Armageddon: Chapter 4 - "Training"
#6 of Armageddon [Abandoned, superseded by Acolytes of the Apocalypse]
A new Pokemon series I've decided to write, depicting a human named Richard, who finds a Sneasel that agrees to be his Pokemon. This is a story about their survival in a series of devastating natural disasters. Will they have the courage and strength to survive the incoming Armageddon? Only time will tell.
Hey there! This is a new series that I'll be writing, called "Armageddon"! It's a Pokémon story; some scenes in this story may be slightly disturbing to some readers. There will also be a few 'suggestive' scenes as well. However, those will be very few and far between. For a lot of reasons, this story is going to be focused on plot development for the most part. Also, keep in mind that I am not the most knowledgeable about Pokémon, so excuse any spelling errors or mistakes in the naming of certain places, items, etc.
Pokémon™ is intellectual property of Nintendo© and Game Freak, Inc. respectively.
Here is some information about the story format:
'Character Thought' (Not projected to other characters)
^^^Story break or a switch between character scenes/perspectives ^^^
~XXXXX~ Represents a lapse in time. But not a character perspective switch.
'Character Thought' (Projected to other characters)
(Pokémon Speech)
"Character Dialogue"
I think that's about it. Enjoy the story!
Armageddon: Chapter 4 - "Training"
The evening air in Fuchsia City felt cool and damp. Miniscule droplets of dew began to form on the surrounding foliage and grass. The night was virtually silent, the occasional chirp of a lone cricket was the only respite from the unsettling stillness that seemed to engulf the surrounding area. Small and refreshing gusts of wind gently scattered the leaves of the dense forest canopy, causing small droplets of water to hit the ground as a result. The sky appeared as nothing but a starless, dark void. Richard and Mia were making their way to the city limits while making small conversation with each other. The city lights shone through the dwindling populous of trees bordering it, casting ghostly shadows among the thick tree trunks behind them.
"...And don't even get me started about my father!" Richard happily exclaimed as he laughed. Mia laughed as well. They were walking down the road towards the Pokémon Center.
"Please, do tell!" She said in an amused tone, as she tried to hold herself back from laughing again.
Richard let out a mock sigh, and said "Fine..." in both a mischievous and sarcastic tone. "Well... my father was never really the most 'patient' person in the world. He usually acted on things before thinking it through, which made for some hilarious accidents." Richard said as he looked up into the sky with his hand pressed against his chin, trying to recall the memory he was about to tell.
Mia nodded and eagerly waited for him to continue the story.
Richard's expression suddenly lit up as he remembered the story. "If you liked that last story, you are going to love this one!" He said as he chuckled to himself upon the recollection of the events that came flooding back to his memory. "Anyway, my father was a broker for a Real Estate Agency, which is a business dedicated to the purchasing and selling of homes for people looking to buy or sell them at the best price possible. He was held in high regard by his co-workers, usually outperforming them in the sheer amount of sales alone!" Richard said with a hint of pride. "He was always a good salesman, but sometimes his hastiness would hit him at the most unfortunate times. This was one such time." Richard gave a dramatic pause before continuing. "So, there was a home in Aspertia City, my hometown. It was a few neighborhoods down from us and was just foreclosed. My father wasted no time in trying to get that home sold to those who were seeking a new place to live. It was a fairly large house as well. It was three stories tall, plus a basement; with four bedrooms and three bathroo-"
Richard caught himself and saved Mia from nearly half an hour of rambling. "Alright, now I'm starting to ramble, so I'll cut to the chase. Around 8' o clock in the evening. My father gets a call from a family who wants to buy the house. So he gets in his car and drives over there as fast as he can. Once he arrived, they were waiting outside. After they greeted each other, He went to check some records to see if the house had been sold. Now, the problem is that the records usually took a couple of days to update..." Richard trailed off, giving Mia a playful smile as she looked up at him, intently listening to the story. "... and so when the records came up blank he assumed the coast was clear. Just to be sure though, he walked into the house and told the family to stay there. Upon entering, he heard a strange repetitive creaking noise. It sounded like it was coming from a door hinge that needed some serious oiling. Now, my father, being impulsive as he was, assumed it was a ghost Pokémon just trying to give him a hard time. So, he went upstairs to see if he could get the pesky Pokémon out of the house. He continued down a long hallway on the top floor as the creaking got louder." At this point Richard was trying to stifle his laughter. "... and so, he opened a door at the very end of the hallway..." Richard once again stopped for a dramatic pause. "Can you take a guess at what he saw?" Richard said, snickering to himself.
Mia looked down at the ground for a moment in thought, but came up with nothing and just shrugged.
"He walked in on a couple going at it!" Richard exclaimed as he could no longer contain his laughter. "You should've seen his face when he tried to explain that story to us!" He said as he continued laughing.
Mia's eyes grew wide. She suddenly choked in surprise and began coughing while snickering at the same time. Once she settled down from her coughing fit, she began chuckling normally. "I bet that was quite the predicament." She said in a slight mocking tone once her laughter subsided. Her expression then quickly flashed in realization, and she was thrust into deep thought for a moment, a twinge of worry crossed her expression.
"Oh, you bet." Richard said as his laughter subsided as well, not noticing Mia's quick change in attitude. "Let's just say he abandoned the idea of going anywhere near that neighborhood for as long as he lived. After the incident, I think he grew a little wiser, too." He continued with a sinister smile on his face.
They both looked ahead at the street in front of them; the occasional lamp seemed like a safe haven against the empty darkness. The Pokémon Center was now within sight, it was a little troublesome to actually get to it considering it was in the middle of the city. Other buildings that looked very similar crowded their field of vision, making it even more difficult to distinguish it from the rest of the surrounding skyscrapers, aside from the illuminated red plus sign that shone brightly at the top. Even after staying in Fuchsia City for a few days, Richard still couldn't get used to the city's layout.
Walking up the two sets of concrete stairs, the entrance of the Pokémon Center was only a mere few steps away. Mia tugged him on the right sleeve of his shirt, being careful as to not actually rip the fabric. Richard glanced over at her with a slightly annoyed expression. "Yeah?" He asked while letting out a tired sigh.
"Could I... talk to you for a second?" Mia asked sheepishly as she quickly glanced at the ground, then back up at Richard.
"One." Richard replied with a snarky tone of voice. Mia couldn't help but grin.
"You know what I mean." She said, nudging him in the side with her elbow.
"Uh yeah, we can talk. What do you need to talk to me about?" Richard asked curiously. This was the first time she had actually stopped him so they could talk. He figured it was probably important considering.
"Well, I've had a few things on my mind that I wanted to talk about, actually." Mia said slowly. "Just a few questions, is all." She then added hastily.
"Alright, shoot." Richard said, fully turning towards her and leading her towards a nearby metal bench where they both sat down. The cold metal let out a quiet creaking noise as they did so.
Mia scratched the back of her head before continuing. "It's about the whole evolution thing..." She trailed off.
"What about it?" Richard asked with concern. "Don't tell me you are backing out on wanting to become a Weavile!"
"No, no, no. I still want to become a Weavile." She hastily said, waving her claws in front of her chest. "It's about... what happens when I become a Weavile." She then added, her demeanor turning somber.
Richard could already tell where this was going. "Alright, I'm taking a shot in the dark here. But I'm assuming you'll want to start a family with another Pokémon, correct?"
Mia's expression turned blank for a moment. "No. Well...yeah. But..." Mia wasn't exactly sure how to continue the conversation without it becoming awkward.
"Don't worry; I'll try not to let the conversation become awkward." Richard replied with an apprehensive tone, as if he was reading her mind. This got a surprised look from Mia.
Mia took in a deep breath, figuring she should just get it over with. "Well. When I do become a Weavile, won't I get... urges?" She then started lightly scratching her left arm in embarrassment with a single claw, as she peered at the ground for a moment, before re-establishing eye contact once more.
Richard got an inquisitive look on his face. "Yeah, but we could take you to a daycare center to get that 'taken care of'." He replied as his face twitched slightly at the thought.
"N-no, doing that with a total stranger just seems... wrong." The tail end of her sentence got a disgusted tone from her voice.
"You better start getting to know some Pokémon, then." Richard replied almost defensively. He wasn't exactly sure where this conversation was headed, but he assumed it wasn't a good destination.
"Um, well..." Mia was about to respond, before she got cut off.
"What are you two still doing out here? It's well past dark!" The Nurse joy exclaimed with an overly concerned tone of voice, as she stuck half of her body outside of the front door.
Richard and Mia quickly shot up from their sitting position in surprise. Richard hastily waved his hand towards the door while looking at Mia, signaling her to follow. They both entered the Pokémon Center, only to get reprimanded by Nurse Joy.
"You two should know that staying outside after dark is dangerous!" Nurse Joy exclaimed, waving her hands in the air vigorously.
"We can take care of ourselves just fine." Mia responded with an annoyed huff. Nurse Joy interrupting the conversation irked her.
"Look, we appreciate the concern, but we're fine. We can defend ourselves if someone attempted to attack us." Richard stated less bluntly than Mia had.
Nurse Joy just put both of her hands on her hips and glared at both of them for a second. "Do you know about the increasing frequency of Team Rocket attacks?" She said in a dark tone, which was characteristically unfitting of her.
"No... not really." Richard responded with a timid expression.
"We don't really care." Mia stated bluntly, still angry at Nurse Joy. Richard then gave her a hard nudge on the shoulder, a berating look on his face as he looked down at her.
Nurse Joy paid no notice to Mia's comment, and thrust a newspaper from the nearby newspaper rack into Richard's hands. "Read." She said with an intimidating voice, as she walked back to her office and disappeared from sight.
Richard was nothing but bewildered at Nurse Joy's sudden behavior. He slowly folded open the newspaper while still looking at the doorway where Nurse Joy had left them. 'Team Rocket once again on the rise!' The headline read. Richard couldn't be bothered with reading the entire story and quickly skimmed through the details. He didn't show any look of worry, however.
"Well, she is right. Apparently Team Rocket attacks are up by thirty percent in the past week." Richard stated with a dull tone.
Mia curiously stood on her toes, trying to get a good look at the paper. Richard paid notice to this and lowered the position of the paper slightly. "I guess so." Mia responded sarcastically. Richard was trying not to let her sudden change in attitude get to him.
"Alright, what's with that attitude?" Richard replied, agitated. He crossed his arms and gave her a reprimanding stare.
Mia looked up at him in defiance. "What attitude?" She sneered, venom seeping out of each word.
"Why are you so angry all of the sudden? You know you shouldn't talk to Nurse Joy like that!" Richard replied hesitantly, glancing at her jet black claws and questioning just how far he could go before she considered using them.
Mia pointed accusingly at Richard with one of her claws. "Why are you defending her?! She just practically yelled at us for being a few feet outside of the entrance!" Mia exclaimed as she pointed her other arm at the doorway across the lobby.
"Come on, you know her job must be stressful! Do you think you could keep a calm and happy composure consistently maintained while saving several lives, and watching even more die with each passing day?!" Richard exclaimed, shocked by Mia's short sightedness.
Mia forced herself to calm down; she crossed her arms and looked dismissively at the same doorway where Nurse Joy had left. "I suppose not." She admitted.
Richard sighed. "Come on, let's get some sleep. Do you want to start traveling again to another city tomorrow, or do you still want to stay?"
"We should probably stay here until I can evolve, getting into unfamiliar areas unprepared might not be the best idea." Mia replied, glancing back towards the front entrance. She was a little spooked about how empty the lobby was. She had only seen one other trainer walk by the entire time they were there.
Richard nodded in agreement. They both went upstairs and entered the room. Mia flopped onto one of the beds, then laid back against the head board while trying to turn on the television with the nearby remote. Her claws were very dexterous, but still had trouble with very precise movements like clicking small rubber buttons.
"Need some help with that?" Richard asked with a wide grin on his face.
"Shut up." Mia replied, a grin appearing on her face as well. Her grin turned into an expression of triumph as she successfully pressed the power button. "Victory!" she exclaimed sarcastically while raising both of her arms in the air and the signature quiet ringing noise of the television turning on filled the room.
Richard just laughed. "I'm going to go wash up real quick. If you need me, you know where to find me." He then entered the bathroom and closed the door.
The television was defaulted to the local weather channel. Mia tried to change it, but the buttons to change channels were even smaller than the power button. She continued trying to press the buttons for several minutes, before finally giving up. She set the remote back on the night stand in defeat. The remote was sporting several new scratches and indents from her feeble attempts at trying to press them. Mia quickly fell asleep from the jazz music playing as the poorly animated graphics from the so called "Local on the 8's" continued playing on the screen.
A few minutes later, Richard exited from the bathroom wearing a bath robe, only to hear a monotone voice saying something about an incoming storm. "... This storm looks to be one of the worst in the history of Kanto." The man said while lazily pointing at the animated radar map behind him. Richard sat down at the foot of the bed Mia was sleeping on and continued watching intently. "Experts say that several inches of rain could fall within a day." The man continued. "The storm is expected to arrive in one week. Stay prepared, stay informed, and most importantly... stay safe."
With that, the screen slowly faded to black, and a commercial about insane deals on used cars began playing. Poorly animated CGI explosions played in the background as a man in a multi-colored suit and tie kept enthusiastically pointing at rapidly flashing, expanding and retracting text slowly scrolling across the screen. Richard couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the poor execution of the commercial, wondering how much they paid to even get it on the air. With that, he grabbed the remote from the night stand and turned the television off. He crawled into the bed next to Mia, then with two quick claps of his hands the lights turned off.
~XXXXX~
The next day, Richard woke up in a daze. To his relief it seemed to subside within a few minutes. He peered over to Mia who was grasping onto a pillow, mumbling something incoherently while still in a deep sleep. At first glance, her snow white fur looked to be part of the pillow, but the single golden feather on her head broke the illusion. Suddenly, a thought rushed to his mind, and Richard quickly got off the bed to quickly take a shower, being ever so careful as to not wake her up. He took yet another towel that was laid out for them from the neighboring bed, again probably sometime during the night. After he was done, he quickly threw on some blue jeans and a green T-shirt before heading out of the Pokémon Center and towards the local Poke-Mart. As he walked down the streets, he reflected on what the weatherman had said the previous night. He was a little nervous about the impending storm, but that was the least of his worries at the moment.
He hoped to make it back before Mia woke up; he was planning on buying a few TM's to get her to learn some new moves that she desperately needed. Once he arrived at the Poke-Mart, he walked up to the customer service counter to ask where the TM's were. The clerk, who had an overly friendly smile on his face, pointed over to the other side of the large store. Richard sighed; he hated navigating through large stores like this. But he had no other option. He hastily walked across the store and scanned the shelves for any ice or dark type moves. To his relief, there seemed to be plenty to choose from. Not wanting to completely empty out his bank account, he would have to choose a few very carefully.
After several minutes of thinking, Richard decided on Hail, Blizzard and Payback. He hoped he had made some good choices. Nervous, he walked up to the checkout line, paid for the TM's and left.
Richard briskly walked back towards the Pokémon Center, slightly concerned about how Mia would react if he wasn't there. He glanced at several people who seemed to be crowding around a fight that broke out, Richard couldn't make out the details, but from what he saw it looked like it was a fight between some Team Rocket goons and a few trainers near the curb of a small office building. He quickly turned away and headed down a street that led straight to the Pokémon Center instead of taking the long way around. As much as he would've loved to watch those Team Rocket grunts get pulverized, he had more important things on his mind.
~XXXXX~
With a loud *bang!* Richard collided with the seemingly invisible glass doors leading into the Pokémon Center. "Fucking hell!" He yelled out loud as he rubbed his temples that were now sore from the collision. He quickly glanced at the area around him, relieved that there were no bystanders watching. 'They must've cleaned the windows last night.' Richard thought as he couldn't help but laugh at himself. He opened the offending glass door and quickly walked up the stairs back into the room. When he arrived, both beds were empty. Not even a trace of the dark and ice type Pokémon could be found. "Mia?" He asked the empty room, his voice tainted with worry. He was given no response, he quickly ran out of the room and into the cafeteria. A few trainers met his gaze, and a couple tried to hold in their laughter. He slowly scanned the room for her, and to his relief, she was getting food from the buffet line.
Hearing the cafeteria door slam shut, Mia quickly peered behind her only to see Richard standing in front of the door. She smiled, then quickly turned around and waved at him. Richard gave her a curious look, before waving back. After she had gotten a nice assortment of berries, she made her way over to a nearby table, gesturing for Richard to join her. He sat down next to her, with what seemed like an anxious look on his face.
"Guess what I got." Richard said with a grin.
"What?" Mia asked as she stabbed a berry right through the center with her claws.
"I got some TM's so you can learn some essential moves to help you along on your path to becoming a Weavile." He said excitedly.
Mia's expression lit up. She knew what TM's were, although she heard the initial experience of learning the moves was unpleasant at best. She knew that it would be well worth it in the long run. "What moves did you get?" She asked.
"I bought Hail, Blizzard and Payback." Richard replied as he pulled out the discs from his backpack and showed them to her.
Mia took one of the discs and examined it. It looked to be a blue-tinted CD, with a short description of the move on the back of the transparent case. "Sounds neat." She stated with mild worry. She wasn't exactly sure just how unpleasant learning moves from TM's were. She just heard it wasn't an experience that you should look forward to.
"Oh, nice moves out there, by the way." She began snickering to herself as she ate the berry that was stuck onto her claws.
Richard knew immediately what she was referring to, and cursed himself for not thinking about the other windows that gave a perfect view of him face planting straight into the door. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He said dismissively. He set his backpack on the table, and pulled out a pure black CD player with a pair of headphones. "Speaking of moves, you want to learn these now?" He asked.
Mia looked at the CD player with a mildly bored expression. "Eh, why not." She said as she popped another berry in her mouth. With that, Richard quickly inserted one of the discs into the CD player, then handed her the headphones. Mia carefully took hold on the headphones and placed them on her head. Richard looked at her as if he was asking if she was ready.
Mia quickly nodded. Not knowing what to expect.
A very loud ringing noise began to dominate her senses, it slowly became louder, and louder to the point where it was nearly deafening. She grasped the sides of the headphones and shut her eyes tight in pain. It had been nearly thirty seconds before Mia was ready to pull off the headphones when suddenly the loud ringing noise stopped. She slowly opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, then slowly took off the headphones and set them to rest on the table.
"Well, how was it?" Richard asked in a troubled voice. A hint of guilt was written on his face.
"Loud." Mia stated plainly. Her ears were still trying to recuperate from the TM, and now she had a terrible migraine all of the sudden. "Ugh... my head... hurts." Mia set her elbows on the table and rested her head on the back side of her claws. Everything around her looked like multi-colored blobs. She could hear faint voices and the uncomfortable echoing of various sounds passing through her tortured ears.
Richard had even more of a guilty expression, as he took the now scratched disc from the CD player. "Too bad these can only be used once." He said to himself. Mia was barely able to hear him through the echoes of everything else going on in the room.
"I-I think I'm going to go rest." Mia stated with a strained voice. She shakily stood up, before immediately collapsing onto the ground, her migraine was now unbearable. Her legs couldn't even support her body. Richard gasped as she fell, and quickly took her by the wrists to help her back up. Once he did so, he reached around her shoulders, and began to slowly guide her back towards their room. Richard quietly apologizing profusely as they walked up the staircase.
"It-It's fine... Richard." Mia said as she sprawled out onto one of the beds. "I kn-knew that it wouldn't be pleasant. I-I just didn't think it wouldn't be this unpleasant." She grasped her temple with one of her claws in agony, not even caring that she was drawing blood.
Richard could only look at her with feelings of regret and guilt. He knew that she understood, and actually didn't blame him for the ordeal. But he still wished he would've warned her about how bad the TM's were when it came to causing headaches.
"God damnit...feels like... a nail was lodged into my brain." Mia groaned.
"I'm really, really, sorry Mia. I should've warned you about that." Richard replied with sorrow.
"N-No, there is no need to a-ap-apologize. I knew what I was getting in-into." Mia stuttered as her voice became groggy sounding. "I just n-need some sleep." With that, Mia quickly passed out on the bed, sprawled out all over the place.
Richard sighed. No matter how much Mia understood the consequences of the TM's, he still couldn't help but feel bad. He wished he could share some of her pain, but alas, TM's don't work on humans. For obvious reasons of course, since they were incapable of learning such powers. Still, he wished for some way to ease her burden. Richard ended up leaving the room to allow her to catch some much deserved rest after an ordeal like that. He listened to one of the TM's beforehand, and he could only last a few seconds before turning it off. He couldn't even imagine sitting through thirty seconds of that hell. But it was the price they would have to pay if they wanted to instantly learn moves without the months of rigorous training and tutoring. He walked back down the staircase and into the cafeteria once more to get a bite to eat, when he then saw a familiar figure in a sweatshirt sitting on the other side of the cafeteria.
Richard quickly made his way over to the other side of the room. "Derek?" Richard asked the figure facing away from him. Derek slowly turned towards him at the speed of a glacier. His hood was pulled over his face. Once he looked up at him, Richard could only gasp. Derek looked extremely pale; there were blotches of red under his eyes as if he had been crying for centuries. His eyes showed nothing but pain and sorrow. They stood there and stared at each other for several moments before Derek finally spoke up.
"H-hey Richard." Derek sniffled as he turned his attention back to poking his steak with a fork.
"Are you okay?" Richard asked, although he knew it was obvious that Derek was in fact, not okay.
"No." Derek stated bluntly. He slowly shook his head, and then turned to look back at Richard who was still standing to the side of him. "You gonna just stand there, or are you going to sit down and eat like a normal person?" Derek asked with a sly grin that was instantly betrayed by the returning to the look of sorrow that seemed to swallow him whole.
Richard uncomfortably sat down next to Derek, a worried look on his face. "What happened?" He asked as quietly and carefully as he could.
Derek just stared at the table for several minutes, not knowing how to break the news to Richard, or how to even keep himself from crying. The mere thought of the tragedy bought a tear to his eye.
"She's dead." Derek spoke softly.
"Hmm?" Richard replied with confusion.
"Isabel... is dead."