From: Karnivax <karnivax@my-deja.com> Subject: [PW!] This Island Pokémon Date: Monday, June 28, 1999 5:13 PM I just had to use the name Rhyddarch (RID-dark) somewhere. And what better Pokémon to use it on than a Rhydon? --THIS ISLAND POKÉMON-- Part 1 by Karnivax After an flight from Cinnabar Island that had lasted from the afternoon to early next morning, Pokémon Island was at last within reach. "Grendel, bring us down on the shore there," Kyle ordered his Aerodactyl. Grendel descended quickly, and Kyle nearly lost his Toronto Raptors hat. The Aerodactyl made an unusually soft landing on the sandy coast of Pokémon Island. "Aeeero. Dactyl!" Grendel sang, congratulating himself on a perfect landing. "You're getting better," Kyle admitted. Kyle got off of Grendel's back and returned the complacent Aerodactyl to his Pokéball. Thanatos came next, followed by Torrasque. In mid-air, Torrasque's blue pet Pikachu, Cathode, was leaning over from Torrasque's left shoulder to the ghostly guitar that was strapped to Thanatos's back and trying to play the stringed instrument. Cathode was inordinately disappointed by the fact that the guitar was not solid. Kyle released Espio the white Charmeleon from his Pokéball, and Espio just glanced into the dense jungle that began right where the sandy beach became dirt. "My family's cave is in there somewhere," he announced. "The terrain's changed too much since I was here last. I don't know if I can still find my way around." "Not a problem," said Torrasque. "We have Cathode here! He looks like he's from Pokémon Island." "Pi?" Cathode wondered, hearing his name. He had not originated on Pokémon Island at all; merely, he was an example of the Darwinian theory about variations existing in any population. Cathode had been born in the same place Torrasque had found him: the derelict hydroelectric plant near Cerulean City. Nonetheless, as soon as Torrasque put Cathode on the ground, the tiny rodent scurried right up to the entrance to the jungle and just remained in one place, listening and sniffing. At one point Cathode's fur suddenly stood on end, and he raised both ears, standing as still as a statue. "Something's coming," Torrasque realized. A dense conglomeration of leaves then parted, and a giant rust- colored Rhydon appeared, carrying a loaded ten-gauge and aiming it at Kyle. "We don't much care for your kind around here," the Rhydon snarled, in a voice strikingly similar to Sean Connery's. "Get back on your Aerodactyl and leave this island before I pump ye full of so much lead that you could double as a pencil." Espio ignored the potential threat of the shotgun and walked over to the Rhydon. "...Rhyddarch?" Espio wondered. "Do...I know ye?" Rhyddarch asked Espio. "I'm the guy who helped you get rid of all those Poké-poachers and steal their stuff! The guy who helped you get that gun! The guy who got captured by that asshole trainer Dorian, got named Surtur, and got forced to beat the crap out of you!" Espio paused. "Errr...just pretend I didn't say that last part." The Rhydon slowly lowered his shotgun and took a good look at Espio. "Surtur? I apologize, I didn't recognize ye! I thought you were going to remain a Charmander your whole life." "Now that Dorian's gone, my name's Espio. And, well, Dorian threatened to shoot me if I didn't evolve into a Charmeleon. But I've got a new trainer now - a non-asshole. This is Kyle." He pointed in Kyle's direction. "Well, the evolution was certainly an improvement, laddie," said Rhyddarch. "So, what brings ye back here?" "Actually, I have no idea," Espio replied. "Kyle, why are we here?" There were several seconds of silence. "I just figured you'd want to go home to your family, Espio," Kyle eventually answered. "I wasn't planning on keeping you, you know." "You...weren't?" Espio wondered, rather shocked. "Not at all. I only keep parent-less Pokémon. Fenris was ditched by his parents as a puppy. Leviathan was abandoned before he even hatched from his egg. Ares, back when he was a Machop, got kicked out of his clan for losing a wrestling match. Grendel and Torrasque were both created in the Cinnabar Island Laboratories. And we're guessing that Thanatos never had any parents to start with, 'cause, well, he's a ghost." "Criminy! He's completely right!" Thanatos realized. "I just...I just sorta came out o' nowhere, didn't I..." Phantasmal tears started streaming from his eyes. Cathode sweatdropped, not having any idea what Thanatos was doing. "You're the only Pokémon I've had who has a hope of reuniting with his family," Kyle said to Espio. "Well...if you're sure now," Espio replied, still quite surprised. "C'mon, lads," Rhyddarch piped up. "I'll take ye to Espio's cave." Rhyddarch then put his gun into a large holster, and pulled what was evidently a red Scyther blade out of a sheath that was strapped to his back. "Why, you...you..." Torrasque began, his eyes burning with rage. "Relax, laddie. This blade got cut off in a battle for territory between two male Scythers. I didn't do anything to either of them." So the team entered the shady jungle and gradually blazed a trail through a dense mass of tall grasses and low-hanging vines. Kyle caught only fleeting glimpses of wild Pokémon on the way, who were scared out of their wits by the presence of a human on the island. All of the Pokémon Kyle saw were odd-colored...he observed a brown Mankey, a green Meowth, and a red Squirtle, among others. Actually not too far into the jungle Rhyddarch stopped and pointed toward the side of a gigantic, moss-covered rock. "There ye go," Rhyddarch announced, sheathing his Scyther blade. "I'm home!" Espio exclaimed. He sprinted toward the rock, and walked around to the other side. He moved a large bush out of the way, and behind the bush was a large opening in the rock. As it turned out, the rock was in fact an entrance to a subterranean cave. Espio hesitated before entering. "Hmmm...the rest of you aren't going to want to go in here," he said to Kyle's crew, remembering the fact that it was several hundred degrees in his home. "So...this is goodbye, eh?" "Yeah," replied Kyle. "Tell your folks I say hello." "And if you're thinking about trying Pepsi One, don't," Torrasque added. "That stuff'll warp ya." Espio brushed away a fake tear. "Sniff...you're the level-headed friends I never had," he remarked, rather sarcastically. "But anyway, it's been real. If you ever revisit Pokémon Island, be sure to drop by my cave. And bring Pepsi. It's pretty damn hard to find a 7-11 around here, y' know." Kyle tossed Espio the Pokéball containing the Charmeleon's possessions, and Espio then entered the cave, doffing his New York Yankees hat as he did. Rhyddarch went into the cave shortly thereafter; as the intense heat was of no detriment to him. As Kyle and his team turned to leave, they found a shiny black Ditto sitting in their path, a wide grin on its simple face. "Dit-to," the creature said, with a rather haughty accent. The gelatinous Pokémon had what appeared to be a small ruby attached to it, where the middle of its forehead would be. "Check it out," Torrasque said to Kyle. "This critter has to be rare." With that the Ditto became a flowing, liquid mass, which began to increase in size dramatically and take on an entirely new shape and color. Within seconds the creature's new form became solid. It had become a Scyther, albeit a red one. The ruby was still upon its forehead. The Ditto was still grinning, but this time a glare was in its eyes at the same time. Cathode saw what was about to happen and instinctually ran, hiding inside a small bush. Torrasque, however, had no such instincts. In one blindingly quick motion, the Ditto struck Torrasque's chest with a powerful backhand Slash and sent him flying backwards. The astonished Torrasque crashed into the trunk of a tree and fell flat on his face. "*That* was your strongest Pokémon?" the Ditto hissed at Kyle, in a British accent comparable to Malcolm MacDowell's. "How utterly... disappointing." "What the hell...?" Kyle wondered. "Who -" "I do not intend to waste time on trivial formalities, boy," the Ditto snarled. "All that is important is that, for once, it seems my master has erred. Contrary to his earlier belief, you are clearly not worthy of joining his ranks." "Well, my team and I will be going, then," said Kyle, as he went to revive Torrasque. Suddenly the Ditto ran over to Kyle from behind and got the trainer into a headlock, putting one scythe against his jugular. "I think not," the Ditto said plainly. "Granted, my master expects me to bring you to him, and he is not particularly forgiving of failure. However, seeing how pathetic you truly are, I simply can not fulfill his demand. After all, we have standards to maintain." Thanatos looked on, trying to telekinetically pry the Ditto away from Kyle, to no avail. "You kill me," Kyle said, realizing where the Ditto's monologue was headed, "and your oh-so-unforgiving master will likely kill you for failing him." "Indeed," the Ditto laughed. "But if I were to tell him just one facet of the truth and say your jugular was sliced open by a red Scyther...well, I could hardly be held accountable for your death." The Ditto tightened the headlock. --THIS ISLAND POKÉMON-- Part 2 by Karnivax "Y'see, that's the problem with you archvillain types," Kyle snorted. "You're all talk." Before the Ditto knew what was happening, Kyle fell backwards on purpose, trying to squash the Ditto underneath him. The Ditto let go of Kyle and rolled away. Quickly Kyle hit a button on his Pokédex and reclaimed Fenris's Pokéball from electronic storage. Then Kyle tossed out both Fenris's and Ares's Pokéballs. "Arcanine...Machamp...I choose you!!!" As Thanatos flew over to Torrasque to try and get him back on his feet, Fenris charged at the Ditto furiously and hammered him with a Take Down attack. The Ditto slid backwards a bit, but did not fall down. Then Ares leaped over to the Ditto-Scyther and, using one of his famous improvised attacks, Ares grabbed the opponent by both legs and started spinning him around like an Olympic hammer. Then Ares let go and launched the Ditto toward the cave entrance, only to see the pseudo- Scyther take wing and fly up into the air before hitting anything. Thanatos tried a Psychic attack and attempted to knock the Ditto out of the air using telekinesis. Unfortunately, it seemed the Ditto had an intense resistance to psychic abilities. Thanatos could not budge him. "Have a taste of true psychic power!" the Ditto snarled, as he exhaled a multicolored Psybeam at Thanatos. Thanatos deftly dodged the beam, only to be knocked unconscious as the blast of psi energy turned around and hit him in the back. Fenris tried to incinerate the pseudo-Scyther with a Flamethrower attack, only to have the attack blocked by the Ditto's sudden use of Light Screen. Ares attempted to latch on to the Ditto's leg and bring him down, but he was rendered out of commission when the Ditto lambasted him with another Psybeam. Kyle recalled the fainted Thanatos and Ares, then sent out Grendel and Leviathan. "Aerodactyl...Dragonite...rip 'im apart!" Kyle ordered. Grendel flew straight up at the Ditto and attacked him with the edge of one wing. The Ditto fell out of the air, but easily landed on his feet. As Grendel landed, the Ditto greeted him with a mighty Slash attack, flipping the surprised Aerodactyl over. Then Leviathan tried to strike down the Ditto-Scyther for good with a pair of lightning bolts, but before the electric blast could hit, the Ditto morphed into a blue Dragonite and shrugged off the attack, taking almost no damage. Before Leviathan could do anything else, the Ditto copied one of Leviathan's own attacks and took Kyle's powerful Dragonite down with a single Ice Beam. As Grendel got up and rushed toward the Ditto to Bite him, the pseudo-Dragonite nailed Grendel with a second Ice Beam, then put him down for the count with yet another Psybeam. Kyle pulled Grendel and Leviathan back into their Pokéballs, and looked over to see Torrasque at last getting up. Fenris was still in the battle, using Agility and running away from the Ditto's Psybeam attacks. "Fenris, Bite!" Kyle commanded. Fenris opened his jaws and lunged at the Ditto-Dragonite, dodging another Psybeam as he latched on to the Ditto's neck. Ditto punched Fenris repeatedly in the face, but was unable to shake him free. With Fenris still trying to crush his neck, the Ditto shifted into a copper-colored Rhydon, then hit Fenris in the head with a Horn Attack at point-blank range. Fenris came loose, and the Ditto-Rhydon stomped on his back. Fenris stood up, tossing the Ditto away. Then Fenris dashed toward the pseudo-Rhydon like a freight train and rammed into him with another Take Down attack. Fenris took more damage from the attack than the Ditto. Noticing Fenris was stunned, the Ditto hit him in the chest with a Psybeam and took him out of the fight. "Peh. You are completely out of your league, boy," Ditto contemptuously snorted, shifting back into his red Scyther mode and preparing to run Kyle through with one blade. "Then it's time to move up to the majors, you crappy wannabe-me!" Torrasque suddenly shouted, jump-kicking the unsuspecting Ditto in the back. The Ditto somersaulted and whirled around to face Torrasque, and saw him doing a short, frenetic Swords Dance. Kyle grinned, knowing what Torrasque was about to do. "Ditto, you might as well hit the showers now while you still have the chance." "I will do nothing of the s-" the Ditto began. In mid-sentence, Torrasque charged and unleashed the full fury of his signature attack, the People's Slash, upon the villainous Ditto. The triple-hit attack started with a right scythe-jab, continued with a left scythe-cross, and ended with a right scythe-uppercut that launched the Ditto into the air like a Team Rocket member. The bewildered Ditto-Scyther crashed back to the ground seconds later with an unpleasant CRACK of crunching exoskeleton. For several seconds the Ditto lay on its back, showing no movement. Torrasque was sure he had won. But eventually Ditto got up, looking angrier than before. Torrasque made an attempt to finish Ditto off by ramming one scythe through his stomach, but such an attack was useless against the gelatinous Pokémon. Ditto removed Torrasque's blade from his body and kicked Torrasque in the face. As Torrasque was staggering, Ditto slashed him across the chest, knocking him to the ground. Then he stood over Torrasque with one blade raised, ready to impale Kyle's superintelligent Scyther. As the blade began to fall, however, a massive blue flame blast engulfed Ditto, lighting his entire body on fire and causing him to shriek in agony. From behind the rock that doubled as the cave entrance appeared Espio. "You can sit this one out, Torrasque," Espio announced, uncharacteristically devoid of sarcasm or humor. "The cavalry's here." He blew a bit of Flamethrower smoke away from his index finger, then rushed at the flaming Ditto. Espio started Slashing at Ditto repeatedly, flaying the scaly skin from his Scyther body. Eventually Ditto fell back and started rolling frantically on the ground, managing to smother the flames. However, before Ditto could get up, lunge at Espio and slice his head off, the pseudo-Scyther found himself getting buried beneath a barrage of thrown stones that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Rhyddarch appeared from the cave entrance next, making a "V for victory" sign. "I learned that attack with a TM I stole from those poachers," he explained. "Rock Slide, I think it's called." Kyle, Torrasque, Espio and Rhyddarch all walked over to the pile of stones under which Ditto lay horribly battered. "Is...is he dead?" Kyle wondered. Suddenly there was movement, and the pile of rocks flew apart as Ditto flung it asunder with a massive swing of both scythes. "Doesn't *anything* stop this freak?" Torrasque wondered. A furious Ditto dashed at Torrasque like a raging bull, but he did not get far. Seconds before Ditto could even bring one of his blades back, Cathode leaped out of his hiding spot and latched on to Ditto's head like an alien facehugger. Frenzied, Ditto started swinging his blades around wildly, trying to skewer the electric blue rodent. Cathode responded by shouting out "Pikaaa!!!" and sending an electric current through Ditto that fried him like a bugzapper would. Ditto stood perfectly still for several seconds, then fell flat on his face, finally down. Cathode, panting heavily, leaped from Ditto to Torrasque's shoulder. "Way to go! I didn't know you had it in you," Torrasque said to Cathode. "Pi...ka...chu..." Cathode slowly responded, trying to regain his composure. The group watched as the fake Scyther melted down into a gelatinous mass, then reformed into the black Ditto it had been originally. "This is but a hollow victory for you, boy," the Ditto laughed at Kyle. "The events that have been set into motion can not be stopped...and next time we meet, all of you are destined for oblivion's cold, eternal embrace! So swears Proteus!!!" Then the enigmatic Ditto vanished in a flash of purple light, leaving no trace of its existence. "This Pokémon journey just got a whole lot weirder," Torrasque remarked. Kyle turned to Espio and Rhyddarch. "How did you know we were under attack? I saw you both go into that cave." "We didn't know ye were under attack, laddie," Rhyddarch responded. "We just exited the cave and found you battling a red Scyther." "But why did you leave the cave?" Torrasque asked. Espio's expression became somber. "My parents...and my entire family...are gone. Rhyddarch and I went into the cave, and there was no one there. The place looked like it had been raided. There were bullet holes in the walls, impact craters on the ground, dried blood everywhere..." Espio stopped and brushed at his eyes, this time wiping away real tears. "As best we can figure, lad," Rhyddarch took over, "his family was murdered by poachers some time ago. There were trails of blood leading out of the cave; the poachers were probably planning to stuff and sell the carcasses on the black market." "The good-for-nothing bastards!!!" Torrasque roared. "I oughta string their guts up on a fence!" "There's nothing we can do," Espio sighed sadly. "Any scent or trail they may have left has long since vanished. And now I'm officially orphaned..." Espio tried hard to hold any further tears back. For a while there was silence, save for Espio's crying. No one knew what to say. Rhyddarch tried to comfort Espio, to no avail. Finally Espio piped up over his sobbing, "Kyle, I...I want to continue traveling with you, if you'll take me back. There's nothing...there's nothing left for me here but a bunch of bad memories..." "There's always room for one more Pokémon on the team," Kyle said. He recalled the fainted Fenris, then returned him to cyberspace storage. Espio, a slight smile returning to his face, rushed over to Kyle. "...Right with ya, Kyle," he said. "So...where are we going next?" "Well, we're going to wait here a little while for Grendel to regain enough consciousness to fly, and then we're off on a long flight to Celadon City to get a Rainbowbadge. And you came back at just the right time. Dealing with grass Pokémon is your specialty, I'm sure..." Espio saluted, the last of his tears rolling down from his eyes. "That badge is as good as yours, Commander." With that, Kyle, Torrasque, Cathode and Espio waved farewell to Rhyddarch, wandered back to the shore of Pokémon Island, and just sat down in the sand, admiring the pre-dawn sky. That was actually short for one of my fanfics. ^_^ --K * A * R * N * I * V * A * X-- "Awesome! I'm poisonous! Those idiots who work at McDonald's won't forget to give me napkins and fancy ketchup ever again..." --Torrasque Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.