The Legend of Rustboro

[silverfrost]

After a long, exhausting day, Silver sat down next to a large tree shading her from the now setting sun. She'd been thoroughly training her pokemon nearly all day, and was now quite tired. She wiped her long hair away from her face and sighed. She was short, with brown hair and eyes, a combination she thought of as being "plain." She hadn't been a trainer for too long, but so far she loved every minute of it. She knew that despite the feeling that training had only worn her and her pokemon out, it would be worthwhile in the end.

She thought about the tasks her pokemon completed that day. Since it needed to improve it's accuracy. she'd focused heavily on target practice with her Marowak. She'd also been helping her Masquerain better its speed and agility by having it chase her fastest pokemon, Persian. Persian was used to helping Silver train her other pokemon, and she thought of it like a type of game.

Silver took her folded town map out of her back pocket and examined it. She was near the edge of Petalburg Woods. She'd originally intended on sleeping there that night, but since she was so close to the next city, she figured she would just travel a little further and sleep in the pokemon center there.

She got up after a few minutes of sitting down and picked up her bag. She folded her map and put it back in her pocket. She turned to her Persian, who was licking her paws, and called for her to follow. Persian liked to just walk next to Silver when they traveled, rather than be cooped up in a pokeball all day without much freedom. She was a cat, after all.

Silver walked through the dark forest until she could see a clearing between the trees in the distance. Persian trotted at her side as she exited the forest. She stood at its border, looking out at the city ahead of her. There was a long stone path at her feet that seemed to disappear at the entrance of the city. She hurried down the path as she was anxious to get to town. Eventually, she could see a sign.

"Welcome to Rustboro City."

"Awesome!" Silver shouted aloud. She walked into Rustboro city further to look for the city's pokemon center. Looking around her, she noticed that all the streets were made of stone and most of the buildings were constructed out of what appeared to be steel. It gave the huge city a dark, solemn feel but she wasn't going to judge it that quickly.

Finally, on the corner of an intersection, she noticed the pokemon center. The giant red pokeball logo on top stood out from the rest of the gray town. She started to walk towards it but her eyes fell on something else. Atop a hill towards the outskirts of the city, she noticed a large house. From that distance, she saw no signs of life or even occupancy in it. She stood there, paralyzed in awe of this mysterious place. Something about it drew her to it and she stared at it for about two minutes. This place brought out her curiousity. She wanted to investigate, to see who lived there... Then, she snapped out of her trance and remembered what she had originally set out to do in Rustboro. She turned and walked toward the pokemon center, yet still wondered about the house.

Once inside, Silver gave her pokeballs to Nurse Joy, with the exception of Persian's, so that she could heal them for her. After grabbing some dinner, she sat down at a booth to eat. It was rather late to be eating dinner, but she didn't mind. As she ate a slice of pizza, she remembered the dark house she'd seen earlier. She pulled her map of the Hoenn region out of her pocket and examined the Rustboro city section. She could see nearly every building labeled clearly with the exception of the strange house that had hypnotized her earlier. She saw the spot where it should've been, but it just appeared to be empty space.

"Hmmm, I wonder..." She thought aloud. She looked down at her persian, who was curled up and fast asleep on the floor by her feet. Soft purring sounds came from her as she rested in comfort.

Silver leaned her head against the back of the booth. She decided that it was best to get her mind off of the dark place, so she thought about all the things she was going to do the following day. "Hm, maybe I'll head over to the gym here," She thought. Ideas for her strategy didn't keep her awake for long, though. She eventually drifted off to sleep...

[silverfrost]

Silver slowly opened her eyes the following morning. She lifted her head up from her arms and looked around her. She was still sitting upright in the booth in the middle of the pokemon center's lobby. She cleared her throat and looked at all the people there to heal their pokemon, somewhat embarrassed. She obviously didn't intend to fall asleep there.

"Persian? Where are you?" Silver said softly. She couldn't spot Persian from where she was sitting, so she got up to go look for her. She walked around a couple sets of tables and chairs, looking under each one for her pokemon, but she couldn't find her. She decided she should ask Nurse Joy if she knew what happened so she walked up to the front desk.

"Hello Nurse Joy. I was wondering if you've seen a Persian wandering around anywhere... I'm not sure where she went," Silver said.

"Actually I saw a Persian sitting with an older man over in the corner there, but I figured it was his since it seemed to like being with him so much," Nurse Joy informed Silver. "Oh, and here are your Pokemon," She handed the pokeballs to Silver.

She looked around the room and spotted Persian in the corner with someone. "Thanks!" She said to Nurse Joy.

She walked quickly over to where Persian and the man were sitting. He looked relatively old, most likely in his 60's or 70's. He had short, gray hair and was holding a cane in his right hand. With his left, he was gently stroking Persian.

Silver approached him cautiously. "Um... Hello there. That's my Persian that's bothering you... and I uh, I apologize for letting it annoy you... I can take it back now, if you like."

"Nonsense!" The man said happily. He seemed very kind and cheerful. "I think she was just bored and looking for attention, but she's great company!"

"Oh... Well, in that case, thank you for looking after her. Erm, my name is Silver," she introduced herself.

"No problem, Silver. Oh- By the way, my name is Mr. Oliver." he said with a smile. He looked back at Persian for a moment. "I'm just waiting for Nurse Joy to heal my Pidgey. She recently came down with a slight cold so I figured it would be best to bring her here. So anyway, how long have you been a pokemon trainer for?"

"Well, I started a few months ago. However I've been traveling slow due to the amount of training I try to get in every day. I'm surprised I made it to Rustboro by now, actually. I'm from Littleroot Town, by the way," Silver replied.

"Ah, that's interesting. So are you enjoying Rustboro City so far?" Mr. Oliver asked Silver.

"Well, I've only been here since last night and I haven't really seen too much of the city yet, but it definitely seems nice," Silver told him. She glanced out the window behind him and her eyes once again focused on the mysterious house she'd seen the previous day. She decided to ask Mr. Oliver, since he might know more about places in the city than she did.

"Um... I have a question. You see that house up there?" She pointed and Mr. Oliver turned to look. "Well, who lives there?"

"Heh, it's funny you should ask that," He hesitated before continuing. "Ya see, that house has been empty for a long time. I'd say it's been about 20 years or so since someone actually lived there."

"What? Why, though?" Silver was confused.

"Well, it's actually kind of a mystery around here, but I suppose I'd know a lot about it. My father lived there when he was a child, and my grandparents lived there for their entire lives. My father eventually moved out and had his own family and so did my Aunt. My grandmother and grandfather stayed in the house, of course." He paused for a moment. "They were really great... But after they died, people started to believe that their ghosts were in that house."

Silver raised one eyebrow at this. "They think that house is haunted or something? Why would they believe a thing like that?"

"That's also the reason they can't sell the house to anyone. Basically, whenever someone goes inside, weird things happen. Supposedly, they hear a lot of creepy noises and sometimes I've heard of cases where people have actually seen the so-called 'ghosts' of my grandparents," Mr. Oliver rolled his eyes. "They died peaceful deaths, so I wouldn't understand why they'd have unfinished business to attend to..."

"Honestly, I can't believe that many people believe in ghost stories," Silver couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was no way there were ghosts in that house.

"I would never believe it either... It's just that so many people claimed to have witnessed these strange occurrences so it makes it harder for me to deny its truth," explained Mr. Oliver.

Silver laughed. "Pffft, I bet there's nothing in there. Come on, it's just an abandoned house... By the way, have you ever been inside?"

"I have, but only when I was young and went to visit my grandparents. Nothing odd ever happened while I was there. I haven't been since they died, though. Hypothetically, if my grandparents' ghosts were there, I'd rather not disturb them, you know?" said Mr. Oliver.

"Yeah..." Silver thought to herself for a moment. Something told her that there definitely weren't ghosts in that house. She just knew it.

She'd already planned to go to the Rustboro gym that day, but she decided it could wait. Instead, she thought she'd go to that house to investigate. She had her pokemon with her so she'd probably be safe no matter what was there.

"Well, it's been very nice meeting you but I'm going to head over to the gym now. I'll probably be in Rustboro for a while, so I'm sure I'll see you around again," Silver thought it wouldn't be a good idea to tell Mr. Oliver that she was going to his grandparents' old house.

"Okay, Silver. Good luck with your gym battle!" He said.

She felt bad about lying to Mr. Oliver as he was such a nice man, but it was for the best. She needed to find out what was going on in that house. So with Persian following her, she walked towards the exit of the pokemon center. She turned and waved at Mr. Oliver on her way out.

[silverfrost]

Silver strolled down Main Street, heading for the legendary haunted house of Rustboro City. As she neared it, she started feeling a bit nervous. She didn't believe in ghost stories, but she knew there was still a possibility of truth in the story Mr. Oliver had told her.

As soon as she was about 50 yards from the house, she noticed a large, metal, black fence surrounding it. She walked up closer and peered through the fence to try and get a closer look before going right inside. The house was a dark gray, bordering on black. The paint was peeling off of the outside of the house and all of the windows were boarded up with rotting wood. She looked closer at the door of the large house and noticed it was barely attached to its hinges. The entire yard surrounding it looked dead along with the rest of the land nearby.

"I don't know, Persian," Silver said to her pokemon. "This doesn't look so safe. Anything could be in there." She sighed with doubt.

Despite her nervousness, Silver walked up to the door of the gate and pulled it open. It made an eerie creaking noise, probably because it wasn't opened all that often. She walked down what looked like a sidewalk with grass growing in the cracks. Then she walked up the stone steps to the front door, nearly tripping due to their awkward shape. She lifted her finger to ring the doorbell, then caught herself.

"No one even lives here," She said, rolling her eyes.

She took a closer look at the door and noticed quite a few scratch marks. There were many huge gashes carved into the wood.

"Hm, what happened here?" Silver wondered. "Here, Persian, give me your paw and extend your claws."

Persian did as she was told, and Silver held Persian's claws up to the gashes to compare. They were no where near the size that Persian's claws were capable of making. They were drastically larger.

"Bah, what are we wasting time here for anyway? Let's go inside," Silver said. She pushed the door open and heard a snapping sound. "Oh no!" She watched in frustration as the door fell off its hinges and was brought to the floor with a huge thud. She was very annoyed with herself at this point. "Ugh, I guess I better put this back, seeing as I'm not even supposed to be here right now." She stepped inside, hardly looking around, and picked up the door. She set it upright on the threshold and tried adjusting it so that it would stay for the time being.

While doing this, an odd sound got Silver's attention. She stopped trying to fix her mistake and listened closely. There was a strange scraping sound coming from the floor above her. It sounded as if someone was scratching the floor or wall, she couldn't tell which. It only lasted for a few seconds until it suddenly came to a stop.

"Meh, I'm probably just hearing things," She said to herself.

Silver set the door against the wall and turned to explore the place. Looking around the dark room, she saw that all the furniture was covered. There was also a staircase to her left. She noticed a fireplace in the corner of the room and walked over to it. She wiped dust off of the shelf on top of the fireplace.

"Achoo! Ugh, I'm allergic to dust," She complained.

She walked around the house a little more; she went through the kitchen, dining room, living room, etc. Aside from the furniture, she couldn't find anything proving that people had ever lived there at all. Every room was empty.

She sighed and looked down at Persian, who seemed pretty bored. "Well, I guess I was right. I'll have to go and tell Mr. Oliver that there aren't any ghosts in this house. I'm sure he'll like to know."

Silver walked back towards the way she'd entered the house. As she passed the fireplace she'd observed earlier, she heard the scratching sound once more. She looked up at the ceiling and listened closely. This time, it lasted a few seconds longer before it stopped again.

"What is that?" She wondered.

She glanced at the staircase and thought for a moment. Maybe there were ghosts in this house...

"Well, whatever is in here, it must be up there," Silver said. She took in a deep breath, and cautiously headed up the stairs. A long, dark hallway stretched out in front of her. There were two rooms to the right and one to the left. She wasn't sure which way she should go.

"Persian, which room do you think its in?" Silver nervously asked.

Persian looked at all three doorways and appeared to be thinking for a moment.

"Um, maybe it's that one," Silver pointed to the room on the left, seeing as that it was directly over the room that they'd heard the odd scratching sound in. She hesitated while approaching the room and walked very slowly. The door was halfway open and she could immediately see that it was somewhat dark inside. She walked in, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness, and looked around. There was, of course, more of the covered furniture.

Silver crept over to a dresser with a mirror on it and looked at her own reflection. However, there was something moving behind her that caught her eye. She turned around quickly and could see something small and white cornering Persian.

"Hey! Get away from her!" Silver yelled. She squinted through the darkness of the room to get a closer look at the floating white creature. "Oh no... maybe there are ghosts here!"

She kept staring at the apparent ghost until she noticed something peculiar. Towards the bottom of the white shape, she could see what looked like a pink feather. This was all the proof she needed.

"Persian! Don't be afraid, okay?" Silver said, even though Persian looked as if she would stand her ground anyway. "Now, I want you to grab that thing with your claws and just pull!"

With a flash, Persian shot out her paw and grabbed something. She pulled a bed sheet off to reveal a very strange creature.

"What the...?" Silver started.

The pokemon that stood before her was all black and about 2 feet tall. It had gigantic, razor-sharp claws and piercing eyes that resembled those of a cat. It had an odd white marking in between its eyes that looked like a diamond. The oddest thing about this creature was its feathers. It had one bright pink feather sticking out of its ear and it had 3 sticking out of its back.

Silver took out her Pokedex and pointed it straight at this thing. "Sneasel- This Pokemon scales trees by punching its hooked claws into the bark. It seeks out unguarded nests and steals eggs for food while the parents are away," The robotic voice recited.

"Wow, a sneasel? I've never heard of that kind of pokemon before," Silver said. Yet it all made a lot of sense to her now. Sneasel was a cunning Pokemon, according to her Pokedex, so it was probably pretending to be a ghost to scare people away. Perhaps this Sneasel just wanted to live in this house alone. This is why everyone thought the house was haunted and also why no one would buy it.

It was an odd situation: Silver was in one corner of the room, Persian was in the opposite corner, and Sneasel was right between them. It immediately started to panic because it was surrounded.

"Sneasel!" It cried as it tried to make a break for the door.

Since Persian was closer to the door than Silver was, she instinctively jumped to the threshold of the room to block Sneasel from escaping.

"Good job, Persian," Silver said. "Now, we should probably make sure this Sneasel doesn't stay here anymore. It's time we let people know the truth about this so-called 'haunted house.'" She explained, thinking about Mr. Oliver. She looked at Persian, who seemed anxious. "Are you ready?"

Persian extended her claws to acknowledge Silver's question. She leaned back, hissing quietly at Sneasel.

Across from Persian, Sneasel seemed ready to fight also. It glared at Persian and flashed its huge claws.
Fortunately, this didn't seem to phase Persian all that much.

[silverfrost]

Silver already knew the strategy she would be starting with. "Alright, Persian. Use your fakeout!"

At this command, Persian swiped Sneasel's legs out from under it. Sneasel fell backwards, landing with a thud. It was so quick, that Silver barely even saw it. However, she knew that in order to take advantage of the fakeout move, she would need to call another attack rapidly so that Sneasel would lose a turn in battle.

"Great! Okay, now use your bite attack!" She called to her pokemon.

Opening her mouth and revealing sharp fangs, Persian viscously lunged at Sneasel. Just then, it rolled to the side and almost out of the way. Persian was aiming for a critical hit in the center of Sneasel's body, but instead only grabbed a feather.

"Sneasel!" It said angrily. It got up and touched its back, which was now missing a feather. It kneeled over and ran at full speed towards Persian.

"Oh no! Watch out!" Silver warned.

It was too late. Sneasel rammed into Persian with a powerful quick attack. "MMRAAAWWR." Persian made a
noise and went flying backwards and hit the wall.

Sneasel seemed satisfied with itself and attempted to hit Persian with another quick attack.

"Persian, jump!" Silver screamed from across the room.

Persian obeyed and jumped out of the way but had much difficulty after such a surprising attack. Sneasel couldn't stop in time and ran right into the wall that Persian had hit.

"Great, Persian! Now's your chance. Use your sceech attack!" Silver told her pokemon.

Persian opened her mouth and let out an atrocious sound. Silver automatically knew to plug her ears before this attack, but it still didn't always help.

Sneasel couldn't stand the noise and crouched down, grabbing its ears. Stubbornly, it got back up and started another attack. It reached its arm back and swiped at Persian, attempting a slash attack. However, Persian jumped back and out of harm's way.

"Awesome job! Keep evading those attacks! Now, try your scratch attack on Sneasel!" Silver called to her pokemon.

Persian nodded and leapt at Sneasel, claws outstretched. Sneasel tried to dodge once again but Persian managed to graze Sneasel a little with her scratch attack.

Both pokemon had only suffered minor attacks, so this battle wasn't even close to being over. Silver thought about what Persian's next attack should be. Then, she remembered the new TM she'd taught it recently.

"Alright, let's try out your thunderbolt TM!" She said enthusiastically.

Persian clenched her muscles and released powerful bolts of electricity from her body. Sneasel kept trying to dodge them, but failed when a bolt hit it dead on.

"SNEASEL!" It cried in pain. It wobbled back and forth for a moment, then tried to skake off the shock of the intense attack it had just suffered. It only took a few seconds for it to get back into the battle, though. It raised its claws into the air and turned them, creating what looked like a small, blue tornado. It quickly floated towards Persian and hit her.

"Mwaaarr!" Persian hissed in anger as the freezing attack hit her.

"Oh no, an icy wind attack," Silver thought. "Alright, let's try something that can't miss. Use your faint attack on
Sneasel!"

Silver was sure that this attack would always work, but as she looked over at Sneasel, she saw that it was performing the exact same attack! Both pokemon seemed to disappear at the exact same time, then they reappeared, slamming into each other.

"Wow, Sneasel must be just as fast as my Persian is," Silver said. She then realized that this battle wasn't just about strength or special attack, but speed. "Okay, try your slash attack now!"

Persian reached her paw back and sliced through the air with her claws. Sneasel just kept using quick attacks to help itself dodge Persian's attacks. They both moved back and forth in the middle of the room over and over again. Persian had attempted about 8 or 9 slashes before she started to look frustrated.

"Now try to fool Sneasel and use fake slashes, Persian!" Silver exclaimed.

Persian comprehended and did as Silver said. She picked up her left paw first, then quickly threw her right paw out. Finally, Persian's slash had scored a direct hit on Sneasel. It tumbled to the ground from the force.

Sneasel growled and got back up. It seemed pretty angry and desperate to win, now. It jumped into the air toward Persian, flailing its arms. The sudden emotion in Sneasel had hypnotized Persian, and she didn't have time to dodge Sneasel's crazed attack. It looked almost insane as it scratched Persian over and over again. "Sneasel!" It screamed as it attacked her. After the attack was over, Persian fell to the ground. It seemed as though she didn't have hope of winning this battle.

"AH! Such powerful fury swipes!" Silver said.

Before she could give Persian another attack, Sneasel rammed into her with yet another quick attack.

"MRAWR!" Persian meowed irritably. At this point, she looked quite battered. She could barely stand and she seemed completely exhausted from the battle.

However, Sneasel also seemed quite worn out. Persian had certainly hit it with many powerful attacks and it was becoming weaker. Still, Silver had a feeling that Persian needed to use a very powerful attack to finish Sneasel off.

"Great job so far, Persian!" Silver encouraged her. "Now, concentrate and use your Return TM!" She knew that Persian would get STAB on top of this powerful attack.

Persian thought about what she was going to do first, then charged towards Sneasel, building up speed and energy. She seemed to glow as she gained power for the attack. She slammed into the exhausted Sneasel almost gracefully and it was casted across the room.

"Sneasel..." It let out a cry, then fainted.

Persian turned around and looked at Silver. Silver smiled at her incredible pokemon. She was so proud of the way she'd battled.

"Alright, here goes," Silver said. She took a pokeball out of her bag and tossed it at Sneasel. It opened and Sneasel was sucked into the ball in the form of a red light.

It shook once... twice...

[lil_leprachaun33]

it's good. i like it. battle and story are fine.

Outcome- Sneasel Caught!

~Jack~