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Mission: What If
Mission Maker: SubonicXP

The elevator rose as Az exited into the mysterious stone chamber. A mystic energy pulsed through each and every inch of the place, and it sent a chill through the Snagem’s spine. It wasn’t malicious in nature, but it was potent and void of any sort of allegiance to good or evil. The mass was just there so to speak. One’s eyes couldn’t see it, but it was everywhere.

“I won’t waste a second with you.” Azzen said loudly to the stone tablet. “I want to know what my life would have been like if my Pokemon were never stolen in Veilstone by team Galactic. If you could make it happen, I would be grateful to you.” His voice echoed and a distant buzzing was his only response. It grew louder and louder until he could almost feel the sound inside of him. Az’s vision blurred and a spiral of the ancient letters surrounded him. They spun and spun and he could feel his very being pry itself from the bonds of this reality. It was painless, but it caused him grunt none the less. The spinning grew faster and faster and soon a white light began to form in a ball just above Az’s head. It soon expanded and then there was only serenity.

Vielstone’s Gym was tidy, and its former Fighting Theme had been replaced by a symmetrical design. The floor was wooden and dotted with various symbols of the new Bi Badge. Three trainers stood on the left of the Gym while three stood on the right. Any incoming challengers were forced to partake in three doubles no matter what they did. It was a true setback to trainers with relatively small or unbalanced teams. Harmony and unity were strong throughout the Gym and it just felt right.

At the end of the gauntlet of Gym understudies were the Gym Leader preparing for battle with a loudmouth Trainer who was backed by an even louder entourage. The kid was obviously loaded (or at least his parents were) seeing as he was in the latest of styles and the three Pokeballs around his gleaming belt were encrusted with various designs. On the surface they were magnificently styled with various paints, but on the inside, the balls were balls just as his entourage were mindless followers he (or his daddy) paid for.

“I’ve disposed of your chumps.” The rich worm said with the stereotypical nasal tone the uppercrust were associated with. “And now you too will know the name Winston and respect it! Isn’t that right you sniveling snots?” Rich guy turned to his entourage of fellow trainers who whooped and chanted his name with dumb grins. One even held up a sign saying “You rock!” written in bright red letters. He obviously owned them all.

The attention focused to Veilstone’s original Gym Leader, Maylene. Her normal battle attire was toned more towards a casual style, but it was still recognizable hers. “We prefer to call them our friends, but we won’t tell you what to do. But, I seriously recommend you get one of your pals to fight with you. You’re only carrying three Pokeballs, right?” She said inquisitively.

“so he are challngr nub, y/n?” Unknown M said in a perplexed tone. “if i wur yu i wuld ROFL.” It continued. “so frend azz3n, yu pwn him k, or is yu gunna chll nw?”

Az zoomed into reality and looked around as if he had just woken up. He was suddenly endowed with memories about his current life, but retained his true recollections above all else. He looked over his shoulder to M and shrugged. “I’ll do whatever it takes I guess. If I have all my old friends, this brat should be a piece of ca-“ Maylene gave him a tap on the shoulder with a worried face.

“Azzen, who are you talking to? We’re over here.” She giggled. “Are you trying to antagonize our friend here?” Maylene chided. “I thought you could contain yourself around people like him.” She said with grin. “But anyway, he’s not going to get any help, are you sure we should still fight him?”

Az stood mutely and looked from side to side. “Sure? It’s our duty, isn’t it?” The words felt foreign on his lips, but in his mind he recalled himself saying this millions of times before to other trainers. This alternate life felt like wearing being in the middle of an extremely lucid dream. It was creepy.

The battle began with the rich kid sending out a Gible and a shiny Gloom. They didn’t appear to care for the Trainer and Az assumed they were probably purchased Pokemon or gifts. The kid seemed to look down on the like property anyway. If Az wasn’t suddenly a Gym Leader, he would have punched the kid one for good measure. Every second around him felt like being in a bathtub of Houndour urine.

“I know wat yu meen wif wat y used abot pee, k?” Unknown M said loudly into his ear. “1st yu thnk it nt so bad bt den yu reelze it be rly =( face, rite?” The persistent Pokemon said wiggling about in front of Az’s face. His eyes were following it, and he failed to notice that Maylene had already sent out her Machamp.

“So what, you can read my mind now?” Az yelled looking directly at the invisible Unknown. “And for your information I don’t know what it’s like to be in a bathtub filled with Houndour urine, okay? Why don’t you just scram!”

“You’re doing it again.” Maylene said in a motherly voice. “Have you been sleeping long enough? You seem to be pretty jumpy today.” Her face was in a bit of a frown, but she refocused on the battle at hand rather quickly. “Send out your Pokemon so we can get rid of this chump, didn’t you want to see your mother’s play after we took a break?”

Az was shocked and he blushed a dark red shade. The Unknown was floating off to the door, but it was watching in case he decided to call it back. Instead, the Gym Leader told the freak to stay put and it did, but in this case it was feeling “so unLOLZ” about the treatment it was receiving.

“Zito! Come on out!” Azzen said throwing a Great Ball to the ground. From it emerged an Espeon with a large grin. The female Pokemon looked endearingly back at her Trainer and he smiled back. Without a command, Espeon jumped on top of Machamp and launched a wave of Psychic at the Gloom. It connected, but the Poison Pokemon held on by a thread. The Pokemon may have been pumped up on vitamins, but it still performed terribly.

The sneaky rich kid called one of his entourage over to use a Full Restore on the Gloom, and then commanded it to attack in the same turn with Stun Spore. Maylene was about to comment on the cheap maneuver, but Az hushed her with a raised hand. He would make this brat pay even if she didn’t agree with what he was letting him get away with.

The spores fell on Machamp whose body constricted on contact. It couldn’t move, and was unable to dodge Gible’s Dragon Rage which took a chunk out of its stamina. The four armed Pokemon let out a grunt and dropped Espeon to the ground. Luckily the purple psychic Pokemon landed with unprecedented poise.

“Espeon! Don’t let this rat get away with what he is doing! Turn up the power and blast that Gloom!” Az yelled. The gem on Espeon’s turned a startling red and deep purple waves slammed into Gloom knocking it out and into Gible. The hit caused the Dragon Pokemon stumbled back and thus gave Machamp the opening it needed to deliver a Cross Chop. Though the Gible survived the worst of it, the Pokemon’s trainer looked a tad distressed. The rich kid summoned fourth another Dragon Rage which chipped at Machamp again, leaving it panting and more susceptible to paralysis.

The Rich Kid sent out a Dugtrio and crossed his arms arrogantly. The Quick Claw on Gible’s neck allowed it to go first and it effectively ended Machamp with a Dragon Claw. Enraged, Espeon shot fourth with Psybeam and took away the big mouth’s remaining stamina. Things were starting to look bleak for the challenger, but just as Maylene sent out Lucario, the Dugtrio fired off Fissure which knocked out both Espeon and Lucario.

“I told you I was the best.” The rich kid chortled. “And now you’re the only left with a Pokemon. Go on big boy; send out whatever loser you have left, I’m sure we’ll dispose of it like a slow servant!” A nasally laugh escaped the punk and his entourage followed suit. It was sickening to say the least. Something inside of Azzen was bubbling, and it wasn’t good for the rich kid or his three headed mole.

“0 yu lok lyk yu gona HEDSHOT dat nub. Go on gv hm ur speshl mov, k? he ar ded, rite man?” Unknown M said in a near robotic tone. Az answered with a simple nod of the head. His face was turning red again, but it was a sign of anger, not of embarrassment.




“Dusknoir, I choose you!” Az yelled. In a dark plume, the ghostly Pokemon appeared. Like Espeon, it acted on its own and launched a dreadful Shadow Ball towards Dugtrio. Once the smoldering dark plasma vanished into midair, the Dugtrio’s eyes narrowed and it set out a wave of Fissure. It had no effect.

“You’re cheating! That attack was spot on! What do you think you’re doing! My Dugtrio was tutored by the finest! I demand you turn that badge over to me before I get my father to get you and your little friend fired! This is a scam! How dare! I—“

“It’s called Levitate. Many Ghosty-type Pokemon have it. If you haven’t noticed, Dusknoir isn’t touching the ground. Maybe your Dugtrio was tutored, but you should be. Why would you think a Ground type move would hit something above the ground? Now watch and learn. Dusknoir, use Ice Beam, waste him.” Azzen said angrily. “Make this kid realize how much of a bad person he really is!”

A blue orb grew on Dusknoir’s right hand, and from it shot a staggering beam of ice. It connected with Dugtrio and encased it with ice. Within seconds the ice shattered and Dugtrio fell limp on the ground. Each of its dome shaped heads had become a frosty blue, and each of its eyes were slammed s**t. The battle was over and the entourage quickly ran off knowing that their idol was about to explode.

“You two better give me that badge or you’ll regret it forever! I promise you! Daddy put too much money into me to fail now! You don’t understand what I’ll go through to make you suffer if that Bi Badge isn’t in my hand by the count of three!” The Rich kid hissed.

Before he could reach one, Maylene and Az were already out of the Gym with a mad sprint. The performance at the Veilstone Playhouse had already started. Maylene had told the challenger where they were going and about what time they would return hastily, but he had stormed off anyway. He was muttering something.

The playhouse was dark, and a woman with shoulder length brown hair had already taken the stage with her Dragonair. The two were huddled together as various rain effects radiated in the area. Az smiled as he pointed out his mother and her Pokemon to his coworker.

“Wow! Melanie got the lead?” She asked excitedly. “I had looked at some of her work before and I knew this would be her break! Aren’t you proud of her Azzen?”

“Just as proud as she was when you asked me to share in the Gym with you. She was always talking about getting a big break, and it finally came true! She had it pretty hard when we moved here, circus dancer wasn’t as good on a resume as you’d think, but here she is now!” Az said.

Unknown M materialized near Az’s face and shook wildly. “hai thur we r gng 2 g0 soon, k? yur time be getn clos to leik teh end.” It said solemnly. “unless yu wnna go nowz.”

Az looked shocked at the Unknown. “But I’m not done here! Can’t I see the play? Can’t I live through another battle with my Pokemon? You never told me there was a time limit to this! Please! If this had to do with the way I treated you, I apologize!” He stammered.

“i kno frend, u r kool n al but I cn only kep u heer az lng az u r alive hr. ltrally ur tym is at n end. I srry frend, kno tht, k?” Unknown M said with a small tear forming in the center of its huge eye.

Before Maylene could bring up her concern about Az talking to his “imaginary friends” once more, a familiar face popped over the row behind them and have Az a tap on the shoulder. He turned around like any normal person, and before his fellow Gym Leader could scream, the gun in Rich Kid’s hand went off and Azzen went tumbling backward to the floor in a heap. Several people turned around in shock and began to scramble about. Soon, his mother, his best friend, and all the patrons at the playhouse melted into a pure white setting.

“an now u return mah boi, u hv sen thngz an hw dey wuld end, k? knot ht pepl wur sd whn dat hppnd, k? njoy urslf in th reel wrld. Mybe u vist them peps sumtyme, k?” Unknown M said. “gud bai frnd! Se us soon!”

The chamber flooded back in and Az was on his knees in pure shock. He vomited on the floor and a moan escaped him. He was sweating icy bullets and his heart was beating like a jackhammer in his chest. A few tears clouded up his visor and he sniffled to himself. The ride was over, but it wouldn’t be forgotten easily.

Az stood up weakly and rode the elevator back up to the main floor and prepared to get something to eat and talk with his fellow Snagems. For you see, if he had never met them, he wouldn’t be alive to regret it.


Objectives met:

• Lived through What-If scenario
• Learned to value Snagem even more