POKEMON A.R. ------------------------ The Hidden Nation Series ------------------------ Walkin' Trouble P R O L O U G E _______________ ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ PART 10 THE TOURNAMENT --------------- "You're not in PokŽmon Little-League anymore!" -A.J. to Ash *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* |~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~| *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* AT THE TOURNAMENT GROUNDS: -------------------------- "WHY do you two do this to me?" Tyler said as he looked at the overhead clock, "You two are going to kill me!" "Tyler, we would never do that!" Jesse said, -- [Author's note: Not in this fic anyway... ] --"I just wanted James to be here... I hardly see him anymore. We were going to meet up here and see what each other was up to." "Jesse," Tyler began, "it's just a silly contest, I'm sure you and James--" "It's NOT about the tournament... James and I *agreed* to meet HERE." she said, "And this HAS to be the place we meet. He wouldn't just leave me alone like this." Jesse shivered and walked under a tree. As the masses of people moved about and the intercom began calling out various names for the matches, Tyler sat down next to Jesse. "Jesse... I'm sorry. I know James has to be a special friend." Tyler said, "I mean, you two were willing to get pounded together by Rock head and Bill-swill." "He was... the first person who ever liked me for me." she said with a sigh, "Tyler... look, I haven't been totally honest with you." * * * "SEE! I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!" Squirtle said from the pokŽmon side area as Tyler's pokŽmon listened in on the conversation, "You owe me a Fungus Up Poliwrath!" "Verily... the lass doth keep many secrets." Poliwrath said, handing Squirtle the Fungus up he'd bought with the quarters he'd found when Tyler had signed up. "PIDGEO! Hush up! She's getting to the good stuff!" Pidgeotto said. Squirtle only smiled as he sipped his soda. * * * "Well, what is it Jesse?" Tyler said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Jesse seemed to melt as Tyler but his hand on her shoulder... tingles shivered from her shoulder, to her neck, and down to her feet. She didn't know what it was but she knew it was OK to tell Tyler. "Mom and Dad WERE rich before I was born... but they invested everything in some businesses in the Social Confederation and when they went to war, the government there took all the money everyone put in. I was too young to remember when we had money. We were poor for years... I mean, the happiest times I can remember is winter... we'd have a Snow- gasborge, and Santa would come at Christmas... but the Snow-gasborge was just mom's way of feeding me a decent meal, and Santa stole my favorite doll. My childhood was so rotten... I... know this sounds crazy but it seems like everything was against me." Tyler didn't quite know what a Snow-gasborge was, but he could relate to childhood sucking... and by the way Jesse looked like she was going to lose it, he knew it had to have been bad, "I believe you." Tyler said, "Santa's a loser... three years in a row I was good and he never got me what I wanted." Jesse's near crying attack dissipated. "Really? What did you want?" "A Mom and Dad." Tyler said, then was quiet a moment, "Say, let's make a promise. If either of us ever get to Santa, I say we steal every freaking present he's made and blow his stupid toy factory up." "Deal." Jesse said with a giggle. "Jesse." Tyler said, "Can I ask you something? I mean... if you were so poor, how'd you get rich again?" Jesse looked at Tyler. "It was weird actually... Mom went on a 'camping' trip... and then she came back and we moved into our house now. I... don't know WHERE she got that much money... I mean, we have more now than before. But it's strange... now Mom keeps going on camping trips and she has weird books on pokŽmon legends and stuff, and she hardly spends time with me anymore." "At least until I came along, huh?" Tyler said. Jesse blinked, a shocked look on her face... but the feeling of trust and warmth from Tyler's touch still kept her aloof, "I-I... LIKE you... A LOT. Mom HELPED me to 'get' everything... to help me understand, I mean. I never meant to try to hurt you... I just didn't know what to do. You really just blew me away with how you were." "How I was?" Tyler asked, confused. "You were... are, so nice to everyone and... you make me feel so special." Jesse said with a sigh. "That's just feeling good about yourself." Tyler said, shaking his head, "Jesse, you shouldn't need help for that." "It's hard to like someone who's lived almost her whole life in the gutter." Jesse said, holding her face low. "Sometimes you need to see how bad things are to realize how special you are to have what you have." Tyler said, "I'd've traded places with you... I'd've given up the nice roof over my head and clothes off my back as well if I could've had a Mom and Dad like you did to be there with me." "I guess I am lucky... and we have money now." Jesse said, perking up. "And even though your Mom takes trips, at least she comes home to you." Tyler said, "I have no clue who my parents were or even if they're still alive." "Now I feel guilty." Jesse said, "Here I am complaining and you have nothing." "I'm not trying to make you feel guilty." Tyler said, "I just want you to realize that you and I have it better than billions of people on this earth." [Author's note: Anyone who's reading this from a country where you can have access to a CPU has it better off than billions of people by virtue of being in a country rich enough to afford them.] Jesse sighed. Tyler was right... no point in feeling like her life was so bad... it really wasn't. Still, Jesse would REALLY like to know where her mother had gotten that money and where she went on her trips. * * * Jesse's house, Eileen's secret room ----------------------------------- "Where is the Mew?" the silhouetted figure said from the screen. Eileen stood at attention as her Boss made her intent clear. "I don't know." Eileen said, " My searches have been fruitless. The target seems to have disappeared." "I don't want excuses." the distorted voice said, "I didn't put you and that husband of yours in the lap of luxury so you could waste my time with failure. You brought me the Mew fossil... that convinced me you could do this Eileen. Was I mistaken?" "No Mistress Rocket." Eileen said, looking at the figure on the television screen, "I know Mew better than anyone and I told you if any were left alive I'd find them... but finding a Mew isn't easy. We've seen so few of them that a lot of scientists still think they're make believe. And the fact I found a nest of them should prove I'm not incompetent." "Yet you don't have a single one to show for your efforts." Madam Boss Rocket's distorted voice replied. "If Mew were so weak as to be easily captured, we wouldn't be putting this kind of effort into this venture." Eileen stated. The figure on the screen sighed. "Team Rocket's plans require Mew. You and your husband are my most valued agents Eileen... the house, the money should prove it. But I can't allow this to skew my objectives. Team Rocket will free this world from the evils that plague it." A fax machine next to Eileen started up, and began printing several pages. "You are going to go on another mission for me." Madame Rocket said, "We've gotten reports of Mew in the Andes Mountains and the South American Jungle... you and your husband will proceed to the coordinates on the maps. Retrieve a Mew and finally secure your place as an echelon member of Team Rocket. Failure isn't an option. Bring me Mew alive and well, or dead and in one useable piece for my scientists." The screen went dark and Eileen relaxed with a sigh. More chances at it... Mew must've been VERY important to the Mistress' plans to allow Eileen such leeway. But how was she going to explain ANOTHER trip this soon to Jesse? * * * PokŽmon Tournament grounds: --------------------------- "Where *IS* he?" Kemegiro walked up and down the stalls at the side area. James had been VERY specific as to where he and Kemegiro would meet. James had wanted him to meet his friend, Jesse, and to pal around for the day. Kemegiro sighed. "This is nuts." Kemegiro said aloud to himself, "Why is he so late?" He didn't know James to ever miss their appointments since they both began hanging out. Wherever James was, Kemegiro hoped he was having fun. Seeing as there was nothing better top do, he headed to the matches area to kill time before he had to compete. * * * "YEAH!" James' called as he and Jackii coasted into the bike lot. "We made it!" Jackii said, happily as she set the kickstand on her bike. "James!" "Jesse!" The two friends had spotted each other and had ran, giving the other a long hug. "How've you been?" Jesse asked, letting James go. "Fine, I suppose." James said, "You?" "OK, I guess." Jesse replied, "I'm glad Jackii found you." "So am I." James said, "Where's Tyler?" "He's starting his first match in a few minutes." Jesse said, "We have to hurry before we miss him!" The trio had made sure the bikes were chained up and headed over to pokŽbattle ring where Tyler getting ready for his match and, oddly enough, James ran into his friend. "Took you long enough." Kemegiro said with a smile as James walked up. "Told you I'd be here though... and better late than never." James said. Jackii noticed the two chatting, but merely shook her head as they made their way to Tyler's match. ------- MATCH 1 ------- Well, this was beyond dandy now wasn't it? Tyler sighed as he looked across to his opponent. From what Tyler had been explained to, the pokŽmon a person could use WAS NOT limited to the levels your opponent's pokŽmon were... what this meant was that Tyler could theoretically have all level 1 pokŽmon while fighting someone with level 100 pokŽmon and it would be Tyler's problem. How messed up was that? Tyler looked over his pokŽmon with the level scanner... Squirtle Lvl 15, Pidgeotto Lvl 18, Psyduck Lvl 14, and Poliwrath at Lvl 20 (which was odd since Poliwags normally didn't evolve into Poliwhirl until level 26). Hopefully, no one else here would be as pumped as Tyler was afraid of... ya... maybe there was nothing to worry about! After all... GOOD trainers would be off getting badges right? Why NEED to go to PokŽmon Tech? Tyler tried to allay his fears... but he still had Butterfrees in his stomach. He watched as Jesse, Jackii, James, and some other guy cheer him on (in the new guy's case, half heatedly). Tyler smiled, and sighed again, letting the tension ebb away. This was his ONE shot at being anything in his life, and he wasn't going to let it get flushed down the toilet. "Alright!" Nurse Anna said, "In the 4 on 4's, first match up is Tyler Trawets vs. D.T. Chaten. Remember the rules: No use of items. You can call or recall your pokŽmon in or out of battle as much as you like. The player whose pokŽmon defeat the other's wins. Understood?" Tyler and D.T. nodded. "Good. Then go!" Nurse Anna called. "Psyduck go!" Tyler called. "Rattata, go!" D.T. called. >If you have the pokŽmon movie CD (US: Mewtwo Strikes Back Movie soundtrack), feel free to start up the PokŽmon Theme (track one)< Tyler ordered Psyduck to use Fury Swipes. Psyduck, despite the rather stupid look on it's face, did an excellent attack as it's arms swung almost wildly. D.T., not to be outdone, had Rattata use Hyper Fang. Psyduck took a couple of steps back in recoil... then, used a Disable attack. D.T. ordered his Rattata to use Hyper Fang again... but Rattata just looked confused. Tyler smiled, realizing the Disable had affected the Rattata's strongest attack. He ordered Psyduck to use fury swipes again, and Rattata went down. D.T. recalled Rattata, then called his next pokŽmon: Ponyta. Tyler almost freaked (it was as big as a horse!). Before Tyler could react, D.T. ordered it to use Stomp... now Psyduck went down. Tyler's eyes narrowed. Brute force huh? Tyler summoned Poliwrath. It was D.T.'s turn to spazz as he caught sight of such a pokŽmon, but he ordered Ponyta to stomp again without missing a beat. Tyler ordered Poliwrath to use Hydro Pump... the blast was so strong it knocked Ponyta into the side of the ring... it tried to get up but only fell back down. D.T. scowled. He recalled Ponyta and called Machop. Machop flexed a muscle before using a Karate chop. Poliwrath countered with a Mega Punch (where had he learned that?!) that put Machop back far enough in recoil that Poliwrath used Hydro Pump to put him down before the Machop could react. D.T. almost sneered... then smiled. He called his Hitmonlee. Tyler and Poliwrath both blinked in sequence as Hitmonlee did a Low Kick and knocked out Poliwrath. "Pidgeotto, I choose you!" Tyler said. The bird pokŽmon flew out in a frenzy as Tyler ordered it to do a Wing attack. After some almost sparring blows, Hitmonlee did a roundhouse kick that put Pidgeotto into the part of the ring behind Tyler. Seeing Hitmonlee almost leave the ring to finish Pidgeotto off, Tyler summoned his last pokŽmon. Squirtle arrived just to Tyler's side... then saw Pidgeotto. She cooed weakly... "I couldn't..." she said. Squirtle's face contorted in an angry sneer. The tiny turtle turned to face the "kicking demon" as Hitmonlee was called... only to receive a cheap Low Kick as he tried to get ready. Angry as all get-out, Squirtle withdrew into it's shell and, as Hitmonlee kicked again, he then kicked up and flew right between the pokŽmon's legs. Hitmonlee's eyes crossed as it fell back. Squirtle popped out, then Tackle attacked Hitmonlee right out of the ring. "BABY LIKE HIS SUPPER? HUH!!!" Squirtle said as he pounded Hitmonlee's face into the dirt. Tyler called him back... but Squirtle didn't stop until he heard Pidgeotto coo for him. Hitmonlee fell over as Squirtle rushed to the injured pokŽmon's side. "Whoa..." Squirtle said, hobbling back, "I feel... different." Pidgeotto blinked as Squirtle began to glow a bright blue... until his outline changed into that of the stage 1 evolution, Wartortle. "YAH!" Tyler yelled, picking up the water pokŽmon in his arms, "You did it pal!" "Wartortle!" the pokŽmon cried, wanting to be let down. As Nurse Anna declared Tyler the winner, Wartortle went back to Pidgeotto's side. "You OK girl?" Wartortle said. "He hit me pretty bad." Pidgeotto said, he voice a soft coo. "He's not going to touch you again babe... heck, I doubt ANY Hitmon that saw that battle with mess with us." Wartortle said, smiling. Nurse Anna collected up the pokŽmon to heal as the next set of rounds took place. * * * "That was awesome!" Jesse said. Tyler nodded as the hustle of people flowed around them. "They did great. I'm really proud." Jackii tried to talk over the intercom's screeching. "You did a great job training them." "Thanks!" Tyler yelled, the din getting horrid. "How'd you get such pumped pokŽmon?" James asked. "Hard work and A LOT of items." Tyler said. Some other lesser trainers had gathered around... SURPRISINGLY, they were more interested in what Tyler had to say than the match going on behind them! "What items?" a voice asked. Tyler didn't see who it was, but he saw the crowd and felt kinda giddy at being the center of attention. "Calcium's, Irons, that kinda stuff." he said. "You must be pretty rich!" someone else said. "Actually," Tyler said, "remember that freighter that sunk? I got A LOT of perfectly good stuff off of it that really only had smeared labels for the LOW LOW price of nothing." "WHOA! DUDE! How many you got?" a voice asked. "A few crates of each... plus I got the HM's Surf and Fly. I'm hoping Pidgeotto can fly me around some time." Tyler said. "Fat chance!" Pidgeotto cooed from the recovery area. "Hey, can we have some?" a little girl's voice asked... Tyler was thinking of something to say when the girl's further asking was interrupted. "No silly! He's a trainer! He needs that for training pokŽmon." an older voice said, "We'd have to buy it off him." "Can you help my pokŽmon and teach it Fly?" the little girl's voice said. "Ya, me too!" a little boy near Tyler said. Pretty soon, Tyler had to tell just about all the children gathered around him where he hung out and promised he'd think about giving training to some of the pokŽmon and their trainers... for a small fee, of course (he'd actually though it was a LARGE fee, trying to get them to leave him alone... but none of them cared that it was so much). After that 15-minute conundrum died down, it'd turned out the new guy James had met had been the one that had battled... of course, now he was no where to be found. It didn't REALLY matter... Tyler had more battles to fight and could hardly spare time to find his place let alone people who obviously didn't want to be found. * * * A FEW HOURS LATER ----------------- The day had seemed to just drag on. Jackii had won a couple of matches before getting beaten but her Jigglypuff and Clefairy had gone up 2 levels each! That was incredible for just one day's work, and Jackii was obviously happy with her victories. Tyler had had nothing short of an amazing day. 32 contestants had shown up for the competition, and now, out of the blue, there was Tyler's name on the final round roster. "I could actually do this." Tyler said, "It's me and... Maya something." "If you win this one, you'll be the best trainer in town." James said, "Truth to tell, no one with any brains would want to battle you now." Tyler sighed. After 4 rounds, this was it. He shook with nervousness at the idea of him, *HIM*, at PokŽmon Tech!" All sorts of thoughts came into Tyler's head: PokŽmon researcher, PokŽmon Grand Champion, PokŽmon *MASTER*!" He imagined himself the most famous trainer on the planet... "I hate to interrupt your inner dream sequence," Jackii said, "but you *DO* have a match to win." "Ya." Tyler said, getting out his pokŽballs. "You'll do great." Jesse said, "The best part is, now we'll go to school together." Tyler nodded and, with Butterfrees in his stomach again, he walked to the preparation circle and released his 4 pokŽmon. "PSY-Y-Yeeee!" "Poliwrath, verily!" "Pidgeotto, ready for takeoff!" "Wartortle's back in style!" "Wow, these special poke-charges really do fix you guys up fast." Tyler commented at the very energetic pokŽmon, having only gotten the four back 7 minutes ago, "You guys feel OK right? I mean... they didn't just rush you through did they?" Wartortle just shook his head. "I don't want you guys hurt for no reason. If you don't feel-" "PIDGEOOO!" "POLY!" Tyler looked at his now agitated pokŽmon. "You four sure?" Tyler asked them. The pokŽmon nodded. "OK... then lets do this." Tyler said. ---------- Last Round ---------- (If anyone has the old Killer Instinct CD soundtrack [anyone remember that old Super Nintendo Game?], feel free to play the song "The Instinct" to get an idea of the mood.) Jesse, James, and Jackii all looked from the side area as Tyler and Maya stood out onto the field. Tyler looked at the girl. She was about his age with brown hair and eyes, which were covered by a pair of eye glasses. "Alright!" Nurse Anna said, "This is the final match between Tyler Trawets and Maya McNeil. Two pokŽmon each, no time limit." Tyler and Maya each stood up to the trainer positions. "The winner of this match will receive our grand prize of a fully paid education at PokŽmon Technical. The runner up will likewise receive a full semester at PokŽmon Technical in their special PokŽmon Psychology elective studies." Anna said, making a big shpeal for the crowd... which she didn't look like she was enjoying. Before Tyler could think about it, Anna had already called the two trainers to pick two pokŽmon and then their starting ones. "Let the match begin!" Anna called, waving a green flag. "Tyler sends out Wartortle!" "Wartortle!" "Tentacruel, go!" The other pokŽmon merely hissed in a low voice. "Wartortle, Tackle attack!" Tyler called. "Tentacruel, use your Sludge attack!" Maya yelled. Tentacruel beat Wartortle out speed wise... but fortunately for the turtle-like pokŽmon, the octopus-like pokŽmon's aim ROYALLY sucked. Squirtle dodged the attack and tackled Tentacruel into the side of the ring, seriously lowering it's stamina. "NO!" Maya yelled, "Tentacruel, Wrap attack!" "Beat'em down Wartortle!" Wartortle never got the chance. Recovering quickly from the previous attack, Tentacruel wrapped Wartortle up in it's tentacles. Unable to move, Wartortle was slowly squeezed until his strength was very low. After some struggling, Tentacruel's grip was loose enough for Wartortle to get away. "Wartortle, HEADBUTT!" Tyler called. "Tentacruel, Wrap attack again!" Maya called. Tentacruel, still somewhat tangled, couldn't get ready in time, and was knocked straight out by Wartortle's headbutt. "Wartortle is the winner!" Anna called, raising a flag towards Tyler's side of the ring. "YEAH!" Tyler said, jumping in the air as the crowd cheered, "Wartortle you-- Wartortle?" Wartortle didn't look too good. As Maya ran out to see if Tentacruel was O.K., Tyler did likewise with his own water pokŽmon. "Wartortle?" Tyler said, holding him up. "I... can't... kid..." Wartortle said in pokŽlanguage. "Look... you did O.K., you won." Tyler said, looking at his near feinted pokŽmon. Wartortle smiled weakly, then passed out. It took a few moments to get everything back in order, but then Nurse Anna motioned the two to begin the last part of the match. Tyler breathed in and out slowly, trying to slow his heart down. Just one more pokŽmon knocked out and he'd have a full-fledged education at PokŽmon Tech! "YOU CAN DO IT!" Jesse called from the side, as Jackii and James echoed Jesse's sentiments. "Trainers," Anna called, jutting out a flag and then pulling it down sharply, "GO!" "Tyler chooses Poliwrath!" Tyler called, throwing out the pokŽball. "Vileplume, go!" Maya yelled, tossing out her own pokŽball. "POLYWRATH!" "VIIILEPLUUUUME!" "Poliwrath, MEGAPUNCH!" Tyler yelled his order. "Vileplume, poison powder!" Poliwrath did an in-the-face punch of Vileplume, who recovered and quickly took advantage of Poliwrath's closeness, poisoning the water pokŽmon. "No..." Tyler said, "Poliwrath, knock it out!" "Vileplume, use Absorb!" Maya called. Vileplume, on the verge of being knocked out, began to use the stamina draining attack only to have Poliwrath come up, attempting to end the match in one punch... * * * A FEW HOURS LATER: ------------------ When the tournament ended the crowds had cheered, the mayor gave a speech. Nurse Anna had awarded the winner and runner up their prizes and everyone had gone home. In the distance, the park was still littered with the trash from the contest as the civil engineers cleaned it all up. The sun was going down now, and the twilight was shining out over the water. Tyler smiled from his spot on the hill where the orphanage sat. Enjoying the calm... at least for a few moments. "YAY TYLER!" the other children yelled as Ms. Harmon came out. "You did pretty well." Jesse said, sitting next to Tyler. "You were awesome!" Jackii said, putting her hand on Tyler's shoulder. "And now you get to go to school with us." James said, reaching for a piece of the cake Ms. Harmon had brought out. "YA! The four Musketeers!" Jackii said, smiling. Jesse was beside herself at that suggestion. "At least for a semester anyway." Tyler said, "PokŽmon Psychology sounds interesting though." Poliwrath had been affected by the poison at the moment before the punch. Vileplume had sucked away Poliwrath's stamina with the Absorb attack and, being a grass type pokŽmon, had had an advantage over the water type Poliwrath. The frog-type pokŽmon had feinted and Maya had gotten the grand prize. Still, something even cooler had happened. The kids at the contest had swarmed Tyler afterwards, and had followed Tyler back to the PokŽmon Center where, for 4 hours or so, he'd sold all but 17 of his items he'd had in storage, and had taught the HM's Fly and Surf to many of the kid's pokŽmon-- all for a fee, of course. It wasn't so much that Tyler cared about the money, he just didn't want the entire town coming to him for stuff all the time. After all, he had a life! He Had hoped charging for stuff would've made them buzz off, but his prices were too good, apparently. But after selling off everything and teaching the HM's so many times over, Tyler had had quite a bit of cash. In fact, when he'd opened his account, he'd found out he'd had enough for a year of PokŽmon Tech. classes! It wasn't much really (PokŽmon Tech took some people 6-8 years!) but Tyler had a dream! What the best part was, for Tyler anyway, was that even though he'd gotten only second place, the kids at the orphanage were acting like he'd won anyway. "So whatcha gonna do Tyler?" one of the younger kids called. "I'm going to take the free semester and then go for a year." Tyler said. "Are ya gonna get badges after that?" a little boy called. "Maybe!" Tyler said, smiling. * * * Maybe... SOME TIME LATER: ---------------- That had been five months before. Everything had been great actually. Tyler had aced the free class and was now starting his first real year there. Tyler and Jesse had even gotten close... REALLY close. But things didn't stay so good. The new influx of students had ruffles some feathers on the part of the richer student's parents. They had insisted on entrance exams for students, which had become mandatory. Jackii and Tyler had done above average... but Jesse and James hadn't done so well... they'd actually gotten the lowest scores ever. Tyler had tried to get them to retake the tests, and it looked like they both would. James seemed to freak out at the possibility of going back home, in fact. Jesse seemed into giving it another go too... But then the news came. When Jesse had left for school last semester, her mother and father had left for "work" abroad... Her mother in the Andes, her father in South America. It had been hard for Jesse to have her parents gone so long... and even harder to now hear they were both dead. They'd found her mother in an avalanche... what was left of her being too horrid to describe and too little to use a casket for. Her father was still missing, and presumed dead. The day she'd gotten the news was tragic in and of itself. More bad news had come when the Dove party in Sunnytown had "confiscated" the money from Jesse's estate with a court order, seeing as "a child was incapable of handling such money, especially when she hadn't earned it." The day she'd gotten that last bit of news had been the straw that broke the camels back. Jesse's attitude had taken a serious down swing. Even worse, James had had a bad trip home during the last school break (something Jackii seemed to know about but wouldn't say) and had run away. This only snowballed when Jesse had decided to run away with James so they could stay "partners in crime." "Please don't go!" Tyler had said, tears running down his face. It was late in night and Jesse, along with James, were packed and ready to sneak away from the dorms. "I have nowhere else to go." Jesse said, "Besides, with James I can do anything! Why don't you come with us Tyler? You have no where to go either." "Ya, how long do you think you can scrounge up money to stay here?" James said, "Come with us and we can be free as Pidgeys!" "PokŽmon Tech is our only shot at being anything!" Tyler said, I know--" "Tyler..." Jesse said, "I've been over this in my head and... I can't do this anymore. I have to be free." "But you're throwing everything away!" Tyler said as James left ahead to see if everything was clear, "We could study here and see the world as pokŽmon trainers! The world can be such a cool thing when you have the skills and the friends to share in it!" "COOL?!" Jesse snapped at Tyler, for the first time ever, "This planet is being devastated every which way! Everyone is at each other's throats. The stupid Doves told their 'truth' in court and stole everything I had! This world and everything in it sucks!" "What about love, HUH?!" Tyler said, crying now. Jesse was silent. Neither had said the "l" word before... not even like that. Still, Jesse couldn't lie to herself, she felt something for Tyler. "Even love seems to be kinda evil." Jesse said, finally, "I mean... how can something that makes you feel like your heart got ripped out ever be good?" Tyler shook his head. "All I know is that..." he said, unable to finish. Tyler would later regret not having said the words, about not having told Jesse how he'd felt. Tyler and Jesse looked at each other in silence. "JESSE, NOW!" James hissed, breaking the stillness of the night. He began waving to her from the side. Jesse grabbed her stuff, took one last look at Tyler, and ran, leaving Tyler alone. "Oh Jesse..." Tyler said, watching as the duo made their way out. * * * By the next morning, the duo had gotten very far off. They'd managed to take several side roads and to even have made their way on the main trainer's rout without attracting suspicion. "Now what?" James asked, breaking a rather long period of silence between the two. "Well..." Jesse said, "How about we go back to Sunnytown!" "WHAT?! WHY?!?" James said, spazzing. "To be a bike gang... for REAL this time!" she said, "With a little work, you and I could do great!" James sighed. "I suppose..." "THAT'S THE SPIRIT!" Jesse said, laughing happily, "We're going to do alright James, you and me!" James just sweatdropped. How could Jesse be so enthusiastic? Was the future REALLY so bright for them? * * * A WEEK LATER: ------------- Tyler looked out over the PokŽmon Technical campus. The sun was bright but not unbearably so... the wind swished the trees, making a set of swaying shadows which covered Tyler in intermediate patterns of light and shadow. Tyler liked the calm... it eased his pain. All Jackii saw was that Tyler had become more withdrawn. She'd hoped that with Jesse gone that perhaps he'd get away from those feelings he'd had... maybe even open up to her instead of to the street girl. It hadn't been that way though, Tyler had become cold and distant with each passing day; even his pokŽmon had noticed. "Tyler?" Jackii asked, sitting down next to him. Tyler was quiet a moment, then turned to Jackii. "Life's not fair is it?" Tyler said more than asked. "No," Jackii said, thinking about how much she'd like to try to kiss the heart broken boy, "it's not." "She's gone," Tyler said, "And I may never see her again." "Maybe you two weren't meant to be is all." Jackii said, swinging her legs on the bench, "Sometimes bad things happen in life so that we can have something even better happen to us later. Tyler didn't even respond to that. He stared out over the campus again. "Tyler?" Jackii asked after a few minutes of silence. "I wonder if there was any way things could be different." Tyler said suddenly. "Different?" Jackii asked, now somewhat worried about Tyler, "How?" "Like, another world." Tyler said, "One where you could do things over again." "I don't know about over again," Jackii said, hoping that meeting his logic would allow her to pull him out of his mental fix, "but maybe a place where things were done differently." "Another place." Tyler said, thinking. Jackii, seeing that she was getting nowhere, told Tyler good bye and left him alone; after all, there was nothing she could do and it was killing her to see him suffer like this. "I wonder..." Tyler said aloud when Jackii had left, "could there be another place where Jesse and I are still here... together?" Tyler stood up and looked into the dark, blue sky. "If there are any other me's out there," he said, "if you can here me somehow, don't let my world be yours!" Tyler looked at the ground and began to cry. Right now, the only thought that was keeping him sane was that somewhere, a version of him and a version of Jesse were together. Even if it didn't happen here, in reality, maybe there was another one where Tyler could be happy. An alternate reality? Tyler laughed through his heart broken tears... then stopped. What that it could be so? Tyler smiled, and hoped. He'd do what he could to see Jesse again, someday... not in some other place, but right here! Tyler stood tall and took in a large, sobbed breath. He'd go through as much PokŽmon Technical classes as he could afford, then get the badges he'd need, and he'd have his own gym someday! He'd-- Tyler walked back to his dorm room with dreams and hoped filling the empty places sorrow had held. Who needed another world when you did the best with what you had right here? ~ ~ ~ ~ F I N I *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* |~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~| *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* NOTE: Maya is Sanskrit (the 1st written language) for "Illusion" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pikachu's Fanfiction Archive: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Teahouse/1260/index.html Please email all submissions to: Sailorvoid@hotmail.com * * * PokŽmon is copyright 1995-1996/1998-2000 Nintendo/Creatures/Gamefreak Tyler Trawets and Jackii Wipple are internet creative property of Stewart Hart and the PokŽmon A.R. group. * * * LAST note: YES Jesse was poor... she was started and ended poor. Did you REALLY think I would not have explain how she became rich in my story all of a sudden? SOME OF YOU DID! ^_^ AJA, no hard feelings. I'm just glad to know there are informed pokŽmon fans out there.