Pokémon Academy
Part 3: Exploration
uiru@hotmail.com
http://www.crosswinds.net/~upff
"What... what hit me?"
The girl pulled herself up, holding her head. "Oh, man..."
She was in a bed, but her eyes weren't focusing properly yet. Too much light... The girl rubbed her eyes again, and looked around. Still hazy...
The girl heard someone enter the room. She looked up through unseeing eyes. "Thank God!" she heard someone say. "Abby, you're awake!"
"Abby...?" the girl asked. "Oh, yeah... I'm Abby..." Her head was pounding like a drum, and she put her hands on her head again.
"How are you feeling? Are you hungry?" The person sat down next to her on the bed. She still couldn't see straight.
"Were you that voice I heard?" Abby asked, trying to focus.
"Voice?"
"Yeah. I heard a voice in my dream. And I can't see..."
"I'd say you had plenty of dreams," the person declared. "You've been unconscious for over a year. Your eyes will adjust in a minute."
"A year...?!" Abby's eyes finally allowed her to zoom in on the person next to her. "Hippie!" Abby squealed. She threw her arms around him. "I'm so happy to see you!"
"Whoa, not so tight!" he laughed. "Well, at least your memory's intact. I was worried you'd never wake up."
"You mean… You've been taking care of me?" Abby looked around. "For that matter, where are we?"
"We're at the Academy, of course," Hippie told her. "Do you remember anything of what happened?"
The fog in Abby's mind cleared a little. "Dear God…" she breathed. She jumped at the window and looked out. "Did he do it?"
Hippie nodded gravely. "I'm afraid so. The Master merged our dimensions together."
"Oh, no…" Something else clicked in her mind. "April!! Where's April?" Abby looked around the room. "Have you seen April? Or Claire, or Jennifer? Jim? Lobo?"
Hippie shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Abby," he sighed. "You're the only one we found."
"Oh…" Abby sat down on the bed in a slump. "Is Paras all right?"
"Paras is perfect," Hippie declared. "It's been beating the hell out of the training gym every day. It's got Solar Beam, Photosynthesis, Giga Drain, you name it! It can Spore a target from 20 feet away, and it's Slash attack is like getting hit by a battle axe." Hippie stood up. "Lie down for a while, Abby. I'll bring up some food."
When Paras caught sight of Abby in the training gym, it tore across the floor like a guided missile. "Paras!" it cheered as it jumped into her arms.
"Paras!" Abby shouted as the force of Paras' leap caused her to spin around. "I'm so happy you're all right!" She hugged the little bug. "Wow, you're hard as a rock!"
"Paras learned Harden a while back," Hippie explained. "I've been keeping an eye on Paras' progress for you. It's Growth and Harden abilities have increased it's Defence in a big way. See the bigger mushrooms?" Hippie pointed to the two mushrooms growing on Paras' back.
"Wow, you've really been training hard, havn't you Paras?" Abby hugged it again. "Paras, paras…" it chirped.
Abby looked around. The entire gym seemed more… serious. Nobody talked or laughed like they did before. Trainers and Pokémon alike were building their strength. Many were carrying weapons.
"I wonder if I can still use my flail," Abby asked herself. Without being asked, Paras used the power of it's Grass Saber, turning into Abby's weapon. The Grass Saber relic was worn as a set of bracelets, and allowed Paras to become a weapon that Abby could use. The weapon consisted of two wooden handles connected by a vine. It didn't look like much but like all Pokémon weapons, it was completely and utterly indestructable. Abby swung it around experimentally. "I think I'll manage."
There wasn't anything really substancial about Abby. She was tall and a bit on the scrawny side, especially after over a year of sleeping. And her hair was a MESS. It had grown out a lot as well. Her meek appearance was belied by her incredible skill and power with the flail, and her willful personality coupled with her drive to beat anything that confronted her ensured a quick end to most challengers. Paras shared a similar mindset, and once it got going it would take a lot to slow it down.
Abby put Paras on her head. "Havn't had you up there in a while," she declared. "Give me an excuse for my bed head."
"All right, let's go," Hippie announced. "We've got a lot to discuss."
Abby found out who 'We' were a few moments later.
"Abby," Needlenose greeted. "I'm glad to see you're up and about at last. And… I'm truly sorry about your friends."
"They aren't dead, bossman," Hippie argued. "I can tell, they're out there somewhere."
"Well… Have a seat, all of you." The place looked more like a war room then a headmaster's office. Abby looked around. A handful of the teachers were present.
"What's been happening?" Abby asked.
Needlenose sighed. "The Master merged his dimension with our own, as I'm sure you're aware by now. The merging caused a lot of problems but most of the towns and cities around here are all right. The bigger problem is the Master himself. He's declared himself ruler of this whole area." Needlenose pointed to a map behind him. "It includes the Academy and a bunch of smaller towns. And to be perfectly honest, right now we're better off with him then without him."
"Why?"
"The Master's enemies were shaken up during the merger, and he took back what we think was his territory. So far, he hasn't made any move to expand it, but we're keeping an eye on him. The others were enraged, and there's war raging along most of his boundaries."
"Oh, that's wonderful," Abby stated. "He's finally got his people in our world, now he's going to trash it again?"
Needlenose nodded. "I know it sounds strange, but from what we've seen, the Master isn't a terrible ruler. He could be better but he could be a lot worse."
Hippie chimed in. "There are three major players at work here. There's the Master, the army to the south and the army to the west." Needlenose pointed out the areas as Hippie spoke. The western army seemed to be attacking from across a channel seperating the continents. "The Master's held them off pretty well so far, but we aren't sure how long his luck will hold out. That's why we're independantly working against the southern army."
"You mean we're helping HIM?" Abby asked. She didn't like the sound of this at all.
"It's the lesser of the evils," Needlenose explained. "Once the wars are over, we plan on dealing with the Master himself. But we've got to act like we're on his side for now."
"So he doesn't stomp us flat," Hippie added. "We don't have nearly enough manpower to deal with a direct assault from him yet. We're working on it though."
She thought. "Well, I guess that makes sense..."
"Abby, we don't want to force you to fight," Hippie suddenly stated. "We know you've been through a lot already."
Abby nodded. "I know… It wouldn't be the same without April and the others anyway." She looked around the table. "I know they're alive… I'm going to find them."
Needlenose pointed to the map. "We know for sure that they aren't in any of these towns," he told her as he pointed to various places in the northern half of the Master's realm. "We've sent messengers around, looking for them. The best place to start looking would be straight south."
"Take a few days to recuperate," Hippie suggested. "You've got to get your strength back."
Chapter Two
