Chapter 6: Leader
In the house of Joe Peterson.....
Joe woke up staring at the ceiling. Today he would challenge Mark,
the new gym leader. Mark, gym leader. The two words just didn't go
together. He had known Mark since childhood. Not exactly friends,
just...acquaintances would be the right words.
He got up from his bed, threw on a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt.
Heading out of his room, he grabbed his belt that held his 3 pokemon.
He jetted out of his house, waived "bye" to his mom, and made his way
to the gym. Instead of throwing the doors open in a dramatic manor, he
meekly opened the doors and stepped in, closed the door. Since Mark
had become leader, he had moved the battles to his special made combat
room. The main chamber had just become a hallway, leading to Mark's
room.
Joe stepped into the dimly lit chamber. Suddenly, all the lights came
on at once blinding him. "Who dares enter the Pewter City gym?" A
booming voice echoed throughout the cavernous room. Joe hardly
recognized Mark. Being leader had given him a major superiority
complex, but wouldn't it do that to anybody?
"Joe Peterson. Remember me?" Joe said in his meek voice. Mark replied
flatly, "No. Should I?" "No, I guess not. I would like to battle for
the Boulder Badge." "Fine then. We will both use three pokemon.
No more than one pokemon at a time will be fighting. If you disobey
these rules, it will be an automatic disqualification." "That sounds
O.K. I guess...." Joe answered.
Mark stood up, he newly fashioned cape flung over his shoulder in a
grand manor. He walked over to where Joe was standing and glared at
him, as if he sizing him up, to discover his worth as a trainer. Joe
started to back away, as always when he was confronted with someone
bigger than he was, which was almost everyone. As a trainer, he
lacked an imposing behavior, or stance. He was quite small and quiet,
in fact.
Mark walked over to his station, directing Joe over to his area.
The automatic loudspeaker came on, and informed the trainer the gym
match would start in:
5
4
3
2
1....
BEGIN!
Mark called out his first pokemon: "Onix, let's win another one,
right big guy?" The rock snake only roared in response.
Then Joe called out his pokemon: "Mankey, your up!" Instead of
throwing the ball, he just set it down and the pig-monkey came out.
Mark: "Onix, Slam that little thing!" Joe called his order to the
Mankey, "Climb up to the top of the arena, Mankey. The you should use
your Focus Energy!" Mark laughed at Joe's training method. "What do
you mean SHOULD use? If you were any good you would COMMAND it to use
Focus Energy!" Never the less, Onix missed and Mankey managed to climb
up to the top of the arena, and started to glow.
"Onix use your Rock Throw, that'll knock it down!" Before Joe had a
chance to give his next attack, Onix crashed into the platform Mankey
was on. Mankey fell down and slammed into the floor, KOing it before
it even had a chance to get in a hit.
"Gravel, Gravel" It sounded like a hard, rocky kind of laughter. For
the first time, Joe noticed the Graveler perched upon a platform above
Marks head. It looked like a vulture, only made of stone. Joe reached
down to his belt and grabbed his next pokemon. He sighed, knowing
this one was a dud. "Slowpoke, try to stay awake this time!" Once
again, he set down the ball. A very sleepy-looking pokemon came out.
"Poke" it sighed.
"Onix, Return!" Mark called out his next, "Dugtrio, Your Up!" He
threw the ball with a flare that only one who knows he is about to
win can have. The mole triplets came out. "Dug!" they said in unison,
almost as one being.
"Slowpoke, please use Water Gun!" Joe asked the dopey pokemon.
Slowpoke seamed to think about it, but by that time Mark had already
instructed Dugtrio to use Earthquake. The mole dug deep into the
floor of the gym. Suddenly, the floor began to shake. Slowpoke still
had it's grin on it's face when it was Ko'd.
"Last pokeball, time for a victory!" Mark said confident that he would
not have to give up a Badge. He didn't even wait to see what pokemon
Joe was going to put out. He called out Graveler. If he had waited,
called back out Onix, or kept Dugtrio out, maybe what happened next
might not have happened, because what happened, doomed the world
forever............
EPILOGUE:
In a cave far away from Pewter City, a man named Gyran stared at his
ward. It probably the most dangerous ball in the world. It's contents,
if released, would destroy the world, or plunge it into a age of
enteral darkness........
-----------------------------------------------
Chapter 7: Link
"Venusaur Go!!" Joe actually threw out this ball. The huge
plant-lizard took a few steps forward, toward Graveler. "Let's get
this thing started, and finished!" Mark said, confident he would win.
"Graveler, use Rock Throw!" The huge rock creature flew up in the air
and smashed into Venusaur, barely scratching it.
"Venusaur, start charging for a Solar Beam!" Joe had started to take
command. "Graveler, get away from that weed!" Graveler started to run
into the maze of platforms that made up Mark's gym. All the while,
Venusaur continued to charge itself.
Minutes passed, although it seemed like hours. The minutes ticked on
both trainers focused on their pokémon. Even though Mark couldn't see
Graveler, he could somehow feel it, like it was a part of him, an
extra limb, or something like that. He could also sense what Graveler
was going to do next, and there was no way at all to stop it.
"Graveler, No!!" The huge rock beast charged up behind Venusaur, and
hit it with all it's strength. With absolutely no effect what so ever.
The great plant looked like it was about to burst under the power of
the charged Solar Beam. So it did the only thing it could.
It let loose with one of the most powerful attacks the world had ever
seen.
Directly at Graveler.
Then something happened.
The intense beam hit Graveler at full power, but it didn't seam to
hurt it. But Mark, he looked like he was in intense pain. He was
thrown up against the wall. He could feel parts of his body burning.
His arm broke. He lost sight in his left eye. He lost feeling in the
arm that didn't break. His leg broke. He felt ribs break, and some
shatter. Finally the wall he was pressed against split in half. The
roof started to cave in. The gym was falling apart at the seams.
It was almost as if the Solar Beam had hit him in stead of Graveler.
Finally the intense pain Mark was feeling stopped, and he collapsed.
EPILOGUE:
In a cave, away from the chaos that had broke out at the Pewter City
gym, two blind men stared into space, seeing nothing, but at the same
time seeing all.
One finally broke the silence that had fallen into the room.,
"Now we are truly doomed" "Don't jump to conclusions, if he lives,
this will be a true test of his worth. To see if he really is the
one of prophesy."
---------------------------------------------
The infamous Halloween Special. This little bugger got me in trouble
with several church groups. That sucked, but it's also a good story..
The LFL Halloween Special:
Specter of the Past, Specter of the Future
Darkness.
That's all he saw. Was he dead. No. He could not be.
His name was Mark Dillion and he was in a coma. He had a broken left arm. So
was his right leg. As well as about three ribs. He had bad burns all
over his body. He was partially paralyzed in his right hand. His left
eye had all but gone blind. He had a mild concussion. The only bright
spot in all of this was that he had lived.
The cause still had not been found. It was almost as if the solar
beam had hit him instead of Graveler....
{Check out LFL Chapter 7 for details...}
Not to say Graveler had come off in perfect condition. It had been
knocked unconscious. And since it was not in a pokéball, it was
harder to heal.
In the depths of Mark's mind, he began to dream........
He saw... himself. In the gym. Fighting with Graveler. Against a
dark shadow, controlling a Venusaur. Finally the shadow had a face.
It was Joe Peterson. The one who had done this to him. Suddenly he
found himself fighting the Venusaur, getting blasted by the Solar
Beam........
Then, the dream changed. He was fighting with a mountain of a man. He
was also a shadow. He sent out a dark flying beast. It had two long
blades on the end of each arm. The man began to laugh. Graveler was
fighting in vain to beat it........
It changed again. He saw Graveler in great pain. It twisted and
screamed, like some great power was ripping from the inside out. Then
it fell apart. In it's place was a large ball made of rock. It was
glowing......
He was fighting a four-armed giant. It was also a shadow. It had
glowing red eyes. On the ends of each of it's four arms, a drill
appeared. It roared, and smashed Onix. Ripped it in half. Onix
stopped moving. It had cracks all over it's body. It's horn was
broken off..........
A great shadow was directly in his face. It was speaking to him.
He could not hear what it was saying. He looked down. He was
floating. The ground below him was moving. Suddenly, thousands of
spheres flew up at him, unleashing great power..........
Unbeknownst to him, his room in the hospital had many visitors. Like
Dr. Jones. Like Professor Oak, who had come from Pallet Town to see
the boy who had such a mysterious and powerful bond with his pokémon.
Like the one Mark blamed for his condition, Joe Peterson.
Then one night, a strange person was seen lurking outside the
hospital. He was wearing black all over his body, making him almost
invisible in the dark. He pulled out two black hooks from his belt,
and twirled them around his wrist. He stuck them into the wall,
pulled himself up to Mark's window.
He took out a lock pick set, and easily opened the window. He quietly
stepped into the room, and put the hooks back into his belt. In their
place, he pulled out two knifes, painted black, so there would be no
shine. Each knife was dipped in a strong poison, so it would kill
quickly and painful.
He spun them around in his hand, and slowly walked over to the
unconscious Mark, preparing to slash at him. "Soon the cursed one
will be put to death. The Dark One will be unleashed. This 'Mark' will
not be able to stop us and our plan."
Dr. Jones decided to check in on Mark at that moment. He saw the
assassin, for that was who the man was. He dove at him and smashed
the assassin through the window. "It's one of you isn't it? One of the
cultists. I thought we eradicated all of you." "And you must be one
of The Thirty. You were all supposed to be dead by now! Heathens!
Unbelievers!!" The two men called threats back and forth to each
other.
They fought like alley cats for a long time, until the assassin broke
free of Jones grip. "The Dark One will not be denied!! We will
triumph!!" Professor Oak came running out of the hospital, "One of
the cultists? I thought we weeded out those rats a long time go,
right after the war." "Apparently not. He's not new. He knew of us,
The Thirty." "Hmmmm, yes, although our number now is some where
around The Twenty-Five."
The assassin ran off into the woods, and into a cave. This was the
base of the cultists. It was very dim, with only candles lighting the
whole base.
He approached the throne room of the cultists leader, The Minor
Lord Dark. He addressed the assassin directly, "So you failed. He
is still alive. He is ALIVE. And you, my top assassin, have failed.
Miserably." "But, Minor Lord Dark, there were two of The Thirty there....
one stopped me. I..I had to leave behind my sacred daggers."
"The daggers. You left them. Two of the only remaining ones left,
and you lost them. You fool! Death Upon You! You shall not live
through the night." He seamed to think, "The Gauntlet. None have
ever survived it, and you shall not. The Dark One is displeased with
your work. So you shall die. Take him away." Two cultists dragged the
screaming assassin away. "Elite 2, now you are my top assassin. Do
not fail me." He smiled at the new top assassin. "The time of The
Dark One is at hand."
-----------------------------
Chapter 8
"Clear!"
Zap..Boom!
"Clear!"
Zap..Boom!
Mark was dying. His condition had worsened in the past few
days. His heart was giving out. He was not expected to live through
the night. He was in operating room of the hospital he was staying at.
Dr. Jones and Professor Oak were in the observation deck, overseeing
the whole thing.
"Theirs a chance he won't live." Jones broke the silence the had
fallen between the two men. "I'd say that it's almost diffenent, but
then again I've been know to be wrong before." answered Oak. "Like
that time, way back when? The war? With the Blastoise?" "Don't ever
mention 'Blastoise' again...I really don't want to go through that
again....." Oak replied.
"Gasp! Cough..uhhh where am I....?" Mark had finally woke up. He
still looked bad though. "M-m-m-my eye? I can't see-e-e-e......" He
was referring to his left eye. He was going to be permently blind in
it. "My-y-y arm-m-m-m??" He was having trouble speaking. Or breathing
for that matter. His arm was slightly paralyzed. He couldn't feel his
fingers.
Dr. Jones and Professor Oak ran down the stairs to the operating
room. "You lived! The spirit must be in you!" Jones called. "Are you
all right?" Oak asked Mark. "Yeah, just a little....woozy...?" He
answered, unsure of anything at the moment.
Right at that moment, down a few floors, Graveler had woken up
itself. It looked around at the dark room it had been placed in.
There was nothing else in the room, save for a few brooms, and other
clutter. It growled, something was not right here. Mark was not here.
Graveler did not want to be here. There was a window here. Graveler
ran at full speed and crashed through it, showering everyone nearby
with shards of glass.
It continued rampaging through the hospital, flying up many floors,
to the operating room. Just as it got there, they were moving Mark
out of the room, since he could not walk. "Graveler!" Mark cried,
perking up, "How'er you doin' big guy?!" "Gravel Er Gravel Graveler
Gravel Er!!" It explained in it's own language.
Then Mark realized something, "Where are Dugtrio and Onix?" Dr. Jones
looked worried, "Um, well, I'll tell you later. We need to get you
checked on. You might be able to leave!" Oak said "I might have
something that can deal that," He grabbed a pokéball at his waist,
and smiled, "Go Mr. Roboto!" He threw the ball, a flash of light come
out.
A silver cylinder formed. It had two arms sticking out from the front
of it's body. It looked like it had flashlights for eyes. At the
bottom of the cylinder were four wheels. It started to speak, "Domo
Aregato, Mr. Roboto, Domo." Then it beeped twice, "Domo" It then
repeated the phrase again. Mark and Dr. Jones only managed to stare
at the thing. "What the heck is that??!" Dr. Jones asked as the
strange pokémon came closer to him. He started to back away.
"It was sent to me by a friend of mine. He's managed to build an
entire new species of pokémon. He calls them the 'metal' type. He has
several others, although I haven't seen them. This one has been
trained to act as a doctor, or nurse, as well as battle. My friend
says that these will someday replace Chanseys as nurse pokémon."
Mr. Roboto came closer to Mark. It popped out a scanner and ran it
over Marks body. It then printed out a report and gave it to
Professor Oak. "Hmmmmm. Looks OK to me...." Oak said and handed it
to a nearby doctor. He gave Mark premission to leave.
Mark was wheeled out of the hospital, and into another day, nary,
another life, in Pewter City.
------------------------------------------
Chapter 9
"What??!" Mark screamed at the man. "If I wasn't confined to a
wheelchair, and had full access of my arms, and sight in my left eye,
you'd be dead!"
"Don't blame me. It's the League's decision. Don't shoot the
messenger, for crying out loud!" the man answered. He was a
representative for the Pokéleague. He had just told Mark his training
license would be revoked. He could no longer train, nor own, pokémon.
Dugtrio and Onix were going to be turned over to the League for care
and handling. He would be able to keep Graveler, because of the
strange bond between them, and the fact that Mark had never officially
caught it.
"They just think that a crippled trainer wouldn't be able to control
his pokémon. It would be too dangerous. If you have any arguments,
take it up with the League." Mark again screamed at the man, " I AM
NOT CRIPPLED, YOU COMPLETE DUNCE!!!! I am perfectly safe! My pokémon
will be returned to me, that I swear!"
"Mark calm down!" That was Dr. Jones. He had been taking care of
Mark since, the incident, as that was what they were calling it. His
mom had become incredibly sick since it. She was worse than ever.
Many experts had come to Pewter to see "The Boy With The Amazing
Link!" as the Pokémon Times were calling him, and had ended up
staying to help his mom.
They didn't expect her to live out the week.
Dr. Jones wheeled Mark around and pushed him back inside the
pokémart, where Jones lived as well as worked. Him pushed him into a
back room, and up against the wall.
"Dr. Jones, you have to let me go and get Dugtrio and Onix! They were
my first. I loved them like family. And now the League has taken
them away from me. And me away from them. We need each other." Mark
started to cry.
At that moment, three figures entered the back room, Graveler,
Professor Oak, and Mr. Roboto. Graveler walked over to Mark and sat
against the wall, sighing "Gravel" as he slid. Oak tried to console
Mark. "It'll be OK. We'll find some way to get them back. Even if we
have to hire the whole of Team Rocket to do it." Oak smiled a smile
that Jones had seen him do many times over.
It was always bad news.
"Ohhhh, No. You're up to something, aren't you Oak?" Professor Oak
only smiled. "You're not REALLY going to hire Team Rocket, are you
Professor Oak?" Mark asked Oak innocently. Oak was still smiling.
Dr. Jones looked like he was going to faint. "Oh my Sweet Lord. We're
going to go through it again, aren't we Oak?" "Oh, Hell Yeah." Oak
replied, using the strongest language he had ever used.
Dr. Jones just rolled his eyes and proceeded to faint. Mark had
adopted Oak's grin, even through his tears.
----------------------------------------
EPILOGUE:
Far away, on Cinnabar Island, the scientists had returned to the
mansion. The came after the wreckage that Mewtwo had rained down upon
them. They return to finish a project they had started long ago. They
returned, they're creative instincts inspired, by a fifteen year old
boy named Mark. He had instablished a mysterious link with his
Graveler. He had been able to control it even though he had never
caught it. Controlled it better than most trainer controlled their
caught pokémon. This project would be even more powerful than the
Mewtwo, for they would be able to control this one. Control. It was
all about Control.........
-----------------
This has often been called the best LFL chapter. I'm not arguing....
Chapter 10: Joe's Side
His fault. It was all his fault.
He should have never came to the gym.
Joe Peterson was walking through the wreckage of what was
previously the Pewter City Gym. He had been walking through it
every day since the accident. The accident he had caused. He had
been to see Mark while he was in hospital, many times in fact. Mark
was unconscious, of course.
His fault. It was all his fault. He could never change that.
The other day, Mark had come home. He was hurt so bad, he couldn't
walk, or move his arms. The day after he had come home, a man from
the Pokéleague had arrived. He told Mark that he could never be a
trainer. Nor could he keep his pokémon.
That was his fault too. All his fault.
He could just hear the townspeople talking about him. "Look here
comes Joe, the guy who ruined Marks life. Forever. It was his fault
the gym was all but destroyed. He doesn't deserve to live. It should
have been him instead of Mark. Keep the trainer with worth. Break the
useless one." That what they say. He could hear them now.
He had grown to hate people. They would talk about him. The Pokémon
Times had come to interview him. They wanted a story from "The Boy
Who Gave Pokémon a Bad Name Forever" as that was what they had called
him. He had ran and hid in the former Gym. They never found him.
He wanted to die. He really wanted to die. The world would be a
better place for it. He kept telling himself that. But he could
never bring himself to do it. Just another example of his stupidity,
and meekness.
Spineless. That what he was. He hated him self for it.
He looked around the ruins. He saw what was left of Graveler's perch.
His fault. All his fault.
"Stop all this moping" His mom had told him, "it wasn't your fault."
His mom was right. It was time to stop moping around.
It was time to make amends.
He went over to the pokémart where Mark was staying. He swallowed.
This was it. Could he really face Mark? He stepped inside. Dr. Jones
was standing by the desk. Graveler was standing in the way of the
door to the back, blocking it. It saw Joe and began to growl. He knew
this was the person who had hurt Mark. This was a Bad person. He would
not see Mark.
Standing by Dr. Jones was a strange looking thing. It looked like a
robot, but had a certain pokémon "feel" to it. It saw Joe and it's
flashlight eyes turned bright red. It too know Joe was to blame, even
though it had never seen him.
Dr. Jones just stared at him, glared at him. He knew about the whole
incident. Every time Joe had come to the hospital, Jones had never
spoken to him. He hadn't even acknowledged that he was there.
Professor Oak was looking through a rack of pokémon magazines. He
finally noticed that Joe had entered the store. He just gave Joe the
look an animal activist would give a cow going to slaughter, sad, yet
very pathetic. He knew Mark would rip him apart when he got his hands
on him. If he could ever move his hands again.
Finally Dr. Jones gave the order for Graveler to move, letting Joe
get into the back.
He got one look at Mark, in his wheelchair, turned around, and ran
out the door. He just couldn't face Mark right now.
His fault. It was all his fault.