Shadows of Fear: Journey with a Brain

[Morpher01]

Gah. Between waiting for the town/Gym Leader names and not being able to wait to put this up, you can see which option triumphed.

For those who read the Fanfic Commercials thread, you'll know from the preview what this chronicles. Basically...

SKULL'S THIRD ADVENTURE IS HERE! REJOICE, MY FRIENDS! REJOOIIIIIIIIICE!!

And, now, for the prologue of the third installment. Enjoy!

EDIT: Crap, in all my excitement I forgot to put the rating. It's E10, for ages 10 and over.


Prologue:



My name’s Skull. I was a regular Marowak, ten years ago. But that was before…before I was captured by the human organization called Cipher, before their scientists artificially closed the door to my heart, turning me into a Shadow Pokemon. Before I led a rebellion consisting of nothing but Shadow Pokemon, before I avenged myself and my fellow Shadow Pokemon by knocking my former enslaver, Eldes, into the sea along with his Metagross slave.

Cipher went for me again, five years after that. By that time, I had mated and had a son named Cubon, who was five years old. Cipher never gave up. They chased me through forests, around lakes, and over mountains as I ran, my son in tow. I couldn’t afford for him to get hurt. But then they cornered me, knocked me out with something called a tranquilizer gun. They sent Cubon into the wild, but he managed to survive…mainly because he inherited some of my shadow powers.

I had to rescue my son from Cipher’s lab. So I did. I went to the lab, but was knocked out by a group of humans calling themselves the Hexagon Brothers. Trust me, when you’ve been humiliated by six complete morons, you know you suck. But, at any rate, I managed to free myself just before Ein, one of Cipher’s top scientists, could zap me with some laser that would turn my mind…my free will…to mush. I pulled my son out, and we went to a region called Johto in an attempt to escape Cipher.

There, we escaped Ein again, this time with a couple members of an organization called Team Rocket going for me at the same time. I needed to get Rocket off my back, but I couldn’t do it alone…and I couldn’t afford for Cubon to get hurt. The help I was looking for came in the form of a human named Zak Vangard. Zak…well…he was a little different from the other humans of the world. Instead of treating Pokemon like slaves and servants…like I was used to…he treated them with…kindness. I never truly saw a human treat his Pokemon with kindness. It was then I realized that not all humans were evil…just the ones in Cipher and Rocket…and most of the other “normal” humans.

Then I realized something…in order for Pokemon and humans to really live in harmony, I needed to eradicate the evil humans of the world. This meant that I had to defeat Cipher…again. So, I went back to Orre to take down the bums. As it turned out, Lovrina—one of the Admins—was under mind control the whole time, and defected on her own (with a little “encouragement” from me), taking another Admin named Ein to human authorities. The next one, Snattle, went on his own, as well, though he wasn't under mind control. All the other Admins had to be killed. Then I got to their two leaders, Evice and Greevil.

Both of them had one admittedly very powerful Shadow Pokemon: Evice had a Tyranitar, and Greevil had what he proclaimed to be the ruler of the Shadow Pokemon: Shadow Lugia. He called it “XD zero-zero-one”, but Shadow Lugia has a better ring to it.

Doing it took a lot of work, but I eventually did it: I defeated the super-huge Shadow Lugia, and the Shadow Tyranitar. Afterwards, Evice came out with a Slaking that used the ultra-powerful Ground-type move Earthquake one too many times (due to my provoking it into the final time). Citadark Isle crumbled into the sea, Greevil and Evice not having much likelihood of escaping.

After that, a human who had claimed to be my friend attempted to capture me: Michael. Needless to say, I took him down...brutally. Very, very, brutally, seeing as he had given my son to his younger sister, Jovi, as a slave. Also without need to truly say, I freed Cubon, and we left.

After Michael was taken down, I decided to move to Hoenn, the third region. I lived there for five years until I was met by a human named Scott. He told me that my son and I were two of the strongest non-trained Pokemon he’s ever seen (he referred to us as “wild”, however, angering me some. It’s the fact that humans can’t understand that Pokemon actually ARE sentient beings that ticks me off, not to mention the philosophy that we all were made to serve them). This earned us free pass to a place he made called the “Battle Frontier”. He took us on a ferry there, and I was re-introduced to the Frontier Brains…ten years before, they tried to halt my rebellion. The grudges we had against each other died down (well, except for the Brains named Noland, Greta, Lucy and Tucker), but I still wouldn’t make many human friends. They’re all WAY too egotistical.

Then I was approached by a woman who happened to be a Frontier Brain named Anabel. She has the unique ability to communicate with Pokemon on a telepathic level, like most Psychic-type Pokemon, so communicating wasn’t a problem. I remember that conversation like it was yesterday….oh, wait, it WAS yesterday. Oh, well, anyway…

I remember every detail…

“Hi…I’m Anabel,” she said to me via telepathy

“And I’m Skull,” I thought back, knowing that, via past experience, thinking would invoke telepathy

“I want to ask you something,” she said

“What?” I asked

“Well…you’re one of the most skilled wild—”

“I resent that ‘wild’ comment,” I interjected, my anger easily sensed by a telepathic human like Anabel, “I’m not some stupid, brainless animal.”

“Sorry…,” she apologized, “Anyway, I know you’re one of the strongest Pokemon of all time, and I want you to be on my team for a while.”

“You mean, be a slave?” I asked her, tension in my mental voice

“No!” she said, “I just want you to help me with something I really want to do.”

“Well, then, what?” I asked

“Well…,” she said, “Have you ever heard of ‘Sinnoh’?”

“…si-what-oh?” I asked, confused

“It’s a pair of regions,” Anabel explained, “Filled with completely new Pokemon…even evolutions and pre-evolutions of past Pokemon. Scott says that the Frontier Brains have to conquer that league as practice for when trainers come here. So…how about it? Are you and your kid up for it?”

“Fine…,” I said, “But there’re a few conditions that you have to be willing to accept.”

“What are they?” Anabel asked

I remember holding up my fingers (sometimes I wish I had more…) to count the conditions off.

“One,” I began, “don’t stuff us in those infernal Pokeballs. The idea of spending the night in a dark prison cell is just plain sickening, even if the mountain ranges and such provide some color.”

“Okay, no Pokeballs,” Anabel agreed, “Ash keeps his Pikachu out all the time, so I can live with it. Are there any other conditions?”

“Yes,” I said, putting one finger down to represent the first condition being checked off the list, “The second is, ‘don’t expect me to help you catch other Pokemon’. You’re on your own with that, mainly because I’m opposed to doing things like that. Besides, all my attacks would do is knock the poor thing out.”

“Okay…I can accept that condition, too,” Anabel agreed, “Any others?”

“One last one,” I said, “Don’t tell us what to do in battle. We choose our attacks of our own free will, not of someone else’s. Understand?”

“Perfectly,” Anabel said, “I accept all the conditions.”

“Good.” I said, “One question, though.”

“What?” Anabel asked

“When do we leave?” I asked, “I’m eager to see these new Pokemon. Plus, I want to make sure Pokemon and humans can live in harmony—WITHOUT the constant human need to make slaves—and I need to exterminate any antagonists in these fifth and sixth regions to further that goal.”

*****

Please read, review and rate!

 

[Seviper009]

Wow! It's a beautyfull story Mopher01. You just made me an Marowak fan! I like his character in this fic. Also a good choice to take Anabel as his partner . I like her character too. Can't wait to read more of it.

By the way, this is the first time I read a fic with the Pokemon and trainer talking. So that makes me just happier to read. I'll give you an 9.5/10. It can be higher.

 

[Morpher01]

Seviper009: Thanks! Glad you like it.

 

[justice_pie]

awesome story, i hardly ever read fan fic's,but this one really captivated me,
i hope to read more soon

 

[Armored Zangoose]

Yay! Skull is back! I didn't review the others but i read them. And I look forward to Skull describing the new pokemon.

 

[The Great Butler]

ANABEL!!!!! <3 This fic wins just for her (kidding)

What I like about this series is that it has a very, very unique point of view. It's not every day that you see an adventure through the eyes of a jaded Shadow Marowak with an attitude.

 

[~*Sailor Satun*~]

Man(TGB, please don't kill me when I say this!, been a while since I read a fic with Anabel in it. First I LOVED her, then I liked her, then once I found Mint from GA, I didn't like her. Thank you for making me realize my love of Anabel again. (YAY! Now Arrow won't kill me!) As The Great Butler said, it's unique. Only one suggestion: You may wanna use more descripition, such as similies, metaphors and things like that.

Keep it up, I really like this!

 

[Sike Saner]

Ah, glad to see Skull again. Looks like a good start for his third adventure in terms of writing, I must say. Plus, it’s got the Pokécentricity factor that I do so like to see.

Looking forward to seeing all that awaits Skull and Anabel in Sinnoh, and hoping there’ll be many a kicked butt during the course of their adventure there. I’ll see you next time, and conclude this post with a highlight:

I had to rescue my son from Cipher’s lab. So I did. I went to the lab, but was knocked out by a group of humans calling themselves the Hexagon Brothers. Trust me, when you’ve been humiliated by six complete morons, you know you suck.

 

[Morpher01]

O________________O


So...many...reviews...*dies, revives*


justice pie: Thanks!

Armored Zangoose: *GASPY!* Another closet reader? Welcome to the fic! And, thanks! Glad you likey.

The Great Butler: I knew Anabel would get your attention XD Thanks!

~*Sailor Satun*~: Glad I had an effect on you! XD Also, thanks for reviewing!

Sike Saner: Thanks!

Since I'm still extremely eager (wow..been that way for a couple of days), the next chapter will likely be put up on Saturday...if I have time.

 

[Morpher01]

Here's Chapter 1. The first Sinnoh Pokemon is encountered here...as are the main antagonists.



Chapter 1:





I found out when we left a few days after that mental conversation. Anabel introduced Cubon and I to the rest of her team.

“This is Psylord…,” Anabel introduced me to her first Psychic-type.

The Pokemon she was gesturing to was humanoid in shape, albeit a bit shorter than Anabel (but just barely). It had a large, dark yellow, cat-like head with a big, handlebar mustache of the same color. Its arms, legs, fingers and toes were dark yellow, as well. The torso, feet and hands were brown. Like all Alakazam, this one was holding two spoons. I’m guessing she knew his name because she talked to him via telepathy.

“And this is Metarach…,” Anabel said, gesturing to another of her Psychic-types

Anabel’s second type was nothing humanoid: in fact, it looked like a giant, blue, four-legged spider with three sharp points on its bulky legs. Its face had a white “X” splashed across it, black eyes with blood red pupils and huge mouth—although it couldn’t be seen currently—with two sharp bottom teeth. Huh…this Metagross looks a lot like the one my old enslaver, Eldes, had…

“And, finally, we have Psikit,” Anabel said, gesturing to a light purple, cat-like Pokemon with red jewel between its blue, deep, slanted eyes and a tail with two blunt prongs on the end.

“I take it she likes Psychic-types,” Cubon said, “…as if the world’s dumbest being couldn’t tell.”

Cubon, in recent years, had grown to ten years old. Now he was capable of speech on a mass level and the ability to use a couple of Shadow attacks. Not to mention he now had a sense of humor…one mixed with sarcasm.

“This is your captain speaking,” said the driver of the craft called a boat via a grey square on the ceiling, “We’re about to hit Twinleaf Town, so trainers looking for a new start get ready to rough it to Sandgem Town to pick up their Pokemon.”

“Okay,” Anabel began, speaking to me, Cubon, and her Pokemon, “here we are. Twinleaf Town is on the way to where new trainers starting in Sinnoh pick up their first Pokemon. It’s only for rookies, though, so we’ll skip the starter thing. What we do need is a Pokedex to identify Sinnoh Pokemon.”

“Fine,” I thought, “I’m not willing to pick up many hitchhikers, anyway.”

This brought another matter to my attention: the fact that humans take newly-born Pokemon away from their own mothers just to satisfy their OWN greedy needs. They all think the same thing as they do it: “hey, who cares about a wild animal? It doesn’t need this baby! It’s a bad idea to leave baby Pokemon free! How about we give it to incompetent kids so they can abuse it in every way imaginable! Oh, yeah, and let’s not forget the fact that we’re separating a new-born baby from its mother! Don’t you all love that?” Argh…no matter how tolerant of humans I’ll become, I’ll always hate their stupid philosophies.

I guess I should consider myself lucky…I wasn’t snatched at birth by a human. In fact…I don’t even remember what happened at MY birth…a weird side-effect of Shadowing is that the Pokemon loses most of its memories. What one usually remembers is the abuse it goes through at the hands of human enslavers AFTER the Shadowing process. But, after time, some old memories DO surface…I found that out another way.

“We’ve landed,” Anabel said, pulling out three of the familiar red-and-white sphere I had known for so long…the Pokeball, “Psikit, Metarach, Psylord…return.”

All three of them were sucked into the Pokeballs, one by one, via a red beam of light. Glad I’m not going in there. Despite the fact that the Pokeball somehow provides a range of home areas for the Pokemon inside, I still don’t like them.

“Well…,” Anabel said to us, “You two ready?”

I nodded, as did Cubon, and we began to follow Anabel off the ship.

“Hey!” someone yelled, and a human adult male in a white-and-blue suit came running up

“Yes?” Anabel asked

“No Pokemon are allowed outside of their Pokeballs,” said the male, “please return them if you want to leave this ship for Sinnoh.”

“You don’t understand…,” Anabel said, unwisely trying to reason with the male, “They’re not really mine. I made a deal with them and part of it was that they don’t get pulled into Pokeballs. They don’t like it in there.”

“Not my problem, Ms. Anabel,” said the male, who was now REALLY annoying me with his futile attempts to sound respectful, “return them, please.”

That’s it!

I went over and hit the male in the leg with my bone. Hard. Very, very, hard. Hard enough to make him fall to the floor, screaming in pain. Hopefully I broke a bone or two in there.

“Why’d you order it to attack?!” cried the male, knowing who Anabel was and therefore knew about her telepathy, “I was only following orders!”

“I didn’t,” Anabel said “I told you before that the Marowak and Cubone weren’t mine.”

“Well, then, send them back where they came from!” the male yelled, earning one hard bone hit to the face

I shook my head sadly, sighing. This human was just like all the others: greedy, bullying, and above all, a believer of the annoying human philosophy that all Pokemon belong to humans. This male, like almost all the other humans, believed that the Pokemon who were living their lives free were delaying the inevitable. What. A. Damn. Idiot.

“Uh, guys?” Anabel said, “I know he’s a jerk, but—”

The male pulled out a small black box that I eventually learned was called a “radio”, only for me to smash it to bits with one bone hit.

“—that wasn’t really necessary,” Anabel finished

Cubon and I walked off, leaving the male sprawled on the floor, Anabel following…albeit nervously.

******

When we found ourselves in Twinleaf town, Anabel took us through an area called “Route two-oh-one” and to a place she said someone named “Professor Rowan” lived. She said that he had Pokedexes that he gave out to beginning enslavers, and said that he would give one to Anabel when she got there. Of course, he never bothered mentioning the fact that he’s happy with two “wild” Pokemon traveling with her. If this guy starts ranting about how Pokemon are meant to be servants to humans, I’m gonna drop the whole Pokedex thing and bash his brains in.

We got there, and found a human male with short, brown hair and a lab coat with grey pants. Apparantley, he wasn’t Rowan, due to the fact that Anabel didn’t seem to recognize him…

…and the fact that she asked where Rowan was, that too.

“The last I’ve heard,” the male explained, “Professor Rowan went outside. He hasn’t been back since, and it’s been an hour.”

…should I care, or should I not care? …I think I’ll go with “not”.

“Do you have any Pokedexes?” Anabel asked

“Um…no, actually.” admitted the male, “Professor Rowan took the one reserved for you for safekeeping.”

…maybe NOW I should care……….nope. Still not caring.

The male walked away, and Anabel turned to us.

“We have to go find Professor Rowan,” she said, “since he has the Pokedex he was planning to give me.”

…fine, I’ll care, I’ll care! Geez…

We all (minus the other male) went outside and heard an old human male yelling.

“Your plans are pointless!” we heard, “What never worked ten years ago will not work now!”

Curious, Anabel took us to investigate. We found two human males standing in front of another male, the three of us hiding behind a nearby tree.

The first two males wore outfits with black shirts, blue hats, and blue pants. They were cornering the other male, who had a white beard and hair, a white lab coat, and black pants.

“That’s Professor Rowan!” Anabel whispered for the sake of stealth, “He’s being cornered by those two grunts!”

“Come on, Professor,” one of the grunts said, “Surely you understand the magnificent goals of Team Galactic? With the power of the ancient Pokemon of Time and Space, we will shape the world into a place where all can live in harmony.”

“If you catch Dialga and Palkia,” Rowan yelled, “you’ll corrupt the balance of the universe itself!”

“I wouldn’t say ‘corrupt’,” said the other grunt, “more like…‘perfect’.”

I’ve heard enough. If this “Team Galactic” thinks they can use Pokemon to their own greedy, corrupt wills, they’ve got another thing coming…

…scratch that. They’ve got THREE other things coming.

Yes, I said “three”. Well, technically, Anabel’s working alongside us, right?

Cubon and I walked up behind the Team Galactic grunts to, in a way, say “hi”.

“Hi,” I said from behind them, “we’re critics from the Sinnoh Costume Party, and we’d like to say that…”

I left the sentence hanging for Cubon to finish.

“Your costumes really, really, suck,” Cubon finished, “really.”

“Destroy them!” one grunt yelled, “Crobat, attack!”

“You too, Purugly!” cried the second grunt

Okay…one of these Pokemon is known to me. The other must be one of those new Sinnoh Pokemon.

Crobat is fairly known to me. It had purple skin, yellow eyes and four wings with blue leather-y stuff inside. It also had teeth that were always bared, and pointy, purple ears with blue insides.

The other one, called Purugly by the grunt, was large, bulky, but cat-like. It had blue fur, cat-like ears, and a weird, blue-furred tail that spiraled like a spring. It had yellow eyes with green pupils, a white mouth area, and more white fur along its front. It also had white paws and purple tips on the ears. As its name suggested, it was one ugly Pokemon.

“Crobat, use Wing Attack on the Cubone!” yelled the first grunt

“Purugly, attack the Marowak with Slash!” ordered the other grunt

The Crobat flew towards Cubon with all wings glowing, only to miss as Cubon dodged, then countered with a bone blow to the face. The Crobat spiraled out of control and hit a tree, obviously knocked out.

As for the Purugly…frankly, I had no idea what type it was. With surprising speed, it leapt towards me, white front paws outstretched and sprouting claws. I dodged them, then countered with an attack where my black aura intensified, then became visible as I hit the Purugly in the side. Hard. Hard enough to launch it into the tree the Crobat had become embedded in, smacking the purple bat loose and letting it fall on top of the Purugly.

Pathetic.

“Wha…how…what the…what just happened?!” one grunt cursed

“Dunno!” the second grunt yelled “We gotta get this news back to the boss, stat!”

The two grunts ran off, and Anabel came out from behind the tree we were hiding behind.

“Thank you!” Rowan praised Anabel, ignoring me and Cubon entirely as he walked right on by us without even a glance “Those grunts from Team Galactic wanted to use me for their plans! I’m so grateful you were here, Anabel.”

Uggh…ignorant human. I slapped myself on top of my skull in frustration. Damn, you humans just can’t acknowledge that a “wild” Pokemon just saved your life, can you?!

“It wasn’t me,” Anabel said, and I felt a little better that she actually seemed to understand, “It was them.”

She pointed at me and Cubon.

“But…have you not caught them?” Rowan stupidly asked, “Aren’t you their trainer?”

Sheesh. I thought this guy was supposed to be some intelligent human, not a complete idiot.

“They’re along with me because I asked them to come,” Anabel explained “not because I caught them…which I didn’t. Skull and Cubon only wanted to see the sights, the new Pokemon, and take down any evil people here.”

“Ah, I understand!” Rowan said, though I’m sure he was still annoyed by the fact a ‘wild’ Pokemon just saved his life, “So that Marowak is the famous one from Orre, correct?”

“Yes,” Anabel said

“Then,” Rowan said “you won’t mind if I study it for a while?”

…you ignorant FREAK! I am NOT a tool, an inferior creature meant to be your slave for all eternity! I am a living creature, not something you can use as a science project!

I felt a little amused when Anabel slapped the guy. Heh…got what was comin’ to him.

“Just give me the Pokedex already,” Anabel said

“Oh, all right,” Rowan said, giving Anabel a small, tan, handheld device with a symbol reminiscent of a Pokeball on it “There you go.”

“Thanks,” Anabel said before walking past Rowan

“Give me a call when you’re willing to give me the Marowak for study!” Rowan called after her, earning himself a Bonemerang hit from Cubon

It’s humans like Rowan that annoy me the most. They’re all extremely arrogant, believing that Pokemon were created to serve humans. They’re entirely ignorant of the fact that all Pokemon have some form of personality, and believe us to be soulless, mindless machines for fighting. The fact that they enjoy pitting Pokemon against each other in “contests of strength” sickens me, even more so than elevator music.

Whenever I meet a human who actually believes that stupid philosophy, I can’t help but want to beat them to a bloody little pulp. Only a few humans I’ve ever met actually cared for Pokemon, and so far, none of them are here right now. Which means that Sinnoh is going to have a dramatic population decrease if I get any more of that “hey, can I use your Marowak as my slave for a while?”, or the “hi, I’m going to enslave all the Pokemon of the world and use them to my own greedy ways!”.

I still hate a lot of them…more specifically, the ignorant, philosophy-following humans. They all suck, they really do.

I glanced upward at Anabel, one of few humans who actually have some care for Pokemon. She only stuffs Pokemon in those stupid balls to fit in with the world, not the usual idiocy of enslaving them.

We eventually came up to a wooden sign in front of a pathway leading deeper into Sinnoh.

“‘Route two-oh-two’,” she read out loud, then turned to me

“…I can read, y’know,” I told her, repeating it in telepathy for her

“I didn’t know you could read,” Anabel said to me via telepathy, surprise in her mental voice

“There’s a lot you humans don’t know about Pokemon,” I told her, “You just aren’t willing to actually listen. If you try, maybe we won’t have a need for telepathy. Maybe you’ll be able to understand us naturally. But no, all you humans care about is using us as your tools and slaves, nothing more. You all—er, minus you and several others—think that there isn’t a point to understanding something as long as it understands commands.”

“For most humans…that’s true,” said Anabel, “But not me. Not all of us treat Pokemon like that.”

“I know,” I told her, “I’ve met a few of them. But, sadly for you, not enough for me to actually put all my trust in humankind.”

It was then that another Sinnoh Pokemon flew out in front of us. It was a small, brown bird with a black-and-white head, yellow legs, feet and beady black eyes. It had a brown-and-white tail to match its torso.

“And you are?” I asked it

“A Starly,” the bird said, “You’re Skull, right? Famous Marowak? Never thought I’d see you at all, let alone with a human. Oh, and the name’s Aero.”

“Fine…Aero.” I told the Starly, “I’ve recently—around five years ago, actually—learned that, supposedly, not all humans are evil, but most of the population is. Only this one…”

I pointed at Anabel.

“…and a few others are actually not like that.” I continued, “Still, we don’t like being kidnapped, even by one of the very few humans who treat Pokemon with actual kindness.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” said Aero, fluffing his wings, “Well, gotta go. See ya.”

“Take care.” I called after Aero as he flew off, “And don’t worry, you can tell other Pokemon. Evade capture at all costs.”

Aero may be free, but how many other Pokemon are? Time will tell, I suppose.

*****

We moved on through “Jubilife City”, passing up all the offers from slave drivers who wanted to fight. We found ourselves in front of a cave called “Oreburgh Gate”.

“This is just before the first place I have to go through in order to be on my way to conquering the Sinnoh League,” Anabel explained, “Oreburgh City is just through here, and so is the first Gym.”

Whoopee. Now I’m going to watch or participate in a fight against some idiot who happens to be better than the others enslavers in Oreburgh City. Yay. My guess is that if Psikit, Psylord and Metarach are taken down, I—or Cubon—will be next in line to fight. Doesn’t matter. I’ll mop the floor with whatever comes my way.

Anabel looked at me.

“Are you up for it?” she asked telepathically

“Probably,” I replied, “Just don’t expect us to follow your every friggin’ command, okay? The hallmark of a slave is following every. Single. Frickin’. Command a human throws out, expecting the Pokemon to obey. Word of advice: don’t try that with me.”

Anabel smiled.

“It’s a deal,” she said to me telepathically

Good. Now I can fight however I want, if I have to, and I don’t have to look like a total moron that doesn’t have free will. If Anabel keeps this up, I might stick with her across the whole journey. Hey, who knows?

This could be fun.

****

Please read, review and rate!

 

[Armored Zangoose]

Good chapter. I like Cubon's sense of humor.

 

[Divinity_123]

Yeah, this is great Morpher01, I've got to read the others though When I read the title, I thought Skull didn't have a brain. LOL, then I realized that the brain was Anabel. Shiite. You can add a bit more description too.

Anyways, I'll be reading this.

Divinity_123 ;196;

 

[~*Sailor Satun*~]

Yes, add a bit more descripition. Don't abuse the color's names, use similies and metaphors. And, you missed quite a few periods and commas. Anyway, this getting great, keep it up!

 

[Morpher01]

Armored Zangoose: Thanks!

Divinity_123: Hi! Yeah...the title wouldn't leave my own brain. And...gargh. Description = not Morpher's strong point. Still, I will attempt to put in more description. Thanks for reviewing!

~*Sailor Satun*~: Okay...I'm assuming that by "don't abuse the color names" you said "don't keep repeating the colors over and over"? Or something along the lines of that...I'll try to add more description and...urgh...that's the problem with Microsoft Word. It can detect spelling errors but not misplaced commas and periods...grr.

Anyway...next chapter'll be up in a fewie days.

 

[The Great Butler]

Heheheh.....favorite part was when Anabel owned Prof. Rowan. Creepy old british guy had it coming.

You're doing well, so keep going!

 

[Sike Saner]

Psylord is a cool name. (And that Psylord happens to be an Alakazam, one of my favorite Pokémon, is also cool. ) I like the name Metarach, too.

And a Purugly appeared! Nice. Ah, I may always pity the name of that species…

Also, I enjoyed how things kept provoking Skull to deliver a nice BONK with that bone. XP Well, anyone who annoys him does run the risk of getting just that. (Or something even more painful if they’re being MAJOR a-holes… XP) So yeah, fwee for the power of blunt instruments. ^^

Highlights:

“Not my problem, Ms. Anabel,” said the male, who was now REALLY annoying me with his futile attempts to sound respectful, “return them, please.”

That’s it!

I went over and hit the male in the leg with my bone. Hard. Very, very, hard. Hard enough to make him fall to the floor, screaming in pain. Hopefully I broke a bone or two in there.

“I didn’t,” Anabel said “I told you before that the Marowak and Cubone weren’t mine.”

“Well, then, send them back where they came from!” the male yelled, earning one hard bone hit to the face

“Uh, guys?” Anabel said, “I know he’s a jerk, but—”

The male pulled out a small black box that I eventually learned was called a “radio”, only for me to smash it to bits with one bone hit.

“—that wasn’t really necessary,” Anabel finished

We got there, and found a human male with short, brown hair and a lab coat with grey pants. Apparantley, he wasn’t Rowan, due to the fact that Anabel didn’t seem to recognize him…

…and the fact that she asked where Rowan was, that too.

“Then,” Rowan said “you won’t mind if I study it for a while?”

…you ignorant FREAK! I am NOT a tool, an inferior creature meant to be your slave for all eternity! I am a living creature, not something you can use as a science project!

I felt a little amused when Anabel slapped the guy. Heh…got what was comin’ to him.

 

[Morpher01]

The Great Butler: I know, that was my fave part, too. XD Also, thanks!

Sike Saner: Thanks! I liked the names, too. And, yeah, lots of things provoke Skull...which, by the way, is a very unwise desicion.

Chapter 2 should be up tomorrow...maybe.

 

[Morpher01]

Chappie 2 is here! This features the first Gym battle!



Chapter 2:



After traveling through Oreburgh Gate, we found ourselves in the very place after which the cave was named: Oreburgh City.

“That’s it,” said Anabel, pointing at a grey, stone building in the center of the city, “That’s the Oreburgh Gym.”

Again, whoopee.

Anabel led us inside, and we found ourselves on a tan, rock-laden field with a man standing at the end. The man has brown hair that spiked down to his shoulders, though most of it was covered by a red, hard-looking helmet with a light on it. He wore a grey coat, black shirt underneath, and pants that matched his shirt. He also had a pair of small glass plates, one covering each brown eye and held in place by a black wire.

This human’s appearance was stark contrast to that of Anabel. Not that I like her or anything, but her white coat and shirt with pants to match…not to mention the purple hair with a little spike in it…frankly, I can’t help but make that observation. Her purple eyes contrasted the male’s brown ones, and she had yellow lining in some parts of her coat.

“I was beginning to wonder if a Frontier Brain would come,” the man began, “Good thing I trained my Pokemon extra-hard. Anyway, my name’s Roark, Rock-type leader of Oreburgh Gym.”

I poked Anabel’s leg, and she opened a telepathic link with me in response.

“How is he a Rock-type?” I asked her

“It means he likes using Rock-type Pokemon,” Anabel answered

Well, at least that’s cleared up.

“He looks more like a ‘Gus’ to me…,” Cubon said, “Maybe a ‘Ginger’?”

I snickered a little. Ginger, funnily enough, was a name picked out for female humans.

“Now, Anabel, let’s start the battle,” Roark grinned

“Let’s,” Anabel agreed, grinning also

“These are the terms;” Roark said, “this will be a five-on-five double-battle. If one of us switches Pokemon, then that Pokemon is considered fainted.”

“I accept the terms,” said Anabel

“Good,” Roark grinned again, “Go, Rampardos and Golem!”

Hyouta threw two Pokeballs, one of which threw out a creature that was, simply put, a large, brown, ragged rock with tan limbs with sharp claws on the fingers. The creature, which was known to me, had a dog-like head with red eyes. This was a Golem, and I had faced one down five years ago.

The second one was, I assumed, another Sinnoh Pokemon; it was large, grey, had very short arms, and had blue rings around said arms. Its eyes were red, it had a blue collar with a weird half-ball shape of the same color on top of its head, and it had spikes that surrounded the half-ball thing.

Putting it mildly, they were both ugly.

“Psylord, Metarach, come out my friends!” Anabel cried, summoning her Metagross and Alakazam

“Golem, start things off with Dig!” Roark ordered, his Golem slave withdrawing its limbs and head inside its rock body and launching itself into the air a few feet, digging a huge hole in the ground when it landed

“Where’d it go?!” Anabel cried, puzzled as to the whereabouts of the Golem. She wasn’t the only one, that’s for sure. Everyone except Roark was surprised when the Golem hit Metarach hard from underneath, using a Metagross’ weakness to Ground-type moves like Dig against it.

“Now, Rampardos, use Assurance!” Roark ordered

…what? What’s Assurance?

The Rampardos began to run towards Metarach with speed like a small though agile Pikachu using Quick Attack. It slammed its head into the ground and burrowed underneath.

Wait…isn’t that Dig?

The Rampardos leapt up from underneath Metarach and slammed it with its spiked, rocky-looking head. As Metarach fell to the ground, temporarily stunned, I watched it as it got up. It seemed to have been hurt a bit less by Payback, but it still took quite a bit of damage. It got up, though, and was back in the battle in a matter of seconds.

“Psylord, Psychic!” Anabel ordered

Psylord thrust his spoon-holding hands forward, and the spoons became surrounded by a blue aura, one that matched the color soon surrounding the Rampardos. With some difficulty, and I could tell by the way Psylord’s face became twisted with concentration, he slammed the Rampardos into the Golem. THAT had to hurt.

“Metarach, use Hyper Beam on Golem!” Anabel cried to her Metagross

Metarach’s mouth opened, revealing the two sharp bottom teeth, and a yellow ball of energy slowly formed. The Metagross then fired that beam of energy, which slammed into the Golem so hard that it fainted. Roark recalled his Golem, and a creature that had blue skin mostly covered by a tan, snail-like shell with spikes running down the center line appeared from Roark’s next Pokeball. It had two large yellow eyes, small tentacles coming off the sides of its face, and a circular mouth with four tan flaps that were supposed to represent…teeth, or something, I dunno.

“Omastar, Hydro Pump!” Roark ordered

The Omastar’s circular mouth opened wide, and a ball of water was revealed to be gathering mass and strength. The ball of water shot towards Psylord and hit him with enough pressure to blast him into the wall. He levitated himself back to Anabel’s side, though, so he was okay…just damaged some by the Omastar’s Hydro Pump.

“Rampardos, use Head Smash!” Roark ordered, “Hit Metagross hard!”

Another new attack. This one’s confusing me as much as Assurance, though I have gathered information on that.

Assurance is a Dark-type move, judging by its effect on Metarach after use. The Pokemon using it essentially repeats the last move used in battle, though it is a Dark-type move rather than the original Ground-type the Golem had when it used Dig.

At least, that’s what I gather on it. Maybe when this is over I can get Anabel to give me some info on it…

…well, she IS a human that happens to know how the heck to use a Pokedex.

Anyway…

The Rampardos, semi-ball head glowing blue, rammed its head into Metarach. The attack apparantley hit Metarach with the strength of a Rock-type attack, leaving the Metagross fainted.

“You did great, my friend,” Anabel said as she drew out the Pokeball from which Metarach came, “Take a rest. I’ll get to a healing machine as soon as I can, I promise.”

I’ve never seen a human say things like that to their slaves with such an honest tone as Anabel. She really meant what she said…that’s something I’ve never, ever, in all my life, seen before.

“Psikit, my friend, come out!” Anabel said, throwing a Pokeball that summoned her Espeon to the field

“Rampardos, use Blizzard!” Roark ordered, telling his slave to use an attack I was actually familiar with

The Rampardos opened its mouth, and out came a storm of snow. This Blizzard attack hit both of Anabel’s Pokemon hard enough to freeze the Alakazam solid. Psikit evaded with its agile body for a second, but the Rampardos turned its gaze towards the Espeon, freezing it solid with Blizzard, as well. This rendered both Psylord AND Psikit unconscious, at the very least, and unable to fight until they could thaw out someplace safe.

Now I knew what was to happen…Cubon and I had to fight.

“I’m sorry for letting this happen to you, my friends…,” Anabel said, a hint of sorrow filling her voice (just like her honesty, I never heard a human APOLOGIZE to one of their slaves, let alone fill their voice with sorrow), “Return. I hope you’ll be happier when you thaw out.”

She returned her Espeon and Alakazam, and sent me a telepathic message.

“Looks like you and your son are up,” she said, “Are you ready?”

“Do we have a choice?” I thought back, climbing down from my seat at the side of the Gym (which was a metal bench), followed by Cubon. We walked to the battlefield, and stood in the places where Psikit and Psylord once were.

“These are your next choices?” Roark asked, looking confused (and ignorant), “Wait…blue eyes…how in the world did you get that crazy Marowak under your control? I would never have been able to do that!”

Ignorant fool. I’m no one’s tool. And, I do resent the “crazy” comment. I’m NOT a raving lunatic, for crying out loud! Geez…

“I don’t own Skull,” Anabel explained “He’s not my tool, something I use for personal gain. I keep him and his son out of Pokeballs because I made a deal with them. They’re not mine.”

“Whatever,” Roark said, and I could tell he didn’t believe Anabel about me, “let’s just see if it lives up to its reputation. Rampardos, use Blizzard again!”

I scowled angrily at Roark for being another ignorant fool, referring to me as “it” instead of “he”, like all the humans referred to Pokemon. His Rampardos slave fired off another Blizzard, only for me to use Rock Slide, summoning rocks from the earth and blocking the path of the Blizzard, rendering the attack ineffective.

With the rocks now iced, I had no more control over them, and they fell onto the ground, leaving Cubon and myself entirely open.

“Omastar, Gyro Ball on Marowak!” Roark commanded of his Omastar

Great…another Sinnoh attack that I am COMPLETELY unfamiliar with.

The Omastar sucked itself into its shell, which started glowing an odd grey. It began to roll towards me, gathering speed with every second.

I concentrated, and my shadowy aura grew a bit. I, to the surprise of both Anabel and Roark, ran straight towards the rolling Omastar. At the last second, I leapt over it, turned around, and ran back towards the Omastar, my aura growing bigger with every step.

“Rampardos, protect Omastar!” Roark ordered, “Use Hyper Beam!”

Uh…oh…that’s not good. Really, Hyper Beam’s the KING of all “oh-great-Ho-oh-this-isn’t-good-for-the-guy-about-to-get-his-tail-handed-to-him” attacks.

Still, I had a way around it.

As the Omastar stopped rolling and the Rampardos ran in front of it and opened its mouth, revealing small yellow balls of energy slowly forming into one big one, I leapt into the air again, this time landing on top of the Rampardos’ back. I then leapt behind the Omastar, then down behind the snail creature. roark yelled for the Rampardos to stop Hyper Beam, but it was too late. Hyper Beam didn’t stop once it started charging. Rampardos fired anyway, and the Omastar was hit pretty hard. As for me, I leapt to the side before any harm could be done. I then turned around and put my charging Shadow End to good use, slamming into the Rampardos while it was immobilized during the resting phase of Hyper Beam.

“Omastar, Spike Cannon on Marowak!” Roark ordered

The Omastar sucked its face inside its shell, and pointed its spikes at me. The spikes fired, but I swung my bone and deflected most of them. A few managed to hit me, though. I ran at the Omastar with another Shadow End charged, then slammed into it, sending it into the wall and out of the fight.

“Omastar, return,” Roark said, returning the ancient snail, “Surprising, I have to admit. Bastiodon! I choose you!”

Oh…great….another Sinnoh dweller. Another one I don’t know. And, Roark, YOU FREAKIN’ SUCK! No, seriously. You think it’s “surprising” that a “wild” Pokemon could beat your slaves without breaking a sweat?!

…well, technically, Marowaks don’t sweat, but that’s not the point.

Anyway…

This new Sinnoh Pokemon was a hulking, tan-colored creature with a huge, flat, black head. I could just barely see a pair of yellow eyes hidden behind the four sharp bottom teeth, four fake eyes above originally fooling me. Its nut-like nose had two spikes sticking out of the sides (I wonder how this thing breathes?), and two smaller, but fatter, spikes jutting out of the top corners of its head. And, oh yeah, let’s not forget the spikes going down the creature’s spine. This guy’s really got a thing for spikes.

“Rampardos, use Head Smash!” Roark cried, “Bastiodon, use Iron Head!”

First, the Rampardos came running at me with its head glowing blue again. This time, though, the Bastiodon came at me with its entire head glowing white. Judging by the name, it must be a Steel-type attack. Soooo…

I stood where I was. I waited for the two to come running at me. And I leapt, just as the Bastiodon turned to slam its head into me. Instead, the Iron Head made contact with the Rampardos, slamming the rock raptor…thing…down onto the floor and finally fainting it.

“Rampardos, return!” Roark ordered, “Go, Aerodactyl!”

Oh…crap.

Cubon and I looked up at the giant, flying, grey pterodactyl that emerged from Hyouta’s Pokeball. It flapped its purple wings, screeching as its long, pointed tail cut through the air behind it.

The first thing I did was leap on top of the Bastiodon, then charged a Shadow End as I leapt up to the Aerodactyl, slamming into its stomach and catapulting the both of us into the wall. I crawled off to see Cubon jump on top of the Bastiodon and grab one of the spikes on its head. Pulling it like a human would pull the ropes they wrap around a Rapidash or a Ponyta, Cubon made the Bastiodon run right into the wall itself, making another big hole.

“Bastiodon, Metal Burst!” Roark ordered

“Now what?” I questioned of no one in particular

I couldn’t do a lot but watch as the Bastiodon, unexpectedly, smacked its head (which was glowing…again) into Cubon, launching him right across the arena and on top of me.

“Now, use Giga Impact!” Roark cried

Now the Bastiodon came running at us, its entire body charged with white energy that radiated from it so much that the Bastiodon seemed a lot bigger than it really was. With me and Cubon standing in front of the Aerodactyl, our choice was clear…

…we leapt aside.

What, you expected us to take the hit for the Aerodactyl?! I’m not stupid. Anyway…

The Bastiodon, unable to stop its attack, slammed right into the Aerodactyl with its obviously powerful attack. Roark returned his fainted Aerodactyl, leaving a temporarily immobilized Bastiodon to be smacked repeatedly by Bonemerangs from Cubon and Shadow Ends from me.

“Bastiodon, Protect!” Roark ordered

Just as I was about to deliver the finishing Shadow End, the Bastiodon put up a green force-field in front of me that deflected the attack. I felt no recoil this time, unlike throughout the rest of the battle…

Ugghh!

Now it occurred to me.

The pain!

Pain from recoil of using all those Shadow Ends throughout this battle…pain!

Must…finish…battle!

Shadow End…charging…run into Bastiodon…it fainted…

Finally…

Roark's words…so distant…loosing…

…consciousness…

…

…

…fa…in…ting…

Ugh…

*****

“Skull? Skull?”

“Uh, dad? You can come back to the land of the living, now.”

Voices…

“Your Marowak has suffered tremendous recoil damage from its fight with Roark. It could be here, unconscious like this, for a while.”

Must…wake…up…and…kill…person…calling…me…“it”…

Uggh…

I opened my eyes and saw the orange skin, loosely-placed skull, and small bone of Cubon. Anabel stood next to him, along with a human female in a white outfit with hideous pink hair (why do I see so much ugly PINK?!) and a small hat matching her outfit.

“Uggh…,” I groaned, “What’s going on?”

“It’s awake!” the Nurse Joy cried

I glared at her. “It” this, “it” that, I’m so sick of it! I have a gender, y’know!

“Uh…let’s just go,” Anabel said before having me and Cubon leave the building

*****

As we left the building, I turned around and saw that it was a Pokemon Center. At least…that’s what the humans called it. I call it a Pokemon Prison.

FLASH!

Well, this hasn’t happened in a while. I seem to be getting a memory.

As the light cleared, I looked down at myself. My skin was a slightly darker shade of tan, and my bone was smaller. I was a Cubone again.

I looked up and saw…

…Eldes…

Well, this is a memory.

Anyway…

I apparantley was sitting outside the nearby Pokemon Center. Eldes—a human with short, red hair, along with black-and-red clothing and a pair of black glass plates covering his eyes—had a blue, UFO-shaped Pokemon with a pair of limbs following him into the Center. The Pokemon also had a spike for a nose, two red eyes in black sockets, and short blades on its corner rear. That would be his Metang, the pre-evolved form of his Metagross slave. Did I mention that the Metang also looked pretty beaten up?

“Metang, follow me,” the adolescent-looking Eldes said “We’re going to the Center.”

Being a mindless slave—as I apparantley was back in the day—the Metang followed Eldes inside. As another bright light occurred, I found that time had accelerated. I was sitting next to a Pokemon with a purple color and a lack of actual limbs, though it had floating hands. It also had a wide, grinning mouth, and evil-looking eyes.

I was sitting next to a Haunter.

“Metalmouth’s been in there for a while,” the Haunter said, referring to the Metang by its actual name, “About four days. Y’think it’s dead?”

I shrugged, having no control over my own actions in a memory…not even my speech.

“Who knows?” I said, “I haven’t been in there.”

It was true. At that time, I hadn’t been in many battles, and any I was in I had won without fainting.

“Yeah, well,” the Haunter responded, “Metalmouth is. First time Eldes brought it here.”

The Haunter and I referred to Metalmouth the Metang as “it” for a reason…it had no gender. Metalmouth, though capable of emotion, was mostly a computer. The young created by Beldum, Metang and Metagross are often built from scratch…literally.

FLASH!

“Skull? Skull!” Anabel called, “Oh, you’re awake. You zoned out for a minute, there.”

“Memory recall,” I told her, “It happens from time to time.”

That memory…it detailed the first time I had seen a Pokemon Center. After my Shadowing, I began to think of the Centers as prisons, due to the fact that Pokemon often never came out for days after a battle. It was a human’s punishment to a Pokemon for failing in battle.

Anabel explained that as soon as the battle in the Gym was over, Roark had given her something called a “Coal Badge”. She showed it to me, and I just scoffed at it. Really…what point is there to beating up yours and another’s slaves to get a worthless piece of metal? Humans may see it, but I don’t.

Anabel told us where we were heading to next: a place called “Eterna City”, where the next Gym was. As long as no humans infuriate me in any way, I’ll be (mostly) fine with wherever she wants to go. Besides, someone has to take down Team Galactic. Obviously, that’d be me, Cubon, and Anabel, since no other humans seem to be putting any effort into it.

As we left for Eterna City, I thought that Team Galactic was the only real threat. As I was about to find out, however…

…there were more.

*****

Please read, review and rate!

 

[Sike Saner]

I loved how Skull kept getting ticked off by folks referring to him as an “it”. X3 I just hope he never gets so sick of being called an “it” that he feels the need to…erm, show the proof that he’s male. ; Lol, that might just be the first time a Marowak was charged with indecent exposure…

I also liked the explanation of how the Beldum line reproduces. I’ve long thought that many genderless Pokémon should be able to reproduce asexually one way or another, so it was cool to see someone else conveying a theory along those lines about a genderless Pokémon.

The scenes where Skull got to see the earnest care Anabel shows for her Pokémon were nice, too. It’s the kind of thing that helps to broaden and diversify his opinions of humans a little. (He’ll still beat the frell out of the ones who deserve it, though, I’m sure. )

Yay, the dinosaurs of Sinnoh appeared! Those things are cool, especially Rampardos. ^^

And heh, I think I’m going to call that Gym Leader “Ginger” from now on. XP

Other highlights:

“I was beginning to wonder if a Frontier Brain would come,” the man began, “Good thing I trained my Pokemon extra-hard. Anyway, my name’s Hyouta, Rock-type leader of Oreburgh Gym.”

I poked Anabel’s leg, and she opened a telepathic link with me in response.

“How is he a Rock-type?” I asked her

“It means he likes using Rock-type Pokemon,” Anabel answered

And, Hyouta, YOU FREAKIN’ SUCK! No, seriously. You think it’s “surprising” that a “wild” Pokemon could beat your slaves without breaking a sweat?!

…well, technically, Marowaks don’t sweat, but that’s not the point.

With me and Cubon standing in front of the Aerodactyl, our choice was clear…

…we leapt aside.

What, you expected us to take the hit for the Aerodactyl?! I’m not stupid. Anyway…

 

[The Great Butler]

Very enjoyable, once again. What really makes this good is the totally unique viewpoint it presents. We could see it from Anabel's point of view, but then it would be too much like a regular journey fic. Having it done from the perspective of the Pokémon---and one with a great personality---truly makes this great.

The battle itself was quite good. Nice to see Hyota's fossil Pokémon and new attacks. I also got quite a chuckle from "Metalmouth."