Brandon's Tropical Journey (PG)

[dash142]

Brandon’s Tropical Journey

Chapter One: Forming the Team​

A white haired, green eyed teen wearing a black and orange t-shirt with matching pants and shoes stepped onto the Beach of Tangelo Island. He recalled his Corphish that he had ridden there on, and looked around. On his shoulder was his loyal Pikachu, Sparks.


He saw a black haired teen that seemed to be around his age was battling two other trainers. He wore a black vest over a long sleeved white shirt, and he had black jeans and shoes. His eyes were a yellow, moon like color, and he seemed to be outnumbered in the battle. He had a Scizor and the two trainers he was facing had a Poliwhirl and a Bagon.


“Dang, this guy is still going? He must be as powerful as the Orange Crew!” One of the other trainers said, and then the black haired kid’s Scizor attacked. But he hadn’t said a thing! He hit the Bagon with a Metal Claw, and it was knocked a ways off but still managed to get up.


“Hey, two on one isn’t fair! How bout we even the odds a little? Go Sparks, Volt Tackle!”

Sparks leaped off of the white haired kid’s shoulder, and ran at the Poliwhirl. As he ran at him, it began to glow, it was charging up its electricity and it rammed straight into the water Pokemon, sending it down. The Poliwhirl got up though after a bit as well.


“All right Poliwhirl, use water gun on that Scizor!”
“Bagon, head butt that Pikachu!” The two trainers commanded their Pokemon, but the other two were ready.


“I got the dragon…” The black haired kid said and Scizor flew at Bagon with a Metal Claw, hitting it in the back just before it hit Sparks. The Bagon then went down, it had fainted.


“Alright, use thunder shock Sparks!” The white haired kid commanded his Pikachu, and it obeyed, charging up its electricity and hitting the Poliwhirl witch caused the water gun to not reach its target. The Poliwhirl just fell over having been knocked out as well.


“Dang it, you guys could probably school the Orange Crew actually. See you around!”

The two trainers said as they recalled their Pokemon and left. The black haired kid returned his Pokemon too, and went to shake the white haired kid’s hand. Sparks jumped on the white haired kid’s shoulder.


“Thanks, I’m Aaron.” The black haired kid said as he shook Brandon’s hand.

“No problem, those guys were going to beat you even though if you had another one you could have schooled them. I’m Brandon Birch by the way, and this is Sparks.” The white haired kid with the Pikachu introduced himself.


“I’ve kind of gotten lost, and haven’t seen a Pokemon Center in a while. All my other Pokemon are exhausted. I’m glad I’ve finally reached an inhabited island. Come on; let’s go to the Pokemon Center.” Aaron told Brandon and he turned to walk to the town.

“All right, oh yeah um… What’s the Orange Crew?” Brandon asked the other boy as they walked towards town.

“I think that’s what they call the Orange Island gym leaders. But there are only four of them, plus the champion. There the reason I came to the Orange Islands.” Aaron responded to Brandon, and then they entered the town.

“So did I, but I didn’t know they were called that. Oh look, there’s the Pokemon Center.” Brandon said when he spotted the building, and then they walked in. Aaron gave his Pokemon to Nurse Joy, and then sat down with Brandon.

“So, I know you’ve been lost for a while, but would you happen to know the way around the Orange Islands now that you know where we’re at?” Brandon asked the other boy.

“Nope, I’ve been traveling around just battling gyms since I got my Pokemon. I’ve gotten Kanto’s and Hoenn’s, but I’ve only participated in the Hoenn League. I won the one they just had.” Aaron told Brandon as they waited.

“Oh, cool. I won the Hoenn League two years before the one you were in. I only made the top four in Kanto though,” Brandon recalled to Aaron and then added, “If we’re going to find all the places in this region, we’re going to need a guide.”

Just then, a girl with long purple hair and blue eyes walked over to the two boys. She was about their height, and she wore a black t-shirt and a purple skirt along with some glasses.

“Excuse me; did you just say you needed a guide to show you around here?” She asked them.

“Uh, yeah we do. Why, do you want to do it for us?” Aaron asked the purple haired girl.

“Yes, I guess I’ll show you two around. But you have to make sure I don’t get into any danger okay? I’m a Pokemon Photographer, and I was looking for some people to accompany me around here too.” The girl explained to the boys, and then Nurse Joy gave Aaron back his Pokemon.

“All right it’s settled then, let’s go you two,” Brandon said as he and Sparks stood up. The group walked outside and then back to the beach after they had bought the needed supplies.

“Okay, who has a water type Pokemon that we can all ride on?” Brandon asked when they got to the beach, and then the purple haired girl answered him.

“I do, by the way, my name is Glacia. Go Lapras!” The giant water Pokemon appeared and let out a cry.

“My name’s Brandon Birch, I’m from Littleroot Town in the Hoenn Region, and this is Sparks.” Brandon told Glacia as he climbed on Lapras along with Sparks.

“My name is Aaron, I also came from Hoenn. Thanks for the ride.” Aaron introduced himself as he also climbed onto the Lapras. Glacia got on soon after that, and they set off for the nearest island.

“So which island is the closest?” Brandon asked their guide as they rode across the open seas on Lapras.

“That would be Maikan Island. The Orange Crew member there is named Sissy and I hear she has an annoying little brother. We should get there pretty soon.” Glacia told the eager trainer as she looked around the sea. Brandon and Sparks soon fell asleep afterwards, but the other two trainers stayed up.

“So how long have you known Brandon?” Glacia asked Aaron as she had nothing else to do.

“I just met him when we arrived on Tangelo Island. He helped me fight off these two trainers who had challenged me. I could have taken them myself, but all my other Pokemon were exhausted,” Aaron told his new companion.

“I see he’s a pretty nice guy then. He’s just like his dad,” Glacia said to Aaron. “You know his dad? But you just met him!” Aaron interjected.

“What do you mean? Who doesn’t know his dad! Weren’t you listening to him? He’s Brandon Birch, his dad is Professor Birch. You should have met him by now if you were from Hoenn.” Glacia said to her partner.

“I grew up in an orphanage, but they said I was a pretty good with Pokemon, so they let me have one and sent me off when I was ten. They usually didn’t do that at our place. I’ve just been traveling around challenging people now. They didn’t really explain that much to me.” Aaron painfully recalled his childhood.

“Oh… I see. Sorry to bring it up.” Glacia apologized and then saw the island. He shook Brandon to wake him up. “Hey, we’re up you lazy bum”. Brandon soon woke up and so did Sparks. He sat up straight and yawned, and then he looked at the island.

“Is that Maikan Island?” Brandon asked as he stretched.

“Yeah, that’s it. Lets get your stupid badges and leave, there’s nothing else on the island anyways.” Glacia explained to the two with some boredom in her voice.

Brandon got up on Lapras’s head and pointed his fist in the air; Sparks copied him while standing on his trainer’s head.

“LISTEN UP ORANGE CREW! MY NAME IS BRANDON BIRCH AND I’M NEVER GOING TO LOSE TO A SINGLE ONE OF YOU!” Brandon yelled so loud, that his two companions were sure that the whole archipelago could hear him… Or at least the people on Maikan Island could anyways.

 

[dash142]

Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Coral Eyes​

The group finally made it to Maikan Island. They got off Lapras, and Glacia put it back in it’s Pokeball. Brandon, Sparks, Glacia, and Aaron then made their way to the gym. They found it near the west side of the island, and started to walk towards it when a girl with long brown hair and blue eyes came walked out of it. She was wearing a black tank top and a pink skirt that went down to her knees. The girl walked up to them and asked them if they were challengers.


“Hey, you all wouldn’t happen to be here to challenge the Orange League, would you?”


“Me and this guy are,” Brandon said as he pointed to Aaron. “I’m Brandon Birch, and he’s Aaron. Are you a member of the Orange Crew?” The white haired boy took the liberty of introducing his friend, and then asked who the girl was.


“That’s right. I’m Sissy of the Coral Eye badge. Just so you know you can only use water Pokemon at my gym.” She told her two challengers and they looked kind of disappointed.


“What? That’s pretty lame but oh well. I only have one on me.” Brandon replied to the Orange Crew member.


“That’s fine; it’s not like there’s going to be a battle or anything.” Sissy told the green eyed boy. Brandon argued with her about how he was going to get a badge if there was no battle. Sissy informed the two that in the Orange League, you earned your gym badges by beating the leaders in certain tasks like a race or target practice, though you might also battle.


Meanwhile, Aaron was talking to Glacia about how he only had one water type Pokemon.


“The only water Pokemon I have is Feraligator. I’m sure he could do the target practice and battle but…”


“Don’t worry; you can use Lapras for the race test. The first two tasks are target practice. I’ve watched people challenge her a lot. Look…” Glacia told Aaron, then pulled some pictures she had taken a while back that showed people battling Sissy, and the other Orange Crew.


“You’ve done this before?” Aaron asked the purple haired girl.


“Not exactly, I didn’t follow any of the trainers around. I just went to the gyms when I had time.” Glacia informed Aaron and reminded him that she was a photographer after all.


“All right let’s go in the gym guys.” Brandon said to his friends and they followed Sissy into the gym. They could have sworn she said something about how Brandon was more annoying than her little brother. When they walked into the gym, there was a huge pool in the center of the room, and some water Pokemon were playing in it.


“All right guys, time for a battle,” Sissy said and she recalled her Pokemon to their pokeball’s. “The first round is target shooting. You have to shoot down the targets as they come up. I’ll use Seadra, so who’s up first?” Sissy asked whether Brandon or Aaron would go first as she enlarged a Pokeball and sent her Seadra into the pool.


“I’m up first of course! I’ll use Corphish for this thing.” Brandon said as he ran up to the pool and released his crab like Pokemon into the pool.


“Alright, here’s the first stage… Shoot the non moving targets,” Sissy said and she pressed a button and a panel rose up on the opposite end of where they were at. It had eight targets on it, and they seemed easy enough to break with a water gun or bubble beam. “Begin!” Sissy said and then Seadra started shooting at the targets with water gun. Corphish began shooting them with quick and surprisingly fast bursts of its bubble beam. Glacia took out a small camera and took some pictures; it had a strap on it so she put it around her neck when she was finished.


About a half a minute later, Corphish narrowly shot down the last target just before Seadra. “Well looks like you win five to three, good job kid. Next up is the moving targets. Can you hit them faster than my Seadra this time? There will be 8 targets in all, and they’ll shoot out at random holes that you just made from when you broke the previous ones, got it?” Sissy explained to Brandon as she got ready to press another button.


“Got it, let’s go!” Brandon said, eager to wrap up his gym ‘battle’. Sissy pressed the button and the match was on. The two Pokemon shot at the targets as good as they could, about a minute later it was over. Corphish had somehow triumphed again.


“Wow that was pretty good actually; well you beat me twice so I now present you with the Coral Eye Badge. You earned it Brandon.” Sissy took a pink, shell shaped badge that had yellow circle around it and a blue dot in the middle and she handed it to Brandon.


“Now I only need three more badges and then I can face the champion, awesome!” Brandon exclaimed as he put the badge up in a case. “Well, you’re up Aaron. Hurry and show us what your made of.” Brandon said after he put up the badge.


“We’ll do a race this time. Then we’ll do a battle afterwards, hold on and let me tell my brother to fix the targets for me.” Sissy told the group to wait and she then went off to get her brother, she returned soon and the four of them walked out to the beach. Brandon was complaining about how he should have gotten to battle her but Glacia hit him and told him to shut up.


“Okay, do you see that big rock sticking out of the water there?” Sissy asked Aaron as they got to the beach and he said yes. “We start out on opposite ends, go to the rock, and then come back here on the other side, get it?” She continued to explain to the black haired boy as he listened to her.


“I’ll be using my Blastoise, okay, what about you?” Sissy asked Aaron and then Glacia took Lapras out of its Pokeball. She told it to obey Aaron for now and it nodded when it understood her.


“I’m going to be borrowing her Lapras for now.” Aaron said as he climbed on to the giant water type. Sissy said okay and she sent out Blastoise and climbed on to it.


“Ready, set, go!” Sissy counted down and then the two sped off for the rock. Aaron telepathically told Lapras to fire an Ice Beam in Sissy’s path and it obeyed. But Sissy wasn’t going to be stopped that easily.


“Use Hydro Pump to blast the ice out of the way!” She told her Blastoise and it shot two powerful blasts of water from its cannon’s sending the ice block flying out of the way. The two then made it to the rock and turned, and then a big wave appeared behind them. Glacia got her camera out again and started to take more pictures. Aaron has Lapras freeze it with Ice Beam, but the one on Sissy and Blastoise’s side hits them. Sissy falls off, but quickly swims back to Blastoise. Aaron then has an even better idea once he sees them catching up, he has Lapras freeze them a path, and then it climbs on to it. They slide all the way to the finish line with Sissy coming in a few seconds later.


“Whoa, those were some pretty good strategies you came up with out there. Let’s move on to the next one, the sumo match. I’m using Blastoise again.” Sissy complemented Aaron and they moved further down the beach. Aaron thanked Glacia for the use of Lapras and said he couldn’t have done it without her after he gave it back to her.


“No problem, but I doubt it could of came up with those ideas on its own. It was mostly your own skills that helped you win. Your Feraligator should be able to win this sumo match.” Glacia complemented Aaron also as they moved to the final arena.


“Hey, how do you know what Pokemon he has?” Brandon asked as they were walking.


“We talked while you were sleeping on the way here, and when you argued with Sissy about how you thought the Orange League rules were lame. You took an awful lot of time doing that you know.” Glacia informed the hot headed and overconfident white haired trainer.


They soon reached a place where someone had drawn a huge circle in the sand. In the center of that circle was another smaller one, and there was a line going through the middle of it as well. Sissy’s Blastoise walked into it and stood on one end of the smaller circle.


“Alright, I suppose you know how a sumo match works right? Because then you’ll know what to do.” Sissy asked Aaron as they arrived at the arena. Aaron shook his head and then enlarged a Pokeball. He threw it up in the air and out came a Feraligator. Aaron’s giant blue crocodile like Pokemon walked into the ring and stood on the opposite end of the small circle.


“Okay, begin!” Sissy announced the start of the next event, and both Pokemon tried to grab each other but Feraligator had much longer arms. Blastoise couldn’t even reach the crocodile like Pokemon, and was pushed out of the ring with ease. Sissy’s mouth hung wide open; she had just suffered a total defeat so she had no chance but to hand over the Coral Eye badge again. Glacia clapped for Aaron but Brandon and Sparks were too busy laughing at how Sissy had totally gotten whooped. Sissy returned Blastoise to it’s Pokeball and then gave Aaron his badge.


“There you go Aaron, good job. I’m sure you’ll both beat the others with ease. Except the Champion of course, no one has ever gotten a total victory against him before. See you later!” Sissy bid them farewell and they said goodbye as well. The trio walked to the Pokemon Center in town and they gave their Pokemon to Nurse Joy and then sat down at a table while they waited.


“So, what Pokemon do you have anyways Aaron? I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.” Brandon asked his quiet traveling companion and he responded.


“Okay fine, I have a Feraligator, Scizor, Tyranitar, and a Salamence. I want to leave my part open a bit so I can have at least one Pokemon from every region. I hear there’s supposed to be some island in the Orange Archipelago where all the Pokemon on it are pink and I want one from there too.” Aaron told Brandon as he probably wasn’t going to stop asking him until he did.


“Oh, you mean Pinkan Island? Your in luck, I think they said just made a new rule. Anyone who can get to the island by a way other than flight is permitted to catch one Pokemon there now apparently. But it’s kind of hard because the island is surrounded by whirlpools. I’ve always wanted a pink Pokemon too… there so cute.” Glacia told them dreamily.


“Cool, knowing me I’m sure I’ll find some way to get us on that island. By the way, my Pokemon lineup consists of Sparks here,” Brandon started naming his party, and he looked at his Pikachu when he said his name. “Munchlax, Corphish, and Blastiodon. I also have a Flygon who’s hanging out back at my house in Hoenn. I wanted to give my newer Pokemon a chance to get stronger because I’ll probably use them in Sinnoh. But I didn’t want to be completely out matched here so I brought Sparks & Munchlax.”


Nurse Joy brought back their Pokemon and they got up and walked to the beach while Glacia started to tell them her line up. “I’ve only got Lapras and a Seel.” Glacia told the two boys. She wasn’t really a battler so she didn’t even need Pokemon except for traveling. Once they got to the beach, Glacia threw Lapras’s Pokeball up in the air and she appeared. The trio then climbed on and headed towards Pinkan Island.


“Hey, we are going to Pinkan Island, right?” Brandon asked Glacia just to make sure.

“Yeah, it’s pretty close so you’d better start thinking of some way to get us past those whirlpools.” Glacia told Brandon as they sailed along towards Pinkan.

 

[dash142]

Chapter 3

Pokemon: The Birch Chronicles
The Orange League Saga
The Pinkan Island Arc
Chapter Three: Zach​

Brandon, Sparks, Aaron, and Glacia were riding on Lapras towards Pinkan Island. Brandon was complaining to Glacia about why it was taking so long and Aaron was just staring into the ocean.


”Why is it taking so long Glacia? You said we were going straight there and all!” The white haired & emerald green eyed trainer complained to the purple haired and icy blue eyed photographer.


“Yes, we are heading straight for it but that doesn’t mean we’ll get there a whole lot faster. We had to pass a couple of islands too before that now stop complaining. Why can’t you be more like Aaron and stop being so annoying?” Glacia asked the annoying boy to shut it.


“Fine, I’ll be quiet then.” Brandon said and turned away from the blue eyed girl. A little bit later the sea started to get a bit rough and the three trainers looked up ahead of them and saw a ton of whirlpools. Of course, they panicked immediately, or at least Brandon did.


“Oh crud, it’s a bunch of whirlpools! Hurry Sparks, get in your Pokeball!” Brandon recalled Sparks to his Pokeball and turned to the others. “What are we going to- Whoa?!” It was too late; they had been sucked into one of the spinning circles of water.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little later, the three of them wake up and are inside of a little house with a boy and a girl looking at them. The boy was someone that Brandon knew very well.


“Looks like I had to get you out of trouble again huh? You’re really unlucky dude; it must be because of that stupid white hair of yours. You should dye it back to your original color.” The boy said to Brandon as he woke up.


“Shut it Zach, I told you a million times already, this is my natural color. Where are we?” Brandon asked his savior as his vision began to clear up. He could finally see Zach’s spiky brown hair and brown eyes clearly. Zach was also wearing his trademark black t-shirt and blue jeans under a white lab coat.


Brandon looked around the room and saw Aaron and Glacia were already up as they were sitting at a table nearby, then he turned to the other girl who was next to Zach. “And who is she?” Brandon added as he saw the beautiful brown haired and greenish brown eyed girl. Her dark brown hair went down to just below her shoulders in the back, and to just above her eyes in the front. She was wearing a purple long sleeved t-shirt that went down to just below her chest and had white sleeves. She was also wearing a purple skirt that matched her shirt and went down just below her butt; underneath it were a pair of small tight black shorts along with some white sneakers. She was holding a light purple cat like Pokemon in her arms; it had a red dot just above the spot in between its eyes, a long tail that forked off at the end, and it was wearing a black collar.


Zach introduced the girl to Brandon and told him where they were after he got up. “You’re on Pinkan Island of course, and this is Amy Redwood,” Zach then put his arm around Amy and continued his sentence. “I met her at the University, she’s my girlfriend.” Zach had recently started studying to become a Pokemon Researcher at Blackthorn University over in the Johto region, and at least one of Amy’s parents must have been a professor as well judging from her last name.


“Oh, okay… wait we’re on Pinkan Island? Yes! We made it!” Brandon exclaimed with excitement because that meant they would get to catch a pink Pokemon. “Hey, what are you doing here anyways? You said you didn’t get off again until the summer.” Brandon asked his rival after he finished jumping for joy.


“We’re doing a research project on the Pokemon here for school. Zach thought he’d run into you here, he knew how dangerous it was to get here without flying. He also said he knew you had a knack for getting into dangerous situations.” Amy told Brandon all of the things Zach had said about him to her in a sweet voice.


“Oh he did, did he?” Brandon asked as he turned and gave his rival a look. Zach just smiled and shrugged a little. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go catch some Pokemon!” Brandon asked the group as he prepared to run outside but Amy stopped him.


“Um… maybe you should put some clothes on first.” Amy said while blushing a little bit. Brandon then looked down and saw he was only wearing his boxers and then everyone in the room started laughing at him. He then noticed that Aaron & Glacia were dressed differently, that’s when it struck him. Their clothes had gotten wet so they must have gotten some different ones.


Glacia and Aaron were both wearing plain white shirts and a pair of jean shorts, but Aaron had slipped his black vest over the shirt as well, and Glacia had the middle part of her hair in a pony tail, but let the sides rest on the front side of her.


“C’mon, I have an extra shirt and pair of shorts you can have dude.” Zach said and he handed his goofy rival some new clothes. He slipped them on and then they were off to the outside. They walked in to a forest and then decided to split up.

“I’ll go off on my own with Sparks you guys.” Brandon told his friends and finally let his Pikachu out of his Pokeball again. The little electric mouse happily jumped up on Brandon’s snowy white head which was really messy at the moment and sat down. The two of them walked off straight forward, because everyone knows the straight path is the quickest.


“I’ll go with Aaron over here you two, see you later!” Glacia said to Zach & Amy, and then the long purple haired girl went off with the quiet black haired boy to the left of them which left the two Pokemon researchers to go to the right together.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, on another part of the island a big black transport copter with a big red ‘R’ on each side landed. Three people got out of it; one of them was a tall brown haired guy who was really muscular. He wore a black long sleeved t-shirt with a big red ‘R’ on the center of it, black jeans, and white boots. That man’s name was Herman, but he was actually just an ordinary grunt.


One of the other men was also wearing it and he was a short person with long black hair which you could see even though he was wearing a black golf hat. His eye’s were concealed by a pair of shades though, and he & Herman held cannons in there hands. The short man’s name was Dave, and he was a rank higher than Herman, but not as highly ranked as the last person who had gotten out.


The last person there was a lot taller than Dave, but not even close to Herman’s height. It was a short red haired woman with two red fox-like ears sticking out of her head who wore odd black shades with yellow rims that could have been mistaken for goggles because they had a strap on them. They definitely had some sort of abilities though however. The red haired woman wore an open black jacket that had a big red ‘R’ on the back, and black pants and boots. The shirt under her jacket was white which also had the red letter on it. Coming out of a hole in her pants was a Vulpix tail. Her name was Kate, and she was a Team Rocket executive.


“Alright you two stooges; split up and capture as many Pokemon as you can, also feel free to take out anyone who gets in your way. Operation Pink has begun.” The Pokemorph executive told her lackeys their orders.


“Yes Ma’am, moving out!” Herman and Dave replied having understood their orders, and the three Team Rocket members moved out.

---------------
The next chapter will be about Zach, Amy, and Brandon’s encounter with the invaders, as well as some other things.