Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Burning Spirit! ❯ Call to Adventure ( Chapter 1 )

“Byron wins! Wow! What a magnificent victory!”

 

The TV buzzed with enthusiasm as Byron, pokemon trainer and gym leader of the Sinnoh region won yet another battle against an enthusiastic challenger in a televised battle.

 

In this world, pokemon were creatures who fought alongside trainers. Some were friends and pets, others battle-worn weapons. Children and adults from around the world trained pokemon; some in search of glory, some for fame and fortune, others because it was all they had. But Byron was a gym leader—one of the recognized masters of pokemon battling. He stood tall and proud, a scruffy beard and messy head of hair atop a lean, yet muscular body.

 

Riley and Trisha watched as Byron stepped out of the arena and the channel cut to commercial. “Trisha, don't you get tired of watching this?” inquired Riley, scratching his face rather unabashedly.

 

Riley Brennen was a young man; hopelessly messy blonde hair and blue eyes, athletic and good-looking. He, too, was a trainer of pokemon, though he'd never traveled past the neighboring towns and cities.

 

“I told you already, stop calling me `Trisha.' I'm not some cutesy little girl who needs a cutesy little `a' at the end of my name.”

 

“Trish, don't you get tired of this?”

 

“The answer,” Trish said, matter-of-factly, “is no. No, watching Byron win battle after battle doesn't get boring. He's an accomplished trainer, a damn good one, and I like watching him fight.”

 

“You probably just think he's hot.” Riley sighed as she stood, getting off the couch briefly.

 

“He is hot. Look at him, he's gorgeous!” she said and bent over for the remote.

 

“Oh yeah… gorgeous.” Riley said, admiring Trish's behind. “Very gorgeous,” he mumbled to himself as he surveyed her long brown hair, her stunning figure and pretty face.

 

Trish fell back onto the couch, with the proud knowledge that her ass still was a lethal weapon. “If Byron battled you, who do you think would win?”

 

“Me!” Riley said automatically. “Me and mankey would burn that chump to the ground!”

 

“I thought you'd say that, but that's where you're wrong. You think you're so tough, Riley, but Byron's been around the world and is way more experienced than you. But… I guess you'll never realize that because you'll never bother fighting him.”

 

Unknowingly, Trish had just added some fuel to Riley's fire. And before she knew it, he was ablaze. “You know what, Trish? I think I'll take you up on that. I'm going to fight Byron, and I'm gonna win.” He stood up, determined.

 

Trish laughed. “No you aren't! You'll never make it that far, and you'll never, ever actually win!”

 

Riley was out of the room before she finished her sentence.

 

* * *

 

The region of Sinnoh was vast. It's most prominent feature were the massive mountains that split it in half, East from West. Byron resided in Canalave City, the westernmost city in all of Sinnoh; Riley lived in Solaceon, a hick town on the eastern half of Sinnoh. He knew from the start this was not going to be easy.

 

But Riley relished in the challenge. He'd been cooped up in town for too long now; his last venture hadn't been for weeks. As soon as he stepped outside the town boundaries, into the inviting, open field, he felt truly alive. This was it! This was why he was a trainer!

 

The impulsiveness of the whole thing only made him feel more liberated. He was going to take charge of his destiny right here, right now, and rush into battle because that's just what he'd been challenged to do. It was beautiful! Glorious! Romantic!

 

He took a deep breath of air and then rushed downhill, leaping past the rocky ridges that lay just south of town. Nothing could stop him! He laughed ferociously before suddenly tripping on a rock and falling flat on his face.

 

There was a pause.

 

Slowly, he rose back up, turning to inspect the rock which he tripped on. He shuffled a little closer, and before his very eyes, the rock came to life! It leaped back, unfolding and revealing a set of legs and eyes and small green growths.

 

“Bonsly!” it gurgled.

 

Riley instinctively reached for his belt, pulling off a red-and-white ball object. This was a device known as the pokeball; a necessary tool for those who called themselves pokemon trainers. These were used to capture and store pokemon; each ball could hold one pokemon. Riley had with him only one pokeball, containing his only captured pokemon.

 

“Mankey! Time to fight!”

 

Wit an eruption of light, a creature burst out from the ball. It was called `mankey'—a pokemon with a small, round fluffy body and monkey-like limbs as well as a tail. It had a pig snout and ears, and was renowned for its red-hot temper. It was these confrontations that Riley lived for; his pokemon against other pokemon, a battle to the end! Nothing made him burn hotter than this!

 

Before Riley could even utter a command, the pig-monkey pokemon had launched forward, striking the rock-type bonsly with a sharp karate chop, an ominous CRACK resounding from the strike, knocking the sturdy brown pokemon to the ground.

 

It leapt to its feet, grimacing with rage. With an enraged bellow it charged at mankey, but mankey swung a heavy kick at bonsly's tiny feet while it ran. The rock pokemon toppled forward and fell to the ground, and before it could stand mankey grabbed it, wrapping both arms around the heavy rock pokemon and lifting it over his head with a ferocious roar, displaying his power.

 

A final CRACK marked the defeat of bonsly as it was slammed back down to the ground. Mankey stood over it with an angry stare, breathing heavily, his chest heaving.

 

“AWRIGHT, MANKEY!” Riley cheered, launching his fist into the air. “Nice one! I knew I could count on you!”

 

Mankey turned back to look at him, a ferocious glare in its eyes. The rage of mankey was unparalleled. Riley decided this was his cue to get mankey back into its pokeball; with a bright flash of light mankey was reduced to a glowing mass of energy that was quickly absorbed back into the pokeball, which Riley safely attached onto his belt.

 

Riley and mankey were something of an interesting pair. Riley reveled in mankey's power and rage, but the two had never bonded at all as a trainer and pokemon should; Riley didn't have time for it and mankey wasn't the friendly type. Their relationship was all business, and that had worked just fine in the years they'd been together.

 

As Riley charged forward again, his mind drifted to the past; how, as a young boy, his parents had been boring and apathetic. He'd drifted from sport to sport, looking for a competition through which he could really vent himself. Eventually he found pokemon.

 

Using a mankey he'd caught out of the wild, he'd fight against other students behind the schoolyard in bloodthirsty battles that earned him a lot of money and a lot of respect. Finally, when he was 12 he decided to take a permanent trainer's leave from school; he'd never been a great student, anyway, so his parents had no problem with the move.

 

And at first he'd been enthusiastic as ever; he left town, fought some trainers, but the world was a bigger place than he thought. Professional pokemon trainers were a step up from the kids he'd fight in the schoolyard and untrained wild pokemon; he'd won some, he'd lost some, but he quickly came to realize he was no longer the one on top. Riley lost his confidence. Slowly his trips away from town became less frequent, shorter, until he was reduced to being effectively unemployed, living mostly off his parents but refusing to return to school at the age of 17.

 

Now, things were different, his flame was rekindled, and burning hotter than ever. He felt bold, manly, mighty! He was going to go fight Byron, and win! But he wasn't really looking where he was running again, and ended up colliding into somebody else.

 

This somebody was quite an imposing somebody. Riley looked up to find himself staring into the tough eyes of a fighter; muscle-bound, wearing a tight sleeveless shirt and gym shorts. He glared down at Riley, in turn.

 

“The hell is wrong with you?” he mumbled, inciting Riley to take a quick step back.

 

“Sorry! I wasn't paying attention where I was- “

 

“Shut up, dumbass!” The burly man glanced over riley quickly, noticing the pokeball on his belt. “You a trainer?” he said, reaching for the pokeball on his own belt.

 

Riley felt a smirk bubble up from within as he reached for his pokeball. “Hell yeah I am!” he said, “Is that a challenge?”

 

“I've been dying to fight somebody for a while,” the man said back. “I'll kick your ass.”

 

Riley took another step back as he released mankey onto the field of battle again. Across from it appeared another fighting type pokemon; this one was short, fat, but full of power, resembling a sumo wrestler; the yellow-tan pokemon makuhita made his entrance!

 

The place where they fought was a natural arena; the two trainers stood at the edges of a small landmass surrounded by shallow water, with small wooden bridges to cross it. The two pokemon stared at each other, eye to eye.

 

Finally mankey couldn't hold off anymore, charging straight at makuhita.

 

“FURY swipes, mankey!”

 

With an enraged yell mankey scratched at makuhita incessantly, arms whipping around at high speed. The small sumo pokemon, on the other hand, was patient, holding its arms up and steadily guarding against the attacks.

 

“Makuhita! Use counter!”

 

“Dammit, mankey, get back!”

 

Mankey, too caught up in its attacking, did nothing to step out of the way of makuhita's counter attack; with a mighty straight jab it sent mankey screaming back, toppling and rolling back but still full of energy. “Mankey, use your speed against it! Circle around it and use low kick!”

 

Mankey hopped forward, quickly strafing around his slower opponent with fists raised. “Makuhita, blow him back with a whirlwind!”

 

Mankey, hearing the call, leapt forward and swung a leg into makuhita's feet. The heavy pokemon stumbled, but kept his balance, then with a wave of his arm blasted mankey away with a mighty gust of wind. Mankey slid across the grass, holding its claws into the ground and just barely preventing itself from sliding into the water.

 

“Makuhita, keep it back! More whirlwinds!” his trainer called out.

 

With a devious grin makuhita blasted two more whirlwinds in mankey's direction, but the pig-monkey had gotten to its feet and was able to narrowly avoid the winds at that distance, deftly leaping left and right past them. It charged in again, this time with a sliding low kick, but makuhita still would not fall; it grabbed the monkey, easily lifting it off the ground and threw it back with the attack known as `vital throw.'

 

Mankey bounced off the ground, and came to a stop next to Riley. Its wounds were starting to catch up with it—it got to its feet, but not as quickly as before. Riley frowned at the sight; makuhita still seemed to be teeming with power. Mankey charged in again, raising its arms for a karate chop, but this time makuhita didn't wait for a hit. The yellow sumo pokemon intercepted the attack with its own, slamming mankey back with an arm thrust, then pursuing with more hits until mankey fell onto its back.

 

“Mankey!” Riley called out, shocked, but was relieved when the rage-filled pokemon jumped to its feet yet again, breathing heavily but still able to fight. Makuhita glared at it, raising its arms to guard again and waiting for a strike.

 

Riley recognized that makuhita was tough, but didn't think for a second that he was about to lose. “MANKEY!” he called out, fiery and passionate, “Focus your energy! Attack with everything!”

 

Mankey glared right back at the makuhita, snarling with anger. This thing just wouldn't fall! Every second it spent conscious was a nuisance. With an animalistic howl at the sky, mankey focused its energy, a fiery hot aura erupting from it. Makuhita dropped its guard, realizing it was in for one hell of a hit.

 

Makuhita swung a heavy arm at mankey, intending it knock it off its feet. Mankey jumped right into the attack, and it connected square in the gut; mankey kept on charging, however, briefly ignoring the pain and unleashing a devastating a flurry of attacks in a technique known as `close combat.' There was no defense, no hesitation, just all-out attack until very suddenly mankey's energy withered away, and with a final sigh it dropped to its knees, and then to the ground.

 

Makuhita stood silently, its arm still outstretched from attacking. Heavy, dark bruises began to appear all over its front. It suddenly and silently dropped forward, unconscious.

 

The battle had ended in a tie.