(Reboot) Pokemon: Beyond the Tall Grass

Cerise had waited in his seat for a while with Zoe, not wanting to run into anyone as the crowd thinned out of the stageroom. He slowly stood as the crowd began to thin out, egg still in hands. He looks around a bit, trying to see if he could find Decoda or Catia... But he couldn't quite see them. Maybe they were backstage? He shrugs, turning to Zoe.

"That was amazing!! I wonder how many were professional acts?" Cerise vaguely recalls that the band Decoda had played with had been handing out flyers before, but that guitarist with Catia...? Although the guitarist was a good performer, something about that guy unnerved Cerise. The trainer only hoped his feeling of discomfort wasn't an allusion to something more. And Loka was still to be seen. "I'm just not sure where my friends are..."

Nearby, Chespin and Goomy were leaning on the chair's back, looking around excitedly for Decoda and Catia. They had both performed incredibly well, and the Pokemon duo wanted to congratulate the musicians on a job well done.

Zoe nodded in agreement with Cerise. The show was really awesome! 

"I'll help you find them!" she said, taking a hold of Cerise's arm. "Let's go~"



Loka approached Decoda and nodded in approval.

"You certainly know how to shred strings. Way to go." Sai and Blitz rubbed against Decoda's leg while Sparx just hung back, being anti-social. "Where's Catia and Cerise?"



Kar took a sip from his milkshake then sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

"You're an ascended." He started to explain. "One who was blessed by one of Arceus's Children. Regirock explained this to me when he blessed me. We get special abilities, depending on who blesses us. Apparently, there are books and sccrolls on the ancient lore of Arceus and his children and stuff." he reaches into his bag and pulls a scroll out. "Here. I read this one. You can have it."

The ice cream shop begins to shake, almost earthquake-like. The few other people in the shop don't seem to notice.

Catia takes the scroll but only stares at it, her face expressionless. "Am I....human? Or....am I something else?" She asks Kar, snapping out if her slight trance as Fox trips over herself and plunges her face into the ice cream, making Catia burst out into laughter before she sets her ice cream down and takes out a few napkins to begin wiping up Fox's face. Poochy and Fang had finished their share of the Ice Cream by that time and were now curled up with each other and napping.

"No, you're still human." Kar leaned back in his chair, which fell over as the shaking grew worse. "D-Do you feel that?" He looked at the other people in the shop who are still going about their business. "Guess not..." he turned to Catia. "YOU feel that, right?"

A deep voice is heard from out in the streets, but it seems that only Catia and Kar can hear it. (It sounds like this, but this isn't what's happening. this is just what the voice you hear is like)

"I DEMAND YOU TO COME OUT AND FACE YOUR JUDGEMENT, HUMANS OF HIDDEN ASCENSION!!"

Catia about jumped out of her chair upon hearing the voice, instinctively grabbing her bag and Fox before returning the others to their respective pokeballs. She turns to Kar. "Now I heard it! C'mon let's go see what that was!" She tells him before heading outside and investigating the source of the loud voice that was calling out to them.

"Loka!" Decoda exclaimed loudly as the dark haired girl came into view.  "I'm glad you liked it so much. I really worked hard on it!"

As the blush vanished from his cheeks as quickly as it came, he gestured with an upwards facing open palm towards Genesis.  "This is Genesis and Ralts, from the Aurora region!  I just met them in the crowd.  They're pretty unique from what I gathered!"

Once she asked for the whereabouts of Cerise and Catia, Decoda leaned around to scour the rest of the people for signs of his friend until he spotted those familiar green and brown colors.

"Looks like he's just over there!  Hey Cerise!  We're over here!" he yelled across the way, waving his hand slowly to signal he and Zoe and the Pokemon to come over this way.  Once he got their attention, Decoda turned back to Loka with a slightly nervous expression.

"That's what I was asking Genesis about, to see if he knew which way they went off to.  I know Catia left with that guy with the weird eyes... Kar... Kar Toffel I think the announcer said?  They just took off after the show," he shrugged, Chimecho and Mudkip both looking a little worried.

They couldn't have gotten into too much trouble, right?

Hearing Decoda's voice as he, Zoe, and his Pokemon navigated through the crowd, Cerise pointed in the direction that the older male was, gesturing to the rest of his group to go in that direction. Seeing that Loka was also near Decoda, Cerise hurried his footsteps, occasionally looking back to make sure he hadn't lost anyone. With a firm hand on his egg, he pushed through the remaining few people between him and his friends.

"Hey!!" Cerise called out as he finally pushed through the last of the crowd.

There in the street, was a silhouette of what looked to be a girl, from the hair and style of clothing. An unnatural light flooded the street revealing the true look on the Being before them.

Spoiler:

It's red and green eyes were filled with unfathomable rage as Catia and Kar found they couldn't move. The boy moved with supernatural grace up to Kar. He walked around the ascended, studying him closely. As this being paid less attention to Catia, she found she could move little by little.

"YOU... YOU HAVE NOT PASSED MY JUDGEMENT!" He roared, raising a hand. "YOU SHALL EXIST NO LONGER!" he hand became a sharp point (think arceus's hoof) and he drives it through Kar's chest. The ascended descentigrates. 

Catia ran. She didn't look back. She could feel adrenaline pulsing through her veins. A figure stand on the road ahead of her. Upon closer look, it's Entei. He holds a hand out to Catia and takes a ready-to-run position.

"Come on!!"



"Oh hey Cerise!" Loka waved. "You enjoy the show?"

Catia holds Fox tightly to her chest as she runs for Entei's hand, tears beginning to come from her face as she ran for her very life. What was going on???

"I loved it! Decoda's, you were KILLER!!! Oh, and this is my friend Zoe! She showed me around Saffron a bit!" Cerise laughs. "But, ah... Where's Catia...?"

Entei ran with unnatural speeds once he grabbed a hold of Catia's hand. He didn't know his way around the city, so he eventually ended up in a dead end.

"I CAN SENSE YOUR PRESENCE! YOUR FRIEND WASN'T SAFE, CATIA URENHEIM LINEFELT, AND NEITHER ARE YOU!! FACE YOUR JUDGEMENT OR WATCH EVERYTHING YOU CARE FOR BE DESTROYED!"

The voice grew closer. Entei threw Catia to the ground and turned a crate over and placed it over her, hiding her. He then sat on the wood. Catia could see between the thin planks and between Entei's legs. The being was staring down Entei.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, ENTEI."

"I was enjoying the city, but I got lost." he shrugged nonchalantly. "It happens you know."

"WHERE IS THE MORTAL YOU ASCENDED WITHOUT MY JUDGEMENT."

"I have no Idea what you're talking about. I haven't ascended anyone since Ruby."

"I FELT HER PRESENCE WHILE DEALING WITH THE OTHER ONE. WHERE IS SHE."

Entei shrugged, resting an ankle on his leg and leaning on it.

"Tell you what, dad. I'll keep an eye out for her and If i find her, I'll kill her myself. You can trust me, you know that, right?"

The being narrowed its eyes at Entei, but then turned away.

"VERY WELL. IF I FIND HER BEFORE YOU, HOWEVER, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO KILL HER." 

He disappeared. As soon as he was gone, Entei helped Catia stand.

"You alright...?"

Catia coughed and immediately slapped Entei hard, tears streaming from her eyes. "No I am most certainly not okay! Who was that and why was he after me?! And Kar he...,what's going on?!" She asked him angrily and rapidly. She didn't care that she had just slapped the one who had just saved her life. Yet again she had to watch someone die in front of her, not a thing she could do to help him. And more than that, she was scared out of her mind. Yet again, she was too weak to do anything. After falling into Entei's chest and sobbing with Fox held tightly into her arms for several minutes, she eventually calms down and nuzzles Fox who nuzzles its trainers face back to comfort her before Catia puts her away and back into her pokeball for safety. Wiping her tears away, she averts Entei's gaze and sniffles a bit. "I....I'm sorry for slapping you like that." She apologizes, closing her eyes and bracing herself for whatever punishment he was going to give her for hitting him like she did.

Entei simply blinked when Catia hit him, not really feeling it. He watched her cry for a few, letting her questions go unanswered, until she fell against him, sobbing like a lost child. He stroked her hair, his body warm and comforting.

"...That was Arceus. The Creator of the pokemon you see before you, and he's kinda my father. The only reason I believe he's after you, is my fault. I Ascended you without bringing you forth to his judgement. I put you in this danger, so it looks like I'll be keeping an eye on you." he let go of her, hearing the apology for the slap. "I wish there was more I could do for you, and I can't take the blessing back. The unfortunate thing is that everyone who have seen or met Kar with have forgotten him, except you and any other Ascended. They'll think you performed with a recorded track."

Entei frowned, taking a step back. He formed a ball of energy in his hands which hardened into a small red crystal about 3 inches in radius. He hands it to Catia.

"Since I cannot stay with you constantly, use this to summon me. It only works once. Just smash it to the ground and I will come." he explained, taking several steps back.

"I must go now. I'm being called."

He ran off, out of Catia's view. However if she looked up to the tops of the buildings, she could see a strange dog-like figure running swiftly along the tops.

Catia watches Entei run off with lost eyes as she puts Entei's crystalline gift into her pocket before silently leaving the alleyway and going to find her friends. She needed them to help keep her safe from Arceus. As she walked, her eyes began to glaze over and she soon lost herself in thought. She really didn't know what to do now. Yet again she lost someone that had helped her out of a bad spot and put her on the right track, only to lose them soon afterwards. What was the point of all of her powers, all of her gifts, if they were never enough to save her friends? She didn't even notice it when she accidentally bumped into Loka as she was wandering, only glancing up at her blankly before falling to her knees and crumpling onto the ground. The day's events seemed to have exhausted her more than she had originally thought and she only closed her eyes as she ignored everything else. This is a dream....I'll just....close my eyes.....and when I open them....everything will be back to normal.... She thought to herself, letting her exhaustion finally take her away.

Loka looked at Catia, unsure of what to make if the situation. So she picked the girl up and carried her piggyback. The heat emanating from Loka's body was comforting, like the warm spring in Lavaridge.

"Looks like Catia's beat." She said, adjusting the weight on her back. "I'll take her to our room an meet up with you guys in a bit."

She carried Catia to the pokemon Center and up to there room where she gently laid her down. 

"Rest easy. Looks like your adrenalin rush wore off."

What a surprise!  Decoda didn't even realize Catia had come into view from the streets while he was asking everyone.  When Loka caught her and carried her off to the Pokemon Center, he noticed she looked exhausted and there wasn't anyone with her.

He felt strange.  He could have sworn she left with someone.  It was like all memory of any potential people he could have idealized seemed to disappear.  He didn't fret too much though.  His Pokemon couldn't feel any presence of loss though, so if they weren't worried about it, neither would he be.

"Well, I hope she'll be alright.  I suppose all the anxiety and excitement got the best of her, but... Either way, we should all probably try to get some rest too."

Decoda then turned to Genesis and Zoey, happy to meet any friend of Cerise's of course, and explained to them a quick fact about their little team.

"Loka, Catia, Cerise and I are all trainers on a long expedition, so we have special rooms to stay at the Pokemon Centers across these regions.  I suppose you live around here Zoey, so how about Cerise walk you home?  Genesis, if you want, I can help you rent out a room at the Center too, since you said you're from outta town."

His offer was polite and genuine, and in all honesty, he did want to try and get some sleep.  If he stayed up any longer, he'd catch his second wind and never be able to get the rest he needed for another day, and the same went for all their Pokemon!

Cerise watches Loka carry Catia off, brows raised. She seemed really tired, though Cerise couldn't possibly imagine why? Was performing on stage so nerve-wracking for her? Then again, she'd been onstage alone, so maybe that was the reason why? Eh, it wasn't something Cerise could do anything about. Stage fright wasn't something he was experienced with.

"Yeah, I agree... Let's get going, Zoe." Cerise says, trying to stifle his yawn. A day full of travel and battle was finally beginning to catch up with him. He'd probably collapse like Catia soon, too! But not before he was sure Zoe was safe. With Chespin and Goomy returning themselves to their Pokeballs, Cerise extends an elbow towards Zoe-- a gesture for a walk with linked arms.

~Catia's Dream Realm~

A scream sounds as Catia watches a figure die in front of her.  A boulder had fallen on top of him, the cause if the rock slide only a silhouette on top of the mountain.  It looked like a humanoid Pokemon but Catia didn't recognize it.  She watches in horror as a shadowy figure of herself suddenly appears in front of her and grabs her by the throat, lifting her off of her feet.  The figure looks like a shadowy version of herself, her lifeless white eyes crying tears of blood.

You're weak....what good is a gift of strength if you hesitate to use it?  You failed him....and now you let another die without a chance....

She struggles against the figure's grip and manages to take a breath (in the real world she's fidgeting and breathing hard due to this).  "I-it's not....I can't-!"

The figure increases it's grip on her throat, growling angrily at her.

You can't do anything right!  You're a failure and will always make others suffer for it!

It growls at her, a bone snapping crunch being heard as the figure snaps her neck with an evil laugh and lets her fall into the endless darkness of the void beneath her.

----------

~Back in the real world~

Catia awakens with a gasp and bolts upright, sweating and breathing hard.  She coughs a bit as she feels her neck for injuries, taking a small breath when she realizes that it was just a dream.  She looks around and spots Loka at her side.  "Where....where am I?  How....did you carry me here?"  She asks her breathlessly.

Loka, who was sitting on the other bed in the room, was sifting through her bag when Catia addressed her. She looked up briefly before going back to her stuff.

"Hmm? Oh yeah. You're surprisingly light. That or I'm still strong..."

She pulled out a jar of berries and pulled out a bright gold one. Loka tossed it to Catia.

"'Ere, Fresh from the Chicole Farms in Almia. It helps with bad dreams an' S'sleep." She smiled a bit as she closed the jar. "I had my grandmother send some over when she sent Sparx."

She scratched her Luxray behind the ears and listened to him purr.

"Do you want to talk 'bout it?"



Zoe linked arms with Cerisa and rested her head on his shoulder. She yawned and nodded.

"Alright then. Let's get going~"

She and Cerise headed off.

Catia catches the berry awkwardly and sets it down in her lap upon hearing Loka's question.  "I don't know if you'd understand it.  I suppose I could explain it to you though."  She tells her, taking a deep breath.  "I dreamt about the day my father died.  This isn't the first time I've had nightmares about it either.  It's been haunting me ever since he died to save me from a rock slide.  And everytime I watch him die....a shadow of myself appears and starts choking me.  It keeps telling me that I'm worthless, that I'm too weak to ever do anything with the gift's that I'm given."  She looks at her shaking hand, a sad look in her eyes.  "It's not wrong.  And now....I let another person die right in front of me because I was too scared and weak to save them.  I'm so useless...."  She finishes, taking a rather calm breath and eating the berry that she was given.  Fox let herself out of her pokeball then, detecting its trainer's sadness and crawling into her lap.  She mews at her and nuzzles her face, prompting Catia to stroke her fur a little.

Loka looked at her; what did she mean another?

"Well I'm no dream doctor, but what I can say if that ya aren't useless. Everyone has a purpose; it just takes some longer than others to figure what it is. Hell I'm still tryin' to figure mine out! And I got a second chance at it, too."

She got up off the bed and walked over to the door. 

"We're all meetin' up to celebrate an' stuff. You can come if ya wanna, or you can stay an' rest."

Loka opened the door and walked out, leaving it open slightly. Her second journal lay open on the bed, a bright red ribbon stuck between a couple of pages.

Catia's eyes catch on the bright red ribbon and she sees Loka's journal lying open on her bed, Sparx still sleeping there. Shaking her head to clear away her temptation, she fills Fox's bottle and feeds her before setting her down onto the bed next to Sparx. Stroking Fox's fur, she smiles warmly at her. "Be a good girl alright? Don't cause too much trouble and I'll be back by morning okay?" She tells her, Fox mewing her understanding before curling up and closing her eyes to sleep. Looking up at Sparx, Catia takes her gloves off and slips some excess bandages out of her bag and into her pocket. She sets her gloves dome and onto her pillow before giving a deep breath and heading to the window. She opens it and turns back to Sparx. "Take good care of her for me. She's....delicate. I'll be back soon." She tells it before jumping out of the window and outside onto the ground.

Being careful to avoid her friends, she silently walks out back to Route 9 where she had smashed the large rock. Seeing an old tree near it, she takes a deep breath before walking over to it and placing her palm against it. She closes her eyes and gently puts her forehead to its trunk. "Father....Kar.....forgive me. It's my fault you both died while I simply watched. I....I wasn't strong enough to save either of you." Sighing, she opens her eyes and stares at the tree trunk. It felt strong beneath her bare palm, the faded scars of her old habits nearly blending into her skin. "But now I intend to correct my mistakes. No more running. No more hiding or being afraid. It's time I started playing my part." She looks up into the branches of the tree and a twinkle of regret goes into her eyes momentarily. "I'm sorry to any Pokemon in this tree that calls it their home. But....this is something that I have to do." She says before slowly moving back and assuming a fighting stance in front of the tree's massive trunk. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes before looking for her fear in her heart. She pictures Arceus about to kill Kar once again and a tear escapes her eyes before they snap open and she gives a great yell and punches the tree, holding back her powers and suppressing them as much as she could. She flinches as her fist hits the tree trunk but she doesn't stop, going to throw another punch with her other fist. It hurts in the same way but again she doesn't cry out or stop. She continues by going to kick the tree, alternating between her limbs until her body begins to sweat and her knuckles and lower legs begin to bleed from hitting the tree so much. As she takes a quick breath and removes her jacket to toss it aside, she can see her attacks having made their marks into the trunk of the tree where she had been punching and kicking it, always in the same spots. Ignoring the pain in her tired limbs, she continues to use the tree trunk as a fighting dummy. Everytime she thinks about stopping and everytime her bleeding limbs scream at her to stop, the promise she had made to her father echoes out through her mind and she continues. She doesn't slow down until finally the moon had risen all the way into the sky above her head, by then her bleeding ankles forcing her to stop kicking and resort to only using her fists. Shortly after her legs had given out, her arms do too and she finally falls, too exhausted to stand any longer as she collapses onto her back.

Sighing, she shakily reaches into her pockets and bandages her hands and ankles up tightly before collapsing onto her back in the cool evening grass once again. She doesn't move or speak for the longest time, her eyes only staring blankly at the stars above her head. She was in serious pain from her night training, her body screeching at her to rest. Had she done enough? Maybe after she had taken a quick break she would go back to it.

Sparx looked at Catia suspiciously when she neared him, but allowed it when she placed Fox next to him. He then watched her just out the window, wondering why she didn't just use the front door like a human would. So he looked down to the first floor with his X-Ray Vision. He saw the group down by the entrance (minus Cerise) and figured out why she was using the second story window.

He looked over to Fox who was- Where was fox?! Sparx leapt up from his resting spot and scanned the room, only to find the tiny pokemon climbing up onto the windowsill, trying to follow Catia. With a silent leap, sparx hit the wall, grabbed Fox and leapt back to the bed.

Fox mewed and cried in protest, pawing at the Luxray who simply shook his head and sat back down, plopping Fox down in front of him. He studied the now crying creature, trying to figure out what to do next. Surely it wasn't hungry; he just watched Catia feed it! Sparx tilted his head to the left, trying to figure out what this... child was crying about. Fox started crawling to the window again, to which Sparx stepped in front of.

Was this tiny creature trying to get to it's master? He growled, realizing that he had a lot to teach this tiny thing. He sat down in front of the windowsill, blocking it from Fox, who started crying again. He got used to his master leaving during the day; she had things to do that she didn't want her pokemon getting involved with. Sparx, Sai, and Blitz learned to respect her comings and goings.

Sparx Sat up straight and looked down at Fox, growling. Fox looked up at Sparx and mewed. (AND FOR SAKE OF SANITY AND STUFF, I MAKE THEM TALK FOR NOW.)

"Why are you so upset? It's driving me nuts!"

"She's not coming back! She always takes me with her!!"

"You have a lot to learn, child. She will return. Did you not hear her when she left?"

Fox sniffed and mewed again.

"And stop this... this crying! Crying won't bring her back."


"Did your human leave you?"

"Yes. Many times. But I learned that she always came back. Even when we're regions apart, I know she'll come back."

"What happens when our humans leave and never come back?"

Sparx froze up at the question. Leave it up to the baby to ask the deep questions. 

"Uh.. I don't know." he answered honestly. "I'd rather not find out."

Sparx hopped up onto Loka's bed and lay down. Fox climbed up after him, struggling a bit. He used hit tail to give her a boost. The tiny pokemon snuggles into his side, and Sparx rolled his eyes. Was this how his mother felt when he's snuggle her?

"Just... go to sleep. Your human will return by the rising of the Sun."

Fox was already out.

(sorry about not responding, had to work)

Genesis had just woken up at the pokemon center room that Decoda had helped him to check into. He stretched his arms and looked to his left to see his Ralts sleeping next to him. It never liked to be too far away from him. He shook it gently just to get its attention.

"Hey ralts, I am just going to run downstairs for a bit, you stay here and rest alright."

The little pokemon let out an adorable yawn and nodded its head falling back asleep. Genesis chuckled climbing out of bed. He got dressed and headed downstairs to see his new friends.

(hope thats good enough for now.)

Meanwhile, a bit north of Saffron, Cerise and Zoe walked mostly in silence, with Cerise mostly just enjoying Zoe's company. She was relatable, fun, and easy to talk to! Kanto seemed to be full of interesting people, and Cerise momentarily considered what it would be like to live here. He glanced over at Zoe, eyes softening a bit as he slowed his pace. As they passed under a solitary lamp post, a dim light exuding from the post's bulb, Cerise could see Zoe's day care not too far ahead.