Ghastly Adventures: Boulder 1.2 (ch. 2) (Patreon)

The timeline in Pokemon was always a mess, but I was able to guesstimate a bit to say that I was roughly a year before the start of Ash's journey. That bit of information came from Gary Oak -- looking him up, I was able to put an age to Professor Oak’s grandson, which was nine. Which also led me to discover that it was far less common for people aged ten to go on their “Journey.” Quotation marks.

Theoretically, you could get your trainer's license as young as eight, but it functioned more as a learner's permit. You were limited to three pokemon, you couldn't leave the area where your license was registered, and any sign of misconduct could end with the license being revoked. At age ten, there were sponsored trainers -- usually by a professor, and it was pretty selective and came with a few perks. Like starter pokemon and a pokedex.

At twelve everyone else became eligible to go on their Journey and compete in the Gym circuit. Most held off, like I had, because becoming a trainer without a sponsor had a huge buy in. The early trainers? Rich kids or legacy trainers.

Why was any of this important?

Money.

I thought that it was just a mechanic of the games, but the ‘winner getting some prize money’ thing was real. There was a battlefield behind the Pokemon Center that saw the occasional battle, and there money changed hands. Not all battles were monetized, but most were. The amount was agreed upon beforehand, but the monetary figure was attached to the number of pokemon involved. Ten bucks for a 1v1, but a hundred bucks for a 6v6 for example.

“I found how we're going to crawl our way out of poverty, Mimikyu,” I told my only pokemon as I scoped out the competition. There were two boys battling -- a pidgeotto against a bulbasaur.

“Mimikyu?” Mimikyu asked me before I turned to Jim, taking a knee.

“We’re going to battle and rob these punks blind,” I told him in no uncertain terms. “They have no clue what you're made of. You’re going to be sweeping them left, right and center!” I could tell that Mimikyu had absolutely no idea what I was talking about but he was excited because I was excited.

Another thing that I learned with my brief foray into pokenet -- which was far too much like the 90s internet for my liking -- was that Mimikyu was an unknown pokemon. The closest thing I got to a confirmation of his existence was a creepypasta that could have been about a Mimikyu, which means that he was a complete wild card.

“Mimi!” Mimikyu puffed out his chest at the praise and I just grinned.

“First, I need to know what you can do. Have you fought before?” I asked him, making Mimikyu sheepishly nod. Not sure how to take that, to be honest. “Alright. Let's head into the forest and practice a little bit,” I said, thinking on what I knew about Mimikyu -- I wasn't a Pokemon Loremaster that could recite every single move that every single pokemon could perform, but I remembered most of Mimikyu’s, partly because of the anime, and party because some of the moves available in the games were odd.

Like Baby Doll Eyes, or Charm -- I understood why Mimikyu would want to learn them, but they… well, they were fighting an uphill battle to work.

If memory served, Mimikyu started out with Wood Hammer, Scratch, Astonish, Splash, and most interesting of all, Copy Cat. At higher levels, there was Shadow Claw and the anime showed Shadow Ball. My interest in Copy Cat stemmed from the fact that it could, theoretically, make learning new moves easier. But I should confirm that he knew how to perform it first. This wasn't the game, after all.

After we were a decent way into the forest, I saw a suitably thick tree. “Okay, Mimikyu -- I want you to show me how you usually fight on that tree. Use all the moves you know.” I instructed, and I could see Mimikyu preparing himself. He wanted to impress me, I knew.

He launched himself at the tree, striking it with his tail -- Wood Hammer confirmed. Then his shadow seemed to grow on the ground, shooting forward until it connected to the shadow of the tree before Mimikyu vanished for but a moment, appearing behind the tree to strike it with another Wood Hammer -- that was Shadow Sneak confirmed.

Then he made a horrid screeching sound that made my heart seize in my chest. I think that might have been Astonish, but I wasn't sure. I paid close attention to the bark of the tree to find that Mimikyu was delivering some solid hits. They were far beyond what I could do, but I'm pretty sure that something like a machchop could hit harder.

“That's great, Mimikyu,” I praised him. The move pool was a little small, but Shadow Sneak was the clincher. Short range teleportation behind the enemy -- it was a solid set up move. “Would you be up for a little experimentation?”

“Mimikyu!” He answered, willing and ready.

“You saw how the bulbasaur used Vine Whip before, right? Could you try to copy that?” I prompted him, making Mimikyu look at me, a tilt of his head. Hm… “Sort of how you did with your shadow? Rather than extending it… try to lift it off the ground,” I prompted, curious to see if it was possible. I never really gave it much thought how pokemon learned moves. I just took it for granted that they would learn a move at a certain level.

But, in reality, that had to come from somewhere. If Mimikyu could use Copy Cat to mimic moves that he saw, then that meant he had a means to. A charizard wouldn't be able to use Vine Whip because he lacked the appendages, but he could possibly create a fire based version of the attack. In theory, even if it probably wouldn't be worth the effort. Mimikyu had his shadows as his means of attack.

Mimikyu looked down at his shadow for a long few seconds. Then it began to stir -- black shadows marked with a purple hazy outline shaped itself into a tendril, much like the vines that bulbasaur had, before it swung out at the tree. The shadow vine struck it, but shattered upon contact and I immediately saw Mimikyu start to become dejected.

“That was perfect, Mimikyu!” I reassured him, nipping that in the bud. “I didn't expect you to master it on the first try. I just wanted to see if it was possible,” I told him, reaching out and rubbing his head affectionately. Mimikyu purred and it was a sound that I'd probably hear in my nightmares, but if it wasn't the cutest damn thing. “Do you think if I called out Vine Whip, you could make another Vine like that?”

I was seeing where the game mechanics ended. With Copy Cat, it was a one and done. Mimic, on the other hand, you had a move pool. But… I wasn't seeing a reason why I couldn't teach Mimikyu Shadow Whip, as I was going to call it.

Mimikyu nodded, seemingly a little puzzled by the question. Was he a special case or was this true of all pokemon?

I just smiled, “Looks like we have a way to train your moves. A lot of them are going to be based on your shadow, so we need to work on three things: Control, mass, and structure.” Spreading out his shadow to consume the whole battlefield. Intensifying it enough that it couldn't be pushed away with something like fire or lightning. Making shapes -- Shadow Claw, Shadow Whip, Shadow Ball, etc, in addition to possibly creating multiple attacks of the same move. Instead of one Shadow Claw, it's a dozen. And, finally, the strength and speed of the attacks themselves.

I had a few ideas about how I was going to train Mimikyu already, and I knew I was going to have more once I got some battle experience. Strategies for dealing with different kinds of pokemon, move combinations, move fusions… Z moves? Did I really need a bracelet or ring for them? I know they contained ‘energy’ that buffed the pokemon for that move, but surely we could create a knock off version?

I was getting ahead of myself. “There is one other move that I think you should learn, Mimikyu. Mean Look,” I said, and immediately, Mimikyu shied away.

“Kukkuku!” He protested, but I held his watery gaze, understanding the issue.

“Mimikyu… some friends aren't worth having,” I told him gently. “If they're willing to hate you because you look a little different, then they're not really your friends. A friend is someone that you can rely on no matter the situation or the hardship. We're friends, Mimikyu. I know your worth. And if you don't want to use the move, I won't force you. It's up to you,” I told him.

It was an important lesson, I thought. Mimikyu was terrifying, for a lack of a better word. Beneath that was nothing but a cinnamon roll without a mean bone in his body, of course, but the people we were going to battle wouldn't know that. it was a strong point of his species, and it would be negligent to not take advantage of it.

Mimikyu was at war with himself for a long few minutes. “Kuu…? Mimikyu…” he offered and I smiled lightly.

“Of course. We'll try it out and see how you feel about it,” I replied. “Okay. Let's practice your moves a bit more and then we can go rob some nerds of their lunch money.”

“Mimikyu!”

…

We spent a solid six hours training and Mimikyu proved to be a quick study. In that time, his Shadow Whip went from breaking on the tree to breaking the tree itself. We still had a long way to go, but it was tangible progress. We even went over a few combinations and I was feeling confident when I approached a gaggle of trainers behind the Pokemon Center. They took notice of my approach and one of them greeted me with a grin, “Looking to battle?”

“A one vs one?” I ventured with a nod.

“Works for me!” The kid -- blonde hair, green eyes, and skin that told me he spent a lot of time in the sun. “The name is Kent. A registered match?”

“Blair, and that sounds good,” I agreed, pretending that I wasn't salivating about the prospect of making some cash. Being a pokemon trainer was expensive -- food, pokeballs, medical supplies, camping supplies, and so on. I had two hundred bucks in my account, and I could afford one pokeball. Or, not, if I spent some cash to rent out a room rather than camping out with camping gear that I didn't have and couldn't afford.

We took opposing sides on the battlefield with one of the other trainers acting as the referee. Kent took out his pokeball that enlarged in his hand and threw it, “Go, Squirtle!” and in a flash of red light, a squirtle erupted from the pokeball.

I hummed -- so far, I've seen a squirtle and a bulbasaur. Meaning that odds were that I was dealing with some of Professor Oak’s sponsored trainers. Not the end of the world, or anything, but interesting.

“Mimikyu! I chose you!” I called out like a goober, sending out Mimikyu. The response was instantaneous as he appeared.

“What? What kind of pokemon is that?” Kent called out, reaching into his pocket to pull out a pokedex. It was a little clunky looking, I noted. I was curious to see if Mimikyu was actually unknown or if my research was just crap, so I allowed talking to be a free action.

‘Unknown Pokemon.’ The pokedex read out in a mechanical voice. That made Kent and the other trainer's jaws drop.

“Mimikyu! Close in and Wood Hammer!” I called out, making Mimikyu dart forward. That broke Kent out of his stupor.

“Water Gun!” He countered and Squirtle puffed out his cheeks, building pressure for a Water Gun.

“Shadow Sneak!” I shouted, making Mimikyu's shadow expand as the water leaped toward. It connected the two of them, and rather than striking Mimikyu, Mimikyu appeared behind him and delivered the Wood Hammer to the back of Squirtle's head.

“Squirtle!” Kent called out dramatically as his pokemon fell forward, still in the fight but I suppose that was a critical hit. “Withdraw to recover!”

Hm. “Use Shadow Whip to raise it and slam it into the ground!” I countered, making Kent blanch as a shadowy tendril wrapped itself around Squirtle and hefted the pokemon up, making it panic within its shell.

“Rapid spin!” Kent called out, and Squirtle managed to break the grip by using his a jet of water to build up some momentum. However, it still left him falling a good fifteen feet into the air.

“Wood Hammer him when he reaches the ground!” I instructed, making Mimikyu dart forward. A split second before Squirtle hit the ground, Mimikyu hammered down on his spinning shell, driving the squirtle into the dirt. “Now-” I began, only for Squirtle to emerge from the shell unconscious.

Oh. I… kinda feel like a dick now.

“Squirtle is unable to battle. Blair is the winner!” The referee called out as Kent rushed over to pick Squirtle up.

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so rough-” I began, picking up Mimikyu, but Kent waved me off.

“It was a good battle,” he interjected with a smile. “Squirtle will be just fine after a quick visit to Nurse Joy. He has a big crush on her, so you probably did him a favor.” I forgot -- battling pokemon until one gave out was normal here. So long as there was no permanent damage done… it was fine. “Have you been in many battles before?”

“This was my second one,” I admitted. Technically my first, but my record said that I had one win under my belt.

Kent let out a whistle, “You're pretty good for a rookie!” He praised me easily enough, and I felt a little weird since he was probably around thirteen. “It takes some getting used to on our end, but pokemon love a good fight. They definitely prefer winning to losing, but who doesn't?”

To that, I just had to laugh, feeling a little better about it. I reached up and rubbed Mimikyu's head, “You hear that buddy? You did great!”

“What kind of pokemon is that, if you don't mind? Oh, and could I get a picture of it? Professor Oak is going to flip! Three days into my Journey and I encountered a completely unknown pokemon!” Another trainer exclaimed, taking out her pokedex.

Kent sputtered, “No way! I battled him! I should get to make the entry!”

It was tempting to see who would pay me the most for the honor, but there was something more important. “I got attacked by Team Rocket, and I probably wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for Mimikyu here. He saved my life,” I said, determined to put as positive as a spin as I could on his species. “He's a Ghost Type, but he's really friendly. You couldn't ask for a better friend.”

Mimikyu rubbed, purring in what was probably demonic tongues. Kent and the girl both paled the moment they heard it, their expressions best summarized as doubtful. Then they zeroed in on what I said. “Team Rocket?” Kent echoed, a shiver visibly racing down his spine.

“Yeah,” I confirmed, giving a small nod. “They stole all my pokemon, so for now, it’s just me and Mimikyu. We’re going to get tough enough so we can take them all back.” I added, making Mimikyu cheer in agreement.

“Then it sounds like you could use another battle,” the girl said, her gaze focused. “Alice. And if I win, can I get the picture of Mimikyu?” She asked, and my smile was all teeth. I don’t think that shiver was because of Mimikyu.

“If you beat us,” I agreed. And, like that, we launched into another battle and exactly what I had hoped happened. Alice, another character I didn’t recognize, proved to be the third of Professor Oak’s sponsored trainers, letting out a charmander that she nicknamed Crimson. I kept my jealously under wraps -- charmander belonged on everyone’s favorite list, but right now my focus was on training Mimikyu.

Word quickly spread about a new, previously unknown pokemon was accepting challenges behind the Pokemon Center. The village was a small one, but it was on the natural route to Pewter city, so it wouldn’t surprise me if half of the population came from trainers at the moment. It didn’t take that long for a crowd to start forming, watching me battle.

I beat Alice and her charmander. Then another boy with his pidgey. And another girl with her beedrill. Another had a nidoran, a girl, whose poison sting had worried me a bit but I still pulled off a win. The only evolved pokemon that I fought was a Poliwhirl, which had been by far the closest match, with Mimikyu taking a few hits.

But Mimikyu was going strong, racking up the wins and winning prize money. The lowest payout was a hundred bucks, but some paid up as much as five hundred. My funds quickly doubled, then tripled. And while Mimikyu was putting on a good show, I was getting worried about his stamina. I nearly called it there before another challenger stepped up.

“Do you think you have another in you?” A voice spoke up, and I looked up to see a familiar face. Brawly. Light blue hair and eyes, naturally tanned skin, and roughly my age. There was a broad friendly smile on his face as he wore a pair of cargo shorts and a tight fitting shirt. If I had to summarize him, the words surfer bro came to mind.

I was tempted to say no. Brawly, to my knowledge, was a solid guy. Friendly. But he was also a future gym leader over in the Hoenn region. I hadn’t encountered a gym leader yet, but I imagine that they had to be some of the best trainers around. If they weren’t, the gym badge wouldn’t really mean anything.

Glancing at Mimikyu, I saw him nod to me. “I think we can do one more. I’m Blair,” I introduced myself and Brawly’s smile grew.

“Brawly!” He introduced himself with enthusiasm. “And let me introduce Makuhita!” He added, throwing a pokeball to reveal the makuhita, much to the awe of the crowd. As far as pokemon went, it wasn’t the most intimidating. A pudgy looking gumdrop with a topknot and natural boxing gloves for hands. It wasn’t from this region, I knew. They came from Hoenn, I think. Or that’s where they were popular.

“Looks like we have a challenge, Mimikyu,” I remarked, treating this challenge a lot more seriously. A fighting type pokemon, the first we had encountered so far. Up close and personal attacks -- I had been using Shadow Sneak as a method of dodging, but Brawly would have seen that trick, so I couldn’t rely on it. My attacks dealt physical damage, and against a Fighting type, I was less sure of their effectiveness.

“Match begin!” Kent called out, acting as the ref.

“Makuhita, close in and use Tackle!” Brawly called out and I frowned. A basic attack.

“Mimikyu, play defensively!” I countered -- it wasn’t like the game where I could eyeball the level to see where we stood. I had never seen a makuhita before, so I had no idea if it looked strong or not. But, I was assuming that it was based on the trainer. “Dodge counter with a Wood Hammer!”

In response to my words, Mimikyu jumped out of the way when Makuhita went for the tackle, lashing out with his tail when he passed by. Only for Makuhita to block the blow with his forearm without any input from Brawly. That, I saw, was a difference in training. In the past few matches, the pokemon needed direct instruction to act and that was part of the reason why I was cleaning up my matches.

“Arm Thrust!” Brawly ordered, using the momentum of the tackle to attempt to laritate Mimikyu. The blow made contact, but Mimikyu obeyed my order to play defensively -- putting up the wood tail to absorb the blow as he was sent flying back.

“Shadow Whip!” I instructed the moment that Mimikyu touched down on the ground. A tendril of shadow lashed out at Makuhita, striking him in the chest and I saw that it left a mark.

“Press on and keep your guard up!” Brawly said, and Makuhita rushed to obey. I fought a smirk.

“Trip!” I said, and Mimikyu lashed out with the shadow whip, wrapping around Makuhita foot and yanking it out from underneath him. “Shadow Sneak!” I added, making Mimikyu vanish, only to appear before Makuhita. Another trick that I had learned -- if one of Mimikyu’s shadow attacks were connected to the opponent, it counted as their shadows connecting. “Wood Hammer!”

I saw Brawly’s expression shift, the broad grin falling ever so slightly to a more serious expression that almost seemed out of place on him. “Block it!” He shouted, and even caught out, Makuhita managed to protect his exposed face. “Sand Attack!” He followed it up with, making Makuhita use the move pocket sand to try to blind Mimikyu.

It would have worked, but Mimikyu didn’t see through the holes that were on the face of the costume he wore. He looked through the slits on the torso. “Body shot!” I called out, and Mimikyu brought down the wood hammer on Makuhita’s stomach, and I’m pretty sure he managed to knock the wind from his lungs. “Lift him up and Slam!” I continued, and Mimikyu wrapped Shadow Whip around the prone pokemon and began to lift him up.

“Break the shadows, Makuhita!” Brawly called out, making Makuhita reach out to the tendrils. My eyes widened when I saw them rip apart under the pure force he put on them, letting him fall to the ground before raising too high. “Bulk Up! We’re in for a slugging match!”

I snorted, “Not if I can help it. Mimikyu, Shadow Sneak!” I instructed, switching tactics. I needed to go on the offensive. Overwhelm the two of them with attacks and potshots, tripping them up, and whittling them down bit by bit. Mimikyu obeyed the order, darting forward with surprising speed as Makuhita took in a deep bracing breath.

He stood still as Mimikyu vanished before sharply pivoting of his own will to attack Mimikyu behind him. “Force Palm!” Brawly instructed and I swallowed a scowl.

“Block!” I cried out, and Mimikyu just barely managed to bring the club up in time to block the strike but it was much stronger than the first. Mimikyu cried out, taking a solid blow and sidded back a few feet. My heart went up into my throat, worried even as Mimikyu rose to his feet, ready to continue.

“Keep up the attack, Makuhita!” Brawly ordered and Makuhita did exactly that. My lips thinned as I saw that Mimikyu was still recovering from the blow. A single slip, and that’s all it took.

Right. Time to break out the cheap tricks. “Mimikyu, Shadow Sneak,” I ordered, and Mimikyu waited for Makuhita to arrive before obeying the order.

“You shouldn’t use the same trick so often!” Brawly chided as Makuhita pivoted and, this time, I allowed myself a smirk. “Focus Palm again!”

“Mean Look!” I shouted at the same time, and just as Makuhita used the move, I saw an expression that could only be described as utter terror flicker across his face. It threw off his aim and my smirk became a grin, “Copy Cat!”

The shadows underneath Mimikyu shifted and condensed, much like they had with Shadow Whip. A split second later, however, a hand shaped palm lashed out, catching Makuhita square in the face with the move. It was a solid blow, as solid as the blow that had been delivered to Mimikyu and it sent Makuhita flying back towards Brawly. Brawly looked worried as Makuhita laid there for a moment, shaken by the look and the blow before the pokemon began to rise to his feet.

Yet, Brawly held up a hand. “I’m calling it here -- I forfeit,” he said, much to the surprise of everyone. “You did amazing, Makuhita,” he said, holding up his pokeball. I could tell that Makuhita was disappointed, but he didn’t protest the decision.

It was only when my victory was announced that I let out a breath of relief. “You did it, Mimikyu!” I called out to my pokemon, who was visibly spent after that gauntlet. He eagerly reclaimed his position on my shoulder, and I petted him. “That was a great match,” I offered Brawly, a little surprised that I won it, to be honest.

“It was. I thought I saw all your tricks, but it seems like you had a few more up your sleeve,” Brawly admitted easily, not at all bothered by his loss it would seem. “It was a great experience. You and Mimikyu are a great team,” he continued, looming at Mimikyu and offering him a nod. “And sorry for coming at you at the tail end of a gauntlet like that.”

“No worries -- like you said, it was a good experience. We hadn't fought a Fighting type before, much less one like Makuhita. He’s not native to the region, right?” I ventured, making Brawly laugh.

“No, he and I are both from the Hoenn region,” he admitted freely. That's what I thought. Though, I suppose if Ash could travel to other regions, then it stood to reason that others could do the same. “He's my starter. We're still feeling each other out a little bit, but I think we're going to be bros.”

Huh. “This is your first circuit?” I asked, that surprised me a little. I figured he would have been one of the nepo-babies that started at ten.

Brawly nodded, “I spent the past three years training with Bruno -- I'm actually one of his sponsored trainers,” he said casually. Far too casually for those who happened to be listening in, and I heard some of them doing a spit take. “He taught me a lot, and soon enough, I'm going to stand across from him when I challenge the Elite Four.” He said, a competitive light entering his eyes.

That did sound familiar. And I think him becoming a gym leader in a couple of years suddenly made more sense. Bruno, as far as I could remember, was a one track mind when it came to fighting. It’s what carried him to the Elite Four of Kanto, and I’m pretty sure that the only one that held their spot longer was Agatha, the Ghost Type trainer.

“That actually leads me into something -- Officer Jenny spoke to me about your run in with Team Rocket. I wanted to see what you could do, so I watched the battles… and I got a little excited and challenged you!” He admitted with a chuckle, catching my full attention.

“She asked you?” I echoed, caught flatfooted. After I gave my answer, she nodded and sent me on my way with a promise that they would handle Team Rocket and do everything they could to get my pokemon back. I figured that would be the end of it, so the last thing that I expected was for Officer Jenny to approach Brawly of all people to play detective.

Brawly, to his credit, didn’t find my surprise to be surprising. “It’s part of being a sponsored trainer. I’m kinda like a deputy? The police can turn to us to help handle crimes if they’re stretched thin or they don’t feel like they have the pokemon strong enough to deal with something.” He explained, and that made enough sense for me. I should probably get my hands on that trainer handbook. “Do you think you could take me to where you were attacked?”

I… I swallowed thickly, glancing at Mimikyu for a moment, before I nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I can. It’s a decent walk, though.”

“No worries! It gives our pokemon plenty of time to make friends along the way!” Brawly decided with a laugh, and after a brief exchange of prize money, we were on our way into the forest. I was feeling a little nervous, though I wasn’t entirely sure what I was feeling nervous about. Brawly seemed to pick up on that and chattered along the way.

Brawly was a pretty chill guy, I decided. The kind you would want to kick your feet up and share a beer with. Almost in spite of myself, I found my guard being lowered as we made our way up the dirt road and Mimikyu pointed out where we had emerged. Things looked pretty different during the day. The forest certainly felt a lot less creepy.

It took some time, but we found it -- the clearing that I woke up in. The clearing that I had been murdered in.

Brawly stepped forward, surveying the signs of a battle, but saying nothing. And, it was because of that, I heard something. The sound of a child crying out, “Phaaaannnntuummp,” the long groan echoed out in the clearing, and my gaze snapped to the source of it. “Phannn…” The moaning continued, and I found it.

It lurked in the shadows of the trees -- a pokemon. A wooden stup for a head, with bull-like horns jutting out while the rest of its body was a dark shadow.

“A phantump?” Brawly questioned, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pokedex. He aimed it at the phantump, who slowly floated towards us, and with his free hand, he got ready to let loose a pokeball. Phantump, however, only seemed to have eyes for me.

‘Phantump; a Ghost Grass type pokemon. Phantump is created when a spirit possesses a tree stump; it is said that the spirit is that of a child who became lost in the forest and died.’ Brawly’s pokedex informed, and I processed that as I met the gaze of the pokemon that neared, finding myself stepping forward.

That… oh.

Ohh…

Oh… Fuck.