It's quite funny that I just refreshed the page so that I could login and post the new chapter, only to find that I had two new comments.
Thankyou, Dramatic Melody, for the thorough grammar check and heart-warming comments, and don't worry, this fic will last (it just won't be as regularly updated as JAJ was because I am now doing my A-levels).
As for Torploeon, thankyou also for reading and for the kind words. The answer to your question is certainly. (Expect a PM in a couple of minutes
)
Before the new chapter, may I take this chance to further my self-proclaimed mission and remind you all that the
Fan Fiction Awards Nominations close this Friday and many fics are in dire need of seconding. Indeed, several categories have no nominations at all! Please help to make the FFA the success it was last year!
Now, on with the show!
Chapter 2: Of Dodgy Data and Inihilated Instalations.
As James emerged from the depths of unconsciousness like a majestic surfacing Wailord, the voices of those around him met his brain like the ear-splitting screeches of a flock of riotous Wingull.
He recognised one of the voices as Oak’s: “Do you think the adaptations I’ve made will work? The pokedex chip might not function as we hope,” he was saying.
And then he heard his father: “Yes, yes, it was an ingenious idea,” he was closer to James but seemed to be concentrating more on his conversation with Oak than on his son at that moment, “The pokedex chip will register the standard information for each new pokemon he meets, and, coupled with the DreamScope’s own technology, will also record the individual species brain-wave patterns.”
James’ head felt like it was full of candy-floss, and every time somebody spoke it was like the vendor was stabbing the stick in to extract some of the cloud-like sugar.
“But will he be able to cope?” asked Oak, “I mean this is an important mission we’re sending him on.”
James clenched his eyes shut, he couldn’t concentrate on the conversation around him with this constant pounding in the back of his skull.
“Yes, I suppose it is,” answered Gerald, his prior jubilation fading slightly, “Of course, I’d rather send someone with more experience, but we don’t really have much choice, do we?”
Finally, James managed to subdued the pain and, with an enormous amount of effort, succeeded in opening his eyes.
A monstrous vision of blue-green and pink was waiting for him on the other side of his eyelids. James’ pupils dilated in surprise as he stared into the alien face. The disproportionately large eyes of the creature widened in equal terror and it skittered backwards in fright before tumbling off James’ chest and falling to the floor with a soft thump.
<Ow,> groaned a strange voice, <will you warn me next time you’re going to do that? I almost landed on my bulb.>
<I must be going crazy,> James thought to himself, <I swear I just saw a pokemon sitting on my chest, and now I‘m hearing voices in my head.>
<You may be crazy, but you chose me so you can’t be all bad,> the strange voice said, even stranger, the voice seemed to be inside James’ head.
“What? Who said that?” he replied out loud, <It must be that bump on my head making me hallucinate,> he concluded when nobody answered.
Suddenly, the memories of what had happened all morning came rushing back and James realised what his father and Professor Oak had been talking about.
James’ father turned round at the sound of his son’s voice; he had been sitting on the edge of the sofa, where he had moved James after he’d collapsed, and facing Professor Oak who was standing a little way away.
“James, you’re awake!” he shouted joyfully.
James pushed himself up onto his elbows with significant effort and looked around the room properly for the first time since his accident. He was just about to reassure his dad when his wandering eyes found the Bulbasaur he had received earlier that day sitting on the floor and looking up at his trainer with a look of disgruntlement plastered across his reptilian face.
James was just about to ask his father how the pokemon had got out of its ball when his question was violently interrupted by a burst of static noise inside his head.
He groaned and clutched his cranium, his eyes once again squeezed shut. But the excruciating noise didn’t last long; it slowly resovled itself into another strange voice:
Ahhh…. Ugh?…What the?… What am I doing h… pffffffffft. Bulbasaur, the seed pokemon. Height - 2’… correction: 1’01”. Weight - 15.… correction: 7lbs. For some time after it’s birth it grows by drawing nutrients from the bulb on its….. Look, that growing bit is definitely wrong, can I start over please?
<Wow, pokedexes sure have a way of making a guy feel down,> said the first voice again.
“What in the name of Arceus is going on!? Now I have two, voices in my head!” shouted James.
<It’s telepathy, idiot, and it works both ways so stop shouting.> The original unidentified voice echoed.
“James, are you OK?” asked the Professor looking concerned.
Gerald looked between James and Bulbasaur and back again; “Gary, it’s the Dream Scope, it must be working!” he exclaimed excitedly.
“What, was that you talking just then?” James asked the plant-like creature after a few stunned seconds.
<And the prize for stating the obvious goes to… You guessed it - James. Round of applause please,> said the Bulbasaur, his voice was definitely masculine and had a sassy tone to it; a tone one acquired during a lifetime of being “vertically challenged.”
“Hey, you know my name?” James asked, astounded.
<For Arceus’ sake, use your mind, idiot, and yes I know your name. I’ve been listening to the whole conversation.>
Screwing his eyes shut once more, James concentrated hard on thinking what he wanted to say: <Um, errr, testing, testing, 1 2 3. Hey, this is awesome!>
<I have to admit, you humans can be quite smart when you want to be; that Dream thingy really works.> said the grass pokemon.
<You mean, you understood all that about the Scope and the data?>
<We pokemon aren’t stupid you know, and going on a journey sounds fun.>
<What journey-> James started, but was cut off by the Professor.
“James, why are you and Bulbasaur staring at each other?” He asked. “Oh my! Are you talking to each other, is it really working?”
<Yeah, it works really well but…>
“James, now your staring at me,” said Gary, looking at James strangely.
<What?>…“Oh, sorry, this telepathy thing is gonna take some getting used to.”
“What did you say? No, what did he say? Oh, just tell me everything.” Professor Oak said, looking as excited as a Pachirisu in a poffin store.
“Bulbasaur’s fine, but there was another voice at one point, a kind of electronic one,” James answered.
“Could it be,” wondered James’ dad, “James, focus on Crimson for a second.”
James had been lying on the sofa in the living room and he propped himself up on his elbows so that he could look across the room at Crimson who was sat in his usual chair. As soon as his eyes fell on the lizard-like pokemon, the electronic voice resounded in the room, this time so everyone could here it.
Charmeleon, the flame pokemon, height - 3’7” , weight - 41.9 lbs, phew, at least I got that right. They have a fiery temper and are easily provo… look, either I’ve got some messed up data, or these are some seriously abnormal pokemon - I’ve seen more fiery tempers on an Igglybuff.
“I don’t believe it,” said Dad, looking amazed, “it seems that because of the combination with the DreamScope, the pokedex chip has taken on its own telepathic abilities and artificial intelligence.”
Who are you calling artificial, Bub, why if I wasn’t stuck to this kid’s ear I’d come over there and… ,the pokedex mumbled.
“Now that is truly amazing,” remarked Oak, looking un-characteristically stunned for the second time that day.
“I’m not sure about this,” said James, “having all these voices in my head kind of freaks me out, how do I take this off?”
James looked around the room, from his father to Professor Oak and back again, searching for an answer; but both of them were avoiding his gaze and staring sheepishly down at their feet.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, “Why won’t you tell me how to remove the Scope?”
“Well…” started the Professor, “the thing is, we would…. If we could.”
James stared, unbelieving, back at Gary. What was he trying to say? The DreamScope couldn’t be stuck could it? It was only held on by that plastic clip.
Before James could ask again, his father started to explain: “James, when you put on the DreamScope, you didn’t notice anything strange happening did you?”
“You mean, apart from the purple lightning?”
“Yes, apart from that.”
“Well, I don’t really remember much, I was kind of KNOCKED UNCONCIOUS BY YOUR STUPID INVENTION! Now please tell me how to take it off.”
Oooh, stressy, said the annoying voice again.
“ARGH!” shouted James, “Get it off before I go insane!”
“James, calm down,” said Gerald, “as Professor Oak said, we did everything we could to remove the Scope while you were unconscious but it simply won’t budge. Although there is no visible means of attachment it is firmly cemented to the side of your head.”
James reached up gingerly to feel his ear and found that he could slip his fingers between the side of his head and the DreamScope’s smooth, metallic surface with little difficulty. But when he attempted to lever it away, he discovered that no amount of pressure would move it even a fraction of an inch.
“That is why James, you will have to carry out our mission for us,” continued his father.
“Mission? What mission?”
“We want you to venture to the four corners of the Earth, gathering data on all the pokemon you can so that the DreamScope can one day be used to better Human-Pokemon understanding and widen the knowledge of pokemon scientists everywh-”
“Wait, wait, wait, I thought you said the Scope had to be programmed manually and it would take years.”
“It would have done, but Gary had the excellent idea of connecting the DreamScope up with one of his pokedex chips. That way the dex’s auto-recognition technology will record the data of every pokemon you meet, including; using the Scope’s technology; said pokemon’s brain-wave patterns.”
“So I’ll-”
“Be able to fluently communicate with any and every pokemon you meet. Isn’t it fantastic?”
“Well, yeah, it’s great for the betterment of mankind and all, but I just wanted to have a regular journey.”
“Don’t worry, you can just use the Scope like a regular pokedex and everything will be just as it would have been. Only, you’ll have the added convenience of telepathy.”
James’ father was beaming and Professor Oak still looked amazed by the whole situation. James didn’t want to let either of them down.
“I’m definitely just going to be left to travel as I want?”
“Yep.”
“I won’t have film crews following me everywhere trying to make a reality TV show?”
“Certainly not. Gary and I are the only ones who know about the Scope - even Steven doesn’t know the full extent of the project.”
“So there won’t be any shadowy organisations trailing or kidnapping me either?”
“Definitely not.”
“Well, I suppose I don’t really have a choice; I’ll do it.”
Gerald and Gary jumped for joy and after a good deal of excited celebration Gary wished James good-luck and went on his way. Resigned to the new purpose of his journey; James climbed the stairs to his room on the apartment’s mezzanine floor, Bulbasaur hopping up the steps behind him. He was going to need all the sleep he could get if every day of his quest was going to be like today.
***
The next morning, Bulbasaur and James were sitting on the new trainer’s bed, preparing for their adventure into the unknown. James was feeling better about his change of plans and after a revitalising sleep was keen to get down to business.
“Right, first things first, what moves do you know?” he asked.
<Haven’t a clue, I’ve never even been in a battle.>
“Oh, well that’s not much use… I suppose we’ll just have to try some. Pokedex?”
What? Came the metallic reply.
“I need you to tell me what moves a low level Bulbasaur could know.”
At the level this one’s at it could only know tackle, growl, and possibly leech seed.
“Hmmm, that’s not particularly good, is it. What about egg moves?”
I’d have to know the father’s species to tell you that.
“Bulbasaur, can you remember who your father was?” James asked the small, reptilian pokemon.
<Not really, only a faint, blurry image.>
“Well, this thing was built to read pokemons’ minds, so lets try it.”
James concentrated on Bulbasaur and he stared back at him; James felt like he was falling into the pink wells of his over-sized eyes. Down, down, down…
CRUNCH.
He’d suddenly over-balanced and actually
had fallen in to him.
<Get off of me you idiot! You’re squashing my bulb!> came a very irate cry from somewhere beneath James’ body.
“Sorry, I guess I was concentrating too hard, lets go for a different approach. Try holding the image as best you can in the front of your mind.”
<All right then….. Hey, that tickles.>
Various images were flashing past James’ view, all strangely tinted green, until one stayed and became focused. James could see a scene in a forest, it was gloomy but two shapes stood out, lighted from behind by a shaft of sunlight. One shadow was obviously a Venusaur with the large, bulky body and spreading flower on top, but the other…
<I couldn‘t really tell,> James said telepathically as he emerged from Bulbasaur’s memories and the room swam back into focus. <It was too blurry.>
Whatever it was I don’t know why it would have mated with a female Venusaur, those gals are buuut-ugly. Jeered the Pokedex.
<You shut up or I’ll make you wish you’d never been assembled,> flared Bulbasaur.
What are you gonna do, Mister “I Only Know Tackle And Growl”.
Bulbasaur had his eyes clenched shut with rage and was shuddering all over. Suddenly, his eye-lids blinked open to reveal two pools of glowing, green energy where his eyes had been. Just then, with no warning, an almighty torrent of razor-sharp leaves erupted from the bulb on Bulbasaur’s back and headed straight for James’ ear. He jumped behind the bed just in time as the storm whipped past just above his head and carried on across the room. He looked up an instant later to see a mass of splinters and a few fluttering leaves where his wardrobe had been just a few seconds before.
<I feel a little….> Clunk. Bulbasaur tottered sideways and collapsed on the floor.
***
“I’m glad you brought him to me,” said Nurse Joy, “a leaf storm attack like the one you described can take a lot out of such a young pokemon.”
“A leaf storm?!” James exclaimed in disbelief.
“Yes, Bulbasaur’s father must have been a very high level Torterra.”
“A Torterra, awesome!”
Yeah, both his parents are moss-covered reptiles, lets celebrate. said the ‘dex inside James’ head.
“Shut up you.” James replied, not inside his head.
"Uh, James, are you talking to me,” asked Nurse Joy.
"Oh, no, sorry."
“Right, OK, well, Bulbasaur should be back to full strength by now, here’s his poke ball.”
“Go! Bulbasaur!” James called after taking the red and white sphere from Nurse Joy’s out-stretched hand.
<Oh, lord of things pokemony, do you have to shout so loud, my head is pounding,> said the little, green pokemon when he appeared on the Centre floor.
“Your head! You should see my bedroom,” shouted James.
<Ah, sorry about that, I got a bit carr…>
“It was great!”
<Really?>
“Yeah, let’s go do some training! I bet if we can perfect that Leaf Storm we could be unstoppable!”
Oh, sweet Mew. He’s gone all “look at me, I’m invincible” on me. This is going to be a loooong day.
And with that, they rushed out of the pokemon centre.
“That boy really needs to stop talking to himself like that,” said Nurse Joy - to herself, “it really creeps me out.”
***
Later that day, Bulbasaur and James said their goodbyes to James’ father and set out towards the Cinnabar Docks to catch a sea-bus to Pallet Town. They had successfully mullered some low-level Krabby down on the beach and were in high spirits.
However, when they reached the mass of piers and waiting ships, they found some unexpected company.
“Hey guys,” called James to Zach and Michael who were standing around with identical bored expressions on their faces, “I thought you’d both be in Viridian by now.”
“They were going to leave this morning but Oak said he’d give us a ride there on his Blastoise if we waited till now,” said a voice from behind James.
James spun round and Amber dropped down from the over-hanging boom of a moored boat.
“And why are you here, Amber,” he asked.
“I knew you’d show up and I wanted to see what pokemon my rival got,” she answered cockily.
“If you want to see so bad then let’s have a battle,” James challenged, “One on one style.”
“Fine,” she retaliated, “Go, Krabby!”
A small, red crab like the ones we’d been training against materialised in front of Amber.
“Bet you weren’t expecting that!” She shouted, “I caught him this morning on the west shore. We’ve been training on the volcano all afternoon.”
“Th-, th-, the volcano,” stammered Michael, “they say there’s a Heatran that lives up there.”
“You’re making it up,” argued Zach, “it’s a Magmortar that lives in the volcano!”
As the twins dissolved into an all-out brawl, James shouted, “I’ll admit I didn’t expect you to have caught another pokemon by now, but you weren’t expecting this either. Go, Bulbasaur!”
The two pokemon faced each other and waited for their trainers call.
<James,> said Bulbasaur, <I think her pokemon has rabies, its foaming at the mouth and it’s really creeping me out.>
“Its preparing for a bubble attack, quick use growl!”
Bulbasaur opened its mouth just in time to receive a face full of foam as Amber’s Krabby’s bubble hit home.
<Don’t worry James, I’m resistant to water,> glubbed Bulbasaur.
<Good, then… wait, why did you just sound like you had bubbles in your mouth when you’re speaking telepathically?>
<Don’t ask me how that thing works, just give me some directions here before I get my *** handed to me.>
<Oh, sorry.> “Try a tackle attack Bulbasaur!”
Bulbasaur ran at the crazy-looking pokemon and head butted it right between the eyes, before bouncing straight of the rock-hard armour.
<Ow,> said Bulbasaur, <Remind me never to do that again.>
“Hah!” laughed Amber, “you expect to leave a dent with that puny specimen!”
“Kra, kra, kra!” joined in the Krabby
“What, was his father a budew or something,” she joked.
Ooh, I’ll have to remember that one, said the pokedex.
<What did she just say,> asked Bulbasaur through clenched teeth.
<I think she just insulted your parents,> James replied, trying to work him up for their all-out attack.
“LEAF STORM!!!” James cried at the top of his voice and with a swoosh and a slash of razor-sharp leaves, Amber’s Krabby received the same vicious fate as James’ wardrobe.
Bulbasaur slumped, panting, to the ground and Amber angrily recalled her unconscious pokemon.
“I think that means you win,” said a familiar voice, again from behind James’ back. He turned round in surprise to see Gary Oak standing behind him, his towering Blastoise at his side.
***
