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A Pokemon Story – Part #6

01 Sunday Jun 2014

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I called Frank over to the door as I came in and he came over, sensing by the sound of my voice that I’d probably done something I shouldn’t.  Jewel followed hot on his heels, intrigued by the bundle of fluff I held in my arms.  As the Umbreon glowered, the small Vulpix began to shake again, huddling itself back into my arms.  My husband towered over me, looking down at the tiny fire fox.

“Are you adopting more strays?”  He asked with a grin.  I gave him a sheepish look.

“Maybe.  Can I keep it?”

He shrugged.  “You’re the one who wants a petting zoo.  You should put it down before it burns a hole in your jacket..”

Several minutes later, I had the Vulpix in a nest made of towels, inside the bathtub.  The bathroom door was closed, but that didn’t stop several paws from slipping beneath it, both in black and lavender.  I reached out to stroke the shivering fox.

“Don’t worry, little one, they won’t bite.”  The tiny head nuzzled up to my finger, only to snap around and bite me.

“OUCH!!”  I pulled my hand away from the kit as an Espeon materialized inside the bathroom door.

“Katie!”  I admonished, “You know you shouldn’t be in here.”  Her red eyes merely stared at me as my cellphone buzzed on the counter.  I ignored her, going to grab her as she walked up to the Vulpix.  She dodged my grip as the cellphone buzzed again, and shoved her head into the tub beside the Vulpix.  I grabbed at her again, and she merely stared me down.  The cellphone buzzed again as I tried fruitlessly to move her.  In frustration, I grabbed the phone as she sniffed the kit all over in curiousity.  Three new text messages, curious as there was rarely cell reception in these woods.  I scrolled to the first as I watched Katie like a hawk, hoping she wouldn’t attack.

I am here to take care of the young one.

The first message read.  I furrowed my brow as I glanced at the sender.  There was no number, it simply said “Katie”.  I looked at my Espeon, and then at the next messages.

I will teach the young one.

Stop this.  She will be fine.

I stared slack jawed at my Espeon, who was now looking me over curiously.

“How long have you been able to do this?”  I asked in amazement.  The phone buzzed in my pocket.

Always.

“Well, why didn’t you say anything earlier?”  I said, finally feeling justified in talking to my pets.

You did not ask.

“Oh sure Katie, while we’re at it, do you have any other cool tricks to show me?”

I debated how much of Katie’s words were typical feline bravado and how much was truth.  Would she admit it if the reverse was true?  It didn’t matter much, since this discovery was momentous enough.

“Well Katie, you should probably know why I don’t want you in here then.  Don’t you remember when I first brought Jewel home?  You got all defensive and swatted at her!”  The cellphone buzzed again.

She did not know respect.

At least that much was true, I vaguely recalled how unsurprised everyone was when she evolved into an Umbreon.  Wait…  I paused slightly, trying to dredge up the memory of Jewel evolving instead of Jewel as a cat.  I shouldn’t remember her evolving, but it was clear as day.  The scratching at the door broke me out of the memory, and the phone buzzed again as black claws pawed at the bathroom door.

She still does not know respect.  This one will be different.

I looked at the small Vulpix, curiously trying to peek out of the bathtub at Katie’s swishing tail.  It gave a tiny sneeze, sending a cloud of embers out to settle on the linens.  I winced slightly.

“I hope you’re right, Katie, otherwise she may well burn down the house.  I don’t want her being aggressive, or hurting you.”  I was already checking my phone when it buzzed this time.  A picture popped up, showing a Flareon nursing a litter of Eevees.

She will learn control.

I nodded to her, and decided to take this one on faith.

“Alright, I trust you, Katie.  Be a good mother to this one.”  I got up to leave just as the Vulpix pounced Katie’s forked tail.  I squeezed my way out of the washroom, careful not to let Jewel push her way in, when a thought occurred to me.  Just as the door closed, I asked one more question.

“Katie, do you remember being a cat?”  I hastily shut the door, locking Jewel out and leaning back against the door.  Reluctantly, I checked out my two new messages.

Yes.

This is better.

 

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A Pokemon Story – Part #5

24 Thursday Apr 2014

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As night fell, Frank and I found ourselves cuddling in the living room of the cottage with books, watching the dull glow of fire behind the doors of the wood stove.  Katie and Jewel were both sleeping nearby, close to us, but not quite close enough to be pet.  Casaer had been reluctant to see us go inside without him, even after I’d lead him back to the shelter twice.  Eventually, I had just left him out there.  He now lay just outside the porch door, staring in hopefully.

“Maybe I should stay up here this week while you’re at work.”  I said, breaking the silence.

“Just to keep Casaer company?  I’m not sure that’ll solve the problem.”

I shrugged.  “At least I’ll be able to do some work and maybe actually set up a petting zoo.  Could be interesting.”  Frank fell silent for several moments.  “You could drive up after work.  It’s not that far of a commute.”  I added.  He looked at me with puppy-dog eyes.

“It’s not a short commute either.  I’ll miss you if you’re gone all week.”

“I’d miss you too.  But I used to have to travel for work.  Eventually they were going to make me go on a week or two long trip at my old office too.”

“I didn’t like that either.”  He gave me a protective hug and I nuzzled into him.

“Well, Steve’s done school now, maybe he and Shevaun can come up and stay with me too.  But then you’ll be all alone in our house.”

“Well, we can work out something.”  He said, gently pulling me towards the bedroom.  “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

I woke the next morning to the sound of Caesar calling outside the bedroom window.  Jewel stirred from where she was curled up on my feet, peering towards the window curiously.  I muttered under my breath towards the window, but the sound showed no signs of stopping.  Finally dragging myself out of the bed, I threw on a house coat and wandered out to the kitchen where Frank was already eating, Jewel hot on my heels.

“How long has he been doing that?”  I muttered, trying to comb my hair into a semblance of order.

“All morning.”  Frank replied over his plate of bacon and eggs.  “I tried to call him over, but he wouldn’t come.  There some bacon for you in the oven.”

“Thanks.” I muttered, slipping on a pair of winter boots over my bare feet, and throwing on my winter jacket as I noticed the snow still on the ground.  As an afterthought, I grabbed a slice of bacon, wrapped the rest in paper towel and shoved it in my pocket.  “I’ll be back soon.”

The cold air hit me as I left the warmth of the cottage, but the sun was warm behind me.  As I walked towards the sound, I noticed there was more to the noise than just Caesar’s noises.  There was a strange crinkling noise as well.  As I got closer, the source became a little more obvious.  There was Caesar, almost growling at something flashing in the snowbank.  He paid me no mind as I got closer, focused on the snowbank.  It looked like a chip bag, blown in the wind.

“Caesar, quit that.”  I said getting closer, laying a hand on his back.  He barely glanced my way, fixated on the fun sized chip bag.  I rolled my eyes.

“Look, it’s just a piece of garbage.”  I said, moving closer myself to grab it, and throw it out.  As I bent over, I caught a glimpse of reddish-gold fur, poking around two small dark eyes.  My breath caught in my throat as I threw myself backwards, staring at the tiny Vulpix hidden in the bag in terror.  My brain started working quickly, as I pushed the Sawsbuck’s head aside.

“Back off, Caesar.”  I said quietly, and he finally listened to me, trudging away several steps to stand by silently.  The Vulpix made soft clicking noises, staring out of the bag with terrified eyes.  I knelt in the snowbank nearby, talking gently.  The Vulpix was far smaller than it should have been, barely the size of my fist and covered in baby fluff.

“Where’s your mommy?”  I asked quietly, looking around for any sign of a pissed off mother.  But other than Caesar, now eating some early spring grass, there was no sign of another pokemon.  Could I leave the baby out here alone?  My instincts told me that was the best idea, but my curiosity got the better of me.  With a flash of an idea, I pulled the extra bacon out of my pocket, crumbling it and offering it out on a flat hand.  The Vulpix stopped it’s clicking, sniffing the air curiously.

“Come here, little one.  You’ll like this.”  Slowly, it inched it’s way out of the bag, staring at me with big eyes.  I noticed it had only one tail, confirming my theory that this was a very young baby.  It inched it’s way closer, curious yet cautious.  The snow melted and steamed slightly under it’s feet, leaving tiny footprints as it delicately sniffed my fingers.  Satisfied I wasn’t about to move suddenly, the tiny mouth grabbed a bite of bacon, dragging it out of my palm and into the snow where it was quickly devoured.  A small yip told me the offering was found satisfactory.  When the bacon was gone, the Vulpix began to lick the grease from my palm.  I reached my other hand out, gently petting the small fox.  I was rewarded with the head pushing into me as it climb on top of my hand.  Within moments, it had curled up in my palm, happily cooing in it’s sleep.

As I looked down at the small fox, I realized the snow was beginning to melt through my pyjamas and my legs were beginning to go numb.  But the baby showed no signs of wanting to leave, and no mother had yet to appear.  There seemed to be only one option.

I walked back into the kitchen, kicking off the heavy boots with one hand held to my chest.

“Hey Sweetie.”  I called out to the living room.  “I found something cute, can we keep it?”

 

A Pokemon Story – Part 4

05 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by in Established Universe, Pokemon, Stories

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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

“Do you really think this is going to work?”  Frank asked me as we stood in the forest near a small shelter.  It was nothing special, a quick roof and three walls, with a hinged gate and hay floor, but hopefully it was enough.  More importantly, it was on our land, right near the cottage, and far from any major cities.  I pulled out Sawsbuck’s pokeball.  Katie, sitting beside me, sniffed at the ball curiously as I did so, her pale lavender ears twitching.

“I hope so.  We couldn’t really keep him in the city.”  I said as I let out the large deer pokemon.   He came out in a burst of light, and immediately started nuzzling me.  “Alright, alright,” I told the questing nose, producing an apple from my backpack.  “Here you go, Caesar.”   I immediately had to dodge his antlers as he bent to eat the apple.  Now in full bloom, his antlers were covered in soft velvet and delicate pink flowers.  I pet his head awkwardly.

“Alright, come here then,”  I said, walking towards the shelter with the nearly-gone apple.  He followed me obediently, even after the apple was gone.  “This is a shelter for you.”  I explained,  “We’re going to leave you up here so you don’t have to stay in your pokeball all the time.”  The look on his face immediately made me feel guilty.  I was never quite sure how much the pokemon understood, but they certainly seemed to understand a lot.

“Don’t look at me like that!  This is a much better spot for you.”  I said defensively.  “And we’ll come visit often.  But up here you have space to roam.”  Caesar nuzzled my shoulder, still looking sad.  I sighed.  We had spent the last 6 weeks teaching him to come when we whistled, but clearly I hadn’t thought through my clever plan that well.  I rubbed his head just behind the antlers.  “Well, we aren’t going to leave until tomorrow, maybe you’ll warm up to the idea.”

“Let’s go walk around the property.”  I suggested to my husband, walking back over to him and Katie.  Caesar followed behind me as we set off walking.

“Sure.”  He said, letting Jewel out of her pokeball too.  Jewel stretched her black and gold limbs, until she spotted Caesar following behind us.  She reared back, a low growl escaping as she stared him down.  The Sawsbuck snorted once, then proceeded to ignore the small Umbreon’s posturing.  Frank laughed and roughly mussed up her fur.  “Does she do that every time?”  He asked as she immediately began grooming herself.

“You know Jewel, simultaneously aggressive and terrified of everything.”  I pet the top of her head until she snapped around to try and bite me, snatching back my scarred hand with hard-earned reflexes.  “Stop that!  We’re going for a walk.  If you don’t behave, we’ll stick you in the cottage until we get back.”  Jewel glowered at me, but fell in beside Katie as we set off trail-blazing through the property.

“So, what’s with the sudden obsession with Pokemon, Alex?”  Frank asked as we walked along through the forest.  Thoughts ran through my head.  How does one explain that they just woke up one day and found themselves in a world that rightfully belonged in a videogame?  And that no one else seemed to find the shift strange?  I bit my lip as I tried to think of ways to avoid this.

“Well…  I like outdoors stuff…  And I need to find something to do when I’m not working, right?”  Frank looked suspicious.  “And…  I thought it’d be fun to try something new.  Google is hiring a new Pokemon Master this week.”  I said, trying to sound convincing.  He still looked unconvinced.  I blushed and stared straight ahead.  “Look, if I explain, do you promise you won’t think I’m crazy or something?”

“Of course not.”  I was always impressed at his ability to not call me crazy when I confessed to things I definitely found crazy.  No turning back now.

“A few weeks back, I sorta, kinda I woke up firmly believing that pokemon only existed in games.  And then Jewel bit me and was an Umbreon.”  I hesitated for a moment.  “I dunno, maybe it was just a really vivid dream, but I still feeling like pokemon shouldn’t really exist.”  I looked at him, not sure what I expected to see.  He mostly just looked confused.

“I’m not sure I get it.  Did we just, not have Jewel and Katie?”

“No, we had them, they were just cats.  Like, Persian, only smaller.  And without the coin.”  Frank still looked confused.

“I don’t get it.  You dreamed they were cats, and now you think they’re supposed to cats?”

“Yeah.  Like, they wasn’t any pokemon at all.  Just animals.”

“But if all the pokemon didn’t exist, why were there cats still?”  I frowned slightly.

“Still?  You mean, there’s still cats?”

“Yeah.  Do you really not remember”  He looked a little worried now.  I smiled slightly.

“I guess it’s because given the choice between a pet Eevee or a pet cat, I’d take a pet Eevee.  I’ve always really loved Eevee.”  I looked behind me at the crew of pokemon following us.  “I’ve always really loved pokemon.  Maybe one day I’ll get a cat though.”

“Not unless we get a bigger house.  I wonder why you had cats in your dream and not Eevees.”  Frank mused.

“Can you put a cat in a pokeball?  I bet that has something to do with it.”

“No, but there’s got to be more to it than that!  Wikipedia probably knows the difference between a pokemon and an animal.  I bet it’s something to do with genes.”  I smiled, and grabbed his hand in mine.

“Thanks for not thinking I’m crazy.”  He gave my hand a little squeeze.

“I dunno, I think there was something about this in our vows.”

“Hey, you’re already here, vow fulfilled!”  I said defensively.  He snorted, looking back at the Espeon and Umbreon following us, and the Sawsbuck following them.

“I’m not sure this was my first choice of magical lands.”  I squeezed his hand back.

“Well, maybe next time one of us wakes up in a videogame, it’ll be you in Dwarf Fortress.”

“Ooo, or maybe the Warhammer universe!”  He started singing a song about dwarves as we walked through the muddy forest, three pokemon in tow.

A Pokemon Story – Part 3

02 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Established Universe, Pokemon, Stories

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Part 2

I sat in the field, holding the Sawsbuck’s pokeball in my hands. My friend Steve sat beside me as we looked out onto the melting snow.

“So, you really think you can help me tame this Sawsbuck? It was sort of attacking me when I caught it, and I haven’t let it out since.” He laughed and tossed out a pokeball, which released a small, bouncing green pokemon that looked like it was encased in a bubble.

“If I can teach Saccharomyces to produce beer, I think I can help you stop a deer from attacking.” I stared at the Duosion.

“How did you teach him to produce beer?”

“Well, when they breed with an absence of oxygen, they create fermentation, so I had this sexy orgy of-“

“Nevermind, that’s enough.” I said, cutting him off. “Can Sacchar… whatever… stop this guy from charging? I brought Katie along too, just in case.”

“He shouldn’t attack us. I hope, at least.”

“You hope? I thought you’d caught wild pokemon before?” I twisted the ball in my hands. According to the internet, you could leave pokemon in there indefinitely, but it seemed a little cruel to me. I’d only caught the Sawsbuck yesterday and had figured I should let him out before he got really mad.

“Technically, I caught Saccharomyces wild, but it was in the lab, and she was young and friendly. I think she just wanted someone to take care of her. Most people don’t just go catching wild ones.”

“S’not my fault, he was trying to kill me!” Steve laughed.

“Alright, stop stalling, let’s see this beast.” I sighed and got to my feet, brushing the wet snow of my rear. As an extra precaution, I let Katie out of her pokeball too.

“Are you going to let Jewel out too?” Steve asked, getting to his feet. My fingers brushed her pokeball.

 

 

A Pokemon Story – Part 2

01 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Established Universe, Pokemon, Stories

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Part 1

Last night when I went to bed, my life was spinning it’s wheels. No job, no plan, just sitting around hoping my cards would change. But today when I woke up, everything was different. Today when I woke up, my cats were pokemon, and according to my husband, that was normal. So today, things were going to change.

I quickly tossed on some clothes and headed towards the kitchen. Jewel and Katie nearly bowled me over trying to race me up the stairs. “Girls, calm down!” I said, petting Katie’s between her tall, lavender ears, just above the jewel on her forehead. “I’m not used to you guys being so tall.” Jewel, same as always, despite being turned into an Umbreon, just meowed at me to hurry up and put down some food. I ate an apple while the two tore into their food, then got curious and checked out my fish tank.

“Huh…” Well, they weren’t the same fish, that was for sure, but they didn’t look like any pokemon I knew of. Guess not everything was the same as the games. I decided it was time to turn to the internet for some quick research.

Some time later, Jewel strolled up at the computer, licking her lips and meowing. Still my talkative little one. “Come here, Jewel.” I said, palming her pokeball, “We’re going to see if we can help earn our keep.”

Katie was easy enough to round up, she came running when she heard the door open. She always had loved to go outside. She followed me in step as we headed to the meadow nearby. It was muddy, and snowdrifts still covered heaps of matted down winter grass, but it should still work. Katie began wandering immediately into it and I followed her. She still had the instincts of a cat, it seemed, but I wasn’t really sure what we were looking for.

A patch of grass wiggled off in the corner of my eye and Katie pounced on it faster than I could turn around. When I looked, a massive rat stood in front of her, with teeth as long as my fingers.

“Gah!!” I yelled, glancing around to see if anyone had spotted my reaction to my first live Raticate. “I mean… Um, Katie! Tackle it!” The commands came easier after that. I’d had years of experience, playing with cartoon versions safely behind a little glass screen. But when the Raticate stopped moving, I had my first glimpse of reality as Katie went to bite it’s head off.

“Katie! No!” I grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, hauling her off the fallen prey. She looked at me confusedly as I checked if the Raticate was still moving. Still breathing. Guess it had just fainted. I hauled Katie away a safe distance, then let Jewel out of her pokeball too. The two stared at me curiously, as if to ask “Now what?”

“Now… I don’t know girls. Maybe I’m just not violent enough to get into pokemon training. Let’s just go home.” We headed back, detouring along the spring-swollen river. Everything was covered in a layer of ice, thanks to the frequent thaws and snow squalls of the past week, but it was starting to look like spring was winning again. I bent over to pick up a stone, planning on breaking the layer of ice still hanging over the river, when I noticed Katie and Jewel’s ears were both upright, and both of them were staring at a point just behind me.

I turned slowly to see a majestic sight. A tall buck stood behind me, with a massive rack of antlers. His fur was tufted white about his neck, but I could see small pink flower buds covering his antlers, ready to bloom. My breath caught in my throat. I was new to this whole pokemon thing, but moose were dangerous, especially in spring. I slowly took a step backwards, hoping to show I was no threat.

The moose snorted and lowered his antlers, pawing the ground. Well fuck, that was clear body language. I started looking about for somewhere to run, when a blur of black and gold hit the Sawsbuck in the side.

“Jewel!” I cried, worried. The Sawsbuck reared, tossing her off. He turned to charge her, but stopped dead in his tracks, a glowing wall in front of Jewel. I looked beside me to see the jewel on Katie’s forehead glowing brightly. Jewel charged again, biting at the Sawsbuck’s legs and rear. “Good girls! Keep it up!” I quickly dove into my backpack, hunting for something to help. I needed some way to end this fight before the Sawsbuck got hurt, or worse, my babies. My hands closed around a spare pokeball. Perfect! Just one shot though, better make it count.

As I watched, Jewel bounced about the buck, harrying it’s flank like she’d done it all her life. Perhaps she had, given the way she chased Katie about the house at home. The Sawsbuck turned to chase her, stumbling slightly on his rear leg. That was my chance. I threw the pokeball hard, just as Katie let off a flash of light that left the buck disoriented. When the light faded from my eyes, I saw the pokeball on the ground as it shook once, then stood still with a click. I sighed a breath of relief.

“Okay girls, now we’re really going home.”

Back home, my husband was less than impressed with my conquest.

“Where are we going to keep a Sawsbuck? We don’t even have a backyard in this apartment.” He asked, staring at the pokeball in my hand.

“Well, I was thinking about that.” I said, “You know that property we bought up north?” He grunted in agreement. “How would you feel about starting our own Pokemon petting zoo?”

 Part 3

A Pokemon Story

26 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by in Established Universe, Pokemon, Stories

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The mewling from beside the bed dragged me slowly towards consciousness.

“Jewel, be quiet.” I muttered, turning over and burying my head in the pillow. She just meowed louder, scratching at the bed. I shoved my hand out from under the covers to push her away. “Nooo, don’t scratch the bed…” Her soft head butted up against my hand for a few moments before she chomped down, grabbing my hand in her claws. I bolted awake, cursing about never learning when I looked down at her.

“Uh, Frank…” I nudged my husband awake, staring at the black fox-like creature with golden rings in it’s fur, happily chewing on my hand. “Why is Jewel an Umbreon?” My husband stirred awake.

“Because you couldn’t decide what to evolve her into before she evolved herself.” He stretched and started getting dressed. “A Leafeon may have been less evil, you know.”

“No, but…” My protests were cut off when I noticed her lavender sister, perched on the bookshelf and twitching her two tails. “And Katie’s an Espeon?”

“At least she’s not evil.” He replied, getting dressed for work. Jewel had given up eating my hand and was now licking it lovingly.

“Jewel’s not evil, she’s just- OUCH! JEWEL!!” I swatted her away as she resumed biting. “Okay, she’s evil. But… Wait… She’s supposed to be a cat!” Frank just stared at me.

“Shouldn’t you have bought a Meowth if you really wanted a cat pokemon?”

“I… No, that’s not what I meant…” I stared at the Umbreon now attacking my toes as the gears turned in my head. “Hey Sweetie, where do we keep their pokeballs?”

“They’re beside the door, on the bookshelf.” He gave me a goodbye kiss. “Try not to get them too hurt playing in the tall grass.”

Part 2