The Trial Of Juno: The Dawn Of Hope (PG-13)

[Avenger Angel]

I started the Trial of Juno trilogy two years ago, starting with The Gray Battlegrounds as a fan fiction in itself, and then adding The Twisted Fields and The Blazing Skies after I had gotten nearly a dozen requests to write a squeal, which evidently turned into a three part series. It first started on Pokémon Elite 2000 forums, but shortly after I had posted it at PokéCommunity and here as well before the deletion. I’ve decided to repost it here after a good friend of mine strongly requested it.

And so, I welcome you to read what has been undoubtedly my greatest accomplishment in Pokémon fan fiction, whether you are reading it for the very first time, or you are reading through it once again to enjoy it a second time. And so, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have had the pleasure to write it in the many months that have passed.

PART I - THE GRAY BATTLEGROUNDS​

Chapter 1
Enemy of the School​

Randy was a loser. Not just any ordinary loser, but Randy must have been the king of losers. Plus he was the only reason why I found interest at school. Whenever I got angry or frustrated, all I had to do was find Randy Ferguson and release my stress upon him. It always made my day.

And Randy’s Pokémon were also losers, and they’d always be that way since they always got beat up badly every time he battled. I must have made Randy’s Pidgey and Nidoran kiss dirt at least twenty times, but I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve really beaten him. Randy also had a Growlithe and a Caterpie, and I’ve knocked their lights out plenty of times. Obviously, Randy was too stupid to know how to really battle.

Alex and David, two of my best friends also hated Randy’s guts. While I liked to slowly torture Randy’s Pokémon in a battle, Alex wiped out Randy’s Pokémon so fast it was hilarious. David on the other hand liked to just outright pound the stuffing out of Randy’s Pokémon with his Rhydon and his Tyranitar until there was barely anything left to identify them. Randy said he’s been a trainer for nearly two years. To me, he was practically on the same level as a beginner who only just started yesterday. If that’s not pathetic, then I don’t know what is.

We only got caught once picking on Randy, and it was in the hallway between classes. But all the other times, Randy pointed blame at us but just had nothing to prove it. One day, Alex put a stink-bomb in Randy’s desk while he was away, and when Randy came back and threw his books in, he broke the glass and the whole classroom smelled like something died in there for the entire day. Of course, we only did it once, just like everything else we did to him. Otherwise he’d begin to catch on, and honestly, I preferred being original.

Another amusement came from my birthday. Normally, whenever someone’s birthday comes up, their mom makes cupcakes for everyone in the class. My mom did the same thing, and I sprinkled them all sorts of colors, red, yellow, blue, and purple. Each cupcake was its own color, but for Randy, I sprinkled his green to indicate to me which one I would hand to him. After I made sure mom wasn’t looking, I slipped a laxative tablet into the green-sprinkled cupcake. When I handed it to Randy the next day, he ate it so fast and it was a struggle not to burst out laughing. After a hilarious series of events, Randy’s new nickname was “potty-pants” for the rest of the school year. Still, he didn’t have an ounce of proof that I had anything to do with it. Again, it was pure genius.

Since my allowance was small, I needed to rely on Randy’s lunch money as a considerable income. I never felt guilty about taking it either. Heck, I figured that if Randy had the school lunch everyday, he’d become just as fat as Frank Meyers, who we’d always call “shirt-burster” on a regular basis. I was doing Randy a favor by making sure he wouldn’t eat such crappy food that day. I then considered that his lunch money was income for my services. It wasn’t much, but a dollar a day ended up being thirty bucks a month. Then count that all up for each day of the school year… hell, I was making out well.

We got a big surprise May 14th. Well, it wasn’t during school like most of our pranks took place, it was after. And it didn’t start with Randy this time…

Alex, David and I had been walking down the stairs out of the back entrance of Scottville Middle School and then we saw it. There he was, Frank Meyers lying down in the mud. His short, blonde hair and his pudgy face were soiled with liquid dirt and his shirt (or what was left of it!) was completely soaked with mud. We didn’t even need to do anything to begin laughing hysterically.

“Hey Frank!” David shouted out over a hard laugh, “What happened to ya!?”

“Chill man.” I told David, “The pig just wanted to cool himself down.”

Frank was in a cross between crying and becoming furious. We laughed even further. Someone who’s in the seventh grade really should’ve learned to stop crying like an infant long ago.

Alex then made the situation more hilarious. He found the backpack that Frank had dropped and opened it up. Alex then threw out Frank’s folders and his books and each of them landed in the mud, effectively soaking the pages full of mud. Frank was getting even worse. Then I saw something that made me laugh even further. Frank had Pokéballs in his backpack that also landed in the mud after Alex threw them out. I really just couldn’t picture a fat, worthless piece of flesh like Frank being a worthwhile Pokémon trainer…

Then, as if it couldn’t even get better, out of nowhere came Randy Ferguson. He was standing before us like he was all high and mighty, with his frizzy orange hair blowing in the wind. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans in a hopeless attempt to fit in with everyone else at the school. Alex had dumped everything that was in Frank’s backpack before turning around and seeing our special victim.

“Well, if it isn’t potty-pants himself in living color.” Alex smiled at Randy, giving him that special glare, “If you’re looking for the bathroom, it’s inside, stupid.”

“The three of you are going to pay for picking on Frank.” Randy told us, trying to sound tough and totally ignoring Alex’s comment.

The three of us laughed even further. Here was Randy, acting like a big hero for shirt-burster. That idiot had no clue what he was getting into.

“Randy,” David told him honestly, “Even you should be aware that Frank isn’t worth the dirt he’s laying in.”

“You’re wrong!” Randy wailed, again trying to play the hero here, “And I’ll prove it to you.”

Then, Randy reached for his belt and pulled out one of his Pokéballs. I could see where this was going…

Did that idiot really expect to win a battle against us? I couldn’t believe it. All this time, Frank seemed to become more hopeful now that Randy was here to defend him. Frank was just about to learn that his guardian angel wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

“Go Nidoran!” Randy shouted, tossing his Pokéball forward.

The Pokéball landed on the asphalt of the parking lot, and a moment later, Randy’s worthless Nidoran emerged from its Pokéball. The three of us looked at each other to decide how we wanted to beat the stuffing out of Randy’s Pokémon. It was then decided that I should be the one to do it. To us, time plus torture equaled amusement.

I then removed one of my own Pokéballs and threw it on to the asphalt as well. Out came my fantastic Raichu. After Raichu set his gaze upon his opponent, he realized it was the same worthless Nidoran he had crushed so many times before. Even Raichu looked like he was tried of Randy’s brainless attempts to beat us.

“Raichu!” I shouted, “Use your Thunder Wave against Nidoran!”

It was getting to the point where Raichu didn’t even need commands to kick the stuffing out of Nidoran. It had become so systematic that Raichu could fight almost completely on his own like this had been something he had been trained to do.

Raichu then sent out his Thunder Wave, and when the bright pulses of electricity hit Randy’s Nidoran, he was rendered helpless, completely paralyzed from the shock. All that Nidoran could do now was quiver on his back as sparks of electricity surrounded his body.

“Slam that Nidoran with a Brick-break attack, Raichu.” I told him, knowing this would finish the job with no problem at all.

Raichu then charged at Randy’s Nidoran, and all Nidoran could do was just watch as Raichu rushed up to punish it. When Raichu reached his target, he threw a bone-cracking punch right into his side, sending Nidoran tumbling out of control. Alex and David were laughing again as Randy was losing like he always was.

“Nidoran, return.” Randy moaned in frustration as a red beam shot out from his Pokéball and landed on Nidoran. The pathetic Pokémon was then returned to Randy’s Pokéball.

He then threw out a second Pokéball, and it also landed on the parking lot. Then, out came Randy’s Pidgey. Randy didn’t even need to lose yet and we already began laughing.

“Randy,” David told him, trying to fight the hard laughter for a moment, “Don’t you know anything about type-alignments? Flying types don’t do very well against electric types like Raichu…”

“I don’t care.” Randy responded, “My Pidgey is faster than Jake’s Raichu.”

You wish. Raichu’s signature attribute was his speed, and it was ten times faster than Pidgey’s. This time I showed no mercy.

“Raichu, use your Thunderbolt.” I smiled to Raichu, knowing it would be more than enough to send Randy’s little Pidgey screaming into the oblivion.

And to help Raichu even further, Pidgey took flight. Raichu’s cheeks flared up with electricity and just as Pidgey realized what was happening, a massive fork of lightning emerged from the shining Raichu and struck Pidgey dead-on, blasting him with a bright flash. Pidgey was thoroughly cooked for ten seconds before Raichu released his power, and let the hopeless Pidgey fall from the sky just before the nice, hard and firm asphalt broke his fall. The only smart move Randy made after that was giving up.

“Fine Jake.” Randy said with frustration, “I give up. But some day, I’ll become so strong that the three of you combined won’t even beat me!”

“Randy…” Alex said, nearly laughing, “In your dreams. There’s no way you’ll ever become strong enough to beat us. You can try all you like, but you’ll never do it.”

That normally would have been a very typical day that the three of us tortured Randy. But something else happened that day that we won’t long forget about…

 

[Wondrous Sableye]

*claps* Bravo, Neo. Glad that you're bringing this back, I've been hoping you'd write again.

No misspellings or grammatical errors, and the only thing that I found odd was that there's no real explanation for how the mud got there. Keep up the good work, buddy.

(By the way, what happened to your account? Did you have to re-join or something?)

 

[Ryano Ra]

Ah yes, I remember its first blossom at Pokemon Elite 2000 Forum. Well, I am very impressed with the changes, they are truly visuable compared to the first version, which was still considerably written well. Your first-person-view was being written very well, and not many authors are able to write it so wonderfully as this. I must say, you have impressed me with your skills as well. Great job, and keep up the fantastic work, Neo.

 

[guiltysparkzz]

O

M

F

G

...It's back. I loved this fic from start to finish before, read most of it in a day. As you can see *points to sig* you're still on the list.

EDIT: Ah PE2k. I saw it first here, couldn't wait, and went to PE2k to read the end, lol. I'll just have to wait again. I'm copypsating the chapters onto MSword this time though..

 

[Avenger Angel]

Hey, I’m pretty glad to see quite a few people still remember this story of mine. Yeah, I did some correction work on the old version, but nothing really significantly major, just a few sentence structures here and there.

As for the Twisted Fields, I might actually do a bit more changing with that. Since I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone new who’s reading it, I’ll keep quiet about them.

Thank you for the feedback!

 

[Ryano Ra]

Hey, I’m pretty glad to see quite a few people still remember this story of mine. Yeah, I did some correction work on the old version, but nothing really significantly major, just a few sentence structures here and there.

As for the Twisted Fields, I might actually do a bit more changing with that. Since I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone new who’s reading it, I’ll keep quiet about them.

Thank you for the feedback!

Well, seeing as there is time left, I would like to nominate this Fanfiction for the Summer Fiction Awards, as well as a few others (I read, I just usually don't review. >>) But, I'd like to ask about the Genre, seeing as I would classify it as an Action/Fantasy (for the special effects or something), but I'd like to hear it from you.

 

[Avenger Angel]

I'd label it under Action/Fantasy, but still, it might be a little early to start nominating it for awards when most of it still has yet to be posted.

Chapter 2
Out of Nowhere​

Out from behind the hill came none other that Jeff Huntington. I barely knew who he was, other than the fact he was a sports jock. He seemed to have been watching the whole thing from the distance. He looked like he was just about to go to a lacrosse practice, until he decided to hang around here instead.

“The three of you have some nerve.” Jeff told us, giving us an annoyed glare, “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

“Jeff,” Alex said to him, “Why don’t you mind your own business? If you hung around Randy for even just five minutes, you’d realize just how worthless he really is.”

“If you want a challenge, then try fighting me!” Jeff shouted to the three of us, “I’ll make this a two on two battle. If I beat you, then you have to promise to leave Randy alone.”

“But if we win…?” David asked Jeff, expecting a response.

“Then you won’t hear from me again, understand?” Jeff told David, feeling confident that wouldn’t happen.

Some bargain. The only reward we would be getting out of beating Jeff’s Pokémon is Jeff’s humiliation, which usually came free with every successful battle. But, even if we did lose, we had no intention of backing down.

“Jake,” Alex said to me, looking at me from the corner of his eye, “Let me take care of this idiot.”

“Sure thing.” I said to him, returning my Raichu to his Pokéball.

Alex was quick as lightning when it came to beating Randy’s Pokémon up. Fighting Jeff was going to be even more interesting. Jeff had pulled out two of his Pokéballs and threw them forward.

“Go, Ampharos and Espeon!” Jeff shouted as he threw forward the two Pokéballs.

And, just like Jeff said, out of their Pokéballs came an Ampharos and an Espeon. For once, we were going to see what a real battle looked like rather than the shameful excuses that Randy kept handing to us. And at that moment, Jeff was just about to see what his adversary was capable of.

“Go, Houndoom and Mightyena!” Alex shouted as he let loose two of his Pokéballs.

Obviously, Alex had picked his nastiest Pokémon for the job. I couldn’t wait to see Jeff get wasted.

“Ampharos, use your Thunder Wave attack on Mightyena!” Jeff commanded, “Espeon, use your Light Screen.”

Clever boy. Unlike Randy, he actually had a strategy going. But Alex wasn’t through yet.

Ampharos let loose a pulsing Thunder Wave that unfortunately Mightyena had no way of avoiding. Meanwhile, Espeon coated himself with a shield of light. That wasn’t about to stop Alex’s Pokémon.

“Houndoom, use your Crunch attack on Espeon!” Alex commanded, “Mightyena, use your Howl!”

For now, it looked like Mightyena could fight off the paralyzing effects of Ampharos’s attack. He had let loose a loud howl, filling his body with ripe energy and anger. Now he looked ready to dish out some serious pain.

In the meantime, Houndoom charged right after Espeon, and rendered his sharp teeth to bite down on Espeon. After a harsh bite down from Houndoom, Espeon was knocked back, trying to stay on his feet. His light screen fended off some of the damage, but not all. Alex needed to find a way to get past that Light Screen, and soon…

While Espeon wasn’t looking too great from the Crunch attack, Mightyena looked like the Thunder Wave was starting to get to him, and he found it hard to even move. Alex had to give Mightyena a moment to recover. Meanwhile, he was making sure he was getting the maximum he could out of his type advantage over Espeon.

Jeff commanded his Ampharos to attack Mightyena with a Thunder attack. I was crossing my fingers hoping it wouldn’t hit, but Jeff got lucky this time. Mightyena was barraged with another harsh amount of electricity that slammed right on him like a sledgehammer. Still, he wasn’t down and out yet…

Meanwhile, Jeff ordered Espeon to use his Morning Sun. To our dismay, Espeon was coated with light for a brief second, and every bit of pain Houndoom had dealt to Espeon had been recovered. But Alex knew that Espeon wasn’t too much of a threat because both Houndoom and Mightyena were dark types. While Mightyena needed a brief moment to recover, Alex decided on a new target for Houndoom.

“Houndoom, use your Flamethrower on Ampharos!” Alex shouted.

Houndoom put his front paws forward, arched back his head and then let loose a red-hot stream of flames upon the unsuspecting Ampharos. Jeff’s Ampharos twitched painfully as he was slowly barbecued. Then, to our surprise, when the flames cleared, Ampharos had been inflicted with a harsh burn on his side.

Then, Jeff commanded his Ampharos to also put a Light Screen shield on himself. Ampharos was also coated by the shield, which was going to make things harder for Alex. But, he still had a plan. For now, Mightyena was back in action.

“Mightyena, use your Headbutt attack on Ampharos.” Alex commanded.

Mightyena then charged toward Ampharos, thirsty for revenge. Mightyena then put his head down, and then slammed forcefully into Ampharos, completely ignoring the effects of the Light Screen shield. Ampharos was knocked into a back flip before landing face first on the hard asphalt. Too bad for Jeff, because at that moment, Ampharos didn’t look like it could handle any more.

“Ampharos, return.” Jeff commanded as he summoned Ampharos back to his Pokéball.

Taking down Espeon was Alex’s next objective. Mightyena needed another moment to rest, so Houndoom was up for the fight. Still, Jeff’s Espeon was going to get the first strike.

“Espeon, use your Quick Attack!” Jeff shouted to Espeon.

Espeon then burst into a blur, and slammed right into Houndoom in a flash of fury. However, it was more of a surprise than a really painful attack. Houndoom growled off the pain, and then focused on his target.

“Headbutt attack.” Alex commanded, knowing that too would cut right through the Light Screen.

Houndoom lowered his head, and then charged right into Espeon, again ignoring the effects of the Light Screen. Espeon was hit hard, having very little protection against it. And best of all, Espeon flinched from the attack, hopelessly trying to shield himself with his front paws while wincing from the fury of the attack. And now, Alex was more than ready to attack again while Espeon was in a hopeless trance of trying to fight off the terror.

“One more time, Houndoom.” Alex said with a smile on his face.

Espeon was slammed again, and after rolling over a few times and laying still on his side, he didn’t get back up. Jeff had been defeated, and he looked far more miserable as he returned Espeon to his Pokéball. After that, Alex returned Houndoom and Mightyena to their respective Pokéballs.

“As long as you bother Frank and Randy every day, you’ll have to deal with me.” Jeff warned, “Mark my words.”

“I thought you said you’d stay out of our way if you lost!” David shouted back, annoyed that even puny little Jeff Huntington couldn’t even keep his own deal, “And right now, Alex just beat the pants off of your pathetic Pokémon!”

“Well,” Jeff remarked, crossing his arms, “I changed my mind, just like you three would have done if you lost!”

I was getting sick of this. Why on earth would Jeff want to defend Randy so much anyway? No one seemed to really care except him. Even the many people that were walking around didn’t seem to care at all.

“Fine Jeff.” I told him, staring right back at him in the face, “If you really want to lose to us each and every day of the school year, you can go ahead and be my guest.”

“It won’t be that way for long.” Jeff warned us, “The three of you bullies are going down, and very soon.”

Pathetic moron. He had no idea what he was dealing with. And to even further our amusement, Jeff, Randy, and worthless shirt-burster became friends after that. If that doesn’t make you laugh, I don’t know what will…

While we never really bothered Frank and Jeff as much as we did Randy, everything had changed that next day. Worthless Frank and Jeff were going to suffer just as much as Randy was. And my patience was ending. Why the heck did Jeff come from nowhere and fight us? I just didn’t understand it.

Now that those three clowns were watching each other’s back, it was going to be harder for us to get them one by one. But, all it took was just twenty-four hours and Randy would make the biggest mistake in his life. I just couldn’t believe it until it actually happened.

Right after school, Alex, David and I headed out the back like we usually do, and there they were, Frank, Randy and Jeff just waiting for us. Randy was looking incredibly confident of himself, as if he was packing a pistol and ready to just gun down the three of us.

“Well, if it isn’t the three losers.” Frank giggled like a hog, thinking he had already won.

“Losers?” I asked in some surprise, “Guess what you stupid idiot!? It was Randy and Jeff that lost yesterday, so why don’t you just shut your worthless trap!?”

Jeff seemed to grow more impatient. He looked at the three of us, especially Alex, and seemed to wear a very dark expression.

“Randy is going to become more powerful than any other trainer.” Jeff told us with some kind of idiotic smile, “In a matter of moments, he will become more powerful than you can ever imagine…”

We started laughing hysterically. Obviously Jeff had been hanging around Randy’s brain cell killing aura for just too long. If Randy really wanted to lose again, I would gladly make his wish come true, but there was no way Randy could become better than us in just a matter of seconds.

Then, out of the blue, Randy pulled out of his pocket what appeared to be a blue and black beaded necklace with a large, red crystal as its pendant. He held it with confidence like it was a detonator to blow up the whole planet.

“Ah, so Randy’s into jewelry.” David snickered, “Big deal. How is some ordinary piece of junk like that going to help Randy become a better Pokémon trainer?”

“This is no ordinary piece of jewelry, David Miller.” Jeff told him, “This is a necklace that was worn by Quista, an ancient and powerful sorcerer who imbued it with many powers.”

“Say what!?” Alex asked in surprise, “What the heck are you talking about?”

It was really sad to see Jeff go this far into threatening us. To me, that necklace looked like a fake. Plus I didn’t believe in magic powers or whatever. Jeff and Randy couldn’t win at Pokémon to save their lives, and this was their way of trying to bluff us out. What a joke.

“Jeff,” I told him, “Get a life. You don’t really expect us to believe that, do you? Just where did Randy even get that piece of garbage?”

“I gave it to him.” Jeff told us, “My father is an archeologist, and he found this in an Kavaskian tomb three years ago. He was supposed to sell it to a museum, but he decided not to. You’re not going to believe what kind of power it has.”

“You’re right, Jeff.” I remarked, “I don’t believe whatever you’re saying whatsoever.”

At that moment, Randy took the necklace, and strung it around his neck. He then held the red jewel in his hand while the necklace was around his neck. At that moment, the red jewel began to pulse with light.

“That’s some neat trick you got there.” Alex said sarcastically, “Now why don’t you three lost boys just get the hell out of our way?”

Suddenly, we were instantly blinded by a harsh, ruby light. I shut my eyes tight, thinking the whole thing must have been some stupid electronic device or something like that. Then, with my eyes shut, I felt a harsh wind blow around us, whipping the cloth of my t-shirt and jeans like I was standing in the middle of a windstorm. I then knew that necklace wasn’t some electronic toy like I thought it was…

 

[guiltysparkzz]

Yeah, it does seem nicely edited from before. Very subtle though, its still just as I remember it

 

[Avenger Angel]

Yeah, there were some much needed changes. But honestly, I think it's better to make those few changes than perserving the original format of the story. As far as the general plot goes, it's pretty much the same, just with more description and a format that flows in an easier fashion.

Chapter 3
The Unexpected Challenge​

After a sick feeling of what seemed to be falling, we landed in what seemed to be a dark forest. I thought that little creep might have caused me to break something, but for his own sake, I was fine. First thing I noticed upon getting off my butt was the sky. It was a freakish mix of light and dark gray clouds, and the trees were all dead and twisted. When I looked around, Jeff, Frank and Randy were completely gone, just like that. Alex and David got up off the ground and looked around.

Maybe Jeff was right. Maybe Randy felt he could become a better Pokémon trainer by running away from us. I would have laughed at that thought, but reality told me I still had absolutely no idea where we were, and that certainly wasn’t anything to laugh about.

“What the hell is this place?” David asked, looking around and not recognizing anything.

I took a closer look around, and it seemed somewhat familiar, but not completely. I then guessed it was most likely the same place. I was willing to chance it.

“It looks somewhat like the Hollow.” I told the two of them, “It’s only about three miles away from the school.”

“Think again.” Alex told me, looking up at the sky “Then why does it look like it’s about to rain?”

Alex was right. It didn’t completely look like the Hollow, and the sunny weather we were experiencing just three seconds seemed to have quickly vanished for some weird reason.

“Look,” I told Alex and David, knowing hanging around here was a waste of our time, “Let’s just try to get the hell out of here. Even if we’re all the way in Celadon or something, there has to be some way of getting back.”

“How would Randy’s stupid Egyptian necklace bring us all the way to Celadon?” David asked realistically, “We could be anywhere right now.”

“Just forget about it, David.” Alex told him, putting it past him, “Let’s just try to find some way out of here. Screw the details.”

We then began walking through that dark forest for some time, and the more I looked at it, the more reality kept telling me this sure wasn’t the Hallow like I thought it was. I was sure we had walked at least two miles and nothing had changed. After nearly an hour of walking, the weird and twisted forest had suddenly ended and we came across a large valley along with a cabin down a long beaten path snaking its way through the valley. We decided to check out the cabin and hopefully get some directions back to Scottville Middle School, or at least back to our home town of Viridian. Right now, I was guessing we were someplace out east, but my guess was with a whole lot of doubt…

When we arrived at the cabin, we saw there wasn’t a single window. It was made of wooden logs and only had one door. We just shrugged it off and opened the door. It was pitch black inside, and just as the three of us entered, the door slammed closed completely by itself, and suddenly, the room was filled with light. Out of shock, I quickly looked around and saw the room was completely empty. And oddly enough, I found no reasonable light source anywhere. I then quickly turned around and tried to open the door but it was stuck. We then heard what seemed to be a female giggling, and already I was cursing under my breath.

“If you think it’s going to be that easy, you’d better think again…”

“What the hell!?” David shouted, looking around.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, we saw a cloud of pink dust appear in the corner of the room. After some time, the dust began to form into a smiling fairy with a bright pink dress. When we saw that, we realized we were likely no where even close to Viridian City. This had to be Hell.

“Just who the hell are you!?” David asked the fairy, wondering if it was even real for sanity’s sake.

“My name is Caska.” She replied smiling and staring right at David, “And I know who you three are. You’re none other than David Miller, Jake Kossak, and Alex Davidson. You are the three villains who oppose the king!”

“What?” I asked in surprise, “Who the hell is this king you’re talking about!?”

“Randy Ferguson.” She told us in one quick statement.

We immediately burst out laughing. There was no freaking way on earth Randy would ever be respected by anyone besides some idiot like Jeff or Frank. Nothing was making sense. King? Someone should have been laying off the sauce…

“Randy created this world out of his desperateness.” Caska told us, losing that weird smile of her’s, “This is his world, created by everything he loves and hates, and from his happiness and his anger. He is the supreme ruler here, and the three of you are his worst enemies.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Alex snickered, “We’re living in Randy’s mind? If that’s the case, then we’re all about to become brain-dead really soon.”

“He created you?” I asked Caska, nearly laughing, “Since when was Randy into fairies and fantasy tales?”

She seemed somewhat insulted by that comment. I was glad at that moment, since if my sanity was really failing me and she was really telling the truth, then everything I would come across had to be considered a threat. Still, as weird as everything seemed right now, I refused to believe any of this rot.

“I represent a part of Randy’s childhood.” She told us, glaring at the three of us, “One of the happier moments of his life. And right now, the two of us are enemies. There is only one way to settle this.”

“You want to fight me?” David asked, turning his hands into fists, “Let’s go.”

“No, Miller.” She said to David, growing in confidence, “I want to battle your Pokémon.”

“Even better.” David challenged.

I couldn’t wait to see David lay waste to a happy moment in Randy’s childhood, if that’s what it even was. Still, the thought of we defeating her and then Randy feeling even more miserable in ways that we would never dream possible was just too damn good to ignore. David had this match in the bag.

“We’ll both use two Pokémon.” Caska told him in a firm tone, “If you win, then you get to make Randy feel even worse and more depressed, which I know is what you want the most.”

“You’d better believe it.” David said with a confident grin.

“But if you lose…” Caska replied, giving him that dark evil fairy stare again, “Then you’ll be the one feeling the depression and humiliation.”

Whatever. As far as I knew, there was nothing that could stop David or make him feel depressed. Caska then pulled out a pink and white Pokéball, and threw it towards the center of the cabin. I had no idea what a fairy would use as a Pokémon, but then it became quite clear.

“Go Blissey!” Caska shouted just before her Pokéball hit the floor.

And out of her Pokéball emerged a Blissey, and the three of us slightly cringed just staring at it. We couldn’t stand such a moronic and cutesy looking Pokémon.

“Go Tyranitar!” David shouted as he threw his Pokéball, ready to release raw carnage.

And just a second later after the Pokéball struck the cabin floor, out came David’s beastly and nasty Tyranitar with a tremendous roar. He looked ready to crush Caska’s worthless Blissey into a pulp.

“Blissey, use your Minimize!” Caska commanded, beginning that annoying smiling spree again.

Blissey suddenly then began to decrease in size, making it harder for Tyranitar to even hit it. However, David certainly wasn’t going to give up that early.

“Tyranitar, Earthquake attack.” David said coldly, ready to terrorize the smaller Blissey.

Tyranitar gladly accepted, and slammed his heavy foot into the floor which sent a violent tremor through the ground that shook the entire cabin. However, it completely missed Caska’s Blissey. There was nothing to explain it but just a case of really crappy luck.

“Minimize again!” Caska shouted, making things even worse.

“This is getting cheap.” David growled, truly despising this type of strategy.

Blissey grew even smaller, still wearing that stupid smile of hers. Our expressions began to grow grim as this just kept getting worse and worse.

“Rock Slide!” David commanded Tyranitar.

But that missed as well, instead making Tyranitar’s summoned rocks tear a hole in the cabin to reveal the outside. David was becoming quickly frustrated. Again, Caska told Blissey to Minimize again and again, and David missed each and every time. But then, it got even worse was Blissey was nearly smaller than a Caterpie...

“Use your Sing attack Blissey!” Caska shouted with glee.

Blissey then began to sing peacefully, and Tyranitar was beginning to lose it. After stumbling around to try and stay awake, Tyranitar crashed to the ground fast asleep, again making us lose even more hope.

“Blissey, use your Metronome.” Caska commanded, happy that she had one hell of an advantage.

Blissey then seemed to dance for a short while, and then all of a sudden, it lunged toward the sleeping Tyranitar, and performed a wicked Cross-chop attack, the worst attack that Tyranitar could’ve been hit by. Tyranitar took a serious beating in an extremely short amount of time. Then, to David’s dismay, he realized Tyranitar was no longer asleep. He had fainted…

“What!?” David protested, “What the hell are the chances of that!?”

“Bring out your next Pokémon, Miller.” Caska told David in a cold voice.

For once, I was somewhat glad not to be in David’s shoes. I seriously didn’t like where this was going. David returned Tyranitar to his respective Pokéball, and chose his next best Pokémon.

“Go Rhydon!” David shouted, getting angry this time, “Make mincemeat of that Blissey!”

Rhydon had emerged, ready for onslaught. We were crossing our fingers in hope that Rhydon would be able to handle an already grim looking situation.

“Rhydon, Stomp attack!” David shouted.

Genius. Rhydon squashed the already shrunken Blissey like a bug with his hard, rock foot. Blissey took a beating, but she wasn’t out yet.

“Sing attack.” Caska commanded.

Again, Blissey sang a peaceful song and Rhydon stumbled around just like Tyranitar, and he hit the ground fast asleep. David wasn’t looking too pleased at that moment.

“Metronome, Blissey.” Caska said coldly to her Blissey.

Blissey danced for a moment, and then we watched in horror as Blissey coated herself with a Reflect shield, which was going to be a pain to get past for Rhydon. Fortunately, Rhydon got up from his slumber quickly, but he was going to have a lot to deal with…

 

[Sike Saner]

Excellent work. Your characters are very nicely done, and your choice of words is impeccable; it really sounds like the sort of language someone would use in telling a story, thus meshing perfectly with the first-person perspective. The integrity of this story is quite sound; I spotted no errors. I read each of these chapters in eager succession, and I am just as eager to read more. Even though this story has already recieved much acclaim in its past, I would like to see it garner even more in the future.

 

[Avenger Angel]

Thank you for the awesome comments! Yeah, I had to do a lot of editing here and there even though it's been almost two years since I last started it. And honesty, I perfer to write in first person, even though I have tried both perspectives.

Chapter 4
The Scare​

Rhydon was going to have to take down Blissey, and now. Only then would it have at least some chance of defeating Caska’s next Pokémon.

“Stomp attack, Rhydon.” David declared with a sick feeling in his throat.

Normally, that attack would have punished Blissey like last time, but the Reflect shield fended off most of the damage. Then, things went into a sickening turn.

“Softboiled Attack, Blissey.” Caska commanded.

Blissey then surrounded herself with three glowing eggs that had suddenly become a pulse of white energy. Suddenly, Blissey has absorbed the energy, and began to recover a large portion of her health, with David looking like he was ready to vomit. Caska’s Blissey had nearly become invincible…

“Focus Energy, Rhydon.” David said nervously.

That was the best move David could have decided on. Rhydon was steaming with fury and rage, ready to tear Blissey to ribbons. He had this one chance to stop Blissey, and he had to get it just right.

“Metronome, Blissey.” Caska told her Blissey.

Blissey began to dance again, and suddenly, a tremendous jet of water had fired from Blissey’s mouth and slammed into Rhydon, dealing a terrible amount of damage. Rhydon fell to the floor, completely worn out. When Rhydon refused to budge off the floor, we couldn’t believe it. David had just lost to a worthless little Blissey…

“Damn it…” David gasped, “I don’t believe it!”

Caska then began clapping sarcastically for David’s miserable performance. Right at that moment, I had no idea what Caska was about to do to David next, and I really didn’t want to know.

“Ready to receive your punishment for losing, Miller?” Caska asked sweetly, looking like she was already enjoying David’s misery.

“You cheat!” David shouted, “How could you get so lucky with Metronome!?”

“That’s just the way things go, Miller.” Caska smiled to David, “Now its time for you to feel some misery, justice for what you’ve done to King Randy.”

“You better not you stupid...!” David shouted.

At that sick moment, Caska had looked toward the shouting David, and she snapped her fingers. She became a cloud of pink dust, and seemed to have disappeared. We were hoping by some miraculous chance that she just left us alone, but then, Alex and I looked at David, and David had swallowed hard.

Alex and I watched in freakish horror as David slowly began to change into a shiny and pretty fairy just like Caska. His blue jeans suddenly became a sparking bright pink dress, and two fairy wings had emerged right out his back. It was a pretty sick thing to do to a guy in the seventh grade.

“What the hell is this!?” David said as he looked at himself, softly fluttering his wings, “What did she just do to me!?”

We couldn’t help but turn away at that moment. Of course, only then did we hear the door unlock. Still, I didn’t care about anything else. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. As I threw the door open, Alex and David just followed, and again we were outside…

“That does it!” David shouted as we walked out of that nightmare cabin, “If this really is Randy’s world, then we can’t trust a single freakin’ person while we’re here.”

Better late than never, I suppose. Right now, if Randy could see David, he would be laughing hysterically. The last thing I wanted was for the three of us to fight Randy while David ended up looking like a giant Tinkerbell. That would only make matters fifty times worse. I didn’t want to see Jeff acting all high and mighty again and Frank snorting while he had his finger way up his nose. It was enough to make me go ballistic.

“How the hell do we get out of here!?” Alex demanded.

“We probably need to tear apart Randy, but first we need to find him.” I told Alex, knowing he had to be the source of all this idiocy.

We continued our way down the path, and day quickly turned to night, and everything went pitch black incredibly quickly. We had nothing to sleep on except the grass. All I could hope for was that maybe this whole thing was a dream, but it seemed far too real for that to be true. Still, I wasn’t going to dwell on it. We then quickly went to sleep, hoping we would be getting out of here soon.

When morning came, we headed down the path through the valley again. Then, for some strange reason, the grass slowly turned brighter in color. And just like that, ahead of us was another forest, except this one seemed to be more of a tropical one instead. This couldn’t be real. The more I saw it, the more insane I knew it all was.

“We don’t have much of a choice except to continue.” David said grimly, “Hopefully this forest isn’t too big.”

We then continued our way through the dense foliage without a single path to go by. This was just making me sick. All we could do was push forward into nowhere, and then suddenly, we came to a clearing. When we emerged from the forest, we saw what seemed to be some sort of gathering. There were several humans running about, dressed in tie-dye shirts and other colorful clothing, like a bunch of hippies. Nearby were two muscle cars I swear were taken right from the 60’s. Then, in the distance, we saw a large, brown, sac-like object hanging from a post. Normally, I usually find crap like this hilarious and stupid, but the fact it was really before my eyes made me question the mental capacity of the one who created it all…

“Oh yeah baby.” Alex said, nearly laughing, “Now I’ve seen everything…”

“Hey man!” One of them shouted, pointing at Alex, “You must be the one!”

I rolled my eyes. This, without a doubt, had to have been the brain-dead part of Randy’s mind. What else could it have been? I didn’t know what these insane hippies wanted with Alex, and I wasn’t really itching to find out.

“I bet you want to battle, don’t you?” Alex asked, looking like he was honestly hoping the answer was no after what had happened to David.

But they didn’t say anything. Instead, the group of them jumped us, and pinned us to the ground. The guy on top of me had overgrown blonde hair, a rainbow tie-dye shirt with a skeleton on it, while his necklace with a metal symbol for peace was dangling over my face. I struggled to break free, and then I realized it wasn’t me they wanted, it was Alex. But for what reason?

“Let me go, you crackheads!” Alex shouted as he was being pulled away from us.

I struggled with the hippie that was on top of me, hoping to get up and help Alex escape, but for some reason, he seemed so much stronger than me even though he was a scrawny little freak. I then saw Alex being dragged closer and closer to the hanging brown sac by three other hippies. I was crossing my fingers hoping that sac thing wasn’t actually some living creature ready to devour Alex. I kept looking at it not know what the hell it was supposed to be.

“Get your hands off of me you deranged psychos!” Alex shouted as he struggled to break free before reaching the sac.

Then, they had inevitably arrived at the sac, the last thing Alex wanted to find out what it was. Seconds later, they lifted the screaming Alex upward, and dumped him right in like a piece of trash being thrown into a dumpster. Suddenly, the open sac closed up with Alex still inside, and immediately trapped him. After they started laughing, I saw Alex trying to struggle to get out, but there was no escape. And then, after some time, my fear began to escalate.

Alex had completely stopped moving…

David and I both thought that Alex could have suddenly died at that moment. But then again, I thought better. I then realized that Randy didn’t necessarily want us to croak while we were here, he wanted us to suffer. He made David suffer, and now he was going to make Alex suffer. And then to make matters worse, he was probably going to make me suffer somewhere along the line.

“What the hell are you doing to him!?” David demanded, “Let him out of there!”

“Ah, he’ll be comin’ out soon enough.” One of the hippies responded casually.

I stopped struggling after some time, since I was getting exhausted and wasn’t getting anywhere. I only wish I had a handgun to blast open the heads of all these maniacs, but there wasn’t crap I could do about it. I continued to look at the sac, and then I suddenly realized what the hell it was. It was some sort of weird cocoon. I needed to get Alex out of there as soon as possible.

I had only one choice. I struggled to reach for one of my Pokéballs while the freak was still on top of me. Then, I managed to grab one, and I hurled it into the air. When it landed, I saw I had released my Ariados. Now was my chance.

“Ariados, use your Poison Sting to get this guy off of me!” I shouted.

The hippie turned around in shock just to be greeted with a barrage of sharp, poison spikes. He immediately let go of me, and I got up off the ground. I then looked at the cocoon and saw the group of hippies that had dragged Alex guarding it.

“Ariados, Sludge Bomb attack on those hippies.” I commanded Ariados.

Ariados then blasted the running hippies with a hearty helping of sludge, sending them running in all directions. They ran right for the two cars, and once they all got in, they immediately shut the doors, turned on the ignition, and sped off in the distance. I quickly ran to the cocoon and tried to open it up with my hands, but it seemed impossible. And Alex didn’t seem to be moving at all.

“See if you can use your pincers to rip that thing open, Ariados.” I said to my Pokémon.

Ariados approached the sac, and tried to tear away at the cocoon, but it seemed like rubber. After several minutes of trying to tear it open, it seemed hopeless. I then had only one tool left that could possibly help Alex.

I had a small Swiss Army knife that I usually kept in my pocket. I pulled it out, flipped out its sharpest blade, and tried to cut the sac open. I couldn’t believe it. It was like trying to cut through thick rubber with a wooden stick. If that knife couldn’t rip that thing open, then what could? I was beginning to grow frantic.

And then, another horrifying moment arose. Suddenly, I saw the cocoon begin to crack open from the middle. All I could do was back away. I didn’t even want to look, and it was a good thing I didn’t. However, David had been watching in horror while I grimaced and looked away.

“Oh no…” David moaned with utter depression.

“Don’t tell me…” I warned David.

And then, David slapped his right hand against his eyes. I bet at that moment he had regretted watching the whole thing.

“Jake, don’t look.” David warned me, “Don’t look, whatever you do.”

“I’m going to need to look at him some time or another, David.” I told him honestly, “Just tell me in words what happened.”

I could tell there was some hesitation in David’s speech. And then, he let it loose.

“Those sick maniacs just turned Alex into a human butterfly…” David said softly in dismay.

 

[Wondrous Sableye]

Ah, yes, I remember the butterfly gag from Road to Palantria. And what's more, I think I remember what Jake turns into…XD I won't spoil it for the new readers, I just think it's funny…

…And yet at the same time, incredibly creepy…O_O

 

[guiltysparkzz]

It seems all the current reviewers have read the fic. We need some new meat in here!

Doesn't he turn into one thing, then into anohter? If I'm right I won't say what the two things are..

 

[Sike Saner]

Heh heh...When David became fairitized (not a word, I know), I immediately began hearing the Clefairy song: "Fairy, fairy, fairy, fairy...". I like Caska a lot, but I want to smash her Blissey with a sledgehammer...

Now, I'm dying to see what Jake shall become...

 

[Avenger Angel]

Yeah, seems like people remember this goofy part pretty well. I'm definitely not going to spoil anything ahead for people who haven't read it yet, though.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll post another chapter tomorrow so people still have the chance to catch up.

 

[Bombsey]

Yes, Jake does turn into something quite funny XD

In the version I read, they lived in America o_0

 

[Ryano Ra]

Yes, Jake does turn into something quite funny XD

In the version I read, they lived in America o_0

Interesting, I thought about the same thing too, but it is nice to see that there are insignificant details that blossomed each chapter with life and existence. Anyways, the past chapters have provided me with fresh memories of their old versions, and I feel like you are doing a lot better with the revision. I also suggest that you don't post Part Two and Part Three in this thread, but in each individual thread. That way, people won't be so turned off. And since you are still at the beginning, perhaps you should update just once a week. That gives new readers enough time to read the chapters and post the review. Anyways, fantastic job. *bows*

 

[Avenger Angel]

Yes, Jake does turn into something quite funny XD

In the version I read, they lived in America o_0

Yeah, I changed that since... well, it makes a bad conflict with the sequel. Plus... I dunno, something didn't feel right about it.

Well, that's my reasoning if you wanted it. And yeah, I'll post a little slower so I don't burn through the story as quickly...

 

[Bombsey]

Burn baby burn!

Well...it would be a good idea to slow down, i mean, it is a very big story o_0

 

[Avenger Angel]

Sorry, I had a long day yesterday. Here's more of TOJ, comin' at ya.

Chapter 5
Foreign Encounters​

​

Only then did I look at Alex, and then I really wished I hadn’t been so fast in doing so. His body from head to toe had been completely black like he landed in an oil slick. On his head were two long antennae with bulbs on the ends. And to make matters even worse, on his back were two enormous butterfly wings splashed with a rainbow of colors. Damn, if I had been in Alex’s place at that moment, I swear I would have gone postal.

“THAT LITTLE FREAK RANDY FERGUSON IS GOING TO DIE!!!!!!,” Alex shouted loudly, sending his screaming echo throughout the clearing.

“That’s right.” I supported Alex, trying to calm his rage by agreeing to everything he said, “All three of us are going to slaughter those little freaks. You said it, Alex.”

“Jake…” Alex said softly, trying to calm down all of a sudden.

“What?” I asked him, looking up into his eyes.

There was silence for a dark moment.

“Just shut up.” Alex told me with a bit of frustration in his eyes.

Fine. I was going to let Alex have his way for now, just like David. Since I too, would have been infuriated to the extreme if I was in their position. One way or another, Randy was going to make sure we were humiliated and depressed even before we battled his Pokémon. And since this was his freakish world, we had to expect anything.

And then, we saw what seemed to be a dark figure emerge from behind us. As he got closer, we realized he was wearing a black fedora and trench coat, looking like a Chicago gangster. When he approached us, he shook his head in disgust.

“Ya three didn’t deserve this kinda misery.” The gangster told us.

“And who the hell are you?” I asked him, still with paranoia creeping all over me.

“Name’s Black.” He told us, “I’m Randy’s frustration. I owe ya one.”

We were surprised. But then again, could we really even trust this guy?

“Ya three made me strong by makin’ Randy feel weak.” Black told us with a bit of a sinister smile, “I’ll let ya in on some of Randy’s darkest secrets.”

“And what’s this?” David asked Black, still on his guard.

“Believe it or not, Randy’s world is actually a hundred times bigger than the world as you know it.” Black told us, “An’ the funniest part is Randy warped around the entire planet jus’ because he sucked at Pokémon trainin’. Talk about frustration. There was nothin’ more he wanted than to beat the three of ya.”

I couldn’t understand why worthless little Randy would go through so much trouble to beat us. Couldn’t he just accept the fact he was a natural loser at Pokémon and there was no hope for him in the world?

“But, if ya try ta battle him now, ya’ll most surely lose.” Black warned us, “That necklace gives him enough power ta give him any Pokémon he wants, as well as use any attack, even ones that don’t even exist.”

“Are you kidding!?” David shouted in shock.

“In Randy’s world, if he can think it, it becomes real. His new, super-powered Pokémon are nearly invincible. It’s a good thing I found ya three, because if I didn’t, there’s no way ya would’ve won…”

I had a feeling this might just be one person in all of Randy’s world that we could trust. What he said was certainly making sense. The last time we saw Randy, he seemed ready to do anything, even something like this. We pushed him too far, but even then we didn’t regret it…

“How do we stop Randy and get out of here?” Alex asked Black.

“Ya need ta defeat Randy, and well as Jeff an’ Frank.” Black said to the three of us, “Ya have ta make Randy feel defeated enough to the point where even in his dreams, he still can’t beat ya. Only then will that lil’ twit give up this pointless crusade of his.”

Heh, that was worth chuckling for. Randy would NEVER be able to say he was better than us, because it would be a cold-blooded lie. It then became clear what we had to do.

It was evidently clear that in order to get out of this place, we had to find Randy as well as those little morons Jeff and Frank and kick their butts. I certainly didn’t want to stay here any longer, after seeing what had happened to Alex and David. I had to be extra careful to make sure I didn’t end up like them, which was exactly what Randy wanted to happen…

“There’s only one way ta at least put yaself on the same level as Randy.” Black told us, “Ya need these.”

Then, out of his coat, he pulled out three golden chain necklaces. He handed one to each of us, and we wore them around our necks.

“While those are nothin’ compared ta the Quista Necklace Randy has, they have a similar power while ya use ‘em here.” Black said to us, “Heck, I should know. I know everythin’ that jus’ presses that lil’ boy’s buttons.

And then, he reached back into his trench coat. It seemed he had one more thing to give to us.

“Here.” Black said, also handing a Pokéball to each of us, “These Pokémon will at least put ya on the same level as Randy. Once he throws his Pokéballs and his desired Pokémon comes out, he has no way of changin’ it. But be careful. Make sure he’s the one to send out his Pokémon first, or he’ll always have a type advantage over ya, usually in the worst kind of way.”

“Thanks Black.” I said to him.

“It’s the least I can do for the three of ya.” Black responded, “See ya around.”

And then he turned around and left. I looked over the Pokéball that Black had handed me, just wondering what was inside. Still, now wasn’t the time to play guessing games. And I wasn’t even sure if Randy was watching us from afar.

After that, we headed back into the tropical forest, hoping we would find Randy soon and get out of Randy’s retarded dream world as soon as possible. I was already beginning to hate it here, and I was sure Alex and David were too.

Again, we made our way through the dense foliage, this time I was in the front. I constantly had to lift my feet and swing them over the dense shrubs on the ground, and it was wet everywhere. My jeans were soaked and my t-shirt was damp. I picked up the pace, just wanting to get out of this miserable forest as soon as possible. After some time, I turned around to see how Alex and David were doing.

And then I realized they weren’t there…

I looked back frantically, but I didn’t see them anywhere. Where the hell did they go? I shouted out several times, hoping they were nearby, but there was no sight of them at all and no response. Things were just getting better and better. And I top of that, I felt like I was starving. I hadn’t eaten in nearly a day and a half.

All I could do was keep moving, but after some time, it became night again and I couldn’t even see the path ahead. I had no choice but to wait until dark. Stupid Randy. Just who the heck did he think he was anyway? By now, I had no idea where Alex and David were, and this was just making everything fifty times worse.

Surprisingly, I fell asleep and when I awoke, I could see again. I got up and kept moving, hoping to leave this stupid forest, but it seemed to keep going on forever. After just a few hours, I heard a noise to my right. I thought by some miraculous chance it might have been Alex or David, so I decided to track it down. And then I came across an interesting sight. I came across a small fountain spring, and there were tiny little pixies surrounding it. They all seemed to look at me in shock for one moment, and then they calmed down.

“Oh, it’s only you.” One of them said in relief, “For a minute you had us scared.”

“Who are you?” I asked them, wondering who they were.

“We’re Randy’s mischievous side.” Another told me. “But, unfortunately, Randy doesn’t get into mischief very often, so we’re always put on the back burner.”

Didn’t seem very fair to me. What was the point of creativity if it wasn’t put to good use? Randy disappointed me again. Of course, this was obvious to see though.

“Well, I plan on taking Randy out.” I told them, “Just like I always have.”

“Heh, yeah, go figure.” One of them replied sarcastically, “We knew you would. Plus I don’t know how you’re able to tolerate it being in the mind of the one person you despise.”

I didn’t know either, and my patience was growing short. Hell, she was right about that one. After some of them got up and flew away, only about three of them remained. After they flew to a nearby branch, I suddenly felt my hunger arise again. I couldn’t help but ask if they had anything to eat.

“I’m starving.” I told the three of them, “You… wouldn’t have anything around here to eat, would you?

They suddenly became surprised. They looked at me like I was crazy. One of them giggled a bit, whispered something to the others, and then they looked at me.

“You… still need to eat?” One of them asked, “That’s silly. Obviously you’ve never heard of Sun Water before, have you?”

“Nope.” I told them.

“It comes from that spring.” The pixie told me, pointing to the fountain, “If you drink a few cups of Sun Water, you’ll never need to eat again. Drink, once in a while yes, but eat, never again.”

That sounded ridiculous. But then again, after I stole Randy’s lunch money a countless number of times, maybe this was an element of him that had put up with never having lunch again. Who knows, because in Randy’s world, it seemed like anything was fair game.

I walked over to the fountain and bent down. Honestly, the water didn’t appear to be any different that normal water, so I just shrugged it off. And since these pixies seemed to be another part of Randy’s naughty side, maybe I could trust them. They already looked like they trusted me. Hell, it was like we had already met for crying out loud.

And as my hunger grew stronger, I wasn’t about to argue or start asking stupid questions. I found a pewter cup nearby, and I dipped it into the fountain. I then gathered some water in the cup, held it to my lips, and then decided to drink it. While it looked like water, it tasted super-sweet like sugar. It tasted great, and after I drank down the first cup, I decided to go for seconds.

My hunger melted away immediately, but the Sun Water was so tasty I couldn’t help but keep drinking it. It was addicting as hell. I must have had twelve cups of the stuff before I felt like I had enough of it. There was no soft drink on Earth that had a better taste than Sun Water.

And then, I heard a slight giggling in the distance. I turned around and saw it had come from one of the pixies. I looked up at one of them and she looked at me.

“Boy, you’re going to look awfully cute…” She said before flying away with the other two.