fanfiction Dear Diary Part 6

[ArdillaVerde93]

 

                                                                                                        Dear Diary

 

  I can see how Morty’s Gym as a whole scares people off, let alone the ghosts used by the trainers there. But I can’t chicken out now; I’ve come this far. Navigating the invisible floor was not a terrible experience, as long as I did so carefully. I had to tiptoe around, making sure not to step too far. By the time I had made it to where Morty stood, I could barely see the light from the Gym entrance when I looked back. It was time to fight; nothing left for it.

  The team of Julia and Sarah, as I hoped, did wonderfully at dispatching Morty’s ghosts. It wasn’t long at all before we had him backed into a corner. Of course, that’s exactly when a wild animal becomes most dangerous. Out came none other than a vicious Gengar to combat Sarah. On my command, Sarah lunged. But it was hardly effective, and she quickly slumped over. Not dead, but sleeping. I had planned for this beforehand. Soon, a minty scent filled the arena, and Sarah awoke. Morty wasn’t expecting a Mint Berry, and was too stunned to command Gengar to dodge. Sarah’s fangs sunk into Gengar’s ethereal form. A great start, but, without another Mint Berry – I had only 2, and Julia held the other – all I could do was hope Hypnosis, the cause of the aforementioned sudden slumber, didn’t rear its ugly head again. My hopes were soon dashed.

  Clearly fazed, but far from defeated, Gengar cast Hypnosis again. With no recourse to prevent its effects, Sarah fell asleep. I anticipated Dream Eater would be coming next. Sarah wouldn’t be able to withstand it; I swapped her out, bringing Julia in to finish the job. True, Sarah was out of commission. But I had another idea. The problem is, it would hinge on luck. Indeed, Gengar went for Dream Eater. Julia, being awake, shook it off. Then came the plan. I called for Stun Spore. If it worked, Gengar was as good as finished. Julia took to the skies, scattering golden powder from her wings. The powder glittered slightly, even in the darkness of the Gym. My heart sank as Gengar readied an attack regardless. But, suddenly, it stopped. Stun Spore had taken effect. Sadly, Gengar was still able to cast Hypnosis, sending Julia to the Gym floor. But, with her Mint Berry, she recovered. With Gengar slowed, it was time. I called for Confusion. From Julia’s normally red eyes came a cerulean glow. A glow that lit up the darkened interior of the building, surrounding us all. Gengar, the Stun Spore dampening its reflexes, was too slow to react in time. In seconds, its body gained a shimmering outline. A border that blended in with the light from Julia’s eyes. The focus in those shining eyes, and in my winged companion’s expression as a whole, was intense, as she worked to manipulate her, in comparison, towering opponent. Finally, there was a sort of loud pop, and Gengar was sent flying into a wall. But our foe rose to its feet. Immediately, Gengar attempted Hypnosis once more. The blue glow from Julia’s eyes mingled for a second with the crimson glow of Gengar’s. The expression on Julia’s face once again showed intensity. Even more so as she struggled to stay awake. For a short time, the lights battled it out. An eerie red glow overtook the darkness of the building before it was outshone by blue. Blue then gave way to red, and vice versa, in a dangerous light show. Clearly, both Pokémon were locked in a very real battle of minds. But, finally, Gengar stumbled. The instant its eye contact was broken, Julia went in for the figurative kill. Her shining eyes increased in luminescence to an almost blinding level as rays of energy shot from them. It was a direct hit! Gengar’s eyes widened as the struggle ended with the shadowy monster crumpling and falling with a thud onto the Gym floor. Julia’s eyes returned to their original scarlet as the blue light faded into nothingness. Morty was defeated!

  Shocked and amazed, Morty relinquished a Fog Badge. With it tucked safely into my badge case, I strode out of the Ecruteak City Gym, smiling in victory, with Julia following closely behind. Even though Gengar didn’t actually land a damaging attack on her – I went wide-eyed for a second, only just then realising that – the mental struggle of overpowering Gengar’s powerful Hypnosis had left her sluggish and, ironically, tired. I made sure to get her and Sarah healed at a Pokémon Centre while I planned our next move. Olivine’s Gym Leader is still out taking care of a sick Pokémon. And Cianwood City and Mahogany Town are both blocked off by bodies of water. Without Surf, we were going nowhere fast. Checking the HM I was given for our victories over the Kimono Girls, I found that both Brittany and Coraline were capable of using Surf. I sincerely doubted Brittany could’ve carried me across water. But Corsola are sturdy; they say there’s a whole town in Hoenn built atop a colony of them! So Coraline was taught Surf. Of course, that didn’t go far towards alleviating the bigger issue; what to do next. Where to go. Olivine, Mahogany, or Cianwood? Then, as if it was a direct answer to my question, I caught a few words of a nearby conversation. The Pokémon Centre seemed abuzz over a Lapras sighting near Azalea Town, deep inside Union Cave. Lapras are exceedingly rare; surely, there would be a crowd after such a prized catch. What chance would I have? Certainly none, if I didn’t try.

  The trek back to Union Cave from all the way north in Ecruteak would be a long one. Normally, I wouldn’t risk it. But I wanted to go back to The Ruins Of Alph, anyway. During my last very eventful journey there, I noticed another entrance. And, now that I’ve been to Union Cave, I know that’s where it leads. The best way to get to it is through the cave; climbing is way too dangerous. We took the southern route, through Violet City, to get there; the other route would’ve required that we go through Ilex Forest again, and I was in no mood to do that. Besides, the route through Violet City would result in less encounters with wild Pokémon along the way. A win-win. That it was shorter, however, doesn’t mean it was short. It was a while before the craggy opening of Union Cave stood gaping wide before us. Shockingly, there weren’t any trainers on the way there. Could they have dismissed the Lapras sighting as a hoax, or simple wishful thinking? Whatever the reason, I was excited; this meant there was a chance that we could still encounter the Lapras. If it even existed. That thought suddenly worried me. I hadn’t given much thought to it before, but the possibility that I had fallen for an untrue rumour was very real, now that I let the thought wander in. If it was true, it meant the possibility of adding a formidable member to our team. If it was false, though, we had taken this detour for nothing. With that in mind, I walked in.

  It took some searching, but I eventually came across something I hadn’t noticed on my first time through here. A narrow cavern, hidden in shadows by a rock formation and a natural pool. I managed to squeeze through, and immediately had to duck as a Golbat flew overhead. Damn things. But I’m lucky it didn’t attack, instead choosing to fly away. After defeating Morty, I could hardly imagine the humiliation of losing one of my precious teammates to a wild Golbat. Clearly, the Pokémon in this part of the cave are stronger than elsewhere; there were no Golbat in the main path. At least, none that I saw. But could Lapras had gone this deep into the cave? Sure, there was water, but I hadn’t seen any rivers or streams leading in; as I continued exploring, I asked myself how a Pokémon the size of a Lapras could’ve gotten here in the first place, let alone in this level of the cave. Unfortunately, there were trainers there I could’ve asked. We weren’t the first ones to have made it down here. My heart sank. Son of a bitch! Even if the Lapras was here at one point, it must’ve been captured already. I was just about to leave empty-handed, when I heard an odd noise. A sort of high trill that echoed against the cave walls. Heads turned towards the source. Or what the trainers thought was the source; nothing out of the ordinary was visible. Then, the noise came again. Curiosity got the betteer of me, and I followed the shrill noise. No Pokémon I knew to live in the area made a sound like that. Maybe it wasn’t a Lapras, but it was definitely something. And that kept me pushing onward, towards a passageway as narrow as the one I maneuvered through to get here. None of the trainers followed. Another sound, completely different from the one made by the creature, caught my attention. A familiar one. The sound of water churning. Then, it happened. The narrow passage gave way to an alcove with a sort of underground pond. And in the pond, swimming leisurely through the murky water, was a Lapras!

 

  My jaw dropped; the rumours were true! And, because they were, I had to choose my next move carefully. Lapras would need to be weakened before I could capture it. I decided on using Julia. Even with her flight, though, the battle was not easy. Lapras put up a Hell of a fight. Julia and this Lapras traded blows for some time. Julia threw Lapras around with Confusion, and Lapras countered with blasts of water. This continued for a while, until Lapras had evidently had enough. The beast reared its head and emitted yet another of its cries. An unbroken, warbling tone that I imagine could’ve been heard all through the cave. Julia’s eyes began to flutter as I realised all too late that Lapras was using Sing. Getting an earful of the melodious wail, Julia was soon incapacitated, and drifted down to the cave floor, alighting on a boulder before falling asleep. Lapras, however, was panting, beginning to tire from Julia’s attacks. Angelica could finish this. I sent her out as Julia’s replacement. Immediately, Lapras shot another burst of pressurised water. Though it hit point-blank, Angelica shrugged it off. After another short bit of back-and-forth, I decided it was time to try capturing this rarity of a Pokémon. Hopeful for a quick victory, I flung a Great Ball at my target. Lapras was instantly sucked into the device in a flash of red light. The ball rocked back and forth for some time, but fell still, bobbing on the surface of the water. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. And I had every right to; I had just caught a Lapras!

  As the excitement began to fade, I decided to name this Lapras “Marina,” a name which I had originally intended to give to Coraline. I think it suits Lapras better. I looked back to see several jealous trainers. Of course; they had all wanted to capture Lapras, too. I was cautious as I walked out, making sure none of the trainers stole Marina. I wasn’t done with Union Cave, of course. I still wanted to check out that other entrance into The Ruins Of Alph. And so, I set off. Getting back to the main area of the cave wasn’t too difficult, and, soon, I was facing the entrance to another chamber. As I entered, I again heard rushing water. This chamber was full of it! Thankfully, Coraline got me across. I was surprised to find that there were trainers even there! But they seemed more interested in being left alone than they did in battling, so I was mostly unobstructed. There were some boulders blocking the path, but they were no match for the strength of a Sudowoodo like Barbie. Sure enough, the darkness of Union Cave gave way to the outdoors. I was back in the ruins! After defeating a stubborn trainer who had evidently taken the same path as me, I searched the area. I found another bit of Unown writing, but decided not to involve myself with this for the time being. I didn’t leave empty-handed, though, as I was able to catch an elusive Natu! I named her “Leonhart,” after a celebrity and collector who has a great affinity for that species. With 2 new captures under my belt, it’s time to make a decision. I have 4 more badges left to earn, and 3 possible ways of going about earning them. Maybe some training will help me to decide. Honestly, no matter which direction I choose to go next, we’ll have to train, anyway. That decision was made for me.

 

*Author’s Note*

It’s finally here! A round of applause to Julia and Sarah, the exorcists! Without them, I wouldn't have beaten Morty. Now that I’m in self-isolation, I have plenty of time to do stuff. Not that I didn’t have time before, but I guess this pandaemic has just given me the proverbial kick in the ass I needed to really get to work. That said, I’m terrible at writing these “diary entries.” They read more like a proper first-person story. But I’ll keep going with this; how else will I learn if I don’t fuck up? Anyway, many thanks for reading this! Oh, and Leonhart is a voice actor, but is mostly known for his YouTube channel, on which he opens Pokémon cards. In the event that he gets a Natu from a pack, he cries out "Natu! How do you do?" He "insists" that his viewers do the same. His collection is immense, especially with his acquisition of a storage unit which belonged to an employee of game company Wizards Of The Coast.

 

*Pokédex*

 

#131: Lapras, the Transport Pokémon

Once thought practically extinct due to overhunting, Lapras have recently seen a surge in population, Particularly in the Alola region. However, they’re still quite rare. Their tempers are mild, and they will sometimes appear to struggling swimmers, or to the site of a shipwreck, to provide rescue.

 

#177: Natu, the Tiny Bird Pokémon

In ancient times, Natu and its evolution were worshipped for their clairvoyance. Their wings are too small to support flight, so they hop instead. Natu are easily frightened, possibly due to their prophetic abilities, so you should approach them with caution if you intend to capture one.