Chaos Theory (SE1)

[Kihote]

Well, I figured I'd try to write something up and well, this showed up. What I basically am going to do is to put the Sinnoh games in text format :dead:

At least that was what it started as, as many people can tell from the earlier chapters, but it is no longer the traditional Sinnoh, its my Sinnoh now. Some characters have changed, and the way certain things work has also either become clearer or changed. I hope you guys enjoy reading because I'm planning to write on, whether you like it or not.

Well I should stop talking now and let you enjoy the story:

Part 1: First Steps

Spoiler

Chapter 1: Beginning
Chapter 2: Lake Verity
Chapter 3: Home
Chapter 4: Apologies and Payment
Chapter 5: Worth
Chapter 6: Objectives and Good Bye
Chapter 7: Stars
Chapter 8: Jubilife
Chapter 9: Study Up
Chapter 10: You can't win like that....
Chapter 11: Back to School
Chapter 12: Clowns, Clocks, and Paths
Chapter 13: Badges and Goals
Chapter 14: The Meaning of Chaos
Chapter 15: The City of Smoke
Chapter 16: The First Gym
Chapter 17: Splitting Paths

Special Episode 1: Good Morning

 

[Kihote]

Re: A Trainer's Life (tentative title)

Chapter One: Beginning ​

It was a cold day, which was quite strange for the time of year, but he didn’t really care. He stayed in bed not wanting to come out, after all, who wanted to leave their nice warm toasty bed when it was freezing cold outside? Well, this guy obviously didn’t as he continued to wrap himself up in the blankets, not wanting anything to disturb his slumber, not even the howling winds outside. He could hear some sounds downstairs but didn’t really care, he knew his mother was probably cleaning up the place, or maybe making breakfast, it didn’t really matter to him. He continued to rest, and snore, and of course sleep, but that was a given. By now most people who are still reading this are probably wondering who he is. Well, ‘he’ is a special child, not for what he is, but for what he will do. His name is Christopher, though everyone calls him by his nickname, Chaos. How he got that nickname is a story of itself, but in the end most people would agree it suits his personality, and the messes he gets himself into, well I should probably stop with the exposition and just let the story speak for itself.

Chaos began to squirm in bed as he dreamt of another day of doing nothing constructive for society. He began to roll as suddenly he fell out of bed. His body hit the ground with a loud thud as he was abruptly awoken. He looked around, squinting as he searched for his glasses. His hands reached onto his night stand and searched around, his head much too sleepy to look up and see what was up there. After knocking over a few things, he managed to find them and put them on. Once he had put on his glasses he could clearly see the clock. He had overslept.

Moving quickly he jumped towards the television turning it on. He was greeted by static as he began to panic. The TV couldn’t fail on him now, not when it was about to start. He reached behind the television and tried to figure out which cable wasn’t properly plugged in. Not sure what each cable did, he connected and reconnected them. As he flailed around, cables in hand, various electrical devices turned on and off filling the room with sound only to go quiet in an instant. After a minute of attempting to repair the television he managed to get it to work, despite becoming wrapped in the cables. He smiled as he was greeted by the image of a lake filled with Magikarp. He listened closely to the voice of the narrator as it filled the room.

“The Lake of Rage, not too long ago it was home to a vicious creature which brought destruction to any in its path. Most would call it a gyarados, but many would notice that its rage was beyond normal. Many believe that was why it was red, the anger from within itself had spread to its very scales turning it a blood red. The gyarados has evaded our search as we inspected the lake with every single one of our devices, Sonar, submarine, even using our pokémon, we were unable to find a single trace. That was when we learned tha-“

Chaos let out a shout as the television fell to the ground. While the narrator had been talking, and the images of the Lake of Rage had been shown on the screen, he had been trying to sit on his bed, not realizing that he was pulling the cables he had been tangled in. The television had fallen, and he was once again desperately trying to fix it, but to no avail. It proved to be too heavy for him. Frustrated he had no choice but to give up on this television. Racing down stairs, he jumped onto the couch, and pressed buttons on the remote. Unfortunately for him, he was greeted not with the lake, or a frightening Gyarados, but with a woman showing off some watch. Chaos sighed as he saw the clock, it was now eleven, he had missed the ending of the show.

He turned off the television and left for his bed when he heard his mother’s cheerful voice, “Honey, Barry came to find you earlier today. I told him you were still sleeping so maybe you should go talk to him, he said it was important.” Chaos continued to walk, only this time changing his course to the bathroom as he shouted, “Sure, I’ll go see him.”

Walking into the bathroom he took off his glasses and splashed water onto his face. He looked into the mirror and smiled as he looked at his black hair; it seemed so messy, but he doubted anyone would care, he was still young enough to get away with it, though next year people would expect him to worry more about his appearance. He hated the prospect of becoming thirteen and losing his status as a child.

After brushing his teeth he ran upstairs and began to change. Quickly throwing off his pajamas, he frowned as he looked at his scrawny body. He had always wanted to be stronger, but just hadn’t had the time to work out, there were far too many shows on TV that he wanted to see, then there were the games he loved to play, and of course the comic books. He quickly put on his tan pants as he used his belt to keep them from falling. He put on his white t-shirt and put his second button shirt on top. He was in too much of a hurry to button it, so he immediately ran back down and attempted to head out the door, only to be stopped by his mother.

“Just where do you think you’re going dressed like that? Can’t you see that it’s snowing! Here, put this on.” She handed him a red overcoat and some black gloves. Chaos sighed as he put them on, and stared at his mother. She stood taller than him, and had her dark blue hair neatly held together. He would never admit it, but he knew he had a pretty mom; a thought which he tried at all times to avoid. If he even began to think about that then he’d have to worry that some guy would try to marry her and become his father. Just what he needed, another person with the right to tell him what to do.

After he had put on his coat and gloves he opened the door and was greeted by a large amount of snow and wind. Great, his mother had been right. As soon as he stepped outside he charged towards his buddy’s house, he was always so impatient, trying to get him to show up on time or risk receiving a ‘fine’. Due to his habit of always running around like a madman, he had dubbed him Flash, a name he had taken quite well.

As he ran through the snow, Chaos slipped and fell to the ground. The snow had softened it, but the rocks beneath it still hurt. Ignoring the pain, he jumped back up and tried to run once again, only to fall yet again. He sighed as he was forced to accept the fact that his shoes just weren’t meant for running in the snow. He walked until he reached a home which was not too far away from his, and was about to knock on the door when it burst open and Flash ran out. Chaos’ fist quickly hit Flash’s head as the knocking motion had not been stopped, but Flash had not stopped moving forwards, causing them to fall to the ground. Chaos groaned from having fallen once again, it was beginning to hurt enough to make him not want to get back up. Flash on the other hand jumped back up as he shouted at his friend.

“What took you so long?! I waited a full ten minutes and yet you didn’t come! You have to hurry up next time!” Chaos slowly stood up as he looked his friend in the eyes.

“You showed up when I was sleeping and wanted me to come so I came, would it kill you to be more patient?”

“Yes it would, but that’s beside the point, I just finished watching the special about the Lake of Rage, you saw it too right?”

“Well actually, I-“

“Of course you did, I know you wouldn’t have missed it! We were talking about for a week. Well, it got me thinking, what if there is some special pokémon living in the lake nearby? Wouldn’t it be awesome if we found something like that and showed it to the world? We’d be famous!”

“Well, that sounds fun but isn’t it dangerous at the lake, I mean a wild pokémon could come out of nowhere. Maybe we should wait ti-“

“Nonsense, I’m going right now whether you come with me or not!”

Flash immediately walked towards the town gate, fully determined to explore the lake. Chaos sighed knowing just what he’d do next. He and Flash had been best friends for so long, it had become customary not to abandon the other, no matter how stupid their plan. Chaos started walking as fast as he could and yelled, “Wait up, I’m coming too!” With that small decision their lives were to change drastically, whether for the good or better, only time would tell.

 

[Kihote]

Re: A Trainer's Life (tentative title)

Chapter Two: Lake Verity ​

As the two neared the entrance to the gate, they were quick to hide. Standing at the entrance were two men, each with green bowl cuts and were wearing strange clothes. They were both dressed in black and white with a strange yellow G on their chests. Standing before them were two people, one was an elderly man wearing a brown overcoat. He had a white moustache, along with relatively short white hair. At his side was a girl wearing a bright red coat. She had long blue hair and a white hat atop, along with a long white scarf around her neck. Listening closely from their hiding spot behind a few trees they could overhear the conversation.

“Sorry, boss’s orders, nobody is allowed in while he carries out his research. He’s afraid the presence of others will affect the results.”

“This won’t take long, we forgot something important. We have to get it ba-”

“Sorry, no can do, you’ll just have to wait.”

“Listen here! We were at the Lake before you goons showed up and now you’re telling us we can’t go back to get something?! Nobody owns this lake, it’s a public area! Would you let us through alrea-”

“Dawn! You know better, we will simply have to wait until they are done before we are able to enter.”

“But professor!”

“No buts, we just have to wait. We aren’t the only ones who need access to the lake for research.”

Chaos continued to watch as the elder man was chastising the young girl, but had to stop when he noticed that Flash was sneaking away with a smirk, “I know another way into the lake…”

Not knowing what to do, Chaos followed behind his close friend and made sure not to fall behind. They wove through various trees and bushes careful not to disturb any wild Pokémon for fear of what could happen. After a few minutes of weaving through the trees they came to a clearing. The two stood by the trees for a second taking in the view. Lake Verity was always a breathtaking sight with the sunlight reflecting in every direction. This beautiful show of the sun and water interacting as one only helped to make the small island which sat in the center of the lake stand out.

“So I was right... Not much time left before your power is added to mine.”

A low voice broke the silence as the duo noticed a tall man standing on the edge of the lake. He had spiked blue hair and wore a black and gray uniform like the two at the entrance, only his seemed more like a suit. He was taking pictures of the island in the center. Chaos, wanting a closer look at what he was doing, took a step forwards stepping on a twig. The man quickly turned around and stared at the two children which stood in the trees. Chaos’ eyes locked on to the eyes of the man as he began to shake. Something was strange about this man, his face seemed so dull and emotionless, yet those eyes seemed to have such intensity.

The man walked up to them and smirked, “You two should go home; there are certain things in this world not meant for children.” Instead of reacting like he normally would, Flash continued to stare at him completely tense; something was... different about this man.

The man simply walked away then, leaving the lake. Flash let out a sigh of relief and turned to his friend. Chaos continued to stand there shaking. Suddenly, he fell to his knees and began to vomit. Flash flinched and took a step back, he had never seen him do that, “A-Are you okay?!”

Chaos wiped his mouth on his sleeve as he slowly began to recover, “T-t-that man…t-that was the most horrifying moment of my life…” Indeed, he wasn’t kidding. The look that man gave them, it seemed so full of hatred and scorn. He had never met anyone like that, not to mention the air about him, the man was truly intimidating.

After having recovered, Chaos noticed something sitting near the edge of the lake. He wasn’t sure what it was but he remembered the conversation he had overheard and immediately ran towards it. Not wanting to be left behind, Flash ran right after him. Once the two were close enough they could clearly see it was a briefcase, and true to his impulsive nature, Flash opened it. The two smiled at what they saw. Within the briefcase were various pokéballs.

Flash smirked as he picked one up and began to shout, “Yes! With these we can find the lake pokémon and capture it! I knew it! We’re destined to be famous!” He tossed one of the pokéballs to Chaos as the two got ready to jump into the lake. It was then that there was a rustling in the bushes nearby. The two looked at each other with a bright grin; the legendary pokémon had to be there. The two neared it only to shout as two pokémon jumped out at them. One of them was a small red creature with flames erupting from behind, while the other was small and green and seemed to have a sapling growing from its head.

The two creatures charged at them as they each instinctively threw the pokéballs they were holding. The two creatures turned red as the pokéballs hit them and immediately disappeared. The pokéballs landed on the ground and began to sway back and forth, as if whatever was inside was trying to get out. With a soft click, the balls stopped moving and lay there on the ground. Cautiously, they each picked up the ball they had thrown and looked at each other. They weren’t sure just what had happened, but it seemed they had each captured a pokémon. They were about to go get more when Chaos remembered, these weren’t theirs, they belonged to the old man they had seen earlier.

“Listen Flash, I don’t think we sh-“

“Just what do you think you’re doing!?” Chaos had been cut off by a familiar voice. Chaos spun around and looked right at the girl they had seen earlier. She looked angry.

“Those don’t belong to you! Give them back this instant! I will not tolerate thieves!”

Chaos immediately looked down towards the ground; he knew she was right, they had stolen them so it was only right that they give them back. Chaos was about to hand his over when he heard another voice.

“Dawn, you know as well as I do that we can’t take them back now, they each have a pokémon within them.” Chaos looked up at the old man who walked out from the trees.

“We had brought them here in order to capture a few pokémon for our research, but it seems you two managed to catch some as well. May I see them for a bit?” Chaos and Flash each handed them over and watched as the old man pressed the button on the ball and they both opened. A white light shot out and hit the ground where it took the shape of the two pokémon they had just captured. The man smiled as he looked at them.

“It seems you two managed to catch a chimchar and a turtwig, both relatively reliable pokémon. Tell me, have either of you owned pokémon before?”

Chaos quickly answered, knowing Flash would likely say something stupid, “No sir, this is actually the first time we’ve gotten to use pokéballs.” The old man smiled and pressed the buttons again, this time making a red light shoot out and hit the pokémon whom quickly turned the color of the light and disappeared. He held both balls with a smile.

“Well, you do now!” He tossed both balls at their new owners as they each caught theirs. The two were shocked at how the man just gave them away. Dawn on the other hand seemed furious as she stomped her foot onto the ground.

“Professor Rowan, how can you just give those pokémon to these amateurs? You didn’t even check to see if they were capable of caring for them!”

Rowan closed his eyes as he sighed; it seemed she still had much to learn. “Dawn, in this world there are countless pokémon so learning to live with them in harmony is crucial to everybody that lives in this world. What better way is there to learn this than to own their very own pokémon?”

To this Dawn had no response; she simply looked at the ground completely ashamed of her little outburst. Rowan smiled at the two boys and then began to walk away. Dawn shot a quick glare at the two before she followed him. The two stood there puzzled for a bit before they too decided to leave the lake, each one with their own pokémon. As they headed home, thoughts of what to do with his turtwig raced through Chaos’ head until he stopped and stared at Flash. “I just remembered something important, my mom won’t let me have pokémon…”

 

[Kihote]

Re: A Trainer's Life (tentative title)(2)

Chapter Three: Home ​

The door slowly creaked open as Chaos tried to walk in while making as little noise as possible. It was going to be tough to get to his room without being spotted, but maybe he could do it. He took a few steps forwards when suddenly he heard his mother’s voice, “Chris, is that you? You’re late. Dinner’s already on the table so come here and eat.”

Chaos gulped, he had wanted to get to his room first that way he could prepare things. He felt the small metal orb in his pocket. It had shrunken down when he had squeezed it earlier. Part of him wanted to do some research on how it worked, but he knew he had no time. He continued to walk towards the stairs as he yelled, “Mom, I’m going to go lie down for a bit, I’m really tired.”

“You’re tired because you haven’t eaten yet. Trust me, come eat something, it’s your favorite.”

Chaos sighed as he walked to the dining room, he knew his mother by now, she wouldn’t let him get away without eating. He sat down and stared at the plate, it was lasagna, his favorite, but he just wasn’t hungry. He was much too nervous about how his mother would react should she find out what had happened. He picked up his fork and simply picked at the food, slowly making the shape of the turtwig he had received. “Honey, is something wrong, you look worried…”

Chaos looked up with a shock; she could tell he was worried? “Ugh…no I’m fine, nothing to worry about nothing at all.” He smiled at her the best he could, doing his best to conceal every thought flowing through his head. Crud crud crud crud crud!!! She knows, she probably can tell just by looking at me! This is gonna turn out worse than the time me and Flash egged the neighbor’s house!

She stood up from the table and walked up to him, placing her hand on his forehead. “You don’t have a fever but you’re still turning red…..what did you do?”

His cover was blown and he knew it, but despite this he had to keep trying. “N-Nothing, nothing happened today, all me and Flash did was go to the lake and skip stones.”

It was then that his fatal mistake was made; his eyes instinctively darted to his pocket. His mother was quick to notice as her hand shot into his pocket and her eyes widened as she pulled out what she found. In her hand was the pokéball, she was looking it over with a shocked expression and then looked at Chaos. “Why do you have this? Didn’t I tell you that you were forbidden to have pokémon; you remember what happened to your father don’t you? I don’t want it happening to you either!”

Chaos looked at the floor; it always came back to his father. He had been too young to remember what had happened, and thus it didn’t really change each time she asked. All he knew was that he went off somewhere and was never heard from again. “Mom, it’s just a pokéball, its empty, go ahead and check…”

She proceeded to press the button and let the ball grow to its true size, quickly pressing the button once more, opening it. Once it opened nothing came out, it seemed it really was empty. She seemed confused and made it obvious as she asked, “Why do you want an empty pokéball?”

“Because, I wanted to see how it worked. Can I have it back now?”

His mom stared at it for a bit before handing it over. Chaos smiled and proceeded to eat dinner. Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

---

Chaos lay on his bed reading a comic book. He had finished eating dinner with minimal suspicion from his mother. He couldn’t believe this was actually working. A cold blast of wind blew in through the open window, so he wrapped himself in his blanket. This was the down side of the plan; the cold could easily get in. He couldn’t wait for spring, it was so close, he had dealt with winter and now wanted to enjoy the warm sun. He looked at the time, it was quite late and Flash hadn’t done his part yet, he hoped nothing had gone wrong. As if on cue a small metal object hit his forehead causing him to fall out of bed. He smiled as he picked it up. It was a pokéball. He looked at the window and saw Flash’s chimchar standing on his window sill staring at him. Understanding what was going on, he took out his empty pokéball and tossed it to the little guy. Acting satisfied he jumped out of the window as Chaos made his way over towards it. He looked out and managed to see Flash running away, the plan had worked.

Chaos closed the window as he jumped onto his bed, looking at the pokéball he had received and pressing the button, expanding it to full size. He grinned as he tossed the ball into the center of the room. Upon hitting the floor it opened up and released a bright light before bouncing back into his hand. The light shone for a bit as it took the shape of his turtwig and then faded away. The turtwig looked around the room, unsure of where it was, then suddenly hopped onto the bed. Chaos smiled at it as he touched the sapling on its head, it felt just like a tree, and the shell was like dirt, it was amazing. The turtwig continued to just lie on the bed as Chaos stared at it.

“You need a name don’t you? Let’s see, you have a patch of dirt on your back, and a tree growing out of you to boot, so how does…Terrum sound?”

The turtwig looked up at him as if contemplating its new name, perhaps wondering how it sounded. Suddenly it smiled at the name, “Tur tur twig!”

It seemed quite happy, and Chaos smiled too, “Terrum it is then.” The two goofed off for a while, as Chaos taught Terrum about various things in his room, from the comic books to the television, even the pc. Soon Chaos fell asleep, deciding not to put Terrum back in its ball, instead letting it sleep on the bed comfortably.

---

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”

Chaos awoke to the sound of his mother screaming. He grabbed his glasses and looked around. The sun was up, it was early morning but something was missing…Terrum!!

Chaos ran downstairs just in time to see Terrum standing on top of the table eating the fruit, while his mother neared towards it, broom in hand. She was about to swing when Chaos yelled, “Stop! Don’t hurt Terrum!” He quickly ran in front of her and outstretched his arms, wanting to keep his new friend safe. His mom slowly put down the broom as she stared at him.

“D-did you just call it Terrum?”

“Uhhh…no I jus-“

At that moment he was interrupted as someone knocked on the door. Thinking fast, Chaos ran towards the door and opened it without thinking, shocked at what he saw. A brown haired woman wearing a white apron stood before him holding Flash’s ear in one hand, and a pokéball in the other, it was Flash’s mom. She marched inside and looked at his mother with a stern look on her face, “I see your boy brought a pokémon home with him too…”

His mother slowly lowered the broom as she looked at him, “Christopher, Barry, I think the two of you should explain to us just what’s going on…”


(Author’s notes: Well, looks like I reached my third chapter. When a manga is submitted for serialization, three chapters are submitted and then it is decided if it should be published or not, well here are my three. I want to know if I should continue with it. Go ahead and tell me via post, pm, or hunt me down just to tell me. Secondly, if I do continue, I imagine I’ll be changing the title in the coming week(s) as I try to come up with something that I feel suits the story better. I’m open to suggestions.)

 

[Kihote]

Re: A Trainer's Life (tentative title)(3)

Chapter Four: Apologies and Payment ​

“And that is why me and Flash shouldn’t be blamed for the fact that your cooking is able to bring wild animals into the house.”

The whole group was sitting in the living room, Chaos and Flash on one couch while their mothers were on the other. Chaos had just finished stating why the fact that pokémon were in the house was not their fault, but they didn’t seem the slightest bit convinced. Terrum and Flash’s chimchar, Pyrus, sat at the feet of their respective owners, carefully listening to the conversation. It seemed the two understood what was going on, and Chaos’ mother was the first to break the silence.

“First of all, half of your story didn’t make any sense. Secondly, if that was true then why aren’t there more than two pokémon in the house? Thirdly, if it was MY cooking then why was there a chimchar in Barry’s house? Now for my main point, if they were wild then why did returning them to the pokéballs work?” She then took out the two pokéballs and sent the two pokémon back inside of them, only to quickly send them back out.

Chaos sighed as he thought, he hadn’t considered those points. Maybe if he….drat, nothing was coming to mind, all he could think about was how screwed they were for having gone against them and captured pokémon with stolen pokéballs. He leaned over towards Flash and whispered, “Help me out bud; I’m drawing a blank…”

Flash opened his mouth as he was about to talk when his mother firmly stated, “Tell me the truth or I’m telling your father…”

That was it, she used the trump card. She knew Flash oh too well, and it was quite evident as Flash released all his knowledge at once, “MeandChaoswenttoLakeVeritytotrytocatchalegendarypokémonandbecomefamousbutwhenwegottherewefoundasuitcaseopeneditandfoundpokéballsthatweweregonnausebutthenPyrusandTerrumcameoutofthebushessowepanicedandcaughtthemthensomeoldguywithamoustacheshowedupandsaidwecouldkeepthem…”

Chaos’ mother stared at Flash as he panted from having let all of that out in one breath and then looked over to his mother for a translation, surely she was used to this. “Well, it seems the two boys went to the lake and caught these two using pokéballs they took from Professor Rowan. He then gave them to the two of them.”

She sighed at having heard what happened, and then it hit her. Her son wasn’t planning on setting out like she had feared, but instead had become a thief! She glared at Chaos as she put Terrum back in the pokéball. She placed the pokéball in his hand as she spoke, “Listen carefully, if you don’t want to be grounded, then I want you to go to Sandgem Town and either give this back to the professor or pay for it, your choice, but I will not have a criminal in the house. Sandgem isn't too far away so you should be back by dinner.”

She was smiling as she grabbed her son’s hand and pushed him towards the door, it seemed he didn't have a choice. Soon the process repeated itself between Flash and his own mother. Before they knew it, the door was shut behind them as they stood outside.

Chaos stood there for a minute as a cold wind blew by. He immediately turned around and began to knock on the door in order to get his coat, but it seemed his mother was ahead of him as his coat fell onto him from the second floor. He looked up in time to see his window slam shut and then sighed, “Looks like we have no choice about this Flash…”

Flash stood there grinning as he held his pokéball, “You know Chaos, this is almost like an adventure, why don’t we race?”

“I don’t think-“

“Ready?”

“that’s such a-“

“Set!”

“good ide-“

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” And with that, Flash was gone. It seemed Chaos would have to go after him as he did his best to keep up; too bad these stupid shoes made him slip each time he tried to run…

---

Chaos stood before a large building. He read the sign for the tenth time, ‘Pokémon Research Center’. He had to be here. He was about to knock on the door when it burst open. Flash came running out smile on his face, “You know what, that was pretty easy. I’ll see ya around bud, I have to head home to prepare!” Before Chaos could say a word he was gone, leaving him lying on the ground when he heard a familiar voice.

“Well, he finally shows. Hurry up would you?”

Chaos looked through the open door and saw Rowan standing next to an upset Dawn. She stood there tapping her foot as if she had been waiting for him to arrive. “Your friend said you’d be coming in soon when he arrived so we waited, and now that we finished our little arrangement you show up? Talk about being slow…”

Rowan gave a quick glare at Dawn, and then walked up to Chaos, “Your friend said you were given a choice, to return your turtwig or pay for him? Which do you pick?”

Chaos jumped to his feet and looked Rowan right in the eyes and he declared, “I have no money, so I will do whatever you need me to do in order to pay off my debt. There is no way I will give up Terrum!”

Rowan smiled at his response, “Just like your friend then. So if you wish to pay off said debt, I guess I can offer you a post as one of my assistants.”

Chaos stood there in amazement, a chance to work with a professor and learn more about pokémon? This was too good to be true! “I-I would love-“

“That’s enough! There is no way I will let this guy just come out of nowhere and become an assistant! It was bad enough when his friend got accepted, but at least he had the common sense to not keep us waiting!”

“Dawn, that’s en-“

“Rowan, I respect you like a father, but I don’t know what you see in this fool, I’ll show you, he’s nothing special!” She pulled out a pokéball and held it out towards Chaos as she declared, “I CHALLENGE YOU TO A BATTLE!!!”

(author’s notes: Well, as soon as one of my friends saw the previous chapter he told me he wanted to keep reading so I shall continue. I now also know how I want the story to go and came up with the new official title, I hope anybody reading enjoys reading on because I enjoy writing these ^^)

 

[Legacy]

Re: Chaos Theory (former title A Trainer's Life)(4)

Really good start. I enjoy Chaos' characterization and the level of description you use in your writing. One suggestion I'd make though is to be careful about huge blocks of text. Whenever a new person speaks (quote), it's good to start a new paragraph to avoid confusion. Also the big blocks of text is hard on readers' eyes, so maybe break that up a bit, but other than that, this was enjoyable to read

Keep up the good work.

 

[Kihote]

Re: Chaos Theory (former title A Trainer's Life)(4)

Chapter Five: Worth ​

Chaos stared at Dawn for a second trying to register what she just said. That was when Rowan looked at him worriedly, “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, we can step inside and I’ll explain what your duty will be.”

Chaos just stood there, hands clenched and shaking as he suddenly looked up with a grin, “You want to battle? I was wondering when me and Terrum would finally get to show our strength. Of course I accept!” Chaos quickly pulled out Terrum’s pokéball and continued to grin. He took a few steps back as he tried to make room for the battle. Giving a malevolent smirk Dawn stepped back as well. Once she was far enough she threw her pokéball at the ground and watched as the white energy took the shape of a pokémon and dissipated. Before them stood a small blue creature with a beak, it had a few white spots and stared right at Chaos, as if waiting for something. Realizing what it was waiting for, Chaos threw the pokéball, releasing Terrum, but failed to catch the ball as it bounced back, instead running after it for a bit. This did nothing but bring joy to Dawn’s face, it seemed she was expecting an easy victory.

Once Chaos was back with the pokéball he grinned as Dawn gave the first order, staring the match, “Poseidon use pound!!” The little creature quickly charged at Terrum, not even giving him a moment to react before slamming him down onto the ground with its wing. It continued to smack Terrum until Chaos suddenly got an idea, “HYDROCANNON TERRUM!!!” That strange order caused Poseidon and Dawn to both stare at him in confusion, but somehow understanding Terrum focused and tried to release a gush of water, only managing to spit out some saliva. Disgusted at this Poseidon quickly jumped back in order to avoid touching the drooling Turtwig.

“You idiot, do you have no idea what attacks your pokémon can do?!”

“Ummm…yeah I know what I’m doing, and my plan is working!!” Chaos was lying, he had no idea what attacks Terrum could do, all he could do was hope that he quickly guessed one that worked, he needed to think fast. He remembered watching various battles on television, and reading a lot of comic books, maybe he could use some of the moves he had seen. He thought back as hard as he could when his thoughts were pierced by Dawn’s next command, “If you don’t want to get near it then use bubble!”

Poseidon quickly opened up its mouth as various bubbles flew out of its mouth and surrounded Terrum. For a second Terrum simply marveled at them, until one of them hit him and he seemed to be hurt by it. Suddenly it looked around for a way to avoid the bubbles, only to be hit by more of them. He grimaced as more and more of them hit him. Chaos grit his teeth as he thought about what the strongest moves he had heard about were and then dramatically pointed forwards and yelled, “HYPERBEAM!!” Terrum’s eyes quickly opened as he focused all of the energy he had into his mouth. He opened it up and a small yellow orb of light could be seen. It suddenly began to shake violently as a small beam was shot out of his mouth. Both Poseidon and Dawn quickly flinched fearing what an attack like that could do from such a small range, though they had no reason to fear as the beam quickly dissipated before traveling an inch.

Dawn was angry now, it was evident in the way she stomped her foot into the ground. She had been humiliated just now, it was obvious a newly captured Turtwig would be unable to successfully unleash a hyperbeam but she had still flinched. She grit her teeth as she spoke, “Poseidon, let’s finish this, peck!”

Poseidon stood there, focusing as its beak suddenly turned a bright white, quickly blasting forwards. Terrum simply stood there though, unable to move. He was exhausted from the last attack, his body wouldn’t react. He shut his eyes as the blows quickly came. One right after the other, the powerful beak kept striking him.

“You’d better give up now, grass types are heavily damaged by flying type attacks. I doubt he can last much longer.”

Chaos simply closed his eyes, he had been guessing moves and nothing seemed to work. Either Terrum just wasn’t suited for that move or he wasn’t strong enough. If only there was a way to figure out just which moves Terrum could use. Terrum, he had inspected him earlier. He had a sapling growing on his head, walked on all four legs and had a shell which felt as if it was made of….dirt! There had to be a way for that dirt to be placed there, meaning that Terrum could…

“TERRUM USE DIG!!!”

Terrum opened his eyes quickly, recognizing this command completely. Finally something he could do. As the blows kept coming, Terrum used his front legs to dig into the earth. He dug down fast enough to manage to avoid the blows while causing Poseidon to fall over from the loss of his target. Suddenly the ground beneath Poseidon’s feet began to crumble, Terrum had dug beneath him weakening the ground causing him to fall into the tunnel. Not even giving him a chance to recover Chaos called out another command.

“RAZOR LEAF NOW!!!”

Leaves could be seen flying out of the tunnel at times, though the rest of the action went on unseen by the two trainers. Chaos smirked at having realized two of Terrum’s possible attacks, both of which were coming of great. Dawn on the other hand was furious. She was losing to a kid who didn’t even know the first thing about pokémon, she refused to lose so easily.

“That’s it, Poseidon, use bubble beam!”

Suddenly a loud ruckus could be heard underground as the attacks met. It seemed the battle could go either way to Chaos but Dawn suddenly had a smug grin on her face, as if she knew something he didn’t. Suddenly a figure seemed to be shot out from the hole, and Chaos frowned. The things propelling it were bubbles. Acting quickly Chaos ran forwards and managed to catch Terrum. He seemed injured, too injured to keep going. He looked at Dawn with a frown as he reluctantly said, “You win, Terrum can’t fight anymore.”

Dawn smiled as she walked up to the hole and helped Poseidon back out, quickly returning him to his pokéball. She was amazingly happy now, though who could blame her. She had won and now figured the professor would refuse to let Chaos become an assistant after having given such a crude performance. Chaos seemed to be sharing the same thoughts as he began to walk back towards Littleroot.

“Where are you going? I haven’t given you your assignment yet!”

Chaos turned as he looked at Rowan. The man was smiling, and talking to him about assignments, did that mean?

“What do you mean? He lost! He also did so many stupid mistakes! How can you let him become a trainer?”

Ignoring her, Rowan walked towards Chaos and asked, “Tell me, was that your first battle?” Chaos simply nodded.

“The start was a bit shaky, but I think it’s because of your lack of prior experience, but towards the end, you showed you had some strategy and ability. You proved to me your worth, and I think you would make an excellent assistant!”

Chaos smiled as he began to laugh, he would get to work alongside various types of pokémon now! It would be so awesome. He was completely delighted, and Dawn did nothing but stand there, digging her foot into the ground in frustration.

(author's note: Thanks for the review Legacy, I'll be sure to work on my formatting, its actually one of the tougher things for me to do since I'm not really good at making things look good XD)

 

[Kihote]

Re: Chaos Theory (former title A Trainer's Life)(5)

Chapter Six: Objectives and Good Bye ​

….Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock….

Chaos was watching the pendulum swing back and forth. He was sitting at a large table, Dawn sitting across from him. He was doing his best to avoid looking at her; she had been glaring at him since the battle. Chaos continued to fidget as he took a closer look at the room. There were various photographs hung around the room, each one showing a young man with various different pokémon, maybe it was Rowan’s son. He stared up at the ceiling as he let out a sigh, Rowan had told him to wait here while he went to go get something, he just wasn’t sure what it was.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, I thought I had misplaced it…”

Rowan walked in and slowly shut the door behind him. He walked up to the table and sat next to Dawn; great now he couldn’t completely avoid seeing her glare. Rowan placed a small metal rectangle in front of him and smiled.

“This is to be your assignment as my assistant. As you know, there are hundreds of different kinds of pokémon that live in just Sinnoh, let alone the whole world. We professors strive to obtain information on them and find ways so that we may implement said information to better our relations. That is where that machine comes in, it is called a pokédex. This machine is a comprehensive encyclopedia on pokémon, go ahead and give it a try.”

Chaos picked up the metal contraption and marveled at it, it was so small, to think it had information on every pokémon. After holding it for a bit he realized that it could be unfolded and proceeded to do so. Once it was open he noticed a screen and a small keyboard. He pressed the button clearly labeled ‘power’ and watched as a pokéball appeared on screen. Once the pokéball faded away a long list of numbers were put up on the screen. Each number had a name next to it. Quickly recognizing the name ‘Turtwig’ he selected it and frowned at what he saw, an error message stating the information was unavailable. He quickly looked up at Rowan and noticed that he was chuckling.

“It appears you figured out its empty. Well you see, this is where I need your help, I need you to input the information on each pokémon; type, habitat, behaviors, size, everything you can. The pokédex has a built in camera so that you may also add pictures, and there is also an extendable cable which allows you to connect to computers in case you need to. Barry and Dawn each have a blank one as well, and I’m sure that between the three of you this mission will be completed quite quickly.”

Chaos scrolled through the long list of pokémon, there were so many, was it possible to get all of the information? How would he get the information on some of these, just by the name it was obvious that they would not be found around here, after all what were the odds that a creature named Abomasnow lived nearby?

“H-how are we gonna get the information on some of these?”

“You go out and study then stupid, what do you think if we already had all of this information written down we’d ignore it and go on pointless trips?”

Chaos let himself sink slowly in his seat, Dawn was right, it had been a stupid question to ask, but if he had to travel, would his mother allow it? It was true that he had heard of prodigal trainers whom left home at a much earlier age than him quickly made names for themselves;, but he was different. He wasn’t as knowledgeable on pokémon as they were; he wasn’t strong like they were. Rowan was quick to pick up on his concern.

“Dawn is unfortunately right, we do have some information written down from prior expeditions but that information is now considered out of date. A few decades ago some youths set out and completed their pokédexes but times have changed. Many species have moved around, and others have developed strange new habits, which is why we must set out to update. If you would like I could leave you to research the pokémon around this area while I set out in your stead?”

Chaos thought about it, if he wanted he could stay here and study the pokémon here while staying close to home, there was no way his mother would deny him that privilege. He was about to accept the proposal when a thought occurred to him, Rowan hadn’t been planning to set out and travel with them, why? He also mentioned that decades ago it had been youths that had traveled to fill their pokédexes. He quickly glimpsed at all of the pictures and came to a realization.

“Those pictures, are those of you?”

Rowan seemed a bit confused as to what this had to do with the subject but simply nodded, “They were from when I set out and filled my pokédex-”

Chaos immediately stood up and picked up the pokédex he had been given. He looked Rowan in the eye as he stated, “I’ll do it.”

Rowan immediately lit up at the young boy’s acceptance, “Excellent! Now I need you to head on home and pack. Bring only the necessities, the journey will be on foot in order to allow encounters with various pokémon. Ah! About that, you should take Terrum along; he’ll come in handy in case you run into trouble…”

Rowan continued to explain just what the journey would entail and gave him pointers as to what to pack and within half an hour he had finished briefing Chaos. Chaos thanked Rowan for the opportunity and headed out, looking at one of the pictures as he went. The one he had looked at was one of Rowan standing next to a large serpent which seemed to be made out of stone, but what truly caught his attention was his leg, it was different than in the other pictures, it had a brace around it…
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“Oh you’re home early, dinner isn’t even ready yet! So how’d it go, are you going to keep that pokémon or not?”

Chaos had just gotten home, and it was still fairly early in the evening. He simply smiled and nodded at his mother, quickly walking up to his room. She simply shrugged it off and figured he was just planning to go play with Terrum in his room, or count how much money he still had after having paid for Terrum. Upstairs in his room Chaos was doing something similar; he was placing all of his money in his wallet. He didn’t have much, barely enough for a cheese burger, but it would have to do. Perhaps he’d do odd jobs along the way just to afford food, or perhaps he’d simply eat some wild berries, he wasn’t sure. He quickly began to search through his closet, he’d need a change of clothes, not much but just in case one ripped. He quickly shoved it into his backpack and continued to search around for things. He proceeded to toss various other items into the bag and quickly finished up. He picked up his bag and was about to try and climb down the window when he realized he had forgotten something. He ran up to his desk and picked up a small picture. There was his mother holding a baby standing next to a man. The man had short black hair and gave a confident grin. Chaos folded the picture and put it in his pocket when he heard his mother’s voice.

“Honey, could you come down here for a minute?”

Chaos sighed, maybe she had found out about what he was planning to do. No, if she had she would have called him by his first name. He ran down stairs and stopped when he saw what his mother had. It was a box covered in wrapping paper.

“I know how hard its been for you to keep up with Barry lately so I talked to his mom about it and she recommended I get you these.” She then handed the box over to Chaos, whom quickly shredded the wrapping paper revealing a shoebox. It was a black box with one word written in bright red font across the side, ‘Dasher’s’. He recognized the brand immediately; they specialized in making running shoes. He opened up the box and smiled at his new black sneakers, they seemed to have small spikes underneath; that would really help him avoid slipping on the snow, heck they could probably let him run in virtually any environment. He was about to try them on when his mother noticed his bag.

“W-Why do you have your bag on? Are you going somewhere?” Her voice was trembling, as if she was afraid of something. Chaos suddenly realized that he had forgotten to take off the bag. It was too late now, he knew he couldn’t get away with lying two days in a row, he’d have to come clean.

“Y-yeah, Rowan asked if I could travel Sinnoh for him and research pokémon…”

“No! I absolutely forbid it!” She stomped her foot, making it quite clear just how firm her decision was.

“Why won’t you let me?! I’ll have Terrum with me so I’ll be fine! Besides, there are countless kids younger than me who travel Sinnoh on their own!”

“You’re not like them! Maybe it was a mistake to let you keep that Turtwig….Give him to me!” Chaos quickly stepped back, there was no way he could let her get rid of him. They had already battled together, and during the battle he had seen the trust Terrum had for him.

“No, I can’t let you take him away! Why don’t you want me to go?! You wouldn’t let me have pokémon and now you won’t let me travel?!”

“I just don’t want you to end up like your father!” Chaos flinched at those words. He knew he had no real way to counter that, and besides, he could clearly see the tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

“M-mom, I promise, I won’t disappear like he did. I’ll be sure to come back home…” Chaos slowly walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder. Suddenly she began to hug him as the tears began to flow.

“Y-you’re going to go whether I tell you can or not won’t you? Y-you’re going to leave me like your father did..” She was holding him tightly, not wanting to lose her only child, after having lost her husband she didn’t know what she would do. Chaos simply hugged her as he talked.

“Yes, I would go, but I already told you, I’ll be sure to come back, there is no way I’d let myself fall off the face of the earth.” His mother looked at him and smiled.

“Y-you look so much like him. D-did you know that he was your age when he first set out on his journey? F-fine, you can go, but be sure to call me each time you reach a new town, I want to make sure nothing happened to you.”

Chaos simply smiled at that, “Sure, I promise.”

A loud knocking at the door broke up the silence as Chaos quickly rushed to open the door, meeting Barry’s mother for the second time that day, only this time she was crying.

“B-Barry, is he here?”

“N-no, did something happen?” At that she immediately began to bawl out.

“H-he ran away from home!” Chaos simply stood there staring at her unsure as to what to say, he was certain Flash would have said something to her.

“I-I told him he was too young to go out on a journey so he shouted that he’d be just like his father and burst out running, I’ve been looking everywhere for him. I thought he’d be here, but I guess he really did leave…”

“It’s okay, I’m sure Christopher can find him, after all, I’m sure they’re headed the same way.”

Chaos turned around and saw his mother standing behind him, she had already wiped the tears from her eyes and stood there like the confident woman she was.
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Chaos stood outside his home, he was ready to go now. Barry’s mother had given him a package she wanted her son to have, so he had offered to deliver it. He was certain he would catch up to him; after all, he had his new sneakers. He looked at his mother one more time.

“See ya later.”

“Yeah…good bye…” Chaos frowned at this. He hated the words good bye.

“Mom, this isn’t good bye, just a see ya later, after all, I’ll see you again when I get on the video phone in the next town I reach past Sandgem.” His smile was so bright and comforting; it was obvious he was planning to keep his promise. He then began to walk away; ready to face whatever trials awaited him on his journey. He’d make it back home, he had to; he didn’t want her to feel abandoned again.

 

[Kihote]

Re: Chaos Theory (former title A Trainer's Life)(6)

Chapter Seven: Stars ​

Chaos stood at the beginning of Route 202. He was panting, he had used his new shoes to run this far and had realized in just how a poor shape he was in. He had already talked to Rowan about where he was to head next and had received a few pokéballs from him and learned that he was already behind. Dawn had left immediately, having already had her things packed, and Flash was quick to follow. Chaos looked at the rising moon, it was already dark out. He wanted nothing more than to just lie down and sleep, but he was already too far behind, according to Rowan the others should have arrived at Jubilife City by now. He took a deep breath as he quickly began to run once more. He didn’t know how far the city was, having never gone there before, but he simply had to hope he’d get there soon, hopefully before it got too late.

He ran on the path, carefully looking at the bushes and trees as they rustled. He could feel a soft breeze blowing and attributed their motion to the wind. The gravel path was slick at times and seemed difficult to run on, at least it would have been had he not been wearing his new sneakers. These things were wonderful; they gripped the ground firmly and prevented him from falling. He could hear various sounds emanating from the area around him, a musical chime; no doubt produced by the pokémon of the area. He began to hum along to the rhythm of the song the pokémon seemed to be playing, it was a cool night. There didn’t seem to be as much snow as there had been back home, perhaps it had finally begun to melt. Suddenly something he would have never expected to happen occurred; he tripped on his own foot.

As he fell, he quickly used his arms to protect his face as he slid across the gravel path. He groaned once his body came to a stop as he looked at his arms, they were covered in small bruises, nothing serious. That was when he felt something hop onto his back. He slowly turned his head in an attempt to see what it was and was greeted by Terrum’s smiling face. It seemed when had fallen, Terrum’s ball opened up. He gave a slight chuckle as he sat up, causing Terrum to slip onto the ground.

“I guess even Dasher’s can’t stop you from falling if you trip yourself.”

He continued to laugh as he looked around. Some of his things were on the ground; it seemed his bag had opened up from the fall. He quickly got to work picking up his belongings, making sure they were all in the bag when he heard the sound of flapping wings. He turned around in time to witness various pokémon flying through the sky. They were all small with black feathers, with white underbellies. It was a fascinating sight, he knew they were starlys, they were quite common but he had never really noticed just how majestically they flew. That was when he remembered why he was on this journey. Quickly pulling out his pokédex and opening it. Without hesitation he pressed the blue button on the side the professor had told him about. Immediately an image of the starlys appeared on the screen. He quickly pressed the button once more, taking a picture of the birds as they flew away into the moonlight.

Chaos stood there staring at the moon and the stars, he had never been out side when it was this late before. There were countless stars up in the sky, they were all so beautiful. It was then when he heard a gurgling sound. He looked around trying to find the source when he heard it once more. This time he was able to find the location as he looked at Terrum with a grin. It seemed the little guy was hungry. Immediately, his own stomach began to growl; it seemed leaving before dinner hadn’t been such a bright idea. He looked around and noticed a large tree by the path and motioned for Terrum to follow him towards it. Once reaching it he sat down and placed Terrum on his lap.

“Well buddy, looks like its dinner time.”

He had such a bright grin on his face as he searched through his bag. After a minute of searching he found what he had been looking for, a few berries and a sandwich. He placed the berries near Terrum and then removed the plastic wrap from his sandwich; he was ready to eat now. He watched Terrum sniff the berries only to grimace at them. He then looked up at Chaos as he ate his sandwich. Terrum quickly jumped up and grabbed the sandwich using his mouth and ran a small distance with it. He then sat down and began to eat his master’s snack with a grin on his face, leaving Chaos with a shocked expression as he picked up the berries.

Chaos sighed as he looked at the blue berries; it seemed they would be his dinner now. He tossed one into his mouth and chewed it. It had a decent taste; he didn’t understand why Terrum didn’t like them. He swallowed and was about to go for a second one when he saw a flash coming from a nearby bush. Moving quickly he stood up, but to no avail as the light hit him, sending a shock trough his body. He could feel his body go numb for a second before the effects quickly wore off, but not before a small blue creature charged towards him, knocking him onto the ground.

As he began to regain control over his muscles he jumped up, ready to fight back against whatever it was, only to see the pokémon eat the berries he had been holding instead of attacking again. Chaos began to carefully approach it when it quickly turned around and let out a soft growl. Sparks began to come off of it when Chaos stopped moving. He stared at it for a second when he heard a faint growl, only it didn’t come from the pokémon’s mouth, but from its stomach. Chaos let out a slight chuckle, the poor thing must have been starving and attacked for the food.

He looked at the ground and noticed a few berries near him, so he slowly picked them up. He extended his hand as he moved closer, only to stop once it began to growl at him once again. Chaos simply gulped and took another step forward. As soon as his foot touched the ground the pokémon charged towards him, letting loose a spectacle of sparks flying in every direction. Chaos quickly dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding the hit. As he got up he looked over to Terrum who continued to sit complacent with Chaos’ sandwich.

“Aren’t you going to help!?”

Terrum simply shook his head as he motioned over towards where the pokémon had gone. Thinking this meant something bad, Chaos quickly spun around, ready to fight against the little critter when he noticed that it was lying on the ground. He quickly ran up to it as he examined it closely, it wasn’t moving, and all he could hear was the sound of its stomach growling. Looking closely, he noticed how thin it was, it was probably starving, which would explain the hostility towards him when he neared it. Chaos quickly grabbed more of the berries and held them up to the pokémon’s mouth.

“Here, I know you’re hungry, eat up.”

He had such an innocent smile on his face that the pokémon lost any suspicions it may have had about the food, either that or it was the fact that he was starving which caused him to want to eat. It didn’t matter which reason it was, the pokémon began to eat some of the berries. At first it slowly ate, bite by bite, but quickly seemed to regain some of its strength and began to devour the remaining berries. Once it was done it let out a content sigh as it stared at Chaos. Chaos simply smiled at it as he stood up, remembering how late it was. He looked at Terrum who had just finished the sandwich and motioned towards the path as he put on his backpack, it was time to go. He began to walk down the path when the blue pokémon followed behind him. Quickly noticing Chaos turned his pockets inside out as he shrugged.

“I don’t have any more food, go on; get out of here.”

As he and Terrum walked away, Chaos noticed that it kept following him. He suddenly got an idea as he pulled out a pokéball. Without hesitation he tossed it at the pokémon, hitting it on the head. The ball quickly opened up as the pokémon turned into a white light and flew into the ball. The ball landed on the ground and shook for a few moments, only to stop moving and lay on the ground. Chaos walked up to it as he picked it up and pressed the button, letting the little guy out.

“Listen up, I just captured you so you are now part of my team, understood? Now if you’re going to hang out with us you’ll need a nickname. Mine is Chaos, that there is Terrum, and you’ll be…”

He inspected the newly captured pokémon carefully, noticing anything he could. He had a blue body, though it turned black towards his hind legs and tail. His ears were blue, but the inner sides were yellow and shaped like a star. There was also a yellow star on his tail. Chaos thought for a bit as he looked up at the stars hoping for inspiration when he lit up.

“How about….Cosmic?”

Cosmic seemed to smile at that as he let out a few small sparks of electricity. Chaos returned that with his own smile as he began to walk.

“If you want any information, feel free to ask Terrum, I’m sure he can explain anything better than me.”

He watched as Cosmic ran up to Terrum and began to chat with him. All he could understand was shinx shinx shinx, shinx shinx, sh sh, inx, it then hit him, that was probably the pokémon’s species. He remembered Rowan telling him that most pokémon species were named after the sounds that they made. Quickly opening his pokédex, he began to type as fast as he could. He was entering the information he had learned about Cosmic and entered it under the Shinx category. He was enjoying his first day out on his adventure, he had already made a new friend. Suddenly he heard a rustling in the nearby bushes. He turned around to investigate, but before he could finish turning he felt a sharp pain in his side as he fell over onto the ground.

He looked up at what had caused it and was greeted by a group of small red pokémon. They all seemed to have what looked like a white collar, as if they were wearing a red and white suit. They each had large black antenna, but he was sure they hadn’t caused him to fall over. He felt his side as he felt a pain in it, it wasn’t bleeding, but it wasn’t broken, probably just a bruise. He stood up and noticed that Cosmic seemed to be hiding behind him. It was as if he knew who, or what, these were. Suddenly he noticed a thin red object extending out from the bushes. He quickly tried to catch it but to no avail as he was sent to the ground once more. His hands stung with the pain of the blow as he saw a tall red figure extend out from the bushes. It had red antenna and what looked like a black moustache, but what caught his eyes was the malignant expression it had on its face. It quickly charged forwards without hesitation, with Chaos barely avoiding the attack. The gravel was sent flying through the air, giving him a few cuts as it flew by. Chaos looked at it as it looked at them once more and was about to order Terrum to attack, only to notice that Terrum was now injured. The small red bugs had attacked him as well. There were too many for them to take out, and Cosmic seemed to know it.

“Crud, we can’t do anything can we….Guys, let’s get out of here! Terrum, razor leaf!!”

Terrum quickly launched leafs at the foes which quickly jumped into the bushes to avoid them. Running as fast as he could, Chaos went down the path with Cosmic and Terrum following close behind. As they ran they continued to hear strange musical noises from behind, they were catching up. They ran and ran until they began to see bright lights in the distance, they were nearing the city. Chaos smiled as he saw it, despite the pain he now felt in his side. He looked at his pokémon and noticed that they too were exhausted and didn’t seem to be able to run anymore. Upon looking back he noticed just how close the bugs had gotten, seeing the large one extending its red arm once again, aiming towards Cosmic. Without even thinking, Chaos dove towards Cosmic, taking him in his hands as the arm struck his back. He felt the sharp pain spread throughout his body as he hit the ground. He looked at the bugs which now stood ready to finish off their prey. He was about to close his eyes when he saw blue spheres strike them. As the bubbles continued to strike them, they were forced to retreat back into the trees. Chaos sighed as he realized that they had been saved, but by whom? He received his answer as he heard that oh too familiar voice.

“I come out to search for you and find out you were held back by a couple of weak bugs? Maybe Rowan was wrong about you…”

 

[Kihote]

Re: Chaos Theory (former title A Trainer's Life)(7)

Chapter Eight: Jubilife ​

Chaos stared at Dawn as she stood confidently with Poseidon by her side, the blue bird imitating his trainer. Chaos slowly began to stand up, relieved to have been rescued at the last moment when Dawn shouted at him.

“Stay down! It’s not over yet…”

Dawn stood there glaring at the bushes when suddenly the large insect shot out moving as fast as it could, striking Poseidon with its thin arm. The blow sent him flying into a nearby tree, but Dawn stood there unfazed despite it being right next to her.

“Bubblebeam.”

Poseidon quickly fired a stream of bubbles which hit the ground in front of the pokémon causing dust to fly up into the air. Suddenly the large insect fell out from the dust, landing on its back. Chaos was confused, he hadn’t seen Poseidon enter the cloud, in fact; he could clearly see him. Did it mean that Dawn had another pokémon? He received his answer when the dust had cleared and Dawn continued to stand alone staring at the bug.

“Kricketune, the evolved form of kicketot, a bug type and thus at an advantage against water types, Poseidon, stay back.”

As she stood there the kricketune charged forwards once more, raising its arm to strike at Dawn this time. As the arm swung, Dawn nimbly jumped out of the way. The kricketune did not like this, as it clearly got angry and swung faster and faster, trying to hit the girl. Dawn kept dodging though, and her eyes continued to glare at the pokémon. Her eyes had no fear in them, she wasn’t even blinking as the attacks came her way.

“When fighting, you must use both mind and body, and if either is weak then the whole is weak.” Dawn glared straight into the kricketune’s eyes as she said this, “You have a strong body, but a weak mind, therefore, you are…” Dawn quickly raised her leg as she blocked the incoming blow with the bottom of her foot. The kricketune was shocked to see its blow stopped, Dawn on the other hand continued to glare at it, “…weak. Poseidon, finish it.”

Poseidon quickly complied as his beak began to glow and then extend. He quickly jumped up and unleashed a rapid succession of blows to its foe, causing it to scream out in pain. Dawn slowly lowered her foot and then walked towards Chaos while the kricketune fell to the ground, it was defeated, something Chaos would never have thought possible. She stopped walking once she reached him and looked down on him, in more than one way.

“Stand up, me and your friend managed to get a place to spend the night, unless you wanna sleep out here where his little friends could come out at any time..”

Chaos quickly pushed himself up off of the ground as he looked over to Terrum and Cosmic who had lied down near him. He quickly returned them to their respective pokéballs and placed them in his pocket. He noticed that Dawn was already walking towards the city and ran after her. After a few minutes of silently traveling side by side, they made it into Jubilife City and he opened his mouth as he took in the many lights of the bustling metropolis.

There were giant skyscrapers reaching up to the stars with their individual lights lighting up the night, as if competing with the very stars they attempted to reach. Neon lights flashed on and off, each one stealing away his attention with their message, trying to get him to spend his very little cash at their store. The street lights lit the path on the street to follow and he heard the soft hum of motorcycles in the distance. He continued to look in every direction, though Dawn walked next to him, staring at him intently.

“Have you never been in Jubilife?” Chaos suddenly stopped as he slowly scratched the back of his head.

“Um…No, not really. The farthest I’ve ever gone is Sandgem since I’ve never had reason to…”

“Figures, no wonder you’re so clueless. You know its not too late to go crying back to your home right?” Chaos flinched at that, she had given him a bad attitude since she met him.

“What’s your problem? What have I ever done to you!?”

“Y-you don’t know! I spend years dreaming of the day Rowan would choose me for this project, and then guess what happens? A couple of brats who know next to nothing about pokémon come out of the blue and get chosen even after they steal some of our supplies! At least your friend has the common sense to work hard on the project while you have shown up late to the departure, got lost on a straight path and had to be rescued! You’re nothing more than a liability to this assignment; I’ll be surprised if you manage to contribute anything worthwhile!”

The words stung, Chaos simply stood there staring at her. A small crowd had already begun to form around them, trying to understand what the commotion was all about. He could feel his face turning red, but he wasn’t about to just stand around and get insulted.

“The only reason I was late was because my stupid shoes would slip on the ice! Besides, Rowan already forgave us for stealing the pokéballs, that’s why we’re here, to repay him! He asked me to do this saying I had plenty of ability!”

“Ability, what ability?! I didn’t see any of that ability in our battle, you didn’t stand a chance! Where was this ability back on 202? Did your ability involve running for your life?! I was the one that took down the kricketune, unless you forgot already!”

Chaos was speechless; he had no way to counter what she had just said. He tried his best to come up with an explanation, or a comeback, but nothing came. He then felt somebody grabbing his shoulder.

“Now then, are you two finished? If you wish to argue then do it elsewhere so you don’t cause a scene.”

Chaos turned around and spotted a black haired man. He wore a large brown overcoat which reached down to his knees. It was buttoned up, and had the collar standing up, probably due to the cold. Chaos stood back and looked around noticing how large the crowd had gotten, they really were causing a scene. The people, seeing that everything was calming down began to scatter once more as they went back to their routines. Once the area was relatively clear the man looked at Chaos for a moment but then quickly looked at Dawn.

“So, I heard you two mention Rowan, am I right to assume you are doing research for him?”

“Yes, we are to travel Sinnoh and update the information on pokémon species by filling up our respective pokédexes.” Dawn spoke in a calm and professional manner; it seemed she had finally calmed down.

“Interesting, so you would probably run into various people correct? Well then, I have something I would like to give you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cartridge. He handed it over to Dawn as he continued to explain.

“It is a program which can be installed into a pokétch. What it does is record videos and it does it in a curious manner. It starts recording automatically when a pokémon is released from its pokéball within a certain range; it can also be manually activated though.”

As he spoke Dawn pulled up the sleeve to her red coat and revealed a strange watch which had two buttons on the side. She placed the cartridge into a slot near the top and pressed the watch’s screen. After a few seconds she removed it and tossed it over to Chaos, whom barely caught it. He quickly began to blush as Dawn stared at him completely dumbfounded.

“Y-you don’t have a pokétch? Just how out of the loop are you?!” Chaos simply tossed the cartridge back to her as he tried to avoid eye contact; he had already caused enough trouble for the day.

“Lately there have been an increasing number of people using pokémon to aid in committing crimes, and if you run into any trouble be sure to record what happens. Make sure you take the recording to a nearby police station and show it to them. Oh, and one more thing, be careful with the recording, the program can only hold one video and it will override any old data if you begin to record again.” With that the man shot a quick smile at Chaos before walking away. Chaos sighed as he realized the man was trying to make him feel better with that last smile, who could blame him; he was nothing more than a mess.

“So, are you coming or what? I have to show you where we’re spending the night…” Dawn simply walked away, with Chaos following around a good five feet behind. He simply continued to stare at the ground, quite discouraged after having been through all that, he wasn’t just behind technologically, but as Dawn had clearly stated during their argument, he just didn’t have much ability. He doubted Rowan for having seen some potential in him. He continued to walk as he thought about whether to turn back or not, until he bumped into Dawn whom had stopped walking.

“Welcome to the Trainer School, the owners were kind enough to let us use the special guest room for the night.”

Chaos simply stared at the small building which paled in comparison to the massive towers that stood around it. Unlike the others, this two-story building was constructed out of wood and seemed to require a new coat of paint. The words ‘Trainer School’ could barely be read beneath the layers of moss which covered the sign above the double doors. Dawn simply walked up to the doors and pulled them open and walked inside before Chaos could go in. He grabbed the doors and began to pull, but the doors were too heavy for him. He grit his teeth as he tried to pull once more, this time using all of his strength. The doors swung open quite easily this time, as he managed to see Dawn jumping back from the doors, great it seemed she had been holding them, but what caught his attention was not her mischievous smirk, or how the force from pulling the doors open nearly caused him to fall back, but the interior of the school. It looked nothing like he had expected.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

Re: Chaos Theory (former title A Trainer's Life)(7)

IMO there's nothing wrong with novelizing the game story. Especially since with the different Pokémon and the different ways writers can interpret or elaborate on elements of the game that don't lend themselves to being paid much attention to, especially in terms of characterization, even if a lot of people write their versions of the RPG's story, there's a lot of unique ideas to be had.

I read the first three chapters, and while the writing itself is very good, I'd like to repeat Legacy's suggesting about the way you format the paragraphs and quotations. The large blocks of text in the first chapter alone has the potential to scare off a lot of readers from even giving your story a chance.

Also, though its not a big deal, I notice you have the word "pokémon" as an improper noun (which I know is a stylistic choice many writers take when writing fics) while the names of Pokémon species are treated as proper nouns, which seems to be regardless of whether its referring to a species in general, or if its referring to an individual of a certain species that happens to be called by the name of that species, as is typical in the Pokémon universe.

I'll read the rest later, like the characters and choices for characterization so far.

 

[Kihote]

Re: Chaos Theory (8)

Thanks for the review, I keep forgetting to go back and fix the paragraph thing in the chapters so I'll get to it soon xD

I appreciate the time you took to make it and I will do my best to implement what you said ^^

 

[Vulpixtail]

Re: Chaos Theory (8)

that is a great story so far, i dont mind the whole big block of text. for me it seems more compact. and ,though it is a minuscule obsevation, in "Stars" Dawn says that Bug types are at an advantage over water types but bug types are not at an advantage over water types. Or is that a mistake on Dawn's part?

 

[Kihote]

Re: Chaos Theory (8)

That was a mistake on her part.........well, actually it was originally a mistake on my part but my friend quickly pointed it out so I decided to roll with it when I figured out I could use it for character development later XD

 

[Kihote]

Re: Chaos Theory (8)

Chapter Nine: Study Up ​

Chaos stared at the inside of the school; the walls seemed to be made of wood and covered with peeling paint. There were a couple old bookshelves which held books which were obviously worn with age. The wooden floor creaked as he walked further inside and saw a cracked blackboard hanging on one of the walls. Dawn quickly gestured for him to follow her as she walked down a hall.

He followed, though quite slowly as he peered into the windows on each door they passed. They each led to a different classroom which seemed quite old and poorly maintained. Most of the desks and chairs seemed like they would collapse at any moment. He noticed that there were various paintings which appeared to be barely holding on to the wall. Damn it, what kind of school was this? He had expected some kind of amazing machinery and technology; after all, they were in the big city.

Then it hit him, there had to be a secret room somewhere. He had watched enough television and read enough comics to be positively sure of it. He began to speed up as he ignored the flickering fluorescent lights overhead. He straightened paintings as he went, searched for secret switches hidden within anything he came across, and even so much as started to mess with some books on a bookshelf he had seen. All of this did nothing more than to earn him a glare from Dawn signaling for him to stop goofing off and hurry up.

He ran up to her as she entered a room with a golden plaque with the words, ‘Guest room’ barely legible. As he too stepped in, he was greeted with the sight of Flash surrounded by a small group of around ten children. The children all seemed to be quite young; they were probably elementary school students. Flash was apparently talking to them about something, but as soon as they heard the click of the door closing behind him they all turned around.

“Guys, Dawn’s back!!”The children all suddenly swarmed Dawn as they bombarded her with various questions.

“Are you gonna give us another lecture tonight?”

“Did you catch any new pokémon?”

“Where’s Rowan?”

Dawn smiled as she answered their questions one by one, though Chaos was uninterested and instead ran up to Flash with a smile. The two immediately raised their hands as they high fived each other. That was when he remembered the package. Chaos quickly swung his backpack off of his back and placed it onto the ground. After a few minutes of searching he found it and handed it over to him.

“Your mom was worried so she had me get this to you.”

Flash’s eyes quickly opened up as he ripped the package open and smiled at the contents. There were a few potions, some food, a picture of his family and a guidebook for Sinnoh tourists. He immediately flipped through the pages as a large grin spread across his face, “So that’s him huh, first step is in Oreburgh…”

Chaos simply stared at him puzzled. What was he planning to do in Oreburgh? Chaos was about to ask when one of the children quickly asked, “So you’re planning to take on the gym leader? Wow, you really must be tough!”

“Of course I’m tough, didn’t you see my two pokémon? They really are something aren’t they?”Flash had a smirk covering his face, he really enjoyed being complimented. “But yeah, I have to take him down, how else am I going to prove that I’m strong?”

Chaos smiled, Flash had always talked about how he wanted to prove that he could be the best trainer out there. He humored the thought for a bit, being the strongest, what if he decided to face this gym leader too? It sounded fun, he was about to open his mouth up to ask for more information when he was cut off by Dawn.

“Oreburgh? That’s a great idea, they have a museum there which specializes on ancient pokémon, I’m sure we can find some decent information for our pokédexes there. How about we head out in the morning after everyone has gotten some rest?” Flash nodded as he stretched, he must have been tired. Dawn then turned to Chaos as her tone became slightly sterner than usual, “Christopher, there’s something I want you to see…”

She immediately walked out of the room, with Chaos stumbling behind. She was walking quickly, taking almost no time to think about which way to go, as if she knew the layout of the school by memory. He didn’t have time to take in the scenery; he was busy trying to keep up with her. After a few turns he lost her, though luckily for him it was clear where she had gone. At the end of the hall there were two large doors with the words ‘Library’ clearly visible. He wasn’t sure why she’d take him here, but there had to be a purpose. He walked through and marveled at the library. There were wooden bookshelves everywhere, as well as posters. There was a desk where an older woman was sitting and flipping through a book. Dawn was sitting at a desk and waving her hand at him, so he did the logical thing and sat at the desk with her.

“This is the library, obviously, and I want you to read through these books. They’ll basically help you catch up with us. I spoke to Barry and he seems to know plenty about battling and pokémon, you on the other hand would benefit from studying.”

She handed a book over to him, and he quickly flipped through and stopped at a large table which caught his eye. He looked it over and read it carefully, “Um…Dawn. Earlier you didn’t have Poseidon fight that bug because you said the bug type has an advantage against water?”

Dawn nodded her head as she began to lean back in her chair. It seemed he was beginning to learn a little about strategy.

“But, it says right here that there is no advantage, so you could have had him use that peck move right at the start…”

“What?!” Dawn nearly fell out of her chair as she quickly yanked the book out of his hand and read the page a few times.

“NO NO NO NO NO!” She quickly walked over to the woman on the desk as he yelled, “I need a copy of The Art of Battling, Advanced Tactics and The Versus System!” She slammed her hands onto the table as the woman quickly grabbed three thick books from behind the desk and handed them over to her. Dawn quickly picked them up and sat down at a desk and began to read.

As all this went on, Chaos sat at the table flipping through the books. Battling 101, Type Hype, Fundamentals of Hoplology, all of these books seemed boring. He then stopped when he found a book with an interesting cover. It was covered in odd symbols, leaves, water droplets, eyes, fires, and other strange things, but the title got his attention, “Chaos Theory…” The very name intrigued him, it had his nickname in it so it might be special.

“Isn’t that book a bit too advanced for you?”

Chaos quickly turned around and saw the elderly woman standing behind him; she was staring at the other books on the table and likely knew he was a novice. Smiling she handed him a book which had a pokéball on the cover.

“I think you should read this before you try that book, it uses many terms you might not understand.”

He took the book as she walked away. The title of the book was ‘Pokémon’; with such a simple title he assumed it was likely a beginner’s level book. He sat down and began to read, occasionally glancing at Chaos Theory.

------------------------------​

Chaos opened his eyes as he looked around. He was still in the library, and had a small puddle of drool next to him. He wiped his mouth as he looked around, light was coming in from a large glass dome on the ceiling which he hadn’t noticed when he had walked in. The place was empty, and he could hear various shouts coming from outside. He grabbed the book he had been reading and walked out, following the sounds of the shouts. After a few minutes he was led to a large set of doors clearly labeled, ‘Battle Room’. He stepped inside and let out a small whistle as he looked around.

This room looked as if it didn’t belong in the old school. The walls were metal and had various bleachers, along with what seemed to be a regulation size battle field. The bleachers were anything but full, having the same children he had seen earlier along with a few adults. He quickly sat at the bleachers as he watched the battle. It seemed Dawn and Flash were going at it. On the field were Poseidon and what Chaos recognized as a starly. The two pokémon seemed tired as the starly flew up high.

“Aeris, now’s your chance! Ariel Ace!” Flash swung his right hand down in unison with the starly, apparently named Aeris, as it dove down at an amazing speed and collided with Poseidon. Poseidon was sent hurling through the air, landing a few feet in front of an anxious Dawn who sighed and returned him to his pokéball after it was obvious he was out cold. The small crowd immediately burst out into shouts and cheers as the battle ended, and Chaos couldn’t help but smile at seeing Dawn lose.

Flash returned his starly to its pokéball as he bowed in front of the children who all cried for another battle, knowing that soon they’d be leaving. Hearing the shouts of the crowd made Chaos grin even more as he looked at the book he was holding. Standing up he looked at Flash with a grin.

“How about we give them encore they demand?” Chaos was confident, he had learned so much from the book last night, and he was sure that with it at his side, there was no way he’d lose, after all, if Dawn fought by the book and won against him, what was stopping him from trying her strategy?

“Sure, just let me heal up my team.”

Flash quickly ran up to a machine near the back and placed two pokéballs on it before pressing a button. After a few beeps he ran back and grinned.

“We haven’t battled before have we? Just let me warn you, just because you’re my friend doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you, the crowd wants a thrilling battle after all right?”

“So we must show them just what we can do right?” Chaos had a wide grin as he stood at his end of the field and saw Dawn sit on the bleachers. He quickly opened up the book and got ready, he’d show her that he did have skill.

 

[Kihote]

Re: Chaos Theory (9)

Chapter Ten: You can’t win like that….. ​

The two stood staring at each other for a moment as one of the adults stood ready to judge the battle; this was going to be much more official than the one Chaos had fought against Dawn. Suddenly both of them realized something as their eyes met. This was going to be their first battle together. They had always talked about how their battles would turn out; they had even played pretend, with them emulating the roaring crowd. The two ran up to the judge and whispered something to him and then ran back, turning their backs to each other. The judge smirked as he raised a green flag and pointed towards Flash.

“In the green corner we have, The Flash Barry!” Flash immediately spun around held a pokéball in his outstretched right hand as the small crowd cheered. The judge let out a chuckle as he held out the red flag.

“In the red corner we have Chaos Christopher!” Chaos spun around and pushed his glasses up with his index finger while holding a pokéball and aimed the book he was holding at his friend. The crown continued to cheer as Flash sighed, his friend had chosen a stupid sounding name.

“This battle will be a two on two with substitutions allowed.” Upon hearing that Flash smirked as he did a quick spin before throwing his pokéball onto the field. The ball gave a bright flash as a starly was released.

Chaos immediately flipped through his book until he came to a page showing a starly, he skimmed the information quickly as he decided who would be best. Starly is a flying type, known for its speed above all else. No real special abilities, hmmmm-

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? THIS IS A BATTLE NOT A STUDY SESSION! PICK YOUR POKÉMON ALREADY!”

Chaos took a step back as he made it back to reality. He was wasting time. He quickly skimmed once more and found what he wanted. He grabbed one of his pokéballs and held it up into the air as it opened, releasing the light, and pokémon, onto the field. In a matter of seconds Cosmic was visible to the whole crowd.

“An electric type against a flying, huh? Guess he did learn something from those books.” Dawn sat on the bleachers smiling. If he had learned something in one night, maybe he had some hope, though he’d have to not screw up and actually win if he wanted her to ever admit that.

The two pokémon stood there, staring at each other while Chaos flipped through the book quickly getting to a page which showed information on shinx. He looked over the attacks as he pointed forwards and proclaimed, “Spark go!”

Shinx, strangely enough, did not perform the electrified tackle which Chaos expected, but instead looked at him puzzled, not understanding what it was supposed to do. Using this opportunity, Flash yelled out an attack, “Aeris wing attack!”

Aeris immediately flew forwards and struck Cosmic with her outstretched wings. Cosmic was sent rolling across the stadium until he managed to stand up. The attack didn’t seem to have done much, but the bigger problem in Chaos’ head was why hadn’t he listened? Terrum had performed his attacks quite easily with no training and even knew attacks normal Turtwig were unable to learn.

“Wing attack again!” Flash sent out the command as Aeris swooped back down for another strike as Cosmic braced itself for impact.

“Spark!!”

Cosmic didn’t seem to react to the command as the wing struck his stomach. Reacting quickly, his teeth began to give off a slight glow as he bit down onto the wing. Aeris gave out a slight screech from the pain as she quickly spun, causing Cosmic to let go and fall off, landing on his side. Aeris quickly flew up higher, and Chaos got a good look at the wing Cosmic had bitten. It seemed bruised; there was no blood, no real injury, just a bruise. He never understood how pokémon were capable of taking such hits and still be capable of fighting.

“Quick attack!”

The command caused Chaos to flinch as suddenly Aeris vanished from her spot up in the sky; even Cosmic seemed to have no idea where she had gone. He looked on in shock as she suddenly appeared in front of Cosmic and crashed into him. He fell to the ground and quickly stood up, but not before Aeris flew out of range once more. Chaos grit his teeth in frustration, what was wrong with Cosmic, did he not understand the orders? It was then that he got an idea. Quickly grabbing his other pokéball, he opened it and released Terrum next to him.

“Terrum, I need you to explain to Cosmic what each attack is, think you can handle it?”

Terrum gave a slight nod as it watched the battle. Aeris was still flying up in the air while Chaos was frantically looking at all of the attacks the book said a shinx was capable of. He frowned as he noticed that most of them were physical, and thus would be useless against a foe which seemed to remain out of reach. Looking at the bottom of the page he began to smile at what he read.

“Discharge!”

At first Cosmic did nothing, but then Terrum let out various shouts which nobody in the room, save the pokémon, could understand. Cosmic then grinned as sparks began to emanate from its body. Everyone seemed interested in the display as suddenly the small sparks turned into larger bursts of electricity which flew about haphazardly. The electric blasts seemed to remain in the arena, as any which tried to leave the field immediately dissipated as if they had hit something. He didn’t pay much attention to this though, as he watched Aeris take one of the blows and fall to the ground.

“Aeris, don’t fly!”

Chaos was puzzled by this order as she stood up and stared at Cosmic, ready for its order. He quickly flipped back to the starly page as he began to search to see if there were any moves Aeris might be able to pull off only on the ground.

“Chaos, what are you doing? Do you seriously think you can learn to battle from that book?”

Chaos looked at Flash as he answered confidently, “If I charge in not knowing what each pokémon can do then I’ll lose. I’m better off knowing what to expect.”

Flash sighed as he gave his reply, “You can’t win like that….”

Chaos grit his teeth, did Flash just insult him? “Oh yeah?! If you manage to beat Cosmic with Aeris then I’ll try your method! Spark!”

Terrum quickly explained what spark was as Cosmic charged forwards letting sparks of electricity dance around his now electrically charged body. Both Flash and Aeris continued to stare at the coming attack until suddenly Flash calmly spoke.

“Brave bird..”

Aeris suddenly started flying forwards at an amazing speed, heading straight towards the incoming spark. She began to give off a blue glow as she tucked in her wings and used her initial burst in speed to keep heading forwards. Before anybody could react, Aeris collided with Cosmic, causing him to be sent flying backwards towards Chaos. It looked like he would be sent flying out of the field when suddenly he hit something midair and slid to the ground at the field’s edge. Aeris on the other hand had fared much better as he landed on the ground. She seemed to be covered in injuries but managed to keep standing unlike Cosmic who seemed to be unconscious.

“Cosmic is unable to battle, Aeris takes the first round.” The judge raised the green flag signifying that Flash was winning. Chaos closed his eyes as he returned Cosmic to his pokéball and motioned for Terrum to head out onto the field. Before the match could begin though, Flash quickly recalled the tired looking Aeris and quickly spun once more before throwing another pokéball onto the field. After the usual bright flash, Pyrus stood before them. Chaos sighed as he closed the book and put it on the ground, he had agreed to try this match Flash’s style, head on.

“Razor leaf!” Terrum responded much quicker than Cosmic as he rapidly launched leaves from the lone sapling on his head. Pyrus was quick to avoid each leaf as he nimbly ran around the field.

“Tackle!” Terrum charged towards Pyrus ready to knock him onto the ground, when Pyrus nimbly jumped over him and performed the attack Flash ordered, “Ember!”

As Pyrus spit out small fireballs, Terrum was unable to avoid them and took them all as he fell to the ground. After a moment of struggling he managed to stand and turn around, just as Pyrus quickly got out of range from the next attempt at tackle. Move after move, Pyrus continued to dodge and then strike at Terrum, no matter what move he tried it failed, and Dawn frowned at the display.

“What are you doing!? Do you have a plan, a strategy!? Do you even know what to expect?! You can’t win like that!” She stood up as she yelled at him, causing various children to stare at her. Chaos on the other hand tried to ignore her; he knew she was right, by the way things were going he didn’t stand a chance. Flash smiled as Pyrus avoided another tackle it seemed his friend still had a lot to learn about battling.

“Take down!” Chaos shouted this time, every move he had done had failed and the effects were evident in his tone. As Terrum charged towards Pyrus once more, Flash raised his hand as he let out his final order.

“Flamethrower!” Pyrus took a deep breath and then unleashed a stream of fire from its mouth, quickly engulfing the small turtwig. Terrum continued to charge forwards as hard as it could, until the flames suddenly stopped and he collapsed to the ground.

“Terrum is unable to battle; the winner is the Flash Barry!”

The crowd immediately began to cheer and shout as their champion won another battle. Flash released Aeris and then all three of them began to bow before their adoring fans. As this went on, Chaos returned Terrum to his pokéball as he picked up the book. He had tried fighting by the book and lost, and then he tried charging in head on, and failed once again. Then there had been the whole issue of Cosmic not understanding the orders. What made Terrum and Cosmic so different? He stood there mulling over those thoughts when Flash quickly gave him a pat on the back.

“Nice try bud, but you can’t expect to win your first battle.”

“I-it was my second…”

“Eh, don’t feel down, my match with you was my tenth. Why do you still have that book anyway? I told you already, you can’t learn to battle from a book, you can only learn through experience and training.”

As he said that Chaos looked at the book, if he was right, then why had Dawn still beaten him if she admitted to fighting by the book? He let out a sigh when Dawn joined the duo with her own advice.

“See, what did I tell you? You’re better off studying instead of charging in head first. There was a significant difference in how both matches turned out, but anyway, we should leave soon if we want to get to Oreburgh before midnight.”

Flash nodded and quickly recalled his pokémon and prepared to heal them. Dawn on the other hand quickly grabbed her bag from next to the bleachers and prepared to leave. As the two got ready, Chaos continued to stand in the same spot thinking. Should he charge in head first, or should he try to learn from books? Should he rely on experience and thus battle constantly, or should he rely on information and thus read various books on pokémon? He wasn’t sure which to choose but he knew one thing, no matter which he chose he was still far behind the other two.

“G-guys, I hope you don’t mind but I want to stay here for a while.” Dawn and Flash both immediately looked over to him puzzled at his request.

“I-I want to stay here and study more about pokémon, and also train here with the students. If I go now I’ll only get in the way, I have to catch up to your level before I head out any further.”

The two smiled at his reasoning, not only did he flatter them, but also showed his desire to get stronger. Dawn immediately went up to the familiar woman from the night before and began to talk, while Flash put his hand over his friend’s shoulder.

“Go ahead and stay, just remember, you owe me a rematch when you finally catch up. Hope to see you soon, and thanks again for the package.”

“I’ll be sure to catch up, and about the package, delivering it to you for your mom was my mother’s idea…” As he spoke the last three words his voice trailed off as he remembered something important.

“Crud! I promised I’d call her as soon as I got to Jubilife!”

Chaos immediately ran out of the battle room and ran up to where he had seen one of the pay phones. He quickly placed in a few coins and dialed the number. He stood there listening to the tone signifying that his mother’s phone was ringing. Suddenly he heard his mother’s voice.

“H-Hello?” Her voice was shaky, as if she had been crying recently.

“Mom! It’s me, Chris, I got to Jubilife late last night and forgot to call you, sorry! I’m currently staying at the trainer’s school and I decided to stay here for a bit and get stronger before moving on. Again sorry for not calling but you won’t believe what I’ve been through so far! This journey is a lot more exciting than I thought it would be!”

As he recounted the events to his mother, Flash signed a few autographs for his fans, and Dawn made arrangements for Chaos to stay for a few more days, two figures walked around Jubilife and seemed to be getting plenty of stares. They were both purple, and looked quite similar. Though one of them remained quite silent and walked in front of the other who seemed to be imitating his every move. Each time the second figure took a step he let out a slow and simple sound, “Croaaaaaagunk!~”

 

[Flaze]

Re: Chaos Theory (10)

Well it's been a long time since a Diamond and Pearl journey style has been seen and this one is really good to boot. It's good that Chaos has a lot of trouble in getting the hang of battling an journeying in general unlike trainers that usually start in journeys who start with a level of experience that can make anyone wonder why they hadn't done it before.

Plus I also liked the thing with Cosmic since he seems to not understand Chaos's speech meaning that Pokemon probably need certain training before they understand human words themselves.

At first the battles were a bit stale but they got better especially the one in the last chapter.

Overall you're good so far at least in my opinion. Your grammar is perfect and you have good description though you should probably space some paragraphs a little at times.

Also giving Barry the nickname "Flash" obvious Flash reference xD

 

[Kihote]

Re: Chaos Theory (10)

Thanks for the review (I put up one for you fic ) and I will work on the paragraphing, I just get carried away sometimes and let my paragraphs get too long XD

As to the Flash reference, it only goes as far as both being quick, though my friend told me apparently one of The Flash's names was Barry once soooooo if anybody asks I planned it out okay

 

[Flaze]

Re: Chaos Theory (10)

Barry's is actually the name of the original Flash so you really hit it on the spot.

 

[Kihote]

Re: Chaos Theory (10)

Chapter Eleven: Back to School ​

Chaos sat at a small desk fidgeting. He had never been in a classroom before; the closest he had gotten was the dining room table back when he was still homeschooled. He had already graduated at the age of ten, which was a bit quick for the children of Sinnoh. Since he had been homeschooled his mother made sure to start early and take no breaks. Rain or shine, weekend or holiday, they kept moving forwards at a constant rate, which in the end allowed him to save two years. Barry had just recently graduated, right on schedule with the rest of the children of Sinnoh. Here, unlike other regions, children only had to attend school until they were deemed proficient in basic math, reading and writing, which usually occurred by age twelve. Most children then went on to continue their education in whatever field they wanted to specialize in, or directly went out into the workforce performing various basic or demeaning jobs, luckily for Chaos, his mother had told him to relax until he was thirteen, then he’d have to decide whether to work or go back to school, another reason he had hated the concept of turning thirteen.

He looked around at the children around him, they were the same ten children he had seen around the school; strangely he hadn’t found any others. As the teacher walked in, Chaos looked straight ahead as she wrote a few things on the board. The teacher was a woman, possibly middle-aged based solely on appearance, and had short curly blond hair. Once she was done writing, Chaos read what was written, ‘what combination of types is the most useful when facing a ditto?’ Chaos leaned back in his chair as he thought about it, he had no idea what a ditto was, but he had did remember various types. Chaos raised his hand as he answered, “The grass type.”

Immediately various students began to snicker and laugh at his response when one of the children raised their hand, “There is currently no known typing which has an advantage against a ditto.”

“Correct, and could you explain why for those of us who don’t know?”

The boy turned and looked directly at Chaos as he spoke, “Because dittos are known for their ability to transform into whatever pokémon you send out.”

Once the boy sat down, the children all began to chuckle once more and Chaos did his best to hide his embarrassment. He was never good at hiding his emotions, and it was clear as the teacher grabbed a ruler on her desk and used it to smack the blackboard.

“Children, please calm down. I’m sure you are all aware by now, but we have a guest today. Christopher will be studying some of our battling classes in order to prepare for the rest of his journey. I expect you all to show him the respect he deserves, having already received his trainer’s license.”

The children all nodded at what she just said, but a blank look spread across Chaos’ face as he raised his hand. When the teacher had signaled for him to speak the room was filled with gasps the moment he finished his question, “What’s a trainer’s license?”

“Do you mean to tell me you haven’t received your license yet?”

Chaos shook his head as various children let out accusing ‘ooooooos’. The teacher sighed as she took a deep breathe; it seemed this was something important that he should know about.

“A trainer’s license is required if you are to train pokémon either for occupational purposes or sport. Now, there is currently nothing illegal with carrying up to two pokémon without a license, and you are permitted to battle or perform in unofficial contests as long as they are considered small scale and you only use up to the two pokémon you are permitted under law. There are also limitations as to which species of pokémon you are legally allowed to own without a license. You can obtain a license by taking the Entry Trainer Exam. This test is available in eight cities in Sinnoh, and the topics range from basic pokémon biology, laws, and ethics. If you still haven’t taken it, then I recommend you take it in Oreburgh when you get the chance.”

Chaos nodded as he took that all in, was that why Flash wanted to head to Oreburgh first? He thought about it for a bit, he had never really paid much attention to the laws pertaining to trainers, since it had always been a forbidden path for him to follow, but now that he had decided to follow it he was seeing just how difficult it was. He’d have to look up some books on the subject when he went to the library again.

The rest of the class went by uneventful, as they discussed dittos and how they could possibly be connected to the legendary pokémon Mew, a pokémon with highly adaptable DNA which surpassed that of eevees. Chaos had written various notes about the strengths and weaknesses which came along with a ditto’s transformation ability. All in all, it had been dull, at least until a piece of paper was slipped under the door. At first nobody paid any attention to it, but when the teacher saw it she quickly picked it up and gave an audible gasp.

“C-class, listen to this, ‘Yesterday afternoon, rookie trainer Ramsey Mortar defeat Roark, gym leader of Oreburgh City a mere half hour after obtaining his trainer’s license. He is the second student to graduate from Jubilife Trainer Academy this battle season and has already made a name for himself. Recent analysts believe these two new trainers may be the beginning of a new wave of rookies which the sport has long awaited.’” She seemed really excited about this boy and the events surrounding him, but the excitement in the room only grew as the door suddenly burst open.

“Did you miss me-gunk?”

A young boy jumped in through the now open door, and he seemed to be wearing a suit resembling a pokémon. It was purple with white bands around the stomach. The legs were black and it looked remarkably like the pokémon standing next to the boy. The pokémon stood there and gave everyone a blank stare as its orange cheeks swelled up and then deflated. Not having seen this pokémon before, Chaos flipped through the book he still had with him and looked it up, apparently it was a croagunk. He didn’t have time to read more as suddenly the boy’s face was mere inches from his.

“I don’t remember you-gunk. Are you a new student-gunk? Aren’t you a little old for this school-gunk?”

“Uh, I’m just taking some classes before I go try to get my trainer’s license. I’m one of Rowan’s assistants so I figured it wou-“

“You work for Rowan-gunk? That’s soooooo cooooooooooool-gunk!”

Before he could even react the boy had already jumped over to the rest of the children and was talking much too fast for him to understand. As he sat there staring at the boy, the teacher walked up to him and began to talk.

“His name is Ramsey; he’s the boy in the article. A few days ago he went to Oreburgh to get his license but to think that he even took that chance to get his first badge is just something. I remember back when he first started studying here, he didn’t know the first thing about pokémon, but just look at him now.”

This boy, he was really something wasn’t he? Maybe if he battled him he’d learn a trick or two in order to become stronger. Chaos slowly began to get up from his chair but Ramsey quickly turned around and smiled at him.

“Don’t even think about it. I can tell just by looking at you, there’s no way you can beat me the way you are now.”

Chaos sighed; even this little boy knew he was weak. He began to think, he could stay here one week at most before he would have to set out. He needed to get strong enough to not only pass that test, but be able to fight alongside Dawn and Flash without holding them back.

“Ramsey, would you help me get stronger? If you’re as good as everyone says, then it shouldn’t be too tough right?”

“Sure, sounds like fun-gunk!” Ramsey began to jump up and down hyperactively with a large grin on his face.

******​

Chaos sat in the center of the battle arena blindfolded. He had expected so many things but nothing like this. Sitting next to him were Terrum and Cosmic, only they weren’t blindfolded. Ramsey was walking around the trio with a large paper fan in his hand which he kept swatting Chaos with each time he moved. Ramsey had told him to only attend the ethics, biology and law classes, and the rest of the time was to be spent training.

“First of all, tell me, which path do you follow-gunk?”

“P-path?” This response got him smacked before Ramsey continued to talk.

“I guess you still haven’t decided between mind, body, and spirit-gunk. No problem, I guess I’ll just have you train and then we’ll know-gunk. First gam- I mean exercise! I need you to land an attack on my pokémon-gunk! Splat, show them your stuff!”

Ramsey opened a pokéball as a small blue critter with pink antenna on its head stood on the field looking at those that stood before it. Upon hearing this, Chaos had reached up to his blindfold only to get smacked once again.

“No peeking, you must do it blindfolded. Splat is a wooper, that’s all you need to know-gunk!”

Chaos sighed once more, this would be annoying. Not only was he blindfolded and unable to see the action, but he had no idea what a wooper was, let alone its location.

“Terrum, razor leaf, and Cosmic, spark as soon as Terrum stops throwing the leaves!”

Nodding his head, Terrum immediately began to launch leaves at the blue pokémon, but Cosmic on the other hand stood there thinking. What had he learned last time, spark was an electric tackle, but what about the rest of the stuff he said? Did he want it now? He wanted it done now. Charging forwards, Cosmic prepared his electric attack but before even reaching the target he was struck by the razor leaf he had intercepted. Splat simply stood there, staring at what had happened, while Ramsey smacked Chaos one more time with the fan.

“Does your shinx even understand you yet-gunk? Just how old is he? Most pokémon can figure out most of what we say unless they’re too young-gunk. If it’s still young you should let it spend some time with your other pokémon before using it in battle or else he won’t know what to do-gunk! Wazu, can you teach him-gunk?”

The croagunk named Wazu which was sitting on the bleachers nodded and then walked over to Cosmic and sat down. He began to make strange sounding noises, and Cosmic stared at him while nodding his head. As this went on, Ramsey removed Chaos’ blindfold and helped him stand up. He led him to the door before he jumped up and smacked Chaos once more with the fan.

“You failed today’s exercise miserably; maybe you’ll do better on the next one-gunk!”

****************​

Chaos was running through the halls as fast as he could. He was swinging a broom back and forth, quickly sweeping the halls. As he ran, Ramsey managed to skip beside him.

“This law makes it illegal for trainers to carry more than six pokémon at once-gunk.”

“What is the Pokéball Act…”

“Wrong!” Ramsey suddenly stuck his foot out and caused Chaos to fall to the ground. After he hit the ground he continued to skid for a bit, but he had no time to lay there and feel sore. Ramsey was still skipping away. Quickly grabbing the broom, Chaos stood up and sprinted after him.

“…W-what is the Full House Act…”

“Correct-gunk!” Suddenly Ramsey stopped moving and signaled for Chaos to stop as well. He was sniffing the air and a smile spread across his face.

“It’s lunch time-gunk! Your next exercise is to balance a glass of water on your head while eating pizza!”

Chaos simply nodded as they began to walk towards the cafeteria. He was not sure how some of these exercises were going to help him, but he had to trust him, after all, he had a badge, whatever that was…..