Pendant
By:
Theodore Leung
"Spark!" Sam exclaimed, running to her Pokémon. She hugged the neck of the dog defensively, patting Spark’s head in consolidation.
"Lin, return," Ryna commanded, her Pikachu running back on all fours and joined Charles behind Ryna sighed, then walked over to Sam, removing a potion from her pack. "Here," Ryna said, handing Sam the potion.
"Thank…thank you," Sam said, sniffing a bit, before applying the spray to Spark. The Growlithe was almost instantly rejuvenated, barking again.
"Who shot who in the what now?!" he exclaimed, his head shooting back and forth between the other trainer and her Pokémon.
"Spark!" Sam exclaimed again, hugging the Pokémon tighter.
"Oh…I remember," Spark replied. "It’s okay, Samantha," he continued, licking his trainer on the lip in comfort.
"Don’t worry me like that again," Samantha told Spark. Her Pokémon only nodded.
"Well, that was a good match," Ryna commented, intervening into the moment. "I never knew there was such an attack known as Flame Shield."
"Well, I don’t know an electric attack known as Spark, so call it even," Samantha replied cheerfully. "Just wondering, do you know what your Pokémon can say too?"
"Yes," Ryna replied, trailing off with the word ‘too’ attached to the end of the sentence. "Can you?" Sam nodded.
"It’s strange, I’ve had the ability since as far back as I can remember," Sam retold, sighing afterwards. Ryna nodded, telling Sam the same thing. "How unusual," Sam said, standing up. A small heart-shaped pendant slipped from under her shirt.
"What’s that?" Ryna asked, pointing to the now visible pendant. Sam looked down at the pendant that swung on her neck, then smiled.
"I had since who knows when," Sam told. "It’s the only item I have to tell me who I am." Ryna gave Samantha an odd look, wondering what the other trainer was talking about. "I was orphaned," she said with a sigh. "When someone found me, I had this pendant, with me. Since then, I always wonder who my real parents are."
"That’s sad," Charles replied, tilting his head down in a bit of depression.
"Yeah…" Lin agreed, doing the same. Ryna glanced back at her two Pokémon, understanding their feelings.
"I also wonder how I’m able to communicate with Pokémon," Sam continued, trailing off at the end of the sentence.
"Hey, why don’t you come with us?" Ryna suggested cheerfully. "We may just figure it out, and it’s more interesting to travel with more companions!" Sam looked up at Ryna, stared at her a strangely, then nodded.
"Sure, why not?" Samantha said. "It’s always fun to travel with more friends! What do you say Spark?"
"I go where ever you go!" Spark answered enthusiastically. All the Pokémon cheered, seeing they have more friends to talk amongst them.
* * * * * *
"Hey, Spark, do you feel something about that pendant Sam wears?" Charles asked the Growlithe as the three trailed behind their trainers, both talking to each other happily.
"What do you mean?" Spark asked, tilting his head a bit sideways in question.
"Like, that pendant is trying to get something out of you?" Lin continued.
"Why, yes," Spark answered, swinging his tail around. "How come you ask?"
"Because we feel it with Ryna," the Charmander answered.
"Really?!" Spark nearly exclaimed in surprise. "Well, that’s a new one. I though only I can feel it with my master." The other two just shrugged, unable to make out of this new development.
* * * * * *
"Thanks Charles," Ryna complimented, the campfire now burning brightly as the Charmander lit the firewood.
"Don’t mention it," Charles replied, sitting down by his fellow Pokémon and munching on some Pokémon food that the others had.
"So, what are you planning on doing?" Sam asked, after swallowing a large piece of her sandwich.
"Pokémon League," Ryna replied in two words, then showed Sam the Boulder Badge after taking a bite from her sandwich.
"Ah…
"Should be easy with Lin," Ryna commented, pointing back to her Pikachu. "They have a lot of water Pokémon there."
"Yeah, but you shouldn’t put all your trust in one Pokémon," Sam countered. "If Lin goes down, your only other option is Charles, and he doesn’t exactly like water…"
"Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that then," Ryna replied, finishing the last of her sandwich. She stretched her limbs out, yawning simultaneously. "It was a long day, I’m going to go and hit the sack."
"Good night," Sam replied, taking another bite from her sandwich.
"You too," Ryna answered, then crawled over to her sleeping bag.
* * * * * *
"
"Yeah…" Charles continued, also in awe.
"Well, if it’s in the way, we either cross it or go around it," Spark added, moving his gaze up the mountain.
"I guess we don’t have a choice in that matter," Ryna concluded, seeing the entrance of this mountain.
"Can’t be that difficult," Sam assured. "It’s a mountain. There should be a lot of rock Pokémon and since you’ve handled Brock, this should be a cakewalk for you."
"The problem is that fighting Brock was only one battle," Ryna retorted. "We don’t know how many battles of rock type Pokémon we will have to fight."
"Well, we don’t know until we go in, so…" Spark intervened, then trailed off as he made his way towards the mountain. The others exchanged looks, then followed behind the brave Growlithe.
* * * * * *
"Don’t you wish any of
these Geodudes would want to help us?" Ryna asked her fellow trained,
implying to another fainted Rock Pokémon behind them. The team continued there
way towards the other side of
"Well, if you’d stop asking and trying using a Pokéball, we may be able to get one," Samantha answered, tossing a Pokéball in her hand up and down.
"I don’t like using a Pokéball," Ryna replied, a bit sadly. "Every time I think of a Pokémon in there…" she trailed off, adding a shudder to the end of her sentence.
"Yeah…I understand," Sam answered after a bit of thought, then placed the Pokéball back into her pouch.
"I wonder where the end
of this cave is," Spark asked, scratching his head with one of his paws,
before continuing on.
"Well who kno…," Lin said, but was abruptly cut off with the sounds of screaming, followed by a large rumbling sound, then silence.
"What was THAT?!" Charles nearly exclaimed, getting back to his feet after falling from the rumble.
"Let’s find out!" Spark exclaimed, running ahead of everyone. The others broke into a sprint to catch up with the Growlithe, and were greeted with a Geodude trying to move a lot of boulders that looked like it just caved in.
"What the heck?" Lin asked, tilting her head to the side in question. The Geodude removed another boulder, revealing a human hand under it.
"Oh my god!!" both trainers screamed simultaneously.
"Come on, we have to help!" Spark exclaimed, jumping onto the pile and digging furiously into the rock. The other two Pokémon quickly agreed and joined Spark. Soon, their trainers were also removing rocks from the pile.
* * * * * *
The campfire lit brightly
in the dark caverns of
"Thank you for saving my trainer," the Geodude told Ryna.
"Hey, don’t mention it," Ryna told him back, smiling.
"You can understand me?" the Geodude asked, surprised.
"I get that a lot, but yeah, I can," Ryna replied. She put the wet cloth down in the small bowl beside her.
"Well, thank you, my name is Rocky," the Geodude told the savior, bowing a bit.
"I’m Ryna," she responded cheerfully. She continued by introducing everyone else.
"His name is Tim," Rocky told the others, pointing to the trainer. "I can’t thank you enough for saving him."
"Hey, just get some sleep," Ryna said in consolidation. "He should be up and running by tomorrow." The Geodude nodded, then moved over to the other Pokémon who was eating some Pokémon food. Ryna looked down at the trainer once again, and brushed some more hair from his face, only to get a reply from a faint flint of light in his vest. Ryna stared questioningly at the light, then poked at it, revealing a small cross shaped pendant around Tim’s neck. The female trained looked at it strangely, then read something imprinted into the cross.
"Cinnabar Special Forces?" Ryna asked herself. She let the cross fall back onto the trainer, then walked over to Sam, who was sipping some soup.
"Something wrong?" Sam asked, wondering what the look of question on Ryna’s face was.
"What do you know about Cinnabar?" Ryna asked.
"Well, I heard there was a Gym there, as well as a Pokémon research center," Sam recited, then took another sip. "There’s a volcano there, and so there is a lot of hot springs and such."
"Cool," Ryna replied, a bit more relieved. "I guess we’ll going there sooner or later to get a badge."
"Yeah," Sam replied, taking another sip then offering Ryna a bowl of stew. "Why the interest though?"
"I don’t know," Ryna said, more to herself then to Sam. "I guess there was something about that guy we rescued." Sam stared at her fellow trainer and friend with a look of question. "Don’t worry about it, let’s just get some sleep." Sam nodded in agreement, then walked over to her sleeping bag, where Spark was already curled up beside.
"Good night," Sam said, then crawled into her bag.
"You too," Ryna replied, taking another spoonful of stew, then looked back at Tim. "Good night to you too," Ryna said to the unconscious trainer, surprising herself that she went and did something like that.
* * * * * *
Charles began to slowly open his eyes, his internal clock telling him it’s morning. The Charmander sat up, stretched out his tiny limbs, and then rubbed his eyes. Yawning a bit, he faced over to where Tim and Rocky were sleeping.
"Tim and Rocky are gone!!!" Charles yelled out, getting everyone up and to his or her feet almost instantly.
"What?!" Ryna said, quickly finding Tim and Rocky not there and looking around for them. "I don’t see them, do you?" Everyone shook his or her heads.
"Great, just great," Ryna muttered, crossing her arms. "He doesn’t even stay to say thank you."
"Actually, he did," Lin commented, holding something.
"Wha?" Ryna questioned, then noticed the Pikachu holding a piece of paper. The trainer almost instantly took it and began to read.
Dear Ryna, Sam, and co.
Thanks
for taking care of Rocky and healing my wounds. Sorry I couldn’t stay and say
thanks, but I’m in a rush and all. There’s a map on the back of this piece of
paper that’ll help you out of Mt. Moon. Again, my gratitude for you.
Tim
"Well, at least he’s a good artist," Ryna commented, implying the small cross symbol used to write the letter ‘T’ in Tim’s name.
"Better then good, check the map," Spark said, kneeling underneath the piece of paper. Ryna flipped it around.
"Yikes!" Ryna nearly exclaimed. "Man, he’s good," she commented next, to the excellent drawing of a map which stated where they were, how to get to the exit, what height each corridor was, and such. Following the map was the comment:
P.S.
This map was
done in about 10 minutes, so don’t mind if it is sloppy.
"He did that in ten minutes?" Sam gasped. "I wonder what he can draw in an hour…"
"Yeah…" Ryna added, admiring the work.
"Um…hate to say rude…but can we admire the work AFTER we’re out of this place?" Charles asked, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently, trying to imitate a human. This sent a chuckle between everyone else before they continued on.
* * * * * *
"Ahh...fresh air!" Spark and Charles said at the same time, both inhaling the air at the same time as well.
"Geeze…you two are so…similar," Lin told the other fire type Pokémon, not being able to think up a way to make a joke. The fire types exchanged glances, then laughed.
"Are you three coming or what?!" Sam shouted back to them, the trainers already 10 meters ahead.
"Hey, wait up!!" All three exclaimed at once, and rushed to get back to their masters.
"Hurry up then!" Ryna told them. "Cerulean, here we come!"
<Fin>