Bits and Bytes

     Leaving Silph Company, I knew what I had to do. Find Blaine. He was the key. The man I thought was my friend. I had to find him but first, there was a gym I had to beat.

     Next door to the company was the local gym. The gym leader was named Sabrina and she trained in Psychic. A type I wasn't familiar with.

     I walked in and approached her. No games. No tricks. No invisible walls. Nothing. Just us in this tiny room. Maybe she was going to be the easiest yet.

Yeah I was afraid of that.

Here we go..

     I took out Tyson and she brought out her Alakazam. I had him attempt to punch it but for some reason he just stood there and wouldn't attack. Alakazam took some shots with the two spoons he wields and Tyson was on his last legs. Thankfully, I called him back in the nick of time. Strange. Sabrina stared at me. Almost mad I took him out of the battle.

     Tyson had had enough and I decided to go with Tsunami. My one friend I could trust in this world. He walked right up to Alakazam and broke the spoons from his hands and punch and blasted him with his water cannons until he was moving no more.

     Sabrina acknowledged her defeat, but without any warning the gym became a cave and she became a blue bird. How very.. odd. I tried to communicate with her but she wouldn't speak.

Caw CAW! Cheep cheep? Cuckokacha?

     Was this world breaking down around me? I had to get out as soon as possible and my next stop was to find Blaine and I had no idea where to find him. I did have one person I could ask though. "Oak. Professor Oak could lead me to him. I just have to fly back there." I let Excalibird out and put a very confused Tsunami away and we made our way from this strange Island to Pallet Town.

     I went back to where it all began and I found the old lab, the Professor was inside. "Where is Blaine, Oak? I need to find him." Oak turned and smiled, "Welcome back Glenn. It's been a long time". By now it had been six months in this world, too long. "May I see your Pokémon? Here, let me take a look. I'll tell you about Blaine, just let me see your team." I got them out of their balls and I knew he wouldn't try anything with all six out and in full force.

What are you a professor of exactly?

     "Yes.. yes. I see. Very good. You have done well, better than most. Let me tell you about Blaine. He is one of the last of our kind. He is an NPC who knows the system and the game. He wanted to test you. He wanted to push you and he wanted to see if you were worthy of beating this game. Yes."

     "What makes me special?" I asked. "Look at your bond with these creatures! You need more reason than that? You have a gift of making these bits and bytes friendly toward you. You have a very unique gift. Speaking of gifts, have a few of these." He handed out a few candies to each of my team and Smaug began to glow just like before.

...

You have arms, and legs, and wings!

     "Blaine is to the south of Pallet Town. Find him and win!" "Will do." I put away my team, hoped onto Tsunami, and surfed South, ready for a fight.

"Who is in control of Team Rocket now?"

     Saffron sits in the middle of the four largest cities in Kanto. It's a hub of people and Pokémon. The place where Pokéballs and potions is there as well. A place called Silph Company. I hear they have Pokémon events there that bring trainers and their friends closer together so I decide to finally check them out since I think my team could use some bonding. I let them all out of their balls and let them stretch their legs, wings and fins.

     A man in black approaches and compliments me on my team. "Thank you" I say hesitantly. I see that this man's shirt has a red 'R' on it meaning only one thing.. this man was a Rocket. He asks "Can I go for a walk with one of them? How about the dragon?" I step in front of Smaug and I can sense that he is on edge. "No thank you, please leave us alone." "Oh c'mon guy! Just once around the block!" he pushes me on my shoulder.

     Smaug leaps at the man and gets it's tail around him squeezing him and then throws him into a fence near the Pokémon Hospital. "Ok.. ok. I give up. I will tell you everything."

Well let's stop that before it starts..

     "They are taking over Silph? How.." "..Boss said to.. get your attention heh." I let Smaug throw the man toward Vermilion and sprint to the Silph Building located in the heart of Saffron. The team returns to their balls and they all understand where we are going and why. We have to help.

     The town is crawling with Rockets. I hide around every corner and dodge every person who can see me. I finally make it to the giant skyscraper and the whole first floor is empty. No guards. No people. Nothing. I see that it's eleven floors and I make my way to the second floor.

     Each floor contains hostages and Rockets alike and I aim to defeat and release everyone of them. With the help of Tyson and Tsunami, I make quick work of the lot of them and I can feel the bonds of my team growing stronger.

Fight you idiot, don't hide.

     I fight through hordes and hordes of minions of Rocket members and I finally come to the final room before where Giovanni is. Wait.. I hear a voice.

Motherfucking Gary Oak.. I mean Bryan! BRYAN!

You have been with the Rockets this whole time and didn't even try to stop them?!

You jerk!

You saw me? I thought I was a better hider than that..

Boy that escalated quickly.

It's super effective!

Excalibird shaking her tail feather at Venusaur.

You know it!

     "I know it saddens you but you won't see me for a while. Well if you get to where I will be that is. Let's get out of here!" he disappears in a plume of smoke and I am left to wonder why I do not have cool smoke vanishing powers.

     "That was amazing kid a real one in a million fight!" "Really? Thanks!" I say to the man who just watched the war between my rival and I unfold. "I want you to have this!" he says handing me a ball.

Well thanks!

Yes.. and it's name is Nessy!

     I finally make it to Giovanni's room and I see him and an older gentleman are talking business. It seems one sided mostly due to the ropes and duct tape being used to restrain the fragile man. Giovanni notices me and walks toward my direction.

Yes we do old friend.

It's pretty clear that you aren't sir.

Low blow!

Listening to you talk is all it takes to get me there.

     Giovanni unleashed all of his new toys and had them attack me and Tsunami. Without a word, Tsunami unleashes his two water cannons and made quick work of the man who killed Picard. The man who made my team suffer has now been defeated, and I didn't even break a sweat.  

USA! USA!USA!

Oh this child ruined your plans! Oh my!

I look forward to it.

     Giovanni leaves the office and looks back at me and before he takes the elevator, he smiles. I wonder what he is thinking about? I release the CEO and he shakes my hand "Congratulates Glenn! You have won the Pokémon event for the day! Great job!" I scratch my head and ask "What do you mean? This wasn't real? You weren't in danger?" I am surprised to say the least.

     "No, no, no, this was the event. Just like the one at the game corner and the other large scale events lately." The CEO goes on. "We set up these events with the help of our organization to help peopledefeat the evil 'Team Rocket' and they play the bad guys and try to make it hard for the player to win. No risk! It's great fun for all." "Fun? No risk!? They have attacked me countless times and murdered my Pokémon! They are evil! They aren't a bunch of imposters. These men are a danger to the world and you helped create them?"

     The CEO was visibly shaken by what I had just told him "I.. I had no idea what was going on. I thought they were listening to me. I thought that I was in control! I didn't mean for this to happen I swear" "No you aren't in control, but I know who is. I know who is running Team Rocket." "Who is in control of Team Rocket now? We must stop them." I look at the CEO's eyes and he needs an answer more than anything, he needs to know.

     "It has to be someone who can track the movements of people or Pokémon using disguises and the like. It has to be someone who is old enough to demand respect. It's someone I know. It's a man named Blaine."

The Poison Gym

     With Daisy gone and a new team to use, I decided to try my hand at the poison gym. The leader, Koga, specializes in poison Pokémon and is known to show no mercy when it comes to trainers who want to join his gym. I however do not plan on joining him, I plan on making him submit to my team.

     Thanks to Bryan, I now know not to fear what happens to the gym leader. I know that if it comes down to it, I will choose life and take my shot at victory. The gym leaders feel the same way and I expect that. Now they have to expect it from me as well. I have knocked out four and I have four more to go.

     I heal my team and arrive at the gym. I see Koga standing straight ahead, but all of his NPC's are standing around facing different directions. I decide to just walk up to him and I run right into a wall. I touch the "empty" area to reveal more wall. The gym is surrounded with a labyrinth of invisible walls and I quickly realize that this isn't going to be so easy.

     Using my hands to find the wall as I walk along I run into the NPC's and take them out with Tank. I continue searching until I finally make my way to the man himself. "What took you so long Brock?" he says making eye contact with me.

At least I'm not 64 and a video game char- oh..

M..mirth?

Oh I'm ready..

     I don't say anything because it would only help him gain a mental edge. I lock eyes with him and take Tank out and the battle is on.

Nice cape.

     He sends out Weezing and attacks with a poisonous sludge. Tank is hurt and poisoned right off the bat. I use body slam and it nearly wipes out Weezing. The next round with both use our medicine and he speaks over to me "Let us not use these potions and snake oils, let these beings fight and let them tell us who deserves victory!" I decline. "He isn't just some being, he is my friend!"

     Tank hears me and uses a ferocious body slam on the Weezing. Killing it right there and denting the gym's hard wood floors. "The battle is mine!" I yell out to Koga.

That's right!

     I take the badge and without a word, walk out of the maze. Through the invisible walls I can see Weezing letting out some kind of Toxin. Koga is clawing at the walls and trying to not breathe in the purple mist. I decide not to stick around and leave.

     Healing at the Pokémon Hospital was of dire importance and with five gym leaders down I had to wonder where Team Rocket fit into all this. Why does the program allow a terrorist organization into it's program? Why have them if all they do is mess with the system and the "hero" character? Maybe Saffron City will hold more answers for me.

Rebuilding

    My confrontation at the Pokémon Tower left me drained but focused. I was going to do this. I had to escape. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. 

     Tsunami was out of his ball and I had to put him back in because he was stomping around and making the other people there uncomfortable. After that we headed down stairs.

     Before I headed south, I went to the mart and picked up a few more Pokéballs. I had to build my team to be the strongest it could be. I knew I needed more friends. I had Smaug, Tsunami, Excalibird, and Daisy but I knew that if I came across something strong I would catch it.

For example..

     This guy I found asleep and frankly, it was easy to catch him. He just laid there and didn't even try to fight back. I named him Tank and man is he ever one.

     I made it to Fushia City and found the gym but I decided to take a look around.first. I found a fighting dojo pretty close to where the gym was and a place called Safari Zone. Looks like good places to train.

    Safari Zone looked like a better place to go first but when I got there I wasn't as sure. "You no train here! You throw ball! Catch Pokémon! No fighting!" I think this guy is foreign. Anyway, it cost me a few bucks to get in and I got one chance to find a Pokémon and catch it. I ended up finding an egg Pokémon and named him Scramblers. From there the dojo was VERY close by and I decided to try my hand there.

Well.. good.

     After beating a few lower members I decided to try my hand at the leader. He looked tough and he didn't even care to look at me until I had defeated the other trainers. "I'm here to challenge you. Are you a gym leader?" I asked. He stood up and said "No, but in return I will give you a prized fighting Pokémon.. if you can defeat me that is."

Sounds fair!

          It didn't take me long to dispatch his team and he seemed happy. Nothing had happened. He lost.. but no death or anything.

Alright I choose..

I named him Tyson.

     With my seventh team member, I had to let one of my friends go. I looked through each team member and decided to choose Daisy. She understood  and I let her go near a large grassy plain east of Fushia. I hope you stay safe Daisy.

     Now to take on Koga and the Poison gym!

The Big Reveal

     I stop dead in my tracks. "What do you mean I die? I remember what Bill said when I met him. He said if I quit now another would take my place." Bryan nods and responds, "That's right, but what did you think would happen to you?" "I guess I had never thought about it." "I feel you deserve to be informed of the goings on in this world Oak created. Let me fill you in."

     "The people in this game know that their end may come at anytime. Some like Surge and the trainers you battle along the way are just non-playable characters or NPC's. Others like Erika and the others are, well.. WERE people, just like you. They welcome the idea of the end and hope it comes from someone worthy of helping others."

    "If you fail and these lives have been lost, then you were too weak and the gym leader who beat you begins their journey for survival. You may or may not remember what you were before you woke up in that bed in Pallet Town.. Brock."

     "Oh no. I was.." I sit down before I lose my footing. "I was a gym leader? I was Brock?" Now I understand why Brock wanted to tell me so badly. He knew I was a former gym leader! "Yes, you earned your time here with the defeat of the prior "hero" and you have made it quite far. Four badges by my count. You have done better than most, but ultimately no-one has beaten this game and no-one will."

     I shake my head in disbelief and wonder.. "What do I get if I win?" "You get your life back. Now.. I need you to keep playing. It's very entertaining and I would hate for it to end so.. abruptly."

     "How.. how did I get involved in this? Why am I here?" Bryan looked at me and actually didn't look like he had an answer for this question. "It's been so long that I don't know anymore. With so many people I just can't keep track of who owes this or who did what. Ultimately you have paid your end one way or another."

     "I have to go now, I have other.. matters. Do you still wish to quit Glenn?" I can't help but laugh at the absurdity and answer "No, I must continue." "It's agreed then everyone. The show goes on! I must take my leave now, but do not think we are done. Head to Fuchsia City. You will find Koga. He is your next task."

     Bryan exits the tower as I rest my head against one of the many gravestones of my fallen friends and think about my next move. I let Tsunami out of his ball and ask him a question "I suppose we should head south.. right Tsunami?" He nods and helps lift me up. "Thanks pal, let's head out."

The Fourth Gym

     Finding the fourth gym wasn't very hard. I found an old man outside the gym and was wondering what he was doing. "I'm looking at the ladies here, because there isn't anything else to do around here." "Uh-huh."

Pervert

I just met you and this is crazy, I have Pokémon so let's battle, maybe?

     Walking into the gym I see that it really is all females. I battle each one and each has a various grass type and they all use the grass type. Just as promised. I see the leader and ask for a battle. " Before we battle you have to escape when I beat you. There is something going on whenever I defeat a gym leader they die and now you have to go before it's too late."

Always works.

In the weeks I have been here I have learned that Flying>Grass

Still true.

I bet you do!

Woo!

     The dust had settled on another battle and I see that there is nothing happening. I look around and everyone has since left the area. Erika is not tied to the gym in anyway and we make a break for the door.

     We are near the last tree to cut and something catches her foot. It's a long vine. Dragging her back into the gym and into a pit. Pokémon Erika has been lost. Was it a Pokémon that dragged her down?

     With Picard lost, I had to take him to the Pokémon tower and break my own personal promise that I wouldn't have to come back here. I am starting to sense that I will see this place more and more as my journey gets longer and harder. I walk upstairs to where my friends are and I see a familiar face that I just didn't want to see.

What is he doing here?

...

You..

     "Shut up! He died because of this stupid game I am in and can't seem to get out of. Four people have died because of me and I have had enough. I quit."

     "If you quit you die as well."

Dressed Battle Casual

     The place was dark. Real dark. Darker than I had seen in any previous portion of the game. After a few battles, I came to what appeared to be a transporter for lazy people?

307173

So I just step on this and..

WOOOOOOOOOOAH

     After a long while of looking around, only to find several dead ends, I came to a locked door guarded by two Rocket grunts with pretty powerful teams for being so low on the totem pole of the organization.

Stronger than they look

     It took me some time to defeat them but when I did I had the pleasure of watching one of my friends evolve.

Smaug is getting longer it seems.

Adding you to the team was a great idea.

     Busting through the locked doors led me to a man dressed not for battle, but for business. He looked familiar somehow. Maybe I had been wrong about Oak. Maybe I had been putting the blame on the wrong person. Maybe Team Rocket is who I need to get answers from.

I like that he is so rich he owns the Simpson's couch.

     "You are the person everyone is talking about, no?" "Maybe. I'm just trying to get out of this game and I think you are the one causing all of these problems for me. Killing gym leaders is a bad way of getting my attention. Running a terrorist organization like this makes you number one on my list of 'people I need to talk to'. I don't even know your name and yet I know it's you who is doing this to me."

     "My name is Giovanni and you need to relax Glenn. Your journey is not even halfway through and yet you still want to leave. Why not complete the journey and then we can talk about you leaving? You have done so well.. why ruin it now?"

     I have heard enough and throw Picard out and I am ready to battle. Giovanni throws out a new Pokémon out named Kangaskhan. I have Picard use "Dig" and he attacks as hard as he can and it barely dents this new behemoth. Kangaskhan, in retaliation, throws just one punch and.. RIP Picard

No..

     I collect Picard and decide that it's time I bring out Tsunami and let him finish off this horrible monster. I send him out and he sees Picard laying lifeless. He attacks with a watery rage and that's the end of the battle. Giovanni accepts his defeat much better than I expected. I try to talk to him more but he uses an escape rope to leave the area.

     I walk out the way I came in and have Tsunami seal off the stairs so that Team Rocket can never go back inside of their hideout.Tsunami looks as though he is glowing and I begin to eagerly await what he will become..

Do.. do you have..

You have cannons on your shoulders! YES!

          I decide since I am still near the gym that I can finally go and knock out another gym leader and maybe this time it won't be the end of their story.