• Chapter 1: The Gym Leader of Goldenrod City

    Lights were flipped on as a young girl walked into the Goldenrod Gym. She looked around wearily, noticing how…plain it was. The only thing that she had really added to this Gym was the flower arrangement in the shape of a Clefairy, and that was only really designed as a test for trainers wishing to get their Plain Badge. Plain Badge, even the Gym’s badge was unremarkable, being just a diamond shaped pin that seemed to be hardly worth the effort. It didn’t even reflect the Gym Leader’s limitless supply of personality, which bugged the young girl to no end.

    Another girl walked in, this one looking at the gym in reverence. She saw the gym as being a testament to her pokemon, who were of the Normal type. It was much nicer looking than Norman’s Gym in Hoenn, at least. This girl looked at the Gym in a completely different fashion than her counterpart did, seeing it as beautiful because of how plain it was. Although she did agree with her partner on the Plain Badge being just that: Plain.

    The final girl looked right at home in the Gym, for she WAS at home. Her crimson red hair was tied in a pair of short pigtails, which bobbed whenever she walked. She wore a white button-up T-shirt that had a red stripe running down the button line, and a pair of blue capris, with a pair of red shoes that fit her to a “t”. She looked at the two other ladies, and smiled. Her friends were so different than she was, she was bubbly, and somewhat of an airhead, whereas her friends tended to be more logical and more reserved. “Well, let’s get to work cleaning this place up. I don’t want to get a reputation for having a dirty gym, especially when you have people like Chuck and Crasher Wake as examples of how a gym is not supposed to look,” the pigtailed girl said.

    The other two girls looked at the pigtailed girl with admiration and mirth. They had visited Chuck’s Gym, and it was…not very clean, to say the least. “Yes, Whitney, but you’re scraping up the Muk tar, you know how we get when we look at that stuff…,” the girl that had the revered reaction to the gym said.

    Whitney looked hurt, “aww…I always have to pick up the disgusting stuff…last time was pretty bad, remember?” The three girls laughed, indeed it was, for cleaning up Charizard vomit was not a task a normal person would enjoy doing…especially since it had also “taken a load off” on its trainer just moments before. So Whitney had to clean up Charizard vomit as well as Charizard feces, although the trainer of the Charizard came back to help once he had cleaned up. The other girls couldn’t get close without having to gag and back away. Once you’ve cleaned up Charizard mess, especially when they had plenty of burritos for lunch, you had the satisfaction of knowing that you were able to keep your gut in check, as well as your self-control.

    “At least it isn’t as bad…although I would have preferred it if he had warned me ahead of time that he was planning on using a Muk. I would have told him that we would have the battle outside, and I wouldn’t be on my hands and knees trying to sop up the stinky grime,” Whitney said to the girls. They then went to grab their mops and brooms, although the reverent girl also picked up a squirtbottle. When the reverent girl and Whitney looked at her strangely, she said “well…the plants need watering…right?”

    As the bored girl sprayed the plants with a healthy dose of water, the reverent girl went to sweep the floor. Pidgey feathers were strewn across the enterance to the Clefairy’s tail, proof of one of the gym battles that had happened a few minutes before the real challenge. She noticed that there were a few Spearow feathers mixed in as well. In the battle that had raged in that very spot, Pidgey had been knocked out and several of its feathers had been knocked out by a Meowths Slash move. The challenger had sent in his Spearow, who had used Wing Attack on the Meowth. Meowth succeeded in knocking out a few of the Spearow’s feathers, but other than that, Meowth had accomplished nothing against the Spearow. Hense, the reason why the floor had been layered with feathers.

    Whitney had to plug her nose with a clothespin just to get close to the mess. It smelled horrible, even though it had been sitting there overnight. In fact, Whitney thought it smelled worse than it originally smelled. She had hesitated to use any attacks against the Muk, as only her Clefairy could attack it without having to physically touch it. That was the reason she lost…it still brought tears of sadness to her eyes, even though it had happened only yesterday. She felt she had let down her team by being scared to have them attack the mass of purple sludge. In the end, she had to clean up the great puddle of Muk ooze before the Gym opened.

    Her mop wasn’t doing the job, despite the fact it was technically picking up the ooze. It still left a stain on the floor, and unfortunately, Whitney would have to scrub the floor by hand. She grimaced as she took a brush from the bucket of water and started to scrub the stained floor. All Gym Leaders had to do something like this before they opened the Gym, per order of the Indigo Plateau. Chuck usually tried to get around it by saying that being dirty added character to the Gym, but it seemed that every week, she was getting word that Chuck had been forced to clean up his Gym by a representative of the Indigo Plateau. She wondered who it was…Will was usually practicing to better hone his skills, Bruno always was intensely training, Koga had no reason to borrow a Dragonite or a Xatu from Lance or Will, and Lance was always doing recon for the Elite Four. It was probably a random trainer that was sent to harass Chuck into cleaning. Whitney chuckled at the thought of a little boy telling the older, already married man what to do. It seemed like a reversal of order to her, but she didn’t doubt the validity of such a thought.

    Chelsea, the bored one, was always good with plants. If there had been a Gym that was dedicated to the Grass type in Johto, Whitney wouldn’t have doubted that Chelsea would have applied to work there instead. Whitney allowed her to use Grass type pokemon in her gym, since it added an element of surprise that she had seen Byron, Gym Leader of Canalave City in Sinnoh, use to great effect. He was a steel type leader, and he allowed one of his trainers to use an Azumarril in the gym. Although, it had the Steel Type move Iron Tail, it was still a big shocker to a trainer expecting to sweep with a Fire Type pokemon. She was thinking of looking for a trainer that had a preference for Psychic Types for her Gym for a similar reaction. It didn’t hurt to have a few surprises in her plain gym, after all.

    “Chelsea, you hit that plant already, why don’t you start trimming the bushes outside,” the reverent girl said. Minerva was an interesting girl; she loved housework, as long as the job wasn’t too disgusting…like the Muk ooze that Whitney was cleaning up. Whitney found that putting her in charge of stuff like sweeping the floors and dusting the nooks and crannies of the gym was the best way to make her happy. Whitney had once made the mistake of having her trim the bushes outside…suffice to say, she never gave that job to Minerva again.

    As Chelsea walked up to the door outside, trimmers in hand, the Gym door opened quite suddenly, making the poor girl squeak with fright. “Probably another letter from Indigo Plateau saying that Wallace was hosting another tea party, and he wanted to host it here,” Whitney mused to herself. However, she didn’t hear the familiar “Mail Call for Whitney Knightsill”, instead she heard “I am looking for the leader of this Gym, where might I find her?”

    Whitney stood up, and looked at the person standing at the door. He was dressed in a red coat, with black clothes underneath. He stood as if he thought he was God incarnate, which really irked Whitney. “I’m Whitney, but if you’re looking for a Gym Battle, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. We’re in the middle of cleaning and we’re closed at the moment. Didn’t you see the sign on the door?”

    The man laughed, “Silly girl, I’m not here for a silly game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. I’m here for you”.

    ***************

    Seviper and Zangoose wandered the streets of Goldenrod, hopelessly lost in the great metropolis of a town. They hadn’t been outside the Spear Pillar in a long time, and didn’t know the layout of the towns at all. In fact, since they had been born, they hadn’t ever ventured farther than Mt.Coronet.

    Seviper turned to her comrade, “Find the one building that has a big fat sign on it that says “GYM”, thanks Arceus, that really helps in this hellhole.” Zangoose merely sighed, no doubt the reason Arceus had given the job to them was because of how they had acted in World Court. He would have picked anyone to be partners with instead of Seviper. She was always accusing him of driving the Seviper species to near-extinction. Didn’t she know that they could only interfere when something threatening the world was happening?

    Well, Seviper WAS younger than Zangoose, about eighty years younger, in fact. It still made Zangoose chuckle when he thought about Pichu being an old fart compared to the two of them. Pichu looked so baby-like, and yet he was so wise about the world. Zangoose envied Pichu because he was a good friend of Arceus’. Zangoose wanted a good friend too…but Seviper made that difficult for Zangoose. She was always hounding him about hunting her kin, and it tended to turn people off.

    “I still say we ask someone around here for directions, I mean, it can’t be that big of a deal to just ask for simple directions, right? My poor scales are getting dirty with all this sneaking around,” Seviper asked and complained at the same time. Zangoose turned to her, “No, think about it. We can speak human language, which is something that most Pokemon cannot do…well, outside the Spear Pillar that is. If we ask for directions, how much do you want to bet we’ll get a pair of Poke Balls thrown at us? Now come on, I think I see the “DPMT STR” that Arceus told us about.”

    The DPMT STR was actually Goldenrod’s Department Store, but since Seviper and Zangoose had never seen a department store, they assumed it was called a “DPMT STR”, like the sign said. Seviper edged up to the window of the store and gasped, “Zangoose look, they have stuff here…lots of stuff”. Zangoose looked in the window as well when he heard this, “wonder why the humans don’t just take the things. I mean, it IS just sitting there, right?” Seviper noticed that the humans were lining up in front of a man, where they exchanged something with him, and took the stuff they had picked up and put it in their pack. “I will never understand humans, Zangoose. Why give something away to get something?” Zangoose glared at Seviper, “I’m not an encyclopedia, you know. I’m just as confused as you are. It is fascinating however…maybe this is what Pichu called ‘trading’?” Seviper looked at Zangoose, “it seems kind of stupid, I mean, why trade it. Survival of the fittest, right? If you can’t support yourself, you deserve to die”. Zangoose stepped back, surprised at how heartless Seviper had sounded. He recovered in a split second, however, and said “so you’re saying that if you are at the end of your rope, you won’t want my help?”

    Before Seviper could answer, a man burst out of the “DPMT STR”, he was dressed in the red and black of one Team Magma. He seemed to be in a hurry, as he didn’t even look at the pair of rival pokemon seemingly cooperating with each other. Zangoose and Seviper exchanged looks, and as if they had thought the exact same thing, went into action. Seviper coiled herself up as tight as she could, and Zangoose grabbed her and threw her at the grunt. Zangoose’s aim was off, as Seviper sailed past the rushing grunt. Seviper yelped in surprise as she sailed right into a place that was named “GM CORNER.” Zangoose grimaced as he watched his partner run away from a mob of flying Poke Balls. Men and women alike chased the poor Fang Snake, tossing countless types of items at her once she escaped the GM CORNER. Zangoose watched this for a bit, then remembered his mission and ran after the grunt. Zangoose grinned once he was out of Seviper’s sight, the damn snake got what she had deserved. Stupid snake, trusting the Cat Ferret was a bad idea for it.

    “There’s the GYM, the White Knight must be in there. Is that grunt after the White Knight,” Zangoose mused, starting to run out of energy for running. He saw the Goldenrod Gym’s doors flung open by the grunt, but as soon as he was close enough to attack, the doors slammed shut. Zangoose tried to stop, but was going too fast, and slammed into the doors. “Not my day, apparently,”Zangoose growled.

    *****
    Pichu nosed his way through the undergrowth, making sure not to disrupt any of the wildlife, as doing so would disrupt the order of the world. He wondered what Seviper and Zangoose were doing at the moment. Were they enthralled at the marvels of the world outside the Spear Pillar? Pichu chuckled, thinking about his first mission, and how curious he was to learn about the world. It almost cost the world its life, as Pichu had decided to join a trainer on his quest to be a trainer above all other trainers. It had been a long time since then, and Pichu had forgotten who had saved him. He assumed it was Arceus, but he couldn’t be sure.

    Pichu perked his ears up, he heard something. Something small, but…it was approaching his position. If he was found, Pichu would disrupt the balance of the world. Arceus wanted the world to work in a certain way, and if he were found and killed…all Pichus would cease to exist. History would forget about the cute little baby pokemon, as it wouldn’t exist in the history books. Pichu’s spirit would fuse with Arceus, and Arceus would turn him into something that could survive. Even being friends with The Creator, Arceus had to use Pichu…there was no other way. Arceus was mortal too, and couldn’t contain Pichu’s energy inside himself for very long.

    Pichu braced himself, and cringed as a small rat slammed into him. Pichu looked at the creature, who’s eyes were fixed on Pichu’s neck. Pichu electrocuted itself, causing his assailant to screech in pain. Pichu kicked his attacker off him, and tried to identify what it was. A rat with purple coloring and a tail that looked like a small club. Rattata, a rather weak pokemon in and of itself, was normally no match for Pichu, but the power that the pokemon had used to tackle him…Pichu knew it wasn’t just a fluke that this monster was powerful. Pichu knew he could take it, but it would take a bit of surprise, something that this electric mouse was full of. Pichu picked up a branch using its surprising strength and hurled it at the Rattata, who was once again charging at Pichu. Pichu noticed something about Rattata when it charged; it was surrounded by a purplish black aura. Pichu thought that the Rattata was using its Tackle attack, but that aura…something was wrong with this Rattata. Pichu dodged out of the way and charged up for a Thunderbolt, but had to interrupt its charge as the Rattata attacked again with a very fast tackle. Pichu was barely able to avoid getting hit, but it made Pichu grin, old as he was, he still was able to dodge like a pro. He tripped up the rat, and sent a Thunder Wave toward it. It connected, and even thought the enraged rat tried to move, it was unable to fight off the effects of the old timer’s Thunder Wave.

    Pichu approached the Rattata, and looked at it with pity. This pokemon had not done anything wrong, but yet Pichu knew that something was very wrong. “Tell me all you know, and I shall set you free.” The Rattata spat at Pichu, but another jolt of electricity made the rat change its mind about cooperating…