comet, but she was determined to catch a pokemon on her own. At her disposal she had empty pokeballs, a vital tool for her current objective and no real weaponry unless she counted her gloves and boots for punching and kicking. The smoke bomb she also carried on her belt wasn't exactly a weapon, but it could be useful nonetheless.

The gloves had a metal strip atop the knuckles to serve as a sort of ground similar to the concept of an electric rod, complimenting the resistance against electricity of the material in case she had to deal with overloaded equipment or emergency hardware modifications. Similarly, the boots were a matching set with metal tips over noiseless electricity resistant soles and material, good for sneaking around unnoticed and to serve as an additional form of protection to electric charges.

"Prepare to be captured!" Pixel charged at the nearest Blitzle, a female who gave the unusual human an odd look before unleashing a blast of electricity in the form of a Discharge attack. The electricity was attracted to the specially designed gloves and boots and was not enough to stop Pixel's rampage as she got close enough to the wild pokemon to kick.

Taken by surprise, the Blitzle took the hit directly and stumbled back in shock. Upset at the human who had come to disturb the peace, she called for help and the cries were heard by the leader of their little group, a male of a similar structure as the others, but identifiable as being the evolved form of their species, Zebstrika. The creature let out a stronger Discharge attack, making Pixel cringe in spite of her protective gear.

"Not bad, maybe I should catch you instead." The surrounding Blitzle backed off to leave room for a duel between the invading human and their fearless leader. The angry Zebstrika dashed forward in a Wild Charge attack that Pixel knew she better get out of the way. She threw the smoke bomb down and ran for her life.

When the smoke cleared, the confused pokemon looked around for the human who seemed to have vanished into thin air. Up on a tree, Pixel sat on a branch thankful that she was able to get up there. At least the pokemon wouldn't be able to trample her if she wasn't on the ground, but she was still kind of trapped. What could she do next? Watch for an opportunity to sneak away and retreat? Never! Rockets don't retreat! Maybe she could tire out that Zebstrika somehow.

"Hey Zebstrika! I'm up here! Come and get me you coward!" Pixel let her legs hand off the branch, sitting on it as if riding a Ponyta. The Zebstrika took the bait and angrily stomped over, showing off for the group of Blitzle. He let out an angry Shockwave, followed by another Discharge, but the electricity seemed to be lost on Pixel's boots. "Nice try," she mocked.

Zebstrika rammed into the tree repeatedly in frustration. All the shaking made the branch Pixel was on finally break under her weight and the Rocket hacker plummeted to the pokemon below.

Landing on Zebstrika with a pained "owff," Pixel scrambled to hold on as the pokemon recovered from the fallen branch that landed on his head and tried to throw her off. Since his electric attacks were ineffective before and he was getting tired, Zebstrika focused his remaining energy in jumping around to throw the girl off his back like something out of a Taurus and Bouffalant rodeo contest.

Pixel held on as tightly as she could, putting every ounce of strength provided by her state of high adrenaline into her grip. Her eyes were closed for the most part, until she noticed that her wild ride was slowing down. Finally, the defeated Zebstrika fell over with a somewhat blueish hue on his face. It was then that Pixel noticed she was holding on so tightly, she was strangling the creature. "I win!" She hopped off the exhausted pokemon and threw a pokeball at him, capturing him with ease.

The remaining group of Blitzle had surrounded the combatants watching with great expectation. They stared at Pixel with unreadable expressions for a moment as she faced them. 'I'm in trouble...' she thought for a second, there was no way she could defend against such numbers, there must have been about a dozen Blitzle. Like a Rocket, she glared defiantly as if she was in possession of some kind of amazing deadly weapon the likes of which her enemies could not even begin to comprehend. Then the Blitzle stampeded away frightened by the defeat of their now ex-leader. Pixel grinned and contemplated the pokeball in her hand, mission accomplished.

xoxox xox xoxox

After Pixel's departure, Comet was taking his sweet time finishing his meal, when an unexpected creature appeared in the area. A pokemon identifiable as a Krookodile seemed to be sniffing around the water's edge possibly in hopes of sinking its teeth into one of those Luvdisc look-alikes, Alomomola. He seemed to pick up a more interesting scent originating from the bags of food near Comet in a comfortably shaded spot at the water's edge under Skyarrow Bridge. It looked like the perfect picnic to steal; it was occasions like this which made him leave his desert home to venture into areas closer to the human populations.

Confidently, Krookodile stomped his way over to the red haired human and stood imposing, waiting for him to run away in terror and leave his food behind. The pokemon was disappointed when instead he received a solid hit right in the nose from a pokeball that bounced off back into the hand of the thrower, its red beam fading before it could begin to form. "I guess I'll have to rough you up before I catch you, it wouldn't be any good to catch you if you were so easily caught anyway."

This human was challenging him? The nerve! Stomping his feet and growling loudly, Krookodile waited for the human to toss out a pokeball that wasn't empty. He was hoping for a delicious Pidove to sink his teeth into, but nothing came. Instead the human took a fighting stance as if he meant to battle himself. Krookodile huffed in indignation until his sore nose was further abused by a punch to the face, which made him stumbled back.

With a low angry growl, Krookodile went on the attack with Bite. Comet ducked out of the way avoiding decapitation by a hair. "Your breath smells like Rattata road kill, or is it Minccino?" Needless to say, Comet's commentary was not welcomed by the already angry Krookodile, who stomped around enraged.

Krookodile's claws ripped off the patches of grass that grew on the edge of the land beyond the sidewalk near the bridge above, gaining access to the dirt below and lifting it in a thicker version of a Sand Tomb attack. His odd stomping dance continued towards the edge of the water where the dirt he dug out with his claws mixed with the liquid and turned into a Mud Slap attack.

After making a big mess, Krookodile stopped and observed his handy work. An angry looking filthy human stood glaring daggers at him, covered in dirt and mud. "Now you're going to get it!" Before Krookodile could react, Comet launched at him in an all out fury of hits, narrowly avoiding the deadly jaws on several occasions.

"Had enough?" Comet questioned nearly out of breath a while later, his clothes ripped and his whole body covered in dirt and mud. Krookodile growled defiantly, he wasn't going to let a human beat him. The large beast once again went on the attack, his powerful jaws literally trying to bite Comet's head off.

Comet dodged once more and with everything he had, he tackled his opponent into the water near by. Tired from the battle and exposed to his weakness to the water element, Krookodile finally had enough and could no longer fight back. At last victorious, Comet tossed a pokeball at the Krookodile, which he captured. "That was quite a workout..."

Examining his muddy state, Comet thought he should rid himself of the dirty civilian clothes and get cleaned up in the water under the bridge before changing into his Rocket uniform. Pixel should be back soon, as they would need to be on their way to finish the last preparations of their coming mission. He let Krookodile out again for a while to try to get to know the pokemon as well as he could in the short time available in hopes of being able to better guide him in battle.

Comet picked up Pixel's priced box of mint filling gourmet chocolates. She told him not to touch them, but he had a good reason. The strong scent of mint invaded Comet's senses as he opened the box, the aroma catching the attention of Krookodile as well, who thought that maybe getting caught wasn't so bad if he was well fed. "Try some of this." Comet tossed a chocolate at Krookodile, which he happily ate.

The large pokemon opened his mouth wide and for a moment Comet thought he was on the attack again, but Krookodile stayed still with his expectant jaws apart. As if to emphasize his request, Krookodile pointed to his open mouth.

"Okay, one more, but that's it, or you won't be the only one trying to bite my head off today." Krookodile accepted the next chocolate and in a sudden motion snatched away the box, devouring the rest of the chocolates box and all. "No! You're almost as gluttonous as Peachy." Then again, almost really did make a difference.

Comet could imagine Krookodile trying to steal Peachy's food. Then Peachy would go all out with her electric attacks in an attempt to cook Krookodile and devour him in revenge. Purry did try to force Comet to eat Shenron that one time, maybe that's what they meant when they said Team Rocket could have an eat or be eaten atmosphere.

"I guess I'll have to figure out a way to earn Pix's mercy when she gets back." Guessing that he would have a better chance of that if he was clean, Comet followed through with his plans to get cleaned up and changed before Pixel got there, with the exception of the fact that he didn't have enough time.

Comet was in the middle of swimming under the bridge when Pixel returned. "I do hope you're not skinny dipping," she joked, though it was obvious he wasn't as the waters were clear.

Comet chuckled, "you wish."

After a moment's pause during which her eyes scanned the area and took in the presence of a Krookodile lounging under the bridge's shade, she inquired. "Are my chocolates safe?" She searched for them among their things but didn't find them. "Comet..."

"Well... you see... Krookodile really needed a breath mint and since the chocolates had a mint filling..." Comet began to explain, giving Pixel his most convincing look of innocence and a radiant smile, which could work wonders on anyone but Pixel and her stubborn resolution not to be influenced.

"You caught a pokemon, that's good," Pixel gave Comet a sly smile, suspiciously changing the subject in the middle of her accusing conversation. "I caught a pokemon too," she released Zebstrika from his pokeball, "and he's all rested up after taking a nap in his pokeball..."

Comet suddenly had the sinking feeling that he should really get out of the water...

"Shock Wave!"

To be Continued

Pokemon belongs to Nintendo.

Special thanks to Nafatali and Rocketlord who inspired me with their stories and motivated me to finish mine, and to Destinie, who also helped keep my interest in Pokemon alive with her websites.

Here are some notes about the stories...

When I wrote most of these stories, Unova was the latest region revealed (Black and White) and there were no mega evolutions yet. The only exception is Awakening, which was written around the time X and Y came out.

This story is based on Nafatali's Inheritance series, specifically Volume 7: Black and White. It takes place before Comet and Pixel's appearance there.

Comet and Pixel's fake identity as Lord and Lady Ragnarok is a reference to Norse Mythology, as is the name of the vacation spot, Valhalla Pokemon Resort, and the employee's name, Odin.

Pixel is eating the Unova equivalent to a ham and pineapple pizza.

xoxox xox xoxox

Basically, Comet gets over his fear of cooties. Just kidding, this is about Comet as a young Rocket and his first meeting with a certain someone, whom he later didn't realize he had met before.

First Impressions

"Mr. Proton, Mr. Proton," some fifteen year old rookie called out while raising his hand as if this was some kind of classroom. The old warehouse didn't resemble a classroom at all.

Comet grinned, he was the youngest person there at the age of thirteen, but he was definitely not a rookie, these new guys, mostly teenagers, were rookies. They were the kind of rookies that were painfully obvious rookies.

"What?" Proton snapped, not at all happy with the mission he was given to train some of the new recruits. The other squads were full and though he had more important, higher ranked, business to tend to he had to fill in. It looked like he got all the rejects. "I told you that if you have any questions you should ask him!" He pointed at Comet with irritation. At the last minute he decided to drag Luke's kid along for the mission in hopes of dumping the rookies on him, because Proton definitely had better things to do than deal with a bunch of criminal wanna-be teenagers that had no idea what they were getting into. It was indeed a pity that all the other instructors got to choose their recruits before he was stuck filling in as the trainer of the poser squad.

"But Mr. Proton," the boy frowned. "He's younger than me." He was trying to sound tough and dangerously offended, but he just sounded like a whiner.

"Look, brat, this brat," he pointed at Comet again, "is higher ranked then any of you rookie brats. He's been around for a few years," more like all his life, "so take your business to him and quit interrupting me." Proton turned his attention back to the official business displayed on his laptop. He had some plans to discuss which was becoming impossible while he was stuck in a warehouse in Cinnabar Island babysitting a bunch of annoying teenagers.

The rookie tried to look tough and glared at Comet, "hey boy," he growled sounding like a Growlithe whose tail had been stepped on by a Golem. "There's an old drain pipe down in the basement. The pipe was used to dump stuff outside the warehouse when it was active. I was from Cinnabar Island so I should know; I know a lot about the local criminal activities. Anyway, the covers were loose and the slowpoke that were locked up down there escaped."

"What?!" Proton screamed at the top of his lungs, "I told you and the others to guard those slowpoke, they'll be here to pick them up soon!" If he messed up such a painfully basic mission he would be the jester of the executive branch.

"Rookie," Comet emphasized the word because he knew it bothered the other boy. "You and the others come with me. I know were the pipe leads, we'll get the slowpoke back."

The fifteen year old glared, "I'm not going to be bossed around by some carrot top boy-band faced kid that's younger than me!" All it took was one punch from that same carrot top boy-band faced younger kid to silence him for the next few hours.

With Proton barking orders, insults and threats, and the inept rookies trying their best, which ranged from insignificant to counterproductive, a few minutes and several black eyes later, Comet managed to round up most of the slowpoke, except one. Proton decided that it would be his fault if the slowpoke didn't turn up, which left Comet to glare defiantly like any average thirteen year old boy would do when facing a challenge and declare that he would bring back the last missing slowpoke before the shippers came to pick up the merchandise.

With that mission waiting him, Comet ran through the streets of Cinnabar Island disguised as a civilian. It was the after school hour for those who attended the local schools and the streets were crowded with adolescents. There was some kid walking an Arcanine, or more like and Arcanine walking a kid. There was a group of five in skate boards. There were some surfers heading towards the beach. There were some girls giggling behind ice-cream while they pointed at him as if the ice-cream made them invisible. There was a girl with a backpack on her shoulders and a few books in her arms, dark hair, big glasses, a real geek. There were no slowpokes anywhere to be seen.

Comet continued his search and fifteen minutes later, he still had not found the missing slowpoke. He was running out of time. He walked past a house, rounded a corner and headed for the next street. He peeked into the yards just in case the missing slowpoke was hiding there. In one yard there was a lazy Persian napping in the shade of a tree. In another yard there was a Vileplume enjoying the sunshine and dancing for no apparent reason. In the next yard there was that geeky girl again, muttering something about annoying chores while she checked to see if the laundry that hung in the breeze outside was dry. She was perhaps fifteen, with long black hair with a few blue strands and a lack of suntan that made her seem out of place for a local of Cinnabar Island. Then he saw it, the missing slowpoke, or at least a slowpoke, which was close enough.

The slowpoke dashed out of the bushes next to the fence and towards the girl. "Slowpoke!" The pokemon cried out in fright as it ran right into her. The girl was taken by surprise and knocked to the ground. The pile of clothes she was carrying was thrown all over the ground and her glasses fell with a sickening crack.

"You stupid pink blob!" She probably couldn't even tell the difference between a ditto and a slowpoke without her glasses. This was his chance; Comet would jump over the fence, recover the get away stolen slowpoke and scare the living daylights out of some cootie filled geek while he was at it. Not that he still believed in cooties, but his self proclaimed big sister, Laiki, left room for doubt. Cooties or not it was time to take action, but something made Comet pause. Earlier that day he had heard the rookies discussing the so called sinister qualities of the color black. Sure, it was convenient to sneak around at night, and yes it was a classic color for a villain's wardrobe, although some would say it's the good guys that dress in black, but only rookies made such a big fuss about their new uniform. Maybe this was what it meant for black to be sinister.

The girl's eyes were black and glaring fiercely. She pulled herself to her feet and kicked the slowpoke. "Idiot! Now I'll have to get those clothes cleaned up again and you broke my glasses, do you know how much my prescription costs? Useless pink blob, you'll be even more deformed than you look by the time I'm done with you." Okay, so maybe she wasn't such a geek after all, Comet realized, she had too much of a mean streak to be completely geeky. Besides, now that her thick glasses were off and he got a chance to look at her enraged face, she was kind of cute...

About ten minutes later, a bloody pink pulp was literally thrown out of the yard by the angry girl. She went to pick up the remains of her glasses and laundry, once again giving the mistaken impression of being a harmless creature that anyone could pick on. The pink blob, which now actually looked like a blob even to those with perfect vision, landed out on the street, where Comet picked it up and rushed back to the warehouse. He made it back just in time.

As the shipment was sent away and the rookies recovered from their beating, Proton shook his head in mild amusement. "Sheesh, brat, you're certainly in a violent mood today, and I thought I was cruel at that age."

Comet considered pointing out that he only punched the rookies because they were hindering the progress of the mission and that he wasn't the one who put that slowpoke in such a pitiful state, but he didn't. Like any other overconfident thirteen year old boy, he nodded and accepted all charges as being true.

To be Continued

Pokemon belongs to Nintendo.

Special thanks to Nafatali and Rocketlord who inspired me with their stories and motivated me to finish mine, and to Destinie, who also helped keep my interest in Pokemon alive with her websites.

Here are some notes about the stories...

When I wrote most of these stories, Unova was the latest region revealed (Black and White) and there were no mega evolutions yet. The only exception is Awakening, which was written around the time X and Y came out.

The girl was Pixel in her civilian days. She later fixes her eyes with laser surgery after joining Team Rocket and Laiki takes the opportunity to tease her about being able to see men in high definition. She also starts dying her hair blue soon after Team Rocket erases her past identity and the world takes her for dead. The tech division would work with important information, they wouldn't need a civilian identity because they wouldn't be leaving, ever. All of this takes place chronologically before they are introduced in Don't Give Me Diamonds.

This is also a small glimpse at the overconfident days of Comet before the loss of Zangoose taught him to be careful and not underestimate any mission. In the end, Comet never quite linked that girl to Pixel since she already had blue hair and no glasses by the time they met in Team Rocket.

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