Nuzlocke: Hearts of Gold and Souls of Silver

“Revenge. Do you really think you would turn into something worse for such a small thing as a life changing revenge?”

I was sitting in one of the logs we collected to use as a seat, by me was Pulse, sleeping, I had given him the permission to get some rest, since tomorrow I probably will have to use him on the gym battle, the others decided to stay up and start talking about something, I didn't had any interest in their talk, so I didn't give any attention.

I was still waiting for Blackburn to show up, so I decided to take a look on what we had left of food, we may have to buy some by tomorrow, we're running low on supplements.

It took Blackburn sometime to get his information, but enough so I could get a little more interaction with my pokemon. When he came back, it was too dark, so he was flying with his Charmander lighting his way back here.

“Sorry for leave you hanging,” He apologized for taking away too long on his side quest. “Those NPCs didn't had any useful information, but one of them, the pony on the gym, told me that we can train on the Bellsprout tower, it's also obligatory that we got there for some reason, he said we looked way too weak...”

My friend made a expression of disappointment, he was facehoofing inside for the game even consider us way weak to get to gym, but I kind of agree with that situation, Blackburn would take the gym quite easily, but on my side, all pokemon I had would take normal hits or super effective hits against air type pokemon, I just couldn't risk it.

“You don't have to take it, I can just go there and do the hole thing alone, and just get it registered for you too, then we go to the gym, the end.” I gave an option for my friend to consider, he wasn't on the mood for climbing a tower so he could go to a gym. “I kind of need to train my pokemon too, normal versus flying isn't the best option,you know?”

“No way I'm letting you go in there alone, what if there is a trainer in there?” He was worried, a little too much if you ask me. “No way I'm leaving you alone in there!”

He was right, if there was a player in there, I would have some trouble, but nothing I couldn't take on, the ponies playing this game aren't like the artificial intelligence that stands around, they are way more experienced, but that don't mean I can't take care of myself.

“Not to worry, I can do this. It is not a big deal, I just go in and battle my way in it, if I get damaged badly, I could use my potions or go to the pokecenter right down the street.” I told him.

“That sounds way risky for me, are you sure?” He asked me, still, he was worried about me.

“Yes, it's a Bellsprout tower, what do you think I will go through in there, Ratata? Pidgeys?” I got some logic within the tower. “Unless it is a player, there isn't much to battle in there. Besides, I got a bug and a poison pokemon, making it way easier.”

“Alright then, I will let you go.” He accepted my option, even if he was going against it, he knew I would need most of the experience my pokemon would get in there. “But before, I want to know what I will be doing in the spare time.”

“You can go shopping, we are running low in food, and we will be needing even more now, we need to feed our pokemon as well.” I suggested

“Shopping?” He sighed in disappointment. the pegasus didn't liked the idea not even a little. “Man, what a boring objective.”

“There is a red building with a blue roof,a school near the gym, if you want to check it out, you could learn more about types.” I joked with him. “I'm sure you can learn something there.”

My friend looked at me, with a look of surprise.

“You got to be kidding me, I have more experience in this game than you do!”

I started to laugh by the fact that he though I was serious.“Yeah, true, but we haven't been on this for years now.”

“And you want me, ME, the more experienced between both of us, to go to school?”

“It's just a joke alright?” I responded. “It's not like you need to, okay.”

Blackburn then ordered his Charmander to lit the fire for us, it was getting more darker over time. The orange dinosaur like creature walked to the pile of wood I collected and lit it up with his flaming tail.

I then levitated all of our meals, including me and Blackburn's food and our pokemon ration as well, and handed over to every member of our little group, and as I said before, we were low on food, although I didn't know if we could be eliminated by "dieing" of hunger, I didn't know if any feeling like hunger, thirst or even pain applied to this virtual reality as well.

“I hope you don't expect me to sing tonight, Blackburn, You know I ain't singing.”

“I'm kinda tired of all this "searching for information" mission I had earlier, I think I'm gonna go to sleep earlier, so yeah, have a good night.” My friend responded as he finished what was left of his meal, he devoured it faster than I though. and then started setting up his "bed" on the ground. Our bed weren't that good, I was thinking of finding a place to stay for the next days.

“Have nice dreams then, good night.” I told him.

I noticed that I had put Pulse's meal next to him, but since he was sleeping, he did not eat it. I decided to store it in my bag and give it to him as breakfast or something, tomorrow we had a big day and I was planning to use him, I needed him at his best state.

I looked over to Blackburn, although he was with his eyes closed to sleep, I don't think he would fall asleep that fast, but I didn't care much, I decide it would be better not to bother him and go to sleep as well. With that in mind, I told everyone of my pokemon to not exhaust themselves over night since we had training lessons tomorrow. I then levitaded my bed and set it up by Pulse's side, for some reason I felt like doing it would show him that I give him all my trust, of all my pokemon, he was the one who seemed to believe in me the least, but at the same time, giving me all the chances to prove it him.

The day had finally came up and I was sorting my saddlebags so we could move on to the Bellsprout Tower. I saw Blackburn doing the same and went up to him to check the plans for today.

“You know what you need to do, don't you Black?”

“Relax, all I need to do is go shopping, I don't think there will be anyone around to battle anyway.” He replied back. “Oh, and before you forget, here is my trainer card, so the game register I have gone past the tower and can go to the gym.”

He gave me his trainer card, in there was a 4x4 photo of his face, his fire-like black mane and his blue colt, it also showed his age and hometown, and if he had any badge at the moment, the badges. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot about this, and you should take my bits with you, in case you doesn't have enough money.” I then gave all my money to him. if I didn't knew the context of this, I would say I'm buying a false Trainer Card for me.

With that settled, I got all my pokemon on their pokeballs and was ready to head to the tower. I told my friend a final goodbye just in case I don't make it, and walked through the gates of Violet city again, leaving Route 31 behind. The city was much more calm during this morning, not many pf the other competitors were out in the city yet so I hoped not to get in any sorts of trouble on the way to the tower.

As I walked through the streets, there were a few buildings on the way, there was the poke center, a red square building, with a few          horizontal white strips and a big white pokeball as a symbol. a few steps away was the poke mart and the gym, the poke mart being just as like the poke center, but blue, and the gym being a closed circular arena with a few trainers who assist the leader and a could contain a small puzzle for the trainer to pass.

I had arrived at a small bridge which led to a small island, which had another bridge leading to the Bellsprout Tower. The tower was about 60 meters high, I would love to know how it was this big, and why there was a small island in the middle of the way, being used to have another bridge, rather than having one big bridge itself. The tower had an oriental style like some of the houses in violet city, I have to guess that I'm in the Eastern side of this world, but I shouldn't judge it since I only know the regional building styles of Equestria.

Crossing the bridge, I could see that I was either going to be challenged a lot or just have to climb the whole tower to complete the challenge, I don't know what to expect from this. Upon entering the tower I was approached by an elder colt, the usual style of elder of the game, he had a red coat, bold and a big white beard.

“Welcome to the Bellspout Tower, You should be here to complete the challenge a become a stronger trainer. Well, in order for you to complete the challenge you have to get to the last floor of this tower and challenge our Elder. Good luck and have nice battles!”

Before I could say anything in response to the old pony, I remembered that he would not reply back, since it has been programmed that way, I would better get used to that, since I won't get many chances to reply back, unless it's another competitor.

I took a greater look on the first floor, the tower seemed to be hold by a big amount of pillars and a big shaking one in the middle of the tower. I got closer to it and another elderly pony approached me and told me that the shaking was being caused due to trainers training upstairs. For a moment I got worried about the chance of encountering other competitors, but that thought fastly faded when I remember the artificial intelligence ponies have no notion of their surroundings, they wouldn't know if there were more than one pony around them, I discovered that when going through Route 30 with Blackburn battling every single youngster or hiker pony we found on the way.

“I better get going, I surely still have a lot of battles ahead of me.”

I located the stair right around the big shaking pillar. I went ahead and arrived at the second floor, I decided to look around before moving on, there was a few elder ponies around, and the stair on the other side of the room.

I stomped the ground in a intention of standing confident when going through this, I shouldn't have much trouble when getting through every battle, but when it comes to myself, confidence sometimes can be a trouble.

The first of many elder ponies approached while asking me some question, I wasn't paying attention, but even if I did, there was no way I could answer him. The battle had started, I had Pulse upfront in my party, while the old equine threw a Bellsprout in battle. It was my little fur ball against a plant with a yellow bell with two very small black circles as eyes and roots as a body and two big leafs which I think are it's arms.

The creature didn't looked so strong, I could just command Pulse to strike it down, but I learned that not everything is what they look like. I ordered Pulse to give it a quick tackle, with that I could damage the thing before it had a chance of hitting Pulse back. As long I could keep this strategy up, I should get out of this place with everybody unharmed.

Pulse quickly dashed offensively into the plant, Pulse had hit the creature right in the middle, making it fly a few meters away. The indicators in my face had show that it was knocked off, we had won the battle, everything was going as planned. As the battle was finished, I received a few bits and was able to go ahead with my adventure, there was likely two or three more trainers in this floor, and I had at least five floors to go. It was going to take me a while.

“Celestia fuck me with the rage of a thousand suns, and Luna finish me off with shooting stars, and I would stay better than going through this again, twenty battles against Bellsprouts is kinda overused here, variety is good sometimes!” I had gone pass 4 floors and there was a few to go, I just hoped it wasn't many more. I was way too exhausted and I didn't want to see any more Bellsprouts until the end of this challenge.

Across this floor was a few other old stallions, with, probably, even more plants for me to battle. I had Sonar up front in my party, since he was both flying and poison type, he would have complete advantage against this creatures, but in the same time I would train Scout and Pulse, who would be my main pokemon during the gym, since Sonar didn't have much of a defense, so a normal hit, if good enough, could take him down. The stairs weren't to be found in any place in this floor, so I was quite happy for the fact that it was almost over, I was getting tired and even annoyed by the thin wood that composed the walls of this place.

My thoughts were interrupted by two elder ponies approaching me for a battle. Since it was a double battle, I would have to use two of the first pokemons in my party, which were Sonar and Seed in the front line, and since Seed was no only grass type, but poison as well, We should be okay if we have to deal with another Bellsprout.

One of my challengers threw in a Bellsprout, as I expected, but the other one threw something new in battle, a Ratata. That surprised me for a second, since I wasn't expecting new in this place, specially when "Bellsprout Tower" is the name of the place, I could expect only battling one single entity.

Considering that Sonar could easily go down against a well trained Ratata, I switched him over for Scout, who would afford taking some hits and not going down.

The battle had started. I had told Seed to use some of his poisonous powder on the Bellsprout, and told Scout to do what he does best, charge with speed in the enemy, in this case, the Ratata. The first round had begun, Scout had flew into the air so he could do a powerful hit on the foe's rat, while that, the blue ball with leafs and two small foots companion that I so called Seed, had shot a purple powder over the Bellsprout's roots, making it poisoned, It is now going to start taking damage every round until it either faints, or cure itself with a antidote or an special ability. The foe's Ratata charged into Seed, seeking to bite him with his sharp teeth, I became worried if Seed could take an hit without going down

Slam! Crash!

All my worries vanished in the moment I heard a big slam that came from the hit that Scout gave on the Ratata, followed by a crashing sound coming from the rough landing the Ratata had.

“Ugh.... that might hurt” I thought to myself. On the top right of my vision I could see that the little purple mouse had fainted, all that was left was the Bellsprout. I had forgot that the Bellsprout hadn't attacked yet, it was now it's turn. The Bellsprout had chosen to defend itself by curling into a position that it could afford taking more damage without going down.

It didn't really matter, the thing took damage from the poison, but not enough. I told Scout to give it a killing blow using his wings to create a powerful wind that could cut through his his shield, the bird then flew up in the sky and flapped his wings, two time, hard enough to create a wave of air. The thing went like a bullet in the plant's direction.

Slash!

The Bellsprout went down like if it was paper being cut by air. The defense boost it had wasn't enough for the strike.

The two elder ponies were defeated and I had received more money. I came here without a single bit, and I'm going out with more than three thousands.

I then went for their Elder. If I didn't know better I would say these ponies were freaks, they had a cult for Bellsprout, but that wasn't the case. For whatever reason they had built this tower in tribute to Bellsprouts or something, I was so full of those plants that I didn't even wanted to know about the story of this place. I had arrived at the Elder, and in the very same moment he started talking to me

“Congratulations, you have battle your way to the top of this tower.” He rewarded me and Blackburn with a permission to go and battle the first gym. “I believe your bond with your pokemon is strong enough that you can challenge the first gym out of eight, you're now free to continue your journey, but remember,no matter how strong your pokemon is, the friendship you have with it is the strongest weapon you will ever have in-battle.”

I didn't quite catch what he was trying to tell me, since a strength of a pokemon is determined by it's stats, and not by it's relation with the trainer. But I didn't had time to stop and think about it now, I had to meet Blackburn back in the pokecenter before lunch, and I only had a few minutes left, so I had to hurry this a bit, but nothing that would take me time, I had spent the whole morning battling to get here, there isn't any foes left for me to get challenged by, all I had to do was get down a few floors and I would be in the pokecenter in no time.

As I walked back into the third floor I could hear a few laughs near me. I never forget a mocking laugh, it was Freddie and his friends. “Oh goddesses why! Why does they have to be here right now! of all places, it had to be near me, didn't it?” I started freaking out from my inside. “Maybe I can get out unseen, that might work.”

I crouched and stayed close to the walls, trying to be as stealthier as possible. I was going really slowly near them, trying to make no sound if possible, I could see they were mocking one of the old stallion for losing, but the old pony just stood there with the same expression. “One, two, three, four, five. Wait! Five?! Since when they recruited a new party member?!” I began to question why they had, if not new, another member. “He is the boss, you think he wouldn't like new people around to do his work?” the evil mini-me cleared my doubts, it all made sense now.

I continued moving forward, in the stair direction, everything was going as smoothly as it could, I had gone past them, and if I didn't encounter them in the way up, that meant they were going up now, this couldn't go wrong. I was happy I would leave the place without trouble, I'm going to make it alive after all.

“Hey guys! look what I found here!”

Oh well, I was going to make it alive.

“Hello there Atlas, how have my favorite little "friend" been?” said Freddie. Here we go again.

“Can I take him out now, boss?” Poison Strike didn't hesitate to ask for the permission to battle me, or take me down himself. I actually didn't know which was worse.

“No, I will let the new meat have this one, you will come with me.” Freddie told Poison Strike, making him impatient to hit me, he was anxious for that chance. “Sam, he is all yours.”

Apparently this was Sam. He was an earth pony, he had a dark red coat and a black spiked hair and red eyes as well, he seemed he had been bathed in blood, he also had a spiked club as a cutie mark, I didn't even wanted to know how he got that.

“Are you just gonna keep looking at me or are we gonna battle?” He screamed at me

I was trembling in fear, he looked like a thug or a kind of wild pony. I didn't really wanted to go through this. “Ugh... This won't end well.”

“Uh... yes, I'm sorry.” I apologized for the time we both wasted.

“I'm gonna break you!” He taunted at me. He definitely got me angry with that.

“Oh... Then it. Is. On!”

We had started the battle. He had a number of three pokemon, which I presumed were his starter and two other pokemons. Rather having a one versus one battle, he threw in all his three pokemon into battle, this have been my first triple battle in a while. He had as pokemons a Spinarak, a Ratata and a sand-type mole that went by the name of Sandshrew. I threw in my first three pokemon in my party, which were Seed, Scout and Sonar. I didn't have much to do but attack. the biggest problem I would have would be the Spinarak, but it could be easily eliminated.

I  gave the commands to my pokemon: Seed would shoot sharp leaves in the Sandshrew, while Sonar would hit the Spinarak with a poisonous sting, while Scout would give the Ratata a powerful tackle. “Alright, as long as nothing supernatural happens, this should be easy.” I though to myself to keep calm.

The battle had begun, since Sonar was my fastest pokemon for now, he attacked first, hitting the spider three times with multiple poisonous stings. The poor thing went straight down. I looked right over to Scout, who was flying like a bullet in the Ratata's direction, behind it, I could see Seed avoiding an Scratch from the mole pokemon, and right after, taking it down with a burst of sharp leaves flying on the mole's face

Slash! Slash! Slash!

The mole went down. I went back to Scout and the Ratata, Scout still flying in it's direction.

Vrooosh!

The sound of a wave of air passing by. Scout had missed the Ratata. The rat in the air dropped like a bomb, but not aiming at Scout, he was going for Sonar, who was looking to his fallen foe.

Slam!

Sonar had been hit from the side, I could see they eyeless blue bat flying across the room into one of the walls.

Crash!

The place where Sonar had hit was filled with dust. When it cleared out a few seconds later, it appear that we've created a new window.Sonar had hit it so heavily that it created a hole on it. I was worried as hell to know what happened to him.

Unfortunately, I finally noticed a small notification on my vision informing me of the worst. “No... It can't be... S-Sonar is dead!”

I didn't take long before a tear had score down of my eyes. But it also didn't take long before I was filled with rage. I looked back to Scout, who , during my sad moment, took the moment to strike the rat down, he was about to finish this battle and eliminate Sam out of this whole challenge that had started just a two days ago. I ordered Scout to wait before finishing the little thing.

The rage flowing in my inside, I knew that I was losing control and letting my emotions talk for me once again. Dammit, I just can't put Luna's training to use. I went near Sam and gave him a small hint of what was about to happen. “You know what... I wonder if death is possible in this world,” My horn started glowing, putting Sam into a levitation field. “Why don't we discover the answer?”

I had given him an evil smile, I had gone to far with this but I could stop now that my evil self had taken the lead. His eyes widened, and with all my magical ability I threw him in the whole were Sonar had fell.

Crash!

Like before, it took sometime for the dust to clear off the area, but when it did I could see that Sam hadn't fell, he was holding himself with both of his hooves in the inside of the tower. it was in this moment were I decided to end his suffering.

I walked near the window, and saw him holding himself with some struggle, he then told me: “Y-you, you're crazy, what the hell is your problem! What are you?!”

Looking in his eyes, I had the option of helping him or leave him to his destiny. After some time thinking, I decided to "help" my little "friend" who had always considered "not battling me"

“I don't know.”

Thump!

The wood broke, I had given it a powerful buck with all the energy in me. My foe had fell from the three floors of the tower screaming. Independent of my curiosity on the subject of being eliminated due death in this reality, I gave Scout the task of finally finishing the rat off and right after come after me. The bird was looking surprised, with it's beak open, but fastly reacted to my order and went to work. I took Seed back to his pokeball, the little thing refused to watch it end.

I then went back to looking back to the window, where I could see a light coming from the ground, I already knew what it was, so I didn't bother looking.

I then took a peak over to the small island that connected the two bridges, there, laying in the ground, I could see Sonar laying dead. I was going to give it a proper funeral before going to the gym. Looking over the bridge, standing looking directly at me, was Blackburn, looking surprised, He then opened his wings and flew to the window where I was standing, a few second later he arrived. I was crying, since I have finally got the warnings my innocent part of me gave before throwing Sam over the hole in the wall. Blackburn landed in front with his eyes wide open and surprised.

“Atlas... What in Celestias sun happened in here?!”

I didn't knew how to answer, my head was filled with shame and regrets, I hadn't taken Luna's training as seriously as I should.

“I-I....I'm sorry Luna.” I whispered while I looked down to the wood ground and watched my tear fall.

“What was that?” Blackburn, more confused than ever, asked me.

“I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean it!” I screamed to my friend with my eyes closed, I didn't want to either talk, or think about this, but it just couldn't be done. “I couldn't control myself, not after what they have done to Sonar!”

At this point It became clear to me that I had two personalities, one which evil and had evil intentions, and the other who held my usual self, It became clear to me that thing like my reaction over to Sonar's death depended on my sanity level, and that they were bound to happen if I had emotional breakdowns. Luna knew this, and she trained me all this time not to stop it from happen, but to keep it from happening too often, considering how I went of previous competitions like this one.

“You broke a wall.... You threw him out of a building with just you levitation spell.” He stood there thinking. “... I must say, that was impressive.”

“I already told you I didn't mea-... Wait, what?”

“Surely, you killing a guy this way was something I didn't expect, specially from you, but you've got to remember that in here, we're going to have to clear off some competition.” He told me, he had reacted way much different than I expected. “But look, I could see that you have lost a friend, I understand it, but I want you to control yourself better okay? Remember we're going against some really experienced trainers here, thing like losing a pokemon are expected to happen, and I don't want you having a breakdown every time you lose one!”

“Okay, I will try my best, but we must leave now, Freddie and the rest of the gang are in the building.” I informed my friend. “We don't want more trouble, do we?”

“No, we don't, but next time, try to not leave me waiting on the pokecenter, okay? I don't want to come after you every time!”

I nodded and we both started walking our way down the stairs. But before we continued, I gave my friend his trainer card back, and part of the money, since I received for both of us.

We have been going side by side in silence, heading towards the entrance of tower, and I still looking sad, trying to hide from the shame I was in, it wasn't only Luna I was ashamed for letting down, it was also Blackburn, I knew he didn't look like he made a big deal about such a thing, but the looking of surprise he had let out before mad it obvious. I had to take better control of myself, but this way I just couldn't.

The thing is, I can't stop such a thing from stopping, I had to just control it, if I didn't let it happen, one time or another I would go completely insane. These breakdown kept me sane from all the worries I run into, keeping it from happening would only get me out of complete control and sense.

“Why don't you let me take full control them, I believe I could just take your friend here down, and then go after Freddie, after that, winning would be the easiest thing when it come from your fears.” The demon side of my mind had spoken. I just chose to completely ignore it, but it had brought me one point. This thing would only have one winner at the end, and if me and Blackburn where the ones left, I don't believe I could battle my so called best friend. “But look here, your main objective isn't winning this challenge, is it? I remember you recalling that you came here to just overrun a few fears.” The not so demon-ish side of me, the sane one, brought the point I was looking for. I didn't want to win, I just wanted to finally be my true self with no blocks on my road.

“Atlas?” Blackburn suddenly spoke to me. “I know you are quite worried about letting your precious princess down, but don't worry, I'm here. Look, I'm gonna take you to a restaurant and we are gonna take our lunch okay?” He tried to calm me down with a half comforting half disturbing comment, but I was something I could use right now. “Just try to get a bit calmer.”

“Thanks, Black.” I thanked my friend, giving a poor smile, and lifting my head up. “For being here with me, that is.”

“Nothing to worry.”

We finally arrived at the door, and by opening it, we went straight ahead to the bridge. It wasn't long until I arrived at the middle island. stopping there for a few seconds, I looked at the dropped body of my old friend Sonar. Levitating his body up to my saddle bags, I tried not to think about it, but the more I held myself, the more I would cry later, so for now I just let a few tears out.

“You fought well, my friend.” I commented on the few memories we had together. “Do you mind if I gave a proper funeral for him before we leave for lunch?”

“Go ahead, we have all the time in the world.” Blackburn replied back, not caring much for how much time we would need before we finally got to eat.

We then continued walking, but this time we headed to route 31, good thing Blackburn had a pokemon that had dig.

Up in route 31, me and Blackburn had all of our pokemons out, and just now Pulse had received the news, and Scout had just told him of what I have done to the fool that cause all this. Pulse was looking at me a bit scared. I have never been around so much friends, and felt so alone in the same time. All that was left to have this like the worst moment I have ever had was to have the weather to rain.

We had just finished the funeral for Sonar. I had left his pokeball on his grave, although we had dug up the body.

“I just wanted to go back and change this...” I told Pulse, I felt a lot bad, and I also realized that I had made he change what he though about me. “I regret acting so... unreasonable. I shouldn't have either let Sonar out or throwing my foe out of a building. I understand why you are feelling so unsure now, and I won't guarantee it won't happen again, furthermore, things like that are expected to be happening through this journey, and I will try to control it as much as I can. That is all I can promise.”

Pulse stood in silence, I hadn't anything else to tell him. We didn't have much to discuss as well, so I gave my last farewell to Sonar's grave and packed up so we could move on.

“Alright, Blackburn I think we-” I suddenly interrupted.

“Thank you for being sincere, this wasn't something I expected, but at least you didn't lie to me.” Pulse spoke some words up, leaving me with no words.

I had just expected all my pokemon to hate me or fear me after this, but Pulse proved me wrong. He accepted the fact that I had lost control, and that I wasn't sure of how to keep it from happening or how to fix it, just a guarantee that I would try my best.

“The look of shock on us may show you something, that we fear you, or think of you as a monster.” Seed walked to Pulse's side and continued to prove that all I though was wrong. “But the truth is, we don't think anything different of you. You are still the same, but you had one moment of rage.”

“I'm keeping up with what I told you, I'm going until my death, or until we end this, with you.” Widowmaker would still follow me through it all, no matter what happened.

“Don't doubt us, we are going to be always loyal to you, you just have to tell us where to go and we'll follow.” Scout flew in. and gave his part.

In front of me, where standing my five pokemon, each of them fully trusting me, and not giving up on me.

“Thank you all, I admit that for a moment I had doubted of our loyalty. but I'm sure now, that we can do it.”

Blackburn went up to me and asked: “When you're done with that, can we go?”

“A bit rude, don't you think, can't I have my moment?” I replied.

“I'm a bit hungry now, you know, we are here for over an hour.” He replied back.

I looked over my pokemon, and there they all were laughing at the situation. finally Scout spoke up.

“To where now, boss?”

“First we go take a lunch, and then can go to the gym, what do you guys think?” I replied.

“Bring it!” The four gave a scream into the air. Our confidence haven't been that strong since I walked up in this tournament.

Now we're all packed up and ready to move on, leaving bad moments behind, and going to a brighter future.

Me and Blackburn had just given plates of food to our pokemon and picked a table for us to sit in a restaurant in the middle of Violet City. We waited there for a few minutes chatting, until the waitress came over our table to take our order. It was kind of late for us to take a lunch, it was almost dinner time, we had spent a lot of time preparing the funeral, and the time I wasted on the tower was bigger than I thought

“I would love a Hay Sandwich, please, and for my friend a piece of an apple pie.” Blackburn ordered our food

While he gave our orders to the pony serving us, I took a fast look in the street, and walking by, there was a griphon passing by.

“Whoa, do you see that Black? A griphon. I didn't knew that there were other races competing, did you?”

“I did actually, there is zebras too.” He replied. “There isn't just ponies playing this game, ya know?”

“I actually didn't bother thinking of it. That is an interesting concept.”

I kept looking at the griphon, and I saw it casually walking to meet two ponies standing in front of the gym. I presumed they were going to challenge the gym leader and get their badges. Me and Black were actually behind a few other competitors, that took yesterday to challenge the gym, and today were heading to the next city. The meaning of this hole thing isn't to keep up with other ponies, and now in this case, zebras and griphons, it was mainly to see who lasts longer, but getting in front of others meant less competitors to face and getting more experienced in the game.

A few minutes later, I received my piece of a apple pie and Blackburn received his small sandwich.

“So little for a small stomach as mine, but I can handle it.” He commented over the size of the sandwich.

“If you want, you can have some of my pie,” I offered some of my food over. “I don't really mind.”

“Nahh, I'm fine, if I get hungry, we still have the supplies I spent the morning buying, also, I believe I can handle it.”

“Suit yourself then, more pie for me”

We ate some of our food in silence, that was broke a few seconds later by Blackburn. “So, we're going to the gym after this?”

“I think so, I believe we don't have much left to do in this town anyway,” I replied. “I believe going there is our best option.”

He nodded, and then it was settled, we were going to the gym right after this, which remembered me to organize my party, I didn't want to risk Seed and Widowmaker, so my main team would be Pulse and Scout, my two best options when dealing to flying-type pokemon, but since this was the first gym, I don't expect much after a Pidgey, or a Spearow, which is a different type of bird pokemon, not much common around Johto, specially he in the start.

I also checked how I was when it comes to confidence, just to make sure I didn't fuck this up, losing two pokemon in a day would be too much for me. Or just imagine the bad I would do if I let the "second me" take control of my mind and actions. Sometime I already think I'm crazy just for listening and arguing with it in my head. Maybe I'm, maybe not, it doesn't matter now.

After finishing our lunch, me and Blackburn headed straight to the gym, which was only a few meter from us. We were a few hoofs away from the gym when we were approached by a purple pegasi mare, she had crimson colored eyes, a wavy long crimson hair, and a singing bird as a cutie mark, who wanted to talk to us.

“Hey, nice job at the tower, by throwing that asshole out.” She directed the comment to me. She spoke with a thankful voice, but in the same time, a revengeful and regretful tone.

I stood there in silence, until I thought of what to say. “Uh... thanks? I guess?” I didn't knew if this was serious for real, or just a joke. “How did you know it was me anyways?”

“I just saw it on the newspaper, they show every elimination, but his is highlighted as the most tragic.” She then opened one of her wings and grabbed the newspaper in her saddlebags and showed us.

When I took a look at the newspaper, there were news of Equestria, and the news of this world as well, but passing my eyes on the paper, it took me some time to see that it was highlighted. I immediately threw myself in the ground and tried to hide my shame with my hooves. But seeing myself like this was worse, so I got right up a few seconds later.

While I was doing my embarrassing shenanigans. I looked over to Blackburn, who stood frozen looking at the mare. “Ah man... don't tell me you already fell in love with her.” I though to myself.

“Continuing, thank you, he had eliminated my friend on the start, I just wanted to see him suffer,” She commented, and, for me, she showed a little revengeful from the inside. “I just wanted to say thanks, you guys seem like good guys. I guess I'll be seeing you guys around during my lonely journey.”

“Well, that was nothing, although I didn't mean to throw him out of a building, but I guess it helped not only me.”

“Well, it may seem that I'm being quite cold here, but yes, that helped me, but please don't think I'm bad.” She told me back. “Anyway, before I leave the town, can I ask both of you your names?”

Blackburn stood in silence, still staring at her, but not saying anything, I think he got lost in his mind. I realized that I was the one to give her our names.

“Uhh... I'm Atlas, and this is my friend Blackburn, and I think he is lost.”

“Ah... stallions and colts, always losing their minds over mares” She then gave a small laugh. “Well, I'll be leaving for the next down now, hope to see you too around.”

When me and Blackburn were at school, our fascination was for video games, board games, and the things we were talented at (Me being with music, and Blackburn being with weapons and shooting things, although he was always calm and never hated anyone at a point to try and shoot them, not even Freddie, So I never had a fear of him shooting someone at our school), But we never haven't discussed about dating and other things, there weren't many girls interested at us, but we didn't care much, at a max, we would comment on how beautiful a mare looked, but never at a point of love interest.

The mare left, and I stood besides my mindless friend. I was alone with him still lost in his mind, if not about the mare, about something he liked, and we were just steps away from the gym.

“Well, that was strange. Why would a mare ask for our names, when the odds of us re encountering a smaller each time we explore me?” I started to question things up, and was getting tired of just standing there, so I decided to wake my friend out of his mental illusion. “Equestria to Blackburn, Equestria to Blackburn, is anyone there?”

After getting no response out of him, I decided to give him a small punch with my hooves. I didn't expect such a response.

“We can go together, forever, my dear!” He said out loud, good thing there wasn't anyone around, otherwise they wouldn't stop laughing. At least I was holding myself. And at least he was back.

“Alright captain love, can we finally go and battle this gym over?”

“Captain what?” He was confused. “I'm not the one with a crush on the princess!”

“Hey, that is not even confirmed, and you do have a crush on the girl we just met!” I replied back.

“Ha, you didn't proved me wrong, you really do have a crush in the princess. Look at you, you are even blushing!”

I didn't realize, but I was really blushing. “Maybe you do have some kind of feeling for her, doesn't you?” The evil me argument ed. And my neutral side didn't have a counter response that was so sure of the contrary: “It isn't true, we are just friends, aren't we? Aren't we?”

Getting out of my conversation with myself, I got back to our discussion, or, in this case, to end it.

“Let's just forget you went out of this world for the whole conversation, and that I was blushing, alright?”

“Well, deal, but only if you sing something for me tonight!” He was going a bit too far with this.

“Fine, just shut up about it, but if you bring this up again, you won't see the end of this "who loves who" war!” I gave the conditions for our term. But before “Oh, and she knows you was looking at her and she also knows your name.”

“What?! I can't believe you told her my name!” He was surprised. “Okay, but I'm sure Luna knows all about this, since she is watching you this hole time to see how you are going.”

He had reminded me of something I both knew and didn't remember. Luna is watching me, and listening to all this. “Horseapples! It's all ruined now!” My mind spoke, and I wasn't sure if it was the evil, neutral or good side of it.

But then like that, we came into an agreement, and went back to our primary objective, that was defeating this first gym and getting our first badge.

It was getting darker, but we weren't leaving the place without a badge.

We then finally stepped inside the gym, to find that the gym leader was already waiting for us, it was his job anyways, to wait for challengers and battle them

The leader was called Falkner, and he was a light blue colt, just like Blackburn, but he had blue shaggy hair, and was wearing a open blue jacket, he also had an bird cage as a cutie mark, being a bird trainer, I guess that suited him well.

Blackburn was going to be the first to fight him, he had told me he wouldn't take long, since he had advantage. My flame-like black haired friend flew into the sky and threw his Geodude onto the field, while the gym leader had no choice but to get his  PIdgey out, with was a boulder with arms against a bird, and since Falkner only had two pokemon, it was going to be a fast battle. “I guess you can say that he will kill two birds with one rocks” I though about this joke, but I realized it was bad enough that would make my friend facehoof himself, so I kept to myself. “Where do you come with these puns?” My evil side commented. “Ah... shut up, it wasn't that bad!” my neutral side replied right away.

Getting away from my "mind discussion", I got back to watching the battle, which I had lost the first round, all that I could see was the Pidgey laying in the ground with a rock by it's side, so it was obvious Blackburn had won this round.

Before the second round, Falkner chose his last pokemon, a Pidgeotto, It is covered with brown feathers, and has a cream-colored face and underside. It has a crest of pink feathers on its head and black streaks behind its eyes. The plumage of its tail alternates between red and yellow. It has powerful, pinkish-gray talons. The bird was definitely stronger than a regular pidgey, but it still wasn't a match for Blackburn's Geodude. The boulder used it's hands to dig a rock of the size of it's self, then the legless flying boulder threw it at the bird. The bird was intelligent, dodging the rock quickly and charging into the Geodude, but the boulder was even smarter, waiting for it to come near, just to smash a rock on the bird's beak.

Smaaaash!

The rock he was holding had broke into pieces, while the bird was sent flying back into it's trainer's direction for a few meters before going back to it's pokeball. And then like that, in two rounds, Blackburn had defeated the first gym out of eight.

“It's your turn, mate.” He said to me while passing by my side. “I'll be watching, but try not to take too long or get destroyed, okay?”

“Ha!” I replied while I started entering the arena. “You speak like I can't take care of myself.”

I walked up to my standing place, and gave a last check over my pokemon. I was going to start with Pulse, and in case I needed to switch, I had Scout in the reserve. Neither me or Falkner had advantage that would define victory, but one thing I belived would matter if I was going to win or lose was the ability I had with my pokemon. I was going to play mostly defensive and attack when the enemy became exposed.

Putting Pulse up in the field, while my foe had launched his Pidgey once again. This should be easy enough, so I decided to go offensively on the start, just to have the advantage. I told Pulse to charge into the enemy, but give it the chance for it to dodge away too earlier, so Pulse could change his course and hit the thing. Pulse then turned to the enemy and began running with his four legs. The Pidgey feel into my trap just as I had planned. The Pidgey tried to dodge the attack too earlier, but was then surprised by a hit from Pulse.

Boooonk!

Pulse had hit the thing in middle air, causing it to have do a landing, but that wasn't as rough as the Pidgey's landing, the thing was easily knocked out, it didn't have much of a defense, so normal hits or super effective hits could easily take it down.

Foe's Pidgey has been defeated.

Coming up next was the Pidgeotto Blackburn had fought before.

This time I ordered Pulse to stay defensive, and try to dodge at the right time, so we didn't fall to our own plan. The round had started, the Pidgeotto standing still just like Pulse. Suddenly, it opens it's wings and goes into a launching position, I didn't knew what to expect since Blackburn had defeated it before it had a chance to hit his pokemon, and I didn't noticed it's speed, so I didn't know if Pulse would be able to make a dodge if it charged at him.

The bird decided to play with my doubts, charging directly at Pulse. The thing moved as fast as a bullet. Pulse didn't expect such speed, and jumped just in time to dodge it. One thing we both hadn't expect was a coming back hit.

Slaaash!

The bird went back to it's starting place. on it's way back it had given a slash attack on Pulse, sending him flying a few meters in the middle of the arena. Fortunately, he had survived the hit, but was very low on health. We had a few minutes to decide what to do between rounds. I decided to run to Pulse, who appeared to be laying unconscious on the ground.

“Pulse! Pulse! Wake up!, I can't do this without you! Please get up!” I screamed around for the sake of Pulse, hoping it to get up and be able to fight again. Pulse had more defense than Scout, if I switched, maybe he would be able to take a hit, or to defeat a faster foe, Pulse was my only chance.

Just now I realized I was crying over Pulse, I didn't want to lose my starter yet, I didn't want to lose anyone anymore.

“The wind is finally with us!” Falkner quoted while I was holding Pulse within my hooves, I didn't knew what to do. I could go with my evil self and try to beat this offensively, but it was too risky.

Night had fallen over the arena, we had only a few small lights around. Suddenly, Pulse started to light brighter than anything else on the place. I got confused until I remembered that was the transition between one evolution and another. but I didn't knew what was going to happen to Pulse, since I had never had an Eevee before.

When all the lights coming out of Pulse calmed down, I could see that Pulse had became a Dark hound.It has long pointed ears and a bushy tail, each with a yellow band around them. Its forehead and legs have yellow rings on them. And all those yellow rings glowed at the dark of the night.

Congratulations, Pulse evolved into Umbreon. The battle information displayed. apparently, Umbreon was a dark-type pokemon. I didn't know how helpful it would be against a flying-type, but it was all I had. Pulse got up and was ready to battle again, although he was in a critical condition. I decided to let Pulse do what he chose better to do, since I didn't know what he was capable of.

Suddenly I see Pulse running in the direction of the bigger shadow he found. I didn't know what to expect, but I was hoping for the best. The bird attempt to charge into Pulse once again, just like going after it's prey. Coming near the shadow, it started to slow down in fear. and the Shadow was growing bigger, no matter how much light was around, until it covered the Pidgeotto up.

I could still see my foe's pokemon, but Pulse wasn't anywhere to be seen. I got as confused as the bird did.

Bam!

The bird was hit one time by a thing moving much faster than the own bird could. I could guess it was Pulse, it was a dark pokemon, it made sense for it to use the shadows for it's favor.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Craaaaash!

The bird was hit a few more times, no misses, and then went flying out of the shadow field, flying meters away and crashing into a wall.

Foe's Pidgeotto was defeated.

Pulse had managed to defeat the Pidgeotto in a critical state. I couldn't be happier, that when he came back walking and panting, I levitated a potion in it's mouth, and gave it a great hug. I was still processing the hole evolution and how it happened, but I was just glad we could make it.

You have received the Zephyr Badge!

I walked up to Blackburn to speak with him about our plane for tonight.

“So... I see you just got yourself an Umbreon, am I right?” He asked me

“I think so. Do you have any idea of how this happened?”

“Well, from what I know from Eevees, they can evolve into multiple types, each depending of a certain condition. It could become a different type using a Fire, Water or Thunder stone, each type for it respective stone, there are two other evolutions that can only happen in Sinnoh, and I believe it can become an Umbreon if it's friendship bond with it's trainer is high enough, if it evolves during night, it's an Umbreon, if it's during day time, it becomes a Espeon, which is psych-type. That is all I know.”

“Well, Me and Pulse do have a good friendship, but I don't believe he would trust me enough to evolve already.” I commented over, I was still confused after all.

“Do you think that if I didn't trust you completely I would be here, you gave me the chance to believe, and I believe in your potential, master.” Pulse replied. it was good to see my pokemon trusting me, but we had just begun. Not that it was a bad thing, but it felt strange. I did trust on them, but I didn't believe they already did the same back.

“So Blackburn, where are we going to sleep today? I believe we don't have time to set a camp up.” I asked my friend.

“Well, we can spend some of our money and stay on a inn for the night, what do you thin-”

“Yes, let's go, there is not time to lose!” I interrupted my friend in the middle of his question. I just wanted a better bed for a night, that was all that I asked.

“Alright, then we are staying in a inn for tonight, but you are still going to sing for me, remember?”

“Yea, I don't even mind it now, I'm so calmer now that I doesn't even care, I can sing all night, all because of this happiness, even if I don't sing, I just play a electronic keyboard, and-” Blackburn decided to make me stop, I was talking to much, happiness was flowing in all my body.

And then, after getting Pulse back to hist normal health by using a few potions, me and Blackburn, with one of pokemons following us behind, in his case his Charmander, and in mine, I had Pulse. We walked out of the gym as happier as I could be, and now, the last quest of our day was to search for an inn, I was happy, but I was quite exhausted, I did need to take a break after all this.